VIDEO

[bindsthedead]

[Sabriel's at her desk in RISE HQ. She's wearing her bells, armor, and a clean surcoat, and she's looking into the camera with a determined expression.]

Hello. For those who don't know me, my name is Sabriel, and I'm a member of RISE. We're a group of registered imPorts led by Major General Olivier Armstrong, and we're tasked with arresting and bringing to trial those imPorts that attack and endanger our community and this country's citizens.

Earlier this month, the city of Heropa was turned into a jungle for several days. [Sabriel pauses, then continues.] As I'm sure most of you know by now, this was due to a spell cast by an imPort known as Peter Pan- a powerful, vile spell cast through the use of various components, including the heart- and death- of an imPort known as Tetsuo Shima.

The spell not only warped Heropa physically, but also the minds of those caught within it, imPort and native alike, instilling a loyalty to Pan. What these people did under his control is not their fault. Many imPorts went into Heropa to try to set things right, and a small group of us- including myself and Kaneda Shotaro- confronted Pan directly, and succeeded in breaking the spell. Unfortunately, we were not able to do so before lives were lost.

[Sabriel waits a moment, gathering her thoughts.]

I want to thank each and every imPort who went in there, especially those of you who helped break the spell directly. I know we didn't fully understand the nature of what we had to do, or the traps Pan had set up. But we succeeded.

Unfortunately, Peter Pan is still at large, and RISE will be doing our utmost to track him down and bring him to justice. If you have any information, I urge you to forward it to us, and if you choose to track him down directly, let me warn you. For all his pretense at being a child, Peter Pan is a cunning and powerful sorcerer, who will not hesitate to kill, harm, enslave or manipulate anyone if it suits him- in fact, it seems to amuse him. If you lack familiarity with the supernatural, I would not recommend pursuing him without the aid of those who do. [There's a certain sternness in her tone, one that continues as she keeps speaking.]

Finally, while I understand and share the frustration of many with the justice system here regarding imPorts, two months in jail and two more on probation with his powers nullified will do more to protect the people of this world than killing him and having him spend a day or two as a corpse will. [Sabriel can't argue that Peter Pan deserves to die for what he did, for the deaths he caused and the suffering. She doubts he'll ever truly reform. But death that's not permanent is pointless.]

I believe that's all. If you have any further questions- about what happened, or what's being done- you can contact me or any other member of RISE.

Comments

[Video]

[bindsthedead]

Perhaps they were worried that someone besides them might get control of it?

[timeshares]

Honestly, I'd worry about that anyway. I hadn't thought about that.

[bindsthedead]

Well, groups beyond the government have been able to influence the nanites before. The whole mess with the Hornets, for example.

[timeshares]

[His eyes narrow, and he leans a bit closer to the camera.]

I think this was before my time. What did they do with them?

[bindsthedead]

The idea was to rewrite their personalities and memories- turn them into copies of the Hornets. In practice, all it did was make them unstable and hostile to imPorts.

[timeshares]

[There's silence on his end of the line for a long few moments, struggling with that. There was some part of him that foolishly thought these strange little machines didn't get anywhere near the brain.]

Tell me that loophole got closed.

[bindsthedead]

We were able to reverse it. And the nanites... are adaptable. They eventually recovered and worked to fight off the virus and undo the damage.

[timeshares]

And you're still okay with it?

... Why?

[bindsthedead]

Mostly because there's no one I trust to get them out. Also, every attempt to tamper with the nanites has led to them eventually reverting to their base state.

And for most people 'not staying dead' is quite an incentive.

[timeshares]

That adaptability, again.

[He grinds his teeth a moment at not staying dead. There's an argument he wants there, but can't make.]

So you're saying there's not really a choice once they're in and probably not even the government can deactivate them...

[bindsthedead]

Exactly. I'm not entirely sure if they understand continuum very much either.

[timeshares]

[He seems to chew over that a moment.]

This RISE thing. Is it for the benefit of imPorts or for the government here?

[bindsthedead]

In theory, both. In practice? If RISE didn't exist, they'd have a similar organization- one staffed and run by natives, and probably less forgiving when it comes to vigilantes.

RISE goes after imPorts who are genuine threats to others, not just those who refuse to fall in line with what the government wants.

[timeshares]

[That was an interesting division.]

How do you manage to work that? Politically speaking.

[bindsthedead]

Because the worst most 'vigilantes' do is try to help people without signing up. It's imPorts who attack others that really draw complaints, not people who don't fill out paperwork.