The Merge: Agents and Powers Chapter 2: Agents Abroad

[kirinke]

Amy

"I can imagine." she said sympathetically. "One of the reasons why I run with adults personally. Whenever I'm on my own, I tend to get into more trouble than I can handle." she admitted and nodded to the others. "Having adults around tends to keep me from making really stupid mistakes." she chuckled. "I'm no super-genius, but I'm a bit above average in intelligence. So I passed out of high-school early and I get the impulsive part." she told the man.

"Anything else you might know about him?" she asked casually.

[jmucchiello]

Adeleth tries not to nod as Amy speaks, but fails.

[Tony Jones]

Just for the record, Lilly is making sure that nothing said in the room is audible to anyone other than the professor and the rest of the group.

[pathfinderq1]

Viv DeLaCourte (Harbinger)
HP: 1; LP: 0; Condition: Normal

Viv gave Amy a slight flickering side eye but didn't break from the pace of her conversation. The bigger question was- how much to tell him, how to phrase things...

"I believe that we ought to tell you that young Mr. Dibbern may be involved in some, shall we say, unsavory activities. Word on the street is that he is in the business of providing Enhancements to some less-than-reputable people. Whether this is true or not, some other less-than-reputable people believe that it is true- so he may be in danger. We need to locate him, but we also need to understand what he has ACTUALLY been up to, and what he is capable of- that may help us mitigate the difficulties he is in." She paused, looking at the Professsor more directly. "Do you know where he might be? Anything about any particular projects he is involved in, or discussed with you, even in a hypothetical sense?"

>OOC: Persuasion, if needed is 26 with mastery, or 31 if her Attractive (Exotic) would apply. Trying to cut to the chase a bit.

[kirinke]

Amy

Just going for the sympathetic role, rather than the business here. Amy told Viv mentally. I'll keep it to a minimum though.

[Neo-Paladin]

" He's done some work on cybernetics", Schütte says, " Apparently, he was fascinated by the concept even before the Merge. He did some short essays on the subject beforehand. At the age of 8,9. Then came the Merge and all this additional knowledge came flooding in. These days, cybernetics research and development has been advanced tremendously because in other dimensions, people had already done the groundwork. He pretty much devoured everything he could get his hands on once he got access to the university libraries. Stark's work, some studies on Borg nanotechnology, the works..."

He pauses for a moment before adding, in a quieter voice, " I held him back intentionally. Tried to deflect some of his more outrageous ideas. Made him take some of the basic courses just so he would get to be around other students."
Another pause, then, " I am not surprised he's doing what he's doing. He certainly is skilled enough. It's his impatience at work. Of course, no one would let a 14-year-old operate, especially with experimental technology. He likely got frustrated."

[kirinke]

Amy

"What about his views on 'ethics'?" she asked.

[Neo-Paladin]

" It's complicated with him. He's been taking mandatory ethics classes and, in a way, he genuinely wants to help humanity. But he also thinks most humans are not smart enough to understand what is the best course of action." He pauses and rubs his nose.
" Also, he thinks that mankind in its normal, unaugmented form, is doomed to exitinction anyway."

[kirinke]

Amy

She shared a glance with Viv and sighed. Off the charts intelligence, impatience, arrogance and a nihilistic attitude towards humanity. He's a tyke nuke waiting to go Defcon 1. she mentally shared with Viv, Adeleth and Lilly.

[jmucchiello]

Adeleth thinks back, And yet he isn't actually our quarry. He didn't kill anyone that we're aware of.

[kirinke]

Amy

I hope he didn't as well. she mentally told her.

[Tony Jones]

Lily starts slightly when Amy starts speaking mentally and relaying what the others are thinking.

He may not have killed Alien Queen himself, but he gave someone the enhancements - the weapons - to do so, she thinks to the others, her mental voice even richer and more choir-like than her normal speaking voice. And even if we stop the actual killer do we have any reason to believe that he will stop with them? That he will not make another, and another, and another, each one more deadly than the last as he perfects his craft?

Also, if he is doing this to other people, how much has he secretly augmented himself? Doing so would be entirely in keeping with his expressed beliefs, after all...

[jmucchiello]

Adeleth replies, We don't arrest the manufacturers of weapons when those weapons are used to commit a crime. We should stop him for practicing medicine without a license. But that is independent of whomever killed Alien Queen.

[Tony Jones]

Would you arrest people who are manufacturing weapons without a license? asked Lilly. Assuming people here need such a thing. Given how your society seems to work I am guessing children are not allowed to manufacture weapons. Or perform medicine? Also, are there limits on who weapons can be sold to that he could be breaking? Not to people he knows want to commit violence with them? Or who are mad?

But you are right too, that is independent of who killed Alien Queen. But potentially a much bigger problem if he is allowed to continue unimpeded...

[kirinke]

Amy

We don't know for sure if it is Markus, but he is a time bomb waiting to happen. So talking to him and keeping him off that path is a good thing, even if he didn't do anything wrong. This is what gathering evidence is all about. We don't know for sure. she mentally told them. We can do both.