Court Records

"I am still uncertain about ReactorBot's movements. It sounded like it arrived at the auditorium, then left for the control room, then went back to the auditorium again?"

"No, I'm pretty sure it just went from the control room to the auditorium and stayed there indefinitely."

"When did ReactorBot go to the auditorium..? I didn't notice it there when I arrived...perhaps I just missed it."

"Well, there was a lot of rubble there... Maybe you just didn't see it." Otto remarked.

((It should have still been there. I just forgot to mention it.))

"Hmph, rather unfortunate that suspicion is falling my way," Oscar frowns. "But more importantly, I believe Jack saw the bot well enough after he split off from his group, so it was certainly in the auditorium. I'm... unsure what that's supposed to tell us. Was it not simply patrolling for trash, or did it have some other reason being there?"

"Maybe someone lured it there somehow so they could use the control room? We saw what happened the last time one of us got close to that thing..." She glanced at Keri worriedly, then to V.A.L.

"I was wondering myself if Kyle could have been transported inside of ReactorBot..." Keri suggested uncertainly. "It does have a large door on its front."

"Otherwise... well, returning to the rope, where exactly would it have led to in the facility?" she then asked openly. "Was it even possible to reach the reactor directly that way? The auditorium is the only area I know of that had holes in the ceiling directly exposing it to the sky. Even if Kyle went out using the rope, he would have had to have first been carried out through to the auditorium."

"I doubt that thing would have particularly cared if someone used the controls for the decontamination room," Otto remarked, "Especially since it had no way of knowing Mr. Crawford was inside... Though if I recall later, it did disappear while everyone was hiding from the bomb threat, correct?"

"Hmm... I do think Kyle could have fit inside the ReactorBot..." Otto mumbled.

"I mean, how would we know if the robot disappeared while everyone was hiding?" Urumi frowned. "Okay, so, if Kyle was moved inside that thing, someone would have had to get him out at the auditorium, right?"

"Bzzt, after Ultimate Oscar left the control room, he and Jack Jack were in the auditorium together until Ultimate Koichi went there too. But Ultimate Koichi, you said you only saw one person there, correct, bzzt?"

"Yes. I passed someone in a radiation suit, and didn't see anything or anyone else."

Franzise Deauxnim wrote:"I mean, how would we know if the robot disappeared while everyone was hiding?" Urumi frowned

"Well, it wasn't there when everyone came out, correct? I wasn't there, so I can't quite remember."

"Bzzt, I believe the person you saw was Jack Jack, and while he was searching and you were walking through, it was Ultimate Oscar climbing the rope with Kyle's body, bzzt," V.A.L. said.

"It was only myself, and Ultimates Koichi, Keri, and Oscar who could have known Kyle was near us, as we heard his announcement and knew steel was blocking our communication with the others above, bzzt. He left soon after we exited the lockers, and although it only took Ultimate Koichi a few minutes to get to the lockers, somehow Ultimate Oscar was unsuiting at around the same time, bzzt, meaning he took longer to get to the lockers. I believe the delay was returning Kyle's body to the ship, bzzt."

((The figure Koichi saw was definitely Oscar, they saw each other unsuit. Jack was also in the basement around that time.))

((The evidence timeline might be a little wrong then? Or I'm reading it wrong.))

"If I might speak for myself?" Oscar huffs, seemingly offended. "After we ran out of things to do downstairs, I thought I might want to do a little investigating of my own before unsuiting. Though aside from all the debris and a hole in the ceiling, seems there wasn't much of interest. As I was leaving I'm sure it was Koichi I saw entering the auditorium. Certainly was him that showed up at the lockers. What a thing to say, it was most certainly me..."

"Well, either way, it looks like we've done a pretty good job of figuring things out now," Otto remarked, "So, only one question remains?"

He paused for dramatic effect and then added, "Who killed Kyle Crawford?"

"Bzzt, Ultimate Urumi, Bryan, can you two corroborate each other being at the lockers and unsuiting at the same time?" V.A.L. asked. "Neither of you left, bzzt?"

"Yeah, he was there," Urumi nodded. "I mean, we split up to search during the actual investigation, obviously, but he was there when we took the suits off and Jack's the only one that left again after that."

.

"Yep, Urumi and I were together after the search. Jack was the only one who left," Bryan confirmed, crossing his arms. "And yeah, like she said, we did split up, but we did run into one another every so often, so I doubt any of us wandered off during that time."

V.A.L. shook it's head. "I cannot see it being anyone outside Ultimates Oscar, Koichi, and Jack, bzzt."

"Please, what do you all think?" The robot asked, struggling.

"I... think that makes sense," Keri said hesitantly. "Um... if it helps, we have yet to find out what caused the slash on Kyle's suit in the first place."

"Well... suppose the three of us are the only ones with the opportunity," Oscar wearily admits. "As for that slash on Kyle's suit, uh... Could it have simply been an accident? After all, the reactor was stated to be in terrible condition. Damaged while pushing through debris, maybe?"

KamiPanda wrote:"I... think that makes sense," Keri said hesitantly. "Um... if it helps, we have yet to find out what caused the slash on Kyle's suit in the first place."

"Couldn't that have just been caused when he was searching the reactor or climbed down from the blimp through the ceiling?" Urumi pursed her lips. "Or are we not going with that theory? I'm... a little lost on what we think actually happened..."

"Indeed, it was probably just something in the reactor," Otto explained, "I already mentioned this earlier."

"I will say, if the killer is Oscar or I, our actions would be very strange. After returning Kyle's body to the blimp, we would have both descended from the blimp another time to head to the auditorium..."

"You are quite right Urumi, perhaps that is what happened," Keri said. "And... an earlier theory was that Kyle wanted to avoid a painful death at the hands of the radiation he accidentally received. So then, perhaps he privately asked one of us in the control room, using the suit communicators, to grant him a mercy, by using the decontamination room to allow him to pass on in relative peace?" she then suggested. "Nobody murdered him, they simply granted him that one wish... Afterwards they used ReactorBot to transport his body out to the auditorium, where they then carried him back to the blimp. We never did find out what Oscar was up to for all that time after he left; there was a full 10 minute period within which he was entirely unaccounted for."

"A mercy kill, then..?"

"Yeah, I thought we'd already agreed on all of that..." Otto mumbled.

"I suppose... if anyone had climbed back up the rope, they would have gotten grime on their hands?" Keri suggested. "Plus whoever did this would also need to pilot the blimp back down to the entrance, which would have resulted in more grime..."

"Bzzt, Otto, would any liquid wash off the grime from the steering wheel?" V.A.L. asked.

"No way, that stuff really was packed on there!" Otto said, "Though I imagine that normally it would, yes."

"Anyway, let's see if anyone has Pringles dust on their hands! Surely we'll smoke out the scoundrel that way!"

Everyone holds out their hands on threat of mild pain. However, they're all totally clean!

"...Huh. That's weird."

"Bzzt, yes, well, I meant if any liquid could wash the pringles dust from the hands, bzzt," V.A.L. clarified. "Because I am wondering...if the Ottopoison was used by the killer to wash their hands, bzzt."

"It would clean their hands and make it look like the poison was used to kill Kyle, bzzt."

"Kyle's room DID have a sink in it... but I'm guessing someone would have heard it if they tried to use that? Though there's always the regular bathroom we've been using near the bedrooms, isn't there?"

"I was wondering if there was an application for the Ottopoison in this case, but would that truly suffice in cleaning a hand?"

"Would someone really use a bottle of poison to wash their hands when there was a sink nearby anyway?" Urumi frowned.

"It is unlikely, bzzt," V.A.L. conceded. "I feel like we are missing something, bzzt, that will make it evident who killed Kyle."

"Only reason to opt for poison over a sink would be if someone desperately wanted to be discreet," Oscar suggests. "Which I'd only see that being necessary if they still had grime on their hands upon returning to the facility. We all more or less rushed to Kyle's room afterwards, so perhaps there wasn't time to duck out?"

"Well, were you not the one to find the Ottopoison..?" Koichi asked suspiciously.