Scene #2000: Tired Excuses

Owner	Pose
Archer of Brown	7:40 PM Washington, DC The usually quiet neighborhood known as Shaw has recently had a little bit of a shake up. In terms of appearance it's charming, being mostly a residential area with line after line of Victorian row houses. Historically black, the neighborhood played an important part in this America's history, especially during the Harlem Renaissance--one Duke Ellington called this place his home, at a time. The stability of DC's housing market and the nice aesthetic of the buildings has helped it transition to the current day, with the many shops and theatres along U Street bringing in money from both locals and from tourists. It's the middle of summer, and the sun's just about to go down here. The family types are just starting to go home for dinner, where the more social types and tourists are poking around the aforementioned U Street and checking out landmarks, like Ben's Chili Bowl, a squat little red-and-white restaurant dearly adored by its customers for its milkshakes and chili dogs. Things seem to be normal, but in the wake of a supposed gas explosion, everyone's a little on edge. The location of the incident, a warehouse recently bought up by a conglomerate for the purpose of redevelopment, still bears police tape. There's a Dodge Charger painted up in the local livery parked outside, and a beat cop in his blues. He's conversing with an old man--the same old man that sent out cell phone calls and other types of messages earlier today. Leaning up against the wall of the condemned building is Archer, dressed in somewhat more modern attire than his usual--he looks as if he might pass for a particularly handsome redneck. The Servant appears to be sans guns, but his hands rest a little too tellingly beside the pockets of his jeans. "When are your investigators getting here?" "Well, Mr. Archer here is our ballistics expert. The others should arrive any minute now, Officer."
Kyra Hyral	Speaking of investigators... In spite of the experience of last time, Kyra has come back, now commanding a wider perspective of the Grail War and how things worked within. Rather than her usual outfit, she's come in the one desiged by Tomoyo and featured in some of her ad spots. The main differences between this and what she usually wears is pants instead of a skirt and a slicker, liquid-resistant hoodie that actually repelled bloodstains. The back of the jacket also sports an elegant-looking caduceus. It might not be all that reassuring to the officer that this hired help looks like the kind of teenaged punk he'd yell at for loitering somewhere suspiciously. She strolls up with her hands in her pockets, a grin on her face, and likely not alone. "Hi." she greets cheerfully. "I'm here to investigate the gas explosion."
Dominic Masoch	Dominic is here along with Kyra. He's wearing a pretty casual purple hoodie over a DJ Deadmog t-shirt and a pair of jeans with some sneakers. He's trying to blend in to modern societies a bit more and has changed his outfit to compensate. The last part of his outfit is one of those big, tough-fabric guitar-cases is slung across his back, rattling as he walks along behind Kyra. "Hey, I'm her bodyguard," He jerks a thumb to Kyra, "I am here to investigate too." He might secretly be enjoying these off-world missions and cover IDs where he gets to act way more casual than he does during anything at all related to his homeworld.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa finds it's strange to be refered to as such but here she is, she's wearing a long jacket to hide the optic cameo suit she's wearing. She's get asked less questions that way. She follows up behind Dominic and Kyra's arrival and is doing her best to look serious as she looks to Dominc and Kyra nodding for a moment. She did seem to catch on Dominic was enjoying himself, She carried her self well enough but there was something a bit odd about her eyes if one paid attention something was off there. "Do you have any information for us, officer?"
Emiya Shirou	Shirou's decided to show up in a Union uniform instead of his normal clothing. Since this is an investigation with police around, looking more official just sounds like a good idea. The outfit is stuffy though and he's not really a fan of it. But he ends up standing near Archer. "Emiya Shirou. Bladed weapon expert." ... For all that means. It's not exactly wrong, but he hopes this isn't too weird...
Riva Banari	AND HERE'S RIVA. TOTALLY INVESTIGATING. Well, her style is more like 'meddling' but who's counting? The Templaress strolls along through DC, looking around with the bright eyes of the tourist. It's a good way to not have to think about the ugliness they're about to get involved in. Goddamn Magical Highlander Death Games. Riva strolls in with the others, smiling as the introductions occur. She nods to Archer of Brown, and looks to the other man. "Hi there. Riva Banari, investigator and problem solver." She smiles. That's even semi-legit, since she's a member of Heaven or Hell. "So, your messages mentioned something about a strange gas leak situation." She pauses, frowning. "Gas leaks get the power company, not private investigators and that guy. So what's up?"
Scarlet Everille	The newest member of Heaven or Hell, Scarlet has arrived with Kyra as well, technically her senior in this particular matter. In direct contrast to the white mage's functional casual wear, she has made little more than a passing effort at dressing down for the occasion, wearing a skirt and summer blouse that look like they'd fit in more on a high end cruise ship than someone's back yard. She is also present with her slim, bright red smartcollar around her neck, not willing to leave behind the convenience of wearable computing for the sake of blending in a little bit more. "Hello~ Apologies if we've made you wait officer. I'm one of the representitives from Heaven or Hell. It's nice to meet you." As is her usual, the first words out of her mouth are delivered through a thorough filtering of Circle Ceint. The tone of her voice, the smile she uses, the subtle body language she expresses; all of it is tweaked and adjusted to exude trustworthiness, enacted simultaneously with a more direct attempt to provoke a sensation of relaxation in the beat cop upon seeing her, attempting to instill confidence that he can leave the group to their devices without worry. She follows in Riva's lead. "We understand if the information is a little sensitive, but we /are/ specialists. Anything you can tell us can only help."
Fake Avenger	Avenger... ...is not here. At least, not visibly. But as the group gathers together, shadows start to merge, thrash, and twitch. The effect is much like being at a rave, except without the flashing lights and pounding noise. Shadows roll across people, an eerie, tingling sensation following where the darkness trails. It passes over the group, and then- -and then it's gone. But something new has been added. He's tall, and handsome, in a distant, partied-out sort of way. A top hat is settled on his head at a crooked angle, as if it had always been, and always would be, at such a crooked angle. A flashy tuxedo, black with silver lines, dangles off his slender frame, with matching pants adorning his long and thin legs. In one of his hands is a bottle of fine sake. The new arrival leans on a long, simple black cane, watching the group with clear, clever eyes. Eyes peering out from behind what may be a skeleton mask. Maybe. Hopefully. "Hoh, well, ain't dis just de fine how-you-do," the tall man notes in a thick Cajun accent that creeps just like the shadows did, wiggling the fingers wrapped tight around the bottle at the group, "You got a party started an' you didn't invite us, huh? Tha's cold, monsieurs et madamoiselles." His eyes light on Mason, a rictus-grin pushing up his cheeks, even though his mouth is hidden behind his mask. "My Mastah, he might be along latah, or he might just fuck off an' find somethin' more interestin' to suit his whimsy. But we be partners, mon ami!" "You shouldn't hide tings from your partner, mon ami. 'sfuckin' rude, is what it is." Caster of Brown pops the top off the sake and takes a swig /through/ his mask, then offers it around politely.
Archer of Brown	The beat cop nods to each successive Elite as they arrive. Senator Mason, same as ever, begins his little tour of handshakes and small-talk. The rounds of how-are-yous and you-look-wells are, though personalized for each visiting Elite, very annoying to the senator's 'ballistics expert,' who sighs and jams his hands into his pockets. Mason pauses at the presence of Scarlett. "I don't believe we've met," says the old man, peering curiously at Kyra as if to ask with his eyes who the newcomer is. He glances back to Scarlett and gives her a grandfatherly smile, extending a hand. "Senator Albert Mason, Independent, Connecticut. And you are?" While Mason makes the rounds, Archer introduces the cop. "This here's Officer Franks. He's the PD's lee-ay-son for this little get together. Now, District PD's willing to let us poke around, on account of Al's done them a few favors now and then, but this here's off the book." "Archer's got the gist of it," says Officer Franks. "You guys have got two hours. After that, CSI's gonna show up to complete their own investigation, so the sooner you guys do your thing, the better." He... seems highly unnerved by the arrival of Caster, though Scarlett's charm seems to be alleviating that somewhat. Archer is the first to accept a swig of sake. He takes a long drag, then offers it to Mason. "No, thank you," comes the senator's reply. The Heroic Spirit thusly offers it back to Caster. "Much obliged, Caster." "Good evening, Caster," says Senator Mason. "It's a pleasure to have you here tonight. I do apologize for neglecting to contact you--I assure you, if I have further cause for concern, I'll be more diligent in contacting you and Avenger." Franks overcomes his discomfort to answer questions. "Happened late last night, when most of the traffic was gone. Witnesses say it just went up, y'know... pow. Like the movies. Party line is that it's a gas leak, but me, I think it's sabotage. Gas leak, okay, fine, sure, but something's gotta be there to make it go boom, y'know? Haight Enterprises was planning on rebuilding this place as a crazy kinda residential complex. Housing, shopping, food courts. I'd bet you ten bucks it was some nutty townie worried about losing the charm. They're still going on about that Little Ethiopa crap. Course, it could be a competitor too, but I don't go in for that Wall Street stuff." Franks shrugs.
Kyra Hyral	At the questioning look, Kyra glances to Scarlet-whom she herself had only very recently learned had joined Heaven or Hell, having been a client of the investigators, then looks back to the Senator. "She's with us but I'll her introduction up to her, though." Kyra can tell that Scarlet enjoys introducing herself. A shiver overcomes the white mage and Kyra suddenly whips around to stare at Caster of Brown. "/You/." she intones, "This isn't a party this time, this is an investigation! Whatever trap was set up here has already been sprung so I don't think you're going to find any fun here. Unless..." she looks to Archer and Mason, raising an eyebrow. "You're here to start something with the Senator over here but I think that's a pretty bad idea." The sake is rejected and Kyra subsequentially learns that Caster of Brown is actually allied with the Senator and Archer to an effect. "...ah." Franks sets down the time limit for their investigation and Kyra nods, "Well, we better get moving then." She doesn't really hang around any further, moving into the area of the "gas leak."
Scarlet Everille	The instant Scarlet finds out that Mason is a senator, she switches her primary target from Officer Franks to a more generalized conceptual tweaking of perception. She takes his hand, gripping it gently but shaking it earnestly, seeming pleased simply to meet him. The gesture itself is the trigger for wider ranging magic. To everyone watching, Scarlet simply seems . . . likeable. Some unquatifiable aspect of her personality appeals to whatever anyone tries to read into, as though by first impressions alone, they can be fairly certain that they'd get along with her just fine. There's no particular influence being exerted on anyone's minds. The perception of the event itself has been altered. "Scarlet Everille, fifth year at Tower Heliosanctus, heir apparent to the House of Lords Temporal. Charmed~" While she goes out of her way to make a good impression with the figure of political importance at the scene, she does pay very close attention to not only the details relayed by the officer, but the subtext expressed in his language and tone. "I see. Well it would be quite logical to suspect sabotage. There doesn't appear to be any reason to believe that an electrical short would be likely event, and without being in use, there is likewise very little chance of it being human error, even assuming the gas leak was pre-existing. Before theorizing on the motive however, it may be best if we begin with the means." Is she totally pretending here, or does she have some experience dealing with acts of sabotage? It's really difficult to tell. She politely refuses any attempts to hand her sake, though she does make the effort to greet Caster of Brown as well, expertly hiding any negative reaction she may have had to his appearance, as if dealing with those kinds of appearances was an every day occurrence for her. "Correct." she says to Kyra, walking on ahead as soon as she can politely excuse herself from the conversation. Immediately, she begins increasing the intensity of her passive sight enhancing magic, paging through various dimensional resonances to see if she can catch metaphysical traces of magic left over in the area. Her skills at doing so are well refined.
Emiya Shirou	"No thank you! We're doing an investigation..." Shirou tries to come up with an excuse, but also there's the fact that he's hardly old enough to be doing more than taking a sip of anything alcoholic. And he hasn't liked most things he's tried anyways. But he's still eying Caster warily. There's no hostility - it seems he doesn't even bear a grudge against the Servant - but he's definitely freaked out a bit. Freaked out, but... he blinks, then... strolls over to Caster, takes a moment when the cop isn't looking to whisper, "Is there any way to know if magic did this?"
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa has known all the people showing up at this point, Shirou, Kyra, Dominic and Riva. She does give Scarlet a bit of a look over trying to make heads or tails of her, but hearing she's from Heaven or Hell is enough to waylay any concerns she might have had. Psyber's not known for poor hiring practices so far as she knows. She's also getting back up from them already on getting the information. The othe new arrival is totally unknown, right? Still they'd been called in either way. She gets them being here off the book, given what could be involved here after all. Still she nods to him for a moment and gett the idea. She also got the warning to not make a mess of things for the CSI after all. "Humm useful information to be sure. Thank you." With that she's going to fall in step with Kyra. She takes another look at the Caster aqnd just is going to say nothing, given who might be lurking near by. She does not want to be cut apart again. She will leave Kyra to the talking as she moves to get to work, she dos take note os Scarlet's name and title however. Given what interactions she's had with some magic users? She gets an idea titles are a thing to keep in mind.
Fake Avenger	"Much o-bliged, Ahchah." Caster's accent seems to spontaneously get thicker or thinner depending on...well, he's definitely doing it on purpose. Caster swings around to grin - or is that leer? - at Kyra. "Dere's pretty ladies, a cop, alcohol, an' boys in costume. Whaddayoo call dat if not a party, huh? Or do you just not get to go de /good/ parties?" As Scarlet starts walking, Caster follows right behind, cheerfully humming a tune. It might take a moment for people to notice that that tune serves a point, rather than just being something he's doing to annoy the group: the shadows in the general area kind of lean towards the Baron as he passes, like animals seeking out their master. Caster apparently totally doesn't care about the Masquerade. This is unsurprising - he's a Servant. He look at Shirou as they walk, a smile grwing around his hum. "Mmmm. I'm surprised you can't tell. De place is goddamn soaked in it, ain't it just, or you can eat my hat right up." "Open yer eyes like de pretty lady's doin'." Caster waves his hand at Scarlet, "I bet she'd tell ya de same. What kinda Mage are you, anyhow?"
Riva Banari	Riva has a hella frown on her face at the mention of Avenger. Evil Not Samurai dudes are not on her friend list. However, she can't hate Baron Samedi. It's basically a god of partying, seriously. What's not to like? Thus it is that the frown doesn't last long. Senator Mason takes the time to explain what's up in this thread and outline what they have to deal with. "Figure out what's actually going on in the area and get out before CSI shows up. You don't want them seeing people poking around at the scene of a probable crime." Riva takes notes on her phone while Franks talks. Haight Enterprises gets a particular note. "All right." She loks to the others. "Let's get in there and look around. Sooner we know what we're actually dealing with, the sooner we can possibly get some leads."
Archer of Brown	Senator Mason smiles at Scarlet. Good manners always leave a good impression on him, perception-altering magic notwithstanding. As Scarlet opens her third eye, she'll find that Caster speaks the truth. The warehouse was very obviously the site of some sort of magical clash. It's all aftermath at this point, but there was a lot of power being thrown around. It's exactly the same kind of power that exudes in spades from both Archer and Caster. Mason and Archer both accompany Kyra as she heads into the warehouse. "Most certainly, Shirou," says the Senator. His response is a fair deal more polite and grandfatherly than Caster's. Archer responds to Riva. "Ayep. And now that we know there was probably Servants..." He receives an immediate, disapproving look from Mason. "Heroic Spirits," Archer corrects himself, "We ought to be looking for which ones. If we're lucky we might get clues as to Noble Phantasms, but I ain't holding my breath."
Scarlet Everille	"Oh, magic was certainly involved." Scarlet says to Shirou. She turns to Archer, looking subtly and yet somehow sincerely apologetic. "I beg your pardon, but if you could, please explain those terms to me. Is a Heroic Spirit something like yourself? I'm afraid I don't actually know much about you, other than your signature is very similar to that which permeates this area." She turns back around pointing to the areas where the aftermath is the most intense. "As far as I can tell, this was the site of an altercation rather than a single, large scale spell, involving at least two casters." Finding a clear space, she crouches down just far enough to reach the ground, unhooking her bag from her shoulder, popping it open, and withdrawing a vial of what appears to be a tiny spraycan. The diode at the front of her smartcollar flashes on, projecting the laser image of a quarter spell circle in front of her, which she begins tracing over with fine strokes of black liquid, going through the convoluted lines at a smooth, well practised pace. Turning three times to continue the process, she finishes in a couple of minutes, now standing in the center of something that might have taken half an hour to draw by hand. There appear to be no other components to the spell other than holding her hands out in front of her and closing her eyes, but Shirou can probably sense a minor distortion in space. Using the circle, Scarlet channels a much more powerful form of conceptual sights, broadening her awareness of the surrounding area to try and precisely scan it one sector at a time, simulating whatever magic she can by working backwards from the residue to determine its approximate function. This kind of magical analysis is one of her specialties.
Riva Banari	While Scarlet uses her superior magical analysis skills, Riva pokes around more physical stuff, looking around at the damaged area, maybe looking for anything unusual dropped or misplaced. She takes a lot of pictures of the damaged warehouse. It might be important to reference them later. She'll let Archer (And maybe Caster) handle explaining their Deal.
Fake Avenger	"Heroic Spirits are like us, pretty lady," Caster of Brown confirms with another trademark leer and a sip from his bottle, "Think of us as ghosts-plus-plus, ehn? Heroes from de past summoned to fight over de one and only prize: de Holy Grail, and a single Wish." "It's amazin' what magic can do dese days." Where Scarlet starts drawing, Caster just resumes whistling. Shadows break away from the walls, slipping along any surface in the way (including people) to reach Caster. He runs his hand over the air as if petting a dog, and the shadows on the ground nuzzle into his shadow in response, then take off and disappear into the building to scout and scan for him.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa nods to Archer at the mention of Heroic spirits. "So magic and likely the war was involved here, humm I'm hoping my experiance in Kingsmouth at least proves to be somewhat of use in sniffing things out here." She's the only soul here so far as she knows that has no connection to magic. She does however have a lot of experiance encountering it now.
Emiya Shirou	Shirou makes a face. yeah, thanks a lot Caster! "It can't be helped. My first teacher wasn't a normal magus himself and we weren't from the same family. So I don't have a clue about what's probably standard practice to you. I'm mostly just good with reinforcement and projection." Well, Caster knows the LATTER at least. He's INSANE with Projection. And crappy withe EVERYTHING else. He's going to try to not let Caster get under his skin. There won't be another outburst like he did with Souji. Just keep his center at peace and shoot straight! "Heroic Spirits are like... super-powered ghosts. When heroes die they become Heroic Spirits. They're kind of like guardians. The Holy Grail War's a ritual that turns them into a magician's familiar for a 7-way battle, the winner getting a wish. When they're summoned they're called Servants, like Archer and Caster here. The others are Saber, Lancer, Berserker, Rider, and Assassin." Shirou rattles off helpfully. "... So, it was definitely a Servant?" He glances between Archer and Caster, then makes a foul face of his own. He regards the big damage carefully. .. but decides to get in close and put a hand on one of the walls. "Trace... on...." No flashy acts of projection. Instead he gently sends prana coursing throuh the structure to read its status. This'll help him easily determine if the wall was STRUCK or something weirder happened, based on fractures and other weak points. He's dense, but not stupid. Figuring out if there was an explosion and which way it was going (if not simply everywhere) is just a matter of time.
Kyra Hyral	"Oh I'm all about partying." Kyra shoots back at Caster of Brown, unintimidated by the...leer? Hard to tell with that mask on, really, but the tone of voice sure made it sound like there was one on his face. "Except when it involves the dead. Then it's a /completely/ different kind of party, if you get my bolt." Upon entering, Kyra makes a face. "Oh yeah. There was definitely a fight here with Servants." Kyra agrees, "So let's see. Caster and Archer are accounted for, which leaves Saber, Lancer, Berserker, Assassin, and Rider if I'm not mistaken, and assuming there are no 'extra' ones like that guy's new Master." She jerks a thumb Caster's way. Curiously, Kyra watches Scarlet set up her own diagnostics for the area, intensely interested in the array. It is with some regret that she pulls herself away from watching the set-up and execution in order to get her own stuff set up which seems to be much, much simpler. From one of the pouches at her waist, she withdraws a small stack of white papers which she scatters around the area, especially in spots where it seems like damage from fighting might have happened. The papers themselves are chemically treated and function similarily to litmus papers. Except in this case, rather than detecting acids or bases, the papers detect and change color based on residual magic particles. They could turn a variety of colors, each one attuned to magic particles as they were expended by certain Jobs and some objects. Kyra's relying on the slight similarities between the Servant classes and her world's Jobs to hopefully get some kind of reading, depending on what color the papers change, as to which servants were fighting here.
Riva Banari	Riva pipes up as she looks at the interaction between Kyra and Caster, "Don't worry about him, Kyra. That's the Baron. He's a cool guy. Lord of Saturday and all that, you know? That's what you do on the weekend, enjoy life! Well, enjoy it more than you do on the weekdays when you have work." She chuckles. In the meantime, she pokes at the gouges put into the environment. "Shirou, what do you think of these?" She calls out. "These look like your kind of specialty, if you know what I mean." She pokes again, then sticks out her tongue a bit to one side as she does some calculating. "Looks like it was two different kinds of weapons, maybe? These gashes don't look like they could have been made by the same thing."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa is now looking about while she's not magically skilled at all something does her her the place might have. Then an idea hits her even as she's owrking she takes a small items out of a pocket and reaches for her neck, which she pulls a cable out of of and plugs into the small unit. The line snakes back into it's port. While she looks over to Kyra for a moment. "I'll be a moment, I think I have an idea." She now seems to be a bit distracted as she opens up a connection to ping the securtity system here to see when the alarm went off, next up she's gong to start looking for carmera feed.s Humm none in here but she does find some traffic light cameras and she's going to check those for information around the time of the alarm going off. "If I'm right I might be able to help answer a few of those questions if we'r lucky. As for the Baron, your correct the tales of about him generally do lean that way." She's more concerned about Caster's master to be honest.
Archer of Brown	The first floor of the warehouse is an absolute mess, and with the red tint of the descending sun providing all of the light, the shadows grow long and discomforting--to say nothing of the way they grasp for Caster. There are scorch marks everywhere, and some unusual stains that might have been blood before the explosion seared them into the floor. The blast, or rather, the soot and scorch marks, seem to originate from a single point on the first floor. Strangely, the front doors of the place are on the floor in several pieces, rather than out in the street or missing. Several would-be vendors' kiosks have been utterly ruined by the blast. Whatever this place was going to be, it's going to be a while before it gets there. "No trouble at all, miss," says Archer. "In plain language, yes. A Heroic Spirit's exactly what it sounds like. The stronger the legend, the stronger the Spirit, but even a two-bit Spirit is at least as strong as ten men. Which explains what you're no doubt seein' here." Caster's little servant scurries off... and, in his own way, so does Senator Mason. The old man stands near one of the windows, holding his cane aloft so that it catches and refracts light. A prismatic ray of some sort softly shines from the diamond head of the cane to the outside. It almost looks like light pouring through stained glass. Caster's minion returns to him with something that definitely shouldn't be in an abandoned warehouse: a pair of glasses, bent almost to the point of snapping. Someone stepped on them, or perhaps dropped them in the fray? Judging by the altered circuits within the item, they must have belonged to a magus. It's a clever design, one that, with a small application of prana, allows for the lenses to change and perceive heat and low-light conditions. Kyra's litmus test does actually have some results. Overwhelmingly, the sheets of paper turn either a pale golden color or a deep purple. Shirou's use of Trace to detect the damage done to the building reveals that the explosion came from the north end of the room, and that the gouge marks are indeed the result of the wall being directly struck--well, INdirectly. The intent doesn't seem to be to cause harm to the building, but rather, incidental. Many of the angles are weird and slightly awkward, but they are assuredly not the result of debris. The explosion didn't do the building's infrastructure any favors, but it should weather the natural wear and tear of the city until a crew can be hired to repair it. Scarlet will find that, overwhelmingly, the magical energy here was the result of pure brute force. Leaps, bounds, and home-run swings are the name of the game here. Yes, this was a straight-up slugfest... except for the traces of something more subtle. It seems that, in addition to the two servants, there was a mortal mage here, caught in the crossfire. He or she must have been the object of one of these Servant's desire, and evidently, he was slinging some magic of his own, or at least using it to fuel the other Servant. As Kotone exits to find a traffic light, she'll come across Officer Franks, who is apprently in some kind of stupor.
Scarlet Everille	Scarlet opens her eye just a crack to look towards Caster of Brown, her lips twisting into the faintest of thoughtful frowns. Silently, she attempts to track the movement of his shadows as well, interested in what kind of magic he could be using to command them. Satisfied with the results of her spell, she lowers her arms from their upright position, allowing her to snap her fingers and vapourize the thin film of pigment clinging to the ground around her in a puff of chemical smoke. "I see." she says to Shirou after the more thorough explanation. "It seems to have been a pair of Servants actually, plus a third figure of lesser power. The magic used here seems to predominantly augmentation type, used in physical combat, though I can't quite determine what the last magus was doing at the time due to all the background noise. It doesn't seem as if he was attempting to defend himself from two enemies at once, so I assume he was allied with one of them. I think we can probably rule out anything going by "Assassin" though. This is far too direct." She turns a curious eye towarads the glasses. "I'm reasonably sure that I would be able to pick one of them out if I found them using magic again, but there isn't much more to go on here."
Fake Avenger	Caster's magic makes absolutely no sense. There's no expenditure of prana, no spells, no mana whatsoever. By any metric, he's not really spellcasting, just whistling for attention and receiving it. That's...probably impossible, right? Then again, ghosts from history are also totally impossible, and well, here's the Baron, fresh and clear. "You're right," Caster tells Kyra, "De dead know how to party for real. Ah, see? She knows who I am. De party never stops with de Baron in town." Silently, Caster assesses the situation. The shadows placing the glasses in his hands makes him immediately wary. It wasn't high-level Magecraft, but it was clever, practical Magecraft, and that was generally worse than high-level stuff. High-level stuff you could brute force through, and most Mages could be beaten by most Servants, even a wussy one like Caster. But clever...ah, clever meant it very prbably was a trap. So, did he call for Kojirou? Did he scurry back to his Master with his coattails between his legs? The thought was appealing. Co-location made it very easy to go find and warn his Master of what was up. "Somebody," Caster notes, popping the glasses back into shape and planting them comically on his head, "Met a messy end here, I should expect. I bet you they're still watchin' de buildin', too."
Emiya Shirou	"I'm thinking... something like that. There's lots of different angles and depths. It's either the same weapon hitting at very different angles or two different ones - the deep strikes from something like an axe, the shallow ones from a sword or maybe glancing blows from something else. But they're all over the walls! You wouldn't expect that from two warriors going at it back and forth... a blow deflected into a wall would be a lethal opening. It could be something bigger than that. Like a cutting wind?" He starts heading towards the North end, where it started... Then looks down at the ground. He goes to do the same check on the scorch marks. How damaged is the ground where it shows burns?
Kyra Hyral	"Ahhh Riva..." Kyra looks slightly flustered because she doesn't want Riva to think she's UNCOOL. "Yeah well I didn't know you were some kind of undead party ghost. Necrodancer, maybe." She sticks her tongue out at the Baron. "...gold and purple?" Kyra scratches her head, "Dragoon and...Ninja?" She mutters as she starts to collect the spent papers, neatly gathering them up into a stack in her hand. Quietly, she listens to everyone else's findings. "A third figure of lesser power? Hmm, might be a Master of one of the servants." she suggests to Scarlet. The Baron points out the glasses and Kyra frowns. "I don't see signs of human remains here, the magus probably escaped. I'm not sure what a Servant would leave behind...I think they might evaporate into Prana or something along those lines?" she looks to Caster as if expecting him to have the answer to this. She considers the results of the papers, "Hmm. Dragoon could be a Lancer because of the weapon similarities. Ninja could possibly be Assassin or even Saber."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa got the time that the alarm went off she's about to go digging into the traffic camera's for about that itme but knowing her luck it might be on VHS. However she does get something of note and something worrysome she turns to the rest of the group and quickly says. "I just got into the local traffic cameras, Franks is out side waiting but it looks like he's been drugged up to high heavens by something. I'm going to see what's going on, there." She doesn't mean to interupt but something is very disturbing she's starting to think she's not alone as she goes back out to check up on Franks.
Riva Banari	"Hahahah! Necrodancer! I like that." Riva chuckles, and then continues poking around. She folds her arms, then looks around to look at what everyone else is doing. "Sooooooooo." She comments, "Did anyone happen to find a /corpse/?" She asks aloud. "Blood stains? Forensic stuff? God, it's been ages since I watched CSI- ooooh, what's that?" Riva gets attracted by something shiny, and pops up next to Caster, looking over at the glasses. "Very nice. Distinctive! Maybe Senator Mason would know who'd wear something like these?"
Emiya Shirou	Shirou rises after examiming the ground and... "Yeah. There really WAS a gas explosion. I think these gouges aren't all caused by the same thing. The gouges in the walls were from some weapon or weird magic or Noble Phantasm. The burn marks are definitely from a gas explosion. That would've blown all the windows open too! But lots of fire doesn't make marks like these! ... And I don't think it would move sideways... this is weird."
Archer of Brown	"Maybe not," says Archer to Scarlet after her deduction. "Assassins attack when they think they can win. They ain't built for straight up fights most of the time. Instead, they try and go after the Master or take the Servant unawares. If what miss Kyra says is right, then this Assassin probably bit off more'n he could chew." Upon closer inspection, the glasses could indeed be a way of surveillance. For being 'left behind in battle' they are awfully un-scratched. The bend in the frame is too angular to be the result of a boot, as well. Per Riva's inquiry, there are a scant few places on the wall where blood appears to have been spilled. Archer, making the rounds, does point out one spot. "Rightchere, miss Riva," he says. "On the glass." Shirou's examination receives an intrigued noise from Mason. "I think you're on the right track, young man," he says. "Fire doesn't move sideways... on its own. Perhaps one of the Servants used a Noble Phantasm to redirect the blast, or perhaps the mage had an affinity for fire?" Kotone's investigations into the traffic camera reveal bits and pieces of the scene on the prior evening. In still shots, the scene plays out--two figures, both male and in business suits, stroll down the street. They enter the building, without having to break in. The footage goes dark for a single frame. The next pictures reveal a third figure slipping in. Everything is still for a moment. Then, the night sky lights up in brilliant red as four pillars of flame erupt from all sides of the building, blowing the glass out in glimmering shards of white. The fire is far too controlled and uniform to be the result of a spark. If Kotone checks a different intersection starting at the same time, she can see a series of pictures revealing the darker figure making a hasty escape through the window on the west side, shattering it himself and leaping away into the night.
Fake Avenger	Caster is immediately on edge. This whole situation stinks, much like the French whore he just cited on the radio. It's bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. He wasn't a combat Servant, he was a, a, a...a Mastermind kind of Servant. He dragged people into traps and murdered them where they couldn't fight back with shadows and magic and stuff like that. He didn't like being exposed, out in the open, or an obvious target - and here he was all of those things. Caster starts backing for the door, letting other people take a more firm lead. The shadows peel off the walls, moving to protect him. "Not good," Caster mumbles, "No good at all. Mastah, I hope you're nearby..." But Caster sort of knew Kojirou wouldn't come to save him. As much as he hated to admit it, Kojirou had enough power to sustain every Servant in the Grail and then some. Caster was.../expendable/. Damn.
Emiya Shirou	Sensing the change in atmosphere a moment before it happens, Shirou rises to speak and then -- the discussion about the glasses. Shiver. "Wouldn't you need something with senses? Like a familiar? If you wanted to observe a place like this... actually that could be put here by another Master who has nothing to do with this and wants to see who... comes..." Yeah. He's not feeling any happier than Caster over there. "So we have an attack and a counterattack? One that involved lots of slicing and another that involved fire?"
Riva Banari	Riva peers at the glasses, and then shrugs. Maybe she doesn't see what Caster does. Instead, she heads to where Archer points out, at the glass. "Hrm. Not much blood." She comments, looking around it. Is the window broken? Could the blood be from getting cut on the window? Riva waves to Scarlet. "Miss Everille, maybe you can do that wizard thing where you can try to find the person this blood belonged to?" It's only one of the most famous tricks in fantasy stories.
Kyra Hyral	Kyra seems a little skeptical. She can understand planted evidence. She can understand laying a trap, but this being a trap right now? Well, it could be plausable. Whoever did this could now be after Caster or Archer. The rest of them might be alright, but unlikely since they've now 'seen' things. Seeing the Baron back away, Kyra moves with him.
Scarlet Everille	Scarlet revises her opinion at Kyra's findings and Archer's suggestion. "So an Assassin class Servant tried to kill a magus, and his Servant defended him? I'm assuming the explosion was purposeful if it was so carefully controlled, though whether it was an attack or a diversion, I don't think I can say." She looks to Riva with an apologetic smile, conveying appreciation for her idea, but a certain measure of regret. "In order to do that, they would have to be relatively close by. I don't possess the level of magic needed to pinpoint them across a city. If any of you have a way to get an intact sample, please do, but it looks burned beyond use to me." Despite the fact that she clearly heard Caster's expression of anxiety, she composes herself with a startling lack of reservation for an ostensibly unarmed young magus. Shirou can again sense a distortion of space, but much stronger this time, and possessing a certain quality of "wrongness" that is unsettling to experience.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa understands the Senator's reasons, and he's used a spell that should leave the officer unharmed, right? She gets why he did that, others might do worse. So she can live with it she does stop her treck to go check up on him. She does find a few bit of interesing information. She notices the males entering, they don't break in. Curious either they had a good way to pick the lock, she does not discount magic, or they had a key. Which narrows things down a lot either wayl. She looks at the blast and the data, and she also checks several other interceeions finding even more information she makes stills and takes clips of the information that seems of note here. She also snaps out of her focus on cyberspace and back to reality. "I found some other things in the traffic cameras. Looks like who ever got in had a key and the blasts were very controlled. Also there was someone else fleeind the scene."
Archer of Brown	Mason reacts to the apprehension spreading through the room. Shirou, Kyra, and Caster seem none to pleased to remain here, and Archer actually has his back against the wall, which always means he's feeling surrounded in the old man's experience. "Usually," he says to Shirou. "But I like to be cautious. /If/ our presence here is doing nothing but providing someone else with information, then we should leave. Besides, I think we've found plenty of valuable information--as much as we were going to find in this time frame, anyway." Archer takes a cautious glance around, then steps away from the window to stand by Mason. The Heroic Spirit nods solemnly at Shirou and Scarlet. "I don't think Assassin knew he was goin' up against Lancer. That, or Lancer and his Master was real prepared." Upon hearing Kotone's report, Archer shrugs. That does narrow it down quite a bit, which means this visit wasn't entirely without purpose. "Well, I reckon we ought to get out of here before CSI shows up." Mason nods, and departs, taking a circuitous route to make it appear as if he was coming from the other side of the street. He stops and chats with Franks. "Huh?" The officer snaps out of his stupor and checks his watch, quickly becoming annoyed. "Mason, you're late. Like, two hours late. CSI is gonna be here in ten." "I was afraid of that," says the Senator with his most convincing frown. "Oh, well. I suppose that's what I get for trying to play policeman. I'll leave you to your job, then, Officer, and I do hope you discover..." His eyes alight on the CSI van coming around the corner. "Who was responsible." They're early, aren't they?
Riva Banari	Riva looks a little sad at the confirmation from Scarlet that things aren't so simple. "I see. Thank you anyway!" She calls. Everyone seems to have gotten everything together in a fairly straightforward manner, and they have a solid basis for their ongoing investigation. She looks over the mass of information and notes she's taken so far. "Hrm. If we can ID the people on the camera, maybe we can start looking for the people who survived this." She says. "I think that's our best lead here." And then she realizes the CSI van is here. "Oh hell." She says, turning and waving towards the back. "Quick!" She hisses. "We can't be seen here or we're all going to have a /lot/ of unfortunate explaining to do in the police station. Move!" She scurries for the back. She has no intention of having to embarass any of his bosses by needing to give them her one phone call.
Fake Avenger	Caster of Brown is immensely paranoid about the news that a police van is rolling up /early/. This is a trap, and a trap in which someone with power and prestige might easily be caught. There's blood everywhere, this is clearly NOT a gas leak, and the police are arriving early at the behest of exactly no one, and here's this group of people nice and tight together in the middle of it all. And there aren't any other suspects. The simplicity of the trap hits Caster like a brick. "You need to get de hell out of here," he urges hurriedly, "You need to get del hell out of here now!" His sudden concern for Mason is not misplaced. Mason, and Archer, may be his only chance to escape Kojirou and still win the Wish. And he truly wants to escape Kojirou. After all, Kojirou is a monster. Kojirou gives him the willies. It's not that Kojirou is a moral monster - no, the weird Avenger just sort of exists, doing very little and being very disinterested in a lot of things, and he doesn't usually do much in the way of evil. And, in truth? That bothered Caster way more than anything else. Kojirou was a monster because he simply didn't fit in the world. He wasn't part of it. It was like he was a rock in the river of Life, an immobile, unchanging, unending partition around which all else flowed. It makes Caster angry that his Master was such a strange, unreadable, impossible person. Alcohol? Food? Women? /Men/? Nothing seemed to draw Kojirou's interest but the sword and fighting, and even that, only for brief moments. It made no sense! He had no vices - what kind of man has no vices? Only a monster. Caster bails. He bails, hard. Shadows wrap around him, and he vanishes into the night, leaving the rest of the team to take the heat.
Scarlet Everille	Scarlet frowns at the news over the radio. Though she appears to be absorbed in picking up and reorganizing her bag, she is really in the process of looking outside with magic, keeping a careful eye on the CSI vehicle. Strangely, she doesn't appear to be particularly worried about the prospect of being caught at the scene of a crime, but motivated to avoid it regardless, jogging towards the closest entrance on the opposite side of the warehouse from the police. Assuming all goes to plan, she'll leave on foot alongside everyone else. If it doesn't...
Emiya Shirou	With Caster vanishing so hard and the other issues building up, Shirou's inclined to agree. But seeing the incoming AUTHORITIES gives him juuuuust a good spike of panic. "Y-yeah. Going NOW is good! Really good!" He'll proceed to do JUST that, sticking with Mason...
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa make sure the files are saved and will convert them for now they rest in her cyberbrain. She glad she found something of use, Archer's right it's time to scoot before the CSI people show up. She shouldn't have left any traces really. So she's making ready to go when the warning comes from Caster of Brown. So she's going to scoot. She looks to Riva. "Tell me about it I have no want to get spotted either." She could end up sold off to some corp and that be poltical mess to get her back. She takes a moment then she activates her optic cameo as she folows after Riva even as she vanishes from sight blending in to her surroundings as she goes.
Kyra Hyral	Being stuck at the crime scene when the cops showed up was not the results of the trap that Kyra had expected...but it was one she was interested in avoiding since it'd be easier on her if she didn't have to explain her presence to the POLICE. "Good idea, good idea." Kyra's quick to mutter as she zips out after Riva. Ker-BAIL.
Archer of Brown	Thankfully for everyone, the arrival of the CSI team goes without incident. There's... something strange, though. All of them emerge and begin to prepare their equipment, but they're all the same height, the same skin tone, wearing their clothes exactly the same way. All of them wear sunglasses and baseball caps with MPDC on them. All of them appear to be albinos. Archer, with his heightened perception, makes something known as he calmly walks off with Mason and Shirou. The radio frequency crackles with the sound of the Servant's voice. "Did you notice the tattoos on them?" "No," comes Mason's reply. "What were they?" "Bar codes."