"You don't?" Adam asked in surprise.
"Not at all, it's the least I can do since you're doing this to protect me," Emma replied with a smile before adding with a wink, "Besides, I will be depending on you to feed me once we leave Earth."
"So you plan to accept our invitation and the job?" Lorelie asked with a smile.
"I would be a fool not to, especially if this relay allows me to keep managing my own businesses," Emma replied before adding, "Though there are a couple of conditions I have."
"Like what?" Stacey asked.
Emma was about to reply when Aphrodite pointed in the direction Rowena had flown off in and said, "They're returning."
As the group turned, they and the chat saw Rowena with her long, blood-red hair and Tephe wearing her white armour flying back towards them while carrying an individual upside-down between them as they each held a leg, and dashing along the ground beneath them was Eri with her long white hair trailing out behind her.
"Is that Tephe?" Lorelie asked in surprise as she saw the armour she was wearing.
"Hmm, I guess the form bracelet took on the same form as her anti-gravity armour back during the siege of Fenix Nest," Adam remarked.
"Is that why Lorelie's looked like yours?" Stacey asked curiously.
"It's probably the default form that it takes for all of you. If you want something different, I guess you need to try the anti-gravity armour or select a different form for it to take," Adam replied.
"I guess that means they caught the sniper and that they didn't kill her," Stacey said while smirking at Aphrodite.
"Ok, ok, maybe I didn't completely trust Tephe could hold back, but you can't tell me you didn't either after she used her breath attack like that," Aphrodite remarked.
"I guess," Stacey replied with a shrug.
"We're back," Tephe said cheerfully as she and Rowena dropped the sniper on the ground before landing in front of the group.
"Welcome back," Adam said as Eri arrived next to them and Tephe's armour vanished to be replaced with the clothes she had been wearing before.
"Did you find anything out while I was gone?" Rowena asked curiously.
"The kidnappers might have something to do with the Flemming family," Adam replied and began to explain what he had learnt as he searched the sniper for her phone.
[[Scanning.]] Spector announced as he held his uniband over the sniper's phone.
"So we were right about it involving one of the five families, we just got the wrong one," Rowena said thoughtfully.
"Perhaps, we still don't know for certain, all we know is that the last communication to the kidnappers came from this restaurant," Aphrodite replied.
"Do we get to go eat more yummy Earth food?" Tephe asked in excitement.
"That's the plan, Emma here said she will treat us," Lorelie said with a smile.
"Yay, Emma, you're the best," Tephe cheered.
"Haha, my pleasure," Emma said with a laugh before looking down at the sniper with a frown and saying, "She doesn't look American, Eastern European and Northern Asian perhaps."
"I did notice a difference between her and the other Earthlings I have interfaced with so far," Rowena said before asking curiously, "Regional differences in your race?"
"Yes," Emma replied.
[[Scan complete.]]
[[There is no relevent information on the device to indicate who hired them.]]
"I guess it can't always be easy," Adam said with a sigh.
"So does that mean we get to interrogate them?" Rowena asked as she looked at the female sniper while licking her lips.
"I guess we don't have any choice if we want to learn who ordered her to kill Miss Hopkins," Adam replied before turning to Emma with an apologetic smile while saying, "Miss Hopkins, you might want to step away, this could get disturbing."
"I assume you plan to torture them?" Emma asked.
"Well, that depends on how cooperative they are," Rowena replied as she spun her force lance in her hand.
"It sounds like torture is common out in the known universe, considering how casually you're speaking about it," Emma remarked.
"I wouldn't say it's common, but I also wouldn't say it's uncommon," Rowena replied.
"What?" Emma asked.
[Whostolemyduck (Earth): That answer tells us like nothing.]
"That's because torture is a grey area; it's both frowned upon and accepted as an effective means of interrogation," Aphrodite explained.
"So it's legal?" Emma asked.
"Yes and no," Aphrodite replied before explaining, "Torture is only legal under certain conditions. I wont fully explain them since it's very long-winded; however, the basic explanation is that if someone is guilty of a crime and they are believed to have accomplices or information leading to the quick conclusion of said crime or a larger one, then torture is allowed if they refuse to cooperate.
Though I will add that if it is used against an innocent or someone who was wrongly convicted, then the one who ordered the torture, as well as the torturer, receives severe punishment."
"How severe?" Emma asked.
"Double what the innocent party received in both duration and intensity," Aphrodite answered.
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Damn. In most cases, that could kill someone.]
[MercheadAnderson (Palaxia): Correct. That's why people generally don't resort to torture unless it's absolutely necessary.]
"So if I leave Earth and come with you all, I may have to witness this in the future?" Emma asked.
"Probably, Adam wont always be around to give you the option to leave, plus do you really want to appear as a weak woman?" Rowena asked with a smirk while looking at Emma out of the corner of her eye.
"Rowena, that's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Lorelie asked with a frown.
"Is it?" Rowena asked as she turned to Lorelie before asking, "If she wants what I think she wants, then this is just something she will have to learn to accept. You yourself have said that the universe is not a nice and safe place, and Adam won't always be there to protect her, just as he wont always be there to protect us."
"It's fine, Diva Lorelie," Emma said while giving her a thankful look before adding, "I'll stay."
"Are you sure?" Lorelie asked with concern.
"I am," Emma said resolutely before adding, "This is something I probably would have witnessed on Mr Spencer's stream in the future anyway, and as Diva Rowena said, it's something I need to get used to."
"Very good, then let's get started," Rowena said with a dark smile before she gave the female sniper a quick prod in the belly with her force lance while pressing a section of it.
As everyone watched, they saw a flash of blue-white light erupt from the end of the force staff as a bolt of electricity coursed through the sniper's body.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," the female sniper screamed as she was jolted awake by the excruciating pain that coursed through her body.
[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): Fuck, that's harsh.]
[Superherofangirl (Earth): I can't watch.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): So it's interrogation by electrocution.]
[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): Why do you sound so calm about this?]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): I've seen worse.]
[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Worse? Isn't torture against the Geneva Convention or something?]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Don't be so childish. Do you think that governments don't sanction these sorts of things? What do you think black ops units are for? There for doing this sort of shit and giving higher-ups plausible deniability.]
[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): So torture is still a thing on Earth. I was beginning to wonder after seeing how Miss Hopkins questioned it.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): It's supposed to be illegal, including POWs or prisoners of war. However, it does still happen, though no one wants to admit it.]
[OfficialMuriel (Aqua Primus): You admitted it.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Only because I don't have to worry about people breaking down my door and arresting me when I talk about it on here. Besides, I'm also hoping to leave Earth in the future.]
[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): Your hope is still a bit far-fetched, don't you think? I mean, unlike Miss Hopkins, you've never met the streamer.]
"Good morning, young lady," Rowena said with a smile as she looked down at the female sniper.
"Что, что вы двое, чёрт возьми?" (What, what the hell are you two?) The sniper asked as she winced in pain and gasped for air while looking at Rowena and Tephe, who both still had their wings out.
"Hmm, seems to be a different language," Rowena remarked as she saw that the mouth movements didn't match the ones she often saw from Adam.
[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): It was? It sounded English to me.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Diva Rowena was right. Look at how that woman's mouth moved differently to the words we heard.]
[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): Then how did we understand her?]
[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): Most likely the streamer's AI is translating for you all.]
[LadyErkath (Alastor): Every individual in the known universe is implanted with a universal translator at birth.]
"How can you tell?" Stacey asked.
"I have been learning Adam's native language by listening to him and watching his mouth movements. If I'm going to spend the rest of my life with him, the least I can do is learn his native language," Rowena replied.
"Really?" Adam asked in surprise while the other women shared surprised looks.
"Of course, darling," Rowena replied sweetly before asking, "But I'm not sure what language she's speaking, do you?"
"Russian," Adam replied, causing Emma to look at him with surprise.