"Hey, dandy man. None of us were involved in that attack in any way." Fate was answered by the man who was in the tree, shooting him a glare and holding his weapon, a blade, as he continued. "If there's a huge explosion that wipes out half the town, people are going to feel it and investigate. I wanted to investigate it. There's no crime in that, is there Sheriff?"
Someone like Malcolm could never be frightened by mere looks or a situation alone. He had in fact picked up some feeling from the intense glare he received, but his unflinching expression told nobody anything about what he was thinking or feeling. But such was the benefit of playing poker so much. One couldn't see a single twitch in his mouth as the man continued with, "I also do believe that you're in my territory, so my suggestion would be to take your magic tricks somewhere else..." However, this was when Malcolm's facial lock broke with a grin replacing his poker face.
"Simmer down, Hotshot." he instructed. He was merely looking for answers, not a fight. But that didn't mean he would leave to avoid answers he was seeking. Besides, this man was placing distance between them, which would only provide Swain with a better advantage. If this man thought for a moment that these cards played fairly, then he would would be sorely mistaken. Then again, it's not like many people could really predict a card doing what it could in Fate's grasp. "I only seek what hand you've played in this whole affair." But that was the last line Fate could speak before suddenly....
"HOLD" a man boomed. It was the leader of the Chikyuu, to be specific. Truth be told, Fate has dealt with this man in the past, non-aggressively, but hadn't ever heard his voice go much about a whisper. "Now, wait! Just hold on. There's too much commotion going on. It's starting to feel rather crowded here, quite honestly... So before we continue bickering and huffing and threatening each other, there are a lot of questions that still need answered. Like who all of you are and what you know about all these explosions that have been happening." Foolish, this man was. Was that not exactly what Fate just asked? Of course, he obviously put pacifism before the answers, and would probably listen to the demands on someone if they promised to refrain from violence, which would be counter-productive. Fate needed these answers more than he wanted to avoid conflict, so it was only natural he'd fight to get them.
He needed to be the one in control.
If there was any positive about this situation, it was that the young woman seemed to know something. She had, after all, a wide-eyed look on her face when Good Guy Greg questioned their involvement in the explosions. Maybe he was onto something. Yet, predictably, before he could open his mouth and get something out of her, more people showed up, one of them being his favorite toy, Alize. Malcolm tipped his hat at her and wore a smirk, knowing it'd only annoy her. That was his favorite thing about the Shikaku, was that he could go there to blow off some steam by playing around. But important matters first -- Her charm was much more.... 'potent' than his in that it nearly forced someone to listen to her. That was a big plus, but his was much more subtle and you never could tell that you were being manipulated which, in the long run, was more useful to reaching a long-term goal, like Fate had. He only watched as the young toy of his approached the girl and worked her magic.
"I cause them..."
The girl admitted in a monotone. She had caused this big explosion which had rivaled any explosion anyone had ever seen ever before. She had admitted that she was the cause of this, and that she had killed many people through it. With only three words, she admitted that she was the one Fate was looking for, and that he was so much closer to being the one to manipulate the events in this world.
He wanted to let loose a loud laugh, an evil chuckle, a howl of a sort. His objective was already in sight, all he had to do is whittle away at it's free-will and harness the ability to change the world! By the way she acted, such a task wouldn't be of much difficulty to a man who could caress someone's ears with his voice and words. So, by that logic, the actual act of manipulating her would be of no problem. But there was a problem....
His friend. And the Chikyuu No Mirai.
Two sides of the same coin, they were. And they'd both be heavily against them if they ever found out what he had in mind for The Destroyer. They both wanted to prevent destruction in this world, but with different means. Chikyuu'd try to teach her to manipulate her power by herself, while Dianne would most likely not want to risk it getting out of hand again and kill her to protect Kuusou. Either way, they were messing with Fate's goal, and that was something he could not allow. But simply turning on his friend here would prove to be a mistake. No, he could still use his relationship to his advantage, for now. And so, before anything else happened, Fate acted.
"Lady Luck is smilin." he began as he slowly closed the distance between him and the Destroyer. At this point, he knew he couldn't allow Diane, who was probably shortly behind, to order her execution. Well, at least, he couldn't let her carry out the execution. But it'd be hard to retrieve her if the Chikyuu got a hold of her, since they weren't so trusting of Fate. "Luck has delivered her straight to us. The cause of all this awesome destruction sits right before us." he was mentally laughing at all of this. The best way to get her out of this scene alive and without being apprehended was, of course, to provoke both sides at once into conflict with each other. Their ultimate goal the same, but their means different - it meant that such a task was simple, obvious. All he had to do was confirm to them what they already would suspect, and the die would fall right into place. "She has delivered unto us the Destroyer of Kuusou." he was now right behind her, within grabbing distance, but did not touch her...yet. "So, then what would we do?"
Or rather, what I do? You guys on the other hand....eheheheh!
