| ◄ |  Transcript
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General |  Reviews
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| From the Outlaws' Perspective | |
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| General information | |
| Season | 1 |
| City | Neptonia, USA |
| District | Pretone Point |
| Case # | 1 |
| Initial release date | 17th August 2021 |
| Partner(s) | Astoria Diaz & Wade Morales (Chapters 1‒3) Trina Everset (Chapter 2 & 3) Blaze Artemis (Chapter 3) |
| Case chronology | |
| ← Preceded by | Succeeded by → |
| - | Zapped to the Core |
| “ | A scavenger comes back to Neptonia after years to unravel the dark secrets of the city. Even though the individual's failed attempt doesn't convince an outlaw to join their team, the latter's spouse's death brings five people together, who start a mission to find the government's involvement in the recent mysterious events. | „ |
| —Case Teaser |
From the Outlaws' Perspective is a case featured in Criminal Case as the first case of Into a Dystopian Universe (Season 1). It is the first case to take place in the Pretone Point district.
Plot[]
On May 13, 2055, a person completely unknown to the central database discovered the legendary outlaw, former Neptonia PD chief Astoria Diaz's temporary hideout that was situated at the edge of Pretone Point. As it took a few months for the individual to find Astoria, they immediately confronted her to sell their plan of toppling the corrupted government together in order to ensure their society's well-being. But, the outlaw was hell-bent on proving her loyalty to the said government and rudely asked them to leave. So, the stranger attempted to blackmail her, but Astoria held them at gunpoint, which prompted the disappointed individual to leave.
On August 17, 2055, Astoria met with former Neptonia PD team coordinator Wade Morales in an abandoned shopping complex, who had been on the run with her since 2050, to discuss their next destination since the security was getting tighter around the district. Wade cautiously suggested they go to Astoria's apartment to plan, and she nodded, leading him to her hideout via a longer route. They soon closed the distance between them and a two-story building standing in the most underdeveloped area of the outlaws' paradise. Astoria scurried to the living room and turned on the light as Wade screamed in horror, noticing Astoria's wife, mechanic Bella Diaz sitting dead on the couch with a puncture wound on her neck.
Astoria, unable to accept Bella's death, began shaking her lifeless body tearfully, and Wade stood there watching her as some of his traumatic memories returned to him. Despite her anguish, Astoria whimpered quietly, careful not to make any loud noises that could lead to their arrest. Suddenly, hearing cautious footsteps approaching them, Wade prepared his handgun and took cover behind the door. Astoria tried to compose herself and followed him. A familiar face entered the room, who turned out to be the same individual who had accosted Astoria almost two months prior. Astoria suspected that they were involved in Bella's murder and shut the door behind her, aiming her gun at the person who quickly hid behind a bookshelf. Wade moved quickly and jumped on Astoria, falling with her on the floor to prevent her from shooting the person. They then shouted that they just wanted to talk and that Bella could still be alive if Astoria had listened to them. When asked to elaborate by Wade, who had taken Astoria's revolver, the individual claimed that the government was corrupt and that it was hiding a lot of secrets that were dark enough for them to resort to questionable methods—as murder—to keep them hidden. Introducing themselves as a former private detective codenamed Player, they then explained that while investigating unsolved murder cases in 2051, they had learned that the government had been potentially involved in those, and that there had been no information about the victims in the database, similar to how scavengers—people who had been driven out of the city by the government for breaking laws—were treated. So the player looked into it, only to be marked as an outlaw and a scavenger in 2053 despite not committing crimes. The player barely survived the hostile environment since Neptonia was the only place in the world that wasn't destroyed by natural calamities and had a protective dome-shaped shield of neopolycarbonate glass that disallowed the scavengers from returning. The incidents raised the veteran detective's suspicions, as they had realized that the scavengers were innocent people who had discovered that something had been wrong with the government, and they decided to go back to Neptonia and form a team of outlaws—who were most likely to share their feelings—to stop the government's injustice. They then offered the duo a deal: if they helped them find Bella's killer, they would help them with their plan. Willing to find the killer and being unable to think properly, Astoria nodded as she was determined to get revenge. Wade handed back the revolver, advising her to take a break and spend time with their child, Payton Diaz, but she was adamant about investigating the murder herself, so he reluctantly agreed. After Astoria left the room, Wade asked the player about the scavengers and how they had come back to the city, and they followed Astoria after replying that no one had been alive to tell them their story and that they didn't want to remember how they had gotten inside since the memories still haunted them.
The murder investigation started with Astoria accompanying the player in searching the crime scene and Wade calling surgeon Trina Everset to handle the autopsy. Trina had worked as a doctor for the solder recruit program, which had begun in 2054, but after witnessing the other doctors using violent methods to treat their patients, she had escaped from the facility and had subsequently been labeled an outlaw. The trio initially suspected two people: Payton, whose alibi of listening to music in eir room during the murder enraged Astoria, and courier Violen Storm, one of the few people the Diaz family trusted. After that, the team found a photo in Bella's workshop featuring mechanic Adriana Sadler, whom Astoria recognized as ex-convict Fawkes Melrose. Upon confronting her, Astoria revealed that she had arrested Fawkes in 2049 for breaking into a website containing government-related confidential information and accused her of being Bella's murderer. She then grabbed Fawkes by the collar, and she struggled to free herself, explaining that she had worked for Bella under an alias only because she had had no other choice to support herself and her severely ill single mother, Leslie Melrose, since her criminal record hadn't allowed her to get a job anywhere. Astoria clenched her teeth and whispered that she didn't care about her mother and that criminals like her should spend their entire life behind bars. Fawkes' face hardened, and she remarked that she could say the same about the legendary outlaw, since the latter had been charged with multiple murders, robberies, and drug trafficking in 2050. Astoria pushed Fawkes to the ground and looked away, trying to calm herself down. Wade stated with a cold tone that she shouldn't have done it and helped Fawkes stand up, and the latter said that Astoria had always been unfair since she hadn't given her a chance to explain that she had accidentally hacked into the website six years ago and had put her in prison. The next four years had been very hard for Leslie, as she had misunderstood Fawkes the entire time and had lost her husband in the apocalypse of 2045. The team then left her alone and questioned anarchist Javier Garcia, who had vandalized the aforementioned workshop earlier that day. A while later, Trina expressed her disgust for autopsying bodies by stating that she preferred saving lives and showed her dark, humorous side as she deduced that the killer was left-handed and that they had used a dart to commit the murder.
A while later, the trio, along with Trina, went to a real estate office after Astoria revealed that Bella had gone there the previous day. Real estate agent Dixie Mentirosa and environmental activist Ayelet Torin were then added to the suspect list since Dixie had helped the Diaz family multiple times by finding them apartments around Bella's workshop, despite never recognizing Bella due to her disguise and hating her secretive nature, which was why the victim had always been able to keep her job, while Ayelet had put Bella on her blacklist for using an illegal reactor that was infamous for polluting the environment by producing a great amount of GHG to power up her workshop. Eventually, the quartet discovered that Violen was a technology and weapons smuggler and that he had threatened Bella for not paying for the stuff she had bought from him. Besides, Fawkes had gotten into an argument with Bella since the latter had found out her real identity and had fired her, even though Fawkes had requested her multiple times not to.
The four united in an alley to meet Trina's friend, car stealer Blaze Artemis, where Astoria leaned against a wall and Wade silently stared at the heavily clouded, dark sky. After a few minutes, Blaze arrived and hugged Trina before informing them that he had spotted Payton with Javier, as he had convinced em that his anarchist group would find em eir adoptive mother's murderer. Astoria stated that it had to be one of Javier's tricks to recruit Payton into his group since ey was naive and good with technology. Following Blaze, the quintet soon found Payton sitting on a bench inside a destroyed cafeteria, who explained to Astoria that ey had tried to figure out if the anarchists were responsible for the murder. The explanation both relieved and angered Astoria, and she ordered em to go home, reminding em that ey was still associated with outlaws, which was why it was very dangerous for em to be in public. Later on, they pinpointed Javier's location before Astoria, Wade, and the player confronted him, as Blaze and Trina stayed behind to look for clues. The anarchist smirked and stated that he had just wanted to help Payton since he had considered Payton one of his own people for being an outlaw and because he was tired of seeing a bunch of corrupted people acting as the city's law enforcers who were even less efficient in solving crimes than his group. The trio then returned to the city center and learned from Trina and Blaze that Ayelet had broken inside Bella's workshop to steal the reactor, and that Dixie had developed unrequited romantic feelings for Bella long ago, which had eventually faded away.
Finally, Javier turned out to be the killer, who found it ironic that five outlaws were arresting him for committing a crime. Enraged, Astoria pulled out her revolver, ordering him to explain his motives before threatening him with death. Wade grabbed her by her shoulder and reminded her that she was already a legendary outlaw and said that by shooting Javier she would be making the situation worse for both of them. Javier chuckled and advised Astoria to visit a therapist to work on her anger issues. Without giving her a chance to respond, Javier's voice turned cold, and he stated that he was genuinely surprised to see that she had failed to recognize him. He then claimed Astoria as the one who had made him ditch his morals and go down the wrong road after murdering someone close to him while trying to apprehend a group of robbers. Astoria's face slowly turned pale, and she remembered an event that had occurred six years ago. Wade took Astoria's changed expression into account and understood that the anarchist wasn't lying. When asked who the person was, tears rolled down Javier's cheeks as he shouted that it was his father Ricardo Garcia, whom Astoria had gunned down despite not having any involvement in the robbery, just because he had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. He revealed that it had taken him an entire month to find out how Ricardo had been a victim of racial profiling. He then asked Astoria if she cared about his late father, if she knew his name, or how much he meant to Javier. Shaking his head, he answered his questions himself by saying that if she had, she wouldn't have been blinded by power and shot Ricardo so easily.
Wiping his tears, Javier then laughed, saying that he had gotten revenge for Ricardo's murder by murdering Bella, since he had wanted to take Astoria's most valuable thing from her, just as she had done six years ago. Visibly shaken, Wade muttered that what had happened to Ricardo was unfair, but Astoria pushed him violently, asking how shooting a criminal to prevent them from committing more crimes in the future was unfair to him. Wade somehow managed not to fall down as he balanced himself, but completely lost his nerves for the first time. Remarking that Astoria had gone insane, he then told her that he was fed up with her and that she should try to change her attitude. Astoria claimed that Ricardo had to be a criminal since they hadn't found any information in the central database about him, and Wade pointed to the player, saying that their information had also been erased, but it was obvious that they weren't a criminal. After staring at him for a few seconds, Astoria moved fast and aimed her gun at Javier, but Trina, who had seen it coming, quickly tackled Astoria, preventing her from shooting Javier, who began running to escape. Trina pinned Astoria down, determined not to let her shoot Javier at any cost, since it would take away Astoria's every chance to prove herself innocent. Astoria hit Trina's back using her gun's handle, and she screamed in pain, which prompted Blaze to pull Astoria's hands behind her back and order her to drop the gun. As Astoria didn't listen, Blaze whispered that the only thing that wasn't stopping him from breaking her hands was that she was a woman, but if she pushed the situation more, he wouldn't hesitate to murder her, as he wouldn't tolerate anyone harming Trina. Intimidated by his chilly voice, Astoria groaned as her hands went numb and dropped her gun. Wade left, as he was very disappointed in Astoria, and the player stared at Javier, who was slowly fading out of sight. Blaze then picked up Astoria's revolver and threw it away before helping Trina stand up as he asked if she was alright. Trina nodded, even though her back was hurting, and left the place with Blaze, never looking back. Vengeful Astoria then repeatedly punched the ground, not being able to accept that Javier had escaped. The player shook their head, muttering that she had single-handedly destroyed their plan to form a team to fight against the government.
Leaving Astoria alone, the player walked aimlessly through the streets, as they recalled how they had recruited multiple other people since June 2054.
Summary[]
Victim(s)[]
- Bella Diaz (Found dead with a puncture wound on her neck)
Murder Weapon[]
- Dart
Killer[]
- Javier Garcia
Suspects[]
Quasi-Suspect(s)[]
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Killer's Profile[]
- The Killer takes energy pills.
- The Killer is left-handed.
- The Killer is scared of the dark.
- The Killer has green eyes.
- The Killer's blood type is AB-.
Crime Scenes[]
| Astoria's Hideout | Living Room | Astoria's Hideout Bonus |
| Victim's Workshop | Vehicle Repair Sectiom | Victim's Workshop Bonus |
| Real Estate Office | Reception Viewpoint | Real Estate Office Bonus |
Steps[]
Chapter 1[]
Chapter 2[]
Chapter 3[]
A Stealthy Rise of Resistance (1/5)[]
[]
| V • T • ECases in Into a Dystopian Universe | |
|---|---|
| Pretone Point | TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA |
| Downtown Center | TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA |
| Snowy Ravine | TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA |
| Cyber Heights | TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA |
| Display Avenue | TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA |
| Screeft Grove | TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA |
| Newton Base | TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA |
| Digitron Tower | TBA • TBA • TBA • TBA |