Being redirected by Console to a cape related homicide wasn't something Cylynx dealt with often, hardly ever really. You don't usually send a cape in for clean up, that's for people with a completely different skill set.

No, you send a Hero in when the killer is still on site, when somebody needs to take that risk to keep everyone else safe. It wasn't like she wasn't used to sight of dead and dying, she'd been to Endbringer fights after all.

Arriving didn't take her long, not with the speed Nemean provided and making her own entrance wouldn't have been difficult either, but the main door was never what villains expected you to use.

"Unknown parahuman!" She shouted as she stepped inside, voice amplified by her speakers. "This is your opportunity to surrender!" But the follow up died on her lips as she took in the scene before her, it was like the whole world stopped at "This i-"

Iron Maiden, her nemesis. Anetta, her... Girlfriend? And the corpse of a man who was long past saving.

"Why?"

Maiden sits against the wall opposite of the man with her head cradled in her hands. She shifts a bit as Cylynx enters, but doesn't look up at her.

"Accident," she mumbles, the sound distorted by her helmet. "Snuck up on me."

The words hang in the air for a moment, be Cylynx moves exiting her armour as she's done time after time. "Watch the door Nemean, nobody in or out without my say so." The armour steps away from her, closing up to follow the rudimentary order.

Cylynx's actions aren't smooth, this was different than ever other horror she'd seen. Grabbing a vacuum sealed bag from her waist and tearing it with her teeth, and shaking out an emergency blanket which was promptly laid over the man as she walked to kneel by Iron Maiden.

"Maiden, I'm right here. Can you tell me what you mean by snuck up on you... Please?"

"I was doing my thing, intimidating people." She shifts, looking up at Cylynx. "I turned around, and he surprised me standing right behind me. It was a reflex." She gestures to a discarded spike of metal lying bloody on the ground. "It went through him like paper... He was dead before anyone could do anything."

Cylynx puts a gentle hand on the back of Maiden's neck, squeezing despite her armour. "Did... Did he do anything else? Is everyone else gone?"

She glances at the spike, bloody and fresh. Maiden was hanging in a delicate situation with this... Cylynx couldn't think of any crimes on her record even close to this.

"He had a hand up. I don't know what he was planning to do." Maiden makes a soft sound, a gag or a muffled sob. She sits up straighter.

"Cylynx... What do I do?"

"Okay it's... They'll take him to the coroner's office and check. If he's a parahuman then things will be less complicated going forward." Cylynx found herself desperately hoping the man was a cape and acting out of costume.

She tugs on Iron Maiden, pulling the taller woman to her chest and putting herself between Anetta and the corpse to block her view. "You'll be expected to surrender and submit for questioning, running will look really bad Maiden. I can't make you stay, but I can advocate for you better if you're present. Not all of the local Heroes will treat this like it deserves, especially if you run... They'll label you a murderer and then it's gloves off for some." Her grip on Maiden's armor tightens, knuckles white in a mixture of anger and fear for Anetta.

Normally, hugging Iron Maiden would result in being stabbed and cut by the barbs on her armor, but it's completely smooth right now.

She shakes her head. "If I go in for 'questioning,' they'll nail me for all my other crimes on top of this. I've done some bad shit, Cy, put people in the hospital, maimed them for life... if I get taken in, they will make me vanish."

"You aren't that kind of villain, they wouldn't do that." Cylynx spoke more for herself than Maiden, she had faith in the system that had looked after her for so long.

"Vil-" She paused, "Parahumans do things like that... It's part of who we are. I'm sure there was always an explanation. They can't expect the same level of control from you, not like what Wards and Protectorate members have... We practice in completely controlled environments for years."

"I would love to believe in heroes the way you do, Al-- Cylynx. But I can't. They've burned me so many times..."

She pulls her helmet off, revealing the cowl she wears to keep her hair from falling out the bottom of said helmet.

"I'll... I'll come in, but you can't leave me alone while I'm there. I need you to always be with me. I don't trust heroes, but I trust you."

"I don't believe in Heroes, Maiden... I believe in people. Everyone has the capacity for good inside them... Some people just choose to ignore it."

She scratches gently at the bottom edge of the cowl, giving Maiden a soft smile. "Once we get out of this..." Alia paused, taking a big step but Anetta was trusting her too, she leaned in and whispered to Anetta. "I'll come over, cook us a big dinner, and we can fall asleep on the couch watching whatever." And she'd share why she doesn't believe in all Heroes.

Giving Maiden some space she nodded in agreement, "I won't leave your side, I'll keep you safe through this whole thing. I won't so much as sleep unless I know I'm right beside you... Thank you for trusting me."

Maiden is taken into custody for questioning by a PRT trooper. There's a bit of skepticism around Cylynx staying with her for the entire process, but Zipdash finally puts her stamp of approval on it, and they get to work. Maiden's face-hugging cowl was wet by the time Cylynx got to her, and it gets worse as the interrogation goes on. She doesn't speak except to answer direct questions.

It becomes quickly apparent that Maiden didn't mean to kill anyone. If she had set out do so, she would have killed more than just one person, and done it before one of her hostages startled her. They quickly determine that, in her five years as a cape, she's always held back even when it would be easier not to. Heroes, rival villains, gang members, she could have killed plenty of them during her tenure as a villain, especially when she was running territory in Green Bay, but she always chose not to.

That said, her list of violent offenses is long. Countless assaults, with no less than five people permanently maimed and/or crippled, and one woman who will need life support for the rest of her life. They're matters of public record, and the trooper makes sure to bring them up in reference to this matter.

Finally, after what seems like hours of questions about her goals for the night (a bit of light robbery and mayhem) and whether she intended to murder anyone (again, no, dammit), the trooper says he needs to confer with his superiors, and then leaves the two of them alone in the room.

Maiden wants to remove her cowl, but the camera's watching. Instead, she rests her head on the table and lets out a shuddering sigh. "I'm sorry, Cylynx..."

Cylynx stands quietly next to Maiden through the whole interrogation, every question, comment, concern, and hidden insult from the trooper committed to memory. Each response Maiden gave and the reasons along with them as well.

She pulls out a phone and sends a message to Zipdash as the questioning goes on, asking about any assistance options for the injured. Possible work she could do to help, since she had no idea these people were suffering.

Alia steps between Anetta and the camera, rubbing her shoulder before giving a little tug at her cowl, a fabric mask in the same hand. "Take it off, wipe your eyes, and wear this. It'll be more comfortable." She speaks softly, "And it's okay to be sorry... I understand." Cylynx continues, "For what it's worth, I'm proud of you for holding back, and for coming here tonight."

Maiden smiles up at Cylynx and mouths 'play along.' Then, she snatches the mask and shoves it on her face.

Suddenly, the smile is replaced with a snarl. "I don't need your fucking pity, Alia. And I certainly don't need your approval."

Her only response is to look confused, until Anetta grabs the mask, her own smile slipping back into place.

That was when everything went wrong, her blood flooded with a chemical cocktail in a fight or flight response. "I have never pitied you." She growls back, claws flexing unconsciously. "Shocking, because somebody has to approve when you do something right." Cylynx bites back, "And do not use my name when we're in costume."

She was going to have one hell of a time explaining this to Zipdash.

Iron Maiden snorts. "I don't need it. I've never cared what anyone's thought of me, why should I start now?" She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms. "I'm not a killer, but that's my own moral compunction, nothing that society has impressed on me. I do what I want, when I want, and nobody stops me. Understand?"

Cylynx breaths hard for a moment, Maiden had asked her to play along but it didn't mean the words didn't hurt.

"Maybe you should look into it, might help you get your head on straight." She gives Maiden's chair a small push without letting her tip all the way back. "I'll stop you. Each and every time you fuck up, I'll be there to stop you." To fix things. To pick you back up. Were all left unsaid by Alia.

Maiden smirks up at Alia. "I'm looking forward to it. I'll let you be my nemesis. We'll dance the dance of death together over and over again."

"Let me be?" Cylynx scoffs, leaning in to Maiden's personal space barely inches between them. "You're lucky to have me."

"A dance of life and death, poetry in motion."

She nods once, then sighs and slowly lowers her head back to the table. "It's a bit less funny after today, actually. Killing someone actually sort of sucks." She wants to go home and change into her PJ's and watch a documentary -- definitely not a horror movie tonight -- and pretend today never happened. Having a cute girl to cuddle up to wouldn't be a bad addition to that plan, but there's no way to ask Alia over without Zippo hearing about it.

Cylynx nods, "Killing is never easy... It shouldn't be. It's good to know where you stand on that line." She rubs Maiden's back, "We'll see how this all goes, I can't promise you'll get to go home tonight. But I'm sure whoever is waiting for you will have pajamas and some dumb documentary waiting when you do. And probably too many snacks."

She has to bite down on a grin. Alia reading her mind is something she's slowly getting used to. "Yeah, I hope so. I'll cooperate with this whole thing. Do you think I need a lawyer?"

Alia wasn't an idiot, she knew what helped when she killed somebody. And she wasn't going to let her girlfriend suffer in silence and withdraw. "If you can afford one, it can help. If not one will be provided for you..." Alia replies automatically, "I think getting a lawyer will help you."

"Then I need to make a phone call."

After several more hours of going around, this time with a lawyer shooting dirty looks at the heroes and butting in a lot to say "don't answer that", Maiden is cut loose. Technically, they could arrest her, give her the full treatment, try her for all of her crimes she hasn't been tried for up until now.

It's not worth it. Not for them, not to nail Maiden, not when there's a huge chance of her breaking out before the trial date anyways. When they actually go for her, they'll get her for something real, something that will get a solid conviction.

So Iron Maiden walks today. She's given her helmet and personal affects, and she marches off into the slowly rising sun, back to her apartment that her girlfriend has the key to.

Alia is given leave to rest up, write her report later. She doesn't need it, but protocol allows for it when a cape has just pulled an all-nighter guarding a villain who committed involuntary manslaughter.

Legal proceedings were always a pain in the ass, especially when Alia had her American law chip slotted in her neck and was able to pick apart ever argument and whataboutism that was thrown around.

Leave was always such a bother before, it was time she wasn't allowed to do anything, to be Cylynx. No patrols, no PR, no lab time! All because she went the extra mile and stayed when other capes would hand a villain off to the PRT.

But tonight was different, it would be different every day going forward. She had somewhere to go, somebody to be with when she couldn't be Cylynx... Hell, sometimes even when she was.

And spend her time she would, walking into Anetta's apartment with an overnight bag and backpack full of treats. "Anetta?" She called into the apartment, listening for the sounds of a shower or anything else her girlfriend would be doing.

The shower isn't going, but the drip of water coming from the bathroom signals that one just recently finished. As Alia calls out, Anetta steps out of the bedroom wearing a black tank top and sweats. Her hair is up in a towel to keep it from dripping all over the place. Her eyes are red and puffy; she's been crying.

She walks over and wraps Alia up in a tight hug. "Hey, boo."

Alia hugs her close, squeezing the taller woman. "Hey love..." She whispers, rubbing her back and just relaxing in her arms, head resting in the crook of Anetta's neck.

"I brought stuff, and my pajamas." She kicks the bag that had ended up at their feet.

"Cool. Go change, I'll put a pizza in the oven. Can we watch something light tonight? It's... been a rough day." Anetta kisses Alia on the head and disengages from the hug to let her go. "And maybe cuddles? I really could use them."

"I'd watch whatever you request, you know that. You goof." She hands off the bags she brought for the kitchen before pulling her shirt up, exposing her hard earned muscles, and tossing it to the side. "Cuddles sound like just what the doctor ordered." She spoke as a much too large t-shirt, one of Anetta's, covered her back up.