truth_is_cold

083

[Private to Ben | Audio]

Ben, I need to know what happened today.

[Private to Zack | Audio]*

I need to know if you two have spoken. He's going to be held accountable for someone's murder [and Rhade is very perplexed by this, because Ben doesn't lie], and he's been concerned with how you were going to react when you spoke to him. Did he seem in control of himself?

[Private to Charles | Audio]

Would it be possible for you to examine and speak with Ben? Review him for outside influences? Fugue states? I don't believe he is lying to me when he says he was in his room, but considering this ship...

[Private to Dylan | Audio]

[All that awkward from before? Have to forget it.] I need your help.

[Warden Filter | Audio]

Who here is a competent detective or is experience with forensics, or alternately has an inmate you would trust to assist in an investigation? [He wants to be careful and not get Ben into more trouble.]

OOC: And I'll be adding a bunch more to this, and there will be a plotting post for detective types to investigate.
*Timed to after his conversation with Ben.

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[Charles makes him think of telepaths, which makes him think of things he's heard bits and pieces about that happened to Rhade before Dylan was on the Barge.]

Is there a chance that one of the psychics on board have been compromised? And...something else used one of the psychics to hypnotize Ben?

I don't know. That's what happened to me.

[But things rarely repeat themselves exactly, and he has no idea what the source of this could be.]

I don't want him to think I think he's guilty. Make sure Blonsky knows that this is in case someone is mind-controlling him, or that someone comes after Ben in retaliation.

We'll keep an eye on him. And I'll keep my hopes up that this is just an old fashioned copy-cat frame job and not demonic possession or whatever other crazy thing might happen on the Barge.

I have some experience in carrying out investigations.

[Although he may occasionally lick things when he thinks no one is watching.]

[Zack's not sure what to think of Rhade. Mostly, he harbours a mixture of respect (for helping Ben where he couldn't, his brother is so close to stable it's unbelievable), and jealousy (that he wasn't the one to do this for Ben). He does know one thing: he doesn't have to pretend.

So when he flicks on the audio feed to respond, he's all fire.]

Who's the accusor?

If you don't mind, Coordinator, I would prefer your service be in the laboratory on this one. I want all the input possible.

[Also he's not sure that it wasn't possessed Narvin that did this, considering his own history, so he wants to triple check the evidence.]

Very well.

Is this a confidential matter, or might I bring Dr. Kozak and Mr. Gaeta in on it as well?

[They are his lab team and no one has publicly said that Kozak will not be available to work for a while.]

I have to outline the situation.

Several months ago, Ben mistook a genetically altered human for a "Nomlie" and attacked him in a hallway, breaking his arm. This caused some controversy concerning his punishment.

This individual was found dead today, and I discovered one of the victim's teeth near the door to his room as well as blood on the knob when I came to investigate. Ben tells me he was in his room all day.

There are individuals here capable of mind-control, and that was my first suspicion. My other is that he was in a fugue state and attacked someone without knowing it: that's why I want to know his mental coherency if you saw him. I need to eliminate possibilities.

Dr. Kozak is the victim, and Mr. Gaeta has no fondness for Ben because he resembles someone he is affectionate with.

[And Rhade sighs. Even with some benefit of the doubt, that kind of rules out Narvin's ability to help without bias or potential for contamination.]

[He remembers the Nomlies. That prisoner they hunted down in the forest - he was one. Back when Zack believed. The part of him that still does clenches his fists.

The teeth, that's what gives it away, but Zack knows about frame-ups; he's done enough of them. What he can't figure out is who would want to target Ben. He hasn't spent enough time here to know who's friend or foe, so everyone is a foe.

Tersely:] He wasn't turned, if that's what you're asking.

I see.

[Narvin narrows his eyes. Kozak is one of his workers, therefore one of his people, and so Narvin is angry at the idea of someone assaulting and killing him.]

And if Ben is responsible? He's attacked Kozak before.

He has. And every person he's attacked he's admitted to. The most obfuscation he ever used was not mentioning an attack, as with happened with Ladd. But when I confronted him, he admitted it. He wouldn't lie to me.

He claims that he was in his room. So the only alternatives are that he wasn't in control of his actions or someone knows Ben well.

I don't know who would know about him well enough to copycat him.

But it could be another way of narrowing it down. [He hates starting with virtually nothing. Maybe other people can help.]

The former could be tested by a telepathic scan.

Has he ever told anyone? Maybe during one of those floods where we all start talking too much?

If he agrees to it, I've enlisted the assistance of Charles Xavier. But I can't force a mental intrusion on my inmate, especially when he's terrified of being mentally reprogrammed. [Which is why he'll be especially angry if that's what happened.]

[He cocks his head and switches to private.]

You don't trust me, do you. [He's noticed that Rhade is keeping him a bit at arms length for this investigation.]

For the record, I've never accessed Ben's mind. [Although Narvin would say the same thing even if he had.]

"Turned"? How do you mean?

[Rhade is meaning that Ben might have acted without being himself.] As in Manticore? No. I don't think it was that. Recently there was a flood where he was successfully indoctrinated back into Manticore, and afterwards he panicked because he couldn't stand that way of thinking.

Between that, the reunion with a sibling, and the fact that someone he was fond of had her entire mindset altered I would be willing to consider he may have acted without remembering it. But if it's unlikely from what you've seen, then I'll have to keep investigating other avenues.

Do you blame me? You would say that even if you had. [He knows you, Narvin.] You would say that even if you didn't know you had.

Robert is a very good friend of mine. He has been for some time, and Ben knows it. I have directly raised the point to him that he's not a "Nomlie" and Ben fully understood. This was a very specific conversation.

So why would he attack him again?

I don't think he was affected for that. It's hard to tell.

I'll ask him directly.

[And he adds later...]

Alex has offered to join our rotation.

Edited 2013-05-11 05:15 (UTC)

[Narvin's lip twitches in a hint of a bitter smirk. Yes, Rhade knows him well.]

This Blue Lady superstition of his seems to have quite a hold over him. Could someone have used that against him? If I were to attempt to control him through non-telepathic means, that's what I would do.

Even when the Blue Lady herself were here, in his perception, he told me. He didn't lie to me about what he did.

He may be a killer, but he's a better man than either of us. He would have been honest about his actions, even when they are violent and misguided.

[Zack has no frame of reference for anything that happens on the Barge, so his instincts immediately return to his training. If somebody's been forcibly changed, it's PsyOps, and PsyOps means they've been turned. That's how he begins to grasp the concept.

He feels pride (I would rather die than go back there) and then an immense, overwhelming grief. It's only been a few months but the wound is raw, Tinga is the salt. Ben had chosen to die rather than go back. Zack would have seen it as quitting, not trying hard enough, but the truth was if he'd been in that situation, he would have chosen the same path.]

He's fine. Whatever they're saying, he didn't do it.

[Sharp, barely restrained anger. And fear too, that his brother will be taken from him if he's wrong. So he just won't be wrong.]

Then I need to find proof that he didn't, so that he won't be mistreated for a crime that he didn't commit.

I'm looking for proof, but I need help. The victim is my friend and Ben knew that. I don't know why he would have hurt him in spite of it, and there is even less of a chance he would lie about it.

[A hesitant pause. Nobody's ever treated them as people, with rights. Logan tried, and Zack's being forced to let Rhade in, just like with Logan. He doesn't want to, but this is Ben.]

I know how he pulls out the teeth. I can take a look.

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