POV: Eva

I have been for weeks in custody, yet no one interrogates me. Why am I even here then? I'm just trapped in this room all day, bored to death. Not even allowed to make a phone call.

Finally, the door opens. In steps Aaron and an overdressed man with sunglasses. Really, man, business suits are so last millennium, live a little.

I tell him annoyed, "Was about time you come! I've been waiting for WEEKS!"

He is taken aback, "I'm sorry? Uh, is that the right room, Aaron? I was told the Eva Sundale we're looking for was just brought in yesterday."

Aaron responds embarrassed, "I'm not sure. She was-"

I cut him off, "Yes, that is me, and I've been sitting here for almost three weeks! And you know that, Aaron! You brought me here!"

He adds flustered, "Uh, and shortly after interrogated and then let go after being found not at fault. At least that is what I was told."

I get angrier, "No such thing! No interrogation, no visitors, nothing! I wasn't even allowed to call my lawyer! I know my rights, and they were strictly denied! So much for any claims at civilized treatment."

The flustered man digs through his briefcase, "Uh, what did you say you were brought here for? In your file, it only says you were here because of a general interrogation about the chaos that happened in the company and after finding nothing suspicious you were let go."

"Are you shitting me!?", I grab him by his collar, "I've been unlawfully held captive here for weeks. Screw your fake files and baseless accusations! I want to speak to my lawyer!"

Aaron frees him from my grab, "Calm down, Eva. There must be a mistake here..."

The unknown man fixes his tie, "How about we all calm down and start over? My name is Ali E. Ster, an agent investigating the gross misuse of the transmigration machinery."

I refuse to calm down, "Ok, Ali. Before I answer any questions, I have some of my own."

He nods, "Sure, if it helps to get us back on track."

"Do you happen to have a brother called Poll-Ye?"

He shakes his head, "I'm afraid I'm an only child."

"Ok, so you also don't know where he went to. We've been missing him for a couple of years in our gaming group. Anyway, can you tell me what the hell is going on? Why am I still kept here if you have no intention of interrogating me on the original charges?"

Aaron tries to chime in, "Eva, as we said earlier-"

I interrupt him, "No, you shut up! You brought me here, I deserve to know why I'm here. No more excuses!"

Ali answers, "I'm afraid I do not know that. I'm not privy to the reason for your current stay. Though if it is as you say, then it is indeed unusual. May I make a quick phone call on that matter?"

"Do it. The sooner I get out of here the better."

"Certainly, it'll only be a moment", he steps outside the room and closes the door behind him.

I turn toward Aaron, "So what the hell did you think-"

The door opens again. The agent is already back? That was... quick.

Ali fixes his suit, "Your case will be fast-tracked. If there are no hints of your involvement, you'll be out in about two hours."

"I'm not used to people working that fast in my favor."

He calmly states, "Ma'am, we're professionals, we're here to get things done."

Might just be my imagination but he sounds a bit different, "Alright, nice to hear."

Ali continues, "Now, Mr. Aaron, if you would be so kind as to fetch us a coffee. I'm afraid this will take a bit longer than just the expected ten minutes."

Aaron affirms, "Yeah, sure think. See you in a minute, Eva."

"Yeah, get mine black, please."

Aaron leaves the room and closes the door behind him.

Ali turns back to me, "Now, miss Sundale. Where were we? Ah, right. I wanted to inform you about your crime of killing Todo."

I vehemently protest, "I didn't do such a thing!"

He lectures me, "And that's where you are mistaken. Unless you want to tell me that you didn't perform your job these past decades? Tell me, who else was at your desk and sent several people to be transmigrated out of the soul cycle?"

I'm confused, "I did, several of my colleagues did the same though, but what has that got to do with anything?"

He waves his hand, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. It seems you've failed to follow your orders then. You see, several years back there was a mail sent around that the use of the transmigration machine is to be ceased immediately except for very specific emergency cases. Cases that in fact didn't happen on your watch."

I protest, "I received no such mail. I-"

Ali cuts me off, "I know. But that doesn't matter because the records will show otherwise. Do you know the real reason why the machine should've been stopped at once? Of course, you don't. That is a great secret."

Aaron returns about as quickly as Ali did before. I don't like where this is going.

"Uh, where's the coffee, Aaron? I desperately need one right now."

He pulls out a syringe filled with an orange liquid, "I'm afraid, we're all out of coffee today."

Ali grabs me and Aaron rams the syringe into my arm.

My vision grows hazy and I'm feeling incredibly sick.

"Tha... isn... just..."

One of their voices answers, "Justice? Dear, we don't need to justify our cause to you. Because that would 'just' be meaningless words."

The other chuckles, "And really, words are just cheap. Actions count. And if we have to sacrifice you..."

I try to talk but can't. I've already lost control over my body and dropped to the ground.

One of them continues in a threatening tone, "Then it is a sacrifice we're willing to make."

Who's talking now? I don't follow anymore...

"Do you think the dosage is right? She's got a nasty shade of blue there", one of them fails to suppress laughter.

The other one snickers, "Looks good to me."

At this point, my vision is just a blur.

"Now, as I was explaining before, miss Sundale, every time you ripped an oh-so-brave soul out of the great cycle you did in fact gravely harm the great Todo."

"Why do you even tell her that, Smith?"

"Just for the heck of it, Taylor. We've already achieved our goals weeks ago. Everything else is just a bonus. Let me just gloat for a bit. And hey, the more chaos we cause the better."

Wha-what have we done?

"My dear, in your ignorance, you devas have done more harm to the universe than the entire Creed ever could. And all we needed to do was add a little redirect to the incoming and outgoing emails of you and your entire department."

"After that, we just had to lie back and enjoy the show until Todo was weakened enough. We quickly ran out of popcorn."

"You should've seen our performance in the final act! ...you know, this would be more fun if you could actually see how I just changed my appearance. But take my word for it, I look great in you."

What's that supposed to mean?

"Really, Eva, in your arrogance, none of you ever even considered us as a threat, to you we were just an unimportant footnote. Face it, girl. The devas have become too big to succeed. And we will change that."

"You tell her. Infiltrating here and setting everything up was depressingly easy. No fun at all."

No, no, no!

One of them sighs, "Only this Gyev gave us more than a passing thought."

"Not that it did him any good. We even have a betting pool at home whether his next action sets us back five minutes or catapults our plans ahead another decade. Currently, the latter is leading."

"If you think about it, half of our tech comes from him. Maybe when we're done we should honor him as our biggest supporter?"

They laugh menacingly.

"Smith, aren't we telling her too much? What if someone overhears us?"

"Then let the observers know that they are next! Do you hear me out there? Watch. Your. Backs."

I can barely hear their voices anymore...

"Now my sweet princess, if you'd please sign this confession here that it was all your doing?"

I try to stop my hand but it doesn't obey me. It signs the paper.

Shit.

I hear two muffled impacts. Then one of the men shoves a gun into my hand.

"Now, what do you think, Taylor? Who should find this crime scene? The evil murderer claims the lives of two investigators. Such a classic scene."

"I think I have someone in mind, Smith. How about-"

"No, no, let me guess. You mean the babe that looks like your sugar momma?"

"You know that she doesn't like being called that."

"Yeah, yeah. Say what, if this goes over well, I'll put in a good word for you with Besl'atoth that the sugar part will be scratched in your next life."

"You don't mean?"

"I do."

"Uhhh, I'd love that."

Just kill me already...

"Now turn the damn camera off, we've had enough fun."

"But I still wanted to brag about-"

3QGN73

It has been 31 chapters since Eva got taken into custody. It was about time this plotline makes some actual progress.

In case it wasn't clear, the two shapeshifters here were previously seen by Gzeph in the security camera recordings, and after they injected Eva with the syringe, she can't make out anymore who is saying what, so we can't either.