[X] Go look for Karen yourself.
- [X] Cleverly, without killing anyone (intentionally).
"I suppose that's that, then," you say, turning away from the fence. Homura tries to grab your shoulder, but you see her arm reach out, and your wing raps the fleshy part of her hand above the thumb. You smile; people always seem to underestimate just how much control you have over your wings. Probably because you so rarely use them. The others look up as you walk over, and you jump over Madoka's bench to give Mami a hug. "Thank you for letting me come by, Mami. I had a lot of fun!" She seems surprised for a moment, but returns your embrace.
"Of course, Flan-chan. Any time." You pull away and curtsy at Madoka and Hitomi.
"Are you going to take Homura-chan's advice, Flandre-san?" Hitomi gives her friend a curious glance at the honorifics, but that's not your problem to deal with. You make a show of considering your options, then grin.
"Nope! I'm going to use one of my ideas. Ah, but it won't be the fun one, it'll be the boring one. But I'm a Scarlet, so I'll pull it off!" You thump your chest proudly, and Madoka laughs nervously. And before they can ask you anything else, you scamper toward the door. You pause at Mami's call.
"Ah, Flan-chan! Do you need me to help you get back?" You turn to see her hurrying toward you, but you wave her back.
"It's okay. I know how to get there, and I won't bother anyone. It'll be like I was never here!" Giggling at your little joke, you open the door and head down the stairs before she can catch you, turning invisible before you reach the next floor. And, true to your word, you don't run into a single student or teacher on your way out. You maintain your invisibility until you leave the school grounds, then summon your parasol and walk away. Your next stop is probably going to be in the shopping district, so you could just fly, but maybe you'll get lucky ….
You actually stop most of the way there, because you see a little police station. They gave you good directions last time, so you make your way over and creep up to the officer standing outside.
"Hi!" You pounce right next to him as you make yourself known, and he gives a little shriek and half-falls away from you, shaking and twitching. "Are you okay?" Two officers come rushing out, but when they see you and the fallen officer, the woman takes you inside while her partner helps the other officer.
"Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. He was at another station a while back that was supposedly attacked by a vengeful ghost. He hasn't been quite the same since, but as long as he can see things, he's fine, so he's been kept on-duty." You look back - you can't see him now, but he didn't look particularly familiar. "Are you lost? Do you need help getting somewhere?" Turning back to the woman, you sigh. This would be so much easier if you could properly captivate people.
"Mm! I need help finding a place, yes, but I can get to it myself." You decide to use Oriko's voice for this part. If you weren't concerned about killing her, you could try to captivate her, but you're much more likely to simply melt her brain. And you could make her submit to you, make her fear your power, but that would be obvious and possibly time-consuming. So, simple human tricks. "I'm supposed to find a place where I can talk to the whole city," you tell her, and she frowns.
"'Talk to the whole city?' What do you mean?"
"Well, I'm playing a game with some friends, and we're supposed to find all the clues before the others. Right now I'm supposed to find a place where I can talk to the whole city. You know, like through screens and -" You're interrupted by a small device squawking something. The officer leans over and turns a small button on it. "Or like that! So that you can talk to the whole city at once, and maybe let them see you." She stares at the desk for a moment, frowning, and you mutter to yourself in a gibberish combination of Italian and German, but the woman snaps her fingers and her face lights up.
"Ah! You mean a radio or television broadcasting station?" She grabs a small screen from the side of the desk, and after a little fiddling, she shows it to you. There's no sound, but there are two people sitting at a desk, and words scrolling at the bottom are talking about temperature, and then the screen flashes to a map of the region. You look up, smiling.
"Mm! Like that!"
"Well then, I don't know if it's the one you'll want, but the largest station is …." She reaches back for a folded-up map of the city and thrashes it open before laying it flat on the table. She scans the area, then points at a particular street junction. "Here. It's the largest station, and if anyone gives you trouble, just ask for Souma, and tell him that Hitomi said you were a good girl, okay?" You nod happily.
"I will. Thank you!" You wave as you run out, then stop at the recovering officer and smile at him. "Thank you, too, mister. You were very helpful." He smiles shakily, and you nod again before running off.
It takes you several hours of walking around, and visiting three different buildings before heading back to the second building, but you're now here. The "Emergency Broadcasting Station." You're alone and invisible, the door is locked, and you should have everything you need to get it started. So you do - then flinch and cover your ears as a wailing siren goes off, both in the room and, after a split second, outside. Then you find the device emitting the alarm and smash it with a danmaku bullet.
"Er, I'm sorry about that," you say, and you hear your voice echo outside, and you smile happily. "I wasn't expecting it, either. Anyway, I have a message for Karen. Can you hear me, Karen? Do you remember me? We met yesterday, and I have a little problem regarding what happened. Those needles hurt, and just because my eyes are better now doesn't make it alright." You look at the door - people are shouting and trying to get in. Someone else probably has a key, though, so you can't stay long. "I'm looking forward to our next meeting, Karen. Soon." Then you're out the window and changing into your bat shape. You hear a crash from the room, and a handful of distorted, shouting voices - a message to remain calm, and that there is no emergency - and then it cuts out. Perfect.
It's still a little too early for normal bats to be around, but since you know where Homura's house is from here, you don't need to be low enough for most people to recognize you. Birds, on the other hand, think you make a good meal, and the three seagulls that try get blasted by danmaku for their trouble. You make reasonably good time, and land outside; the door isn't fixed, but it has been somewhat reattached, and you push it open and head inside.
It's pretty much as you left it - which is strange. Kobolds don't usually spook so easily. You can see the bloodstains Lutecia left, the wrecked couches from your fit, the two holes in the ceiling from the needles Agito took. Even the box is still there, and you - carefully - pick it up and shake it out over one of the couches. A small camera falls out, probably what made that flash. You take out the needle you kept and examine it, then turn around at the sound of thudding footsteps, expecting to see Homura. A different black-haired girl bursts into view, however, slamming into the doorframe and bouncing inside. She sees the bloodstains and stumbles, and you're almost certain she's sad about something - then she sees you, and she runs over, dropping to her knees in front of you.
"Oh, you idiot, are you okay? I told you not to open, to give it to Homura, why didn't you listen to me?" She pulls your eyelids away and peers into your eyes, then relaxes and speaks more clearly. "Well, you really do seem fine, at least. Thank goo-glgk!" Your hand darts forward and you squeeze her neck, choking her. She stares at you, suddenly afraid.
"Why, hello, Karen. It's so good to see you again." You grin malevolently at her, then hold up the needle and look at it. You didn't really expect it to be this easy, that she'd run in without any defenses, and you're really confused about how concerned she was acting, but it doesn't really matter. She's here, and now she can die.
What do you do?
[ ] Kill her.
- [ ] After hearing her explanation.
- [ ] Quickly.
- [ ] Slowly.
[ ] Take her to Lutecia so she can apologize.
- [ ] Ask Sayaka to call the other girls.
- [ ] Tell Sayaka to tell the others not to come.
[ ] Talk to her.
[ ] Other?