adstring_npc | {Unified Universe Project}[Video]

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{Unified Universe Project}[Video]

[There are soldiers suiting up, under the watchful eye of a Chinese woman. She's about medium-height, and fit-looking. Her long hair is up in an ornate bun.]

Is the item set up to transmit yet? I want things to be clear. I do not do sneak attacks.

[A male voice off-camera mutters something that can't be heard clearly. The woman looks into the PCD. Her expression is stern, and her tone of voice is clipped, efficient.]

People of the outside. I am Colonel Bao Ying. I lead the soldiers in this world.

One of you, or more, took one of my men. He's dead, mudered.

You can make this very, very simple. You can hand over the culprit.

Or we can do this the hard way, and we'll be coming into your city for a little visit. We'll find them. It's your choice to cooperate or not. We won't kill innocents, but if anyone tries to start anything, we'll put it down.

You've got a half-hour to decide if you want to hand the guilty party or parties over or not. Then we come out there.

[A video-update twenty minutes later.]

You have been given twenty-four hours. Thank Negi. And discuss.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Leaping to conclusions, Ma'am? Does that make you the pot or the kettle? If you expect me not to leap to conclusions, as you call it, then perhaps you would like to provide me with more information, so I won't be forced to?

And by the way, I don't know what sort of information you have on file about me, but it doesn't speak well of your professionalism that you would resort to personal attacks.

Would you like to tell me why you left out the important detail of the suicide device implanted in your man?

You are referring to the lie.

Patrick was decimated. That was not our doing, not my doing, and not his doing.

And by conclusions, I'm referring to you speaking about your ill mother. She's hardly going to charge out and attack us. So please, do not try to paint yourself as a victim.

As of yet, I'm not sure who to believe, Colonel. I am willing to work with you. It wasn't right what was done to your man, for whatever reason, and I'm willing to help you find the person who kidnapped him.

I'm referring to the unhealthy stress level, Ma'am. [~~Listening comprehension is your friend, lady.~~] Generally, such searches are very stressful for the people under scrutiny. I am thinking of how my own military handles things, so I apologize if I am again, jumping to conclusions, but I am going off purely what I know.

If you're planning on conducting a search, then perhaps you should be more clear on just how you're planning to root out this supposed killer, and we can figure out how best to help you.

How was your man killed, Ma'am, where, when was he last seen, how was he taken, and where was he taken from? All answers will help us to try and put together a proper investigation.

I will give you a second chance. With a mother here, and a male voice, you are one of the Elrics. You're supposed to both be smart.

My people are well-trained. They were even before we got here. They are not going to break from discipline. They did not when people rushed into the city and killed several of their friends and co-soldiers. But I will not give specifics of how we intend to search. There are already enough declaring their intentions to kill my people.

He was killed in a way that his body was destroyed. That's how he's back here in the city. Should we be required to come out there, we will be going to the location it occurred to gather evidence. I do not want the scene muddled.

He was taken Tuesday evening, from guarding the gate, when he stepped away to smoke.

Alphonse Elric. Again, I apologize for my hasty response. I reacted to perceived threat. My prior experience with soldiers for the most part has not been good, and seeing an armed force promising to come into the city and look for a murderer wasn't a good sign to me. In my country, promises that there'll be no harm if there's no resistance are very empty, especially when it comes to the vast majority of our military.

I must point out that your intentions from the start seemed rather hostile, Colonel. It would probably do a lot of good to set the record straight and make it clear that your intent is not to harm people, but to conduct a murder investigation.

I will not tamper with the scene. Can you tell me if you have any information other than that? The cause of death? And would you mind telling me how you know where the scene is at all, if he returned to the complex?

There is another question you have not answered. Why are you not waiting to see if he will return to life? Your man would likely be able to answer a good deal of the questions you have.

Very well, Alphonse.

It's straightforward.

We have the scene's coordinates because a PCD was set up to transmit his moment of death to us. We tracked that. His body was falling apart, but it was clear he'd been injured before then, his knee at least. When his body was... consumed, he showed up in the facility here.

Because someone went and kidnapped one of my men. We don't know how long it will take for him to wake up; one still hasn't from the Invasion. I can't risk it taking that long and someone taking another.

I see.

There are several people here, known in the past to employ torture and murder to get what they want. If we know more about the manner he was harmed in, I may be able to rule out some of them, or help point us in the right direction.

If they're communicating with you through threats and trying to intimidate you by harming one of your men, I know that rules out a good deal of people here who would be capable of a kidnapping. It simply isn't in their personality to do play that sort of game.

In the meantime we can try to put together who someone likely would be, and question them. If you have the times and dates from the PCD transmission, we can start forming alibis for people in the city. Do you have ways of ensuring truthfulness when it comes to questioning? If not, and we come up with a likely suspect, there are several people here who would probably be capable of casting a spell to ensure truthfulness, and such. I'd have to ask, but.

His body was being eaten apart. There was something tied around his knee sloppily as if to stop bleeding but not to really attend to the wound. My guess is kneecapping, but that's because it's the easy guess. The feed was horrific. I've never seen anyone die like that.

We got the video feed and one of the go-betweens brought me the text message from the kidnapper. And then showed me how to reply to it. It does rule out some based on the slight profiles I have.

The transmission began at 2:16 am Friday morning. He was abducted around 10:30 Thursday evening. We've got a few truth drugs here that aren't legal back home since they're effective.

...

[Silence. Followed by an almost emotionless voice.]

Eaten apart. As in, there was some sort of parasite, or poison inside of him?

Mr. Cosgrave was falling apart. And the pieces that fell off were disintegrating. It wasn't a parasite, we ran into a nest of those early on here. It could have been a poison, it could have been an acid.

There are very few I can think of who would know how to create that sort of poison or acid. An alchemist could, but none here would use it in that manner. But it's possible they could have got it from someone, too.

... would it be... possible to examine? I might be able to find out what it was, and then search for whatever chemical was used.

His body came apart completely. That's how we've got him back, he was destroyed so he reformed. There aren't any remnants of his injuries on him, and he didn't return with any clothing.

... think there might be something at the scene? I'm not saying I'll mess it up, but could you get me a sample?

I'll send two people to gather a sample. There's a setting to make messages private from people out there, but this is my first time with one of these devices. Get me coordinates privately, and I should have them there within four hours.

[x,y -- Near the Gates of the inner city]

I'll be in armor, but the voice will be the same, so you should be able to recognize me.

Will you have a way for me to contact you once I analyze whatever it was?

I'll be with them.

Does this go away? It's beeping whenever I get a message. Or if Lieutenant Cosgrave wakes up I'll make another... post, if I am getting the terminology right.

Probably a good idea. I've only negotiated with the scientists before, and some of the soldiers might, ah, remember what I looked like in the armor. I didn't hurt any of them past knocking them out, but it could be tense.

Then I'll try sending a message to the ID of the device your using, will that work?

You are, don't worry. These aren't too hard to use once you get the hang of them.

Yes, you're listed as being part of the Invasion. And a nuisance. But that's in pen, not part of the official file.

I don't know. This is my first time using the device. If it works, then it works. I don't plan on getting the hang of them, just using it when I need to. I've got too much on my plate to subject myself to verbal abuse from people who are ignorant.

I wouldn't be surprised if a certain scientist wrote that in. But he was open to negotiations, so I won't complain.

... I'm sorry for that, Colonel. Most of the people here are very kind in normal circumstances, but there's a general grudge against most of the Scientists out here, and anyone from the Inner City is suspect.

I've been lucky enough to meet a couple of people from the inside and talk with them, so I know they aren't all bad... but not everyone has.

[Her voice is dry.]

You're one of the lucky ones and yet you still jumped to thinking we were going to hurt your mom. No wonder this didn't go over well.

Don't fret it. I hadn't realized sentiment was this bitter. I should have tried some reading before doing this, but I don't want more of my men at risk.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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