Part 35: A Charmed Existance

We're at another deduction, though this one only involves a single point- where to look. It's still somewhat of a binary- whether we look in the right place or not- and the thread ultimately voted to look above the body- that is, far up above, near the ceiling...

[BGM: Silence]


If Horse didn't throw oil on Ox, nobody could've. Which means the oil didn't come from a person. It came from the ceiling. Was this conclusion absolutely absurd? Yes. Did I know how it tied in with anything else? No. But when you eliminate the impossible, all that's left, however improbable, is the truth. ...I guess. Honestly, the moment I got to work, I started to feel a little dumb, but there just wasn't time to hesitate. There were clues pointing to this conclusion. I just had to trust my instincts and follow this lead through. And so, I pulled over a desk, climbed on it, and looked up at the ceiling tiles.

[BGM: A Bite That Persists]


Sure enough, there was one directly above where Ox had been sitting. And wouldn't you know it, looking closely, it looked like 3 of its 4 sides were already broken off. I reached up, and with a simple push, I was able to loosen the tile. It swung down, only holding on by a single side.

And, to both my surprise and delight, on the other side of the tile, I saw oil stains. Oil had definitely been poured on top of this tile at some point.

I poked my head around a bit more, and I thought I saw something sitting up in the area above the ceiling tiles. I reached around and pulled down what ended up being a speaker. A speaker? It looked like the type a high schooler would keep. Perhaps in their locker? Hooked up to it was some sort of MP3 player. I looked around the speaker some more, and noticed that there was a slot on it.

A slot that could, perhaps, hold a portable remote.

Okay. Just one more thing to confirm. I took out the MP3 player and looked at the songs. Sure enough, the one it was playing on loop matched the song that had previously been playing during the ritual. With this, all the mysteries had been solved. The way in which Ox met his end had been illuminated to me. And there was exactly one person who had the opportunity to set this all up. That's the who-dunnit and the how-dunnit. The why-dunnit I was still unsure of, but generally the culprit got to supply that themselves. For now, there was a bigger issue.

[BGM: Fire Breath]


Thinking about it carefully, from this position, that person's next step should be...

Dog, quickly! Do you know where Dragon and Rooster went to look?!

Dragon and Rooster, huh? I thought I saw that pair head towards a hallway on the second floor.

Why, what's wrong?

A lot. Find Tiger as soon as possible and get her to come to the second floor. I'll do what I can in the meantime. This is urgent, Dog. Do you understand me?

Copying loud and clear. I'll put some pep into my step.



Dog and I ran out the classroom and split up. I could only hope I would get there in time. I ran down the second floor, through the hallways, towards where I hoped they would be. I glanced in classroom after classroom, until I finally saw the scene I was looking for.

Dragon, on the floor, with her fists clenched and looking pissed as hell. Standing above her was Rooster, holding a silenced pistol, aiming it at her. It seemed as though I had made it just in time.

[BGM: Silence]


Without a second thought, I bolted into the classroom.

Rooster, stop!

Oh, Mouse! Good thing you're here, you can help me with this.

Wait, what? Help with what?

Containing you, of course. I was minding my own business, and all of a sudden you attacked me! Good thing I found this discarded gun in a hallway a little bit ago, or I'd really be screwed.

[BGM: The Undying]


The hell?! That's not how it went at all! I was the one just minding my own business before he just up and attacked me for no good reason! Mouse, I'm the victim here, you gotta believe me!

I know, Dragon.

You do?

I do.

Hey, why's that?

You really don't trust me, Mouse?

I did, Rooster, until I put it all together.

Put it together?



Mouse, you're being awfully vague right now. Mind letting me in on whatever big revelation you've had?

Okay, I will. Rooster, you're the one who killed Ox. You also killed Bunny and Horse.

The hell?! Is this right?

Honestly, I could hardly believe it either. Could Rooster, that moronic, pompous douchebag pull off something as ruthless and calculated as this? It completely went against my image of him. But this is where all the evidence led me to. From here, I could only let my logic guide me.

Interesting hypoth, Mouse, loving your energy. You're really portraying the 'misguided vigilante' role well. Nice stance, nice diction- ever considered acting?

You think I'm acting right now?

Well, I think you're acting out of line.

Eyo!

Rooster.



Look, look, okay, I get it. You're like a detective or whatever. That's your shtick. And that's a cool shtick! I love your shtick. But you gotta pick a time and place for it. There are cool times to use your shtick, and lame times to use it.

Just as a handy guide. Cool times to use the detective shtick- accusing commoners, pointing at people, walking away from a bomb. Lame times to use the detective shtick- accusing me, being racist. To just give you a quick rundown.

Rooster, I beg of you, please let me do my explanation.

Oh, you were trying to start a monologue? Then by all means, go ahead, floor is yours.

Thank you.



As I was saying, Rooster, you're the one who rigged Ox's death trap.



You broke the ceiling tile above where he was going to sit- you broke 3 sides of it, so that it would dangle down. Then, you placed some kid's speaker up in the ceiling, set the music on the MP3 player to be real creepy, and took the remote for it. You poured a decent amount of oil on the tile, and then you delicately set it up where it was sitting safely.

Flash forward to the actual ritual. The person who turns on the music is you. Depending on where you put that remote, you could probably hit play without needing a free hand. Then, when Horse was up to do his thing, you cranked up the volume drastically.

The sudden vibrations on the ceiling made the tile come loose, spilling the oil all over Ox. To get it so that the tile would come loose at that volume- you might've practiced it a few times before spilling the oil on the tile.

Regardless, right after the oil had fallen onto Ox, you threw a statically charged something at Ox. I can't even begin to guess exactly what it was, but whatever it was, it worked. Ox was lit on fire, everyone panicked, and fled.



And in that darkness and brightness and chaos, nobody even noticed when you knocked the tile back up to the ceiling as you fled. Judging by the positioning in the circle, you'd have been one of the people in the back of the room, so there weren't really eyes on you since everyone else had already fled.

You know, I totally could've done all that. I mean, some might say something stupid like 'Hey Rooster, how'd you have time to set any of that up when Mouse was watching?'

But they underestimate my speed! See, the key was when you wandered down that hallway in the generator roo-

Again, I beg you to shut up.



Rooster, the reason you were able to pull something this ridiculous off is because you set the stage for it perfectly. That ritual was perfect for you- turning off the lights, supplying the weapons, guaranteeing where everyone would be seated with precision accuracy.

But on the other hand, there were a number of things weird about it. Why was this the only note written in blood? Would Brian really give us a task that could just let us skip the rest of his game? Why change up the order of where everyone sat?

[BGM: Final Squeal]


It all makes sense if you assume that the whole thing was nothing more than your script.

So now I'm giving Brian the orders?

Not at all. You simply found that safe first. You saw its true contents, emptied them, then planned to use the safe to your own ends. You needed to make it believeable, which is why you put the needle in the safe- a needle you probably got from the nurse's office- and why you made it sound like such a cryptic ritual.

And then, once everything was setup, you waited for a mark to 'discover' the ritual with you, and act as your alibi up until that point. Making use of our blind faith in whatever we find in a safe. Clever stuff, I've gotta say. However, even you couldn't disguise it perfectly.

All the other notes were printed out. But you couldn't copy that. Which is why you went with the next best thing- a note written in blood. If dramatic enough, we could conceivably think the difference was no more than mere artistic license. But where'd you get the blood?



I bet if we were to give you a body check, we'd find that you're hiding a wound.

Tch. If you really wanted to feel me up, Mouse, all you had to do was ask politely.

But wait, you said he also killed Bunny and Horse? What's the story on that?

Yes, you wouldn't know about that yet, would you Dragon? Horse and Bunny have both been killed. Of course, you wouldn't get that right away by looking at the scene. Bunny went missing, while Horse was shot through the head. Probably with the pistol Rooster is currently holding.

But you just hid Bunny's corpse, didn't you, Rooster? At first, I was curious why you went about things like that. However, thinking about it a little more, I realized it needed to be done.

Horse was an incredibly dangerous opponent, even 'tied up' like he was. If it was just a matter of killing both, then it wouldn't have been a problem. However, if you shot both, the blood would've given it away, and you couldn't pin your crimes on an 'escapee'.



You had to strangle the person you didn't shoot. And strangling Horse seems a very iffy proposal. Odds are he'd break the chair apart before you could choke him out.

So when you walk in the room, you start by shooting Horse. Then you untie the rope from his body so you can use it to strangle Bunny. After that, you untie Bunny's corpse and drag it into some nearby hiding spot- perhaps in some close classroom.

Now tell me, Dragon, did Rooster ever leave your sight during the search?

Yeah, now that you mention it, he did. He went to use the restroom. I didn't think much of it at the time, so I just let him go.

But thinking about it, you were using that time to kill those two, weren't you, you bastard?!



Rooster's departure from Dragon would naturally have come out in the questioning after the bodies were discovered, which is why Rooster planned on cleaning up loose ends before that happened.

You planned on killing Dragon here and coming up with some story about 'Bunny attacking Dragon before fleeing', weren't you? That's why he attacked you, Dragon.

Heh heh, you really think that's the reason, Mouse?

Right.

And the reason I killed the others- what, is it because I have the desperate personality and want to survive by myself?

Is that not the case?

Truthfully, I had been thinking to myself were that the case, Rooster's actions would've been rather strange.

Alright. Let's cut the crap, Mouse.

In that moment, I realized I hadn't been giving Rooster enough credit. He really was a talented actor.

[BGM: Mourning Crow]


You know, you're a really smart girl. I'm impressed, truly, that you figured so much out. But it looks like you didn't figure the 'why' out.

How could you?

Let me be clear. This- all of this- wasn't driven by Brian. If anything, I should be grateful to Brian. He gave me a chance for revenge.

Revenge?

Do you think I made Bunny and Horse the suspects haphazardly? Do you think I partnered with Dragon on a whim?



Everything I've done until now has been to get revenge on the four people who ruined my life!

Rooster, what are you talking about?



You know, I came from a rich family.

Tch. I could've guessed that much.

Came from a rich family.

I shan't mince words. It was nice. A charmed existence.

You know what was great about being wealthy? It wasn't living in a mansion, or having nice food- you tire of those things awful quickly.

No, what's great is the freedom it provides. When I realized my calling in life, I knew what to do.

My parents paid for acting classes, took me to see movies, set me up perfectly.



I was in control of my life. I could do what I wanted without interruption.

Until my damned conscience got in the way. See, my parents were always influential in politics. I never quite saw eye to eye with them on many things, but I learned to turn my head.

But lately, they were making stranger and worse decisions than before, using their influence in ways I had larger disagreements with.

And eventually, it became too much.

There was a set of legislation that empowered the police in our city massively- it expanded the force they could use, gave them wider access to methods of surveillance, lowered restrictions needed for warrants.

The laws were horrible. Flagrantly disrespecting human rights.

Yeah, I remember those laws. They passed.



You can thank the generous support from my parents for that. Well, that was the tipping point. I had had enough, me and my parents got in a huge, blowout fight over the matter.

And before I knew it, I was kicked out, disinherited, and penniless. From heaven to hell, just like that.

Wait, you got in an argument with your parents, and they cut you out of their life?

I said that they were generous parents, not that they were caring. There's a difference. After living it good for so long, to fall so low. To go from living with complete freedom, to being at the mercy of society.

You don't know how it feels to survive that whiplash.

You're right, I don't.



The fuck's this got to do with anything?

But gallantly, I survived. I kept pushing. In the face of it all, I pursued my dream of becoming a lead actor! And slowly but surely, that dream progressed. I'll admit it has been a thorny path so far, but it has honestly begun to pick up steam.

I thought I could move past that chapter of my life. But I never forgot what brought me there. I never stopped wondering why my parents would do what they did. For all their flaws, they weren't bad people.

So I kept pestering them about it.

One drunken phone call from my mother later, I got the real story. I knew who to actually be mad at.

See, my parents never actually wanted to support that insidious bill, they were just being blackmailed to do it! Turns out some people in higher places had gotten some material on them. Long story short, they were under the thumb of higher powers.

Higher powers?



This city's rotten, Mouse. It's empty at its core. I can't say I know everything, but there's something big at play.

A huge blackmailing scheme with most of the city's power players wrapped up in it.



The police were suspicious that I stormed into Amadeus Bowen's office on the day of his murder. They were always suspicious of my story.

Do you want to know the real reason I was there?

It's because I was looking for documents that would prove his connections to the blackmailing ring.

You mean, Amadeus Bowen was involved in the ring?

Involved? Pal, he was one of the kingpins!

Though I guess you can only blackmail people for so long before it bites you in the ass. Anyways, when I was at his office, I saw that he had contracted a 'construction worker' for some 'private business'.

[BGM: Mousetrap]


By construction worker... do you mean Horse?

Exactly. Turns out that big ol' thug was on Bowen's payroll. Probably did his dirty work, if I had to guess.

I followed Morris' trial closely, and that thing also stunk to high heaven. Why wouldn't it? Clearly the others involved with the blackmailing ring wanted to hide certain elements of the murder.

From what I could tell, the main prosecutor of the case and the chief officer handling the case both had to be in on it.

Bunny and Ox.

Exactly. Horse, Bunny, Ox.

All three of them are agents of this city's darkest underside.



They weren't just responsible for my rough years, my parents' grief, but countless other injustices and evils!

So when presented with the perfect opportunity, how could I pass it up?

Who other than I would take this opportunity to rid the world of these evil-doers?!

So that was your plan- erase anyone connected with this blackmailing ring?

Exactly. Initially, I wasn't planning on doing anything. Just focusing on my own survival was good enough.

Don't get involved, don't do anything stupid.

But the more I thought about it, I soon realized now was my only chance.

The chaos and darkness of this race will erase what happens here. The truth will be written by the survivors.



So then, where does Dragon fit in to all of this?

Ha! Dragon? She's the biggest sinner of all!

Oh yeah?!

Oh yeah. See, I refer to my parents in the past-tense for a reason. They were recently killed in a hit-and-run. Perhaps it was an accident. More likely a murder. Maybe it has something to do with their recent defection from the blackmailing group? All I know is what I saw.

And, as the person who was visiting them at the time of the accident, I saw the person who drove away from the crime scene. I saw Dragon.

What the hell?! That wasn't me!

Yes it was!



When I saw you up close, I recognized you right away! You were definitely the person I saw that day! And you must work for the blackmail ring, too! That's why you did what you did!

You crazy son of a bitch! You're lying. I haven't killed anyone. You're lying about the whole thing! Listen, Mouse, this guy's just selling one big story to cover his ass and gain sympathy from you! You really gonna stand here and listen to this?

Mouse, I realize what this might look like to you. I know I've been deceiving you. I know I've killed 3 people already.

But knowing what I've told you, can you really say I'm wrong? Look me in the eye and tell me that these people don't deserve to die, that we wouldn't be doing the world a service by getting rid of them. I'm not the villain here, Mouse. I'm the hero.

You're the psychotic bastard is what you are! Mouse, fucking deck this fool!

I stood there, frozen. I took in everything I heard. Ultimately...