Ninth: A Tactical Decision (Text; anon)

[corpsewarblade]

(TW: Murder/Sororicide, Betrayal, DR Spoilers)

[The last few months had given Mukuro a lot to think about- especially with regard to her own death back home. One part still didn't make any sense to her:

What had she done wrong? Why had Junko killed her?

...It was with those thoughts swimming around in her head that she sent another late night message to the network.]

27 AUG XX, 0324

Reviewing the strategy from a recent battle at home. I want to understand the rational for the decisions taken.

A soldier is engaged in a stealth/undercover mission. However, they have made a mistake that risks the operation's success, and have not realised their error.

The mission commander is in a position to eliminate the operative to preserve their mission, without exposing themselves in the process.

Is that course of action reasonable? To put it another way- under what circumstances would you consider sacrificing one of your own men to ensure a mission's success or to prevent it's failure?

Don't feel you have to answer.


🔪

Comments

[corpsewarblade]

No she wasn't. She needed me and the failure was on me.

[That was the only reason, wasn't it? She died because she'd done something wrong- or, maybe, because Junko wanted to feel the despair of killing her.

But it was more likely because she'd disappointed her somehow, right?]

[angel_of_death]

[He is not dissuaded by her rebuttal. He will not be deterred.]

Were there any among those she commanded as devoted to their task as you? Was there a single one among them who could have served as a better sword or shield?

Name them.

Name one.

Anon Text -> Anon Text (Private) [DR2 Spoilers]

[corpsewarblade]

[Each word was like a little cut- immediately, she tried to scramble for an answer.]

One of my upperclassmen was a better swordswoman. Another could impersonate people better than me.

[A pause, before she locked the feed- mostly for the sake of the people she named, even if they weren't here.]

Peko Pekoyama, the Ultimate Swordswoman and
They had no name but had the title of Ultimate Imposter.

I was
Her bodyguard. Her right hand.
No one understood her like I did.

(Private)

[angel_of_death]

Then she ought to have put the Ultimate Imposter on the task of going undercover, or at least had them train you.

[She obviously didn't do one, and he's got a very strong impression that she didn't do the other, either.]

So, what enemy was so fearsome that they could possibly be worth putting you on the operation instead? And in that situation, why kill you to prevent your cover from being blown instead of letting you fight? Why bother to put a combatant like you on the task if she was only going to kill you if you slipped up on your acting performance?

There's really only one thing I can think of that would make that decision make any sense.

[corpsewarblade]

[Mukuro stared at the rest of the words, the comments rattling around in her head and she just couldn't answer them. She couldn't really find any answer that made any sort of sense- so instead, she fixated on his last comment.

What reason did he think she'd have for killing her?]

What's that?

(Private text)

[angel_of_death]

[It's here that he switches over to text communication. This is a statement he wants her to be able to read properly. Let her read it over and over again if she must.]

You weren't placed into that situation for your fighting prowess. You weren't put there because you were a skilled spy or imposter. You were put there for the one trait you had that no one even approached touching you on.

Your loyalty. Your unflinching, unquestioning loyalty.

You dying wasn't because of your failure to follow the plan. It was part of the plan to begin with. You simply were not told.

[corpsewarblade]

[Read it over and over again she did.

Over...and over...

She was loyal to Junko. Mukuro had always been loyal to Junko. His assessment wasn't incorrect on that, and she could follow his reasoning that far. It made sense.

But...]

part of the plan to begin with

[After about an hour, all she could manage was to echo back his own words to him.]

[angel_of_death]

Was there not a way the apparent death of the person you were playing could benefit her?

[corpsewarblade]

[Her head was spinning. It was for the best that she'd privated the feed earlier- in the state she was in right now, she wouldn't think to do that. And the fact she could answer that question...that only gave ammunition to Walter's theory.]

I was acting as her. She could fake her death. Further conceal her involvement.

Cause me and herself despair. The despair of being killed by/killing your twin sister.

[She didn't want to accept that. But would Junko be happy, knowing she was in such despair over all of this?]