Utopia

Dayton looked over at Russell, frowning slightly as he didn't leave. Nonetheless, he cleared his throat gesturing for Kira to take a seat and starting the tape recorder. "So, for the record, can you please say your name?" he began, which Kira did.

"Now, when was the last time you saw Nathan Stanton, your teammate?" Dayton asked, resting his hands on the table and studying Kira intently.

The woman fidgeted slightly, not really liking this man at all. "I saw him on top of the hospital. We haven't talked since..." she trailed off, furrowing her brow. "Around the end of the tournament, I guess..."

"Leaving in friendly terms or otherwise?" Russell interjected with a question of his own, rolling up his shirt sleeves before going back to his stance with his arms folded. He was curious for his own investigation. Dayton could do what he liked, but Russell was focused on solving this case and the murder case, and since both were connected to the Acer Tournament, he could do with every piece of information he could get.

"Um, unfriendly, I guess, since he tried to kill me," Kira laughed uneasily, starting to play with her hair again. "His Flow just isn't very good for his mind, he's a good person!" she started up again after a moment's pause. "As long as you don't push him, he's...he's really nice."

Dayton raised an eyebrow, but nodded all the same, obviously not believing her that much. "What about Luke Evans? When did you last see him?" he asked.

Kira visibly stiffened, biting her lip before relaxing. "Three...three years ago," she answered, not elaborating from there. She didn't want to talk about Luke...

Russell raised a cynical eyebrow when Kira mentioned that Nathan was a nice person when not pushed, skeptical about that assertion for obvious reasons. He let it slide uncommnted on, however, not wanting to ask any more questions than he absolutely needed to. He was fine with just observing. He would rather stay quiet wherever he felt he should, and he got the feeling that both of the other people would rather he did, too.

"And was that on good terms?" Dayton asked, drumming his fingers against the table.

Kira didn't take well to this and hissed, "You know what happened," before trying to calm herself down a little. Why did he have to bring up Luke...?

Dayton merely shrugged, before continuing on with his questions. Kira's distress was of no concern to him at the moment. "So you have no information on either of their whereabouts?" he continued after a moment's thought.

To that question, Kira shook her head, rather honest, though she wished she had been lying. "No, they would never tell me anything, anyway..."

Sarah sighed as she sat in the corner of the abandoned warehouse she was hiding out in. She was hungry, she was tired, and she freaking hated how shitty her life was. With her crazy Flow, and the government after her, it was hard to get any rest these days. It had only been pure luck she had found this warehouse when she did.

Russell's eyes glowed blue briefly, scrutinising her to see if he could detect anything that hinted towards a lie. Unsurprisingly, she was honest. He had already pretty much known from her reaction earlier when they were at the hospital that she had no part in anything. His brief encounter with her when he picked her up from her house had only confirmed that fact to him. However telling his bosses that would help nothing, so he had saved his breath.

Dayton frowned slightly at this, obviously not getting the answer he was hoping for. "They never told you anything? Are you sure? Because you've been romantically involved with both of your teammates, and people do stupid things for those they care about," he chided, almost as if he was talking to a small child.

Kira scowled at Dayton, clenching her fists tightly. "I haven't seen Nathan in ten years! He wasn't allowed into Utopia! Of course I care about him, but I haven't seen him in so long, am I really going to lie for him?" she demanded, pausing to take a breath, before starting up again. "And Luke, he...he left me behind when you bastards ran him out! I haven't gotten even a damn letter from him in three years, and you expect me to know where he is?!" She sat there for a few seconds, realizing in her anger, shoots of grass had started to sprout out of the table. They quickly dematerialized, leaving the table rather grooved and quite unstable. It'd probably collapse if too much weight was put in it.

Russell looked at Dayton with a veiled sense of amusement to see how he would handle that little outburst. He didn't seem the type to take a rebuttal like that well, but it was a pretty reasonable excuse. Russell's look clearly conveyed his feelings on the matter, that they were as well to wrap it up because they weren't going to get anywhere down his route.

Dayton sighed, getting to his feet. He looked down at Kira, pressing his lips together and looking rather cross. "Miss, please take a deep breath and calm down. Detective Barksdale, why don't you go get her some water? I'm sure that will help," he said, a slightly threatening undertone appearing in his voice as he turned to Russell, frowning slightly.

"Of course," Russell replied, staring back at his boss with a cool, unflinching stare. He unfolded his arms, walking out of the room and closing the door behind him without making another sound. He walked over to get Kira a drink, never taking his eye away from the one-way mirror that made up part of one of the room's walls, not even as he filled the cup. He was curious to see how Dayton would handle it.

Dayton stood over Kira, clicking off the tape recorder in his hand. "Y'know, we have extensive files from the adults on all of the contestants, including you, Miss Kira. How long are you going to last in this tiny room before you start panicking?" he asked rather calmly.

Kira swallowed anxiously, glancing over at the door Russell had just left through. "Y-You can't do that. I have to leave soon and pick up my s-son..." she trailed off, chewing on her lip. This is exactly what she didn't want to happen.

"Oh, don't worry, we'll take care of him," Dayton shrugged, returning back to his seat and clicking the tape recorder back on again and simply watching Kira squirm. She wouldn't be hiding things for long.

Russell looked back at the room anxiously, wanting to hurry up and get back there before Dayton further blemished their record, if that was even possible. He got the cup of water, not soon enough for his liking, before turning around and heading back towards the room hurriedly. A man stepped in front of him, someone important enough, but Russell wasn't paying him any attention, trying to brush him off and head back.

"You...you can't do that," Kira spoke up after a few moments of silence. Or at least she was hoping he couldn't. There was no telling how much free reign this man got when it came to the police department. He seemed...in charge, and that wasn't particularly good.

Dayton only smirked, clicking off the recorder once more. "Miss Kira, I can make your life a living hell. I can make it so you won't ever get hired again, I can make it so every person in Utopia thinks you're a killer, I can torture you all I want. Be grateful the least I'm threatening is to harm your son," he explained lightly, chuckling a bit. This was a lot more fun than he had expected.

Russell managed to shake the guy off, heading back to the room as fast as he could and managing not to spill the water so it looked like he hadn't been rushing. He entered the room with an even less amused face than before, his new gaze nothing short of stony as he handed Kira the glass of water. One could practically feel the disapproval emanating from him as he resumed his position on the door and gestured for them to carry on.

Dayton glanced over at Russell, clicking the tape recorder back on. "So, if you weren't in contact with Nathan, why did you suddenly rush out of your job, to go to the hospital, only a few minutes after the attack began?" he asked, leaning back on his chair.

Kira stared at the glass of water in front of her, biting her lip anxiously. "I...I felt Nathan's Flow, I-I-I got worried," she tried to explain, looking much more nervous than before Russell had left.

"After ten years, you still know what Nathan's Flow feels like? And if you were worried, why go towards the problem?" Dayton pressed, to which Kira shifted uneasily. He seemed to have gotten her right where he wanted her.

"W-We were teammates...o-of course I know his Flow..." she tried to explain, looking up at Dayton, not sure how he couldn't understand that. The second question left a bit more room for thought, though, and she nervously started playing with her hair again. "Nathan's Fl-Flow...isn't good f-for his mind," she repeated. "S-Sometimes, it t-takes control, and when it does...well...I w-wanted to know if i-it had taken control, so I-I could get a-away from it."

"The Flow was immensely powerful, anyone in the city could probably attest to that now," Russell interjected, feeling the need to cut in and offer some scant relief for the woman's plight. His dislike of Dayton only made it the option of interjecting more appealing to him, so naturally he leapt at the chance. "Although choosing to run towards it is'nt what you'd call a bright move."

Kira pursed her lips, fidgeting a little in her seat. The sooner she got out of this, the better. She kind of wished she actually did know something about Luke and Nathan, although then she would have to lie about it, and lying was hard.

Dayton let Russell speak, choosing not to make his annoyance visible. Instead, he opened his mouth again, drumming his fingers on the table. "Well, you apparently know absolutely nothing about Nathan, so how about Luke? He's currently suspect in the hospital incident as well, since a second figure seemed to be able to control heat."

Kira bit her lip, staring at the water again. "Can we not t-talk about him...?"

Russell remained silent during this exchange, not really seeing a good place for him to say anything. He did remain firmly disapproving towards Dayton, though, not really seeing much point to the interrogation beyond bullying. Her outburst had made it evident that she didn't know anything. She could barely hold herself together, anybody could tell that, so why bother? To entertain Dayton's sadistic inclinations?

"No, I'd very much like to talk about him," Dayton pushed, keeping a neutral face. If he pushed Kira hard enough, it would be evident to at least Luke, if not Nathan as well. He was nearly positive that at least the former was keeping tabs on his old teammate.

Kira trembled in her seat, looking about ready to cry. "H-He never even sent l-letters, a-and all those guards w-watching me, h-how am I...how am I s-supposed to know anything about him?"

Russell sent Dayton a stony glare, knowing that at this point there was no point to her being questioned, except to fulfil Dayton's sadistic tendencies. He also knew that he wasn't going to stand for it. He worked to damn hard for this puffed-up bureaucrat to come in and shit all over his investigation for kicks. He figured he would let him call it off himself before Russell verbally interfered. Either way, he wasn't going to let it last.

Dayton looked over at Russell, rolling his eyes at the glare, before clicking the recorder off. His purpose for this interrogation was done. "You can leave now, Miss Kira," he stated coldly, before walking out of the room and taking the tape recorder with him. Information-wise, that had been rather useless, but he was quite sure that it would get Luke and Nathan worked up.

Kira stayed sitting, even as Dayton left, staring at the glass of water and trying not to cry. This wasn't fair. Wasn't she supposed to get utopia? How was this anything like a utopia? She was alone, a single mother, and being threatened by the government. She would've been better off in the wasteland.

After a minute of waiting for Kira to stir and leave the room, Russell decided that he needed to break her cloud of despair.

"C'mon, you have to get out of here. You got to pick your son, right?" he attempted hopefully, figuring that the mention of her kid would be enough to rouse her from the chair. He was wondering how he could make it up to her, something to give as compensation for putting her through that.

Kira nodded meekly after a moment, getting up from the chair, and looking over at Russell. She didn't really want to take the car, but how could she tell him that without sounding like some sort of neurotic freak? It would be long walk home, and it was cold outside, so simply walking was kind of out of the question. "Yeah... I-I...should," she said after a few seconds, biting her lip. She really wished that Luke was here right now.

"Alright, let's take the stairs this time," Russell responded as he went to don his hat and suit jacket. He walked out of the room, drawn up to his full height subconsciously because he was annoyed: annoyed at Dayton, annoyed at the police department, and most of all annoyed with the god damn government, he thought to himself as he began to walk down the stairs to the basement, moving rather briskly.