Interrogation of the Just., Closed, don't enter unless invited.

The Campus Detention Center was located far from many of the other buildings on campus. Designed to contain people holding special powers and meta-humans, it was built with the toughness of a maximum security prison...a military maximum security prison that is. It was a small building though, considering most offenses on campus were punishable by in-class detention. However, Academia Mutandis at least recognized the need for containment of dangerous people. The new Chief of Campus Security was grateful for this since finding a pair of girls who weren't listed as students on campus grounds. The majority of those who had been in combat had been sent to the principal for their disturbance of the peace, since it seemed the faculty allowed the occasional bout (though Matthew didn't understand why). One of the blob creatures had escaped along with a demonic entity with the ability to teleport, much to Chief Lionheart's anger.

Now, the blonde man stood in front of a one-way mirror looking into an interrogation room. One of the girls found on the scene was in there and had been in there for a period of two hours by herself with a tray of food, cuffed of course with some of the strongest cuffs security had. The elder Lionheart couldn't help but grimace as he observed her through the one-way mirror. "She can't be any older than Asuka," he muttered as he could hardly imagine one of his younger sisters in that room.

Pulling out the watch the young woman had worn on her when she came in, Matthew looked at it appraisingly. "Her form wasn't caused by a power, but by technology. Highly advanced technology," he muttered as he flipped it over in his black-gloved hand. He had removed the trenchcoat he had worn hours ago at the courtyard, still in a black turtleneck and cargo pants. "Her friend seemed injured...strange injuries," he continued to mutter to himself as he remembered the red-head he had sent with Jenova, the school nurse, to the infirmary along with several other students.. "Strange doctor too," he muttered again before pocketing the device into one of his pant's many pockets.

Looking back through the window, he stared at the brunette for a while longer. "She doesn't seem to be the type of person to fight without a reason."

Noriko sat quietly in the room, a dull look on her face as she stared at the food. While she'd been handled kindly, or as kindly as one can be at gunpoint, they'd seperated her from Nohno. Nohno was suffering from something even Noriko couldn't recognize, something that could easily be considered fatal. How, how could these people help her? And, even more, how could they seperate them? The brunette figgeted with her handcuffs, as slowly her mind fought between anger and worry.

"... Nohno..." Noriko said quietly, depression setting in. Why she surrendered was something even she couldn't understand: Maybe it was because she didn't want to fight police officers, or maybe she was worried Nohno would get injured if another fight broke out, but whatever it was, she was regretting her actions big-time. She was hungry... No, she was starving, but she didn't care. She was too worried about Nohno's safety to think about eating right now.

Something landed on her shoulder, and she diverted attention long enough to see the Hyper Zector. Had it appeared in her time of need? Something dropped from it, rolling down her arm and into her open hand. She faintly smiled, before giving it a quick look.

"... Please... Find Nohno..." Keeping out of Matthew's sight, it quickly created and dove through one of its' portals, having a mission now. Noriko looked at the item it had left her: A rolled up note.

It's okay, I'm by your side. Was this a message from the Hyper Zector, or was it...

Quickly, Noriko crumpled it up enough to make it barely noticeable to the trained eye, and dropped it by her foot. The last thing she needed was the person on the other side of that glass to know that she somehow had communication still.

She wasn't eating. Was the only thought that seemed to hit his mind as he contined to observe the young girl. Probably worried about her friend, he thought in speculation. It hadn't been hard to figure that out with her expression. Though she seemed to act strange for a moment, glancing over her shoulder. Then there was the minute movements of hand and foot, that made the inactive Marine slightly suspicious. Only, he decided to leave it alone. Even if her high technology allowed for communication, it's probably for the best I allow her this ray of hope, Matthew thought with a frown. She doesn't seem like a bad girl. his thoughts continued as he looked over to see one of his Deputy Chief's enter the room. Matthew still had a bit of trouble with this British police ranking system.

"Deputy Chief....Constable," Matt greeted with an awkward nod as the elder man seem to smile at his younger superior's awkwardness. This only made the Lionheart man frown in both annoyance and embarassment. Cheeky limmie! the American thought gruffly. "I'll be going in, you can observe from here," Matt told the graying man as he exited the observation room.

A quick step to the next door, and Matthew was entering the interrogation room proper. He was silent at first, since she probably recognized him from the scene of the fight. He was quite an atypical Chief of Security, doing the dirty work himself.

Silently the taller man walked over to the table, pulling a metal chair along with him before sitting down with the back of the chair facing towards Noriko and him straddling it with arms ontop of the back. "It's not good to starve yourself you know," he said in a calm, almost gentle voice. Damnit, I can't keep on thinking of her like one of my little sister, he thought in annoyance, yet none of that transferred over to his facial expression.

"Your friend is at the infirmary now. I'm sorry I can't say how well she's doing at the moment, since I'm not a doctor." he then said as he looked at her directly in the eye with his strange amber eyes.

"... There's probably nothing you can do for her," Noriko said quietly, looking down at her lap. "What she did... No human can do and survive from. That's why the systems are made seperate. Onee-sama... She's going to die, and it's my fault." Pushing her food out of the way, she rested her head on the table, thinking quietly. What was she going to do? What would happen to Nohno? And, probably the least of her worries, what would happen to HER?

"... I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything, if that's what you're here for. I have a sworn duty, and a part of that is protecting people from things that can hurt them." She looked at the man, a confused look on her face for a minute, as something about him reminded her of someone back home. She cleared her throat, before speaking in her native tongue, something she hoped he would understand. "<E-Excuse me, but would you happen to have a brother?>"

It was probably just a stupid thing that set off her memory, but she wanted to check it out, just in case.

Matt frowned as the young woman seemed to be in a bout of depression. "Believe me when I say we'll do everything in out power for her," he replied as he grimaced again as she pushed the tray away from her. A sigh erupted from the elder man as he laid his chin upon his arms.

"So we seem to be at an impasse for that question," he replied with a snort. "You can't tell me anything, but I need to know." he grumbled before shaking his head. "You see, we both have responsibilities." he replied calmly. "I have my responsibilities as Chief of Security for a United Nations-run school for meta-humans and people with special abilities. A daunting task as you have witnessed," he said. "And you seem to have your own responsibilities for your own organization, whatever it is."

"But, I believe you didn't mean any harm towards the students under my care," he replied as he pulled a keyring from his pocket and slid it across the table to her. "So I'm allowing you to uncuff yourself," he replied. He didn't really seem to worry about anything she could pull, since his eyes were focused upon her like those of a man who had seen combat before.

"And I'm sorry, I don't understand Japanese," he replied to her using a foreign language. "My mother may have had some Japanese heritage, but I'm more American," he explained as he sat up straight.

"Now, you are the only one who can save your friend here. But I can't abandon my duty and release you....so I'm sorry if I have to pull this underhanded tactic," he warned before hand before he stood up and maneuvered his chair in the proper direction before sitting down in a more professional manner. "If you can tell me at least why you are here and how you came to be here, I might be allowed to releasing you...under guard...to visit your friend," Matthew explained with his face serious, the expression of a professional soldier.

Noriko thought for a bit, reasoning out the ideas. She'd see Nohno... but she reasoned that she'd be putting the people here in danger with the information, and... did she really want to see Nohno like this? Slowly, she uncuffed herself, working the key into the lock and turning it, before discarding the restraints and giving her answer.

"... I'm sorry." It didn't seem like that would work. Though, something was off about this apology. Was she apologizing to Matt, or was it really one to Nohno? Perhaps the direct route wasn't the way at all. It would take all of Matt's experience with younger women (them being his sisters) to crack this girl's sense of duty, and might even call for a cheap shot or two.

Matthew sighed and scratched his head before becoming more casual. "Listen, kid," he said as he leaned forward to rest his arms upon the table. "I would love to release you and send you off with your friend to where you came from so she can get proper medical care." he said honestly. "But you're tying my hands here!" he pointed out.

"As Chief of this here area, I have certain responsibilities that require me to be the meanest sonnuva bitch around," he stated as he ran his hand through his hair. "The way you're acting, just pushing me to become even meaner," he explained with an exasperated sigh.

"It pushes me to either keep you locked in here until you tell me, or hand you over the the United Nations as well as send your friend to a military hospital," he explained the facts to her, trying his best not to treat this young woman like a child...Asuka wouldn't want to be treated like a child either. "And I believe you being separated from your friend is the absolutely wrong thing to do, but your silence pushes me to follow procedures I don't want to follow," the man said before leaning back and crossing his arms.

"I don't know who you're trying to protect, but I have my job enforcing law and protecting the students on this campus. The more you keep silent, the more I have to assume professionally that you are a threat, whether I think you are or not."

"You can't, even the reality I'm from couldn't understand what's wrong! We haven't done something like this before!" Noriko suddenly said, slamming her hands onto the table in frustration. "And you all can't send us back either, because neither have any of you! I'm trying to protect you all!" Up on her feet, Noriko was leaning over the table, glaring at Matt.

"I have to be with her, but I have a duty to protect those who don't know about the dangers we're dealing with!" Frustration finally pissing her off, Noriko turned her back on Matt, looking at one of the walls of the room and crossing her arms. "Send me to your United Nations, torture me, do whatever you want with me, but I can't tell you anything!" Threats did nothing but to anger the girl, and definately didn't seem to give Matt anymore ground.


Unbeknownst to the two and the constable, however, there was scheming in the works. Outside, on the roof, two figures stood right above the interrogation room, one of them fiddling with a puddy-like object.

"I have to make sure I'm on the right side of the room, or else there's a chance I'll bring the damn thing down on her," the one working on the object said, his mask hiding his identity as well as one could if they wore the same clothes and carried the same weapons they practically did everyday. (cleaned out, of course) "... Jesus, I need something to show me where she is..."


On the ground floor, however, someone was doing a more direct approach. The second man guarding the door slid down it, groaning as he lapsed into unconsciousness. A young man stood over him, triumphantly grinning... before shaking his fist.

"Agh, dammit, I punched his baton earlier... That shit hurt!" he whined, before quickly ballsing up again, and opening the door. "Alright, Chris... Let's do this!"

"Now I didn't say anything about torturing, ok, so calm the fuck down," Matthew's voice remained at the same level it had always been, but the bite of a military man was behind it now. "Now, I may not understand what the hell is going on, but I figure I have a right to know seeing as how you are on my turf miss priss," the former Marine commented before sighing and rubbing his forehead.

"Feh, I'll come back when you've calmed the fuck down," he muttered as he stood up. "No use talking to women when there having a hissy fit," he spoke in a stage whisper. Swing the door open suddenly, Matthew stood to find a young man right by the door. Dressed strangely, this brown-haired man seemed to be carrying a sword at his belt and hovering over a downed guard. "Fuuuuckin hell," Matt shouted in surprise as he did the most logical thing, kick at the boy and slam the door shut, locking it from the inside.

"Great, a break out," Matt muttered as he looked towards the observation room. "Get back up," he shouted, not knowing if the man was still there or not. The Chief of Security growled in anger as he realized his pistol was back in his office. "Apparently, you aren't the only one who wants you out," Matt commented towards Noriko before frowning.

"You know....you're becoming a real pain in the ass for me."

"OWWW!" the boy shouted. Chris Dark had carried a chip on his shoulder after the S.W.A.T. team hauled off the two girls he saw as champions of justice, and, after having a few random fights with other students, he had finally decided to do something about it. It was a dangerous idea for his status as a student, but still, he wasn't going to let justice be oncemore blind. However, being kicked HURT. The younger man quickly regained balance, before kicking at the door, finding it hard to kick down. "Hey, goddammit! Open up! I've had it up to here with you bastards cheating justice!" he shouted, slamming his fist on the door, before he had a very brilliant idea: He had a GUN. And a SWORD. Why not use THEM to open the FUCKING DOOR?


At the same time, inside the interrogation room, something began tapping on the ceiling: The hyper zector. It was above Noriko, tapping loudly on it. Confused, Noriko watched the chaos unfold as Matt fought to keep CD out, and as the Hyper Zector appeared to attack the ceiling.


Well, that's what she thought was going on. However, with the tapping, the two on the roof could figure out where Noriko was. Leon quickly placed the explosives right on the part of the roof opposite of her, on a little T-junction of the walls, before pulling Katrina out of the way and to safety to detonate it. The entire building shook as the wall seperating Noriko's room from the room of another captured was destroyed, along with the ceiling around it. Quickly getting to work, Leon dropped the rope he had, before ducking his head in through the hole.

"Hey girl, grab on!" Noriko didn't take long to do so, and quickly was holsted up. "Katrina, get Noriko to the car, I'll be there shortly." Looks like the teacher was going to make sure Matt didn't follow.


CD shot the door's lock, kicking it open just in time to see Noriko holsted up, and Matt close by.

"Oh SHI-!" The young man made a beeline for the stairs. Hey, justice is nice and all, but he wasn't going to get caught for it. It was by luck that he didn't realize that a feminine figure had left the door next to the interrogation room's, breaking off the key inside the lock before making her way out in a guard's uniform. It seemed three different parties were all trying to bust Noriko out at once, and so far only one had actually done it.

Bell had been sitting back in his little interrogation room, staring angrily at the one way mirror every so often as he waited for some one to come into his room and try to drill him about what he knew. Not that it was much but they'd try to pump him dry. Maybe keep him there for a day or two before finally giving up and accepting that he really didn't know much about the situation other than he heard fighting and decided to help out.

There was more that he knew, afterall, but he could easily cover that up. It's not like anyone was going to guess what he was actually doing there. It was pretty far fetched. Then another thought enterred his head as he began to consider just what this school taught.

<What if one of them realizes I'm not exactly all that human? Shit... if they become aware that I'm a demon... I'm just a sitting duck here.> The prospect of execution, a fate inevitable if people became aware of his infernal heritage, didn't seem particularly pleasing. He looked tense briefly before relaxing again. How would they find out? It's not like there were many people or things that could detect demons and why would they send one to interrogate him? He let himself relax as he leaned back in his chair and went back to his waiting. His head rested on the back of the chair as his eyes scanned the ceiling.

Funny, there wasn't usually fire there. It took him less than a second to process what fire in the context of a loud bang noise meant.

"OH SHI-!" He hit the ground in the middle of the explosion. He wasn't going to test whether or not its blast radius would engulf him. He took a deep breath and pushed himself up when it passed. Strange. He heard talking. He looked across the broken wall to see Noriko and that one security chief bastard. He then looked up to see a strange man throw down a rope.

"Hrm. Well, I hope you don't mind if I take advantage of this situation." He jumped up on a broken section of the wall before quickly backflipping off of it, landing on the rooftop with the grace of a skilled acrobat. He then looked down, flipping off Matt and saying things in his native tongue polite society frowned upon before running to the side of the building. He took a look down, then grimaced.

"Wow. They really don't do much in the way of decoration. How do they expect to get sunlight in with a sheer wall like this?" He then turned back around to Leon, "Uh. Mr. Crazy Explosives Bastard, y'think I could maybe hitch a ride on down?"

The shockwave of the explosion turned everything into a daze for the former Staff Sergeant, but dealing with it, he turned to see Noriko hauled up to the roof of the building. "God...damnit!" the former Marine spat as he rushed out the door in a hurry for the stairwell. Pushing female guard out of the way roughly, he goes into a full sprint after Chris. "You bloody punk!!! I saw your face!" he shouted as he charged his own energy into his hands to form a bo staff.

Twirling it around, he polevaulted using it and sent himself flying by the sword wielding teen and in front of the door. "But I got more important things," he growled as he began rushing down the stairs.

The explosion could be seen, heard and felt throughtout the campus. Already, in the Dormitories, the Faculty Quarters and elsewhere, people tumbled out of bed and milled about outside, wondering what was going on. Some even ran towards the source of the blast, either to help the injured or just to gawk.

At least one of them, however, did not, content with watching from her bedroom window. Even if she hadn't already known what was about to happen, the three glasses of Reisling she'd drunk since she returned from her meetings at the Foreign Office and Thames House would've made any intervention risky at best. Even now, she poured a fourth, trying to cool the slow burn she'd felt since earlier that day. So far it hadn't helped: she was trembling, and on the verge of crying in frustration.

Her part in this was already finished; her surperiors and that prick Elindor had seen to that. She couldn't even do herself what he'd asked of her, though God knows she wanted to (even as she wondered if Hell had frozen over, that they were on the same side for a change). But she knew others who could, while ensuring it could never be traced back to her...and she'd sent a message through the usual channels, confident MI5 would finish the job.

Aergo, you wanker, she thought, tears spilling in spite of herself. Don't make me regret this.

****************

When Katrina and Noriko got to the car, they would find a cryptic note folded on the dash:

It was true. Whatever the outcome of this prison break, when they checked the CCTV footage afterward, they would find that every camera on campus had shut down nearly ten minutes before the attack started, with the monitors instead showing a looping playback of the last thirty minutes.

The operation had been a lot more involved than Katrina could imagine. Explosions aside they had obtained the captive and now it was time to get the hell out. On Leon's command, she wasted little time:

"Careful Leonne. Noriko, nice to meet you. Venuto!"

Both would scale down half the story of the building, jump down the rest and run for it. All the while, Katrina worried that they would be seen somehow. No matter, Leon would keep things busy, all she had to do was make sure they both got to the car.

But this felt too easy...

Waiting there would be a note and Katrina unfolded it, her teal eyes quickly scanning it.

"Eh?"

"Oh shit!" CD proclaimed as Matt lept past him and headed down the stairs. He wasn't about to let this guy beat him, though, and so when the young man got to the stairs, he did the obvious thing:

He lept over the rail, to either land on or in front of Matt. If he landed on him, bingo! If he landed in front of him, he'd attempt to bring a boot back into the man's chest to knock him down, before fleeing for the front door himself. Either way, it seemed the younger man was using his brain for once. What little part of it he could, at least.


"Eh? How do you know my name?" Noriko asked, still suffering from the loud ringing and aftershock of the explosion. However, she followed the girl, not about to question the two people who just saved her, and quickly got into the open back of the vehicle Leon had "borrowed" for this operation: An ambulance. Inside, however, she found a pleasant surprise, as Nohno lay on a stretcher. Upon finding her friend, Noriko grew silent oncemore, opting to sit in the seat closest to Nohno's resting place.

"... Onee-sama..."


"Son of a bitch!" the female guard shouted, holding her side after being shoved into the wall. Luckily, Matt hadn't checked to see that this was, in fact, the constable's uniform, which was easy to notice if you weren't chasing jailbirds by the fact it was a few sizes too large. Kris grinned, gripping the watch she'd grabbed from his pocket as he slammed into her. It was a close call, but she'd gotten the item she needed. Now, to get out of this hell hole before anyone else spotted her...


When asked of a way off the roof by Bell, Leon pointed towards the rope hanging off the ledge, before taking off his mask and leaping into the hole. He had a few things to handle himself, one of which finding Noriko's watch, and since he had only poked his head in, no one knew who the demolitionist that blew the roof was wearing. The perfect crime. He only hoped that Katrina remembered to drive that piece of junk he stole back to the safehouse, and not to wait up for him.