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Essentia's face glows with rage behind her projected E in her helmet as she steps forward, winding up to hit Odd for his impudence, losing her temper far before Kess. "How... dare... you..." She pulls back, only to have her strike actually caught by the target of Odd's verbal barbs, the Zapdos hybrid intercepting her strike easily as it wasn't Expansion Suit powered. "Wha-you can't seriously let this criminal talk to you like-"

"Hmph." Kess cuts her off with a chuckle, walking forward to look Odd in their eyes fully, her beady black pinpricks as close to the Ghost channeler's own as her beak would allow. "You say you've walked the streets of hell? I don't doubt that, because it was custom built for people. Like. You." She doesn't seem to be moving towards violence, on the contrary, she has a mix of disgust and pity across her face as she continues to stare him down.

"Not only that, you think you've seen hell? I've truly seen hell on earth. Lived in it. Still live it. I hear the screams of the people that Ein drug off to the cells every night before I go to bed. How they had families, begging us not to do it so they could get back home and see them. Loved ones they wanted to go back to. Their children's birthday was just in a couple days couldn't I pretty please just let them go? They were sorry, whatever they did, they wouldn't do it again.

They'd give me things, little trinkets they wanted me to give their relatives outside of the fortress to remember them by, or clothes they wanted me to give their grandfather to keep him warm because he was captured in the same batch as them, not knowing he had been drug screaming and soiling himself to the gene vats just minutes before. A little hand-drawn picture they'd made because they were barely old enough to talk.

I kept them. I look at them on my mantle every single day when I set my sword aside and before I lay down to start the nightmares again. But you know what keeps me going? Knowing I dedicated myself to stopping that monster in every single way I could have, including this investigation we're undertaking right this very second.

You said you're a priest? Well, you better start saying the Act of Contrition." She scoffs again, never breaking her gaze once, never even blinking. "Because the things you and your group are responsible for, you'll be lucky if they don't stick you down in the ice at the very bottom once you get there. And, unlike you, apparently, with your hero complex, I may not be able to rest easy at night. I may struggle every single time I try to sleep with the screams of the damned rattling around in my skull. But at least I can put my head to pillow knowing I did everything I could to stop that sick son-of-a-b***h." The swear grinds out, through her own teeth as she spits it at Odd. "And if you're trying to convince me you did the same, living your little make-believe dreams here in Mount Silver and holding your pretend family, your little comfort husband, close to your chest here while you tried to ignore everything that was happening and all of the fallout that still needs to be cleaned up then you're a god damn liar and more delusional than I already knew you were. Say your prayers, priest, because we may not send you to hell but by the time you get justice for what you all have done you're going to wish we would have been able to. And if you do get to hell, do me a favor? Say hi to your Marowak for me. Oh, wait."

She turns away finally, dropping her gaze and spinning on her heel without a second thought as she motions to Agent WHITE without asking for Looker's permission. "Get him out of here, we're not going to get anything else out of this fanatic."

Odd listened as Kess hissed back at him, smirking as she talked about her kept trinkets. "Oh, she keeps reminders of her sins." He remarked, unfeeling for her. "I was raised in The Priory of the Renegade Faith. We don't believe in asking forgiveness for our sins. Forgiveness doesn't absolve them becaue they still happenned. The only way forward is to accept that you have sinned, allow those sins to become a part of your past and work toward a future where you avoid them happening again.' He told the woman. 'If you truly seek forgiveness, i can get you in contact with someone from the Church of Arceus. That's their schtick.' He explained. "Otherwise, we'll see where you're going." He told the hybrid as he stood up, turning toward the door after her command to release him.

"And Kess, you're delusional if you think none of us are bothered by our own sins. Many of us are kept awake at night or unable to eat because of things we've done. But we push through that pain in order to do as much good as we can. It's all most of us want." He wondered for a moment if she recognized Dull's jacket. He'd worn it ever since dealing with the extradimensional hybrid for similar reasons as her keeping her trinkets, after all.

'By the way, detective, I don't recommend working with homonculi. Or whatever that one is." He told Looker, pointing out WHITE, still unable to detect any semblance of a soul from him after sitting here for this long.

Truthfully, I wasn’t all that comfortable of having someone on the mental airways like that and it left me to wonder if Freth could eventually get around to doing such a thing since there was minor overlaps when it came down to psychics. Like there needed to be boundries or something. Unfortunately, given the circumstances, I just had to keep my pride in check. As I sipped my drink, I’d try to reply to Reno without saying a word. “My take? They’re after something. Not sure as to what. They wanted to ask me about how long I was with Snagem, which that was absolutely strange, they should very well know that much; its no secret there. I get asked about Black City, which I assume we all that were there laid it all out on the table about that after we dealt with Ein at Realgam. That whole several week tour of tribunals and debriefings and bullcrap like that, if you remember. I made nothing any secret at the very least. That girl in the expansion suit seemed to take issue with me getting my hands on Malva in particular, never mind the fact that Malva was second in command in Team Flare and she came after me, with a Mega Evolved Charizard, no less. I mean, hell, I even went so much as admitting back then that yes, in dealing with Lysandre in particular, it was a little personal towards the end as well. That b*****d had played everyone up until he made his move with the Zygarde, me included. And I admitted back then that yes, I left Lysandre to die. Could I have saved him? Sure, but I wasn’t going to. I really didn’t trust that he would end up staying in whatever prison to rot and waste all that effort back there. That was an abhorrent man, and I made it clear as such what he put everyone through. If it was still that much of an issue, why wasn’t I called out on it back then instead of now? Why wasn’t anything doled out then? I literally spelled it out back then that yes, that happened. Were they wanting me and everyone else to be put through the ringer before they just went ‘Yea, you’re no longer useful now, into a prison cell you go’? What sense does that make? I mean, hell, they had every opportunity to pin me down when I was walking around Paldea a good chunk of the last year! There was no need in all of what just transpired in that blasted cave. I can’t bring myself to believe they are all legit; especially if they managed to get someone like Kess around on their payroll, or using bootleg tech they probably scraped from us or Flare. And I don’t know what else I could have told them. There’s nothing else that I could have. I spelled that out when I was in there with Looker.”

Reno would be able to tell I was frustrated to no end. We were running out of time and still stuck the way we were now and they may be going through the Snagem members faster than what I may be giving them credit for. “As an aside though, apparently, they don’t have any sort of record about Snagem’s real early days, because I left them confused when I talked about Miles, which if they had any sort of an accord with the Rangers, they would have heard of that fox. Unless…” A pause came to me, a realization. “…they don’t really trust the rangers right now either in spite of their overhauls and reformations. Maybe because of Cera being there recently? I’m speculating. Either way, right now, I’m at the point where I’m thinking we need to figure out how to get the hell out of here with our lives, a lot sooner than later, and intact and try to do our own investigating as to why this is happening, because we’re not getting sitting here waiting on Looker to just talk to everyone. Never mind the figuring out the bigger question of why Sub was told to go back into the training room, but not the rest of us. What about with you?”

Looker would note the wedding ring Keiko was clearly trying to point out however he didn't focus on it for long as he went about making notes of what Keiko was saying, the investigator paying close attention to her words. It wasn't until the hybrid made mention of Lovrina did Looker give pause to his scribbling and stare at the talking rabbit for awhile before turning to lock eyes with Kess, the two communicating with their eyes in that moment with both of them saying the exact same thing. The investigator would manage to turn his focus back on Keiko and slowly but surely begin to write more notes, eventually finding his pace again as he worked to get caught back up as Keiko spoke.

Once Keiko was done Looker sat his pen down and sighed, folding his hands and resting them on the desk before speaking. "Miss- my apologies, Mrs. Keiko, thank you for being so forthwith and frank in your answers, I do really appreciate it especially after the previous Snagem. Your friend Odd can be pretty lively for a Ghost Channeler." Looker said, dryly chuckling. "However I'm a bit confused over your statement concerning your hybridism. You say it was a Lovrina that was responsible for you being turned into a Lopunny hybrid? That this same Lovrina was at some point a member of Team Cipher?" Again Looker would look to Kess, the man sighing before turning back to Keiko. What was that about?

"I hope you'll forgive me, I'm not trying to dismiss whatever terrible ordeal you went through that resulted in your current form, but the only Lovrina I am familiar with, is Dr. Lovrina. The doctor has always been a stalwart defender of good ethics in science and an adamant detractor of Ein's and Cipher at large. It would be incredibly difficult for me to believe she was not only a member of Team Cipher at some point, the very group she has aided the international police for years in understanding his gruesome experiments to help take him down, but was also responsible for the hybridism you went through against your will. Do you have any evidence of these accusations? Because right now from my point of view you are besmirching the name of a highly regarded academic." Looker asked, his facial expressions becoming more serious in this moment.

Keiko was completely caught off-guard by what Looker told her about 'Dr.' Lovrina. She wasn't expecting anything like that at all. It took her a moment to regain her composure and think about how to respond, and she ended the resulting silence with a sigh. "I'm going to be honest, I don't really know what to tell you. I never really thought to look into Lov- I mean, the woman that did this to me. By the time I regained my senses, I didn't really want to focus on what happened. I just wanted to get my life back together. All I really know is what she called herself and what I heard at the time from her mad raving. I can only guess at why she called herself that, but that's not what you want right now. We used to have that woman in our Brig, but she got out some time ago and I have no idea where she went, so I'm sorry to say I don't really have anything to give you. Maybe it's best if we just forgot about it, but that's your call to make," Keiko offered, not really sure how to handle this situation Accusing an innocent person of horrible things wasn't something she wanted to do, but she didn't exactly have the full story. She was about to let it sit there, until she thought of something. "Oh! We probably have footage from when she was in the Brig in our systems somewhere. I assume you have access to that by now, so you could probably see for yourself who that woman was," she added, hoping that was enough.

~*~

I sat back down in the STR, my back pressed against the wall. As time passed, all I could really think about was what SWIPE was talking to Keiko about. While I stewed in my worry, Yuna walked up to me with her sister in her arms. "Is Mommy gonna be okay?" she asked, clearly afraid. I didn't want to add to Yuna's fear, so I focused on myself for a moment, and felt my worry fade away in a wave of calming numbness. I then looked back to Yuna and smiled. "Yeah, she'll be fine." I said calmly, smiling to my daughter. "Here, put Serena on my lap. Don't want your arms getting tired while you're holding her."

Yuna did as she was told, and now that Serena was close to me, I had ot make sure to keep my emotional state regulated. If Serena picked up on how worried I was about Keiko, she'd start crying, and nobody here wanted to hear that. I didn't want to make the little one worry, either, so it was for the best.

The SWIPE guard doesn't look unsympathetic towards Odd's plight. He might have even been a father himself. But, at the end of the day, orders are orders. "Listen, maybe think about that before you all decide to house children inside a mercenary base of operations." He says simply. "The interrogations are winding down from the amount of you that have come through those doors already. Looker's not heartless. Wait until we've finished our investigations and talk to him and I'm sure he'll help you out. In the meantime, the answer is solidly no."



"As far as myself..." Darts thinks at the duo, juggling everything inside his head as best he was able to with this mental Skype. "They mostly asked me what I was doing in Paldea while the rest of the team was out at the academy, when I joined, how I became a hybrid, that sort of thing. It seems like they are very curious about the past from what you're saying Blizz, delving into what we all did in events that should be old news by now. If what we're talking about is accurate they asked all of us about DIFFERENT things, but I'll be damned if I have any idea what the connective thread is between them." The Giratina hybrid continues to ponder, ignoring what had become a heartbeat of rage and impatience from down below his neck. "On another side note, guys... I HAVE to do something with Ogerpon here soon. I don't think she's going to stay in the ball too much longer by my volition or not." He didn't even want to think about her getting them all killed, for their sake or for hers at the trauma of everyone dropping dead. "I know we don't have any ideas on fighting but how about some ideas on a bit of privacy? Anyone checked their rooms?"

Reno would get a puzzled expression as he listened to Blizz, which thankfully was disguised as him being uncertain about the mayonnaise he was debating adding to his sandwich. 'Interesting. They didn't really have an opening question for me, just asked to see when I joined and reacted off of that. They had no idea about anything surrounding Io, but seemed to know about Deoxys and the fact we at least had it and maybe still have it. I kept trying to get them to answer questions of my own and even offered up some information about the incident in Paldea and the guy behind it. Didn't bite on any of that, even seemed to be pushing it as over since Wren found that Parasect, but did jump at a passing mention of S-22 I made. And then somehow word associated their way through how we wouldn't let something like that simply escape into asking about you in Orre, Darts. No need to answer, but I'm just going to assume not a coincidence.' Spreading the mayonnaise across his bread, Reno would duck back into the fridge to hunt down some cold cuts as he took a moment to think. 'They seem pretty uncaring about me, though. I had Harleen out the entire interrogation and it went uncommented. Even gave a small poke to see what was up with that Agent WHITE thing. He's.....familiar. He ain't S-22, but his mental defenses are built the exact same.' Placing the meat of the sandwich in place, Reno would give a small nod before picking up his meal. 'I'll go check my room and see whats up. If it looks clear for Ogerpon to have some time out that won't end up her killing a guard and the guards killing us, you two will be the first to know.'

It would take a moment to walk past where Blizz has perched himself in the main room, giving another nod to the hybrid before making his way into the personal rooms area. It was time to see exactly what had been done to some of their rooms, especially since it sounded like they had at least scavenged the boards from Looker's comment.

----

Rome would feel the process he had resigned himself to slowing as Crystal's power began to focus on him, leaving him as a slowly decaying upper torso rather than a body that was about to evaporate in its entirety. "I appreciate the sentiment but this is a stopgap solution at best. " Offering her a smile, he would add, "I'm not going to stop you though. It feels....nice. Once again having someone treat me like a friend."

“Huh, I… don’t remember if I saw any of those when I was there. It’s where I caught Dega, though.” Aile shrugged, taking note of what both of them were asked. “So, it sounds like they’re trying to ask each of us when we joined, though, there was no asing if anything of mine was coerced.” Aile would frown, shaking her head. “Just because I’ve led a not so legal life doesn’t mean I’m a horrible person…” Aile would look down, readjusting the train to rejoin the tracks. “However, so they asked you,” pointing to Amber, “about Jubilife and Mauville.” She looked at her Nincada again, recalling when her artifact was stolen from her by the Shadow Pokémon near Jubilife. Something that now had to be related to the mushroom situation that erupted at Uva-Naranja. “Interesting. Maybe they asked the two of you if you were coerced because you’ve been on the right side of the law more often, and maybe because you’re also so young, Ulla.” Looking back up, she’d bite her thumbnail racking her brain. “So, we have them asking about when the last time I was in Kalos, which Miss Helmeted said something about timelines being disjointed, now that I think of it, and my time in Orre, and they asked Amber about Jubilife and Mauville. What’s the link?” She tapped her right index finger to her mouth and tapped it. The pieces weren’t falling into place right. And Looker jotted a lot of stuff down when she was talking about Zera… Arceus, she needed more information.