A/N: Holy shit did I make a bunch of atrocious errors in the previous chapter. Some of those mistakes shouldn't have been conceivable, but somehow I made them! Holy fuck!
"Alice Margatroid here to help with the interrogation of Rumia," Velocity said once he opened the door to the interrogation room. He then turned his head and nodded to the blond girl who had been following him before moving out of her way.
The self proclaimed magician entered the room. The blue clad hero called Armsmaster stood from his chair, as if to let the teen-looking girl sit down. Velocity could see the cabalistic child's hackles raise at Margatroid entering the room, cuffed hands digging into the table like claws and baring teeth like a dog.
Armsmaster exited the room, and Velocity could hear Assault saying "Please, have a seat, Miss," before the door closed. They made their way to the observation booth without pause.
Entering the booth, Velocity saw Miss Militia and Gallant present. The flag masked heroine nodded to him before looking back into the interrogation room.
"Margatroid," Rumia bristled as the other blond sat down. "Kinō nani o shita no ka, aete watashi ni kao o misete kuremasen ka?"
'Wait, what are they saying?'
"Do any of you know that language?" MM asked. Armsmaster thankfully answered.
"Some sort of Japanese. If you give me a minute, I can run it through a translator," he said before typing on one of the booth's computer keyboards.
"Watashi wa kinō zutto nemutte itanode, naze anata wa watashi ni gekido shita no ka, meiyo aru chōrō o setsumei shinakereba narimasen," Margatroid answered.
After Margatroid said these words, she bowed. Rumia's angry demeanor remained, but she stopped her growling.
"'I was asleep all of yesterday, so thou must explainth why thou art enraged with me, honored elder,'" Armsmaster quoted as he typed away.
"So was Rumia telling the truth about her age?" MM asked.
"What did I miss?" Velocity asked.
"Rumia claimed to be over a thousand years old," Gallant commented, "And now Alice is treating her like she's at least older than she looks."
"And done," Armsmaster said. The translated dialogue between Rumia and Magratroid started appearing on the screen.
...
"No need for the false respect, Alice; nor the lies. I know you were the one who attacked me when I was trying to feed," Rumia spat.
"Are you sure it was me?" Alice asked.
"I can track people by scent," Rumia said, pointing to her nose. "And you're the only True Magician in this world, so you're the only one who could have smelled like that."
"Not true... I have trained some apprentices since coming here, two of which had undergone an ascension ritual. That said, how were you attacked? What was the attacker wearing?"
"Shot with one of those 'guns' only the bullets were made of magic rather than... anything else."
"Void Cowboy, then," Margatroid hummed. "Wait, how did you get the burn on your forehead?"
"My attacker shot me in the head, twice," Rumia answered.
"That's..." The taller blond frowned at that claim and seemed to think about it before commenting. "That should be impossible. Unless he could make a replacement gun in less than two weeks, and test it. The weapon he made was designed to stun its targets, nothing more."
"It stunned those bald humans," Rumia said. "But the bastard shot me in the back once, the head twice, and more than nine times in the stomach; and the only thing stopping me from moving was the pain."
"Wait, did you fall unconscious from just that many shots?"
"Well the bald humans shot me a bunch before he shot me the first time, some blond human smashed me into a building, a wall, and then the street before punching me with the strength of China multiple times..."
...
"'Strength of China'?" Velocity asked.
"Those who've talked to Rumia and survived encountering her have not mentioned anything about China in interviews," Armsmaster claimed. "Although given both of the girls' possibly oriental facial features and them defaulting to Japanese when talking, they may have been at odds with their world's China before coming to Bet's America. Especially given China's aggressive actions once Capes popped up."
'Yeah, the CUI did piss off basically everyone who didn't directly benefit from its existence.'
Assault, meanwhile, was looking at them. While he probably couldn't see through the tinted window of the interrogation room, he could safely assume the four of them were still there listening in.
Of course, he was pointing to his ears, as if wanting to know what the two girls were talking about. Armsmaster pushed a key and held it as he talked.
"We can translate what they're saying, Assault. Let them continue talking."
...
"Have you been eating properly?" Margatroid asked. Rumia's mouth hung open for a few seconds as if she had to remember.
"You weren't the guy from yesterday," Rumia said, her expression indicated emotional calm. "If you were, you would have remembered that I said."
"As I had told you, he was likely Void Cowboy, not me." Margatroid was becoming increasingly irritated by Rumia.
"Oh right," Rumia said, her expression becoming smug for some reason. "Even though you're both True Magicians and blond; you even have the same sized chin-"
"Answer the question," Margatroid ordered, closing her eyes tightly as if to restrain herself from acting out in rage.
"We're in a human ruled land where killing and eating humans is illegal, what do you think?" Rumia said. She lifted her cuffed hands as if to emphasize. "The humans back home didn't give two shits if I ate one so long as it was a dumbass who entered the forests. Here, you eat a human in the forest and suddenly everyone in the city wants to lock you up and starve you."
...
"She's admitting to a murder she committed?" Velocity asked. They only knew of Rumia killing people in cities, or city outskirts like how her campaign against the Empire had been mostly.
"Maybe she doesn't care; before you brought Miss Margatroid up, Rumia mentioned that she was surprised over us not killing her when she was first taken into custody. Gallant, what are her emotions like?"
"Same as when we first encountered her, more fear than what anyone else can show and nothing else," the knight-like Ward answered. "Also, I'd like to point out that Margatroid seems to be... 80% as 'afraid' as Rumia is, with any other emotions appearing extremely muted."
Velocity couldn't help but look at the clock, given how long this was taking.
'5:12 PM? Are we just letting them run their mouths off for free information?'
...
"Starve you?" Margatroid asked. "Can't you get away with eating one human a year?"
"Ever since coming to this world, I felt like I needed one a month at minimum. And ever since coming to this village, it's gotten worse. It's like the village is trying to suck my soul out or something."
"Odd, given my experiences thus far."
"What's odd is that you're working so closely to the weird humans. Didn't you say that the giant crystal beings who gave them their powers were really dangerous to us?"
...
'Welcome to Brockton Bay, the place that's so bad that it even sucks the souls out of flesh eating demons,' is what Velocity wanted to say, assuming Rumia wasn't delusional about being something inhuman.
...
"Wait, what did Rumia say something after calling the city a village?" Velocity asked the others.
"Yes," Armsmaster clarified. "She mentioned it before."
...
"She mentioned what before?" Velocity asked.
"What?" Armsmaster asked, looking back at him.
"You said that Rumia mentioned something before."
"No, I didn't," Armsmaster said.
"You... just now-"
...
"That said, I would suggest you going to the Birdcage, Rumia," Alice Margatroid said in clear English.
"Wait, why would you-?" Assault was panicking when he was a perfect statue seconds ago.
...
"Weren't they talking about the source of Parahuman abilities seconds ago? Where did that end and the topic of the Birdcage begin?" Gallant asked, also panicking given his tone. "And why are they speaking in English now?"
"Wait," Miss Militia said. "The moment Armsmaster repeated what Rumia described, we were all hit with a Stranger Effect that made us forget what he said, along with a bunch of other-"
Miss Militia was now looking at Velocity, having shifted two feet as if she had teleported.
"Damn it, Robin; don't talk about what Rumia said!"
"Wait, what did Rumia say?" Velocity asked, now confused.
'Wait, didn't Margatroid say something about-'
Seemingly out of thin air, several spraying devices were sticking out of the walls and ceiling, pointed at the four individuals in the observational booth.
"Oh shit!" someone shouted before containment foam started spraying at them.