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ninth. voice (when the system's wrong, you gotta tear it down).
[Mello is all business today - it's Door day, which means new arrivals are likely scanning the network looking for answers, and those who have been here may be looking for signs of those they know who have just arrived. No time like now to make his appeal to his fellow captives.]
We need better documentation. I know this isn't the first time I've said this, and it's maybe even more true now than before - the Null's recent contact with us and the information we've been able to glean from them makes a compelling argument for this, I think.
[He pauses, collecting the words for the rest of what he has to say.]
Frankly, we're not very well organized. We can do better than we have been. What I'm proposing is this: I want to assemble a team to collect and maintain information about our circumstances here - the entities responsible for bringing and keeping us here, their enemies, this war in which we've found ourselves caught in the crossfire. It's not an exaggeration to say that our survival could very well depend on these efforts. Now, I don't care if you have special qualifications or prior experience with this sort of thing - all I ask is that you agree to work as a team, and that if you say you'll do the work, you follow through reliably. If you're new here, familiarize yourselves with the introductory guide and the historical record. Ask questions. Bring us your ideas. If you uncover relevant information, you can contact me, Mello. I'm in the directory, under M.
We need better documentation. I know this isn't the first time I've said this, and it's maybe even more true now than before - the Null's recent contact with us and the information we've been able to glean from them makes a compelling argument for this, I think.
[He pauses, collecting the words for the rest of what he has to say.]
Frankly, we're not very well organized. We can do better than we have been. What I'm proposing is this: I want to assemble a team to collect and maintain information about our circumstances here - the entities responsible for bringing and keeping us here, their enemies, this war in which we've found ourselves caught in the crossfire. It's not an exaggeration to say that our survival could very well depend on these efforts. Now, I don't care if you have special qualifications or prior experience with this sort of thing - all I ask is that you agree to work as a team, and that if you say you'll do the work, you follow through reliably. If you're new here, familiarize yourselves with the introductory guide and the historical record. Ask questions. Bring us your ideas. If you uncover relevant information, you can contact me, Mello. I'm in the directory, under M.
[Voice -- Private]
[You can tell a lot about people by how they describe what they find important, and what is antithetical to it. Mello himself is no exception.]
I've had my share of run-ins with the Guard, but I think it would be more accurate to say that I live with a general mistrust of any self-appointed authority.
[He hesitates for half a moment, debating on whether to elaborate. In the end, he decides to continue, because it's likely that Lance is smart and aware enough to have further questions, and Mello is actually trying to work at building trust with the rest of Hadriel ... mostly.]
I don't have anything against law and order in general principle. In fact, I was trained rigorously from the age of seven to solve crimes. In another world, another time, I too might have worked with the FBI, or Interpol, or some other body of justice. Unfortunately, the reality that I am from is not a reasonable place - that entire world been held in the grip of a murderous tyrant for years.
[Which he sort of mentioned in that all-too-public outburst to Marian earlier.]
So I had to find a different way to work for justice ... a more unorthodox way. [Read: illegal.] When there is a despot who needs to be stopped, those who are willing to fight must often take extreme measures. I believe your American Revolution operated under similar principles, in fact.
[Voice -- Private]
Mello's answer gives him that time to think, although he's listening intently at the same time. He had definitely seen Mello's response to Marian, and after being here for a few months the story Mello tells isn't nearly as outlandish as several others and Lance has no problem believing it. He's a little less clear on how he feels about it, especially not knowing any details, but it definitely explains Mello's distrust; Lance finds it particularly noteworthy that he specifically mentioned self-appointed authority, because that's exactly what had concerned Lance as well.
Definitely interesting.
But, more pressing at the moment to Lance is that this is yet another story of a little kid having to deal with some sort of terrible and unfair situation, which is far too common among the people here from what he's heard. It makes him immediately more sympathetic, even if he already felt so regarding what's apparently going on in Mello's world in general.]
I'm sorry about your situation.
[It's genuine, but he doesn't want to say further than that at risk of it sounding pitying.]
It makes sense that you would be cautious.
[Although Lance does wonder if there's more to it than just that, and decides to ask--]
Have you spoken with any of the members of the Guard individually?
[Because they all seem quite different, and Lance is curious is Mello has had any issues--or, alternatively, favorable impressions--regarding any of them in particular.
And he's probably stalled as long as he can without answering the initial question, at least without it being obvious he's avoiding it, and so he makes a decision on what to go with even though there are several cases he could choose from.
His voice is a little distant when he speaks, though, and he's mentally keeping a separation between emotions and facts.]
I think the worst might have been the Gravedigger. She was a serial killer who buried her victims alive, and demanded a ransom before she would reveal where they were so they could be rescued. If the ransom wasn't paid she let her victims die, including three children.
[In terms of selfishness, needless cruelty, number of victims, and sheer smug unrepentance the Gravedigger cases were some of the worst he's ever seen. He still can't say they're the worst, but they stand out all the same.]
[Voice -- Private]
It's ... over now, from my understanding. I haven't seen the end of it personally, and it's not likely that I will, but I've been told the tyrant has been removed from power. The world continues turning.
[He listens to Lance's answer, taking careful note of how he recounts it, especially that he notes her child victims.]
I see. It's uncommon to see a female serial killer, though not entirely unheard of. And from what I've read, what you've described does seem to fit the trend that women are more likely to kill for profit and power. Burying alive is a ghastly way to operate.
[There's clear disgust in his tone. Mello has killed people, extorted others for monetary gain, but never children. His crimes were always a means to a more purposeful end, and killing purely for profit and ego doesn't sit well with him.
He saves his thoughts on the Guard for last, because he has many of them, and the story behind them is a bit longer, requires more set-up.]
I've dealt with four of the Guard members personally, but I should probably explain how I came to be on their radar. About a year ago, one of the residents here, a woman with extraordinary powers, made an attempt to fight the gods. One of her abilities, from what I observed, involves altering reality. In short, she created a nightmare overlay of this world, full of monsters and other assorted horrors. [He's careful to leave Sharon's name out of it, but if Lance reads through the IC history document, he may be able to place the event Mello describes as item #12 on Sharon's list.] This went on for several days. No one really did anything about it, except for hide in the temples and wait it out, and that includes the Guard. They were completely useless at protecting any of us.
[He pauses, inhales a long breath, remembering the fear he'd felt - not so much for his own safety, but for Near's.]
I tried talking with her first. I tried reasoning with her. I waited several days, and nothing happened - not from the Guard, not from the gods. There is someone here who is very important to me, and I couldn't let anything endanger his life. So I tracked her down. Again, I tried to reason with her - I asked her to stop what she was doing, because it wasn't hurting anyone except those of us in the same situation as her. But she didn't want to be reasoned with. So I shot her. Killed her. I knew it wouldn't be permanent, and I thought it would put an end to the horrors she'd unleashed on us.
[He's not proud of his actions, reciting them in an entirely factual manner, but it's no secret, either, and Mello owns what he's done, even when it's been a mistake.]
I knew no one would understand why I did what I did, but I thought it was necessary. And I figured the Guard would search me out for it, once they got over being paralyzed by their own incompetence, because I'd argued with one of them, Nick, about my methods on the network. But it took them weeks to track me down, and they were only able to capture me because I was dead at the time.
[Bianca's fault, that - taking revenge that Sharon herself didn't even care to exact on him.]
Henry, the thug in armor, along with a hedgehog named Shadow, took me in - Shadow's no longer here, and I don't think he was working with the Guard anymore anyway. He was probably the most reasonable of them all. [They'd come to something of an understanding, recently - a begrudging mutual respect, perhaps. But he digresses.] They bullied me to go in with them for questioning with Maketh.
[And here, his tone and demeanor immediately sharpen, sour. There's absolutely no love lost between the two of them.]
Maketh Tua, Guardswoman. Claims that she aims to keep the peace, though as she previously served under a dictator, you can probably guess what her ideas of how to accomplish this are like. [He huffs quietly, disdainfully.] She threatened to break me. "The way the Empire breaks disruptive cadets," she said. I told her she was welcome to try, but she wouldn't succeed.
[Voice -- Private]
The first part, about what's going on in Mello's world, stands out to Lance for a few reasons; it's a pretty clear inference from what Mello said that he might be dead in his world, and that he's probably spoken with someone from his own world that's further along in time than he is. It's something Lance feels another sense of empathy for, and hopes his own situation works out in the same way--that even if he's not there to see it, the corruption and conspiracy they're trying to destroy is taken out--and wonders how Mello is handling dealing with things himself. It's something he'll keep in mind to perhaps ask Mello about later, if and when they know each other better and Lance is willing to reveal anything about what happened to him.
He's a little impressed by Mello's knowledge about serial killers, and the rarity and difference in motives of most female serial killers in comparison to male serial killers, but that's also a topic for a different time. He's not about to pass up being able to discuss criminology with someone who actually understands it forever, though.
But the issue of the Guard is the main reason he'd contacted Mello to begin with, and he's... Not sure what to make of this entire story at first, honestly. What a mess. Lance does indeed connect the events described with the entry in the history guide, and also notes that considering Mello and Sharon seem to be working together now that they must not be--at least actively--enemies, despite what happened. That's interesting, and something to look into a bit more, but also not directly on topic.
He's not sure, entirely, how he feels about how Mello handled the situation regarding Sharon, either; one one hand, he's not pleased with the continued murder trend. On the other, this is much closer a situation--at least if Mello's describing it accurately--to ones Lance has dealt with as a part of the FBI; sometimes you do have to resort to lethal force if a criminal won't back down on trying to cause harm. This is... A complicated situation, to say the least, but one that is at least walking the line of justifiable even if Lance is going to have to reserve judgement on it for the moment.
That brings them to the issue of the Guard's response, which he knows he has to take with some level of suspicion considering Mello is probably a little biased, but it's clear Mello believes that he's saying at least. It unsettles Lance more than slightly that they would use the tactic of waiting for Mello to return from the dead to take him into custody, as well as the entire idea of the latter to begin with; isn't the Guard supposed to be a protection force, not a law enforcement one? There aren't any laws here, after all.
He also doesn't like the idea that Maketh didn't bother to go herself, but instead basically send her minions--isn't Henry supposed to be her equal?--to go get Mello and bring him back to her. It's not a shock to hear how she handled things, though, and that prompts the first comment Lance responds with--]
I'm not sure if I'm sorry or relieved that it's not just me she says those sorts of things to.
[In other words, he completely believes Mello on that.]
What happened then? And what authority were they even acting on? There is no legal system here, so if this were an official action of the Guard and not a few particular individuals it seems like an inappropriate one.
[Not that it'd be necessarily appropriate if it were the actions of individuals, but he thinks Mello will get what he means.]
[Voice -- Private]
[The question about authority draws a hard laugh out of him.]
They have no authority. No one elected or appointed them - as far as I can tell, they all simply decided they were in charge of things, and no one has seen fit to challenge them on it. But since I have precisely zero interest in conducting a prolonged battle against them, I agreed to their ridiculous sentence for my so-called crimes, which was a two-week period of community service work, while the woman who murdered me got by without so much as a single slap on the wrist. That's the Guard's idea of justice.
[Voice -- Private]
[Which had been at least partially why things had gotten so bad between Maketh and Lance; he isn't intimidated easily, at least not anymore. The rest of what Mello says just continues to be concerning, especially the hypocrisy in several areas.]
If there are no laws here, and they're not law enforcement, then they can't penalize crimes.
[That's... Kind of the whole point. Not that Lance exactly likes that there's no legal system and it's just a free for all here, but you can't have it both ways; claiming to be a guard instead of a police force and then turning around and punishing crimes rather than stepping in to prevent them is a contradiction at best and purposefully deceptive at worst. It's especially bad if they're picking and choosing which individuals and crimes to address, too.]
Do you know why? Was she a friend of one of theirs?
[Or was it less about being a friend and more that Maketh--or one of the others--had a problem with Mello specifically? Or was there another reason? Of course Lance is also aware that he needs to try corroborating accounts of this entire thing before he takes Mello's side as the only one, but this is all definitely worrying.]
[Voice -- Private]
[They had his phone, and Mello couldn't put Near in any more danger of exposure by allowing them to keep the phone.]
I've no idea, but I wouldn't doubt it. Bianca could be very charming, if you're the type to fall for that sort of thing. I wouldn't be surprised if she were friendly with them.
[Voice -- Private]
It doesn't mean you're at fault. Choosing your battles is wise, especially here.
[He'd been told the same advice in the same words not too long ago, and so has been carefully deciding how much and what to say whenever something comes up. He's definitely not going to judge Mello for this.
As far as Bianca goes--]
Alright; we can't assume that was the reason, but I'll keep that in mind.
[Voice -- Private]
[Because there's always a chance that those who leave will be brought back again someday.]
It's not in my nature to give in to the whims of tyrants. My reasons for doing so were more important.