Why Are We Still Here?

**Why Are We Still Here?** is the 37th case of Time Check, the 2nd case to occur during Pompeii, as well as the 454th case overall.

## **Plot**

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## **Killer and Motive**

The killer turned out to be Caecilius.

We confront Caecilius and he begins to sweat. He said that he had no idea someone was in his house. He just said that someone approached him and told him to plant a bomb in his house or else they'll make sure he was in the house at the time of the explosion. We ask him to describe what the person looked like, and the description he gave matched Leon. We then rush to Leon, who says that his rat of a brother was a TDB member who kept records of the Shadow Ghosts for years. He used the makeup store as a disguise to get closer to and arrest Diana. Leon said that he kidnapped Chindler. before the bomb went off in New Tenochtitlan and took him to Pompeii along with the rest of the Shadow Ghosts. He said he wanted his brother to take the rest of his secrets to the grave.

## **Run While You Can! (2/5)**

After Caecilius confessed to killing Chindler, he says that he will be able to buy another villa soon and he tells us that if we need anything from him, then we should just let him know, as he wants to help us in any way he can. We then rush back to the base, only to find Heather crying. We ask her what's wrong and she says that she can't find Albert anywhere. She said she tried calling him and texting him, but he hasn't responded. We immediately fear the worst and ask Imogen if Albert is okay. Imogen says that she wants to be honest with us for once and she has no idea where Albert is. She said she saw him looking at the destroyed house, panicking. We realize that he must have been panicking since Caecilius' house was ironically the only villa standing after the eruption. We then rush to Caecilius' exploded villa, where he picked up Albert's book and asked us if we needed it. We told him we did and he immediately gave it to us. After running some tests on it, AMETHYST was able to find nothing. Heather then runs into the lab room, screaming. We ask her what's wrong, and she shows us her phone, which shows an image sent by Wynston. This image showed him taking a selfie while kissing Albert's burnt head. He then said "I have special plans for this one, bestie" below the image. We then rush to Wynston's time machine, where we see him throwing Albert's head in the air while saying "Rocket ship rocket ship rocket ship!" We tell him to put his hands up before he runs and nails Albert's head to his wall next to Harlin's. He said that he's coming for us and that Michael is too. He says that we'll all pay for killing Samantha. Heather then holds her gun out at Wynston and shoots him in the chest. We then drag his unconscious body to the time machine. A few minutes after we put him in his cell, a portion of the time machine blows up and we see Wynston escaping and flipping us off, only for him to be shot in the arm with a bow and arrow. We look to our left and we see Freddicus with the bow, aiming at Wynston. Wynston grabs his arm and says "You're on my wall next!" before Freddicus yells at him to scram. Wynston then shot him in the chest and flipped us off before turning his watch and fading into thin air. Freddicus then said that he is a very close friend of Caecilius. We ask him to elaborate, and he tells us that he used to be a slave for one of Caecilius' friends, but Caecilius realized how his friend abused Freddicus and nearly killed him after killing his brother and he helped him escape. Freddicus said that ever since then, him and Caecilius have been incredibly close. Freddicus said that Caecilius is likely to buy a new house soon but he can't find his wife, Metella. We know that the Shadow Ghosts aren't on good terms with him so we tell him that we'll help find Metella. After some searching, we find Leon holding her at gunpoint. Leon said that he wanted to blackmail Caecilius into doing more of their deeds and he said he's going to use his wife to make sure he follows through. Heather then storms in the area and holds a gun. She was crying and screaming, before she said that the Shadow Ghosts will pay for killing Albert. Leon laughed and said that Albert was a traitor who left the Shadow Ghosts 2 years ago. He also said that Albert knew Nolan was secretly Michael the entire time. He said that Albert was the biggest traitor in the history of the Shadow Ghosts, as he left everyone who he was close to for years, including his step-brother, Logan.

We ask Leon what he's talking about, and he said that Albert used to be a member of the Shadow Ghosts who pulled out several terrorist attacks along with Diana. Albert then realized that what he was doing was wrong and he left everyone. Leon said that at first, everyone was trying to target Albert, which was why he left the time machine to go on adventures with the player often. Albert said that he was going to blow the roof off of Michael's plans before Michael held him at gunpoint and told him that he knew this would happen, so he had Wynston round up his entire family and hold them hostage, including his three young kids. Carl knew this as well and trusted Albert, which is why when he started searching for the traitor, he immediately ruled out Albert. Leon said that Albert was secretly working with the TDB behind our backs the whole time. He knew that Michael was lying about the TDB being evil but went along with it because he didn't want his family to die, and that he texted Michael later saying he had a great pleasure in having him exposed, before blocking him. Albert also gave Anna and the TDB the coordinates needed to track down and kill Logan, who followed Albert everywhere and wanted him to reconsider. Leon then said that it's a relief that Albert is dead because him and Chindler were the main ones with information about the Shadow Ghosts. Alice simply knew the ringmaster, his goals, and nothing else. This is why Wynston said that Albert will have a "special place" on his wall of heads. Heather then said "ENOUGH!" before shooting Leon in the shoulder, making him fall to the ground. We escort Metella back to Caecilius' house and tell him to stay hidden for the time being, as some "angry people" are after them. We know Leon probably survived, but we rush back to the time machine after. However, we see Imogen holding a gun out at us, ready to shoot. Freddicus then ran into the scene and shot her in the chest with a bow and arrow before telling us to run, before Imogen shot him in the arm as they both fell to the ground. We rush back to the scene and grab Freddicus before bringing him to Clive. Clive says that he managed to heal Freddicus but his wound is pretty severe. Michael then calls the player and says "I know much more than you do. If you really thought you knew my plans this entire time, you know nothing." We ask him to elaborate, and he said that would ruin the surprise. He said he would say one more thing though. He then asks us, "Do you remember when Noah Williams killed Quotation back in the U.S.?" We say we did, and he told us that Noah wanted to leave the Shadow Ghosts for a long time but wanted to make a grand exit. Michael told him to kill Quotation and ruin the ritual since he didn't want his pathetic brother to come back anyways. He said the main one enforcing the ritual was his unbearable sister, Jennie. Noah did so and then Michael revealed his plans to have him killed after the ritual. Noah didn't want to die at the hands of Michael, so he killed himself. Michael then said to enjoy blowing up, before hanging up. Before Michael even manages to hang up, we then get an explosion into Clive's room and we look to our right, only to see a body in the distance. Although we were far apart, we immediately recognized the victim anyways.

## **Killer's Profile**

* **The killer eats dormice**
* **The killer is an expert at craftsmanship**
* **The killer is allergic to bee stings**
* **The killer has gray hair**
* **The killer is over 50 years old**

## **Chapter Arts**

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**This section is soon to be added. Hold on!**

## **Trivia**

* The case title is a reference to the iconic meme **"Why are we still here? Just to suffer", w**hich is first mentioned in the game, **Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain.**