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Fate Testarossa Evening. Urbania. The museum district. A sector of the megacity full of repositories of ancient knowledge, wisdom, and timeless bygones of ages long gone by, putting their archaelogical finds on display for the masses. It is closing time about now, however, and this evening is no different from any other, as men, women, children, and school groups all begin to file out of one particular museum; The Institute Arcane.

Long known for digging up magical artifacts of ancient civilizations and studying them; most of the objects on display are inert. Time and use, and study have long drained them of their metaphysical properties, but sometimes among the findings is a trinket still containing a shard of its former power. And it just so happens, that the museum came in possession of a rather amazing new find of late. A series of stones dubbed The Thunder Stones.

Ironic really. That a freak thunderstorm begins to brew outside the museum. It came from seemingly nowhere- and is blatantly magical in nature; picking up in violent intensity as the arc of ions and plasma in the rapidly darkening skies begin to damage power lines and transformers with snapping jolts of lightning, creaming from the skies and killing power to the whole block.

Of course a museum of this caliber is not without its own power generators, and the shattering smash of a window doesn't go unnoticed without setting off an alarm and automated call for authorities.
Stygian Mirror     'Theft' isn't really in Mirror's skillset, but when your superior throws you into a whole new world for the purposes of getting to know it, you learn to adapt and take up any job that'll provide that much. Besides, killing everyone and taking a thing IS thievery, technically, right? So had the woman signed up for the Syndicate and taken on whatever jobs she could, typically in exchange for information rather than money. Coming in contact with a certain 'Precia Testarossa' had provided its share of that, and robbing a museum for it was a small price to pay.

    As the storm rolls in, the white-haired, fox-eared, cat-tailed and lizard-eyed woman had just straight up walked to the front door of the museum, a pitch black sword hanging on her waist. Security came rushing out at the sight of a sword and the eerie portents of the thunderstorm hitting the power lines, but were quickly met by a black wave of Essence that bloomed from under one of her feet, as she slammed it down. They were knocked out cold, bleeding from their eyes, mouths and ears, but luckily not dead.

    Strictly speaking, she'd only been hired to watch Fate and be a distraction; thievery was only to happen if Fate were to be as big a letdown as her mother suspected she would be. Mirror wanted to question what sort of person talks that way about their own daughter, but knew better than to question a client. Or superior.

    Unmasked and in plain sight, she idles by the entrance of the museum, inspecting the unconscious, bleeding guards, making sure they're not dead. They'd be fine, if nothing else hit them.
Guest Vivio     "Oh! Oh! And did you see the Necklace of Osiris? It was so beautiful~"

    Vivio grins as she walks along the side-walk, clutching the straps of her backpack as she chats with some of her classmates. It was so awesome of her school to organise a trip here as part of their magical studies. There were lots of interesting artefacts and trinkets on display! Many from different cultures that Vivio wasn't even aware of. She's feeling a little envious of the TSAB agents who get to explore ancient ruins and secure Lost Logia. Maybe that's what she could do when she grows up...

    Vivio can see the warpgate ahead, her class heading towards it to go home. However something makes Vivio turn her head around and look back towards the museum. It looks like there is a thunderstorm brewing... Nothing Vivio is afraid of, of course. Though there is something familiar about it...

    A flap on Vivio's backpack bulges for a moment, before a small white plush bunny pokes its head out. It looks up into the sky before turning to Vivio with a knowing look. Vivio looks at her Device and asks, "You're feeling it too?" The plush bunny nods. Vivio frowns a little.

    Vivio stops in her tracks, saying to her classmates, "Ummmmm, hehehe, I think I forgot my notebook back at the museum... I'll catch up, okay?" Before they can ask any questions about her flimsy story, Vivio suddenly dashes off, disappearing down an alley. As she begins to run back in the direction of the museum, she pulls the bunny out of her backpack and calls, "Sacred Heart! Set up!"

    After a briefly flashy transformation, an older looking Vivio in her unique looking Barrier Jacket jumps up onto the roof of a building. She stops and stares into the sky as the thunderstorm seems to be growing strong... And yet does not appear natural. She glances at her Device floating in the air beside her, "This doesn't seem right, does it?" The bunny shakes his head solemnly.
Yuna Kagurazaka *CRACKBOOM* "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Savior of Light, interstellar heroine, and Union Elite in good standing ... and yet Yuna Kagurazaka is STILL scared of thunder. Elner makes a noise suspiciously akin to an exasperated sigh as Yuna's shriek fades away, "I'm picking up indications of magic behind the storm, Yuna - there were no normal meteorological phenomena at work prior to the storm's abrupt formation. Erina's on the way, Jiina and Marina will be standing by on the other side of the local warpgate."

Yuna makes a face - partly a sheepish look, partly an annoyed one (more the former than the latter) - as she gets back to her feet and straightens her dress. "You could have told me sooner," she complains at the little robo-faerie. Another thunderclap makes her jump about half a meter, but she manages not to scream this time. "Are you sure it's safe to fly in this weather, though?"

"Your Light Suit will protect you to some extent, as long as you avoid getting hit directly," states Elner. "Erina's on the roof now." Elner pauses. "... and the Institute Arcane just sent out a call for police. That's probably where you should go to investigate - on-foot might be adequate."

As Elner finishes speaking, a swirl of wind and light rises around Yuna's body, replacing her civilian outfit with the sleek armor of her Light Suit. "You should have said THAT sooner, too!" Yuna chides Elner, before turning and sprinting out of the building's exit (she was visiting an Urbanian recording studio this afternoon) and towards the Institute itself. Maybe she can still get in the front door by presenting her Union ID; otherwise she may have to make a second illegal entry point, and she'd rather not confuse matters. Fortunately, the earpieces which are part of the Light Suit help to muffle further noise of thunder - which in turn does her composure quite a few favors.

She might crash into Stygian Mirror on her way in, since the light in the Institute's entry hall is pretty lousy at the moment. "Uwaah - !!"
Sanary Rondel "Are we looking for anything specific here?" Sanary's voice comes through quietly as she lands with a dull thud inside the museum, taking a short breath to focus herself as she scans the area slowly for guards. She's gotten better at landings: No broken ankles, no dizziness, and she's even getting back up without much issue!

     So what's a healer slash meat shield doing here of all places, anyway? Thieving isn't exactly in her skill set, but she /had/ been rather insistent on trying new things. Plus, if nothing else? She'd make for a nice decoy and/or battery for Fate if things go south.

     "Looks clear over here." Is it really? She does have the eyepatch for a reason, but at least she's not completely blind as long as she can keep the eye running. She's dressed in a burglary-appropriate (if a little flappy) gray coat, lacking any shiny bits or dangling trinkets on her person that would give away her person too easily... Aside from the gunaxe in hand, anyway, but that's more of a backup plan than anything else if things go REALLY bad.

     And a mask, of course. You can't have a burglary without a proper mask over the top of your head!
Marisa Kirisame     Sometimes, a witch just has to be wicked. It's in the contract. Every so often, there needs to be a smash and grab. Whether it's a ship on the roiling waves or a library in a vampire's mansion, or even a museum at the heart of one of the largest urbanized regions in the Multiverse, sometimes good people do bad things for mediocre reasons.

    And sometimes, they even get paid to do the job!

    Today just happens to be one of those days! She descends from the sky on a contrail of bright, blue starlight, legs slung over one side of an old bamboo broom in a stunningly traditionally 'witchy' manner. Marisa humms a sing-song tune as she sails down in from the stormclouds, a bubble of concentrated whirlwind swirling around her, flinging raindrops away like water off a duck.

    "This is the place, huh~?" Marisa chimes as she sweeps into the museum proper, her eyes glittering dreamily in the dark. "Wow, look at all of this... this STUFF!" She grins, giggling like a kid in an EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE candystore. "Man, think of the history. The MAGIC that's just... sitting around, dormant. That's just criminal!"

More criminal than stealing priceless artifacts?

APPARENTLY!!

"Hey Sanary," Marisa calls down, having settled into a hover just over the wounded healer, "You think they'll send someone interestin' to stop us? Much as I'd like to just take what I can carry, that feels like it'd be a bit... Anticlimactic, you know?"

She's also tempting fate now. HOW BOLD!
Stygian Mirror     BUMP, crash.

    Mirror ends up on her ass as a magical girl slash paladin slash paladin girl slash magical paladin bumps into her on her way in. It's clearly one of those word combinations, right? She groans, rubs her face and shakes it to regain her bearings, and then looks around, addressing Yuna.

    "You should watch where you're going, this isn't a field trip. I mean, you could get hurt." Her tone isn't threatening-- she doesn't seem to have caught on yet that Yuna is not dressed like a civilian at all. Look, Earths are weird, alright? She's trying not to assume too much.

    Sadly, Mirror is surrounded by unconscious security guards literally bleeding out their eyes, ears and mouths, so HER position in all this will be a lot easier for Yuna to assume than the reverse.
Fate Testarossa Theft like this isn't so much a skill as it is the byproduct of an act... The guards are easy to handle, despite the many and varied artifacts, they are, for the most part, ordinary museum guards. The fact that Stygian didn't kill them will probably be favorable in the eyes of one person on this foray...

Lightning strikes again, a flare of bright plasma backlighting a figure standing on a tall spire atop the building across the street from the museum, and by the time thunder cracks an instant later, the brief glimpse of a flowing cape is gone.

Sanary receives a notification via text- a sudden and simple hologram display popping up with the words 'Thunder Stones' written in flowing Mid-Childan script, before cutting out, as her answer. According to every banner put up in the museum, those are somewhere on the second floor.

Marisa will find herself surrounded by the bones of ancient magical creatures, mighty skeletons fossilized over time and pieced back together for display. No mushrooms nor magic books yet, but practically everything in the museum has that dormant feel to it but... Even in dormancy there is potential.

There is a shattering crash from the second floor, glass breaking noisily hinting that someone ELSE has broken into the museum.
Sanary Rondel Looking up at her blonder comrade, Sanary offers Marisa a light shrug before resting that gunaxe against her shoulder and conjuring up a line of gray magic bricks along the ground. "If they do... Well, we've probably got it easier than them. They gotta worry about breaking things. We don't." The healer chuckles, then pauses to check that notification before taking another look around with a more thoughtful expression.

     "... Would be a shame to leave a lot of this stuff here, though. I mean... Thunder Stones are one thing, but." She peers at the signage. "Looks like we gotta go upstairs... Uh. You need any bones?" She looks a little creeped out just looking at the bones, and it's probably not too hard to tell that she'd rather not have to touch those skeletons.

     And just to punctuate that, Sanary's already on the search for the stairs! She does pause at the sound of glass crashing elsewhere, however, and the bricks on the ground start to tremble. "Should we be worried about that?"
Yuna Kagurazaka "I'm sorry," Yuna says as she bows to Mirror, then - almost by reflex - offers her a hand back to her feet. "As for getting hurt, though - well, it's kind of my job to risk getting hurt so that helpless innocents don't, right?" And on that note, she looks around at the guards.

And kind of regrets it. "Elner, get in here," she says - despite the fact that the robo-faerie *isn't* anywhere in obvious earshot. "Make sure the guards are okay, and then check with the local emergency services to make sure there's medical help en route as well."

Fortunately, the robo-faerie in question materializes next to Yuna, and Elner proceeds to scan as requested. "Unconscious, possibly due to sensory overload or trauma of some sort; I can't be more certain than that," Elner states. Although it's looking right at Stygian Mirror as it says that. "More importantly, there are additional vital signs further inside, which probably includes the thief or thieves."

Yuna makes a face. "Right ... Um -" She smiles apologetically at Stygian Mirror. "When the ambulances get here, can you help make sure the guards all get the medical attention they need? And let the police know that at least one Union Elite is on the scene to help stop the burglary."

She doesn't even know Vivio is here yet, apparently.
Marisa Kirisame     It's strange, looking at bones from creatures long dead and knowing that so many of your friends probably might just look like that if they really cut loose. Marisa shrugs her shoulders at Sanary's question, but there's a sense that she might be paying more attention to the things around her than their designated target. "I never really NEED anything like this, Sanary. But boy do I want it."

But where would she even keep all of it?

Outside her house, or something? Maybe?

Oh, maybe she can make a SOUP!

    "Eh, they won't kill me if I take a tooth or something, right?" The witch chimes as she sails up to try and steal one away from a particularly dragon-like statue. Or maybe a snake-like one. Either one, she'll be happy with! "Lesson of the day, Sanary! If you want something, at least TRY to take it. At least then if you get caught by an adorable asthmatic in purple pyjamas, you won't have any regrets!"

Is... Is that really such a good thing to teach someone?

    If Marisa isn't somehow prevented from taking the creature's fang, she'd go sailing off after Sanary, pursuing her towards the nearest staircase. Maybe they keep the books on another level? Hmm.

In retrospect, she really should have scoped this place out first.
Guest Vivio     From her perch across the street, Vivio can make out the sounds of unusual happenings from within the museum. Crashes, smashes and bangs alike. No, it doesn't seem right. Someone is thieving art on this quickly becoming night. It would be a shame to let them escape, though Vivio is wary of turning this into a fight. Things will break, things of unknowable value... But she cannot turn away from this sight.

    Vivio softly lifts up from her place, gently and quietly making her way across to the roof of museum. Touching down again she walks over to a door leading down... Locked, of course. Vivio looks at her Device floating beside her, "I'll appologise for this later..." She steps back, then swiftly brings her foot up to kick in the door, the metal warped by the impact of the blow. It's not like she can set off another alarm.

    Vivio enters the museum from above, beginning to make her way down and looking for any thieving-types that shouldn't be there. Her plush bunny Device floats along side her, frequently spinning around to watch for bad types, his face filled with :x vigilance.
Sanary Rondel "Heh... True, true. And I need more po-aaaages. And I want money. So!"

     Mental note: Grab some magic books if she can find them. Marisa's not the only one with an interest in those things! "Statue teeth? Probably not. Er... What's this about an adorable purple....?" Is that even the sort of thing Sanary should be wondering about now?

     Well, her teacher did say they were adorable. That couldn't be /that/ bad, right? Right. When she spots Vivio coming through the shattered skylight, however...

     "... You don't mean someone like that, do you?" She gestures towards the newly arrived blonde with her free hand. There's something vaguely familiar about that sort of uniform, but... Probably just a coincidence. Sanary raises an eyebrow while those bricks begin shaking along the ground. She's not launching them yet, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. "Uh... Hey there. You here to help?"
Stygian Mirror     The guards have minor internal organ damage. Abyssal Charms aren't the most subtle about disabling people; they've got burst veins all over their skull, but luckily nothing major. Less burst and more jabbed with a lot of needles. Fine details of the bleeding aside, they'll be fine if they stay out of trouble and are tended to. Their hearing, sight and smell might be a bit damaged but oh well.

    Mirror, on the other hand, awkwardly rubs the back of her neck. "A... bout that. I don't think it's a good idea for me to stay until ambulances and cops get here. I mean I'm... sort of... the one that did this. So, they might not take too kindly to my still being around."

    It's not that she doesn't look like she wants to fight. Certainly not that she looks harmless, what with the black sclera and red eyes, and the sword made of Soulsteel, which you could swear occasionally wails in agony as ghostly faces dance on the black metal. It's more like she doesn't know the protocol.

    She's used to being attacked on sight, or attacking on sight. This is neither of those things.

    "So, I think you should be the one to wait here. We'll be in and out, we just came to get a bunch of stones. Then no one has to die. That's the best outcome, right?"
Fate Testarossa It's while Mirror has Yuna occupied and Vivio enters from the roof, that things get a little more complicated. Vivio and Yuna are recognized as Unionites, and are thusly given something of a heads up. A pinging alert from a Device offsite. The IFF is a TSAB encoding, and from a variant of the TSAB not aligned with the Union, currently, but one that clearly has no issue working alongside right now. The missive is short, simple, and direct.

'Unknown rogue mage on premesis. Other parties status unknown. Use caution; two Enforcers en route now.

The timing on that is pretty tight between the message getting sent, and the sudden barrier enveloping the museum. Everything takes on a dull shadowy color, as reality melds and then sidesteps into an alternate state that will render any and all property damage a completely moot point.

Marisa also gets a fang for soup.

As Vivio makes her way down from the roof, she's one of the first people to reach the chamber where the Thunder Stones are kept. Three jagged golden crystals hovering close by one another, held in eternal tether to each other by their own magical energies. Each is no larger than a fist, though the one in the middle is the biggest of the three.

The display is broken, and a small figure cloaked in black is already reaching into it...

Meanwhile, a large magic circle suddenly appears in the room with Marisa and Sanary, flaring to life with magical light before dying down, revealing a tall man, and shorter woman, in matching black coats, staves in hand.

"Ooookay, we're going to put the fang back where we found it and submit to arrest."

"It'll be easier on everyone, this way."
Yuna Kagurazaka ".... oh."

Yuna sighs, looking at Stygian Mirror, never mind how creepy her eyes look, or how disturbing her sword is - just being in the presence of it makes Yuna's skin crawl, even though the Light Suit isn't exactly reacting to it ... at least, not yet. That'll probably change if Yuna actually gets hit by it - but she's been around Soulsteel before, and she recognizes its eerie presence even without looking (not that she WANTS to look at it too closely).

"Okay," Yuna says with a sigh. "You don't want to fight me, I don't really want to fight my way past you, but I *do* need to get inside and try to stop the burglary you're part of. So, since it doesn't seem like you did any lasting damage to the guards, I'm prepared to let you get out of here before the cops arrive and not stop you from leaving empty-handed."

She looks briefly at the Soulsteel blade. "Er. Without taking anything you didn't have when you got here, I mean." No reason to leave the scary-sounding weapon lying around here, right? It'd probably do awful things to an ordinary human who touched it, as far as Yuna knows. "But if you're going to stand on principle and refuse to let me pass ... well." Yuna gives Stygian Mirror a rueful smile, bringing her left hand up - but not positioned like she's going to attack with it. "Shugoseiheki!" the blonde calls out, and a kite shield matching the colors of her Light Suit materializes, positioned like its straps are secured around her left forearm.

"I can't just stand aside and let you and whoever you're with make off with whatever you're looking for, so unless you'd rather play rock-paper-scissors to decide who has to leave ... ?"
Marisa Kirisame     "Oh, yeah. Back home, there's this one librarian I know, you see," Marisa explains, assuming Mima-Sama Teaching Position C. It would work better if she had a wand or something on hand to point with, but she can at least cross her arms and waggle a finger. "She has an AWESOME library, and I go raid it sometimes, for reading material. Anyway, she wears a lot of purple and she's the type you just kind of want to hug but you know she'll kill you if you do--"

Marisa blinks, her train of thought viciously derailed by Sanary's observation. She glances up and just catches sight of ~that girl~ dropping into the museum. "Huh. No clue, don't recognize her."

SPEAKING OF PEOPLE MARISA DOESN'T RECOGNIZE.

    The taste of magic in the air is undeniable. It's somewhere between the acrid buzz of fresh ozone and sugar-sweet green tea. Who would sweeten their green tea? What kind of monster would DO that? Nobody Marisa would approve of, certainly. These two mages give her all kinds of bad vibes.

    "Oh yeah?" Marisa chimes, leaning back provocatively on her broom. She puffs her chest out, taking up the airs of a stereotypical 'haughty evil witch'... but it fails miserably because she has about as many curves as a billboard. Instead she just comes off as sort of mischevious and impish and maybe just a little bit overconfident. But then... A telltale buzz of magic begins building around her as well. Six globes wink into existence around her, each one brilliantly glittering a different, vibrant color.

Maybe 'overconfidence' is actually just plain old ordinary confidence.

"And what'll happen if I decide that I'd rather just take it home with me?"
Guest Vivio     Vivio blinks and looks down through the open floor to the level below, where she spots Marisa and Sanary. She uhhhs at the question, responding, "That depends... You're not trying to steal anything, are you?" It's really hard to tell who's bad and who's good in these situations.

    The message from the TSAB is a bit of a shock though. Especially as it's not from the one Vivio is familiar with, if Chris's arm-waving is any indication that the signatures don't match. A rogue mage huh? And Enforcers! The sudden down-shift in colour is also welcoming, "Oh! This'll make things much easier."

    Vivio registers the sudden teleport of said Enforcers, but her attention is more focused on the figure in black that she spots near one of the displays. Apparently trying to steal what's inside. Vivio starts walking towards the figure, reaching out, "Hey, stop that! That's not yours to take."
Stygian Mirror     "I kind of have to stand on principle, yeah," Mirror answers, reaching for her sword; she bends her knees and adopts a more combative stance at the same time, the jagged black sword held in a reverse-grip, bony gauntlets tightening around the hilt of the blade.

    This is more like it; less confusing. Protocol here is pretty clear, she doesn't have to think about it too much. Attack, maim, maybe kill, move on. Soldiers and heroes know what they sign up for, there's no moral quandries here.

    "It's not me you should be worried about making off with whatever's in there. Honestly, her mother wouldn't even tell me what they were for. Must be important to hire someone like me, though."

    She swings forward, without warning. Five Shadow Feint produces numerous false copies of her blade, which flicker as she thrusts towards Yuna. None of them are real, but it's very hard to tell which is the real sword. Her aim is to knock the shield away and stab the magical paladin girl's chest straight up, without hesitation.

    If the Soulsteel sword so much as grazes past her Light Suit, Yuna will likely feel some of her magical force sapped into it, the energy drained and given to Mirror instead. If so, she'd best get used to it, it's going to be a recurring feature of pretty much every attack Mirror makes, unless she goes bare-handed.
Marisa Kirisame Oh! The other blonde has a VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION for her. Marisa looks straight up at her. Her lips curl right into a great, big, utterly carefree grin grin, and she says: "What, me? Nah! I'm just borrowing this. I'll put it back once I'm done!"

If there's anything to even put back.
Sanary Rondel "Sounds like a couple of people I know..." Sanary murmurs in response to Marisa, looking both intrigued and wary. On one hand, getting killed. On the other hand... Huuuugs. "

     Alas, there's more new faces to keep her from mulling over that too long! "... I'll have to check out that library some time." With emotional needs clearly winning out over physical safety this time around, Sanary turns her gaze upwards towards the unfamiliar two as she flies into position by her witchy teacher! Taking note of the odd color shift, the healer adds a little more green to the mix by...

     Directing a green beam of light directly from herself to Marisa. BOMBS GET! Thankfully, with the other cute blonde leaving, that lets the healer focus on the two Enforcers before her.

     Of course, she's just going to have match Marisa's impishness with a wide grin of her own. "Oh, you are? Great, that'll be real helpful for us. I'll make sure the paperwork gets through nice and quick, and you'll be back out with a slap on the wrist. Sound good?"
Fate Testarossa What happens if Marisa would rather take it home?

The two Enforcers pass a quick look to one another. The man adjusts his shades, the woman tugs her gloves tighter.

"You want this one, Volks?" The woman asks

"She's all yours Cougar." He replies.

She lunges. And she's fast, a blur of green light and trailing after images darting her on a path towards Marisa, staff flaring to life as it breaks apart at several points linked by chains of green light, into multiple sections. Wielding the staff like a massive nunchaku to fling bolts of green magical energy and try to close the gap into melee distance. "You have the right to remain silent!" Cougar Mercury announces amid her assault.

The man however heaves his shoulders in a sigh, rolling one out and cracking his knuckles. "Geeze, you really have to make it hard on everyone don't you? Truth of the matter is, I hate paperwork." Volks Vagon says as he takes aim, several spheres of teal light flicker to life before lancing in helix swirls for Sanary with concussive stunning force.

And yet meanwhile, the cloaked figure goes stock still, one black-gloved hand just inches away from the largest of the three stones...

'SIR.' The axe in her grasp intones in a low ping, as scarlet eyes turn to glower coldly at Vivio. "Mn..."

A flutter of her cloak and Fate Testarossa turns about, aiming her Device, several golden arrowheads of voltaic light crackling to life, menacingly.

"Don't get in my way. Please." She says, voice soft and quiet, yet solemnly resolute.
Yuna Kagurazaka Multiple copies of that already-distressing sword come stabbing at Yuna; she responds by bracing her shield as securely as she can, digging the bottom corner into the floor (which probably doesn't work THAT well) and using her right arm to brace and support her left, propping the Wall of the Guardian Star to resist being knocked asides as much as possible. It's a good, sturdy shield - it may not weigh more than Yuna does, but it looks like it could, and it's been reinforced with magical alloys and integrated into Yuna's powers and equipment; it basically *is* part of the Light Suit.

Which has both benefits and drawbacks.

On the plus side for Yuna, the battlesuit's protective aura suffuses Shugoseiheki to help prevent it from being breached or damaged, and if - somehow - the shield WERE broken, it would regenerate with the rest of the Light Suit when Yuna is recovering from the traumas and stresses of combat.

On the minus side, anything that hits the shield hard enough is subject to that very same aura being exerted to repel the attack - and Mirror's blade certainly counts; any of those stabs that have actual force behind them are met, on impact with Yuna's shield, by flickers and flares of light as the normally-invisible force field intensifies to the point of visibility.

And that may still add up to energy that Stygian Mirror can leech away through her sword - but that also means that Mirror is going to be syphoning off raw holy/Light-elemental energy, which may in turn (for all Yuna knows) be decidedly unhealthy for the Abyssal girl.

Either way, Yuna actually whimpers under the assault, and - when it relents for a bit - she brings her right arm away from the shield, a pistol materializing. "I'm really sorry about this," Yuna whispers -

And she lines up a quick shot, straight at the center of Mirror's torso. It's the same holy radiance as her aura, focused into a bolt of what's most succinctly described as 'hard light'; it won't pierce or (Yuna hopes) burn, but will just hit like so much straight-up kinetic force.

To her credit, Yuna really *is* trying to use the minimum necessary force - but it's plain on her face that she doesn't want to keep fighting, even though she's NOT going to back down and let Mirror or her allies get away with stealing anything.
Guest Vivio     Vivio freezes at the 'SIR.' A familar word, from a familiar voice. One she's heard most of her life. What she knows in her heart is only confirmed as Fate turns around to face her. Vivio was aware of alternate, younger versions of her mother existing in the Multiverse. Even talked with the one that's in the Union. But even so, she's still surprised.

    "A-ah... Fate..."

    Vivio knows she can't be sure who this person is. But still, those eyes are so familiar... And yet so different.

    After her initial shock passes, Vivio looks back at Fate, her vivid red and green eyes filled with nothing but caring, "You don't have to do this... Tell me why and maybe we can help find a better way!"
Marisa Kirisame 'She's all yours Cougar.'

    And with that, the mage is off like a shot. Marisa's expression can't help but edge even further into 'manic crazy person.' "Oh man, you're fast!" she laughs, bobbing and weaving as green bolts sail left and right. And then the jiujiebian comes RIGHT up into her face. Marisa ducks back, only to get swatted away like some kind of monochromatic fly by a rapid series of strikes to her everything. "Ugh, damn, not bad--" she grunts, tumbling head over heels as she whirls back. She wipes at a fresh bruise blossoming at her cheek. But... somehow, she remains perched on the broom despite being manhandled by some woman named Cougar.

"Seriously though," Marisa quips, "That is a REALLY unfortunate name. Sorry, but older ladies ain't exactly my type!"

She has the right to remain silent.

She's suuuure not exercising it, though.

    "You're pretty fast for a Cougar, though," Marisa grins as she dodges around another series of green bolts. She can keep evading the bullets all day, but this kind of joint isn't exactly the best for dealing with a speedy type in melee.

So Marisa... improvises.

    "But you'll need more than fancy moves... "She waits until she sees that green streak rebound back in her direction-- "To beat the one and only! Gensokyo's very own STAR BREAKER!" Marisa roars, her will, her magic blazing in her breast! The six crystals surrounding her flash-- They ignite, burning like tiny suns. Each one begins pulsing with one of the many-fold colors of the stars and sky, filling the grey-and-sepia world with light and life! "Now, behold! MY LOVE COLORED MAGIC!"

                      LOVE SIGN - NON-DIRECTIONAL LASER!!                      

    Suddenly the world begins to fill... With lasers. So many lasers. Lasers of all different colors. Lasers sweeping in all different directions from different points of origins as each of the spheres begins orbiting their master like an orrery gone utterly mad. The beams cleave through exhibits! Through walls and pillars and doors! To make it worse, Marisa follows up with SO MANY MAGIC MISSILES!

Midchildan Melee Mage, welcome... TO BULLET HELL!
Stygian Mirror     Unfortunately for Yuna, Soulsteel just drains magic and converts it to Essence. She could stab the Unconquered Sun himself and still refuel without risk. There are other risks associated with stabbing that guy that make it a poor venture, though.

    The bolt of hard light from Yuna's pistol slams against Mirror's tunic; the cloth actually parts way in places, allowing the attack to hit her skin directly, at least in part. It doesn't just knock her back, it actually burns and draws blood. Yuna's hit enough dark-type creatures to tell when she's hitting a weakness and this is... not it. Is Mirror just REALLY easy to bruise? Is that why her armor almost slithered open to allow it?

    "I am too. Kind of. I'm not going to regret it, if that makes sense," Mirror answers Yuna, before her empty hand reaches for the wound on her stomach. Blood oozes out, spiralling into her hand. It forms a replica of the pistol Yuna used to wound her, and it's immediatly pointed back at the girl.

    On her forehead, a black mark finally appears from Essence being spent; a black circle with eight sunrays around it, glowing a dull grey and bleeding lightly like an open wound.

    The pistol fires, but instead of hard light it fires hard-- nothingness. It's not shadows, it's an absence of light, a mirror of what was used against her. She takes more than one shot, too, trying to pelt Yuna with half a dozen blasts. The 'projectiles' corrode and burn, mostly.
Sanary Rondel More lights! And attacks, even. A shame Sanary didn't bring her shield with her today, but she was only expecting to need her axe to begin with. Those bricks finally come to life as they lift into the air around her, forming a shield of scattered gray garbage! She lets out a half-whistle at Cougar's glowing staff array, but she can't afford to watch her and Marisa for too long with Volks preparing to take her on.

     "Hey, you could've let someone else take the call. You're making it harder on us, too." The bricks converge in front of the healer as those spheres of light come shooting towards her, moving to intercept the blasts with their magical mass. Some of those spheres still get through, however, pummeling the healer in the gut and face and sending her floating back several feet before she stops herself with an amused (and mildly pained) grunt.

     "Nothing personal, though. Still, you can always take a dive. We won't rat you out~" Spitting out what she can only hope was blood, she tightens her gunaxe firmly in hand before launching herself right at Volks. Marisa's massive LOVE BEAM doesn't go unnoticed, however, and although Sanary was planning on a more straightforward approach...

     Why not do something a little flashier this time around? The bricks float into place and form an odd pattern in front of her not unlike mirrors would if they were actually mirrors, and she channels energy into her magitech eye. "Let's see if you can take my.... ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE!" She roars out dramatically, then fires a heat laser towards the first brick...

     Which promptly explodes. Well. They're nothing like mirrors, after all! The healer sighs a bit, then just gives up on the flashy and simply launches the floating bricks at Volks instead while advancing, then lashing out with her gunaxe's icy blade!
Yuna Kagurazaka Yuna stares aghast as her shot draws blood. She was CERTAIN she was holding back, she doesn't want her opponent dead, but -

Oh wait, Mirror is shooting back. Yuna hides behind her shield again - and yelps, not in pain but in surprise, as she feels the damage being inflicted on Shugoseiheki. Not sees, not (just) hears, *feels*; the corrosive effect is chewing through the Light Suit's defensive reserves in way too much of a hurry.

What's she supposed to do about an enemy like this?

She doesn't want to resort to trying to kill somebody who's just standing in the way of her trying to interrupt a crime, but an attack which SHOULD have been no worse than a punch in the chest caused her opponent to bleed. And given that she shot the girl, followed by the girl shooting back with a copy of her pistol ....

Yuna grits her teeth. She's down to basically just one idea, and it's almost guaranteed to hurt like the dickens, but anything else is liable to hurt even more, or get somebody killed, or both. Bracing her shield with both arms once again, she advances on Stygian Mirror as quickly as she can in the face of whatever attacks are being aimed her way. She may be walking; she may be running. Part of her wants to run - actually, at least two parts of her want to run. One of those divisions is in favor of 'away,' but Yuna has had to ignore that particular voice for a long time. But that wouldn't accomplish anything towards stopping the burglary.

So given the choice, Yuna runs *towards* the Abyssal who's barring her way - and at the last second, Yuna dismisses her shield.

She reverses her transformation, leaving herself unprotected and in purely civilian clothing.

And she tries to *HUG* Stygian Mirror, ideally with enough force to bring her down to the floor - but also-ideally, not to actually hurt her in the process. Yuna would be happy to land on the bottom, as long as she can keep hugging the Abyssal too close to hurt her.

'Too close to hurt her' is the ultimate goal of her maneuver, whatever form it has to take.
Fate Testarossa The idenity if the twin-tailed girl is no longer in question. That black axe belongs to Fate Testarossa, but not those eyes. Those are not the kind, motherly, eyes Vivio knows. They are still gentle eyes, but burdened by a melancholy that the girl might not recognize.

Fate flinches when she's called by name, visibly tensing, as though caught completely off guard by it. There's a flash of confusion in her eyes, a clear and total lack of recognition for Vivio is what the red-green eyed girl gets. The child hesitates, a shivery breath making slim shoulders heave, before she squeezes eyes shut.

Then Fate Testarossa forcibly hardens her heart.

"Fire."

Her voice is a whisper. Bardiche's is a buzzing mechanical announcment.

'PHOTON LANCER FULL AUTO FIRE'

With that announcement from the axe, the golden bullets lance forward, snapping at Vivio in a volley of rapid fire bolts of electric energy that WILL caus injury if they connect.

There's a barely audible breath of "... I'm sorry..." As Fate snatches for one of the three stones.

Because the firefights elsewhere are rapidly escalating and getting out of hand.

Volks Vagon faces Sanary down. He's not keen on taking a dive, but it looks like that is what happens to him, when faced with the axe-wielding healer; parrying his spellwork with brick and masonry, only for him to look bewildered when she announces her ultimate technique and makes one burst by laser.

It distracts him sufficiently enough for the rest to converge, fulfilling their duty as blunt projectiles and battering him down, one to the face stunning him sufficiently for the stroke of that axe to bite through his barrier jacket. There's a cry of pain as he loses consciousness, Device signalling for medical aid and backup automatically, but...

He won't be getting backup from his partner. She's too busy suddenly and soundly put on the defense. There's a wide-eyed look of shock as Marisa deftly dodges. Of course she would, Cougar fired maybe four or five blasts tops. This is nothing compared to even the lightest of danmaku sparring matches. Which means...

Cougar Mercury has utterly no chance. Though she tries her utter best, the flood of multi-colored lasers sweeping the room has her struggling and on the backfoot. She evades on, narrowly slides under another, grazes a third admirable, but then eats one dead on, yelping when it puts her through a wall.

And the next wall.

And the wall after that.

And the one after that one...

This leaves Sanary and Marisa a moment to grab anything not bolted down to the floor, if they feel.
Marisa Kirisame WITCH 1, PUNCHMAGE 0.

    Marisa's lightshow fades away into naught but lingering motes of dwindling magic. She smiles a great, big, winning grin, in spite of the lump swelling under her cheek. "Well, that was fun!" The witch says with a rousing, victorious and utterly witchy cackle. It sort of starts with a 'nya' and continues into a great cascades of 'hahahahahaha~s.'

    That's enough of that for now. Marisa twists, fishing what appears to be a great, voluminous burlap sack out of the folds of her dress. "Hey Sanary!" She calls, waving the other magician over. "You finished up over there? I say we grab as much as we can carry and cheese it!"

Starting with the books. And the potion samples. And various monster parts, miscelanneous artifacts...

Man, what a haul, what a haul.
Stygian Mirror     Yuna advances. Mirror, by reflex of having an opponent coming for her in melee, relies on Hundred Razor Circle. Black and purple Essence takes her sword and shadowy, bloody replica pistol out of her hands, producing a cloud of a dozen weapons around her. At the same time, the symbol on her forehead glows brighter and bleeds more profusedly. Black, wispy copies of the sword and pistol float and orbit the Abyssal, just as Yuna reaches her and-- dives in for a hug, not an attack at all.

    Mirror frowns, but that's because she can't turn off the Charm once it's active. Opponents that enter her three yard radius suffer an attack from the weapon cloud, whether she wills it or not. That's a common thematic of Abyssal Charms, sadly, friendly fire is always on.

    So as Yuna dives in for a hug, one of the shadow blades suddenly turns and lunges for her back with a wide arc, from shoulder to hip. The paladin does successfully ground Mirror, who is now extremely confused and not sure what to do, but did she do it fast enough to dodge the attack?

    "H-Hey, what gives! We were fighting! This isn't how you fight!"
Sanary Rondel Sanary's still wobbling a bit in the air even as she watches Volks go down, and she feels only a liiiittle bit guilty at beating him down that way. Alas, a job's a job, and...

     ... Well. It's not like he and Cougar won't be getting up later, anyway. Still, she does toss a bit of healing magic their way just to take the edge off and help them recover a little bit faster.

     "Takes care of that, then. Alright. Sounds like a plan, teach~" With a laugh, the healer reaches into her coat to check the inner pockets and pauses for a moment, then just takes the whole thing off. As she does that, her bricks zip around to break ALL THE GLASS.

     "Everything? Everything." Why not everything? It's not like she needs to keep the coat on to maintain her disguise as long as she has that mask on. Sanary starts piling stuff into her coat and hastily tying it up into a makeshift bindle, using what's left of her conjured up bricks to support the mass from the outside. Ancient (and possibly disintegrating) texts and bones, shiny rocks (that might be crushing other things), even one of those little descriptive plaques explaining what it is she's just desecrated.

     Even if she can't sell any of it, something's bound to be solid enough to use later!
Guest Vivio     Vivio is visibly saddened by Fate's choice. She'd heard stories of her mother's past and now Vivio wonders if she'd just seen a glimpse of it.

    Of course, Vivio doesn't just stand there and let Fate's Photon Lancer rip into her. Instead the ponytailed blonde is off and running, darting quickly between the displays as numerous bolts of energy try to pierce her defenses. Several of the shots manage to land hits, cutting through Vivio's Barrier Jacket and injuring her beneath. But the damage isn't so serious that Vivio can't endure it.

    As the attack fades, Vivio skids to a halt, whipping her hand out to the side, "Sonic Shooter..." A dozen orbs of irridescent light appear floating in the air around Vivio, ready to shoot towards the oh-so-familiar Mage. But this never happens. Vivio can't bring herself to do it. All she can think about is her mother and the stories she's heard. All she wants to do is rush forward and give Fate a hug... But now is not the time for it. Not yet.

    Vivio relaxes her stance, the orbs of magic around her fading away. She remains alert, prepared to defend against any further attack. But it seems like she won't be chasing after Fate at this point.
Yuna Kagurazaka Yuna hisses in pain as the sword scores along her back, slitting open her dress and tracing a line of bleeding across the skin beneath it - but she had the advantage of going away from the sword at sufficient speed that it couldn't bite any deeper than it did. But more importantly?

Yuna now has Stygian Mirror pinned underneath her, the blonde's arms wrapped tightly around the Abyssal.

Objective attained, as these things go. But it hurt. Yuna hisses softly in pain, then lifts her head a bit. "There was no way for me to win a fight with you, so ... I decided not to fight you." She smiles wryly (and with a hint of pain behind her smile). "Are you going to let me go try and stop the burglary now, or do I have to keep hugging you like this until the cops show up?"
Fate Testarossa It looks like Volks and Cougar are both down for their counts. Unconscious and in need of medical aid, they can't do much to stop Marisa from making off with several ancient texts, and her new soup bone. It will certainly make a fine magical soup, while Sanary gets her hands on everything she can.

And yet in the meantime, once she had her hand on the Thunder Stone... Fate loses all desire to fight, in entirety. As soon as she sees Vivio's spell manifest, she jolts; under the simple, and logical belief that the girl will shoot.

That speed is not human.

Cougar was fast, appearing as a blur to the naked eye, Fate is a blitz. A flicker of black, red, and gold shadow that jolts with a speed enough to clear the distance from the display case, to her exit- a fresh hole in the wall courtesy of Marisa, in less than a blink. It's when Vivio does not shoot that Fate halts. Pausing to glance back over a slim shoulder.

"... Sorry."

It's just another breath before she darts out into the night, Bardiche pinging message to Mirror, Sanary, and Marisa by proxy.

It's time to go.
Stygian Mirror     "U-Um... if you keep hugging me I'm going to have to... stab you, I guess. To get free. I'd prefer if you didn't keep doing this." Mirror answers, awkwardly. The Hundred Razor Circle eventually disappears, her Soulsteel sword clanging on the ground besides her. The gun replica disappears, for its part.

    "So... ah... could you please get off, and also not interfere with the robbery? I think they're leaving, anyway." These people. What is /wrong/ with these people. Hugging?! She should just stab her dead, but she can't bring herself to.

    Is it going to be like this everytime? First a mission on a tropical island while wearing a bikini, now a hugging magical girl. She's going to have to adapt and get more serious before someone tries to make effective use of these tactics.

    To be honest, she's probably hesitating because the premise of this mission had her on-edge to begin with. Seriously, what kind of mother talks about her daughter like that...?

    Oh, no important. Mirror's eyes gaze into Yuna's, awaiting her answer. Her ears twitch in annoyance.
Sanary Rondel <<"Feels like we've got a good haul today... Good work, everyone.">> Sanary's voice comes through a shared radio frequency for herself, Marisa, Mirror, and Fate. She chuckles lightly as she flies alongside the witchy one, not noticing that some of her haul is already escaping through the gaps in her coat-bindle and dusting everything below her with a light dust of old texts, pottery, and possibly bones.

     Maybe if she's lucky, she can melt down those plaques to sell for a few credits later.
Yuna Kagurazaka For a second or so, Yuna doesn't show any sign of letting go of her 'opponent'. She's not really sure what to do; she still has to try and stop the robbery, but -

Then Elner tells her that one of the burglars is leaving at extremely high speed, and the other intruders into the museum seem like they're starting to withdraw as well. Yuna grimaces briefly, then lets go and slides off of Mirror, wincing as the movements send extra twinges of pain through her back. "Yeah," she sighs, "seems like I'm kind of too late now ..."

She glances down at herself, realizing belatedly that her dress isn't quite staying in place. That 's not fair; she *liked* this dress. But there's no point in taking it out on the animal-featured girl (who could, after all, be said to have been defending herself at the time ... never mind that SHE was the one who initially attacked YUNA, but ... still).

"Hopefully we meet on better terms next time," Yuna says with a wry smile to the Abyssal girl.
Marisa Kirisame     <<"Yep! Better haul than I get most days. Just hope there's some useful stuff in all the junk we grabbed.">> Marisa seems... characteristically chipper. She's rarely anything but, after all. It's like there's a dynamo of PURE JOY running at the very core of her that just burns away anything vaguely resembling melancholy. Or maybe she's just a naturally optimistic person? <<"Hey, Sanary! You're, uh... You're leaking a bit, there.">>

Someone had to say it.