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Strawberry Princess      PINE TWIST, FLORIDA, 6:57 PM

     The town of Pine Twist is a place that could exist in a hundred other Floridas, but somehow just barely manages to be unique to this Earth. After the roads were re-routed around Tampa and St. Petersburg following their evacuation, a tendril of the highway found its way through here, sprouting up convenience stores and chain restaurants and cheap motels like mold on bread, and eventually a town concresced out of the necessity for that fluorescent rainforest to be staffed. In the three decades since then it's absorbed Haitian expats and Lakeland refugees, but never managed to break a population of 1,000.

     The crowd of foreigners and outsiders assembled at this non-descript street corner, though, could put it over the edge. The entire local police force (of two people) is here, plus a couple of FBI agents in navy-and-yellow windbreakers, one man dressed entirely in snappy white with black accents, and a couple of people in unfamiliar tan-with-orange-stripes uniforms- they all seem to be bickering over something or other, most likely who gets to be in charge of what's inside the police-tape cordon. "-immediate concern to our interests. I demand-" "I don't give a shit about your interests. This is my-" "Calm down, calm down, please, we-"

     Strawberry is standing near the folks in tan uniforms, holding herself with the air of a shepherd or bodyguard- hard to distinguish which. She's taller even than the other 'adults' on-scene, standing out further in her Golden-Age-ish frilly outfit and half-face visor. Right now, though, she's trying to get three kids to calm down- one in black, one in white, one in silver, all clad in matching princely outfits with eyeless bird masks. Each of them is handcuffed, all of them various stages of panicked and disgruntled. "This is bullshit. It's such bullshit." "Shut up, Charcoal. Just-- shut up." "We're never trusting your 'visions' again, you know that?" "Look, we'll be out of here in no time. Don't do me like this."

     The crime scene itself, just on the other side of the police tape, is... distinctive. It's a 7-11 with an irregular chunk blasted out of the corner of it and out of the asphalt, like someone fired a shotgun big enough to blow through masonry. Bricks are scorched black; exposed pipes in the 'crater' underneath are partially melted, though they've since cooled. It's hard to imagine any normal human surviving that. A few feet away, as if thrown back with the blast, is a wand with a dark blue-green crystal, cracked down the middle.

     It's similar to the exhausted crystal at the tip of Strawberry's wand, sans the miniature fission reactor she has bolted to it.
Tetra     Tetra arrives on-scene in short order after Strawberry Princess' call, in a red tunic, tan trousers, and a fairly unassuming leather chestplate and single shoulderpad. She carries no weapon. Between that and her pointed ears, she'd look like a cosplayer at a crime scene, if not for the rather serious way she carries herself.

    She stops at the edge of the police cordon. "Good Goddesses," she murmurs, looking over the scene with mild discomfort. She wasn't expecting anything quite like this, from what was described. "What happened here?"
Strawberry Princess      One of the two cops notices Tetra first. "Ma'am, you can't be-" Strawberry recognizes her voice a second later, though, and turns away from the three magical boys to place her hand on the mustachioed-and-portly cop's shoulder in a vaguely patronizing fashion. He glowers, but doesn't say anything further. "Tetra, right? Glad to finally meet you." She holds out her hand to shake, then gestures at the scene.

     "We're still trying to figure that out ourselves. Seems like Sparkle Blue was hit on her way back home from a mission- and her wand's out of magic, even though she's only fourteen. If an Endling did it, that's bad. If another magical girl did it..." She trails off, grimacing, and nods towards the boys in cuffs. "Abundance of caution."
William Pauwel Just a few days ago, there would have been no way for WILLIAM PAUWEL, WATCHMAN to walk around in a place like this looking anywhere near as inconspicuous as he does now. It turns out that having huge mechanical arms kind of makes it hard to blend into a crowd! Or at least, a crowd that is not also in possession of some form of cybernetic enhancements. Will himself is dressed like any average Floridan, wearing an orange, floral-print hawaiian shirt, a white undershirt and a pair of khaki shorts. Dressed as he is, with his awesome crocs on his feet and a floppy hat atop his head, Will looks every bit like the average, young florida man.

Or... or maybe like what a computer's search engine thinks an average Florida Man looks like.

His purpose for coming all the way out to the boonies was relatively simple! The Watch had heard tell of a newly integrated world with NUCLEAR POWERED MAGICAL GIRLS, and that is quite frankly something that they need a couple of eyes on. A few hijacked police radio signals later, and Will, Average Florida Man, has successfully(?) blended in(??) with the gathered crowd.

Or at least, he would have, if they weren't mostly SECRET SERVICE PERSONNEL and various other members of law enforcement.

So instead, Will just kind of looks as out of place as a yokel what heard that something went kaboom near his backwater, under-highway moonshine still and crawled out from the bayou to check it out.

Coincidentally, he is /already there/ next to the strange cracked wand, poking it with a stick.

...Someone might want to check on Florida Man before he causes an even more terrible incident.
Arthur Lowell     Ah! Systems of authority! Arthur, as ever, approaches weightlessly and drifting in that swaggering, overconfident way of someone specifically trying to broadcast -- just in case anyone's checking -- how much he doesn't care about The Man. He goes all around and over barricades and tape, and other suchlike. He approaches Strawberry Princess first and only, and then barrages her hand with his usual volley of coolkid bullshit. "CRIME BAD, I guess, when it's the UNCOOL KIND." He says firmly. "But, like, SPECIFICALLY the kinda CRIME with KID VICTIMS. I'mma run my ANALYTICS on the WAND, see if I catch some BAD BULLSHIT."

    He's a Mage, analysis is part of his gig. He heads for the broken wand -- giving it a wide berth because Protecting Evidence and such -- and he holds his palms out, as if leaning against a thick, heavy tree. He summons a complex, convoluted MAGIC SPELLCIRCLE to check for any anomalies that might give him insight beyond "used to be a magic wand, now it's exhausted". Might be a good idea to get its magical "fingerprint" and check magical forensics on that huge blast as well.
Raphael Cousteau     PINE TWIST, FLORIDA, 6:58 PM
    Alongside the weird cosplayer and other assorted Elites of the Multiverse arrives an actual, honest to goodness, law enforcement officer. Inspector Raphael Ambrosius Cousteau of the 41st Precinct of Jamrock, Revachol sweeps in, his long patrol jacket billowing behind him. His unending jovial expression contrasts somewhat with the murder scene as he steps right up to the crowd scene, flashing a badge about as need be.

VISUAL CALCULUS: Okay. It's time. We're going to do the thing. Unfocus your eyes, take a step back.
And he steps backwards to observe the crime scene. Unimportant parts fall away. Important parts--like the wand, the explosion, anything else of note, seemingly glow to his vision. Arthur and William are irrelevant, and he can barely see him. His intuition is at full-bore. What -happened- here?
William Pauwel Someone is there.

Will looks /directly/ up at Arthur as he does his magical scan-y stuff.

"Wow," Florida Man drawls with all the barbecue-sauce-and-sweet-tea-infused twang of your average stereotypical southerner, "That sure is some fancy lights y'all've got goin' there. What's it sayin'?"

...And then hegently prods the cracked crystal with a stick.
Strawberry Princess      Florida Man, AKA William Pauwel, notorious Watchman, has successfully infiltrated the other side of the cordon. The assembled crew of bureaucrats and feds has been told to expect Multiversals. They haven't been expecting a ghoulishly floral tourist straight out of internet hell, though. He gets as close as poking the wand- an elegantly twisted spire of blue metal and some kind of woodlike substance- before someone's yelling at him. One of the spooks in the weird uniforms, to be precise.

     "Hey! Hey!! You can't touch that," she says, in the same tone of voice as someone asking their dog what it has in its mouth. "Get over here!" She ducks the cordon and reaches for his shirt, trying to grab him and drag him back away from it.
Sumiko Mikoto heard about something needing help with someone.  No wait, reverse that, someone needing help with something.  The civilian clothed magical girl simply walks up to the whole situation, looking over at the kids tied up, and then back to the 7-11 with a hole in it.  She lets out a small whistle and then shrugs.  

"So what's the mystery?  I wasn't fully paying attention, just that there was a puzzle, it was here, and something about a place where I could snag a slushy." Mikoto continues, fairly relaxed about the whole situation.  

"Do you need information out of these guys?" she points at the three tied up.  "I mean, I could kick them a few times?"
Maya Maya had offered her aid in this situation and so here the Junker is here and her normal style of dress looks like she fell out of some post-nuclear movie or game. She has a lot of experience with magic and she is a healer of fairly decent skill. There may be something she can do though this sounds this is more than just a physical thing. Her long blue hair sways a bit as she makes for Strawberry. She looks to the others there for a moment and she takes a deep breath.

"My name is Maya I am with the Paladins and I come to help."

She takes a moment to think then adds

"May I get an update to the situation what do we know if anything about what's happened?"

She takes note of Arthur, whom she has some experience with long ago, but William? Why does he give her the same vibe the oldest of the children she raised. Did when he was trying to sell things like /weapons/.
Tetra     Tetra smiles slightly, taking Strawberry's hand and shaking firmly. "In the flesh. I'd hoped we could meet under better circumstances, but..." She glances briefly at the officer, then ducks under the tape.

    "You mentioned that organization last night, the Extinguishers... I'm assuming they have special equipment to do this. And... that it's not usually this explosive." She glances in the magical girl's direction. "Why would another Magical Girl--or boy--do something like this?" She approaches the crystal as well, examining it closely. She doesn't touch it.
Arthur Lowell     "If that shoots a GIANT FUCKOFF LASER BEAM when you POKE it, legally you gotta PAY FOR all the shit it DISINTEGRATES, not me." Arthur's reply to Florida Man takes that usual bullying posture he goes for. "Might wanna HIT THE ROAD, NORMAN NORMAL. This shit straight HOCUS POCUS." He regards the approaching Spook with a sheepish grin, keeping those arms spread to make it clear /he's/ not touching it at least.
Strawberry Princess      "It is 'hella' bad," Strawberry commiserates solemnly with Arthur, while doing her best-yet reciprocation of his complex handshake. "They tell me she's gonna be okay-" hard to believe, what with the scorced impact crater and pulverized brick- "but if her gem's really drained, she'll never be a magical girl again. We can't... afford, that kind of thing. Not now."

     Arthur's MAGIC SPELLCIRCLE earns a comfortable berth of respect from the assembled mundane investigators. It confirms, via super-cool professional mage forensics, that whatever kind of energy caused the destruction of the blast has commonalities with both that of magical girls and with the Endling monster he fought the other day- the two flavors seem to be one and the same in general. The gem itself is, in fact, just as cold and dead as Strawberry's when her reactor isn't doing its thing.
William Pauwel "Naw, this'n don't look none too dangerous," Florida Man answers, his accent thick enough to slather across a bucket of chicken wings. "Look, see, no light in it t'all!" Will does not poke, but he does gesture with the pointy end of his stick. "See! It's like all th' life's gone out of it. Deader n' a salmon at a fishbarrel-shootin' contest. It'll be fi-augh!"

Someone!

Has grabbed his collar!

"What--hey! Dangit," Will struggles mightily against the IRON HAND OF LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY. "This is an infringement of my rights as a SOVEREIGN CITIZEN! Get yer mits offa me 'fore I SUE yer mitts offa YOU!"
Strawberry Princess      Raphael seems like just about the only person that the FBI and cops don't regard with kind of an uncomfortable tension. He might note, if his bond with his fellow law enforcement is particularly strong, that they feel their authority is challenged both by Strawberry Princess and by the multiversals. They part respectfully to let him through.

     His VISUAL CALCULUS starts to paint a coherent picture of the scene. The devastation takes the shape of a cone of multiple projectiles, like buckshot. By tracing the cone back to a point of origin, he finds it must've been about five feet off the ground- the height of someone holding a weapon. But there's a place where the projectiles part- where they failed to blow through something, right in the center of the blast. A humanlike figure absorbed several of the shots head-on, and somehow didn't get blown through. This isn't a murder scene.
Lezard Valeth You thought you could get away with this going down without Lezard Valeth arriving.

    You'd be wrong. Much like the crow that bears ill news, the Sorceror of Midgard arrives, sweeping through the crowd with his cape flaring behind him dramatically. While everyone else investigates the wand, Lezard himself takes one look at the situation, considers the cluster of Elites, the damage to the surroundings, and then turns towards the local authority figures. He choose the FBI spooks first. He approaches them with a small smile. "Greetings. I am Lezard Valeth, Sorceror of Midgard. I am here on behalf of the Concord to lend assistance to matters in this area. I am highly experienced in the magical arts and possess skills in many disciplines. I would like to offer my support in investigating this matter."

    He gestures to Mikoto. "Mikoto Shimizu is also a member of the Concord and can be of great assistance."
Rean Schwarzer Rean shows up to the crime scene, where there's a broken wand and an unconscious girl in a crater.

...Aidios, she's around the same age as his sister.

Rean gives Mikoto a quick wave, and then stands back and lets the people who can actually analyze the wand do their thing. ...Wait, was that William, poking the crystal with a stick and speaking with an even heavier accent than normal? Aaaaaand getting dragged off by police. Rean sighs, shuffling over to where the three magical boys are. Maybe this would be an ok place to start?

"Excuse me, what happened with these three?" Rean asks the nearest police officer.
Strawberry Princess      "The mystery," Strawberry says to Mikoto, "is mostly who- or what- would've done this. And how they could've drained the gem. Normally that's... something you give up. Or burn out naturally. Not something that can just, you know, be mugged out of you." She offers her hand to the junior magical girl, too, smiling warmly despite the situation. "And it's good to have you here, after our conversations. Thanks for coming."

     The three boys pipe up vehemently at her suggestion of kicking them. "We're innocent, you narc! Get us out of here!" "We can help you, honest! Just... get these cuffs off." "Help *her*, Charcoal? I wouldn't go that far..."
Staren     Staren looks around like there's something novel about a city in Florida.

    Well, it's not full of deadly dinosaurs tougher than tanks and Everything Trying To Kill You, so it's sure not a place that could exist in Staren's Florida.

    He's wearing his signature labcoat (it's extra-long, that's how you know it's the coat of a MAN OF SCIENCE and not just a labcoat) and some work boots that show he's prepared for serious business; the synthfiber red t-shirt and black pants are substantially more casual; at least the dark color and long coat somewhat hide that they are the least fashionable of pants, CARGO ZIPOFFS. A sea green scarf around his neck shows that he's an anime hero, but it's relatively short -- not the kind of hero who shouts SCIENCE KICK, then. There are goggles hanging around his neck too, although they're some kind of fantasy adventurer goggles, not science goggles.

    And yes, if there was any doubt, the cat-shaped parts of Staren's armor were not an affectation -- the ears and tail are real.

    For his part, Staren doesn't seem to find anything odd about coming to a crime scene full of police and three-letter agencies. Those he knows get friendly smiles and waves.

    He steps around the police tape like it's a faint suggestion and examines the hole. "It looks like an extraversal killed a magical girl." One ear turns backward as potential magical-kid-on-magical-kid violence is suggested. He turns to look at Strawberry and the magical boys. "Unless... IS the damage typical of a magic wand? Do magical girls in this world... compete for territory, or fame, or anything like that?" One ear remains turned back to listen to Arthur, who will surely enlighten the rest of them as to his findings shortly.
Raphael Cousteau Raphael Cousteau is possessed of a remarkable ESPRIT D'CORPS as a matter of fact. He stares at the scene for a moment longer, conversing out loud with himself on the issue.

He paces around a little, continuing to inspect the scene. Finally, he cups his chin in his palm, fingertip bit down on slightly.
VISUAL CALCULUS: The shot was fired from five feet high. It consisted of multiple blasts, shielded at a single spot--likely the magical girl in question. Since none of them went through her...

He steps away from the crime scene, merrily jogging over to Strawberry Princess. "Excuse me, I need you for a second. I need you to come over here," He demonstrates, pulling over to where he believes the beam was fired from, standing where the magical girl was shot.

"...And I need you to brandish your weapon at me like you're going to shoot me, okay? This is important."
Tetra     Tetra's quite still for several moments, kneeling over the wand. She touches the blackened ground underneath her, frowning. She stands slowly, stepping along the carved-out outline of the foundation.

    She stops at the corner. "Someone was here with a firearm..." She gestures roughly toward the same place Raphael finds as the origin of the attack, looking at Strawberry and Cousteau.. "Caught miss 'Sparkle Blue!' by surprise. Either the blast stunned her and the explosion and drain happened afterward, or... whatever shot her is a lot more than black powder and metal." The Hylian taps idly at her cheek, thoughtful.
Strawberry Princess      "The Extinguishers, yeah," Strawberry says to Tetra, with evident disdain. "That's that guy in white over there," she adds with a nod towards the assembled feds. "They're a tertiary suspect, but... as far as we know, everything they've done has been a 'voluntary' deconversion. They've got a big machine for it and everything. Another mahou... I don't know why. Personal grudge, maybe. But the gem being dark is... weird."
Sumiko Mikoto nods at Strawberry, looking at the hand for a moment.  "Oh right, western greeting," She says, shaking her head and taking the hand in a firm shake.  "That's also horrifying.  I really hope they can't do that to me...or else you'd have a witch on your hands as well as a dead body."

Nodding to her, she smiles.  "Well, glad to be here.  I'm glad I made a good first impression, despite how I act."

Her head turns towards the three, with a glint in her eyes.  

However, Lezard introduces her as also a member of the Concord to the actual authorities.  She bows to them, in a respectful manner, "Yes, I am Mikoto Shimizu, Magical Girl of Envy."

She gives Rean a grin and a wave.  "Hello Bean~," she says, a bit teasingly, but it was all in good fun.  Tetra similarly gets a wave, though they don't know each other especially well.  

Now, with greetings made, she walks towards the three.  Looking at each one until her eyes focus on the middle one.  She lowers herself down so she can talk to him face to face.  "I suggest talking, and if you say the right things, tell me the truth, and aren't like your third friend...well you might get to go home tonight."

"So what happened, from the time you got here until the incident with the Magical girl.  Then we'll go drinking and have some fun~!"
Strawberry Princess      "You're not going to sue me. I'm with the Reignition Project," the woman mutters, trying to bodily haul Pauwel away by his collar. "Do you know how many courts you'd have to go through? Lot more than it'd take to blow up your 'sovereign citizen' shit." Despite the grumbling bluster, she's got all the grip strength of someone whose primary exercise is clicking pens at a desk job.
Strawberry Princess      "Sorceror o' Midgard. Lenny, you ever heard of a fuckin' Sorceror o' Midgard," one of the FBI spooks mutters to his partner. They've got matching mustaches in the subtly different fashion that marks them as a higher tier than your mundane cop- the midgame Red Mook version, if you will. 'Lenny' shakes his head. "No, but I've heard of a 'Concord' enough to know you shouldn't be swearin' at him, Baxter. It'd be great if the two of you could find some way to help us out here, sirs. Uh, sir and miss."

     Under his breath, Agent Baxter adds: "Fuckin' magical girls."
Strawberry Princess      "These 'boys' are god damn suspicious, that's what," one officer responds to Rean, planting both hands on his hips and chewing something that's probably either tobacco or gum. "They just show up from across the state right around the time our 'Sparkle Blue' gets mugged with some kinda spooky blast. That don't seem suspicious to you? Like hell we're just lettin' them walk around."

     "You'll be sorry!" one of the boys yells belligerently. The officer just chuckles.
Arthur Lowell     Hmmm. Nope, couldn't get the profile. "'Ey. 'EY. Yo, hey, RI." Arthur swaggers to the man hassling William. "I need an EXACT TIME of the FIRING. You guys got like... SATELLITES or anyone RECORDING AUDIO or some shit? I need you to tell me /exactly precisely/ when someone SHOT SOME SHOTS. It's gonna get me HELLA EVIDENCE."

    If he can get that, he'll just... depart the crime scene. Via a Gate, of course. He's going to chart this exactly. By eyeing what Raphael Cousteau is doing over there with Strawberry Princess, he can get a good idea of where the shot was fired from. He can get a good idea of where it went. That means he just has to extrapolate that vector out, account for gravitational twists and turns, and locate where in the distant void the blasts would be traveling RIGHT NOW. Given the sheer strength he saw coming out of Strawberry Princess, he can well expect them to have carved through anything in their way. If he can do this, he might be able to catch up to them, and give them a higher-resolution ANALYSIS!
Maya With her introduction as part of the Paladins, it's time to get to work now she will leave the alphabet groups. To keep doing as they are for the moment while she heads to check out the wand. She knows Arthur already has bene over it, but two heads are better than one and something that can rob someone of their magical powers? It's a concept that scares Maya on some level, to be honest.

An extra set of eyes on the crystal, can't hurt right? She'll pull a card out of what looks like a well worn but sturdy card box, well it looks like it is one. She will focus on the card and visible blue magical energy will bleed out of her into the card which starts to glow the same shade of blue.

She will use her own spell to try to get an idea of the function of the crystal, a general idea of its status even though she knows it's broken and the nature of any magical traces left, she's looking for traces of magic that didn't come from the crystal itself. Or she might be able to figure out some nature of sabotage on the crystal if she's lucky should that be a thing as well.
N'Raha     Now, thinkin's never been N'raha's strong suit. That's not to say he's dumb, but he's at least... well. Not as high minded as some of his compatriots. But what he is good at is being beligerent.

    "OY! You! Little missy miss Cop Lady!" There's suddenly A Different Florida Man standing next to William. Where'd he come from? "YOu got some documentation for this Project thingy? Where's your badge. Billy does NOT CONSENT to Stand Under your authority. Where's your joinder juris pro tempore?"

    The catman is wearing an EXTREMEMLY CONVINCING DISGUISE consisting of a worn out old Florida 'Gators hat, some cheap Raybans, a shitty wife beater and a pair of camo cargo pants to hide his tail.
Lezard Valeth Lezard reaches into a fold in space and pulls from it a book with no title. The air ripples as re-enters existence, and it opens there to hover over his hand casually, the pages flipping idly as Lezard smiles. "I am not from around here. I can understand if you have not heard of me."

    Baxter's anger is easy to spot. "It must be incredibly frustrating. You have done much to help maintain order, have you not, and yet these incidents..." A pause, and then he adjusts his glasses.

    He looks to Lenny, then. "But this is not like other incidents, is it? Would you care to share with me what you have found so far? What are your main objectives for the investigation?"
Rean Schwarzer "...Ok, wait. So you tied them up because they came from somewhere else? Are magical kids split up by 'district' or something like that?" Rean asks. "Also, were they even at the scene of the crime?"
Strawberry Princess      "Sparkle Blue's alive," Strawberry corrects Staren gently. "Last I heard, anyway. Stable condition, too, but I don't know if she's... awake." At the mention of mahou-on-mahou violence, she grimaces. The kids behind her shake their heads in near-unison. "There's the shadow over it in geopolitics, you know? Mahou World War, or whatever- but it almost never really happens. There's no reason to. And if any of us get taken out of action, that just means... the world's in more danger from the Endlings. We're all in this thing together."

     The boys, meanwhile, are gossiping more about Staren's ears. "Told you they were real. Told you, bro." "No goddamn way. He's wearing a headband."
Staren     Staren nods at Strawberry and walks over to the boy giving the officer lip, since others have the crime scene investigation better in hand. "And /why/ will he be sorry, exactly?"
Strawberry Princess      Strawberry steps over the police tape at Raphael's instruction, unslinging her wand from her back- the reactor bolted to the side is cold and dim, powered-down to conserve precious fuel. It can still be pointed demonstratively pretty easily, though! She glances down at the spot Raphael indicates, settles into a fighting stance, and raises her wand towards him almost like she's aiming a rifle. Even though the metaphorical safety is on, she still looks visibly uncomfortable with pointing it at a human. "Like... this, you mean? Is that right?"

     A problem becomes apparent. Though the angle she's aiming at is appropriate to the cone, Strawberry is six feet and two inches tall. Whoever fired this blast would've been a whole foot shorter than she is.
William Pauwel     "What!? What's in tarnation's a reeeee-egnisshun pro-jecht? That some kind of new fangled underwater football sport's team?" Florida Man (A) responds, his words dripping with swampwater and the dulcet strum of a blues guitar. "Don't you try n' intimidate me with one o' them WATER authorities. You think we abide by yer NAVAL LAW here!? Y'all got another thing comin'!

Just then, lost in the chaos of Florida Man, something quietly goes *beep* like a cellphone that just got a text message. And that is when, in the midst of this totally lawful scuffle, Florida Man (B) arrives to raise some SERIOUS Sovereign Hell. Florida Man (A) takes advantage of the distraction to tear himself free of the vicious grip of THE MAN, only to pat his compatriot's shoulder.

"Now lookee here Neal-Ray, don't y'all get TOO stuck in the muck 'bout our jackboot stompin' friend 'ere. She's just doin' what she thinks the law says she aughtta be, ain' none fault of her own she ain't yet been red-pilled all proper-like. No sir, just like she ain't able t' tell that this here magical crystal thing cracked like a steamin-hot engine block dumped right into a January Bayou. Got that look like a hot thing what got dropped int'a a cold thing, don't it just?"

There's a beat. Florida Man Billy Bowel straightens his floral shirt and makes a wiiiide grin. "But y'know, miss. Y'all found the right two sovereign citizenry 'ere, see me an' my friend Neal-Ray here don't mean no harm. Jus' been in trouble with the law since the day we was born is all. But there ain't never been a more proper psychic reader than Neal-Ray, an' there ain't never been a better injuneer than yers truly. So how's a-bout we call this little altercation even n' return for our gen'rus assistance, what say?"
Strawberry Princess      Tetra's observation prompts a skeptical response. "A firearm," one of the tan-uniformed Reignition Project officials muses- to be precise, the one not currently engaged in hand-to-collar wrasslin' with Florida Man William Pauwel. "Are you sure it was a firearm, specifically? That would narrow things down, but there aren't many firearms in this world that could..." She gestures towards the devastation. "You know. Do that."
Strawberry Princess      "Western greeting," Strawberry reaffirms, with a little grin. "... I'm sorry. I can tell that weighs on you a lot. The witch thing. But it's... you're coping well. I see you." Her trademark tenderhearted sympathy, though, can't be brought to full bear in a crowded crime-scene- too many things tugging at her attention all at once.

     The boys, with little else to do, have more attention to give her. "Hey, are you threatening us?" "Shut up, Charcoal. She's just some kid." "I had a vision! I felt like something really bad was gonna happen. So we came here, and now they think we did it." "It's bullshit is what it is. Your vision and the cops both. Didn't see us getting arrested, huh?" "Wait, did you say 'drinking'?"
Tetra     Tetra nods lightly. "I'm not exactly a firearms expert, so I can't tell you exactly, but... it would have been held roughly..." She pauses, looking at Strawberry. "... Ah. Like that. It may have been a wand..."

    She frowns. "And if I'm understanding the state of affairs correctly, that's... quite worrying." Tetra slumps slightly, eyes glancing over toward the boys.
Strawberry Princess      Arthur gets a raised eyebrow from the Will-wrangler. "An exact time? Buddy, if you think we got satellites, you gotta talk to our budget guys," says the Reignition agent. "Hey, FBI. What time did you say-" "Between 5:57 and 5:59." "Right. I guess that's about the best you're gonna get right now."

     It's probably not precise enough for his purposes unless he wants to do some serious void-combing, but it's a good starting point to narrow it down further. There's a security camera above the wall ATM near the corner- it wouldn't have captured the altercation directly, but it's probably got some finer indication of the time, if someone can get at its contents.
Strawberry Princess      Maya gets more or less the same data that Arthur did, via her own analysis: that the crystal used to be some kind of battery-slash-conduit for a magical girl's unique powers, that it's been completely run dry as if having naturally exhausted its stores, and that it's contaminated with traces of an energy common to both magical girls and the monsters they fight- suggestive, but inconclusive.
Staren     Staren's ears flick. More important things draw him away from the altercation between the magical boys and police--Mikoto's got them, anyway.

    He turns and looks up at the camera, then pulls a pair of wraparound glasses of some sort from his bag and slips them onto his face, using electric fields to track the wires from the camera to wherever the security system is so he can go over the recordings.
Raphael Cousteau Raphael observes the wand, rubbing his chin again. "Alright. That's good. That's good. Okay. Thanks. That's all I need, for now," He nods to Strawberry, rubbing his hands together. Yes. This is it. This is *police* work.
He takes a moment to walk over to the law enforcement agents. "Alright, boys. This is your time to shine. You have a registry on magical girls, right? I need someone about five feet and two inches tall, who specializes in firing wide explosive shots in a cluster."

He considers. "...Because whoever it is who did that? Tried something else, immediately after. It wasn't the knockout blow."
Sumiko Mikoto actually smiles at the woman, her elder in magical girlness.  "It's fine, we can talk one on one later.  I think this is more pressing, but I appreciate your words.  Just...know that I have hope," she says, looking towards Lezard and Rean.

Her eyes fall over Tetra for a moment.  She noticed the visions, especially after the discussion...her eyes glow a slight green for a moment.  

The eyes stop glowing, as she turns her head towards the one claiming to have visions.  "Alright, from the beginning, what did you see and what happened?  We'll go with I believe your story right now, ok?" a beat, "I am about as old as you three chuckleheads, and yes.  Drink.  I'm Japanese, so it's legal."

No, it's not.
Strawberry Princess      The strongarming Reignition Project gal stares at N'raha- er, Florida Man #2, her jaw agape in shock. She freezes for a moment or two, her knuckles white from clenching the first tourist bumpkin's collar. Finally, she lets go of not!Will, muttering: "My god. They can reproduce."
Strawberry Princess      Agent Baxter relaxes significantly under Lezard's uncharacteristically soft and diplomatic approach. "Yeah. I mean, god damn. They just- they come around here, and there's never anything but weird shit after 'em. You know?" His shoulders slump, decompressing. Agent Lenny claps a hand on his back consolingly.

     "Yeah, this time it's real fucked-up. Main oddity is- well, everything about it, really. Looks like another magical girl or an Endling did this. But an Endling would've wrecked half the city by now, and magical girls don't go rogue like that. Least, I sure as hell hope they don't. We found those three brats in the masks skulkin' around nearby, but I don't know that they did it. We just gotta stop this from happenin' again."
Arthur Lowell     Arthur works on plotting that course by kneeling somewhere near Strawberry Princess and using this position to sort of use the top of her waist and the center of the massive crater carved out of the 7-11 like the sights of a gun. He's plotting and thinking through it. Every so often he glances to the ATM -- while that's definitely his next step, he's not going to be faster than Staren or, uh, I guess Florida Man? Arthur leaves ripping out digital storage or other suchlike to others.

    As long as they can send it to his phone or something, he can figure this out. The distance should be close to a billion kilometers. With the right estimation, he should be able to get to that wasteland, but he needs an /exact/ time, otherwise he'll be off with his gate by dozens of millions of kilometers.
Strawberry Princess      The cop grunts in Rean's direction. "Not split up by district exactly. Just- why come here? Why *our* town, just minutes before this happened, huh? Don't know if they were *at* the scene, but they can zip wherever they please." "You're full of shit," yells the boy in white from afar. The policeman rolls his eyes.
N'Raha     N'raha, for his part is trying to engage in a BATTLE OF WITS over the radio, while he angles close enough to the Fed Lady to try and trip off his Echo. It's been a while since he tried to get one without having one happen to him.

    "Ah yuh. I'm a psychic. I can tell fortunes and do sommat that magical stuff. I'm not a witch though, I do not consent to extra-judicial burnin's at the stake." He adjusts his ray-bans and then fiddles with a little book he pulls out of his pocket, looking at it.

    That stupid lawman is going to make him run out of ammo sooner than he'd like.
Strawberry Princess      The three boys collectively refocus their attention on Staren, seeming incapable of not operating as a cohesive whole. "They'll be sorry because every minute we're in cuffs is a minute we could be helping-" "Don't push it, Ashen." "I'm telling them we could help!" "Yeah, look where that got us. I say we shut up and lawyer." "Well, we *could* use the vacation.

     The boy in white- 'Ashen'- scoffs. "Look, catboy. You wanna talk to the victim? Get me out of the cuffs and I can ring her up for you." The cops aren't looking, but...
Lezard Valeth Lezard nods. "Very well. With your blessing, I would like to investigate the crime scene. I presume you can ensure that I am given access?" A pause. "I would also like to visit the wounded, ah, magical girl when possible, so I may perform some examinations. Now, by your leave, gentlemen."

    He adjusts his glasses once more, and sweeps past into the already thoroughly trammeled crime scene. The first place Lezard goes is to the rod everyone has examined so far.

    Lezard, however, is not everyone.

    With a flick of his hands, Lezard creates a magical circle of his own, the rod floating upon it. Lezard gestures slowly, the rod rotating in the air minute degrees as Lezard studies the object in question.
Strawberry Princess      The Reignition Project agent grooooaaans as if deeply, deeply aggrieved by Will and N'raha. It's the dying rumble of a great beast, the final exhalation that carries the last traces of dignity from the soul like a solemn pallbearer. "Fine," she says, throwing her hands up. "Just don't *touch* anything, or I'll have you shot. Is that clear?"
Rean Schwarzer Rean sighs. "Mikoto, don't encourage underage drinking. Just because it's legal where you're from doesn't mean it's legal here." Rean is too foreign (as in, 'not from an Earth' foreign) to realize she's lying. He looks over at William and...some guy. They're REALLY into...whatever this is they're doing. Again, the concept of FLORIDA MAN goes over his head because foreign.

Rean frowns. "I'm pretty sure 'being in the wrong place at the wrong time' isn't illegal, but alright." He turns to look at the three boys. "You saw who did it?" he asks.
Raphael Cousteau EARLIER:
Raphael Ambrosius Cousteau, of the 41st Precinct of Jamrock, Revachol, stands in the district of Martinaise. A man who normally only sells trackpants and other such frivolities seems to have acquired new merchandise.
"Hey, cool officer man!" The asian man says, his sunglasses gleaming in the light. "I've been buying and selling from these 'Multiversal' entities! I've got all KINDS of great stuff now!"
LOGIC: This actually plays out. The warp gate is right next to him, and most people don't really get -that- far into Martinaise before realizing this place isn't that great.
"Alright, so what's an example?" Raphael asks.
The man passes over a bundle. "Check out this absolutely kick-ass flag! It sounds like a real cop thing! Apparently they put it in *courtrooms* in some places. Only 2 Real!"
ENDURANCE: These are stars. I want to see the -sun-.
INLAND EMPIRE: Yes. This. We need this. Buy it /right now/.

And so he did.
NOW:

He steps over to one of the street signs nearby, and dramatically, with a flourish, displays the Red, White, and Blue of the United States of America, with golden fringes on the edges. "I declare that as -passengers- on the boat of the -USS FLORIDA-, by the power invested in me by the REVACHOL CITIZENS MILITIA, you are hereby -under my jurisdiction-, Sovereign Citizens. I AM THE FUCKING LAW!"
Maya Maya had feared it might be like this but still the results do give her some ideas as she rises up from the broken crystal and thing for a moment. It's much as she expected but there is contamination. From the sort of magic both the local monsters and the magical girls. Which does suggest a few things, it's, however, inconclusive. It's something to chase or at least report back she'll get on her radio and just pauses at the brothers Flordia for a moment and /facepalms/. She flashes back to another time and places long before the current factions existed and take s seconds to shake out of it and report as she leaves that part of the crime scene.

She's also left wondering about that group which helps decommission magical girls. Could they be storing the magical energy? Finding a way to use that extracted magic? That will have to wait for later.

She'll move n to go see those kids they rounded up maybe she can get something out of them? Or at least learn something from them when they do.

Maya would introduce herself to the kids if she's allowed to talk to them she would ask.

"Might I ask you a few things? Did you have any history with the magical girl who was attacked?"
Strawberry Princess      A vision starts to worm its way into N'raha's head- two people talking in a darkened bedroom, one holding a wand in her lap. "You can't keep holding on forever," one of them murmurs. "I can feel it too, you know. The flickering. Sometimes you just have to..." "No. This isn't how I go. If you could stop it, if you had a way to, wouldn't you? Don't tell me you'd just... take it lying down."

     "I don't know what I'd do. But I wouldn't do this." "Easy for you to say."

     And then it fades, and he's left looking at the origin point of the blast- the spot at the 7-11's corner.
N'Raha     Oh shit. Oh shit. Raph's coming over with a goddamned fringed flag. N'raha look a little panicked at William, and then the cop, as the Inspector slams that flag into the dirt and.

    And he's about to say something, anything, when his vision suddenly swims, his eyes go wide and he shudders as that Echo passes by him. A hand flails a moment and he grabs at William for support.

    For the moment, Beligerent Man is at a loss for words. "...ffff..."
William Pauwel "Y'all've made yer case loud n' clear as the day the founders did inscribe the constitution of this great nation into law, ma'am," Florida Man (A) tips his floppy swampwater hat like the very image of a down-on-his-luck southern gentlemanly millionaire. And not like one of them Californian millionaires with their politician buying and their drugs n' hookers hiring. "I ain't never about t' infringe on the second amendment. You've got my honest oath that we ain't about to cause any trouble. We also respect th' right to bear Mahou, n' that right has clearly been infringed 'pon in this here jurisdiction!"

But then! Suddenly! Neal-Ray staggers into him. Billy wears an expression of shock as he steadies his vision-struck sovereign compatriot. "Ray, talk to me! Did... Did you see... Did you have a /vision/ Neal-Ray...?"

He looks between the Beligerent Man and Raphael, Raphael and the flag, the flag and Neal-Ray. "By golly, the sight of the naval standard stirred my friend int' a prophelocizin' fit! Hold yer ground there, Captain Florida. Hold, n' let us hear his vision..."

Beat. Will shifts to hold Raha up as best he can, then frowns. "Uhhh. Y'all mind iff'n I lay my friend down an' let him have some space? Thissun's a violent one."
N'Raha     N'raha- I mean, Neal-Ray stammers a bit as he's laid down on the ground. "B-bollack Shit that was a loud one." He takes a breath and... oh. For a moment INSPECTOR MARITIME will maybe see the flash of green cat's eyes behind N'raha's Raybans, before he hastily pushes them back up the bridge of his nose.

    "Ah, y-your magical girl over there was... talking with somone else about... ending things. The end of her magic or... or something. She was discussin' it with another person. And then... I just get drawn to the blast range over there." He looks back to the wreck of the 7-11, and then, futz with his Florida Gators hat, his faux drawl coming back into place. "Course, you get that from me, free o charge. Captain Cop Lawman. Won't even charge you Negative Averment or make you fill out a Notice of Silver Surety Bond."

    He stays down though. Raph's close. Too close.
Strawberry Princess      The unoccupied RI agent purses their lips, trying not to frown as Tetra explains. "Magical, huh," they repeat, shoving their hands in their pockets. "Yeah, that's about what we thought, but... even so. You don't like to hear it, you know? Opens a whole can of worms."

     Strawberry ambles over a moment later, tapping the side of her visor that holds her headset with one finger. She gestures for Tetra to come around the corner to the back of the gas station, and leans against a wall once safely out of earshot. "Alright. What was it you wanted to tell me?"
Tetra     Tetra nods to the agent. "Yes. Worrying, like I said..." She follows Strawberry around the corner.

    Quietly, she tells her, "You can choose to believe me or not, but... I have visions. Past or future, usually related to what's going on. What I saw was someone with a wide-brimmed hat in dark clothing, waiting around the corner for who I assume is Sparkle Blue. She rounds the corner, they pull the trigger... and that's it."

    "I apologize for not saying so immediately. But... unless it was being a particularly strange kind of symbolic, I believe I saw the moment of the attack."
Strawberry Princess      The security system, to Staren's expert vision, is basically grossly unsecured even by gas station standards. It's easy not only to follow that it's transmitting the footage via wifi, but to just break in and pull the footage out if he wants. Fast-forwarding through the time window that the FBI agent gave, it'll show a girl walking past the front of the gas station right around 5:57, dressed in average civilian clothes with a duffel bag over her shoulder. She walks past the camera, but at 5:57:32, there's a flash of white that floods the entire screen. That must be the shot.
Lezard Valeth     Lezard smiles as he looks over the rod. Once his analysis is complete, he lets the rod sink back to its resting place, precisely as it was left. He turns, sweeping his cloak dramatically (It's a habit), and begins walking away. He, perhaps notably, does not say anything about his findings yet.

    However, he approaches the trio of held Magical Children.

    "Greetings." Lezard Valeth says. "I am Lezard Valeth, Sorceror of Midgard. I am investigating this issue. I should be able to clear your names if you are innocent, but to do so I will need to examine your magical casting implements. Will you allow me to do so?"

    No, he's not going to ask them to take out their rods. Come on.
Strawberry Princess      The three boys manage to constrain their belligerence while talking to Mikoto. "I don't really 'see' things. Well- not things like that. But I got a real bad feeling something was gonna happen here tonight." "Yeah. His heart ability is the magic of intuition. Incredible, isn't it." "Shove it. He's trying to tell a story." "Thank you! So I got us all together and headed down here. But by the time we arrived, it'd... it had already happened. And they made us out to be suspects."

     They silently look at each other at the mention of it being legal, and shake their heads. In unison: "Bulshit."
Staren Staren's barely stepped into the store when his head radio picks up a wifi signal.

>unsecured wireless network connected

>connecting to 192.168.1.1
user:admin
pass:admin

    "Are you kidding me." Staren mutters under his breath, and he takes the video.

    He then walks up to the men-in-brown-and-orange, pulling a tablet out of his pocket and collapsing it to smartphone size. "Hey." He taps one of them on the shoulder, and whispers, "Is this Sparkle Blue's civilian identity, or is it possibly her assailant?" He holds it up to their face with a picture from the security camera, trying to prevent anyone else from seeing.
Strawberry Princess      To Rean, the three boys again shake their heads in unison. "Ambulance was just leaving when we made it." "And the cops were just showing up. Our luck." "If we knew, we'd have told 'em already. But we can still try to help! You know, if they let us."

     This is followed, a moment later, by Maya trying to catch their indivisible attention too. "Of course we worked with her. We've worked with everybody." "We're kind of a big deal, you know!" "But we didn't, like, *know* Sparkle Blue. Outside of work. Most mahous never meet off the job."
Sumiko Mikoto stands up fully, listening to the story.  Her face is stony, as her form starts to change.  It's a ~magical girl~ transformation, as her body shimmers in PG APPROPRIATE WAYS, as jade seems to form over her body.  It shatters into her outfit, as a mask is grabbed from nothing and placed on her face.  

The earth shoots a large piece of jade in the shape of a sword, until it shatters too, revealing the real Jade sword.  She holds the look with the three boys, with the sword over her shoulder.

"Anything else to say?" Maybe that story was too flimsy.
Raphael Cousteau     LOGIC (Challenging): 42% Determine the nature of the crime.
Raphael squints into the distance. 'Fuck. Why. Why am I so stupid."
LOGIC: Okay, listen, I can do this. I can absolutely do this. But I'm gonna need some backup. Anyone?
EMPATHY: Guilt. This is a guilt-based crime.
INLAND EMPIRE: The flame burnt out long before. We only saw it now.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: You know what you need? You need nicotine. That'll do this, and you know it.

There's a sigh. And, so, he walks over, bumming a cigarette off of an ex-retired magical girl. He has the lighter already. It's lit. The smoke is breathed in, then out, clouding the surrounding air.
LOGIC: 97% Determine the nature of the crime.
+1 Did the analysis
+1 Multiple psychic intuitions
+1 This is your fucking boat

[:::][:]

There's a loud rustling as he rolls up his sleeves. The cigarette is tapped once, as well. "Alright! I have our initial crime scenario." He says to anyone who will listen. At bare minimum, the actual law enforcement. "Your three there are completely innocent." He sounds a little shaky on that, but it seems right.

"...Your magical girl here, in the hospital. She wanted to quit. She felt too guilty, and someone talked her into getting Extinguished--but she couldn't just give it up. To give it up would be too shameful--everyone would know that she was Letting Them Down." The inspector's arm waves over to the 7-11. Alright. This is scary. He puffs on his cigarette. The nicotine is, at least, letting blood flow to his brain. He's thinking more clearly.

"...So she had another magical girl--or some mimicking force, that sounds like your assailant there, Staren-- fire the multiple blasts at her. These did -not- knock her out. She was absolutely fine. Then, whatever drains the wand drained the wand, and she proceeded to drop it."

He takes a breath. Okay. This is the hard part.
"...This was all a gigantic setup, so that she could get out of her job without looking bad. These three just happened to be nearby. The wand wasn't far enough away to have been discarded in the blast, which means she was holding it *after the blast*. It can't have knocked her out."
N'Raha     Raphael starts working his MIND PALACE. Good. That fringed flag is no use when it's not IN THE HANDS OF THE CAPTAIN.

    Also he and Will have pretty much got most of what they came here for. And so while the CRIMINAL ACTIVITY is being deduced, the catman scrambles up from his lying down spot and tries to flinch his way out from the main center of activity.

    A glance out of the corner of his eye at Will, and he makes sure his partner and boss is getting away mostly clean.

    "...Twelves this place is depressing."
Arthur Lowell     Arthur has his idea. He locks on. He has his sights, his distance... He can get it, using that footage, down to dozens of kilometers, and out in the void of space, he'll be able to see it in motion, to identify the bloom of pre-impact lightspread cone.

    He wanders to Raphael, raising an eyebrow. He listens to the explanation. He works his cheek between his teeth contemplatively. "Theory ain't falling apart on its own. Might could be broken by new evidence, but it's a place to start. "Theory ain't falling apart on its own. Might could be broken by new evidence, but it's a place to start. You said /another/ magical girl, though. That means either I jump ahead and I find /her/ type of blast, or I jump ahead and we figure out more about a second person."

    He casts his Gate. "You gimmie a HOT SECOND." He's got his... his /phone camera/ up and ready, apparently. He's going to take some footage of the Purification Beam -- or whatever he finds was involved in all this. Its pattern, its shape and form. This should give insight into who, exactly, took the shot. Either Sparkle Blue, or... someone else? Hmm. He steps through, drifts out into space, turns on the camera, and starts his ANALYTICAL THINKING. Can he lock on? What can he get from the attack /in motion/?
Strawberry Princess      Strawberry lets out a deep, rattling sigh as she takes in what Tetra's saying. She looks... not unhappy, but grim. "Right. Definitely another magical girl, then; we know that for sure. And... a wide-brimmed hat, and dark clothes. Yeah. I think I might know who that'd be. Narrows it down to two or three this side of the US, at most." She doesn't seem at-ease with that conclusion, but it's a conclusion, at least.

     She lays one hand on Tetra's shoulder, smiling down at the red-clad adventurer before returning to the scene. "I believe you. And... thank you. Really. For coming out here, and helping. It's unpleasant, isn't it? But you're... you've been a big help. So thank you."

    
William Pauwel As far as Will's concerned, this particular bit of recon has gone off largely without a hitch. He stays for a moment to help N'Raha back up off his feet, and quite swiftly moves to get the ever living sovereign hell out of dodge, too.

"You're telling me," Will sighs as he catches up with his partner in... Not quite crime? Can you even call it crime? "...We need to find that person she was talking to. It's probably someone she knows. Let's see if we can't figure out who we need to be talking to."
Tetra     Tetra frowns as Raphael concludes that this was an inside job. She shakes her head. Quietly, to Strawberry, "No... that doesn't add up. I'm not sure she was transformed at all, and she was definitely..." She rubs her forehead. "She wasn't expecting this. She was caught by surprise, and this person was waiting to get the drop on her."
Strawberry Princess      The three boys lean in and confer with each other, whispering furtively, as Lezard approaches with his signature sorcerous swagger. "*If* we're innocent. Good one." "Shove it, Charcoal. He's gonna help." "Would if we could, sir. They're in the cruiser over there." The magical boy in white nods his head towards the police car a few feet away, where a set of three wands are visible tossed into the passenger's seat. Confiscated for safety, one assumes.
Strawberry Princess      The three boys- by now known as Charcoal, Ashen, and Quicksilver- stare at Mikoto's transformation, momentarily stunned into silence. Then, without even needing to hesitate, they say in rapidfire: "Nope." "Nah. Told you the truth the first time." "Yeah: that's a kickass sword."
Lezard Valeth "Frankly, my boy, if you were guilty I would be more disappointed that you allowed yourself to be caught so easily." Lezard says, adjusting his glasses. "Then again, what is the crime at hand? Is there a law for what has happened other than the incidental destruction? I wonder." He shakes his head. "Regardless, thank you for your cooperation, even if you cannot directly comply at this time."

    Lezard heads over to the cruiser to check the other three rods the same way he looked at the victim's. He assumes the FBI people will cover for him should the police start causing him problems.
Maya Maya takes stock of the younger magic users' stories. She takes note of hat they say to Lezard, Rean and Mikoto. So one o the group has some kind of future sight and she thinks on that it's not unheard of they arrived late to the party as well.

"How would you be able to help with your abilities?"

Maya seems to at least seems willing entertaining listening to them and she also thinks about the added information abut Sparkle Blue and Mahou life in general.

Though is she just trying to get more information out of them. She does take a step back when Mikoto transforms letting her take lead, after all, she knows being one far better than her. Maya is a magical girl but she's not a Magical girl in the local sense.
Strawberry Princess      Out there in the starry void a light-hour away from Earth, Arthur manages to capture the screaming energy of the original blast still dissipating into space. The shape of it- a cone of high-intensity energy, a buckshot blast of smaller projectiles- is evident even from out here. So, too, is the parted shape of it as it washed over a teenager, if he manages to scrutinize it closely enough- the high-energy rays burst through Earth's atmosphere with minimal distortion. A pause of a few seconds follows.

     Then, from a point a few feet away from where the original blast was launched, a second effect. It has the same 'energy signature' as the initial attack, originating from the same source, but dimmer- a finer instrument, barely perceptible at this distance. Examining the signatures in situ, it blended in with the first attack- only by finding the expanding shells was it visible, distinct in time.
Strawberry Princess      Strawberry leans down to listen to Tetra, removing one of her protective earbuds before nodding. "Yeah. I get you. It doesn't... quite add up. But without talking to Sparkle Blue..." She straightens up and puts the earbud back in, waving down Raphael. "It's a brilliant theory, Inspector Cousteau. But I don't believe that Sparkle Blue really meant to lose her powers tonight. She was ambushed, caught off-guard. How does that fit into your observations?"
Sumiko The blade moves down to Mikoto's side before she moves quickly at them with the blade drawn.  A single swing comes down as she seems to just appear behind them.  Seconds later, the handcuffs on the three boys just seem to slide into pieces.

"There, Handcuffs handled."
Raphael Cousteau Raphael Cousteau rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I...hn."
He paces around a little. "...If she was caught off-guard, then that--still isn't impossible. They might not have set a time or date..." He considers. "...Okay, I've got an idea. Just, uh, bear with me. I'm an *unorthodox* kinda cop."

The man trundles back over, kneeling down by the wand. "Hey, buddy."
He says. To the wand. "Hey, so, what broke you back there, anyway?"

Yep, this is happening.
Lezard Valeth Lezard's examination results what he expected to find. They are innocent of all charges, the wands were not used here. "These wands were not used at the scene of the crime." Lezard announces to the officers and the FBI spooks. "The three are innocent." He turns away, and simply walks back onto the crime scene, standing there next to the rod while Raphael asks it questions.

    Lezard doesn't bother interrupting the man on that. In the meantime, the book's pages turn, and Lezard speaks some words of magic, passing a hand over them. "... Ah. This is fortuitous." He smiles, and steps back, gesturing. A circle of energy begins drawing itself around Lezard, and he begins fading away.

    ELSEWHERE, a specific hospital might be surprised when a circle draws itself on the ground near the front door, as Lezard fades into view some distance away. He brushes off any surprised expressions, walking into the hospital. "I am seeking to speak with Sparkle Blue." He says to the receptionist. "I am an investigator working with Agents Baxter and Larry regarding the incident."
Strawberry Princess      The three boys bow their heads in unison towards Lezard. "A law? I don't know. But if the people in charge don't like you, they can find a law to stick." "Treason, maybe. Removing a magical girl from service weakens the national defense." "Treason, really? Can't they kill you for that?" "Yeah, guess they can. As much as what's on paper matters."

     Mikoto, conveniently, frees them! They rub at their wrists simultaneously, and the one in silver gives her an appreciative bow. "Aww yeah. Told you guys we'd be out of here." "Shut up, Ashen. But yeah- thanks, Greenie. See you around, maybe." "At least *you* don't have cat ears."
Strawberry Princess      The two RI agents- now freed up from having to dirty their hands with the filthy, filthy sovcits- crowd around the image Staren's showing them. "I don't know. We're not usually privy to-" "Yeah, it is. Look at that scar on her neck. You see that?" The shorter woman taps the display, pointing out a barely-visible darker splotch on the left side, right next to the strap of her duffel bag. "Oh, shit, yeah. They even put that on the action figure, didn't they? When you take off her helmet." "Yeah. That's gotta be her."
Rean Schwarzer And with some information gathered in bits and pieces, it turns out the three boys had nothing to do with this (aside from a failed attempt to save Sparkle). Mikoto un-handcffs them with an attack that wouldn't look too out of place as part of the autumn leaf cutter form of the sword style Rean used.

And them Raphael decides to start talking to the broken wand. Rean sighs, rubbing the back of his head. "He does weird things sometimes." He says, trying to explain the detective a bit.  "'Supra-natural powers' or something like that. ...Or drugs. Pretty sure it's the former this time, though."
Tetra     Tetra looks... unsurprised, and exasperated, as Raphael starts talking to the wand. First he trash-talks her to a mug of coffee, now he tries to pry answers out of a magical girl's wand. What IS this guy?

    She sighs, and looks at Strawberry. "Don't... I don't know what he's doing."
Arthur Lowell     Arthur returns! "So," He says, swaggering out of another Gate. "Gonna be pretty sure it wasn't a self-KO. Managed to snag two shots on their path. One big, that's the one that knocked her out. Smaller one, probably the thing that did... this." He gestures to the area, as if to imply, "CRIME." Then he scratches at his chin. He turns the phone around to display the video. "We're lookin' for someone who shoots like /this/." He explains specifically. "Between that and the five-foot-two thing, you should be able to match up with /someone/. And since Sparkle Blue is a needler-type, we're probably lookin' at, I think, at least one other accomplice if it's Raph's theory, or one assailant if it ain't."

    "Think we got it?"
Strawberry Princess      BRADENTON, FLORIDA, 7:22 PM

     Lezard materializes outside of the Manatee Memorial Hospital and heads inside. The receptionist, initially the epitome of 'bored and bitter secretary', straightens up bolt-upright at the mention of "the incident". "O-of course, sir. Room 13 in the ER, sir- right down that hallway, second right, first left, double doors."

     Inside the proscribed room is a girl, fourteen or fifteen, with half her face covered in bruises. She's got oxygen tubes up her nose, and a nurse fussing over her bandages, but her eyes solemnly follow Lezard as he enters. She doesn't say anything yet, though the nurse politely vacates the room.
Raphael Cousteau     Raphael, in defiance of what everyone wishes he was doing, is absolutely talking to the wand.
"Hey. What broke you, little guy?"
WAND: It's AWFUL! Sparkle Blue isn't ever gonna need me ever -again-! It's the worst!
"But what happened?"
WAND: Someone...reached down...and they touched me. Touched through me! They HURT her! They hurt her THROUGH ME! I'm her wand! And now I'm use-hoo-hoos-lessssssss...
"...I'm sorry. We'll avenge you, wand."
WAND: Also, it's really uncomfortable down here! Everything is SO AWFUL!

Raphael Ambrosius Cousteau gently pets the wand downwards, as if closing its eyes. "...Alright. Consider that theory *updated*. We're looking for..."

"A magical girl *vampire*."
Staren     Staren nods and lets them keep the phablet.

    And then he hears Raphael ask what happens to magical girls who give up their powers and he can already see where this theory is going.

    On the other hand, Strawberry says she was /surprised/. (How does she know that?) And then a new theory is posited, about a magical girl vampire stealing others' powers.

    Staren has this mental image of Juicers on Last Call. If they had a way to gain a few more years, not just of life, but of life as supermen... even if they had to prey on eachother...

    He shakes his head, and pulls a broom, yes really, out of his bag, straddles it, and flies off towards the hospital.

    That happened.

    At the hospital, Staren floats outside the window and knocks to be let in. Once inside, he'll use the tube that's already stuck in her hand to inject some medical nanites and get readings wirelessly, more detailed than modern technology can provide.
Strawberry Princess      "I don't know what he's doing either," Strawberry says back, not taking her visor-hidden eyes off of Raphael for a minute. "But I don't know how you got your visions, either. So maybe...? You know? Maybe he's not just some kind of crackpot." She rolls her shoulders in a shrug, in that way you do when you're very very tired, and smiles at Rean and Tetra both.

     Arthur catches her attention with his flashy re-entry, though, and she almost offers him a high-five before remembering how casual physical greeting with him usually goes. "I don't know where you got that from, but great work, Arthur," she says, finally settling on scruffling his hair in vaguely diminutive fashion instead. "Think we've got this one just about wrapped up, if the boys in blue can follow up on those alibis."
Strawberry Princess      A knock comes at the window. Sparkle Blue- or the beat-up person in a gown who must be Sparkle, given the dark scar on her neck- whips her head around to look out at Staren, knocking a tray of food onto the floor. She stares at him, eyes open incredibly wide. More than just being startled, there's genuine fear in her gaze. Her mouth opens, but she doesn't say anything.

     Well, considering what happened to her... he is looking awfully magical right now.
Maya Well it seems that Lezard figured out something Maya had missed, that's okay. It's one less issue then she feels a bit dirty having to owe Lezard of all people one. She is distracted from such though quickly by Mikoto. she will not look at the trio a bit more relaxed now. More information is picked up from the others over the radio and she gets to thinking about the issue at hand.

She pushes unrelated thoughts out of her mind. She will speak to the group of Mahous again.

"So you said you can help with this trouble out of the way? What ideas do you have to help with this?"
Staren     Staren is surprised to see her up. How to be nonthreatening? He tries holding a tablet up to the window and rapidly scrolling I'M HERE TO HELP across its surface. He considers, and adds, YOU WERE ATTACKED. YOUR POWER STOLEN. MAY I COME IN? Not that he plans to just LEAVE if she says no, but maybe he can ask Strawberry to call her. Or shoot, those boys know her, right?
Strawberry Princess      The three boys pause for a moment after Maya's question, silently conferring with each other about what they can offer. "Well, if you can give me my wand back, I can glimpse the past and future a little bit!" "I can peer into distant locations." "And I can- wait a minute. Weren't those guys just doing all of that? Probably better than we would, too."

     There's a brief and awkward pause between the three of them. "You know, we probably would've been a lot more helpful about half an hour ago." "Yeah, probably." "Sorry about that."
Strawberry Princess      The girl pauses for a moment, reading Staren's message. Her eyes water slightly. The muscles in her face struggle with each other to make a coherent expression, and come out as a kind of helpless open mouthed frown. It's the same kind of expression that Strawberry makes, sometimes, under duress. But she nods. Her voice isn't audible through the thick window, but she tries to say "yes".
Staren     Staren uses a device on his belt to neatly dematerialize a square section of glass, float through, then rematerialize it. He puts it back on his belt, dismounts the broom, and puts it away. "Honestly, I'm surprised you're awake, but I'm glad you aren't hurt as badly as expected. ...Oh, I just came from the crime scene. I'm Staren Wiremu, of the Concord." He steps forward and holds out a hand and a smile. "From the Multiverse. And I'd like to give you the chance to fight again, if that is your wish. But first my associate and I must learn more about what was done to you, so it can be prevented from happening to others." He looks around for Lezard.
Arthur Lowell     Arthur notices that moment where Strawberry Princess's hand might slightly twitch. He pounces anyway after the hair-scruffing, insisting on a full series of incredibly confusing high-fives, grabs, low-fives, and even a maneuver that involves flipping /over/ Strawberry Princess. He refuses to simply /have his hair scruffed/. It's /undignified/. "It turns out your shots just keep going if you shoot them up, so I just Gated ahead. Try not to shoot 'em upwards too often. Lotta junk up there. You gimmie a shout when you find the crimer, right?"
Maya Maya will still see the Mahous get their kit back from the local government agents as they are off the hook now and she'll ask them if they might be willing to land a hand in the future. For looking into this very sad state of affairs.
Lezard Valeth Lezard definitely looks not like a normal person considering his getup and demeanor. He's playing completely by the rules for a change, however.

    Which might explain why Lezard looks incredibly incensed to see Staren floating around outside the window. Fists clench for a moment, but he breathes deep, reaching up to pinch his nose and release a deep sigh at the science cat antics. "Staren. Please do not startle the kind young woman." He states simply.

    Lezard turns to Sparkle Blue. "I apologize for the interruption, Sparkle Blue. We are investigators from other worlds, here to assist Princess Strawberry and the organizations involved in this in investigating your situation. I am Lezard Valeth, Sorceror of Midgard. We will not take up much of your time."

    Again, he adjusts his glasses before continuing. "Can you please give an accounting of the incident from your perspective? We are working to determine the truth of the matter. Please feel free to be as candid as you desire."
Strawberry Princess      The poor girl stares slack-jawed at Staren's matter manipulator, but shakes her head gently. "It's... I'm okay. I've had worse." It looks like a fragment of brick probably fractured her cheekbone, but she seems very sincere about the 'had worse' bit. Such is the life of a magical girl. "Fighting again would be..." She trails off, fingers clutching the hem of her bedsheet uncertainly. Her voice sounds, unsurprisingly, rough.

     She looks up to Lezard, though, her expression set and brave. "I tripped," Sparkle Blue says. "I tripped and I hit my head." For some reason, she's reluctant to narc on her attacker- but that reluctance crumbles once she's contradicted or presented with the myriad evidence that it must, in fact, have been a magical girl that attacked her.

     "It was Onyx Witch," she says, sounding defeated and once again on the verge of tears. "At least, I'm pretty sure. Topaz Witch burned out a week ago. She knew it was... she didn't have much time left. Her Heart Ability, she'd been... practicing with it. Touching her own gem. I thought it was weird then, but it's... she figured out a way to keep herself burning out with it, somehow. And that's what happened to me."
Lezard Valeth Lezard nods at the explanation. "Thank you. This will help us to prevent further incidents. However, I would like to ask two more questions: If her punishment was up to you, what would you like to have done to her? And second..."

    Lezard adjusts his glasses, the light glinting ominously. "If you could have your powers back... Would you want them?"
Strawberry Princess      "If it were up to me? I'd..." She tapers off, thinking for a moment. Sparkle Blue is maybe fourteen years old. But she's aged before her time, in a way like the Viziers seemed to be. "I don't know," she finally says, her voice croaking a little bit. "If I could do the same thing, I don't know. It's scary. ... I guess I'd like for her to be okay. To be healed."

     The second question doesn't take her as long to answer. She's just crying now, hot tears running down her face and hitting her gown. "Sparkle Orange... died, last week. She was why I did this. Stuck to it. I just... I want to go back to my mom."
Staren     Lezard can see in Staren's eyes, that he's ready and waiting to deploy 'And if we can't get your powers back, would you like different ones'... but, that's not how it goes.

    The catman nods somberly. "You fought so that others could live normal lives. Now others fight so that you can have that same choice."

    Awkward beat.

    "...Still, if you'll let us run some tests, it might help any future victims of Onyx Witch. Or Onyx Witch herself. Without you having to fight again. Would that be alright?"
Strawberry Princess      Sparkle Blue can't really bring herself to speak at the moment, on account of being an emotionally-traumatized crying fourteen-year-old with head trauma, but she nods. Yeah. That'd be okay.