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Franken Stein     The moon over England is a crescent with a grinning face, eye wide and staring psychotically, as blood drips from its mouth but never seems to reach the ground below. A common sight at night in this world. So common no one even really seems to care. But something else here has drawn the attention of Shibusen. Something that they DO care about. A soul that has left the human path, and begun to devour other souls, has been running rampant here for a bit now. And no matter who is sent after it, it seems like they just can't take it down. The reason why is an unusual one.

    It seems that this corrupt soul has the ability to conceal its soul in a manner not unlike a Witch's 'Soul Protect'. Or that's the working theory that Franken Stein has been told. This isn't normally the sort of thing he's called upon to handle, but the potential for non-Witches to develop a Soul Protect-like ability is intriguing to him on a number of levels. One of the major ones being, of course, that if they can analyze how it works in something more manageable than a Witch, they could potentially develop counters to it.

    And so Stein, having discarded his labcoat for the evening, wearing a heavily patched top that seems to be stitched into his skin, is standing on a rooftop, gazing down at the city, an unlit cigarette hanging limply out of the corner of his mouth. Behind him, a sharp-dressed red-haired man is looking off in the other direction, across the foggy streets of London.

    He looks serious for the moment, all-business. But then he gets a goofy look on his face as he says, "I remember when my darling Maka-chan took down Jack the Ripper on these very streets! Her papa was proud to get to watch her retrieve her 99th soul!"

    Stein says blandly without looking at him, "I heard about that. Didn't she then have to forfeit all 99 souls because she fed the soul of a cat to her partner instead of a Witch's?"

    Spirit Albarn turns furiously and yells, "Hey! That was an easy mistake to make! Anyone could have done it! Don't you go sullying Maka's name!"

    Stein tilts his head and leans over to the side as he looks in a different direction casually, "Oh, is that so? Anyone could have done it? Have you eaten many cat souls, Spirit-senpai?"

    Spirit looks like he's about to launch into some kind of tirade, but Stein plants a foot on the edge of the roof to look down below them and says, "I'm joking. Maka-san has turned out to be a fine Scythe Technician. She'll be a great success. Unlike her father who womanizes all the time and she doesn't want to talk to. So, are you in contact with the others assigned to this job?"

    Spirit rapidly goes through a series of emotions. Disgruntled acceptance, pride in his daughter's achievements, dismay at his own failings being called into question, and then weeping despair at the blunt description of his relationship with Maka. He's too busy crying and wailing about how 'papa loves you makaaaaa' to even answer Stein's question.

    Sigh.
Kirikou     Kilik remembers Maka's meteoric rise in among Shibusen's 'EAT' group. Faster by far than his own. Partly that's because he's not as driven to prove himself as she is, partly because he's spent more time lately working with the Confederacy, partly because as good as he is, he doesn't have her special sight abilities which make it so easy to track down corrupted souls. And of course there's his two Weapons, where she only has to feed one. There's little point for him to transform just one of his Weapons into a Deathscythe. He'd never hear the end of it... and that's even with his Weapons being mute. No, he's had the two sets of 99 souls for a while. All he needs is two witch souls.

    He's not all that interested in killing witches, even so. He's friends with several witches, and is more aware than most that their path of Destruction isn't inevitable. But killing a witch who's gone down that path, who revels in it, that's something he can get behind. He likes killing monsters, and Fire and Thunder like devouring their souls when those monsters are the local corrupt kind. It's a nice working relationship.

    "Pretty sure Maka'd punch you if she heard you suggesting she's a womanizer type." Kirikou says, hiding a snigger. He's been assigned to the mission, and is quite happy to go along. He says this only at the last, as he vaults up onto the rooftop from below. From several stories below. Apparently he'd caught the last of the discussion as voices carry in the night.... and used it to home in on those he was assigned to meet. He's got his Pots on, naturally. He's more than merely athletic, able easily to wall-jump up to this height. They're not nearly so physically-endowed, considering they've still got a few years before hitting their pubescent growth spurt.
The Kid     A criminal that has managed to evade the notice of those who would hunt them. Of course, that fact wouldn't exactly be advertised. If people hear that their protectors are being stumped by a criminal, panic ensues. Even in Caelondia, this was true. But, people do like to talk, and rumours spread like oil across water.

    That's why a Kid has come to England. As he is currently engaged in a war with people who specialize in guerrilla tactics, he needs practice in tracking such foes, just in case. So, when he heard about this rumour, he set off at once.

    "Don't get too involved Kid, we need you here," Rucks had cautioned him. "If it gets too risky, get out and get back. Am I clear?" The old man's words had made sense, but the Kid still kinds of chafes at them. Hard to follow the orders of someone you don't entirely respect.

    Anyway, that's why he's here. A musket is slung across his back, as is a bow. Hanging from his hip is the quiver, and strapped to his left arm is a massive shield. He's been wandering and roughing it the past couple of days, tracking down scenes of the crime and looking for anything to track.

    Even by the standards of this world, he probably stands out.
Franken Stein     Stein looks over when Kirikou leaps up onto the roof. "Good evening, Kirikou-san." Spirit is still too busy weeping and wailing to say hi. Stein gestures at him and says, "Spirit-senpai says good evening too." He then asks, "What were you told about this job's nature?" Hopefully they're on the same page about their purpose here, which will save Stein some explaining, but better to be safe than sorry.

    As his gaze returns to the streets, his eyes narrow a bit behind the lenses of his glasses, when he spots a stranger with a musket. This isn't exactly Stein's normal stomping grounds so it's not really unusual to see strangers. Just about everyone in this city is a stranger to him. And it's not like there aren't a LOT of odd-ball characters in this world. A musket is far from the strangest weapon one could wield. The thing that makes him cautious is simply the fact that he doesn't know anyone as Shibusen who uses a Demon Weapon that's a musket. So either they aren't part of Shibusen and are still walking the streets with an anachronistic firearm, or they're from off-world. Both of these are things to take note of, though without further data, he can't be certain what either means yet.

    Meanwhile, as far as the Kid can tell, the streets he wanders have low visibility, with various spooky back alleys quite dark combined with the fog that crawls along the pavement like the ghost of some ancient flood. The sound of a tin can clattering and rolling echoes in the abandoned-seeming neighborhood, residents locked in their homes with their lights off.

    So it's probably not someone out here that's supposed to be, if people are hidden away at night...
The Kid     Kid's breath comes out foggy on the cold streets. Nothing like Caleondia, which was usually sunny most of the year. It also didn't have a grinning moon, but Kid had since made peace with that.

    Still really weird though.

    Anyway, the streets are quiet. Unsurprising, there's a murderer on the loose, but he's surprised that there's no patrols or anything. In Caelondia, Marshals on duty would carry bells that rang distinctively as they walked. So if you were in trouble, you could hear where to run to. But here? Seemingly nothing.

    From his belt, he takes a bottle and pulls the cork with his teeth. Leaning his head back, he starts to drink from it... which allows him to catch sight of Stein on the roof, looking down at him. Instantly, he's on edge. Is this the perpetrator? Staring hard, he lowers the bottle and speaks loud enough for his voice to carry.

    "Rude to stare, y'know?" But then, a strange clatter! Kid's deft hands grabs for the stock of the musket as he starts to sprint towards the source. That bottle drops to the ground with a thunk, the amber liquid seeping onto the flagstones.
Kirikou     Kirikou sneers, more as a 'tough guy' sort of thing than out of any actual disdain. "Mushroom treatment." he claims. "I was offered the chance to take the field. Something about a possible witch." he adds. "They said they'd be giving me backup to help spot the target."

    Kirikou had been expecting the OTHER Albarn. And frankly he'd prefer her. Maka might not be much in the looks department, but she's badass as hell and not at all overemotional like her dad. She's one of Kirikou's best friends, and it doesn't hurt that she's also one of the few students who can compete with him in terms of physical ability. No, not at all like her whiny deathscythe of a father.

    "Hello Mr. Albarn. How's Maka doing?" he asks, politeness obvious but the jab also at least somewhat apparent. He grins, showing that he means no actual harm by the jab. He then holds up a gauntleted hand. Even with his senses nowhere near as sharp as Maka's, he can't miss the sounds of strangers out and about on the streets. Some can-kicker, which might just be a stupid cat, and this kid backtalking them. "Stupid to be out alone at night around here." he notes conversationally, then bounds down after the interloper. Maybe he's the corrupt soul... maybe he's just an ignorant fool. Either way, wherever he's going is where Kirikou Rung wants to be.
Franken Stein     Stein calls back cheerfully to the Kid, "It's also rude to yell when people are sleeping!"

    Spirit pipes up with, "You're yelling too, Stein." after nearly being put back into a mopey state by Kirik just as he was getting out of it.

    The professor says, "Hm? An odd noise? Maybe we'll find a cat that you can eat the soul of." off-handedly as he leaps after the stranger.

    "What!? You take that back Steiiiiin!" Spirit yells. But everyone except him is going to check out that noise now, so the Deathscythe wipes his eyes and nose, and joins them.

    Stein takes the time as he chases after the Kid to explain to Kirikou and make sure that, all humor aside, the objective is clear. "There's a 'soul that has left the human path' that is able to use an ability not unlike a witch's 'Soul Protect'. It keeps appearing, devouring human souls, then vanishing. The job is to capture it... Or eliminate it if we must."

    Spirit has his serious face on again as he looks to Kirikou, perhaps recalling who the boy is affiliated with now, and then to Stein, as they all run along after some stranger (or rather, for whatever he's going towards). "Stein. You aren't thinking of keeping it alive even if it turns out to be too dangerous, just so you can study it, are you?"

    Stein doesn't answer, his mouth in a neutral line, his glasses opaque in the gleam of the moonlight.

    Spirit says, "Oi! Stein! You can't risk more souls getting eaten for your curiosity!"

    Still without acknowledging Spirit, Franken Stein says, "The source of the sound should be just up ahead." Then he speeds up to join The Kid, as the musket-wielder is ahead of them and would have reached the source before them.

    And what should Stein see when he reaches that alleyway? What The Kid arrived to see a few seconds prior.

    A black cat. But one that seems to be radiating some subtle form of menace, eyes glowing, claws extended, as it hisses at them, bottles its tail, and bares its fangs. To someone like Stein, it looks very different than it might to others present.

    To his eyes... There's a glowing red soul engulfing it, riddled through with corrupted blackness, bearing a pair of large staring eyes on either side of a bestial head. It has the feel of a kishin egg.

    That's no normal cat.
The Kid     In spite of all that gear, Kid ain't no slowpoke. He jogs with the purpose of a seasoned solider, leaping over fences and traversing the environment to make his path as uncomplicated as possible. All the while, he smoothly brings the musket around to his front, bracing it against his shoulder and holding it steady, even though his left arm is weighed down.

    Round the corner to the source! It's... a small animal. But, the glowing eyes, and the way it makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up seem to scream that it's dangerous. Normally, Kid would just heed those feelings and squeeze the trigger. But... he doesn't want to kill some actual kid's pet or something, so he calls up to the others.

    "This kinda thing normal 'round here?"
Kirikou     Kirikou traverses the city in a blaze of parkour, or at least free-running, moving with ease around and over obstacles. He rounds corners by ramping up a nearby wall and pushing off lightly. He doesn't bolt too far ahead though. The Kid might not be much, but he can't deny the usefulness of Stein and Spirit. They may be on the wrong side in the Multiversal war, but that's not a real problem for him. This isn't about fighting over doctrine, this is about dealing with a monster.

    "My orders are to kill it." Kirikou claims. That's not entirely true. His orders are to deal with the problem. If it's a Kishin Egg, he'll kill it. If it's a witch gone the path of Destruction, he'll kill it. Anything else, even if ordered to kill it, he'll use his own judgment. But he knows about Stein. All Shibusen students have heard the rumours. He's not about to let Stein's perverse desires for study put lives at risk. In many ways, despite being a member of the 'bad guys', Kilik's a much nicer guy than Stein.

    When Kirikou finally spots the black cat, he draws up short. He eyes the cat, eyes the Kid. "Normal? Depends. Look at the moon, tell me what's normal?" he says with a smirk. "Probably a shapeshifted witch." he then explains, somewhat dubiously. It doesn't really feel like a witch, though he has no trouble seeing the cat as evil and monstrous. Pretty much he's felt that way about every cat the first time he meets them, thanks to Blair. He shudders visibly at the memory.
Franken Stein     Stein starts to hold out his hand as Spirit and Kirikou come running up, perhaps in preparation to have the Death Scythe transform and be wielded. Spirit sees the cat and gets a kind of =___= face as he says, "Are you serious, Stein?" But Stein's hand freezes suddenly, and he lets a small noise in the back of his throat as he squints at the cat that had previously been seething with violence and evil intent but now just looks like a wary but adorable alley cat. Even that soul that had engulfed it is gone, and Stein sees only the cat's normal soul inside of it. A very unsophisticated soul with base desires, mostly focused on having a warm place to sleep for the night, where its next meal is going to come from, and outrunning any dangers that come its way.

    Stein would ordinarily have written it off as an example of that same 'Soul Protect'-like phenomenon that they came here to investigate, but then his eyes dart to the side in surprise and he turns to face the other side of town where he can feel that same soul several blocks away. "...Boy. We're seeking an enemy who is using some trick to conceal its true nature. It's unusual for this type of subject to have that capability, if it is what it appears to be. So I'd say that no, it's not normal for here."

    Though, as Kirikou alluded to, what is 'normal' anyway? Then Stein says, "Kirikou-san. We need to move quickly. I have a few theories on how our prey is doing what it's doing. But I need more data to confirm it. When we find the real subject, we'll need to restrain it right away."

    Then he says, "Senpai. Bring the cat with us." And takes off running down the street, headed for a soul in the distance.

    Spirit seems exceptionally unhappy with that idea, but knows better than to argue in a situation like this. Even he realizes that if they're chasing a fake soul, then the cat might actually be the genuine article. And how better to make sure it doesn't escape than by bringing it with them. So he snatches up the very surprised cat, which yowls at him, and runs after Stein.

    ...Though he takes a moment to look the cat over and ask, "...You aren't actually a pretty lady like Blair-san, are you?"

    The cat just dangles in his grip and lets out that low, threatening noise that unhappy cats do, as it looks askance at the Death Scythe.
The Kid     One moment, the little cat was radiating a death sentence, and the next... the eyes only shine with reflected light. "What in Pyth's name?..." Kid murmurs as he lowers the musket. Is this a trick? No, the folk up above seem equally confused.

    And now they're taking off again? Kid, being unable to sense souls, is just terribly confused. By now, it's apparent that all this is being handled by the experts. But, he's already sunk his teeth in. Stubborn as he is, he can't let go now! So, off he runs again, sticking to ground level as he chases Stein above.

    "Mind explainin' these theories, smart guy?!" he calls up again.
Kirikou     Kirikou's getting set to fight, but the sudden absence of menace from the cat makes him pause. Feeling slightly foolish, he glances at Stein. "Movin' quickly is my specialty." he boasts, not without cause. "But the cat's right there. Eyes aren't glowing or anything, but... what? You think it's something projecting its soul into the cat? Something like ..." he pauses, glances at the Kid. He was about to say Medusa. She's been known to hide her soul, though details aren't clear on how. Kilik's seen enough to know one doesn't count Medusa dead until one sees the purple witch soul properly eaten.

    Absently, Kirikou modifies his next words. "... like a witch?" he says. "Hey, if that thing's anything like Blair, better you carry her than me!" he adds to spirit, smirking.
Franken Stein     As they chase after a distant soul, Stein says what he thinks to the others. "That's one possibility, Kirikou. Another is that it's using others as vectors for collecting human souls. Or even..." Stein doesn't finish that sentence as screams ring out nearby. The quartet (plus cat) go running around a corner and find a woman looking shocked in front of a dead body. The woman seems to have that same air of menace as the cat did. But moments later, as she turns to look at the new arrivals, that sensation vanishes and Stein senses it somewhere else... But a bit closer than the last time.

    "...Or it's passing the appearance of its own soul onto others temporarily to mask its real location and identity!"

    Cue another chase here, unless someone has a better idea. What follows is a series of such encounters, each time the murderous soul being a little bit closer when its new location is detected, until eventually they catch sight of it. Spirit seems a bit winded after all that running, and the cat is sick of being bounced around, but everyone else here is probably in great shape! ...Probably!

    The figure that is now running from them and very distinctly bearing that menacing aura doesn't look as menacing as the sensation radiating from it. Kind of like some some guy wearing the skin of a komodo dragon as a cloak and hood. His eyes shine with a blank, inhuman gleam as he looks back over his shoulder at his pursuers. "Geez! How long are you going to chase me? I'm just another victim, you know!" he calls back to them.
The Kid     And so it goes.

    The Kid runs after the weirdos on the roof, chasing... something. Something he's not privy to. He was supposed to be practicing his tracking skills, and now here he is on what seems to be a wild goose chase.

    As he passes the dead bodies, and the victims of... whatever it is going on, his face becomes drawn, angrier. Each one drives him to ignore the ache in his legs more, to run just that little bit faster. Each time, that air of menace lingers longer. They're getting closer.

    And finally, they have him. Kid's a bit uneducated, but he's bright enough to see through a bluff like this. With quick hands, an arrow is nocked into that bow, the string drawn and released, loosing it at the fleeing target!
Kirikou     Kilik's honestly not sure what sort of thing they're chasing. He doesn't know what's a witch, or Kishin Egg, or whatever's going on. He's just chasing because the target is running, to be honest. It's a reflex more than anything else. A part of him is analyzing, considering, checking facts. He's not intending to kill the target, not until he knows things for absolute certain. He's a Fed but he's not a murderer. He kills murderers. Well, as long as they're not murderers on his team anyways.

    He could go faster, could run for longer than this without undue strain. Kilik's the fastest runner in Shibusen, and that's saying something. Even an average EAT student can finish the 100 meter in world-record time in some Earths. His soul is strong, which means his body's strong. But he's not yet convinced he wants to catch the target. Mostly, he wants to keep an eye on Stein. He doesn't trust that guy, nope. Not at all.

    "If yer innocent, why're you running?" Kirikou demands, perhaps unfairly. The man's eyes... well, again Kilik's not sure. There's a reason he's not a Deathscythe wielder. He doesn't kill Kishin Eggs who he's unsure of after all. He'll chase, he'll fight, but he needs them to reveal themselves with their intent or their power to be sure they're his target.
Franken Stein     The fleeing killer stumbles during his flight, thanks to Kid's arrow going through his leg, causing him to bump into some old man and nearly knock him down, but also resulting in falling down himself. As Stein, Kirikou, Kid, and Spirit-plus-cat come running up behind him, he flips over onto his back and starts waving them off. "B-because you were chasing me, of cours! I was being forced to run! By the REAL killer!"

    Steins just looks down at the man form behind glasses-made-opaque by the moonlight, silent and expressionless. The lizard-wearing man says, "L-look! That's him right there!" as he points at the old man he bumped into who is now looming next to Stein, showing that seem glowing-eyed sensation of pins-and-needles danger and menace.

    The doctor just seems to ignore the old man. Instead he says, "So you're passing off your soul frequency onto others, and using that to influence the appearance of their own soul by overriding it." Then the old man suddenly raises his cane with a savage yell and brings it down right on Stein's head hard enough to crack the solid wooden rod. Stein bleeds from it as his head tilts to the side and his glasses fall off, but he seems more surprised than in pain. "Eh?"

    The lizard guy lets out a dark chuckle as he says, "That's right! I'm overriding their own natural soul wavelength with my own! Meaning I can control them! And it doesn't apply to just the one I touched most recently!"

    The cat that Spirit has been running with all this time suddenly regains its former dangerous air as it begins to thrash around and claw at him. Spirit yells, "Aaaaaaahhhh!"

    Very eloquent.

    Other people, those they encountered during the chase, starts closing in on them, appearing from around corners, lurching towards them like zombies, all glaze-eyed, all full of bloodlust. It's like they're at the center of a zombie movie or something.

    "Aaaaahhahahahahaaaa!" Lizard Man laughs maniacally. "You four could also have become my servants! Hunting the souls of other humans for me, and bringing them back, and then when I'm done with you, I'd have had your souls too! But you're a bit too dangerous for my tastes... So..."

    Then all those people start charging towards Kid, Stein, and Kirikou with animalistic, berserker cries of rage.

    Then the lizard man grins widely, showing all his big white teeth, and says, "...Die for Karma Chameleon!"
The Kid     Kid grins as the arrow flies true. And now the guy is rambling, and so is the guy with the coat. Which means it's time for a quick break to catch his breath and have a drink. One of those flasks is taken from his belt and gulped down, at least until the old man suddenly attacks Stein with his cane, and the cat starts going berserk.

    "You went and woke the Bull..." he mutters darkly as the people they passed start massing all around them. His eyes narrow as he takes them all in. They seem drunk, dazed. It ain't right to be gunning them down just to get to this guy. Who is still. Godsdamned. Talking.

    "Are ya done?" Kid spits as Karma Chameleon finishes his rant. That flask is dropped to the ground as Kid raises that massive shield, bearing the image of Pyth. "If so, here comes the horns." And then, a frightful bellow escapes his throat as the Kid charges! Using the shield as a bulkhead, he tries to plow right through the crowd of innocents to get to Chameleon!
Kirikou     It's easy enough to tell that Kid isn't from this world. Anyone from this world doing so well against a ... whatever the hell this guy is ... would have a Weapon. That bow's good, but it's clearly not a soul-powered Weapon. Even if he's not local though, the Kid's got style. Kirikou can appreciate that.

    At the appearance of victims, Kilik frowns. This would hardly be the first time a Kishin Egg has thrown innocent victims at him though. Easy enough to instruct Fire and Thunder to modulate themselves non-lethally, at least for now.

    "After all that running, I'm all Fired up!" the Meister claims, slamming his metal-clad fists together in a gong-like sound that echoes through the nearly-empty streets. "Get 'im!" Kirikou shouts, seeing Kid barrel off like a tank. Usually, that's his job. But hey, he figures he can deal with the mind-controlled minions non-lethally. Containing the problem is almost as important as killing the beast behind the situation. "If you haven't killed him by the time I'm done here, I'll have a SHOCK for him!" the dark-skinned boy claims with a bright grin. Best to let the Kid know what Kilik expects here. And that death isn't too good a fate for him. Nope, death is just the beginning of Karmic Retribution here.

    Kilik wades in after the karma-controlled victims, laying out solid punches. With Fire and Thunder set to stun, as it were, he's not going to be ripping their souls out with every punch. He's not even going to be pulverizing bone like it were twigs. Strong Meisters are absolutely lethal to ordinary folk, but they don't have to play nasty. His blows will send people flying, but they're likely to take more damage slamming into walls and to the cobblestone street (or pavement, should this be one of the more modern sections) than from his actual Weapon.
Franken Stein     Kid isn't letting Karma Chameleon keep talking apparently, or isn't patient enough to listen to such over-the-top villainy, as he bashes through the people who got in the way and then proceeds to pull out his musketbus and shoot the hobbled soul-devourer as he tries to flee. It seems the bad guy was taken down! At least based on his dramatic death cry as he falls forwards and lies on the ground motionless with a hole through him, the no-nonsense approach to hunting monsters apparently quite effective here.

    But for some reason, the bystanders are still controlled and active! ...Though not for long as Kirikou pounds them, knocking them out of the fight and also out of consciousness, in a display of martial skill that makes a normal human, let alone these psuedo-zombies, look about as graceful and powerful as wet cardboard flapping in the wind.

    About the only one still having trouble is Spirit as he runs back and forth in the background with the cat in various positions of mauling him, tearing out his hair, clawing his face, etc.

    Stein, for his part, just knocks the old man out with a chop to the neck, and calls out, "SENPAI!" as he holds out his hand.

    Spirit finally dislodges the cat, weeping, covered in scratched and blood, and glows as he transforms from a man into a Weapon. A black scythe that Stein takes in hand, spinning is skillfully, as he leaps up and over anyone else in his way and brings it down... Seemingly aimed at Kid's back!?

    The blade bites down in a spray of blood and a cloud of dust!

    ...But it's not Kid's blood. Instead, the blood is coming from the lizard cloak that has just been pierced. And the screams and yowls of pain in Karma Chameleon's voice are also coming from the komodo-dragon-like lizard cloak as its hood-head gains its googly eyes back and starts yowling and squirming, trying to escape.

    Stein says calmly, "You'd better hold still if you want to avoid tearing your tail." Then he grins sadistically and says, "But you can keep trying to crawl away if you like~! You'll run out of skin before I'll run out of scythe!"

    The reflection of Spirit in the scythe's blade, along with his voice emanting from it, seems appalled and queasy. "Stein! That isn't what we're here for! Also, how did you know it was the lizard skin and not the man!?"

    Stein sighs and says, "This is a corpse." He indicates the dead man as the lizard skin clinging to him weeps in pain and fear. "I had suspicions from the soul itself, but the injuries our companion caused to him revealed it. The blood is already coagulated and doesn't run the way a living body's does." Then Stein starts dragging the Deathscythe backwards a bit, and pulling Karma Chameleon with it. "...Not like this lizard is bleeding!"
The Kid     Kid plows through the crowd, rushes at the culprit... BOOM! The musket resounds as it fires a cone of pellets and scrap metal, all scorching hot from the explosion. At such close range, blowing a hole in someone is the least it can do.

    Looking down at the body, he nods in satisfaction and pats the firearm. The peace is enforced. The Marshals couldn't have done it better themselves. He starts to turn, to help out Kirikou with the still-rampaging citizens. He has yet to clue in on why this is strange.

    And then... back attack?! Kid's hand drops to grasp an arrow, intending to stab Stein in retaliation! But it wasn't at him... "... the hell?" He is still very confused.
Kirikou     "Oh man of course it's the lizard!" Kirikou says, halfway between a grumbling complaint and a wry chortle at a pun well executed. "He called himself the freaking Karma Chameleon out loud! Admit it Stein, you figured it out from that and just said all that other stuff to sound smart." he teases.

    "Really though, yeah. We need to kill the bugger. Karma and all that." he says, eyeing his sometime teacher. Is Stein going to be difficult here? "It IS a Kishin Egg. Killing them's our job. Right?" he insists warily.

    Kid also gets a look, but the wariness there is understandable. This is an outworlder, and Kilik's just said he wanted someone executed on the spot. Outworlders often don't understand such things. "It's okay. We're law enforcement." the youth explains. "Well, *I'm* law enforcement. This guy's a teacher, sort of. And that guy..." he glances over to spirit, shakes his head. "I wouldn't even begin to explain him. Anyways, there's no trial for this sort of thing. They've already been sentenced. We're here to carry it out."
Franken Stein     The Deathscythe, still in Weapon form, protests towards Kilik, "Oi! I might not like Stein, and he may be really scary, but don't underestimate how smart he is! He's messed up enough bodies to know the difference between a living one and a dead one!"

    Then Stein just says cheerfully, "Yes, that's right, Kirikou."

    Spirit almost lets the culprit loose in his surprise and dismay.

    Stein then says, "But also what I said was still correct." Then he considers the matter of what to do with this thing. It's eaten a LOT of souls and seems to have a level of malevolence inside of it wholly outstripping its pathetic, squirming appearance. But how much of that is the thing itself? What if he cut it up, nice and neat, and found out what really makes it tick?

    He's staring pretty intensely into the lizard thing's eyes, though Karma Chameleon's own eyes are rolling around wildly, looking for any possible avenue of escape. Then Stein says, "If I told you I'd let you live if you release your victims from your control, would you do it?"

    The monster blinks in surprise. Then blinks twice more.

    Spirit starts protesting again, the gleaming black scythe in Stein's grip caught between pinning the villain down or turning human again to confront his former master.

    Then Karma Chameleon realizes the opportunity he has here... Even if the kid with all those nasty weapons is standing right there, and the guy with the gloves too... But if this Scythe Technician grants him protection, can they really refuse to obey!? Karma Chameleon tries to manipulate the bndies lying around, the unconscious and injured who he has possessed because he couldn't stand being just a lizard, and he had to take on the souls of others after he'd had a taste of his former owner's...

    ...He can build a new army if he can only get away. "H-hai!" Karma Chameleon says as he releases his control, withdrawing all that foul magic back into himself. "You'll let me live now! It's a deal, remember!? None of you brats better interfere!"

    Then Stein smiles at the soul-eating monster and says, "Ah, sorry. I was only asking hypothetically."

    The lizard blinks and lets out an, "Eh?"

    Then Dr. Stein turns to the stranger and to Kirikou and says, "Would you two like to do the honors? Letting it escape to eat more souls doesn't sound like it would make Shinigami-sama too happy with me. And I'd much rather be free to continue my research!" Stein shrugs helplessly as he turns away, all smiles about this situation.

    Karma Chameleon lets out a loud, "EEEEHHHHHHHH!?"

    Spirit just lets out an annoyed chuckle at being misled just like the others.
The Kid     Kid scratches his head as he looks to Kirikou. "Ah, so y'are the local Marshals then. All right." That explains everything. Kid starts to reload his musket as Stein starts laying down a deal. Privately, he doesn't agree with it. The dead deserve justice, the perpetrator punishment. But he's just some nobody who wandered in, it's not his place to say.

    Ah. It was a ruse though.

    "I ain't even a Marshal. Not my place to pass judgement like that," he says calmly as he takes off the musket... and wordlessly offers it to Kirikou. "But if someone else wanted ta do it, and make it real neat, I don't mind lendin' 'em a hand."
Kirikou     Kirikou has no need to make the kill himself, though he has no qualms about it either. And while his greedy little soul-eating Weapons don't need more souls who walk the path of Asura, that doesn't mean they'd turn one down. Souls are TASTY! You'd have to be a fool to turn one down when there are no consequences for devouring it. Of course the only time there are no consequences are when the soul's a Kishin Egg, and the one eating is a Weapon. Happily, that seems to be exactly the case here.

    Kirikou nods, turning a bright smile on Kid. "Marshals? Yeah, that's exactly right." he agrees. "Not the normal cops, just the ones called in to deal with these kinds of killers." he says. The marines of the local world... or possibly the Ghostbusters.

    He walks up to the lizard, dangling in Stein's grasp. He'd been afraid Stein would actually agree to that mad bargain, but then he's heard endless rumours about the instructor's mad experimentations and hobbies. If he let the thing live, it was only to save it for a fate worse than death. This tale will likely be spread all across Shibusen by morning.

    Kirikou turns away though, looking back at Kid when he offers the ... shotgun? He turns his back on the chameleon entirely. After a moment he shrugs, holding up his metal-clad hands. "I'm sure it's a good weapon, but I got my own." he grins. "Besides, you know what they say about Karma right?"

    Kilik's right gauntlet, held up before his chin, begins to gleam with a ruddy light. "What goes around... comes around!" he cries, whirling and delivering a punch quite literally on fire. It's a punch line. Get it? And this time, his soul modulation isn't set to stun. This is a punch set to destroy. When it's done, there should be little left beyond a glowing red soul... which will soon make a nice light snack. Which... is another pun.