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Janine Liberi     Sascha has called everyone to... the old Alberichstadt Library. It's an unusual setting for what is going to assuredly be a very terse meeting. But then again, the place is kind of out of the way, and seeing less business ever since the cave system was discovered underneath it. But there's no chance those factors were first on Sascha's list of reasons for choosing it. She's a bully, through and through.

    And indeed, once everyone goes inside, it's clear what's going on. Sascha sits at a table with a gun on it. Beside her are Detectives Karl Vernunft and Iman Abdul Mantiq are beside her. Also at the table are the elderly couple that manage the library. None of them look happy to be here.

    "I thought we had a deal," Sascha demands as everyone comes in. "You bring me along next time you fight one of those big-deals in the mirror." She stands up from the table, and hurls one of Janine's pill bottles against the wall, causing the top to pop off and scatter them everywhere. "So why the hell were the mirrors going apeshit a while back, huh?! You holding out on me?!"
August Kohler "We didn't know the full extent of what we were fighting." August says, standing across from them in a fall jacket with jeans, eerily patient and calm compared to how he normally is. Probably sustained by hate, at the moment, for making Sascha look bad.

"We're holding up our end of the deal. We're going to fight the Wolf. You're allowed to join up with us, of course. After all, that was our agreement. Or are you cancelling it?"

August takes a sip of a water bottle, as he looks through the room, gesturing to someone to clean up the pill bottle if they're able. "I've got a question for you, Leitner." He might be undermining his case here, as his worry is subtle, but noticeable by a social predator such as her. "Are you still watching my family?"
Sanary Rondel After making sure she's actually eaten and cleaned up a bit to not look completely like a stereotypical farmer, Sanary arrives at the designated meeting place with her usual gear strapped to her back: Axe, staff, shield. Spotting a couple of familiar and unfamiliar faces, she adjusts her eyepatch briefly while raising her eyebrow towards Sascha's accusation.

"Whoa, whoa. Hold up. When was this going on? I haven't heard anything about the mirrors acting up since..." Did she forget something important? There's bits and pieces she can remember, and she's pretty sure Janine's Persona had changed recently, was that before or after the deal being made? Maybe she can use her faulty memory to her advantage. "That time back in the hospital? Y'know, when you made the deal in the first place."

Inwardly, Sanary is pleased with what appears (to her) to be a clever ruse. With the pills going everywhere being as important as they are, though, she starts scooping the things up and rubbing them off on her coat to get some of the more obvious dirt off.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa has not been expecting this contact from Sascha. Kotone is dressed casually enough at least as she looks at it she takes note of the situation and she takes in just who is here. She glances the couple and their police contacts over for a moment. To make sure there are no obvious signs of harm at least physical.

She looks at Sascha as she throws the pills against the wall. Like Sanary she gets up to help start collecting them given how important they are without a word to Sascha. She has somethings to say but not quite yet as August seems to be setting up for something.

She will, however, turn the pills she collects over to Sanary when they are finished getting what they can.
Rean Schwarzer Rean's here too, dressed in his usual uniform and his sword safely in it's sheath and held in his hand. Then Sascha throws one of the pill bottles at a wall, claiming that the others went into the mirrors without her. "Hey-" Rean starts, but then sighs. Let the others handle this. And so, he goes over to the spilled bottle to help Sanary and Kotone clean up the pills.

"I don't know about the others, but I haven't been here since the hospital." Unlike Sanary, this is true. And frankly, he doesn't know anything about the mirror situation either.
Janine Liberi     Sascha doesn't react a bit to August's explanation, but she shoots him a withering look when he asks a question of his own. "No Kohler, I threw away a valuable card in my hand. Of course I'm still monitoring your family you idiot." She looks to Sanary next and clucks her tongue. "When those big-deal Shadows scrap, the mirrors go apeshit. They went apeshit recently /after/ we made that deal. Which means you fought one and didn't invite me."

    She goes into a spiel now that sounds kind of rehersed. "Here's the thing Kohler. Now your word is worth less than my shit. That means I need something to guarantee your co-operation. I thought 'the lives of your family and friend' would be enough, but I guess you're a heartless son of a bitch. But that's okay, I am too. We can get along great." She fingers that gun on the table and makes a demand. "I want something from all of you that I can believe means that you will give me that call when the time comes to fight the Wolf."

    As the others begin to pick up the scattered pills, a gunshot rings out. Sascha has taken the gun from the table and sent a shot whizzing past the head of the elderly gentleman. "Did I fucking say any of you could move, or do anything but answer my questions? Get the fuck away from them, or I won't miss this time." She levels the handgun at the old man's head.
August Kohler Sascha goes into some bullshit. August lsitens patiently. And then, the gun goes firing. August's eyes move to track it, as she threatens the old man. His reaction only barely changes - into one of rage.

And then, he draws. The revolver comes out of his jacket, and fires straight towards Sascha's right ear, in an attempt to just blow it off. It won't kill her, probably, but it'll knock her unable to do much but scream in pain and curse at them unless she can push through the shock. August is aware she might counter-shoot the old man. But...

He won't let her draw the lines in the sand.

"Listen here, you fucking bitch. I'm willing to play ball with you, otherwise I wouldn't be here. I'm not here on your terms, I'm here on mine. If you're going to kill him, do it. Be a murderer. Next time, it's your brain across the wall. I'm not someone you fuck with. You want my something? Go to hell."

"My name is August Kohler. I have been doing this for almost five years. Do /not/ fuck with me."
Sanary Rondel Crap. That really /was/ after the deal, then. Sanary doesn't let the fact that she was caught show on her face, although she does stop collecting pills for a brief moment when Sascha delivers her new terms and threatens the old man.

Unlike August, Sanary's reaction is not nearly so animated or angry. Instead, she just seems nonchalant about the whole thing. "O... Kay? You know that killing the old folks isn't really a.. What's the word. Bargaining chip?" She tilts her head lightly in August's direction to not say his name directly, but as a clear sign of who to watch in this whole matter.

"You got that, and... Uh. I don't even know those people. No offense." She gives the older people a light nod in acknowledgment, then gets right back to pill collecting. "But... Yeah. I mean, it'd be a little easier on my conscious... Ness? If she does off you two before I get to her, so it might not hurt Sascha here to keep you alive."

Sanary grins a little more sadistically after that, and one hand goes for the handle of the axe on her back. "Unless she wants to make things harder for herself. Your call, lady."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone gets all the measure of Sascha she needs a memory flashes up of a thug cornering her and riping her apar casually just to get at what he wanted. She seems to be the very same way here. She's still picking up the pills, and she will then rise up as Sanary is still cleaning up the pills. She can move fast and act as a human shield if needed.

"I would think twice before you do something so rash."

Kotone is quite clear from her body language she's ready to respond if things go to hell. Maybe she should act but that would put the people at more risk and she knows it. Sascha may not know it but she's got Kotone over quite the barrel.

This is August's show and even if she feels like things are strained here? It's his operation and she's still going to show she is backing him, whatever happens here.

"You also need to think if you kill someone here? What will happen to you."

She has stopped moving for the moment as she stares the woman down.
Rean Schwarzer Rean's hands clench around whatever bits of pills he's picked up as shots ring out around him. Yeah, of course that's what happened. "...It's clear that neither of you trust one another." Rean says, still looking down at the pile of pills. He then stands up, and locks eyes with with Sascha, one hand on his sword's hilt, ready to draw.  "But if you need our help so badly, then maybe you shouldn't do things that'll just turn this into a fight nobody wants. So let the civilians go home, since they've got nothing to do with this."
Janine Liberi     Rean appeals for reason. Sanary and Kotone threaten. But August acts. His gun sounds in the library, a spurt of blood issuing from the remains of Sascha's ear. She hisses through clenched teeth, snarling through the pain as she raises the handgun and squeezes the trigger. A bullet flies towards the old man, piercing his head and sending blood and brain out the back of it. He topples out of his chair as Karl screams in horror.

    Then Sascha adjusts her aim and shoots the old woman as well.

    "DON'T FUCK WITH /ME/ KOHLER!" she shouts as Karl runs around the table to clutch the bodies of the two people. He's sobbing. Iman just looks shellshocked. "Need I remind you that your family's lives are in my hands?!" She produces a walkie-talkie. "All I need to do is say 'go' into this and they're as good as dead! I'll be a murderer time and time again if that's what it takes!"
August Kohler Sascha fires her gun. Twice. Both elderly folk killed. August is upset. He levels his pistol at Sascha's head. He's about to pull the trigger.

She threatens his family. And August has tangible, explicit proof she'll do it. She just killed two civilians. She'll say the word go if he fires. They'll die - they're completely mundane.

August doesn't lower the gun, but he takes his finger off it. "We're at an impasse. You want confirmation that we'll call you? You have it. You have my family as practical hostages. I can't avoid you."

"But I'm going to kill you, you fucking psycho. Sooner or later." August lowers the pistol. He prepares his reaction for if she follows up by shooting him - she just needs to not kill him in the process and he'll be fine.
Sanary Rondel Part of Sanary wonders if they might have messed up. Maybe a little, but she's nowhere near as freaked out as Iman and Karl are by the murder of the two hostages. She's about ready to bring her axe forward when August actually holds back, and she too relents in moving forward. There's no sense poking the live hornet nest for the time being when there's something more tangibly threatened already, but she's also not quite ready to lower her guard just yet.

She's also not quite sure where to go with all this beyond watching the redhead's back. She glances over at Kotone and Rean, gauging their reactions even as she straightens up slowly to a somewhat less threatening hunch than before.

"... So. You got a number we can call the next time a Shadow pops up?" For some reason, she tries to be a voice of reasonable-ish thought. "Because if something just pops up outta nowhere, we can give you a call. We can't ask it to wait politely while lookin' for you."
Kotone Yamakawa She does it she pulls the trigger. Does she thinks this proves how big and bad she is? Or her willingness to show she's in charge? There's also the fact if she kills August's family she has nothing over him to make him hold back. Those thoughts go out of her mind, Karl and the Iman are foremost on them right now. She waits to see what August will do she's horrified at this but there are still several more lives on the line here. The look on her face is one of horror and it slowly melts into nothing her face just locking up looking very doll-like.

August gives his answer choosing his family's life, and by extension, Karl's and the Iman's over this.

There will be other chances to get this thing that walks like a person. She will make move to get to Karl to be hopefully able to act as a shield if shit goes further south.

"You have made your point, clear."
Rean Schwarzer And then Sascha shoots the two elderly people anyway, and their bodies hit the floor scattering blood and brain matter across the floor. One of the detectives goes over tot heir bodies and starts sobbing. Rean locks eyes with the now bleeding from one ear woman. He shouldn't have tried to stop August that night. Every time they'd had an encounter with her, she proved to be more and more monstrous, killing her own men and now this elderly couple...and she still had August's family hostage.

Rean's grip on his sword tightens. She couldn't hurt anyone else if she didn't have a head.

And then, surprisingly, the others decide to let her live one more day. He turns to look at them, and blinks. "....Huh?" he whispers. Rean aggressively shakes his head, trying to regain focus. They...they needed to get the detectives out of here. There's not really anything they can do until she leaves, though.
Janine Liberi     There's a tense standoff as August points his gun at Sascha and she points her own at him. She presses a button on the walkie-talkie and makes it squawk, staring at him furiously. But eventually, he relents, and everyone else stands down. She cracks a smile and lowers both gun and walkie-talkie. "Good. See, we can get along. You just needed to realise you're not as bad as I am."

    In between his sobs, Karl can be heard muttering, "Mom, Dad, no..." Well. That explains that. Sascha pays him no mind, producing a business card and flicking it towards Sanary. "Contact me there," she says before putting her feet up. "If this goes well, I'll give the order to have your names taken off the wanted list. You'll be able to go back to your lives, and the government will be able to handle things. And all it took was the lives of the nearly-dead. Good trade, don't you think?"

    Iman's face is thunder. It looks like he might try something.
Sanary Rondel Oh shit CARD. Sanary snaps her hand forward to try catching it in midair, but it bounces off the back of her hand. She goes for it with her other hand, and she manages to bounce it upwards. Another grab, another flail, another flittering of that card all around. She finally catches it after the sixth bounce-and-grab, albeit in between her fingers rather than in her palm as she wanted to.

She coughs once, then looks over the card briefly before slipping it into a pocket for safe keeping. "Sounds like a plan... Hm. Alright, we'll be in touch next time somethin' comes up. Don't get hit by a car in the meantime."

She certainly doesn't sound like she doesn't want Sascha getting hit by a car. Sanary sends a sympathetic glance Iman's way, and she grimaces slightly as if she's actually feeling somewhat guilty over that. Only somewhat, but it's still enough to stop her from just leaving right off the bat.

"... Hey. You mind if I take the bodies?" She asks Sascha, purposely not looking at Iman as she jerks a thumb at the two corpses. "Something I wanted try back home."
August Kohler Iman's going to try something. August thinks about it. He could possibly kill Sascha...or he could die in the process. But either way, he has vengeance in his heart. August sidles up to Iman, and just whispers to him.

"Not now."

And he slides something into his pocket - a radio receiver and a Watch calling card. August prepares to leave, everything having been set up. But later, he'll call Iman, and he'll try and communicate with him. August has a plan.

It involves recruiting a man into the Watch, and letting him enact justice, but on terms where he'll win. Iman may not have powers. But he has the spirit. He's a good cop.

He could be better.
Rean Schwarzer Iman looks like he's about to shank a certain someone, but August seems to have it handled. Sanary offers to 'try something' with the bodies, and maybe they're thinking of the same person. Or she could know some forbidden magic from her world or something, who knows. Still he takes a stab at guessing what she's doing and whispers in her ear. "Are you taking them to Staren?"
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa heart is dying right now at Karl he just saw his family murders the's nothing that can be done for his parents now. Kotone has seen some cold things in her life but nothing so personal like this save for when she was torn apart by a similar psychopath. Iman is full of as much fury as she is, right now she tart to think about getting ready to act she looks to Karl and then as August.

August tells Iman to /stay/ his hand, she thinks about her own family her parents her pack of siblings... would she do any different? No, she wouldn't.

There's no use calling Staren she thinks she saw the headshots, he can't do anything for that.

She moves to Karl to help get him out of here, leaving him on this world may be a very bad idea for the moment.
Sanary Rondel Sanary raises her eyebrow when Rean comes close enough to whisper. "... Eh? Oh, HELL no." She actually grimaces a bit at that suggestion.
Rean Schwarzer "Er...Ok." Rean says. Guess he was wrong? Karl is still crying, and so Rean just sits down next to the man, attempting to bee a comforting presence or something. "...Sorry." he says.
Kotone Yamakawa Once Sascha is gone Kotone will go to Karl and try to put her arm on him, what the hell can she say? There is nothing she can find to say to him right now.
Janine Liberi     Sascha smirks at Sanary as she offers to clean up the bodies. "Oh, sure thing. You even handle cleanup huh? Told you this partnership would work out." She vaults the table and strides towards the exit. "See you soon boys and girls," she says, kicking open the doors and getting into an idling, unmarked black van that speeds off.

    Once she's gone, Iman pivots on August and punches him in the face, hard.

    "Not now?! NOT NOW?! Don't act like this isn't your fault Kohler!" He goes to follow up with a vicious kick aimed at August's face. It is probably right now that he's realising that Iman has a little more combat experience than the usual detective.

    Karl shoves Kotone away from him, and stares bullets at Sanary, "Don't touch them," he says. For the first time ever, his voice has inflection, and it's in the tune of 'seething anger.'
August Kohler Iman moves to punch August in the face. August reflexively moves to block it, catching the hand in his super strong grip, though he's pushed backwards in the process. "We know someone who can help them. In the Multiverse. But listen. You can't just allow people to bully you." Now that Sascha's gone, he speaks up.

"We're going to trick her. Feed her to the Wolf." He makes sure there's no microphones as he says this. "Bring your parents back. Stop the suffering. But what was I supposed to do, let her take them hostage? Let her control us indefinitely?"

"You're in a game /out of your league/. This is the Multiverse. This is supernatural. People die. We can fix that. People fight. We have to do the fight. We have to keep going."

And then, he turns to Karl. "If you want them back, give her the bodies. If you want to just bury them...that's fine, too. It's up to you." And then...August considers something. There's only one option. Adelle was able to do it. Perhaps...

"Do you want to become better? Stronger? Able to play on this field? It's a yes or no question. I can give you that chance. But you need to /work/ with me. Otherwise, we can end our entire relationship now and forever."
Sanary Rondel "Riiight. Glad doin' business." The disdain is barely hidden as Sanary watches Sascha leave, waiting until the van is out of sight before rubbing her forehead. "THat... Egh. Anyway."

And Iman's having at August. She leaves the handling of the more violent of the two to him, and she nods slowly when August reveals THE PLAN to Karl and Iman. "I know a guy that's worked with... The dead before. I can't make any promises if he'll actually be able to bring them back, but I figured it'd be worth a shot. I just need you to trust me on this one."

She kneels nearby Karl, nodding towards Rean and Kotone afterwards. "I got this, don't worry. But... Yeah. I'm not gonna make you raise your hopes if you don't want to risk it not working."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is shoved off from Karl she gives him his space she can feel the rage from here ad she gets up looking to Iman and August she doesn't move to intercept his as August is quick to respond and it seems that August has some sort of idea of how to handle this. Kotone only knows one person who could bring back the dead. Save with headshots? He can't do jack. Then again Sanary and August know people she does not. They know someone they trust them enough on this right?

The plan comes up on how to deal with the one behind all this misery. It's ghoulish but it would work and everyone could claim that the wolf got her. This day has gone to hell in a handbasket and she's got a lot weighing on her now.

"All right."
% She looks to Sanaray and nods a bit she has no reason to distrust Sanary right?

"I'd also like to extend the option for you to get off-world if you want it."

She's really at a bit of a loss here.
Janine Liberi     "Oh, you'll feed her to some monster, and then what?!" Iman demands. "Whoever gave her all those wetwork goons are still in panic mode! Probably even more so after she's gone! You're still public enemies! Face it Kohler; you're still just an angry kid, lashing out with no forethought, fighting another angry kid!" Iman says, wrenching his fist back.

    Karl, though angry, is a little more clear-headed. He stifles his cries to listen. Promises of bringing them back. Of dealing with Sascha. He stands up, and produces a handkerchief to wipe his face. "Slow down," he says to Iman. The junior detective does stop, but the veins in his throat show he's still furious.

    "You're promising a lot Kohler," Karl says, looking him dead in the eye. "But I don't think you're lying. Besides, it's not like things can get any worse. I'm in." Iman just keeps fuming silently, so Karl keeps talking. "Listen. There's a lot of bigger problems than her, I know. But that doesn't detract from the fact that she's a monster. If she's left alone, she'll keep doing things like this. Besides, dealing with governmental shit should be left to us, right?"

    Iman exhales through his nose. "Right. Yeah. You're right, of course. Okay, I'm in. But we'll have to worry about that stuff eventually, so I want to hear ideas." Karl nods, and looks to Kotone. "Appreciate it, but no. If we run, she'll get suspicious."
Sanary Rondel Sanary waits until Iman backs off before finally sending a cloud of healing light around the room, lingering mostly on August and Iman to help mend their face and hands respectively. The healer still has her job to do, after all, even though she still needs to touch base with Karl more directly now that he sounds like he's on board.

"Alright, so. Training-wise, we're gonna have to get you guys set up with some hardcore training. Maybe get some magic shit in ya." She taps her chin thoughtfully, nodding after a few moments as things start to fit together in the healer's mind. "... This might actually tie in with the other idea. I used to work with this dark magic user, right? Kind of a creepy guy that didn't... Still doesn't get along with a lot of folks, but he really knows his stuff. I'm thinking..."

She points at the bodies. "We bring them to him, and we see if he can get some magic in 'em to get them up and running again, right? Again, no promises, but if anyone can do it? It's that guy."
August Kohler "I understand your anger." August says, as Iman hits him with something hard, and he winces. He falters. He nods. "But if I'm just an angry kid, then you need to be rational adults willing to be better than me. Let's do what we can for you."

August moves to leave, but he tosses the card and radio receiver to Iman anyways. "I'll use that to contact you, and you can contact me with that. But, the basic idea is...if we can't give you Multiversal power, I want to see if you two can handle Personas."

And then, August leaves, once he's free to do so. He's really upset, as much as he's trying to keep calm.