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Eryl Fairfax     The Bright Herald Mall is packed this weekend. Hungry shoppers choke the food court, babies cry in all directions, people lug armfuls of shopping bags to their cars, only for their spot to be occupied the moment they pull out. Naturally, malls in the Multiverse tend to have the occasional 'out-of-sorts' sight, but nothing here today tops the snake-woman carrying a staff loosely at her side, going from store to store alongside what looks like a walking pile of bags.

    "Can't you move any faster?!" Berserker snaps as she walks into an organic brand outlet. The college-aged clerk behind the desk beholds the fantastical woman and does her best to retain her professional smile. "H-Hello! Can I help you with something?" she asks, causing the gaze of the Servant to lock on to her. "Hah! The little mouse dares to try speaking with me! All right then, out of respect for your ridiculous courage, you can 'help' me by bringing me one of everything here to take away!"

    The clerk perks up at the prospect of such a big sale, and heads for the till, only for Berserker's tail to wrap around her throat and pull her back. "What do you think you're doing?!" she seethes, bringing the poor girl face-to-face with herself. "I said I would /take/ them, not /buy/ them. Now, get to work!" The clerk is released to quickly begin grabbing every product they have from the shelf, when whomever is carrying the bags pivots to look out of the store to a store that sells instruments. "Hey, I'm gonna check that out," they say, the words muffled by the mounds of likely-shoplifted goods. "Luggage doesn't talk!" Berserker snaps.

    With that, all the bags are unceremoniously dumped on the floor, revealing the one carrying them. A rough, burly looking fellow with long red hair, wearing a faded green sleeveless coat over a black top. Claw marks on his upper arms are visible, as is a strange string instrument slung across his back. Without a mind paid towards Berserker's affronted shouts, he strides across to the other store, picks up a guitar from a stand, and strums it. "Hey, not a bad sound." A clerk from this store hurries over, no doubt attempting to put a stop to anything a companion of Berserker might try, but the man just holds up a hand. "Gimmie a second bub."

    And with that, he begins to play. His fingers dance across the stings, making a fast, powerful melody. He starts to get into it, striding around with powerful stomps as he plays, drawing quite the attentive crowd. Berserker just looks on by using her tail to raise herself higher, a clearly unimpressed look on her face.

    By now, police have been called, and pictures of Berserker sneakily taken have begun circulating the socials. A known Servant of this strange Grail War is here. Forces are beginning to move...
Sarracenia      Among the many other vehicles parked outside is...a wooden airship of some 40 feet in length, looking like some spanish galleon with propellers on its masts instead of sails. Anyone who has seen them before probably recognizes who owns it. And it isn't so much parked as floating above the parking area.

     Inside the organic brand outlet, Princess Sarracenia Sundew is less concerned with the theft and more concerned with the uncouthness of this Berserker and the disruption of her own shopping. It is unlikely that she would by something from an outlet store, but it is the principle of the thing! The princess in the red dress frowns as she looks up from a rack of printed t-shirts. "Honestly, some people have no class at all." she says with a shake of her head before she strides toward the large snake woman. "Excuse me! It is unbecoming of a lady of any kind to act in such a way, much less in a public market. She gives her long strawberry blonde hair a toss and smirks confidently. "I am Princess Sarracenia Sundew, crown princess of the Sundew Kingdom." Her smirk turns to a withering glare. "And you are disrupting my shopping experience!!" she shouts. "I must insist that you stop this at once, or at least pay for the merchandise in a proper fashion. To do otherwise disgraces yourself and the institution of free trade!"

     Unlike the princess, who seems fearless in her declarations, the rather short and stocky piranha plant manservant who accompanies the princess is standing a healthy distance away. Somehow he seems used to his princess getting involved in such situations, judging by the tired frown on his big, red and white speckled head.
Richard Stadler All right, so the giant snake thing could talk, and there wasn't a labrotory around here it could have escaped from, so this wasn't /strictly/ Rick's sort of forte. What intelligence he'd been able to snag indicated that this was certainly someone else's balliwick, but it /was/ a large snake walking around a mall and robbing stores blind with the force of violence, so it was... /something/ that needed to be responded to. And since there was a need from responders and an actual derth of paperwork at the moment...

Civilian garb was annoying. Certainly it drew less attention than arriving like the National Guard decided to pull rank they didn't have, but how /less/ conspicious was a white dress shirt and tie if he had a tactical vest over it and an assault carbine slung in front of him. Certainly Police would probably try to stop him. Certainly they'd step aside after he flashed the Paladin badge. And certainly they'd think that maybe this was wacker who was tinning his way into circumstances he didn't need to be in. Yep, right on that last case.

Which is how Rick found himself kneeling behind a water feature, peering over atthe crowd of people watching the song that's playing...

And seeing a rather flamboyant Princess stand in front of the two declaring them in violation of a pleasent weekend mall trip. "So... that might explain the pirate ship. Is she one of ours..." He says, flicking quickly through a smartphone. "...Probably not. Wonderful."
Captain Flint      "Some kinda snake lady." The words are murmured into a walkie-talkie. It's a small, yellow thing, made to be durable and discreet. The man talking into it looks like the sort most mall-goers would avoid. He's muscular, and the parts of his arms not hidden by his rolled up sleeves bear tattoos. The man leans against a pillar, chosen for the view it affords of a jewelery store across the building. He wears a baseball cap which hides the upper half of his face.

     Leaning against a second-floor railing, Captain Flint, dressed in a hoodie and blue jeans, looks left, then right. He reaches into his pocket and procures an anachronistic looking glass, observing the scene outside the music store. "Fuck," he hisses. How many snake women can there be? Her appearance matches Degurechaff's description. With a finger on the transmit button of his own walkie talkie, Flint gives an order. "Call it off."

     "What?" John Silver, hair pulled into a ponytail, gives his own radio an incredulous look as he surveils one of the mall's entrances. "It's the perfect distraction."

     "There will be other prizes, Mr. Silver," says the pirate captain in response. "Gather up the men, see that they don't indulge themselves. Wait for me at the agreed upon location." The looking glass is folded up, stuffed into the pocket of his jeans. "If I'm right, we've just stumbled into something far more valuable." He stops transmitting, and turns the radio off for good measure. Around the mall, several people who had been idling in set locations, including a pony-tailed man with a very archaic prosthetic leg, begin to converge and exit. Meanwhile, Flint makes a beeline for the... well. Robbery in progress. His right hand remains at his hip despite the urgency in his gait.

     When he arrives, he finds Sarracenia already in the midst of confronting this... possible Berserker. Flint leans against the wall, edging closer to the crowd of interested onlookers admiring the gentleman's music. Perhaps the battle of wills surely to ensue between the two of them will reveal some interesting information. If not, he has a plan. Always, a plan.
Ice King     Ice King is watching all of this through a pair of binoculars from behind one of those potted plants that malls tend to have incongruously mixed in with the trappings of modernity. As the snake woman goes on a shopping rampage. "Awwww, yeah." Ice King says to himself. "That's how Ice King likes it. Get some of those kalechips next. Just like that! Now fight with that princess-looking girl over that tub of alfalfa spread... Man! This shopping action is better than the food network!"

    There's a 'wenk' noise from next to Ice King.

    "Not now, sweetie. Daddy's busy." Ice King replies, focused on the scene that Berserker is making as he hums along to whatever tune that the Servant's Master is playing.

    The wenking becomes more insistent as a penguin moves in the way of the binoculars, forcing Ice King to turn them away to look towards the guitar-player. "He's pretty good with that, huh..." he mutters.

    The penguin starts slapping its flippers on Ice King's shoulder and jostling him.

    Increasingly annoyed, the wizard finally lowers the binoculars, raising a hand to separate himself from the nagging flightless bird. "Come on! Can't I have five minutes to myself! What's the deal, here!?" Then he notices the goggles and wireless radio headset on Gunther's head.

    "Ohhh, that still looks just so cute!" He gets up and lifts the penguin with both hands while Gunther flaps and wenks even MORE insistently. "Say what now?" Ice King asks, looking in the direction of Flint edging around a corner. Tucking the penguin under one arm, he leaves his binoculars to dangle arond his neck and pulls a hand radio from somewhere. "This is Ice King, calling Gunter. What do you see? Over."

    From elsewhere in the mall, another penguin in spy gear is watching from inside of a trash can and reporting on Richard's position. "Wenk, WENK wenk. Wenk."

    "Dang it! The fuzz is already here! Thought I'd have more time to talk to her one-on-one..." Ice King says angrily at that news. "Gunter and Goonter, keep a look out. I'll create a distraction!" A pause. "Over." Then Ice King puts the radio away, switches Gunther to his other arm, and snaps his fingers while making magical sound effects with his mouth. Suddenly some kid drinking at a water fountain gets surprised by the water freezing in front of his face.

    The ice builds up and builds up until the fountain explodes, sending ice and snow to fall down over the area. "Caster, this is Ice King. Can you keep 'em off my buns for a few minutes? Over."
Eryl Fairfax     Berserker lets a long moment hang after Sarracenia confronts her, before turning and saying, "Oh! I thought that was just some noisy bug croaking, but it's you." She pulls herself up high to loom over the princess and bares her teeth in a cocky grin. "Well, I have you and Griff both ruining /my/ shopping experience, so I think I'm the victim here. Step off, little cricket, and take your plant with you, or else I'll have to do something /really/ unladylike."

    The man on the guitar (who is apparently named 'Griff') finishes his improvised song to the sounds of applause from the impromptu audience. "Thank you very much!" He says with a grin as he squeezes through the crowd, taking the guitar with him. "Berserker, leave the... royal mall rat alone, and let's go."

    And then Ice King escalates the situation from his vantage point.

    The sudden icy blast from the fountain rapidly decreases the temperature, a welcome relief from the crushing heat that comes from warm bodies packed together, but the flying debris hit several people. Berserker smacks some aside with a lazy swipe from her tail, rapidly searching the scene as Griff gets low. "You better get out of here miss. Wouldn't want your pretty face getting scratched up," he says to Sarracenia.

    Meanwhile, Caster puts down the newspaper he was hiding behind while sitting on a bench in response to Ice King's calls. "As you like... Mmmmmmaster." he says, rolling the word in his mouth like a bad brussel sprout. He stands and goes over to the overlook to the first floor. Ice King had not been specific when he said ''em,' so Caster just assumes he means 'all of 'em.'

    As such, a flurry of frigid ice flies form his hands, snap freezing many civilians in blocks of ice. He points his other hand at those on the second floor with him and starts blasting there also! No citizen in his sight is spared, and the Elites present might need to act fast!
Sarracenia      Princess Sarracenia does feel a bit of the intimidation factor as Berserker looms like that, but rather than backing off she lets out a prissy huff. "How dare you! Did you not hear my introduction! You are not shopping anyway! You are in the process of shoplifting!" She emphasizes the 'lifting' part for effect. And then she is called a rat in addition to a cricket! Her fists clench and she is just about to go on a rant when all that ice and debris kicks up. She crouches and covers her face with her arms, then her eyes widen as she realizes that all those people out there just got frozen! "What happened?!" she exclaims, then urgently reaches into her small purse and pulls out...a cute little flower flashing with red and yellow colors. She gives it a squeeze and in a puff of smoke her clothes and hair change color to take on more fiery imagery. Her already reddish hair turns fire red, and her dress turns black with many bright red accents along with an actual flame design on the gown. "If there were not citizens in need you would both find out how effectively this pretty face can defend itself!"

     Then, the princess runs out, lobbing fiery projectiles as fast as she can. Her servant is freed first of course, but she quickly starts cutting a cone into the spreading ice. Each projectile should be enough to free one victim, but one can never be certain with magical frost. "Gregory! Alert the airship! We will need the Fireflower Brigade!"
Richard Stadler Stadler holds his vantage point for the moment, and the fact that a lot of people were gathered around said snake woman and self-proclaimed Princess verbally sparring does make for an excellent distraction. A lot of people might be heading for the exit at the moment, and given the situation, those people were, quite honestly, not a priority. So Rick watches for the moment, and for the people that end up seeing him, shooing them the way they came. Hopefully toward the exits. This was a rather tense situation, and he didn't need many more... people... looking...

Rick paused, squinting for a moment, before procuring a set of glasses from his pocket and putting them on. "Is that a... penguin-"

And suddenly, brand new theat axis. Rick curses as a number of ice-based events occur in rapid succession. Explosion from a water fountian, reaction to a snake, and then a /large/ amount of people getting frozen, all at once. "Oh, goddamn it." He breathes, looking around. Second floor... escalator. A flat run to and up it, as he reaches into the gear on his vest. "Always happens. Never a goddamn bank robbery, no, just a monster with ice powers and me dressed like a goddamn cop!"

The lament was that he only had one of the incendiary grenades. A smaller one, given closer quarters like this, and /only/ one, but how else would you deal with this? Ask him to stop?

Rick paused, and swore. Right. Goddamn it. Reached the top of the escalator, across from the overlook. Rifle pointed up at Caster. "/Stop!/ Hands above your head, /now/!"

From below, there's a few brief blasts of fire. Maybe one of the people downstairs? He didn't hear any /really/ bad screams as of yet, so hopefully it was more help than hurt.
Captain Flint      Flint's eyes narrow when 'Griff' calls the snake woman 'Berserker.' He scarcely has time to decide what to make of this information. Caster's blasts of ice see him reach into his hoodie and procure a pistol--a Walther PPK. He ducks behind a support column. The short, snub-nosed firearm is shot into the air, to further agitate the crowd.

     In the chaos, Flint barges through the crowd like a fish swimming upstream. He's not averse to using the crowd as cover, it seems. Like anyone used to evading the law, Flint is keenly aware of the authoritative command barked by an officer thereof. As he weaves through the crowd, he looks towards Caster and his would-be jailor. Bumped this way and that by panicked civilians eager not to be frozen, Flint does his best to peer.

     Perhaps the ice-slinging fellow can handle this on his own. The pirate looks upwards at a sprinkler head. Perhaps not. He doesn't know if this wizard is a Servant, lacking the magical senses for such distinctions. If he isn't, then this 'Ruler' is free to swoop in and stop things from getting too far. But if he IS... well. Flint's face is one of few in the crowd not overtly fearful. Rather, it's calculating. His seafoam eyes flick from Caster, to Stadler, to Sarracenia, to Berserker. Then, upwards. Towards the fire suppression systems.

     If there must be a fight here today, why not let it be one which eliminates some of Lord Gwyn's competition? One which he could take credit for, without breaking the 'rules' no less? Another shot is fired--this time at the sprinklers nearest Caster and Stadler, the captain attempting to give this ice wizard an edge as a sort of... experiment.
Ice King     As Griff rejoins Berserker, suddenly a voice calls out from the entrance to the organic food store, "HOWDY neightbor, how's it going?" Ice King's silhouette at the door resolves into Ice King as he enters the artificial lighting, leaving the chaos he and his partner have caused behind. "I was in the area, and I was wondering if--Whoah!" Ice King steps back in surprise as Sarracenia undergoes a transformation. He blinks with his Wizard Eyes and scratches his arm a bit through his robe. "Uhh..." He looks off to the side then back. "...And a princess too, huh?"

    He pulls out a notepad and pencil and starts writing. "You said you were Princess Sarracenia, right?" He draws a little doodle of the princess next to his notes. "No idea what a serancenia is... Sounds like some kind of a disease maybe?" he mutters to himself. Then he tucks the notepad and pencil away.

    "Anyway, I'll kidnap you later. Business first!" He claps his hands together and rubs his palms up and down. "So, Snake Wizard! Can I call you Snake Wizard? No? Okay. That's okay. Berserker Wizard and Guitar Wizard then. So!" He holds out both hands, fingers splayed. "I was thinking! I'm Ice King, an Ice Wizard. You two are Wizards. We all want the same thing here. To get the Grail and get my--OUR wishes granted. So me and my friend were thinking, 'why not team up'?"

    He looks back over his shoulder when he hears gunshots and the sprinkler system going off. He'll have to speed things up if things are escalating. "So, like, how about a little confab, a collab, a dab! A little dub and sub!" He gestures back and forth to all of those present. "Heck, even this hot princess over here maybe! Bring your plants! I'm sure Gunther could use a new buddy to play with! Whatever will get us the win, right? You know what I'm doing about? Yeah, you know what I'm talking about!"

    Pause. "About." he repeats.
Eryl Fairfax     Sarracenia's fire shoots out, combating the intense cold to thaw out the civilians. Most are delirious upon being freed, but nearby brave citizens and security guards brave the icy onslaught to pull them to safety. "Hey, not bad!" Griff calls out, currently ducking behind a frozen bench as he tunes the guitar. Berserker stares at the girl huffily, before turning her own magic on the people, blasting at them with searing flames. It certainly melts them, but harsh hiss of steam means they probably got burned by the rapid sublimation of the ice.

    Richard holds Caster up with a rifle points square at his head. The old wizard huffs and raises his hand. "Honestly, do you mind? I am trying to win a war here." He turns in such a way that one of his hands is obscured by the other from Richard's view, giving him room to wiggle a pinkie. This makes a snowball form, and start rolling towards the Paladin. It gets bigger and bigger as it goes, threatening to crash into him and send him back down the escalator!

    With a sharp bang, Flint sets off the sprinklers. Water cascades down and the fire alarm shrieks, forcing the unaffected parts of the mall to evacuate. While he's aiming to give one side an advantage, the pirate may have saved a lot of lives just now. However, it seems that Ice King is not here to immediately fight, but propose a truce. "Screw you! We don't need your he-" Berserker begins to spit, only for Griff to hold up a hand. "Shut up a second Berserker," he says, strumming at that guitar as he considers the offer. "So what's the details? We just don't go for each other, or we actually gang up on other Servants?" He keeps strumming a tune, something that the more modern Elites present might recognize as the opening bars to Elvis Presley's 'Devil in Disguise.'

    If this keeps up, they might walk out of here a partnership, instead of one trying to kill the other!
Sarracenia      "Thanks!" Sarracenia answers Griff, giving a showy flourish as she fires her next fireball.

     She has to stop a moment as the Ice King speaks to her and mentions kidnapping. "You...want to kidnap me?" she asks in a strangely flattered voice. The blasts of fire from Berserker and the water sprinklers snap her back though. "Sarracenia is a type of beautiful carnivorous plant!" she huffs as she runs to keep freeing people. Her fireballs bounce toward their targets, not stopping until they hit something at a vertical angle, which usually is a block of ice around a person. Luckily the rain from the sprinklers doesn't seem to slow her fireballs down much.

     As she is doing that, a squad of taller piranha plants with fiery coloration on their bulb heads comes waddle-marching in. "I know this is not quite what you expected, Fireflower Brigade! But, your training will be quite useful! Get to work freeing those who have been frozen!" Sarracenia commands. There is about twenty of the flower people, and they are dressed like firefighters. Which is quite ironic as rather than water they start shooting fireballs from their mouths, helping Sarracenia to speed up the thawing of the many ice-locked innocents!
Richard Stadler Okay, there was some talk. They were getting somewhere over here. Maybe this was better than shooting someone right away. "Mall's not a place for it. At least not full ones. Go up east you can find pleanty of abandoned ones- Oh, here we go-" Rick tries, as a snowball rolls across the second floor. He had a split second to decide which way to roll, and down the esclator buried in snow was the bad choice. So he dives the other way, onto the landing sliding across the ground, slaming his shoulder aganist the wall on the far side, gritting his teeth. "Did you say something about a war?" Rick says, coming up to his feet and taking a snapshot burst at the wizzard, sending three rounds toward's Caster's center mass. "I'm good at those."

He'd registered gunfire before... small caliber, from the sound of it. He couldn't focus onthe first shot, but the second seemed to smash aganist the fire supression system, sending water raining down on the second floor, drenching the dress shirt, squishing in socks, and just making everything wet as the fire alarm blares. "Okay. Cool scene, but god /fucking/ damn it." Fighting for your life aganist a frozen wizard was bad. Fighting when wet was worse. And there were /still/ a bunch of people downstairs that he couldn't focus on. Maybe the local cops might stop the snake woman from stealing more. And maybe he would walk around without a gun at a mall in the future. Both were equally at zero chance.
Captain Flint      As the crowds begin to thin out, Flint has less places to hide in plain sight. The gun is hidden in his hoodie, along with both of his hands. He edges closer, one single bit of calm in a sea of panic. That much might draw attention to him, if the gunshots haven't already. When Stadler fires shots at Caster, the captain swiftly presses his back to the nearby front of a game store, reducing his profile.

     After that brief bit of fire is exchanged, Flint deliberately draws attention to himself by grabbing a potted plant and throwing it through the plate glass window at the front of the aforementioned store. "Your attention, please, gentleman," calls a gravelly English baritone above the din of panicked civilians and the blare of the fire alarm. "I wonder if I might impress upon you both a brief repast until those not involved in this... war have cleared the premises?" Flint gestures with a sunbeaten, sea-weathered hand towards the fleeing civilians and Sarracenia's attempts to free them.

     "You've both made a swing at one another," he says, "So it's not as if your pride is in question. I'd rather not see my efforts with the fire alarms prove a waste, if it's all the same." Though his tone is civil, his eyes are less calm than... calculating. Searching.
Ice King     Ice King follows after those working to dethaw people. "You can just leave them. It'll be more work for the other guys that way. But I guess all this fire is going to keep the sprinklers going, which will mean more water to freeze, so keep it up, actually!" He then focuses on Berserker's Master. "Anyway, yeah! A team-up! I mean, Berseker's pretty strong, right? It's not like a couple of Casters are going to beat her in a fist fight! But with us supporting you, we can force any confrontation into a one-on-one battle, divide and conquer, control the battlefield to give you a terrain advantage, and we've even been gathering intel on the other Masters in secret!"

    Ice King is reading off writing on the palms of his hands as he says all this, though had to pull up the sleeve of his robe with his teeth to continue. "There's more stuff, but I'm not supposed to tell you it unless we agree to work together. Also, Caster wouldn't want the wrong people to hear what we're up to. We have a secure fortifi... For... What's that say? For... Uhh... I think it's been smudged by penguin butt." Ice King gives up and pulls down his sleeve.

    "Anyway, we've got an awesome base, tasty snacks, and on Fridays we have a little Card Wars tournament while we plan our next move. We've kept out of the way so far, so no one's really been targeting us. But we thought getting you two on board was the best move. With my magic, and her muscle, and Caster's magic, and your magic, and her magic, we've uhh... We've got a lot of magic! And that's what this whole Grail War is based on. No one else is going to have the kind of juice we have to spend."

    Ice King holds out his hand towards Griff. "So about it?" He then wipes his palm on his robe to get rid of the ink and holds it out again.

    As Flint picks up and throws the plant, Gunther, standing behind it, is revealed. He flaps his flippers in a panic and runs towards Ice King as Flint starts yelling over the alarm. The penguin begins tugging on Ice King's robes, but he's not about to get distracted right this second. "C'mon, man. Don't leave me hanging!"
Eryl Fairfax     The Piranha Plants may seem frightening, but their fire does the trick as every person that was frozen is freed. They shiver, but they're okay. They're quickly wrapped in blankets and escorted out by the police. The mall is now clear!

    "Yes, but this, between you and I? This is no war. A war implies both sides are near-equal." Caster says with all the smug arrogance of a high-school gym teacher lording over the unathletic kids. So it's sure embarrassing for him when that shot from Richard's rifle drills through the ice shield he conjures and hits him. "Guh... damnable modern weapons. I long for the days where you kind had just figured out tying rocks to sticks. Master! Propose your plan AFTER we deal with the nuisance!" he barks as he conjures icicles around him with a wave of his hand. However, Flint smashing the window grabs his attention and halts his attack. He sniffs lightly and says, "Why? There are so many mortals. If I froze a few, who would miss them? Why do you care anyway, Mister...?"

    Meanwhile, Ice King lays out his plans, and neither Griff nor Berserker can believe he's being so up-front about the backside of the plans. "Griff, please tell me-" "Yeah that's gonna be a no from me chief," the musician says, drawing a look of relief from the Servant. "But not even because of the fact you're clearly gonna backstab us. If it was just a deal that we don't touch each other, that'd be fine. But you clearly want to boss us around, and I don't listen to anyone. We'll win this war on our own, starting here." Berserker smirks, and raises her staff to point at Ice King, when suddenly a massive grody hand erupts from the ground behind her and grabs her tail.

    "BER... SER... KER..."

    The hand pulls, and yanks the Servant down through the floor into the mall's maintenance tunnels. "BERSERKER!" Griff yells, before jumping down after her!
Sarracenia      Sarracenia huffs indignantly at Ice King. "What?! We cannot simply leave them! And if I am hearing you correctly, I -am- one of the 'other guys'!" When it seems the mall is clear, Sarracenia has her pirahna plants accompany the police out to help maintain order outside while she runs back in. She blinks as she realizes she is squishing with every step, then lets out a rather piercing whine. "Look at my hair and clothes! Whoever it is that started all of this, you will be receiving a bill for dry cleaning and hair styling!!" she shouts, likely heard throughout the now empty mall.

     She is startled quite badly when that massive hand erupts upward to grab Berserker. "What in the-?!" The princess leaps back, then cautiously approaches the hole after Griff has lept down. "...well, I suppose that is one way to rein in this madness." she says before looking toward Caster. "Every person has someone who will miss them! What kind of question is that?!" she practically growls at the ice mage.

     She reaches into her purse and...somehow pulls out a hammer as tall as she is with a head of solid iron that looks like it must weigh twice what she does. She twirls the hammer around herself with little effort before slamming its haft down against the floor to cause a resounding thud. "If you wish to harm any more so-called mortals, then you will have to go through me!" With that, she leaps up, aiming to land where Richard and Caster are.
Richard Stadler Stadler's back into cover after the shot, hearing the rounds smash aganist ice, and then, thankfully, some sort of notion that those bullets did something. You never know when they would just bounce off and require things that were larger, faster, or exploded. "For someone who's talking about war, you don't know much about history. Though, think it's a moot point, given I think the field's a little more equal than you'd thought." He says, popping back our of cover...

just as a potted plant slams through a window nearby, and both attackers halt for just a moment as a man with an accent that sounded /quite/ out of place for an American mall proposes they stop.

Rick keeps his rifle trained on the Caster in front of him, as well as his eyes, only looking over to the other man briefly. "You seem to think that this is a..."

Rick pauses again. "Is that another goddamn penguin? Whatever. Goddamn- Look. The man here decided to freeze a lot of innocents. Now, according to my occupation, that's a bit of a crime..." His head tilts slightly. "And it seems like there's some people downstairs that are doing a great job clearing the mall. So. Get out of the well, or help me. Two options. And /you/-"

Back to addressing the Caster. "Same command. Hands above your head, and on the ground. You want to start this again, I am not going to stop shooting until you stop moving."

When the Princess (self-proclaimed) jumps up to the second story, Rick can't figure out if he wants to curse over-eager people assisting, or thank someone that at least they seem to have powers. Split the difference. "Ma'am, I think we've got things handled. And if we don't..." He says, trailing off meaningfully as he turns back to Caster.
Captain Flint      Caster's callous answer does appear to have an effect. The captain's seafoam eyes grow a touch colder, focusing fully upon the wizard. "Flint," says the captain without much pomp or circumstance. "I'll not debate philosophy with you, sir--not with the police already here." Indeed, his own contributions to this entanglement might be looked upon with much consternation by the police below. "For now, understand it's much more difficult for me to hear your Master's attempts at parley when gunfire and magic are present." There is a slow, cautious nod towards Ice King, Berserker, and Griff. Slow and cautious, since Stadler has a rifle out and pointed.

     "And you, sir--I understand full well your obligations, but there's no need for further violence." Again, slowly and deliberately, the contemporarily dressed, somewhat-archaic speaking man gestures towards the lower floor, where the police hand out blankets and escort civilians outside. "The local police have us--and him, surrounded," continues the captain with a nod towards Caster. The loud crash rather puts a damper on his efforts to maintain calm, and with a look over his shoulder, he surveys the situation. Caster, at least, can see his change of expression. That quick, restrained souring of the features which hisses a swear without the lips uttering one. Immediately after, his face returns to that impassive, calculating stare. He turns to face Stadler again.

     Sarracenia leaps up onto the second floor with them, wielding a hammer. Flint's brow furrows, the captain taking this detail in. "With his adversary otherwise engaged, and nothing but potential enemies nearby, it would be nothing but disadvantageous for him to stay here," says Flint, looking back at Caster. He makes eye contact, briefly, but absolutely, then turns and faces Stadler again. "It would be a waste of his... mana, as it were, to remain here when his enemies might finish each other off. So, his options are /retreat/," says the captain somewhat forcefully. A short pause. "Or surrender himself. And as he already once underestimated your strength, I'm sure he'll make the right choice." And Flint is very careful not to say what the 'right choice' is. Caster will probably know what he means. With a shrug, he adds, "The day is yours, officer."
Ice King     "Fuh! Like YOU aren't going to backstab US? Look, you drive a hard bargain! You can call the shots if it's that important to y--Gah!" Ice King scoops up Gunther in his arms, flaps his beard like a pair of wings, and lifts off into the air when a staff is pointed at him. Sure some kind of weird hand is grabbing Berserker by her tail as a distraction, but that's Ice King's signal to get the heck out of there! He was serious about not beating these jerks in a fist fight. But he isn't going to just leave without Caster. He flies over to the wizard, hovering nearby the other's perch and says, "Deal's a bust. I don't think they're team players. Maybe we should just ice them now and bring them back by force to squeeze out their magic? I've got that novelty oversized juicer I got off the shopping network ready to go. A little brain mutating and bam. Oh and there's this princess I'd like to bring back too. She seems fun."

    Seeing Richard still in action, Ice King furrows his brow. "A human? That's what's giving you so much trouble?" Is he disrespecting Caster? No! Not at all, actually! "I know how it is, buddy. Happens to me allll the time. Though this one has made a BIIIIIG mistake." With great seriousness, Ice King intones. "He doesn't have a dog with him!" Pause. "Here, hang onto Gunther, I'll take care of this guy. Man, thanks by the way, guy who set off those sprinklers! You sure did us a favor!" Ice King tries to hand off the penguin to Caster so he can toss a thumbsup towards Flint as the captain admits responsibility, pushes up his sleeves exposing the writing on both arms, and totally ignores the suggestion of either retreat or surrender. See, unlike all the other Masters, Ice King doesn't have a mana shortage problem, thanks to a certain crown resting on his dome.

    Ice King thrusts both hands out, regardless of how they were freed up, and all the drops of water raining down begin to freeze in mid-air, the puddles forming into ice slicks, the pipes potentially getting blocked up as the temperature lowers more and more, and arctic winds begin swirling around indoors, creating a localized blizzard that threatens to sweep up anyone left in the area!

    Except Flint, because he's, like, making a peace offering or something. Ice King's looking out for you, pal!

    "I'm a survivor... Not a fighter... But just a little more... And we win...!" the decrepit wizard says as he tries to focus his shattered mind in accordance with the Crown's whispers that he doesn't even recognize as whispers distinct from his own thoughts anymore, and gathers all this spiralling ice and wind together in an increasingly compact whirlwind that's probably going to do... Something. All the while, his radio is squawking with 'wenks' as various panicked penguins try to report things to him while popping up all over as they abandon their cover and flee towards the mall's doors. A trash can topples over nearby Flint and a penguin kicks the lid off, before crawling out and chasing after the others, limping thanks to one of those plastic things that hold cans together wrapped around its leg.

    Remember to cut those up before throwing them away, people! Give a wenk, knock off the pollutenk!
Eryl Fairfax     It's a tense stand-off on the second floor. Flint urges everyone to cut their losses and back off, Sarracenia is spoiling for a fight, Stadler wants to arrest Caster and Ice King, and Ice King has had enough. The temperature plummets as he begins to conjure a blizzard, drawing an aggrieved sigh from Caster. "That blasted thing..." he mutters, looking directly at the crown, but doing little to stop what's happening.

    Down below, angry roars and shouts echo from the hole, alongside explosions, columns of mist, and Griff rapidly strumming the guitar. The sound of lightning arcing comes too, followed by sequenced explosions that cause the whole building to shake, and sink.

    Someone down there just blew out the foundations.

    The whole building begins to come down, caving in but by bit. The sound of breaking glass mingles with the crash of concrete. Very much time to go!
Sarracenia      Sarracenia gives Richard a skeptical look as he claims things are handled. If they don't...well, she is betting they don't. Which means he will probably need some help. Flint says plenty of good words, but they all seem to fall on deaf ears. Especially when Ice King escalates by conjuring a powerful ice storm within the mall! Sarracenia's dress and hair flutter in the powerful winds and the water that has soaked her quickly freezes. She is soon forced to hug her arms around herself. "That is enough!" she finally says before throwing a pair of fireballs at Ice King before she swings her massive hammer and uses its weight to send herself flying toward the wizard. She ends up twirling as she goes, promising a powerful smash to the Ice King if no one stops her!

     She realizes a bit too late that the building is coming down. Too late to pull her punch now! Whether she hits the Ice King or not, she is going to be hard pressed to get out of here before the building comes crashing down. Through the skylights above her airship can be seen moving into position, and piranha plant sailors are already diving off with ropes, aiming at those skylights and offering at least one alternative escape route for those that might need it.
Richard Stadler The rifle's still up at Caster, as Ice King comes to join the fray, too. SO things just got very, very tense, given that Ice King seems to be admitting both being an accomplice to a criminal and indicating that he'd like to engage in kidnapping and involuntary juicing of other people. Goddamn it, if there was one thing Rick didn't like, it was being in the middle of a war he didn't have much intelligence on. "Yes, a human." Rick deadpans. "Notice I come with accessories. And at the moment, I'm running real low on patience- Dog? Why the hell would have have a dog-" And there's a penguin. Well, that explains that... no, wait, that explains very little. But it's enough for Rick to consider the old man a threat.

Flint is turned to, cocking his head slightly as he gives his... support. Though he isn't tone deaf enough not to hear what's emphasised... and he doesn't say anything. Because he can't outright say that he'd be okay with Caster retreating, but at the same time, given the amount of magic being slung around and how little he expected the local cops to be able to do if things /really/ escalated... But that sort of situation wasn't going to happen.

When Ice King starts his Magic, Rick tries to bring the gun up, but the wipping winds, snow, and slippery ice don't allow him a proper aim. "Maybe don't make declarations without all the facts!" He yells over alarms and snow to Flint, before the building crumbles and shakes, glass smashing around them. How did it get /this/ bad /this/ fast! All at once, things were simply too dangerous to remain, suspect or not. Escape. Ropes? He didn't trust himself with that climb. Exits... there. Side path. His fingers fumble numbly as the water on his clothing starts to freeze, pulling the pin of that incendariy grenade. "I think we're done here!" He yells, signalling to Flint. "Exit, second floor! We need to go!" A look to the Princess, mid attack. There wasn't any time to pull her out .

He pulls the pin and tosses the grenade clumsily, dashing over slippery ice to the exit door as the greandes skids, bounces once, and detonatetes in a sputter of phosphourous.
Captain Flint      Things are fairly tense /before/ the mall begins to collapse.

     When the supports start to buckle, Flint nods towards Rick. Blaring alarms, rushing sprinklers and blizzard winds don't make for easy communications. But he gets the idea. The captain books it. The slippery floor sees him momentarily lose his purchase, sliding towards the escalator. With palms outstretched, he stops himself, grabbing the hard plastic rails. He gives a look towards Ice King as Rick retreats. His fist is pressed to his stomach. His thumb sticks out, covertly returning the bizarre wizard's gesture. It lasts only for a moment.

     That moment passes, and his feet slam even harder into the ground, the captain redoubling his efforts to avoid Rick's grenade in time. Well, not a complete failure today. He would've preferred a Servant elimination, especially one he could've taken credit for. Still... He may have found a source of information about this war, and as an added bonus, a mall has been destroyed.
Ice King     With the ground all broken up from Saracennia's hammering, and then some underground battle destroying the building's foundation, it's only a matter of time before everything falls apart. And with a very compact and violent winter storm about to erupt, when it falls apart, it falls apart hard. On Ice King's head. A chunk of the ceiling comes free and whacks him on the head, knocking him to the ground. The blizzard abruptly ceases, the supernatural winds dying down, and whatever spell the wizard was planning to cast depleting unused.

    This was no doubt the sneaky plan of Rick the Human all along. Humans! Always such problem causers!

    Ice King gets up, rubbing his head. "Ugh, okay, we can leave now." he groans. The penguins can make their own way back, but it's going to be a long walk for the pair of ice wizards if Caster doesn't make an ice platform for them to ride on or Ice King can't fly them back. Pushing fate at this point isn't in the survivor's handbook.
Eryl Fairfax     It's a tight escape. Pretty much everyone barely makes it out before the whole place comes down. Luckily, the police had evacuated everyone in the surrounding blocks, so the resulting tremor and dust cloud does not catch anyone else in it. After the fall, the rubble is still and silence rebounds.

    It's several minutes before a column of flame erupts from the wreckage, and Griff and Berserker emerge, coughing their lungs out, but thankfully alive. On a building in the distance, a pubescent figure watches this through binoculars, before throwing them down in disgust and storming off.
Sarracenia      With a piece of mall taking out the Ice King for her, Sarracenia finds herself in free fall until those grenades explode and send her flying upward. In a puff of smoke her dress and hair return to their normal coloration before one of her sailors catches her and they are reeled up onto her hovering airship. "That ice man is going to get my cleaning bill!" she says huffily, arms crossed as she pouts. "Just look at my dress! It is ruined! I do not even know how one gets concrete mud out of a garment!" As she and her plants get aboard the ship once more she looks down at the former mall. "...I wonder what that gigantic hand was and why it only grabbed the rude snake lady? Not that she didn't deserve it."