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[lucke]

Yo.

[The man before you is slouched in a wooden chair, glaring at the camera. Smoke trails upwards lazily from a cigarette in one hand.]

I don't come on here very often, but I couldn't help but hear some of responses that have come out of the attack on the swear in. I won't deny that people are always entitled to their own opinions. And that the method of the attack was work of cowards and scum. But as far as this subject goes?

You're all acting like a bunch of morons.

[He takes a drag from his cig slowly, giving his words time to sink in.]

Between you all and the native media, you'd think someone had punched your collective babies or something. "Imports! A danger to us all!" "Ticking time bombs!" running around like a bunch of panicked sheep.

Give it a break.

You can't see it yet because you're all too overwhelmed by your own cowardice, but you're all playing right into whoever committed the attack's hands. This is exactly what they wanted: for us to do the damage ourselves. This attack was only to put blood in the water, and now they're sitting back and laughing as we try and tear ourselves apart.

The Ambassador for De Chima has the right idea. We should be focused on counter attacking the person responsible, hunting them down like the dog they are and dropping him for all to see.

THAT is the only way there will be justice.

Comments

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[rathercommon]

You know that's like actually the complete opposite of what Mr Hundred said, right?

[lucke]

Is it now?

[He closes one eye, thinking back as he scratches his chin.]

Seems to me he was asking for people to take care of the bastard that did this. A sentiment I can get behind.

[rathercommon]

Yeah, asking people to capture him and bring him in so that the law can deal with him. He had a lot of things to say about anyone who would dare to think that maybe the law shouldn't be followed.

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[shuckit]

[ he sees that 'idk about that whole law thing' comment there, and he feels u gurl ]

what do you have in mind?

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[rathercommon]

[ She takes a breath. ]

It's easy to make a prison. Find him, take him alive, lock him away like the government won't do. Maybe indefinitely, or maybe just until we can figure out a way to suppress the nanites so we can put him down permanently.

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[shuckit]

or we can just make him a vegetable so it doesn't matter whether or not he's still kicking

[ hello my name is thomas edison and the last man who experimented on me i legitmately beat to death ]

it'd still be kinder than what he did to us

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[rathercommon]

[ ...Um. Kitty bites her lip. That's sort of...way, way, way over the line for her. But, well... ]

We can figure it out. The key is just taking him alive.

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[shuckit]

[ he is Not Well Right Now. he will more than likely feel really disturbed with himself later for all of this. ]

maybe. ]

we'd need to find him. for that, we need to know who he is first. kate's old memory power would be useful right now.

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[rathercommon]

Yeah - too bad. I don't suppose you've got the ability to do a scan of the whole population. Just surface-level, quick.

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[shuckit]

not quick. not without help either. [ and possibly turning his own brain to paste ]

[lucke]

Oh? And I take it you'd rather this situation be handled on your own terms then?

[Careful now, you're piquing his interest in you.]

So then, if you were to get your hands on him, what then?

[rathercommon]

Then I take care of him. In a way that's not just giving him four bloody months of probation. In a way that's permanent.

[lucke]

...Is that so? Not that I mind the concept, but do you think you could do that to a person? With your own two hands?

Even if the coward is total scum, you'd have to be ok with some pretty cruel acts to get what you want here.

[rathercommon]

Yeah. I could. I'm not scared to do what I've got to do. I've done it before.

[lucke]

Ho HOO! Fortitude like that takes a lot of character. I can't help but wonder what kind of life you've lived up until coming here to find that acceptable.

But whatever happened, you likely'd have my respect.

[rathercommon]

What, you're not going to give me that same old song about how I ought to stick to what the law dictates, then?

[lucke]

I'm not one to say people should flagrantly disregard the laws of the land. However, if you and your own have been violated already, the pretty much means the law failed in it's job already, right?

If you get struck in the face, and the law does nothing? It's kind of a double standard to then come after the victim when they don't turn the other cheek.

[rathercommon]

Yeah. That's what I think, too. And I think it's bloody shameful, too, that the government won't do anything to protect its own people. So I guess we've got to do that for them.

[lucke]

More, you've got to do it for yourselves.

Trust me when I say, any bastard that gets a slap on the wrist and then hurts more people under this pretense of justice? Yeah, they're going to regret it.

Unfortunately with whoever did this, I'm a bit useless until we find them. Find them, give me a target, and nothing will stop me.

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[maime]

You got any idea how to find them?
The guy who did it

Not saying it's a bad idea
Just wondering

[lucke]

Not a clue.

[Said with no reservation.]

Chances are they didn't leave an obvious trail to follow. If I had to come up with a way to track them myself... I'd say figure out how they dispensed the gas, what it was made of, and the like. And follow that back to it's source.

[maime]

[Well hey, Maine can't begrudge that honesty. He'd rather bluntness than having to sift through bullshit.]

Should talk to the major general
had all of us RISE at the scene
Might have some answers for you
[Maine only supplies brute force so he doesn't really pay attention to any details like that]

[lucke]

I'm sure the General is doing a fine job. I just don't know if she has the sort of manhunters needed for an operation like this.

[He knew from his limited time with her up in Alaska a while back that she was the type that would see this through till the end. With prejudice.]

But, knowing the type of person we're up again, they likely won't stay quiet for long. This whole event is one of vanity, so I wouldn't be surprised if they popped up again for more attention.

[maime]

Wouldn't know about that
most of what I bring to the team is muscle

but if that's the case maybe something preemptive could be done

[lucke]

Probably for the best. Catching him in the act would mean he's probably already started hurting people.

[maime]

give you a more solid reason to punch him though
people get up in arms about 'reasonable doubt' sometimes

[lucke]

Oh yeah. It just isn't something that usually stops me. If I feel someone needs it bad enough, I'll give them what they've earned regardless of any red tape.

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[shuckit]

Who cares about imPorts? This was one shank with too many chemicals. Anyone, even natives, could've done it.

[ thomas isn't from a place that had civility, not the kind where you sit around on a network and talk about what should be done. it had people against people all in a desperate scramble to survive and the innocent caught in the middle. ]

Justice does shuck-all for the people already dead.

[lucke]

Nope. And if you don't care about justice you probably aren't too taken by concepts of honoring the dead and avenging them either.

[There's a reason he doesn't come to the network very often.]

So then lets be practical. There's a madman out there gassing innocent people, yeah? Well if nobody stops him then he's free to do it again with impunity.

[shuckit]

You don't know klunk about how I feel about the dead. A slap on the wrist like these people are talking about isn't avenging. Not in the way that'll keep more people from joining them.

[ he's projecting a whole lot of home onto this for a lot of reasons. mainly, someone who took as much of a blow from the toxin, who already had a really bad history with this sort of thing, shouldn't be out making rational decisions already. ]

'Stops' is the part there people seem to be having problems with. Killing him means he'll get resurrected. Giving him a jail sentence isn't permenant enough.

[lucke]

Don't underestimate death, kid. There are ways to kill a man that will stick with him. ...Even through resurrection.

Besides, the fact that he comes back just means he'll have it fresh in his mind that it can all happen again.

[shuckit]

How about the kind of death that makes him physically and mentally incapable of setting up something like this again?

[ because just punishment doesn't do shit for anyone. people can live through a lot of trauma and still keep doing what they want to do - thomas himself is testament enough to that. he wants him incapcitated. ]

There's worse things than death, and they won't stop people like him.

[lucke]

Seems to be a pretty big flaw in our whole existential predicament, eh? Can't permanently kill someone. Can't keep putting them down every time we see them.

And yet I don't think this nation approves of maiming as a form of official punishment.

But even ignoring that, what could be done, to prevent a man from EVER doing something dastardly again?

[shuckit]

No. But we can put him in a coma. Medically induced, or otherwise.

[ Just about the same as being dead, isn't it? At least in the sense of physical and mental capability. Maybe that's torture on a person's mind, but guess how much he cares what torture Crane goes through? ]

So long as he doesn't wake up, that's him prevented.

Not that hard.

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[brushoff]

All I'm saying is that I didn't get attacked by any civilians at the swear-in. And I didn't get attacked by civilians when the Hornet nonsense happened. And a civilian didn't kill me. And civilians didn't try and attack me when I was following the letter of the law.

My time bomb sentiment still stands.

[lucke]

Sounds like you need to work on your diplomacy then. I'm pretty sure you're up there for 'top dudes getting their face beat in'. Well, could be you're just a glutton for punishment and don't know it yet. Then to each their own, even if I don't understand it...

[He smirks, then shrugs the joke off.]

Sure, you can prop it up. But it's a hollow point. "Imports are dangerous" is a tired rhetoric. What are YOU going to do about? Moan and groan till someone else does something about it for you?

[brushoff]

I'm kinky but I'm not that kind of kinky.

As for what I'm going to do about it, what can I do about it? My attempts at following the letter of the law and trying to prove that imPorts weren't all dangerous criminals ended up with me getting my face beaten in by said dangerous criminal imPort. [ he's...just not saying that his 'following the letter of the law' bit was when he was trying to turn in Archangel for a bounty. ]

[lucke]

You could start by not wallowing in self pity. It's pretty unsightly. And doesn't prove anything to me.

So you've got knocked around a bit. It's good that you tried to make things right yourself. And you should keep at it. Not try to dredge up public resentment against those you consider your foes.

[brushoff]

Who said I want to prove anything to you to begin with? I don't even know you.

[lucke]

Well, you came here to defend your point. Sure looks to me like you have some investment in what I think.

But I'm not saying you need to either. Just that if you really want to make a difference, it's gunna take more than just moping about and relying on others to fix things.