Ch 16, Page 31
Nov19
Blue’s last words…yeah, keep them in mind for later.
Note: Altered dialogue a tiny bit in this one years later.
The Dragon Doctors
Battling evil and curing what ails you!
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Blue’s last words…yeah, keep them in mind for later.
Note: Altered dialogue a tiny bit in this one years later.
… Daaaaaaaaaaaayum…
I sometimes make a list in my mind, when reading or watching a story, of people not to fuck with. Guess who made it there.
Most of the main cast should be on that list by now. I wonder how many more will make it there in the future?
I have a “How to Take Down A Character if Necessary” list spanning multiple works.
If my plans will involve someone, I want to know how to deal with them.
It’s the whole “don’t bring up what you can’t put down” idea.
So far I’ve been right 100% of the time.
I’ve only had a few time to be right, but it’s still impressive.
Blue could star in her own detective show. It’s be like Blue’s Clues, only with way more criminal murder, nudity, and allusions to her cannibalistic past.
…actually, considering Blue, Magenta, the spice family, etc., it may have LESS nudity than Blue’s Clues.
holy….
And her sexiness index just keeps climbing. I highly doubt she committed matricide for kicks, it was mostly likely for survival with how bad her homeworld sounds.
So they just violated every part of due process (I’m assuming this era has at least the legal protections for suspects of modern America), violated the suspect’s body and soul permanently, threatened the suspect with death if they use the legal system legally.
And Blue is supposed to be the last honest cop?
I recognize that the enemies they are facing are ruthless, but this goes beyond “acceptable” ethical and moral grey areas in fiction.
The legal system is one of the foundations of a society. Any half-way decent lawyer with an honest judge and jury could get the case thrown out with the level of police and “helper” misconduct involved, but Blue issued a death threat should this happen.
Yes, Francis Brill is guilty, but under the precedents about illegally obtained evidence (“Fruit of the Poisonous Tree”) almost all the evidence is now inadmissible in court.
Since Francis is in prison now, he got convicted. That was a miscarriage of justice. Not because of guilt, but because of the precedent this sets.
In the United States we’ve seen what happens when getting the “bad guy” takes precedence over the law and rights of the accused. How is it any different here?
I think one of the main plot points here is that this was *not* about legality. Blue said it herself, earlier, Brill has a weapon that they cannot take away, that he is willing and able to use to kill people. I would say that Blue is morally and even psuedo-legally justified to kill the ever-loving crap out of him, just like a cop shooting an armed subject. This whole thing was essentially an extremely ruthless act of self-defense, and defense of others.
The tattoo’s weren’t strictly legal either, they were a mercy. Blue gave him the option of dying immediately, or allowing himself to be disarmed. Again, perfectly legal, especially if they can prove that he was a threat afterward.
And as far as I can see, the only threat she made outside of forcing Francis to disarm himself was warning him of the consequences of trying to go back to the gang, and that wasn’t on her at all. The price of working for evil people is that they are perfectly willing to kill you the second you become inconvenient. Francis is useless, and he has dangerous information. At this point, the only person who *wants* him alive is blue.
A police officer knows a suspect (not convicted of any crime) has a weapon that can’t be taken away from him. So she mutilates his body to make him unable to use it and her criminal (it’s the equivalent of limb amputation, the Doctors aren’t above the law) accomplices refuse to undo the damage he accidentally took trying to flee from an unjust arrest. Then she threatens to murder him in cold blood him if the legal system finds him not guilty.
Remind me again how the laws and protections of society don’t cover certain people? We’ve seen what happens when law enforcement puts “taking down the bad guys” over “protect and serve.” He was a bad guy, sure, but what about next time? If there was a fair trial he’d be found not guilty simply because of all the blatant violations of his civil rights.
I’d be fine with them killing him (story-wise) if they accepted it was murder and were willing to face the consequences, but this? This is the kind of thinking that gets suspects tortured, evidence forged, false conviction after false conviction. I know this story isn’t real life, but that doesn’t stop it from being injustice. Due process makes it harder to gather evidence and convict to protect the INNOCENT and the civil rights of everyone. Who’s to say a cop won’t use Blue’s actions as precedent? Should the innocent suffer because a guilty person could have walked free?
I’m a bit late, but… she didn’t threaten to murder him if he was found not guilty – she merely pointed out that his previous employers would do so. He’s useless to them now, after all, and knows too much…
But yes, there are definitely legal issues in Blue’s handling of this. That’s just not part of it (well, not since she brought him in for tattooing, at least).
(No problem, I commented because I wanted to start a discussion)
The way I see it Blue decided that the threat of having his employers turn on him (apparently one of the magic-users with the most potential power is unable to undo body/soul tattoos Frankie would be useful as long as there’s even a chance of getting his abilities back), and added the “killed and ate her own mother” part as an added threat. Basically “if they don’t kill you I will.”
And I’m pretty sure they violated every single one of Frankie’s civil rights when it comes to due process (under the American Constitution). I know he’s guilty, but I’d still want a mistrial declared because civil rights apply to everyone. Anyone who’s paid attention to the numerous police scandals that flood the news about what happens when “getting the bad guy” becomes more important than due process should be disgusted by Blue’s actions. And yet none of the characters feel the slightest bit of shame because Frankie “deserved it.” What if next time Blue’s wrong and an innocent person gets mutilated? What if another cop uses this as precedent or an excuse? I know it’s fiction, but abuse of power by those in authority is one of my berserk buttons.