THE THIRD TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

THE THIRD TRIAL
(~SK. 17-18)


[When the investigation ends, the D O N G rings throughout the ship, followed by Zero's voice.]

It is time. Everyone, come to the theater. Time is...wasting.

[And so it is. The seating has once more changed to reflect the fallen-Moriarty and now Brain's podiums are draped in black. And, of course, there is no food-

The screens come up, and the mask of Zero appears, ever inscrutable. Their instructions are brief.]

Your Brain is gone, I'm afraid. Cut into pieces and cast aside...and someone here knows why. Now, it's time for you to discover the truth as well...if you can.


[The trial for the murder of Brain, the Blue, has begun.]

Comments

[godspiousjasper]

I believe those notes were Brain's doing, as that was his power. They represented his emotions.

[voidseeing]

... the saxophone. Of course.

[Ugh, he should have remembered the profiles... damn his head being so fuzzy.]

Which means we can use them to start to establish a basic timeline of what happened in which locations.

[godspiousjasper]

I agree.

[ He paused to think about the two notes and their placements. ]

One was beyond angry and the other was fear and desperation, so my guess is something happened in the hall and then Brain may have been cornered in the Lounge afterward.

[voidseeing]

Exactly. But was he cornered, or did he flee there for a reason?

[godspiousjasper]

Hmm. I can believe that, given.. what was it? You found a note written in a cipher that only Hubert may have understood?

[ A pause. No. He doesn't like where this train of thought is going. ]

Assuming Brain wrote that note, he may have discovered something and wanted to try and leave a warning message that couldn't be easily read by anyone else than the one who knew how to decode that cipher?

[voidseeing]

[He nods.]

That's what I was thinking. He had some sort of information he wanted to pass along to Hubert and Hubert alone before he died, but was interrupted before he had the chance to finish.

[A pause.]

Which would most likely rule Hubert out as our killer.

[pegasinister]

[He spreads his hands slightly in a 'there we go' gesture]

Of course I could have threatened him or forged his handwriting. But that seems... over the top.

[godspiousjasper]

I agree. I can only guess that the culprit knew he had this information and when they came into the lounge? Brain must have heard them coming and that's why the note was stuffed into the cushions, to ensure the culprit wouldn't know about it.

[ Again all guesses but it didn't hurt, right? ]

[voidseeing]

[Another thought.]

The hammer and scissors were underneath the sofa. I'd assumed it was because the killer was trying to hide them, but what if that was also Brain's doing?

[exequte]

I... I couldn't read it before today, but I took the time to study it, and have cracked the cypher, so I can confirm the contents.

For what it's worth, the materials that Hubert provided so that I was able to do that didn't seem like they'd been tampered with, and Hubert was able to understand a note that I wrote him in said cypher, so it's probably genuine.

[godspiousjasper]

That does truly suggest that Brain was trying to convey a message that only Hubert was able to read and was interrupted in the process.

[exequte]

Maybe. Either that or it's an attempt to frame Hubert, but other than the cypher itself, there isn't anything that traces back to him in it. And, if they were attempting to write something incriminating, why would they pick something that only he could read?

Hubert himself could easily have dismissed the evidence completely, especially if I hadn't been able to break it. He could have said that the note was something unrelated, since the two of them were communicating in it.

[onychomance]

We also know that Brain was practicing his power hoping to use its effects to trigger evolution.

That said, I think it's possible that Hermes came into contact with the red note. Ritsu, do you feel any destructive impulses?

[somuchshipping]

I didn't even know those notes were there!

[onychomance]

You seemed to have a dim recollection of events. I've been wondering if you were hacked by Brain.

[somuchshipping]

[Woah, hey, slow down there!]

I mean I liked Brain, but we certainly weren't THAT close! PlusINeverShipped HimWithMyself!

[onychomance]

[What the fuck]

....The hacking would have been done without permission. Obviously.

[valkavian]

Weird fantasies aside, is that even possible?

[somuchshipping]

[Hermes aggressively yells at Kira.]

Nobody fucking hacked me!

[autonomousthought]

Some, yes. I wasn't particularly close with Brain, so it's uncharacteristic that my thoughts toward his killer would be as violent as they have been.

[Hermes. Hm.]

I did discover burn damage on the wall as well - many small holes. They didn't look like fire burns, though.

[voidseeing]

There was burn damage like that on the wall in the lounge as well. Given that it occurred in both of the places we found musical notes, we should assume that it's either a side effect of Brain's power or damage caused by the killer during their battle.

[autonomousthought]

That seems logical, provided they match - so it's probable that a fight began, and moved elsewhere.

We don't know what the evolved versions of anyone's powers are, do we? So, maybe our next step should be considering...if fire didn't cause these burns, then what did?

[pegasinister]

A hot item would be my guess. Or a intense light or beam?

[He's seen a certain Slither-y machines do just that. He doesn't know the word 'laser' but...]

[autonomousthought]

Possible. There are thermal burns, chemical burns, electrical burns, radiation burns, and of course cold burns - frostbite. Determining which we're dealing with will be helpful.

[exequte]

I... guess you can't rule me out, since cold can burn as well, but... um... is the fact that he doesn't have frostbite good enough for that?