[X] ...Mordred's right. It doesn't even matter that much anyone. She should just enjoy the drink and talk with her for a bit.
Taking a sip of the soft drink Mordred had given to her, Pyrrha tried to push her misgivings out of her mind.
"I suppose I should relax." Pyrrha replied. "We are going to be spending a while in front of cameras soon, aren't we?"
"Yeah!" Mordred replied. "It's a bit of a pain in the ass, going off in front of people. Haha, but man that was a fight! Can't believe how close that was!"
Pyrrha winced slightly, trying to avoid hiding her negative reaction, instead drinking more of her soda. It tasted odd, but she hadn't tried this brand before.
Mordred ripped another can out of her fridge, and immediately poured it down her throat.
"Congratulations." Pyrrha said, with a smile. "You were very impressive out there."
"Damn right I was!" Mordred declared, throwing her can into the trash again. "Hey, did you see the bit where I threw my sword at you? Weren't expecting that, were you?"
"Abandoning your weapon for one attack was... Creative." Pyrrha tried to say.
Mordred grinned. "Yeah, that's it. It's too old a sword to mod it up with a gun, so I had to come up with some sort of ranged attack. I mean, there's my Semblance, but it can be hard getting into the mindset of it."
"Mindset?" Pyrrha asked.
Mordred put up a finger. "You're not getting it out of me that easily. Tell me about yours and I'll describe mine. You did some impressive stuff with that telekinesis or whatever, but I didn't see my armour flying around with the rest of it. What's the secret?"
Pyrrha paused, for a moment.
There was still some mystery regarding her Semblance. If she told Mordred and Mordred told people, then it'd be gone. She'd still be famous even without it, but she'd be more of a known factor.
...But who cared? She'd rather take a moment to enjoy talking with someone over desperately clawing for fame she never really wanted.
"Magnetism." Pyrrha admitted. "Silver isn't magnetic, so my Semblance couldn't touch it."
Mordred looked at her for a moment, then laughed.
"Really?" She asked. "That's it? I though it'd be something about the armour having some sort of echo of my Aura on it or something-"
"That wouldn't be it." Pyrrha clarified. "My Semblance has bypassed Aura beforehand."
Mordred's laugh quieted down. "Eh? You mean you could've shaken me like this-"
She reached into the fridge to pull out another can of her fizzy drink, then frowned.
"It's already open." She muttered. "Why's it already open? Did Lamorak sneak back here just to go through my stuff?"
Shrugging, she chugged it down. "Anyway, where was I?"
"I could have manipulated the armour you were wearing." Pyrrha confirmed.
"Ah, right." Mordred snapped her fingers. "That!"
Pyrrha opened her mouth to keep talking, but suddenly yawned.
"Eh? Tired already?" Mordred asked. "I didn't exhaust you that bad, did I?"
"Sorry." Pyrrha apologised. "I'm just a bit..."
She stepped forward, and stumbled. The world spun in a circle around her, and the sode can she was holding fell to the ground, still half-filled until it began spilling its content.
"Hey, are you alright?" Mordred asked, suddenly kneeling next to her. "You look like you've just eaten a rotten fish. Was there something in your drink?"
Mordred picked up the fallen can, letting a drop of soda land on her finger, and tasted it.
"...It's not any different to what I was drinking." She frowned. "But now that I think about it, it does have a bit of an odd taste..."
Picking Pyrrha and hanging her off the shoulder, Mordred hikes her up.
"Come on, we should do see-"
There was a knock on the door, and Mordred turned to it, pointing Pyrrha towards it in the process. The red-haired girl groaned, as Mordred shouted.
"Hey, open up! There's something going on here!"
The door opened, and Pyrrha saw a woman in a professional looking suit step in.
"Hey, get in here!" Mordred insisted. "We gotta-"
There was a flash, and Mordred stumbled back as a fist suddenly collided with her face.
"What the-" Mordred cried out, as she stumbled back. Pyrrha looked up, and tried to stand, only to stumble and then thrown down by the woman in a suit.
"What are you..." Pyrrha wheezed out, closing her eyes to concentrate as she tried to stand again.
"Odd." The woman noted. "The mixture seems to have taken effect on you, but not Mordred..."
"The hell are you on about?" Mordred snarled, flashing forward and kicking the woman in the stomach, sending her flying out the room. Mordred reached down and grabbed Pyrrha's arm, dragging her up to her feet.
There was a movement in the start, and Pyrrha braced herself. trying to work through the haze descending on her mind.
Two large figures moved in, in similar suits to the original woman, and drew out stun batons, which cackled with blue energy for a moment.
Pyrrha raised her hand, breathed heavily, and swept it to the side, throwing one of the stun batons away from it's owners grip. Mordred dashed forward, punching the now unarmed man in the stomach, making him collapse forward and hit the ground.
The stun baton from the other man hit Mordred in the side, and she grunted in pain as she steadily turned to the side, her movement jittery as she reached for the arm holding the weapon, before throwing it away.
Once the weapon wasn't hitting her, Mordred's movement was suddenly able to move easier, punching forward to hit the second guy in the face to knock him back.
"The hell is this?" Mordred asked. "What the hell are you-"
There was an explosive sound, as a weapon shot into the room, and Mordred was thrown into the distant wall as the original woman stepped back in. She thew a smoking cannon to the ground as she stepped back in, a blank look on her face. Pyrrha stumbled forward and gritted her reeth, as she reached for her opponent.
One of the two burly figures grabbed Pyrrha's arm, and by the time that she realised that she was being held, her arm was suddenly thrown into the wall.
"Why..." She groaned out, looking up. The suited woman picked her up by her throat, and a blade hidden in her palm stabbed forward and hit her Aura, hitting it while grinding her against the wall.
Mordred gave out another cry as she charged forward, and Pyrrha's vision went black. The last thing she saw were the pitying look of red eyes.
Groaning as she came to, Pyrrha looked around blearily. She stretched her arm, only for it to suddenly stop the a rattling sound. Looking up to her arm, Pyrrha saw a chain locking it to a wall.
...What?
Shaking her head, Pyrrha took a moment to confirm that she appeared to be chained to a wall, and looked around.
The room was dark, damp, unfurnished, with a single steel door the only hint of any way out. No windows, no other holes, nothing.
On the other side of the room, also chained to a wall, was Mordred Gwynarian. She was growling as she pulled at the chains on her wrists, hard enough that her skin had been torn off and the cuffs around her were stained with blood.
"Oi!" Mordred called, as she saw Pyrrha waking up. "Magnets! Little help here?"
Pyrrha blinked, as she adapted to the situation, and she reached out towards Mordred to try and pull at the chains around her arms.
There was a zapping sound, eliciting a scream from Pyrrha as the back of her neck was suddenly overtaken with pain. For a moment, she couldn't concentrate on anything but that pain, until it subsided and fell away.
Groaning and suddenly awake, Pyrrha realised that she'd fallen to her knees at some point. Steadily getting back to her feet, Pyrrha looked up at Mordred.
"S-sorry..." She stammered out.
Mordred swore. 'Where the hell are we?"
As if on cue, a door opened, and a woman in purple stepped in. She wore a small dress, a lighter shade of purple than her hair, which was long enough to reach to her hips. The woman was casually drawing at sections of hair and cutting them with scissors as they walked.
The woman looked up at Pyrrha as she pulled a strain of hair away from her face, revealing the mark of her forehead.
III
Three.
"Hey!" Mordred snarled, as the purple woman entered. "What the hell is going on here?"
The woman ignored her, looking at Pyrrha. "Two in one room? Why... Ah, right. Steel in every room. Not enough electric points, needed to make sure your Semblance wasn't a threat."
From that point, the woman turned to Mordred.
"The champion." She muttered to herself. "Semblance grows stronger with emotion. Most likely best used in experimentation of strongest emotion? Measurable ability to demonstrate. But perhaps certain emotions work better with the Semblance in general? Or perhaps her own emotional state will bias the results. Mental examinations from the tournament demonstrate an aggressive personality, and drawing on a positive emotion, happiness or amusement, will be difficult considering the situation this-"
Mordred spat at the purple woman, landing on her Aura over her face, and the woman continued talking.
"-At the very least, she should be able to be used as a measurement of determining the most powerful of negative emotions, between anger, hatred, and other emotions along those lines. A demonstration should be prepared to examine this. Should take note to acquire her half-brother and see what kind of emotional reactions he can be used to cause-"
Mordred looked up, suddenly roaring.
"Don't you fucking dare!" She screamed. "You leave my brother out of this, you fucking asshole! Cut me down from here and I'll show you what I can do you-"
There was the sound of steel cutting flesh, and as the purple woman turned away, Pyrrha was able to see her scissors stabbed into Mordred's stomach.
Shaking as she looked at the sight, Pyrrha turned to the purple woman.
"You..." She whispered, unsure of how to react. What was even happening here? Why was this happening? What gave her the right?
"Who are you?" Pyrrha asked. The purple woman didn't react, as she leaned against the wall.
"You..." Mordred snarled. "Give a fucking answer!"
The purple woman's breathing slowed, and it took Pyrrha a moment to realise that she had fallen asleep.
A moment passed, before a burly man in a suit stepped in.
"My lady..." He whispered, in a soft voice. "You really need to pay more attention to where you doze off."
"Hey!" Mordred screamed. "The fuck is going on!"
The man stepped away from the sleeping woman, and approached Mordred for a moment.
"I'm sorry." He said. "Lady Three has some... Tendencies... And on her behalf, I apologise."
Coming into reach of Mordred, the man pulled the scissors out of Mordreds stomach, and rested a hand on the wound. There was a brief glow of light, and when the man stepped away, the wound was gone, even if the skin around it was bloodied.
"I'm sorry." He continued. "For this, and what will come to you. You are both too young for this."
"Then why?" Pyrrha asked, looking at the man. "If you don't want this happening to us, then-"
The man looked up to Pyrrha, similar red eyes staring back.
"Do not assume I will help you." He whispered. "Lady Three is more important to me than either of you. If she asked me to kill you right now, I'd do so in a heartbeat. Until then, I can show pity. But do not assume I will betray her obvious motivations."
"What motivations?" Mordred called. "You can't just lock us up here and then tell us nothing about-"
"I can, and I will." The man said, as he carried the purple-haired woman out of the room. The door swung shut behind him, and sealed itself a way.
There was silence, as Mordred and Pyrrha looked at the door. Then, Mordred started struggling again.
"Need to get out of here!" She snarled, as she pulled at one of her arms. "Can't stick around. I need to..."
Pyrrha watched her for a moment, before making a decision.
[X] "We were both due for interviews, weren't we? People are looking for us. They'll find us before long if we sit tight."
[X] "Hold on a moment. If I can ignore the pain enough to loosen one of your chains, you'll hurt yourself less getting out."