Mille watched as Rider continued to try to vouch for her own character, that she wouldn't harm anyone innocent. The young magus didn't believe that for a second. She was lying through her teeth, she had to be. Why else would she suddenly be so insistent on it if she wasn't trying to cover up for her own crimes?
"Interesting, you seem like quite the expert on torture, do you have a lot of experience?" Rider asked him. "Perhaps you can teach me a few things, mock 'interrogations' of a consenting partner can be rather misleading in that respect. I'll even let you use me as a 'practice dummy', see if you can manage to break me."
The vampire with a soul frowned, rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Oh, you can say I have a lot of experience . . . Bad past, but I'm trying to come clean . . . Path of redemption and I'm not evil right now."
"So you've been known to go evil?" Lancer asked eyebrows raised.
Angel shrugged and said, "There's this Gypsy curse. As long as I'm not happy, I'm of the good."
". . . Sounds like a shoddy curse," Lancer said, narrowing his eyes at him.
Mille nodded in response to Lancer's comment, but for different reasons. What he had said restored the points he had lost with her. He knew how to torture people, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it. He only used it when he had to, which, as Mille saw it, was how it should be. Only when necessary.
As for the curse...
It couldn't be so simple as keeping him miserable. That meant that even some small happiness could set him off and turn him evil. So it must be something more specific... maybe absolute, true happiness? That's the only way that really makes sense, otherwise it'd be too easy for him to shake off the curse. ... Still, it means that he could potentially turn evil at any time.... We'll have to keep an eye on him..."You know, I would love to have let you 'interrogate' me for all that information you wanted, and anything else you might desire. I'm sure it would have been a most enjoyable experience for us both", she said with a combination of lust, amusement and slight regret at what could have been. "But, alas, your anti-magic field seems to make any such idea impossible," Rider said, turning her attention towards Gabriel.
"Still, once you are finished with that monster, I would be more than happy to explain everything to you. I'm sure you will find it very interesting indeed...."
"I assure you that I will. I'll look forward to getting a chance to talk in depth about the magic from your point of origin."
Even if there was something forced in the way he said those words, for Mille, they stung just a bit. How could he trust her? Admittedly, she could see where distrust wouldn't be an issue, if he was seeking answers wherever he could find them, but surely there were more trustworthy Servants he could ask. Though then, Rider was the only one he knew of so far, so perhaps...
"As for you, Little Miss Magus", she hissed, "isn't it a bit rich of you to criticise my morality? At least I only harm those who deserve it, or to protect those I care for, unlike you magi."
Mille's eyes widened. Then they narrowed.
There was little doubt now, this woman was not to be trusted. How she even became a Heroic Spirit was completely beyond her.
But before she could respond, Rider turned towards the two men.
"Don't listen to her, magi are monsters who think nothing of torturing an innocent child in the name of experimentation or turning anyone who opposes them or looks interesting into nothing more than exhibits in the Clock Tower basement."
That was it. That was it. Mille began to see red, rage flowing through her bloodstream like the raging waters of a typhoon crashing along the shore. How dare she. How
dare she.
She knew that there were magi out there who would commit such atrocities. But to sweep the whole group with such a broad brush. To accuse her of even being
capable of such things. How dare she!
"You lying, manipulative
bitch."
"Oh, but the women inside called Rin are nice magi, they don't do things like that. All of my master's family are nice, in fact, you can trust them without any worry. It's Magi like Mille that you need to be wary of...."
So then.... I was right all along. I was right all along. I can never trust Rin Tohsaka, ever
! Mille didn't notice the tears that started streaming down her cheeks, slowly. In truth, she was conflicted.
The Association had sent Rin. There was little evidence to dispute this fact. So then.... Why? Why had they sent Tohsaka? Was it true then? Was the Association bad after all, like her parents had always said? Like Finn had always said? Had... Had she been helping terrible people all along?
No. She had to focus on the monster they needed to fight. That's what mattered. That's what mattered. But why? Why?
She told them they needed to go. But she missed the three men's replies in agreement and Rider's assertion that she needed to go take the vampire girl back as something dawned on her.
Ruu.... Ruu had been a familiar. His final words and response seemed to indicate that what he did was via orders or some sort of internal programming rather than by his own volition. Rider's denials had been suspiciously specific. ...Rin. Could Rin be Rider's Master? Could the victims have been their doing? But... why?
Why?! All the emotions churning around inside her finally came to a head. A part of her knew it was irrational, that she could be completely wrong. After all, while she knew Rider's character to certainly be more than questionable, in spite of her doubts, Rin came off as haughty and too sure of herself perhaps, but not a heartless killer. But at the same time... she was desperate for an answer, for a face to match to the tragic aftermath she had witnessed. For a culprit, for the ability to avenge their deaths... and perhaps Ruu as well. And after everything Rider had said... About her, about magi, and then claiming Rin's innocence in the face of that... No... it had to be-
"You... it was you..."
Her ebony eyes seemed to light up as if they were coals, just recently lit. They focused on Rider, hard. Her body shook, it trembled. The tears streamed down faster, but to Mille, they remained unnoticed, her rationality buried deep beneath the weight of her emotions. Her fury burned at her chest, tight, aching, the flames blazing forth unchecked, her breaths slightly ragged, her heart feeling as if it would explode and burst.
"You MURDERER! You and Rin both,
MURDERERS!"
The girl quickly let go of Gabriel's hand and reached her arm out.
"Ruby!"
"You know, I don't think you're thinking very straight right now-"
"Just help me!"
"Well, OK~ Just don't blame me if this goes badly for you~"
Changing back into wand form, Ruby floated down to Mille's hand. One transformation sequence later, and Mille attempted to fly towards Rider.... Before being thrown back into the arms of the three men behind her.
Ruby floated upward and changed back to her portable form, once again well out of reach. Below, the young magus glared up at the Mystic Code.
"What are you doing?! Are you on her side too?! She's connected to the killings, we have to stop her!"
Ruby moved one of her wings in Mille's direction, almost as if she was waggling it at her like a finger.
"Now now, I may allow some idiocy, but a suicide rush from a crazed, confused, and enraged teenaged girl who's big brain's on the fritz is not one of them~ I have some standards, you know~"
"Get back down here!"
"How about no~" As Mille continued to struggle and protest, Ruby turned her attention to the three men. "If I were you three, I'd make sure she's well restrained so she doesn't try anything stupid~ The pretty one keeping a good grip on her so she doesn't do anything that'd wind up wasting what prana she has left and frying her magic circuits to a crisp would be a good start~ Calming her down a bit might be good too~"
The Mystic Code whipped out a syringe, filled with strange pink liquid, seemingly out of nowhere. "Of course, I could always just inject her with this sedative~ You could put a raging bull to sleep with one shot of this, so I'm sure it'd work just great on Miss Firebrand down there~"
She put it away in the nothing she had retrieved it from in the first place. "Now then, while you all decide what you'd going to do with the wild girl, I have a few words for Miss BDSM~"
Ruby turned towards Rider.
"Now then, let's talk about you then, shall we~ Or rather, what a great job you did breaking Little Miss Stick-Up-Butt over there!~"
She started wiggling back and forth. "Congratulations~! You'd make a
great villain~ I mean, points off for doing it in front of someone who can vouch for her, but hey, still, great job!~ I should have Haku-chan practice becoming a Magical Girl by trying to take you out sometime~ Now, you and I both know that you weren't the one that set that little familiar on those unfortunate two in the building like you've just been accused, nor was it the Hag, but you sure did a great job of making yourself look suspect~"
She continued to wiggle back and forth. Had her ruby eyes been present, they would have been twinkling with an ominous light. "I mean, ouch, even after she saved your skin from all those vampires that were trying to kill everyone, even that Kiyo-whatshisface, and after seeing her throw up after seeing those bodies, and after her clearly being on the same side as you even in spite of the objections she has about you, that's cold~ But that's what a villain does, right? Tears the group apart by making them suspicious of each other~"
There was something... mocking, about all that wiggling. "And oh boy, you mentioning the Hag? I bet now Miss Nothing-But-Fire here isn't going to trust her one bit now. Considering that she's Miss Hag's apprentice now and the Association wants her to keep an eye on Miss Temperamental... Whelp, I'm betting Miss Hag's going to be pleased as punch with you, isn't she?~"
Yes, there was definitely something mocking about the wiggling. Almost.... triumphant too. "You know how to pick-em too, you know? Aside from needing to be pierced with Dog-Man over there's spear to help get over that stupid attitude problem of hers-"
She took the chance to turn to Lancer. "You had the chance to do that you know, why didn't you take the opportunity?~ Do I need to spike your beer with something to help that along?~"
She turned back to Rider. "She's actually slightly more tolerable than the Hag~ But only slightly, what with that stick shoved so far up her butt~ Might be worth a spot on the B-Squad, but she's not protagonist material, not like Haku-chan~ So you just bullied someone relatively innocent~ Oopsie~"
The wiggling again. Ever the wiggling. "To sum it up in case you haven't been paying attention... You really screwed yourself over here, you know~"