animus_network

[After a long month spent gathering information, pouring over the guide to the Tower he found, and generally just trying to gather his bearings, Mello decides to turn to the network at long last. He never did like the idea of a completely solitary investigation.]

How's it going, Tower? Everyone been having fun? Great. Down to business.

First off, let me say that you're just about the craziest bunch of kidnapping victims I've ever had the displeasure of living with.

I mean, come on. Weddings? Birthday celebrations? I know that people have an innate need to try and make unmanageable situations as normal as possible, but surely there are better things you all could be doing with your time.

Now, this might come as a shock, but I'm not content to sit here and leave myself to the mercy of my kidnappers. I've already read that guide that some of you have put together, so don't bother explaining how dangerous the place is to me, or how there's no way out, or blah, blah, blah. However, if anyone has info on hand that hasn't yet been added to the guide, feel free to cough it up. If our hosts have allowed you to write up that guide in the first place, I'm sure they won't mind my asking for a little more elaboration, right?

Information is key, especially in a place where nothing seems to make sense. I fully intend to make use of it and find a way out. You're free to join me, if any of you are up for it.

All right, now time for a question.

I've heard that we all come from different worlds. That isn't normally something I'd believe, but since I've arrived here, I've seen a ton of strange things, so I'll bite. In the interest of finding out which "universe" I'm from, give me an answer: have any of you heard of a mass murderer named Kira? He kills people - criminals - with heart attacks. Just in case any of you are from one of those "alternate timelines" and Kira hasn't yet reared his ugly head, have any of you heard of a detective named L?

Regards.

-M

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Switching bodies? The colors of the liquid in their collars? Mello's hand comes up to scratch lightly at the skin around his collar, which is filled with yellow liquid. Orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, clear... Those are the ones he's seen, and he read about red-collared workers, but he's never seen them with his own eyes.]

If you're telling me the truth, then... No, I doubt you're lying. So, what did you figure out about the collars? There has to be some sort of pattern they follow when they put these things on us.

[And then there's the matter of the administrator that leaked the tape, Dax. While Jason is the one Mello's heard the most negative things about, Dax seems to be held in rather high regard. He supposes that, if he did something like that, it would be only natural for the people he was holding captive to think of him as a beacon of hope, but it doesn't sit right with Mello.

He speaks again, his voice a low mutter that barely makes it to the mic.] I see... So Dax is the good cop, and Jason is the bad one, huh?

[Yeah, he doesn't trust Dax even for a second, and he's never even met the guy.]

I'm not completely sure but it has to do with what powers we have. Those of us with orange collars have no magic or supernatural powers, wheras those with Violet do. But this isn't always the case.

[There was a few more moments of quiet while he took the completely destroyed pieces to the bin, before returning.] Early last year there was an experiment, or accident but I think it was most likely the former, where the liquid in our collars was mixed up. Mine. [He gestured to his orange collar] Turned Violet, I felt like there was a great weight on me, I couldn't move, talking was difficult and I feared that my body would just stop breathing.

Those who switched the other way reported that they felt lightheaded and their powers went out of control. So I believe there is more to it than just affecting and controlling any magic we may have.

It has to do with our powers...

[Mello's voice is nothing but a low mutter as he thinks this over. He's just a normal human, but he has a yellow collar. Could it be the Death Note? It's strange to think that a person's possessions could help determine what sort of fluid they need in their collars, but it's the only explanation he can think of. No matter how impressive his intellect, he doesn't think it would change his "ranking," so to speak, from orange to yellow.

He raises his voice to a more normal volume.]

If that's the case, then it might have to do with how much... Let me say "pressure." With how much pressure is required to keep our abilities in check? Yeah, if the violet ones who went to orange lost control of themselves, I'd say that's probably what it is.

The question now is, just what is the stuff in our collars that's keeping us all in check? And how is it affecting us from outside our bodies..?

I guess so yes, there was a time in June where we had no collar checkups, the liquid wasn't replaced, we got dizzy and light headed and I believe for those with powers their powers began going out of control.

I have no idea what it is now... but I believe it is going inside our bodies and not affecting us from the outside.

Inside..?

[Mello's hands fly back up to his collar, and he tries once again to squeeze his fingers underneath it. They slide around the edges and over the tubes flowing with liquid, but he can find no leeway. If the liquid is going inside their bodies, though, it would have to be through some sort of puncture wound, perhaps something like an IV. Is that what the collar check-ups he read about in the welcome notes are for? Replenishing a supply of liquid that's being slowly fed into their bloodstreams?

He doesn't like that idea at all. The very thought is enough to make his skin crawl, and a scowl falls over his face. He doesn't want some foreign substance inside his body, he doesn't want to imagine how the Death Note effects his status, and most of all, he doesn't want to be in this tower.

He tries to keep his voice even and measured, but there's a notable tremble in his tone when he speaks again. It's not at all scared, though; it's easy to tell that Mello is angry.]

How the hell are they getting this shit inside us? [He takes in a breath to try and calm himself (it doesn't work), and goes on.] That guide said that there's overwhelming evidence that taking these collars off will kill us. Do you know why?

I didn't see it myself. [It had happened just before he was given the Turk pin, when he had been drifting and barely living, not able to deal with what had happened after the labyrinth.] But Reno saw, over the network someone asked Jason to remove their collar, they died immediately, crumpling up like the pressure here was too much for them.

They did have puncture wounds around their neck, though as far as I could tell when I was in my dead world I wore no collar and my neck had no marks.

But it is difficult to tell truth from illusion here.

[Mello stares at the terminal like it's committed some grave transgression against him. His hands, which are hovering over his collar, are trembling lightly from barely-concealed anger. Anger at being held captive, anger at being collared up like a dog, anger at not knowing whether or not to trust this secondhand information from a complete stranger, but a stranger who's been here longer than he has.

Anger at the hopelessness he's starting to feel.]

Yeah, well, let's hope this is an illusion.

[Mello pauses for a minute, and it's a pregnant pause, as a million different things fight for attention in his mind. None of those thoughts make it to his mouth, however, and instead, he sits up from the terminal in a way that makes the chair slide noisily over the floor.]

I gotta go. I have some thinking to do.

[And he flicks off the voice feed without waiting for a response.]

[Shion blinked wondering what he had said to upset him. But he didn't try and contact him again, merely concentrated on finishing tidying up the mess, before going and searching for Reno.]

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