Dr. Ibanez walked into the pod station tiredly, weathered hand breaking apart the fog of sleep upon her features. "Hey Ken, how's 13C doing?"

The young nurse didn't even look up from the terminal which he was typing away into. "Discharged."

The woman paused."Discharged...?" And something snapped. "ON WHOS AUTHORITY!"

Ken shied away from the matronly doctor though his fingers continued working on that progress note. "Dr. Greer....not that he had much choice, the patient was stable and being taken into custody by military police from a Taj division something or another..."

The woman glared down at the young nurse a moment longer before an exasperated sigh escaped her. "Why didn't anyone come get me!?"

The nurse shrugged. "You were asleep. And there was nothing really to hold the patient on anyway, we were just feeding him and taking bets which nurse or tech he'd actually get to give him their number first..."

"We were observing him for..." Fingers pinched at the brow. "No....no....nevermind. The military's probably better equipped to deal with that patients needs than we are. Just....let me know next time okay..." A sigh escaped the woman as she took one last look at chart on the discharge pile. Picked up by military police....well, she could at least hope for the best for the man. Another errant thought crossed the woman. "So did we have a winner?"

The man continued to type with mild disinterest. "Ashley."

Ibanez sighed. "I should have known....damn....and I thought Rose or Gerry would have been the first to give that man their number..." Already fishing out a few bills she slapped them into the nurses waiting hand with a grumble.

= = = = =

A thin smile pulled as blue eyes blue watched the man in gray military fatigues step into the small, drab room carrying a simple metal tray. Upon the tray was a small plastic cup of water and what looked like a brick of bird food except much less appetizing. Mach waggled his fingers friendly like to the man, his hands held aloft by the handcuffs which kept him restrained to the simple metal bed. "Hey there Timmy, didn't know you did bed side service."

"Screw you Eli, and it's Staff Sergeant Mullen to you trash." The thick necked man dropped the tray on Mach's stomach unceremoniously as he pulled up the only other piece of furniture in the cell to sit upon, big hand moving behind to pull the file that was tucked in the small of his back.

Mach looked at the unappetizing cube and then back to the stern man that was already leafing through the contents of the folder. A few worthless clacks of teeth at the MRE before a friendly smile was offered to the soldier, a wave of hand causing the attached handcuff to clank against the bed rails. "Think you forgot something there SSgt Timmy." A mischievous grin offered to the man.

Amber eyes looked up from the file, a twitch on thick features. "Yeah....your right." Reaching over he picked up that brick of foodstuff, a bite taken and chewed as he returned to reading the file. "Got some questions for you, so why don't you make yourself comfortable and we'll start."

"Your so gracious." A grumble from Mach as he lied back in the bed.

Mullen may have cracked a dark smile at that. "So....what were you doing at the docks?"

A smirk escaped Mach. "Taking a romantic stroll of course."

A weary look from SSgt Mullen. "Taking a romantic stroll by yourself at the docks early in the morning which nearly kills you because you're powering your own spells like a dumbass."

Mach shrugged. "Well, seemed romantic at the time?"

"Mana spectral analysis shows that you cast one low level, one high level, and one super user level of spell in a brief half hour to an hour time frame. The discharged cartridge found in your caster at the scene was a Type 27 I.F.F.U.C with all five charges used and three shots fired. You shouldn't even be able to pull off a stack charge spell?"

"Well, I thought I could and shucks howdy if I didn't pull it off." Toothy grin at that interruption only earned Mach an annoyed twitch from the sergeant.

"You shouldn't even be able to pull it off so why in the hell where you casting one in the first place."

Another shrug from the handcuffed man. "Just wanted to try it yeah' Hey, can I get a smoke" I haven't had a smoke in ages?"

"You just cast Niflheim, a class S3 spell, on a whim?"

"Yeah' next time I gotta do it for a female audience, I be that would wet a few panties. Hey, about that cigarette?""

"Have a care Elitia!" Mullen snapped. "Your little "whim' caused tens of thousands of dollars" worth of damages to private owned boats and to a couple of the piers at the dock" that's infrastructure damage, serious shit."

A sigh escaped Mach. "Yeah, in pursuit of a dangerous bounty. That means it's covered under incidental damages insurance."

The sergeant snorted dismissively. "Really?" Convenient that. And who is this 'dangerous bounty' that you apparently failed to apprehend."

Mock look of hurt crossed those rugged features as the man sat up in the bed. "Case 3789UB2A20672733"

Puzzlement crossed the other as they thought about it, recognition setting in before he shot Mach a 'really?" sort of look. "You were after the "The Zorro Slasher??"

Sly grin crossed Mach. "One and only."

"You worthless motherfucker, that's just a dummy case that any asshole and dipshit claims when they do something illegal and you know it."

"No, no, I swear it was them' had the mask and everything!" Mach nodded emphatically.

"Lying scum. Fine. Then why did you cast Niflheim in your pursuit of "The Zorro Slasher?"" Air quotes used as the man leveled a hard gaze on Mach.

"To try and stop their escape." Those words rang clear as a crystal bell of truth. "They were leaving by boat and it was the most efficient means."

"Freezing a forty meter round column of the harbor from bay floor to top was the most efficient means of stopping them." Disbelief dribbled from the sergeant.

"Yes, it was. But suppose you wouldn't know that being a paper pushing, pencil dicked, desk?" Those last words escaped in a whiffle of gasped breath as the sergeant hammered his fist down into Mach's stomach. Amber gaze burned with anger as Mullen glared at the man swallowing down air. Looks like that touched a nerve.

A moment longer as the sergeant removed his fist, other hand straightening out his sleeve before he regarded the file coolly once more. "So you froze the dock trying to keep "The Zorro Slasher" contained". so where are they?"

Mach grinned through that grimace as he sat up once more. "More willy then I it seems....cast a flying spell on his boat...damn thing grew wings and..." A flapping motion of restrained hands in demonstration.

"So why didn't you cast a lightening spell to bring them back to earth."

"Unresponsive after one more cast....S3 multi-charge spell....'The Zorro Slasher'....do the words that come out of your mouth actually cross through your brain first?"

"Claiming your not as stupid as you are" That's a first." A snort as the man finished that nutritional cube, licking his fingers before taking up that cup of water to take a drink.

"Eh....full of surprises I am. So is your game to bore me to death or are we done here because everything else should check." Shrugging, or more rolling his shoulders to work out the tension from the odd positioning they were forced to maintain.

Ambers watched Mach over the rim of the cup. "One more thing. Who helped you."

A brow quirked. "EMT's....after the med emerg call from my phone..." Please tell me your not so incompetent that you missed that slight detail."

Leaning back mildly, SSgt Mullen would snap his wrist, the cup and it's remaining liquid sent flying to strike his prisoner in the face. "Someone cleaned you up. There was a bloodied cloth remain at your primary....puddle....where you obviously fired that S3 spell. So who helped and left you before the paramedics found your sorry ass?"

Mach sputtered as the water splashed over those rugged features, a clink as the handcuffs bit into his wrist as that autonomous reaction was to wipe off his face. A shake of head to cast off the rest before a wry grin pulled on him. "Oooooh....I remember now, a lamia living under the piers came up to see what all the ruckus was about."

An unimpressed look. "The cloth looked to be from a shirt from a normally proportioned human female..."

And that grin grew. "Did I mention that I'd totally pork that lamia if ever I saw them again?"

The interrogator pinched the bridge of his nose, a sigh escaping him. "So you were trying to get romantic walking around the docks, fought 'The Zorro Slasher' who flew away, and got tended to by a lamia that you didn't hit on only because you were passed out..."

A chuckle escaped Mach. "Well, when you put it that way it sounds a little far fetched, but then you never did have a way with words."

The man shook his head as he stood, that folder snapped shut before he tucked it away into the small of his back. Stern amber gaze was settled on Mach for a moment, that grin still upon the man. It was likely a very bad idea but Mach still waggled his fingers friendly to the sergeant....a move which pushed the man over the edge as he finally snapped the back of a meaty hand across Mach's features turning the glib man and slamming him into the bed rails. "Fucking garbage, you'll be doing the world a favor when you finally bite it..." A sneer before the sergeant turned to storm out, Mach simply chuckling through the pain.

= = = = =

The sun had risen, shown, and dropped by the time an M.P. arrived to unlock the manacles that pinned Mach's hands up, the woman stiffed lip and serious in her business. Of course it was likely the fact that she was releasing him which saved her from being inappropriately commented to or touched by the rogue.

Adjusting his shirt with numb hands as he got up, it would take a minute or two for the man to finally rise to his feet, following the guard stiffly down the hall from that cramped cell to the checkout area. SSgt Mullen was waiting there, his expression displeased as he held that small box of personal effects.

"My story hold enough water to float by on eh....not that the brass would want to bother trying to replace me if it didn't..." Spoken mildly to all the wooden faced soldiers that watched as he put back up that gun belt, a run of fingers over each of the vial tops taking a mental head count. Satisfied he'd look back to the sergeant. "Guess everyone needs a hobby though. My personal affects?"

The sergeant almost growled. "One wallet with sixty three in cash....one pack of cigarettes already damaged upon entry.....one shitty silver cross....one crappy lighter....one caster..." Mach lit up at the return of those two items, a bent cigarette already plucked and planted between his lips, the lighter palmed.

"Oh yeah, gonna enjoy this baby. And snap too it Timmy I've missed like a half dozen social engagements thanks to your green ass..." Reaching for that phone it would slip between his grasp as the sergeant threw it down, curb stomping boot slammed down fracturing the display.

"What the hell was that you god damned limp dicked cherry boy!?" Mach's outrage was evident even as Mullen sneered, a step into Mach's personal space grinding his heel into that phone.

"You listen well you piece of trash, we all know your trouble and I'm watching you....waiting for you to fuck up bad enough where I can put the bullet in you myself." The man nearly frothed as he spoke.

For Mach he simply stared down that man, one of the MP's moving to intervene though a hand raised by Mach would silence such interventions. "Get. Off. My. Phone. Staff. Sergeant. Timmy."

The burly sergeant fumed, a moment longer spent matching fierce amber with cold blue gaze before the man stepped back, heel off the phone. Lieutenant Mach would wait a moment before leaning down to pick up his broken device, a sad look cast as it lit up but nothing could be seen through that destroyed screen.

Mullen's voice was still filled with venom, those ambers seething with hate. "You watch yourself....and you best tell the other trash you hang around with to watch out too....I will go after all your garbage associates to get at you. That slut....Zynn. That witch....Rena. That pink haired bitch...Serah..."

Mach had been the model of dopey and affable until those words left the sergeants mouth, those boyishly handsome features turning hard as his own fury rose. In a blur his fist rose in a sharp hook making contact with that square jaw sending the sergeants head snapping back. Shock hung on the man's features as he staggered, hand instinctively moving for the gun on his side to try and quell the pissed off Mach....it was a poor choice. Drawing from the holster the man wouldn't even get it half raised before Mach got hold of his wrist and that gun, twist of both as he jerked the man around into a submission hold, the gun stuck by the sergeants finger trapped in the trigger guard. Mullen yelped as Mach wrenched his arm up, a sharp cast of smoldering blue gaze keeping the other two M.P.'s from intervening before he leaned forward to speak to the man in his grasp, his voice chillingly venomous.

"You do not go after my friends....don't ever talk to them, don't ever look at them, don't even mention them, don't ever think of them....because if you do Staff Sergeant Mullen no power in the Nexus will stop me from finding and destroying you..." He twisted that gun a little more, the sergeant howling in agony as his finger was contorted to it's limits. "I guarantee it."

The MP's recoiled at that sickening crack and pop, the sergeant dropped unceremoniously to the floor as he cursed and wept in equal measure holding that broken hand. A brush off of hands, a sigh, and that stone cold expression melted away from those rugged features leaving a weary expression. He cast a look back to one of the dumbfounded M.P.s "Have this man arrested for attempted assault on a superior officer and for destruction of government property..." A tap on the pocket that contained his phone. "I'll be back tomorrow to question the suspect." Nothing but business as Mach spoke before he turned to leave.

A few steps taken before he paused hearing a decidedly lack of arresting sounds. A blue eyed gaze cast back to the female M.P. that looked uncertainly down at her superior. Mach could feel for the girl who looked far to fresh and loyal to want to be stuck between a rock and a hard place....but then again life never was very fair. "Did I stutter?"

Eyes snapped to Mach who gave his best stink eye. "N.no sir! I....I'll get on it right away sir!" The girl paled as she stuttered, fumbling for her handcuffs. Well....Mach didn't think he had that good of a stink eye. A lazy salute back to the girl before he turned and continued on his way, that destroyed phone pulled out to cast another forlorn look to it. He couldn't make out much but he did see that he had missed a lot of messages and calls, one part of a name in particular noted.

"Damnit....survived the night only to get killed later....just my luck.? A wary smile pulled into a smirk as he stepped from that small detention center and back out into the streets of Rhydin.