tushanshu | 004 || video

As some of you may know, I was hired to find the person responsible for multiple killings in September, along with an attempted homicide. That person has now killed the Emperor. [ There's a flash of something like remorse, but it only lasts a second before her jaw tightens. There's no time to feel guilty for not catching the person sooner. She has to stop him now, before he kills again. ]

I have a list of suspects. I've narrowed it down significantly. If you were one of the people I talked to about it, please see me immediately.

[ The message is simple, one she can essentially cut-and-paste to each person. It's short, but far from sweet. She doubts they'll appreciate it. If the killer is killing again, then they have to move to catch him, and quickly. So screw pleasantries. ]

Get in touch with me as soon as possible.

[ Sharon looks tired. She doesn't want to have this conversation, but it's part of the job. The horrible thing is, Barry seems like a nice guy. A good guy. But that doesn't mean he can't be a killer. ]

Barry, I hate to ask this, but do you have an alibi for the time when the Emperor was killed, and is there anyone who can verify it?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You're better off interrogating someone with an actual motive. [A blunt statement, but a relatively well-intentioned one.

But as he continues, he just sounds a little tired.] I was unaffected, I didn't notice immediately when it was lifted. I didn't know until my ward, Kaldur'ahm, was back to normal. I imagine I was probably with my wife.

Frankly, I think he's killing because he's criminally insane. Obviously, most people have a vested interest in hiding whether they're criminally insane or not, which means I have to be rude and ask many people questions.

Where were you between last evening and dawn today?

I hope your inefficiency does not cause the deaths of anyone else, then. Even the criminally insane have their reasons, whether they make sense to us or not.

I was in my suite. Asti's grief woke me and I went to his head to try and be of some comfort to him. Of all the people in Keeliai, I am the least likely to do anything that would upset or compromise Asti's safety, as the Emperor's murder has done.

Thank you. I'll be sure to feel the appropriate amount of guilt the next time I fail to catch the person in time and someone else is killed. [ Her tone is dry enough to cause a drought. ]

I take it your wife can vouch for you.

[Arthur isn't phased. She can investigate however she wants, even if he thinks there are better people in Keeliai for it. (But most Justice Leaguers would probably think the same thing, since. Batman.)

Here, though, is where his voice goes ice cold, flat, and very much 'I don't want to talk about this'.] My wife disappeared in October. I live alone.

If you require character references, there are several people in Keeliai who can tell you what sort of man I am. [But of course he sees this as a waste of time since he didn't do it. He had very little ill will toward the Emperor, even, as a fellow monarch of an endangered kingdom.]

[ Oh.

Good.

God.

Way to go, Sharon.

She sighs. ]

I'm... sorry.

Can I get some of their names, then?

[He checks to make sure this is encrypted before he starts giving out names, voice still chilly.] My ward and protege, Kaldur'ahm. My friends who have known me for several years: Barry Allen and Hal Jordan. Clark Kent and Lois Lane are also from my world, where I am a public figure as a member of the Justice League, King of Atlantis and the Atlantean Ambassador to the United Nations. They will have heard of me and, no doubt, know much of what I've done in the past. [That sounds safe enough, he thinks. He won't even mention Bruce because he'll get the stink-eye.] And there is Tony Stark, though he's only known me here.

Thank you.

[ A king. And an ambassador to the United Nations. And, mayhap, a dweller of ponds, from whence he dispenses strange swords...

Damn it, Sharon. Stop. ]

The Tony Stark you know, is he the head of Stark Industries, or the other one?

[Close but not quite. He has met the Lady of the Lake, though, and served as her Waterbearer.]

Not the one who runs the company. [He would not be able to tolerate the other Tony, let's be real.]

Ah.

[ So the one from her world who's currently giving her lip, not the one who's been murdered and come back. Good to know, she supposes.

And very good to know there aren't two of her running around. ]

Thank you for your time, and I apologize for the inconvenience.

[ What more is there to say? She's not even sure she should even call him Your Majesty or something like that. Seriously. The King of Atlantis? Here? That's going to take a minute or two to sink in.

She cuts the feed before she can draw his ire for being stupid or unprofessional again and gets back to work. ]

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