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]

[ 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.

[madcuriosity]

Well, that would be quite simple then. Who do we know to not be themselves? I'm most certainly Alice, and you're most certainly Miss Kitty, and there's older Miss Alice and Mr. Stark and Mr. Kaiba, Miss Minako, Miss Della, that alone is seven people.

[goingthroughaphase]

[ She bites down a smile at the simple logic, and simply nods instead. ]

Right. But there are a lot of other people on this train, and I'm not sure we all know who everyone is. [ She certainly knew there were people she still hadn't met on the train yet. ] Luckily, uh...Mr. Kaiba at least knows what to look for, since he knows what this person is like when he's not being himself. So we can trust him to keep a close watch out.

[madcuriosity]

Yes, but everyone must know SOMEONE on the train. At the very least, their cabinmates.

That is true. Mr. Kaiba is very dependable!

[goingthroughaphase]

That's true. [ Although some people don't talk to their cabinmates either, but she doesn't want to keep refuting her. ]

Exactly. And he's going to help Mr. Stark, who is also very reliable, right?

[madcuriosity]

Mr. Stark is incredibly so, yes. I like him very much! He's like a teddy bear.

[goingthroughaphase]

[ She giggles with a nod. ]

Right. And like a bear, he's very protective.

So with him and Mr. Kaiba working together, they'll have all this figured out really soon.

[madcuriosity]

[Alice nods.]

That... is quite comforting, yes. Mr. Stark is going to come and get me so I'm not alone going through the train.

[goingthroughaphase]

That's a good idea. You want me to stay with you until he gets here?

[madcuriosity]

[She gives a small nod.]

Thank you, Miss Kitty.

[goingthroughaphase]

You're welcome, Alice.