Scene #6469: The Wings of Magius

Owner	Pose
Homura Akemi	MITAKIHARA TOWN/CITY, JAPAN It's a bit more urgent this time. Homura reaching out for help is certainly nothing new, at least this particular one, but the last two cases had been more traditional calls. 'Solve a monster attack', essentially. Now it seemed she was under attack by fellow magical girls, multiple of them no less, and they were keeping up with her attempts to escape. This probably only really means anything to Arthur, who's uniquely placed to know if they're keeping up with Homura's ability to get out of jail free, it's a bit more organized than a random attack. The signal tracks to a mall. She'd evidently tried to escape them by being in open public, but that didn't work. The fire alarms were set off (and still ring annoyingly loudly), and this being the fourth or fifth escape plan Homura had, she's just about given up trying to avoid the fight. Asking for friends to come punch people seemed like the better alternative. Currently behind the counter of a shoe store, occasional barrages of various-colored magical energies slam into it, only barely kept at bay by a faint, and rapidly weakening, purple barrier of her own. But the attackers seem to be completely out of sight, and the blasts that hit the counter are manifesting from thin air, and from every direction, including blocked ones.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur Lowell is here. Specifically, Arthur Lowell is here very abruptly. When his Gate opens, it's with the look of someone kicking down space's door. "HEY!" He shouts, taking a swing at one of the incoming magic blasts, suffering his own burst of moderate damage to block it. "Who the FUCK gettin' this SCHOOL BULLY BULLSHIT goin' on up in this motherfucker? Yo, you best STEP OFF! Don't you know how COOL AND GREAT Homu-slice is? FUCK OUTTA HERE." He immediately turns on his ANALYSIS of the incoming fire, trying to use his space magic to determine what the space-source of all this is. Arthur Lowell is not afraid to hit a girl. If he can get a lock on the teleportation going on using his teleportation-specialized magical analytics, he's going to stride straight up to the thin-air source of the next strike, try to rip open the relay from Homura's side, and then step through with a big, hefty swing of the broom. If it can't, he's hoping at least to get some hints on where to pursue, so he can rocket-blast in that direction!
Eryl Fairfax	Eryl, unfortunately, doesn't get a lot of groundwork these days. Far too busy bouncing from meeting to meeting, or being cooped up in the Ad Coelum. But on this day, the call happened to come during those blessed moments of free time. And he'd much rather spend it doing some personal good over just waiting for the time to run out. He stands before the mall, popping his neck and running diagnoses on his underused combat systems before striding it. Even over the din of the fire alarms, it doesn't take him long to find the attack within the shoe store. From outside it, he executes a pretty incredible standing leap to soar over all the racks and displays to insert himself between the attacks manifesting from thin air and the purple barrier around the counter. "Stop right there! I am Eryl Fairfax, Grandmaster of the Paladins! Cease this attack and come into plain sight immediately!" He points, as his analytical implants get to work. He just delivered a loud declaration, and those sound waves are bouncing around the store. Are they bouncing off anything unseen? Secondly, his eyes flick to the floor, looking for footprints in the carpeting. Are new ones being made, even if no one is seemingly there?
Android 17	Seventeen wasn't expecting to be called about Homura being attacked tonight, then again nobody expects to be ambushed. Of course, the idea that it was other magical girls was...odd. However, with how things are going, and the promises he made, he couldn't let a new friend come to harm so easily. From the Gate, he flew fast, following the signal from the radio and then following the noises. In almost an instant, he was clearing the distance through the mall and turns a corner to see the fading shield. Another burst of speed and then Seventeen was standing next to Homura, activating the Android barrier. The barrier was tough and easily started to absorb shots. It may not last forever, but likely a lot longer than they could reasonably put shots into him before they were discovered. "Hey, Homura. Looks like you're a bit outnumbered. Mind if I help out again?" He asks, with a wry grin. "Ladies, I suggest you put the weapons away and come talk this out like reasonable adults. Or else I'll have to introduce you to the floor, and trust me...your relationship will be intimate," Seventeen speaks, but the smile is gone. He's serious, and his ears are telling him that the shots aren't coming anywhere nearby.
Sanary Rondel	One time. Just one time, Sanary wanted to see if Japan wasn't always in the midst of freaky demon attacks or world-ending catastrophes. It was looking good, too, after picking up some burritos from a local joint. Some now, some later, and the rest for the freezer. And then Homura called for help from being attacked by other magical girls. "Hey, uh. Can I come pick these up tomorrow? I have to go do... Thing." After getting a confused nod from the storeowner, Sanary breaks into a jog outside and hoofs it towards the mall in question! Thankfully, it's not too far, but she all but gives up on the element of surprise considering that the fire alarms are already on and she's running right into the middle of it all. "Hey! What do you kids think you're doing?" She sounds annoyed, but not violently so (yet). Rather, the healer sounds more like a tired teacher or older sister figure starting to scold someone, and she blinks a few times as Eryl hurtles over to be a better good cop than she's attempting to be. Good thing Arthur and 17 are putting out those threats to work off of. "How about we all come out here and get this sorted out so my friends here /don't/ have to hurt anyone?" As she calls out to the hidden magical girls, she channels some magic into her eye to switch it to THERMAL VISION. With any luck, she might actually see them hiding somewhere!
Homura Akemi	The mall, for all intents and purposes, is empty. Odds are everyone's been evacuated (or ran the hell out, as people would) and now it's a waiting game for the firefighters to get there. And within reason! Fires have been started. Nothing massive, but enough to force even the mall guards to obey protocol and wait for the firefighters to funnel back in. It buys this whole thing time. But that's the odd thing. 17 can't hear anyone else inside the building. Eryl can't detect anyone else, and there's no... well, okay, there's thousands of footprints, this is a mall, but in the last 5 minutes? Only Homura's, basically all over the place. Sanary's not got much more luck. Arthur tackles this at the source, though. He traces an energy blast to its source - almost a mile out, on the roof of another building. Three girls in black robes with hoods, and one with a white hood. The one with the white hood is teleporting the other three's blasts right to the location. At least, until Arthur just brooms her right through her own portal and she slams into 17's barrier, then onto the ground. She rumbles something off along the lines of: "That wasn't in her predictions!" except with a slur because her mouth and nose sure hurt right now. And with Eryl's threats, it puts them in a bind. "Sorry, but this is for the best," the girl in white says, before her powers ripple out like shards of broken glass. The other three girls appear by her, teleported to her side. "She has to join us, or die." The other three don't speak. The White Feather produces two rectacular floating mirrors, ornate and obviously her magical girl weapon of choice. One Black Feather produces a sickle. One Black Feather produces a bazooka. The last Black Feather produces a huge syringe. None of them look like regular, mundane weapons. "Don't get in the way," the girl in white says. "She'll make everything worse. It's for the future's sake, and for our plans' sake."
Arthur Lowell	Arthur even gets a little CROSS-COUNTER popup. As he re-emerges from the other side of spacetime, broom revving, he takes a good listen to things. Well, shit's already gotten more serious than he was worrying. "ALRIGHT THEN. So we got some FUTURE STUFF up in this motherfucker." He says, tensely, gritting his teeth. "Great, more WEIRD TIME SHIT. Alright, homie! Here's the DEAL." He points his broom at the cluster of magical girls. "HOMU-SLICE over here is RAD, and STRONG, and MY FRIEND. Don't you TALK some WACK SHIT about her making everything WORSE, ORGANIZATION DURR-TEENS, I'mma give you another FLOOR SWEEPING." He takes a defensive posture. Thoughts race through his mind. They mentioned predictions, albeit incoherently. Something about the future... "SECOND, I know some HIGH-RISK TEMPORAL SHIT the minute I SMELL IT and you motherfuckers REEK of WEIRD TIME SHIT try'na stop a DOOMED TIMELINE for real dawg, talk it. What're you thinkin' she's 'boutta do that fucks everything up, huh? And what's this shit about RECRUITMENT? She's already got FRIENDS, dawg, and you ain't about to be BETTER THAN US." He doesn't attack, but he does stay in a defensive posture between the group and Homura. He's terribly social and willing to talk this out, though, for reasons of familiarity with this kind of scenario. God, Arthur can't deal with time shit, but he at least knows well enough how to recognize it coming from a mile away.
Sanary Rondel	Shortly after Sanary turns on her thermal vision, she quickly turns it off. Fire is not a good place to see anything in, and also it hurts like hell to got shot in the eyes with so much white light. After shaking off that dizziness, the healer spots the newly-appeared girls in matching outfits, and she squints when the girl in white speaks. "You suck at recruitment, you know that?" Sighing lightly, she reaches into her coat to draw a fairly plain tomahawk, and she breaks into a run towards Feathers. "Even if you think it's better for the future, you should explain that kinda sh-uh." Right, Homura's there. "... Crap with words first. Otherwise, you'll have irresponsible adults like us coming down on ya!" Sorry, everybody else. She's going to lump everyone together. "And don't even think of just telling me it's just future shit until after you settle down!" The Black Feather with the syringe is her first target, although Sanary doesn't actually raise her axe-hand towards her. Instead, it looks like she's aiming to just barrel straight into the girl if she doesn't move. What might be more worrying is that even if the syringe is aimed at Sanary, she makes no effort to even avoid it in favor of BIG BODY SLAMS.
Android 17	Android 17 is surprised by someone bouncing off of his shield, instead of some shot. Looking down to the girl who probably has bitten her tongue when she hit it unexpectantly, he crosses his arms and looks down at her as she stands. Then the odds even up a bit, looking at each one and their weapons while an ultimatum is issued. "You sound sure of yourself...until something you didn't see happening. So that leads me to believe your predictions seem fallible. That..." He says, with a narrowing of his eyes, "And I don't like it when people tell others what to do out of obvious self-interest. I dislike others who demand the death of subservience of others, and those who decide how others should live." "Now, would you like to try this again, perhaps explain yourself a bit better? Or are you going to try and challenge a killer Android?" He says, as his body starts to change, energy seems to start radiating out of his form, as what can only be described as a white aura starts lapping up over his form. "Also what he said," he motions towards Arthur.
Eryl Fairfax	Bizarre. Not invisible then? But Arthur figures it out. They were attacking from within portals, or far away perhaps? Either way, their advantage is gone. "Well done, Mister Lowell," Eryl says, sizing up the hooded girls. Everyone else is already raring to go, so he raises his hands in a placating manner and addresses everyone in the store. "Now now, no one has to do anything right now. How about we all just calm down, take some deep breaths, and sort things out? I've already introduced myself, so how about you all do the same?" Again, he's asking everyone, not just the hostile meguka. But when said magical girls draw their weapons, Eryl only smiles serenely. "If you attack resumes, I will be forced to stop you. You're outnumbered now, and lack the advantage of not being physically present with your target. Further, our Mister Lowell has identified which if you permitted that method of attack, so neutralising her will be our first priority." His smile remains soft, while his words are hard. "Do you want to try it? Or do you want to do the smart thing, and talk to us?"
Homura Akemi	Homura will be over there, behind the safety of the counter, thanks. And the relative safety of 'behind everyone' by proxy. Especially Arthur and 17. "T-They wanted me to join them but they wouldn't... I don't think that's... a good idea, even I can tell." She didn't have to be great with people to tell this was some weird shady cult nonsense. The threats sure didn't help sway her, though if they'd kept insisting she might have caved in. Pleas for words are met with - absolutely no response from the Black Feathers. No smiles, no frowns, not a twitch. The White Feather, though, shakes her head. "Sorry, but I've got my orders. And even if I wanted to tell you more, I don't know it. I'm just the muscle who knows we have plans and they're for everyone's benefit." Well, clearly, because white-colored or not she's dressed like the other mooks. "Besides! Rule number two. Outsiders can't know. If she's not with us she's against us." She chooses to ignore the fact she's technically breaking rule five. Oh well! "Killer android, grandmaster, it doesn't matter! We'll take you on!" Or they'll try, anyway. Sanary charges in, and the Black Feather with the sickle gets in the way, her weapon suddenly producing a thick wall of chains that covers all four of the girls. When Sanary inevitably slams through just a moment later, they're all gone. Arthur has the immediate alert ping that the White Feather warped behind him, and is about to slam the corner of her mirror down at Homura's hand if not stopped! 17 comes under fire from the bazooka-wielding Black Feather, whose shots don't seem explosive but rather not unlike the roots of a tree. They start small, and then spread on impact. If his barrier is up, it'd end up fully covered in tree bark, with jagged roots trying to pierce through at him. Eryl is getting tag-teamed while Sanary's at the other end of the room! The girl with the syringe bombards her sickle-wielding ally with AWESOME BUFFS, which causes her to grow and become much faster, all the better to slash the Grandmaster! Chains try tugging at his feet moments earlier, to open his guard up.
Android 17	The barrier DOES come up, aiming to block the shots. Though, the tree bark was unexpected and even weirder was the tree roots. The barrier holds, but at this rate, if he kept it up he wouldn't be able to move. Ironic, that it was this one he was facing, as a park ranger. Before the roots could fully entrap him, he lets the barrier down. This causes the roots to strike out at him, cutting across his shirt and skin. It draws some blood, but in a flash, he was gone again. In a moment, he was in the air, dropping down from the ceiling towards the Bazooka girl, aiming to quickly slam both arms down and attempting to lay her flat on the ground. "And what is with these ones? They act more like robots than people. Is this what you were going to do to my friend?" Seventeen says, there is a...sharpness in his voice. A dangerous tone, something that particularly bothers him about that line of thought down to his very core.
Sanary Rondel	"Chains? Hah! Come on, you can do better than that!" Perhaps a little too confident in herself, Sanary just keeps rushing forward, and said overconfidence is met with... Being entirely justified, apparently. Oh hell, did she just obliterate a child? Before she can have any sort of internal moral dilemma about that, she realizes that the din of combat is picking up behind her. Breathing a small sigh of relief, she rolls her shoulder once and glances between the sickle and syringe Feathers. "You know... Even if you're in some freaky cult and it ain't your fault on that, you still need to learn better." Clearly, she's going to teach them with violence. Following Syringe's lead, Sanary channels her own sort of supporting magic to Eryl appearing as a bright green line, letting him draw directly from her own pool of vague magic energy/stamina. "Don't use it all at once now! I need it to see!" As she calls out to him, she goes for another charge for Syringe. Clearly, she has no qualms about tackling someone much smaller than her at full force.
Eryl Fairfax	"This," Eryl gestures around at the empty mall, the ruined shoe store, the counter behind which Homura is hiding. "Is for everyone's benefit?" He doesn't really elaborate much on it. Doubt springs from but a seed, and he's just planted it. Best not to over-water it now. The fight begins in earnest, and Eryl surveys the scene quickly. The teleporter is fighting their own expert on the matter. Good, Arthur can keep her occupied until the others are dealt with. Sanary took the initiative, as she does, but those chains blocked her. So, one of them is on designated defence, while White Feather is their transportation expert. A solid combo. 17 is blasted with roots that spread. That could become dangerous if left alone. Ah, but they're moving on him now. The one with the syringe uses empowering magic to bolster the one with the scythe. Their melee expert no doubt. Ah, but now he has chains around his legs. Clever. How to deal with this?... The scythe hits home, carving right into Eryl's torso. But wow, it's a tough surface, tough enough that even her empowered self might have trouble pulling it free afterwards. So much for the grandmaster, huh? And yet... he's still standing. Still smiling, right at the magical girl who carved him open. And it's not like the attack didn't hit him, he's very plainly bleeding. "Did that feel good?" he asks her, before his hands lash out to grab her by the wrist, pulling them up to separate them from the scythe, and delivering the mother of all headbutts right where the bridge of her nose should be under that robe. He then drops her, and his hands drop to his sides, whereupon bullets erupt from his fingers to shoot at the chains binding him. He then begins to slow walk into the fray, daring someone to come at him.
Arthur Lowell	"Oh no you DON'T!" Arthur calls out. Very suddenly, he is there where Homura just was a moment ago, displacing and warping space to take up where Homura was just a moment ago. He tries a heavy-handed palm-block, suffering hard strain. "FUCK!" He shouts, as it eats into his health vial. He can already tell after just one exchange that this is going to get /really/ stupid /really/ fast. "You KNOCK THAT SHIT OFF!" He calls out. "This ESCORT MISSION BULLSHIT is WACK and YOU KNOW IT, fuck off with it!" Drawing his broom back, he tries to slam into the White Feather and launch her back. He can't afford to let her get space all to her advantage. He has to complicate it! A mall is a good structure for space nonsense, since normal malls are weird space warps that disobey natural geometry. He tries to slam her out of the storefront, and then leap at her with another overhead strike to try to get her unfocused and pin her in place briefly with a weapon lock. He flares up his powers, expending a substantial chunk of ASPECT to complicate the internal geometries, and unfold the rows of storefronts into an elaborate spatially fractal butterfly that uses multiple dimensions to obfuscate teleporting past him again, then stomps a foot into the ground, blowing another chunk of aspect to stretch the hall long in both directions, and send the ceiling of the mall up with multiple copies of each floor. Eryl probably didn't foresee this when he asked Arthur to do this, but Arthur doesn't have any space-stuff-nullification powers; the only effective way to mess up teleportation without a lot of architecture or magic Arthur doesn't have is to mess up how teleportation targets things! Luckily, he's well-equipped to do that, and he's not eating complete shit by headbutting Gaia's Will around here like he sometimes does elsewhere. "Look, homie-- Alright, fine! You got DELEGATION, you got COMPARTMENTALIZATION, /whatever/. But if you're gonna take a JOB like that, you best have that shit READY FOR A RUMBLE when the only way I can get some CHATTER to your TOP DUDE is to BEAT SOME ASS. Fuckin', I love HELPING THE FUTURE, but if whoever's givin' those ORDERS ain't got a PAMPHLET or some shit, ain't gonna PRESS CONFERENCE this motherfucker, I'll SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE if I GOTTA!"
Homura Akemi	"Emotions only get in the way! And a busted up mall isn't even a cost compared to what we want to do!" the White Feather replies to 17 and Eryl, though she, clearly, isn't under the same effect. Her mirror slams into Arthur, much to her displeasure, and the two barrel right out of the store. The suddenly overcomplicated space causes the White Feather to glare around, evidently uneasy, if not outright panicked, by the power Arthur put forward. She feels safe enough to teleport a bare few feet away, just out of Arthur's skull-smashing range. Not any further. Her mirrors orbit her protectively. "What more do you want to know, loudmouth?! We're trying to save everybody here, you're going to tell me that's not good enough for you? You think we're just going to tell you our plans so you can run off with the info after? That's stupid and risky!" Also he's not a magical girl. Clearly. The bazooka-wielding Black Feather uses her large weapon to block 17, but it only helps so much. The ground still cracks under her feet from the impact - the weapon cracks, too. From the broken barrel of the bazooka, more tree roots burst, trying to tangle up 17's arms and crush them! Eryl tanks the sickle. And then headbutts the girl away, which must have been incredibly painful judging from how she flies backwards with a flip and then hits the ground. The sickle even stays stuck in Eryl's chest! Talk about abs of steel. The chains turn out to be trivial to sever while she's distracted via being on the ground with a broken nose. Before the syringe-wielding Black Feather can help her ally up, Sanary tackles her down. The magical girl isn't especially strong, predictably. Thankfully the syringe isn't just a buffing instrument. Large needles burst out of it, trying to pry Sanary off the Black Feather through indiscriminate puncture wounds. Since she's not getting any support, the girl fighting Eryl has to crawl back up the hard, painful way, all the while the Grandmaster is gaining on her. She reaches out for her sickle, which, still in the wound (unless removed), suddenly erupts into a mess of chains again, this time to try to cocoon Eryl up. The White Feather, finally, looks about, trying to spot Homura in the chaos. She can't. That's because Homura ran into the backstore the moment Arthur gave her that opening. Annoyed, the White Feather's mirrors grow to roughly her size, and warp to either sides of Arthur, trying to sandwich him between them and then press him like an orange in a juicer. "You're making a mistake!" she insists, unhelpfully.
Android 17	The blast catches the arms of the Android, causing him to wince in pain as they start crushing his arms. However, he would argue his opponent got the worst of the exchange, now a level down. Though this puts him in quite a pickle. Fortunately for him, Seventeen is nothing if not resourceful. Each hand starts to glow. Two blasts of energy sear out, aiming to simply burn through the vines that are incasing his arms before they can do more damage. Once free, this causes him to rub the arms for a moment, before pointing one down at the Bazooka girl. A single blast of energy comes out of his hands, electrified as it soars at her, attempting to blast her good. He does not go all out, at the end of the day they could be victims. However, he speaks again, very very firmly towards the White feather. "You didn't answer my question. What did you do to these girls? Why do they not talk?" He says, with that same tone.
Eryl Fairfax	Eryl felt that crunch when he headbutted her. That had to hurt. When it comes to incapacitating targets, he finds that winning the mental battle works best. Part one is shock and awe. Taking her swing and approaching her with her own weapon still in his body is a big part of that. When she reaches for it, and chains begin to blossom, his hand lashes out. Not at her, not even to point at her to shoot. No, he rips the weapon from his body, causing a lot of blood to fly out, and send it flying to the back of the store (having seen Homura run out). Now he is between her and her weapon, and he won't stop coming. Closer, closer... He reaches out, places a hand on her shoulder, and pulls her hood back. "Let me get a look at that nose," he says using his other hand to push her head back gently. Regardless of how it looks, he winces. "Oh, that's a nasty break. If we don't deal with it soon, it might not heal correctly and be crooked." A threat to her appearance. "But we Paladins have very good doctors, and the best medical technology. If you would be willing to surrender and wait for me to round up your friends, I can promise that your nose will be good as new." He smiles again. "What do you say? I can even make it 'look good' if you don't want your friends knowing you gave up."
Sanary Rondel	Part of Sanary feels bad about using her age and size difference to pin the syringe girl down. Isn't this the exact sort of thing she had hated other people for so long in the past... Forever? Yes, but now /she's/ the one doing it, so it's okay. The needles bursting out of that syringe find a decent amount of resistance as Sanary's healing and natural stubbornness keeps her from succumbing to the injuries compounding with those she had received mere days ago. "Hey, NO. Where the hell are your parents, kid? Do they know you're getting involved in all this?!" Although she sounds one part the concerned adult figure, Sanary is also starting to slam her head forward against the syringe-wielder. That can't be good for either of them, but she's not too concerned with the injuries at this point. No, she's just trying to take this girl down before she passes out from blood-loss or burning out her own magical reserves to keep that healing going. "Now put that thing down or I'm gonna have to put your ass down, got it?!"
Arthur Lowell	Unlike certain other classes with the Space aspect, Arthur doesn't have any abilities related to changing the size of objects. This, it seems, is not true for the White Feather, who clearly does. "Ghh--!" He is slammed between them, creating big eight-pronged spiral whorls of cracks on the mirrors. "Yeah, no fucking kidding." He grunts through the pain of being crushed alive. "Should have been teleporting when you did that. My bad-- Ghhh! Fuck!" After several seconds of struggling to press the mirrors apart (his noodle-arms can't do it), and after several crucial percentage points of HEALTH VIAL lost, he forms a series of GATES on the mirror surfaces; it reflects around the pair, multiplying the space between them so that he can fit! Now in a better position, able to brace to push, he gives off a rising shout, until he can split them apart and leap out. Eryl gave him orders to capture her, which he's having a tough time with. Because that means he might have to grapple? And he's okay with hitting girls, but, like... /grabbing/ them? It's bad. He tries to catch her off-guard with something she hasn't seen yet, which is his gravity. Reaching out with one hand, he tries to grasp a shoulder, maybe a wrist, something like that, and hit her whole body with an intense gravitational enchantment that will, ideally, force her to the ground and keep her down, regardless of any teleporting. He can't nullify any ability she might have to teleport out of his grasp, but hopefully he can make it tough to get away if she does!
Homura Akemi	"We can talk," the bazooka Black Feather says to 17, deadpan. "It's just pointless," the sickle-wielding one tacks on, deadpan. "We aren't here to talk," the syringe Black Feather adds. Yes, deadpan. "The Wings of Magius make it easier to be a magical girl," the White Feather says. "It's not required, but it helps!" And this mission was important enough to bother. 17 slices through vines and shocks the bazooka-wielder. She goes right down, falling onto the floor unconscious. Eryl makes it a point to impress to the sickle-wielding girl how outclassed she is. But she doesn't seem afraid under the hood, or indeed anything at all. Actually, she... starts glowing instead? The green hue of her magic flashes, producing... a sickle. Another sickle. Another sickle. Dozens and dozens of sickles. Not even at Eryl. Nor even at -anyone-. They're stacking up like a big pile of weapons to either sides of her, harmlessly. Eryl, that close, catches the shine of a green jewel under the hood, worn like a tiara, becoming black and bubbly as it loses its hue. Sanary employs the same tactic as Eryl, headbutting a girl. She's a BIT sturdier than she looks, this one, probably because her syringer suddenly flushes her full of magic. She headbutts right back! It's more painful for her than Sanary by a mile, but it might give her just enough time to roll out from under her and get back up! The sudden gravity press floors the White Feather, who appears momentarily distracted (if not distraught) more by the state of her sickle-wielding ally than by the fact she's getting crushed into the ground by Arthur's powers. "S-Sor-rry but... I thi-nk that's our c-cue to... g-get out of he-re!" she manages, struggling against the pressure. Her form shimmers like glass, and so does the syringe-wielder's. They teleport! Not in the building. Arthur can tell, not too far, either. Maybe a city block away. But then she chains further and further away. But she didn't take the other two with her. The bazooka girl's unconscious downstairs, but the sickle girl's doing something. The White Feather's banking on that being more urgent to stop than anything else.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur is revving up his Gates to get after the escaping White Feather. He surges with his magic, and tries to connect, but he's hearing something over the radio. Eryl lets him know that he can't, and shouldn't pursue. And he hears something's going on, something that needs resolution. He lets his space changes subside, then surges forward as fast as he can towards the girl. He doesn't know anything about this Witch stuff, but he's just now learned /what/ she's doing. "Dude! Dude, no! Stop!" He calls out. "Holy shit, don't /suicide-bomb/ us, woah! Hey, hey wait, surrender! We're surrendering, you can stop, no more fighting, we'll run!" He's come to a stop near her, and he's got hands up even, with his broom is out of his hands and dropped to the floor. "I'm not gonna chase 'em! None of us are! No capture tries on you guys! You win! You won, we're backing off and we'll get out of here and stop! Holy shit, don't do this, seriously!" He's quite urgent, stressed and focused on appealing to what he distantly understands is her intention. He thinks she's baring the nuclear button, and he can only imagine one response that makes someone back down from it. It's also /massively/ stepping on Eryl's robo-toes, no doubt, as the actual professional diplomat. But Arthur is an impulsive person! He does stupid things, because stupid things are important to him.
Sanary Rondel	Getting headbutted back by a kid was not was Sanary was expecting tonight. Granted, none of this was expected, but especially that. Especially after her own headbutts. She really needs to think things through better. Rolling off of the syringe wielder, Sanary recoils long enough for the girl to escape with the girl in white, but she doesn't seem too concerned about that. After all, an escape means no more problems! For now. Except there totally is a problem in the form of the sickle-wielder doing... Something. She can't quite figure it out on her own, but smarter allies have that covered! There's something about wasting magic, turning into a witch, the gem being tied to mortality... Clearly, these magical girls are burning away their youth for this power. Sanary's solution, thanks to quick thinking and questionable head injuries, is to rush towards the glowing sickle-wielder. Once she's close enough, Sanary swings one arm around to try and hold her in place while reaching for that blackened gem with her other hand and... Pumping magical energy directly into that tiara gem. Homura did say they'd need one of those seeds to fix it, but she's dumb enough to give it a shot, anyway. Besides, holding the girl down might still contribute something. "Hey, dumbass! Being old ain't all that great! Take it from me and that guy." She jerks a thumb at Eryl. "You get paid better, sure, but you gotta start worrying about a lot of other crap!"
Eryl Fairfax	Eryl notices the bubbling, darkening gem upon the girl's head, and immediately calls it in. Everyone rushes over, and attempts to dialogue with the girl. Due to impulsivity, good-heartedness or whatever, they want to convince her to stop. And indeed, that would be the ideal scenario. But Eryl is the Grandmaster of the Paladins. And that means he has a duty to the worlds. If this continues, she becomes a witch. She 'should,' according to Homura, go into hiding and not hurt anyone. 'Should' is not good enough frankly. If she is posing a risk not just to them, but everyone who is outside this building, it is his duty to put a stop to it. His hand comes up, takes the tiara, and removes it from her head. He puts a thumb and a finger against the gem and speaks frankly, his tone dull. "Listen to me," he tells the girl. "If you insist on posing a risk to us, and innocents outside this building, I will stop you here and now." He begins to exert pressure against the gem to prove his point. "If you are not so far gone that you fear death, not so far gone that you feel bad for anyone you end up hurting if you allow this to happen, say something. Or I will destroy it. You have three seconds to comply. 3, 2, 1..." If he does not get an answer, he applied every ounce of his grip strength to the gem.
Android 17	Seventeen moves to grab the girl as she falls unconscious, with a look that is surprised they spoke...but the emotionless tone is...off-putting. Even to him, mister can't emote very well. He moves to carry her in a fireman carry and turns slowly towards the other girl and Eryl. The conversation goes around, finding out just what is happening. For a moment, the eyes of the Android go wide with shock, before returning to normal. His gaze looks towards the girl turning into a witch. Then to the Grandmaster, as he takes her gem and makes his ultimatum. He is silent, letting Eryl take care of it. Did the girl make the choice..? Or was it made for her? Seventeen doesn't have all of the answers, but it is a tragedy no matter how it comes down. In the end, he agrees...if it is her choice, then she made it willingly. If it was not...then White was going to pay. If the gem is crushed, he closes his eyes and mutters what might be a prayer. "Let us leave this place," he says, with the girl still in his arms. "We can figure out to do with her."
Homura Akemi	It doesn't seem Sanary's helping anything. She's giving the girl magic, certainly, but it's doing nothing for the built-up blackness in the gem. It does mean something, though. That Sanary could transfer magic at all, means she could act as a mana battery for a magical girl. That MIGHT be able to prevent going mana-dry! But it seems when one is ALREADY mana-dry... Although, it seems something releases its grip on the girl. Whatever magic was at play keeping her emotionally stunted either lets up, or the appeals to her common sense allow her to break right on through, coupled with being fueled by Sanary's magic. Whatever the case is, the Black Feather's hood falls back, revealing green hair and eyes, tear-filled. She's probably 16 or 17. A bit on the old side, for magical girls. "I didn't... I never wanted this... I just wanted to help the Magius save every other magical girl... even if it meant..." Well even if it meant something like this, probably? She's shaking. Clearly she does not WANT to die, and got in way over her head. "Why... why did I do this?" She looks at her Soul Gem, pressed into Eryl's (quite literal) deathgrip. "I'm sorry!"
Eryl Fairfax	Eryl's release on the gem is instant the moment the hood comes down. The look of genuine relief on his usually muted-to-exaggerated face is shining as he presses the tiara back into her hands. "No matter the reason, we're glad that you didn't. Thank you for stopping." He looks around the area, sees the unconscious magical girl, and nods. Two out of four isn't bad. "We're going to take you and your friend in, patch you both up, and maybe ask you both some questions about this group you're working for, okay? If you think they might come after you, we can keep you safe afterwards." He then looks to everyone else who responded. "Thank you all for your help. The Paladins will cover any usual fees you charge, as well as medical fees and costs you incurred in responding to this."
Sanary Rondel	"Hey. Hey. Looks, we're takin' care of it, see? You're not gonna get old or..." Sanary squints slightly at the Soul Gem, trying to make heads or tails of the thing before sitting back. "Crazy cult shit, looks like." Eryl gets an approving nod from the healer, and she rubs her neck lightly while glancing around to try and find Homura from where she's sitting. She isn't trying very hard, to be fair. "Low stress, huh...? Alright. I'll leave that to you, Mister Paladin.. Head.. Er." And then the approving look broadens just a bit when he mentions fees. "We-ell now~ I mean, I don't charge a lot, but I did take a couple of nasty hits from all this. It's a lot harder healing myself up than having someone else do it, y'know?" Good thing she bled so much. Otherwise, it'd be hard to look the part. "But... After you get the youngsters taken care of. They probably need it more right now."
Android 17	Seventeen's eyes widen again, surprised at what is going on he can't believe it. Homura's words on the radio cause the android to nod once. Ok, good...then they just need to keep her from stress for just a bit so they can get her a grief seed fast. Then... He kneels by the young woman looking at her. "It's alright. We'll get you a grief seed real fast, and you'll be fine. So take it easy and we'll handle it for you, ok? Before you ask why; don't. We're idiots that just like helping people apparently." He says this with a small smile. It's hard for him to emote, but there are times that he has to.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur lets out a soft, relieved "phew" sort of sound, and looks like he wants to just fall over there. He's pretty well out of Aspect, and in need of a serious recharge. "Alright. Thanks." He says, looking exhaustedly happy. "Look, we need to... Yeah. We're gonna make sure you get a Grief Seed or something, okay? Until then -- you got anywhere to stay and just chill? Take a quick vacation? You wanna just take a break somewhere I know? Just like, veg out, watch a bunch of TV, eat a bunch of junk food that would make people who aren't like us /crazy fat/, that kind of stuff. Catch up on whatever Netflix you missed while you were on the job." The kindness in his words is basically overflowing at the brim. A little bit because he really, earnestly wants to help out in a case where someone was about to suicide-bomb with magic, considering his... troubling history with magical suicide-bombing. A little bit, also, because he earnestly wants to make a good impression on her, and hopefully motivate her to be friends with Homura at some point, because he definitely can't bridge a lot of social gaps with the girl. Mostly because he's just filled with an impulsive kindness-response to the safe resolution to this.
Homura Akemi	MIURA HASE, the green-haired green-eyed sickle-wielder, happily accepts the clemency being shown to her, but seems very difficult to console. With her Soul Gem almost pitch black it's going to be incredibly important to keep her in as positive an environment as can possibly be managed. Even then, it's a gamble. But they have some time, if they're lucky. SADA ONOUE, who turns out to be orange-haired and yellow-eyed (no it doesn't really matter), will be grumpier, being a much more devout member of the Wings. They don't know a whole lot. They joined to help, because these 'Magius' promise to eventually free magical girls from the cycle, but how is being kept a secret. It seems the lower-ranked magical girls just handle recruitment, fighting and killing Witches. As guessed, this particular group was taking orders from a girl with some manner of future-sight. It just didn't account for any of you showing up, apparently. But as for immediate responses... Mostly Miura just wants to cry a lot right now. It'll pass, owing to everyone radiating positivity at her. But it's not hard to tell she's on the razor's edge. As for the two who escaped, they unfortunately know nothing helpful about that. They don't tell each other their names, precisely in the event something like this happens, though the rule mostly applies to White Feathers and their superiors.