I have a few issues with the wording that's being used in this chapter. For instance, avant-garde means new and unusual or experimental ideas, especially in the arts, or the people introducing them. In the context of which this word was used, I believe the term vanguard would be more appropriate as it means the foremost part of an advancing army or naval force, which essentially means the advance force at the fore-front.
The word interrogation was also an issue here. Interrogation is a word often used in the context of investigation regarding a person or their activities putting it broadly (best example would be police interrogation). A better term to use may be evaluation or examination seeing as they're only curious about Leo's abilities. It would become an interrogation if they forced him to reveal more about his personal history and other things aside from his potential combat abilities.