Requisitioning a marked transport takes very little time, especially when the two of them are met by Marie's Commander at the reception desk and the officer on desk duty suddenly works diligently. When Marie spots him, her first thought was that he'd be pretty cranky, having had to stand at attention, waiting there for who knows how long. But he doesn't look agitated as he approaches them– at least not anymore – nor is the direction he comes them from indicative of him having still been in the vicinity.
Slightly relieved, so she wouldn't have to convince the man when he is cross, she still needs to have it approved that Mu comes with her. She thought about not telling him at all, but some kind of consensus needs to be found, so that anything she finds can actually be used as evidence.
"What are you hoping to find up there, Castaneda?" The commander asks fittingly, stopping his rather rushed approach next to the two women at the reception desk. Marie is just filling out a request for a vehicle, raising her head when being addressed, she can just see him and Mu nod to each other in silent greeting. Silence, lasting a mere moment, and that is broken, when the older man realizes that the other woman is waiting with Marie.
The photo of Mu that is filed with Marie's report doesn't do full justice to the woman in the flesh, so it's understandable that it took a second for him to recognize her. "You're Miss Lunastra." He states thus, greeting her proper by shaking hands, obviously surprised by the strong grip he gets in return, as he's looking down at their hands. "How are you doing?"
Only a bit over a day later, Mu seems remarkably unscathed by the incident that, as Marie had described, the both of them were right in the middle of. So it isn't unreasonable that he looks at Mu with suspicions clearly showing on his face. "I am fine. Thank you for asking."
He would know that Marie does believe Mu, but at the same time he usually trusts her to have her own doubts, until proven true or false. "What brings you here?" he asks and turns to Marie "Did you find anything new?" apparently expecting her to answer for both.
"Well, yes and no. I've found bits about former-and-again employees myself and Judge Andrews just handed me a few files that seem promising, but I haven't had the time to look through them yet. The warrant's signed, so I was about to head out as quick as possible." While talking, she finishes up with the vehicle request and hands it over to the officer at the front desk. "Added to that, Harwing apparently found out some more, but..." Before she could think about how she would explain James' quick disappearance, she reached her current predicament.
At a loss how to tell her superior that her colleague basically fled, for reasons he surely wouldn't like, and didn't tell her what he knows, she shrugs and finishes lamely "He didn't get the chance to tell me about all of it yet." Without a pause, she might even have found herself believable, now she can see the return of the previous suspicious look plain in the older man's expression.
"Right." Apparently putting that aside, he changes topics "So back to my original question: what do you hope to find up there?"
"Since it's still under construction, I doubt I'm going to find any damning evidence. For now, I'm hoping to find some paper trails from the construction workers documents. If nothing else, the name of the company doing the constructing and go from there." Marie takes the receipt and the Flyer's access card the intently listening officer behind the desk reaches over the counter. "After that, I'm going to be heading back down to Newman University, from where at least a small handful of alumni are connected to this, if only by name, so far."
"Alright. Let me know when you need support." he says and turns around to walk away.
Stumped by the offer, as that isn't like him at all, Marie stares at the retreating back of the man, almost forgetting that she still had to inform him about Mu coming with her. Come to think of it, she thinks, still looking at where her superior vanished into the elevator, this looked like the first sign that he'd been...talked to by Andrews. At least that's what it seems like.
Nonetheless, he needs to know, so she files a document that allows her to take a civilian to a scene. Usually it would only be used to return to a crime scene with a witness, or even a victim, to examine or relive an incident. Since her plan is comparably and both situations would require that the attender doesn't mess with anything on scene, it will suffice to do it this way. Just have to make sure she doesn't touch anything. Marie glances over to Mu, who skims through some pamphlets laying on the desk, apparently sure that there is no question if she's actually coming along.
Handing over the document to the officer, she bids Mu to follow her to the small parking lot behind the headquarter building. From there, they get into one of the Flyers without markings. Announcing right of the bat that they're police doesn't seem very helpful. Still, in the end, Marie would have to say something to that extent, once they'd have to dock.
"Really would have been nice, if I'd been able to find out about the circumstances up there." Marie murmurs to herself. Before James appeared in her office, she talked with Graham once more, in hopes that he knows anything more, but he hasn't been keeping an eye on it. "Means we're heading out into space, without knowing what's going to hit us."
"Is that your gut speaking?" Mu asks, startling Marie out of her thoughts. "Perhaps you should not..jinx it?"
She stops in her unconscious movement to open the door of the Flyer. Looking at the woman next to her, she examines her inner voice and what brought up that thought. "No, not really." Marie smiles at Mu, shaking her head "It's just that, since this whole thing turned much bigger than I could've ever expected so quickly, not knowing what's at the end of the flight doesn't sit quite right. But no bad feeling, so far."
"Good." the other woman smiles back, still not fazed by any of the unknown their headed for, nor Marie's words.
Marie can feel herself get a little concerned about that kind of behavior, her earlier thought, about Mu's emotional state, resurfaces. Depending on what we might find up there, I just hope she keeps herself together. The vivid images of the two of them standing on top of the broken rooftop, the snarl and scream from Mu flash through her mind again as well. "Are you...are you all right?" She's not really sure how to approach the topic, since Mu herself hasn't even talked about the incident at all after it happened.
Looking around the small area, surrounded by the headquarter and two other buildings, to make sure there is no one who could listen, Marie tries a different, but direct approach, that she would have never gone with, if it wasn't for the rather telling incident the evening before. "Keeping silent about what happened and being all smiles...You've got me worried here, you know?" Letting go of the Flyer's half opened door, she hesitates for a moment, before putting her hand on Mu's arm. "Are you sure you're-"
In the blink of an eye, Marie finds herself pinned, with her back to the Flyer. Before Marie even realizes there was a movement, Mu's right arm whizzes past her head and slams the Flyer's door behind her shut with a bang. Stumped for a moment, Marie looks half behind her, following the arm's placement next to her. When she turns back to the other woman, the gold in the other's eyes seemingly swirls around again, blurring the thin line the irises turned into. She finds Mu's face very close to her own, this time, the smile is gone. Startled, Marie tries to take a step back, only bumping into the Flyer. Barely restrained anger, very clear in the eyes that don't leave her own, all telling, set in an otherwise expressionless face.
