VIDEO-ish (cw: torture and murder)

[bloomingdespite]

[Before the ICP flickers on, every passenger hears a resounding, deep voice thunder through every car in the train, carrying with it a deathly—if odd—proclamation:]

PENALTY GAME: HELL REVERSE!

[Moments later, every ICP turns on to reveal a figure shrouded in shadows, holding the unconscious body of Xue Yang with one hand as the Eye of Wdjat blazes on both of their foreheads. It's clear they're in the gaming car, but if anybody tries to enter from either end, they'll find the doors are impossibly locked.]

Passengers of the Voidtrecker Express, I hold in my hands an unrepentant murderer who slaughtered one of your very own: the victim being A-Qing, and the criminal being Xue Yang. While she has returned, this crime cannot go unpunished, and I have taken it upon myself to try and burn out the stain on his soul—or, at the very least, provide adequate agony for all of his victims, both on the train and off.

If you need to see proof of my justice...

Avert your eyes if you do not wish to see memories of the brutal death of a young woman in her prime.

[The screen flickers once again, this time showing A-Qing's murder, although it doesn't have any audio. ((OOC: Additional CW for graphic depictions of murder.))

When it returns to the interior of the Games Car, the shadowy figure is gone, but their voice and Xue Yang remain.]

I leave it to the council to dispense their own punishment, as meager as it may be.

Remember, passengers:

I am watching.

[The ICP clicks off, and the train is deadly quiet.]

Comments

[goingthroughaphase]

Alice. [ Crouching down a bit further, she holds out a hand to Alice, letting the girl
decide to take it if she wants or not. ] He's not going to hurt you. I promise.

[madcuriosity]

[She hesitates to take Kitty's hand and then reaches for it.]

But he said he's watching. And he doesn't... you can't reason with someone. I could step on his foot on accident and he'd... he'd... trample me.

[goingthroughaphase]

[ When Alice takes her hand, she slowly, gently draws the child out from under the table. ]

Alice, listen. Sometimes, good people do bad things. Everyone makes mistakes. But sometimes, there are just really bad people out there.

And I know what that man did was scary, and I'm not saying that what he did was right. But when he said he was watching...I think he was just talking to any of the real bad people. He thinks he's protecting the good people.

[madcuriosity]

That's NOT a good person, Miss Kitty! Good people don't need to hide in a shadow or under a blanket and threaten everyone! That was a dangerous, nasty person!

[goingthroughaphase]

[ She bites her lip. 'Good people don't need to hide in a shadow'...That's a lot more to explain than she really has time for. ]

Yes, he is dangerous. That's why the people who can are going to find him and make sure this doesn't happen again. But what I meant is that he doesn't sound like he's going after good people either. He's going after other bad people.

[ Someone who sees themselves as the hero, acting out in the name of what they think is right...that is definitely someone too dangerous to leave alone. ]

[madcuriosity]

No. [She shook her head, pulling away.] He threatened everyone on this train! He didn't say "good people need not worry" he said "I'm watching!" that's all he said. He decided HE gets to decide who gets whatever punishment he likes. So he would look at me and decide I did something nasty because it's HIS opinion, no one elses!

[goingthroughaphase]

[ She holds back a sigh. She can't help feeling things are more complicated than that, but there isn't an easy way to explain it. And really, it doesn't matter right now, because she still has a scared little girl to worry about. ]

I know. Like I said, that's why there are people who are going to find him, to make sure he can't do this again.

[madcuriosity]

Will... will they really find him? Why would the train even bring someone like that here? He won't hurt me?

[goingthroughaphase]

Well...I can't really say why the train would bring him here. But with so many people looking, we're bound to find him.

But until we do, he won't hurt you. There are a lot of people here who will protect you. Just make sure to stick with someone until then, all right?

[madcuriosity]

[Alice gave a small nod, not feeling all that comforted by what Kitty said. There was a mad person on the loose on the train and she had no idea who it was.]

What if they decide to punish me too?

[goingthroughaphase]

[ She shook her head. ] He won't. We'll find him before he does anything else.

[ She spoke with more confidence than she felt. But she would do whatever she could to make sure this wouldn't happen again. ]

[madcuriosity]

W-Well, maybe a way we can find him is gathering everyone on the train? We can already rule out several people, couldn't we?

[goingthroughaphase]

That's true. There are a lot of people we can rule out. But calling everyone and putting them all together might not be a good idea.

[ If they called everyone together, the guilty party might try to hide...or worse, panic. ]

But we'll figure something out. You shouldn't have to worry about that.

[madcuriosity]

I'm sorry... I-I don't mean to worry.

[goingthroughaphase]

Hey, no, you don’t have to apologize. It’s only natural to worry about something like this. [She offers a smile that she hopes is comforting.] But you have to trust that we’ll take care of it. Okay?

[madcuriosity]

[She gave a small nod.]

You... don't think the shadow monster will... will attack again though, will you?

[goingthroughaphase]

[ She was silent for a moment as she thought, before shaking her head. ]

No, I don't think he will. With so many people looking for him, he'll try to hide and lay low for a while.

[ Part of her kind of hopes he'll do the right thing and turn himself in to the council, but she doesn't know for sure that he will. ]

[madcuriosity]

Lay low? So then, should people look under the train? [It doesn't get any lower than that, now does it.]

[goingthroughaphase]

Oh...no. Sorry, that's just an expression. That just means he'll try to keep quiet for a while.

[madcuriosity]

Oh... that's... that's not very comforting, knowing he could be anywhere.

[goingthroughaphase]

[ She nodded, unable to really argue with that. ] I know. But we're going to do everything we can to find him.

[ That's all they really could do. ]

There are some people who seem to know him, and they'll really be helping out.

[madcuriosity]

If they know who he is, why not just tell everyone?

[goingthroughaphase]

They've told Mr. Stark already. But his name isn't on the roster, and he's probably in disguise. But they're using what they know about him to track him down.

[madcuriosity]

How can someone be on the train without a ticket? Wouldn't the train have kicked them off?

[goingthroughaphase]

It's not exactly like that. The name that the other people know is an alias, to go with the disguise. So we have to figure out what their real name is that's listed on the roster.