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"I am obviously NOT wroking with the Kree…or I would not be fixing the systems. I am also /shocked/ that a rebellion is in progress towards me, when I am not even in actual power. If you want to shoot someone because you are displeased with the obvious mismanagement of things, then by all means, start assassinating the council members and champion me back into power." Maximus rants at the prisoner. "So…who is the idiot in charge?"
"Ghost." Corvus frowns from behind his mask. You'd think he'd be up on threats like that. "So no drugs then, instead they're using those who were wronged by the government." He huffs and turns his attention back to the prisoner. "Didn't think all this through, did you? If they'll use assassination, what else do you think they'll try?"
The man was distinctly uncomfortable. He was a grunt in the city and was trying to stay as calm as possible. He took a deep breath like a man resigned to finally having the floor after years of waiting. "The Kree came last time. Some of us lost family because of you" He looked to Maximus. "The rest of us you exiled. Tore our families apart. Some of us didn't make it out there. Had all of us stayed in Attilan this wouldn't have happened. And the last year you say you are helping us but you've never answered for your past crimes and the resistance won't rest until you do. None of you Royals listen to your people. The Kree didn't hurt us. You did when you brought them here."
Kaleb sat very quiet in the back of the room which was an easy thing for him to do without much a second thought on it. A voice apparated only just where Corvus and Max could hear shaping the words, and then leaving it juuuust at their ear. "I'm having a hard time telling, but reasonably he believes himself to be telling the truth. Lab confirmed, no toxicity found on the other panel they ran."
Maximus glances to Kaleb and then nods. He shows a sense of frustration on his face, though, he knows there's no use trying to explain things to a peasant. "Attilan has never been so well protected as during my time in ruling power. Exiles either fled on their own…or were a threat to the city. I have no sympathy for traitors. I will never pay for what I have done…because any King, ever, worth anything at all, has made decisions that destroy families. I destroyed /my own/…and I did it…for you." And himself! But, that doesn't sound as good on a poster. He walks back closer to Kaleb, in gesture, giving Corvus lead again to ask his questions without being interrupted by a monologuing monarch hopeful.
"The hard questions are over now friend." Corvus draws his sword and steps past Maximus as he's given lead to continue with the investigation. "I only have one question, think about it before you answer." The man drops to a kneel and positions his blade above the rebel's pinky finger. "Do you know how to find your leader, or maybe somebody that could?"
The man watched Maximus and was angry, and afraid, and very tired. "I was an exile. You took my father away. You can't tell me I don't know what happened to me. I was there." His hands were secure and his attention fell on the blinking light on the squeezebox between his knees. Defiant went so far but he was still sweating at the brow. He looked to Corvus. He said "You don't find the Gh0st. Gh0st finds you. I only! … I only know what I know."
Kaleb was watching the man's distress and was on the fence: the man wasn't a baseline human. He was trying to teach himself empathy, but it was not an innate trait he had and he'd stood with a group that had tried to kill Maximus. Fuck em. Echo's expression shifted and his brow furrowed. His voice was heard but it was coming from over his body and not from it "Corvus, he's not telling you something. That he left for the man to hear because he knew, in his heart of hearts, it was a hell of an unnerving thing. His next words he didn't let travel so far forward that they could be heard by the detainee, "If what he's saying is true and no one saw anything and I got an imprint? Do you have anyone that can turn invisible?"
"Wrong answer Bob." Corvus applies enough pressure to chop the tip of his finger clean off. "That wake you up? I hear it's painful." Thankfully they live in an age where the finger can be put back without much issue. Scooping the bleeding nub up he shows it to the prisoner. "One last chance, don't lie to me. Tell me what I want to hear and we'll get it fixed up so we can put this behind us."
Yes…that's how interrogations are run. Maximus seems to approve. However, once it looks like things are going to turn bloody, he does turn towards the sonic in the room, the not-inhuman…the one person he'd sort of care to protect from his uglier side, and elegantly, he smiles and says to the mutant, "I am going to need a council member down here. If you go to the main room…you should be able to find one. They all wear /gray/ robes. Do you mind?" He starts at Kaleb and though he's telling the truth about needing the councilmember, he's totally trying to get Kaleb out of the room.
|ROLL| Maximus +rolls 1d20 for: 19
Kaleb watched with a studious attention. He was almost in direct conflict from lack of experience with meting out these situations. His people tried to kill Max, and hell almost killed himself, but he wasn't human which meant he shouldn't be disregarded. In truth Kale was still conflicted about the mutant he interrogated at the Institute that nearly killed him then too. What the hell? Was he really so bad that people just wanted him accidentally dead? When did this shit become reality? Max was speaking. The Mutant tore his eyes from the man who was screaming through tears and gritted teeth. The response of this in a normal person might have some manner of reaction; a wince or…something. This kid seemed numb from the soul down taking this in mathematical stride. "Council member? On it." Weighted step carried him efficiently out of the room and on his quest though he did take liberty to have one of the guards go with him out of a lack of want to be shot at accidentally and also because he had no pull to directly request anything of anyone that didn't know him. Not a bad plan.
The man in the chair, however was decidedly not a happy camper. His hand was on fire and it hurt like hell. He could have said nicer things about Corvus' mother, but he didn't. "Aaaaaah what do you want from me that you haven't already taken!?" While really the thought should be 'please don't say fingers'.
Did the man say teeth? Because when something is slipped about his mother Corvus draws back and punches the poor man directly in the mouth. He doesn't do anything else until Kaleb is actually out of the room though.
"Good, now that he's gone." The armored guard grabs the prisoner by the shirt and picks him up into the air. "I don't know /what/ it is, but you're keeping a secret. If you've think I've been rough with you, wait until the council gets here. I hear having your brain picked over is much less… pleasureable." Despite his actions, the man's voice is calm. This was all just another day on the job, and he was finally warmed up.
"The council might set him free. The council may even appreciate his views. I, however, do not. The man is a traitor. The cause, however many people are in it, will feel bolstered by all this…propaganda, and how powerless I am to stop any of it." Maximus moves forwards and reaches out to take the disc from between the bawling man's legs. "He is of no significance…a paper pusher…a /pawn/ who chose the wrong side of a game to play. Alive, he is worthless. However…dead…he sends a message to those that would try to kill me…that my reach is yet /long/…and /that I may know who their families are…those of the /OUTCASTS/…those who have only recently come back to this city. I will deal with them, shortly, if necessary. But for now, just kill him." He looks at Corvus as he gives the order, expectant.
The detainee set his teeth and eyed Corvus, then Max, then Corvus, then they just closed. "The Gh0st tried to take your life. I didn't, she did." She? She?! There was some new information. The man took a deep breath and tears were running from the corners of his eyes, and down his cheeks. Shock from the finger already had his brain running hot. "Maximus Boltagon, you've learned… nothing… and you are deaf to the people as the rest of your family." He was going to die for spreading propaganda. He was afraid and yet resigned in a total lack of surprise. He didn't want to die, but arguing seemed to prove futile as well.
"Vox Populi, Vox Dei." Corvus whispers, his face plate opening to reveal his face. If anything he looked.. apologetic. Perhaps it hadn't only fallen on deaf ears. Regardless an order had been given. The man gets sat down once more and the plate comes back down into place. "Requiescat in pace." In an instant he draws his sword and opens the man's throat. "It is done."
There is a silence that follows as Maximus seriously considers his actions, though, when the council gets there, it will be self defense. A shallow…/shallow/ self defense, along with a threat. After a beat, though, he draws in a deeper breath and then exhales, "All over the floor…possibly the messiest way to kill him…" He looks Corvus up and down, "Your loyalty is noted."
It wasn't long before a council member returned to the room. Holy shit Kaleb found one. They showed up? The man that was detained has expired. The person that tried to kill Maximus is out there and can disappear as a gift. This shouldn't be hard to track at all. If nothing else it will protect the royals from some crazy insurgent.
"I'll have it cleaned shortly." Corvus steps off to grab a mop and bucket, and he actually has it mostly cleaned by the time the council member arrived. "How very prompt." he remarks to himsel, wringing out the mop before straightening himself up.
Once the council member arrives, Maximus spins it deftly, "This is one of the traitors currently poisoning the people. During interrogation…he tried to kill me again, and Corvus stopped him. Clearly…these rebels are from those who abandoned us, eleven years ago. Such insurgents should be watched." He puts his hand to his chest and then bows with deference. "I am sorry. I had called you here to hear his words that spooke against not just me, but of the council as well."