"Your Eidolon can change it's head into a-." Was all that Ashley had time to say before Luka willed the air around her mouth to stop vibrating, leaving her speech completely inaudible.

"Quiet you." Luka said before turning back to Agent Simonsen. "Don't mi-"

"I will not intervene this time." A familiar voice spoke up from the back of Luka's mind. "Tend to him as thou see fit."

"THANK YOU KINDLY." Another familiar, and much more terrifying, voice thanked the first. An instant later, Luka felt the presence of the cloth gag at his mouth again. Though when he tried to pull it off, he found nothing there.

Simonsen blinks witlessly, first at Luka, then at Ashley, then at the exit that has suddenly appeared in place of the broken window. You can almost hear the grinding hard drive sound coming from his brain as he tries to process the conflicting information you're giving him, and evaluates his options in light of that.

(If there's one thing that's become clear about Simonsen, beyond what he's told you, it's that he's not the sharpest pencil in the box. He'd much rather be blowing things up than evaluating a new threat, especially one that has proven to be outside his previous experience; luckily, you've managed to convince him that he can't explode his way out of this situation.)

Finaly, he seems to reach a decision. Ray moves slowly towards the exit, keeping his eyes on the four of you, and backs out towards the street. As he does, the strange coloring drains out of the environment, leaving the diner looking as it did before (though with the addition of a rather garish new entrance). He does not say anything in response to Ashley's offer; however, he points two bandaid-covered fingers at his eyes, then tracks the gesture over the four of you as he backs down the street.

Despite his silence, the message is clear--"We'll be watching."

The only people remaining in Mario's are you and the goat-bat creature, whose soft chirps are muffled by the metal third pan still sitting on his head.

---

---

Although it seemed like he would not be getting out of the Judge's grasp this time, Luka was surprised to find that the gag left almost as swiftly as it had arrived. Not that he was about to complain, of course.

"Well, all in all, I'd say this was a fine first outing." Luka said to his fellows. "The only piece of real criticism I have is with you, Reader. You really should have just let the guy think we're Shades. I doubt any of us are going to enjoy what happens if they dig up our true identities... Either way, the limo should be nice and toasty by now. If any of you want a ride home, I would be happy to oblige. Mister MegaTen? Come." With that said, Luka made for the exit he'd created, willing the creature that had started all of this to follow in his wake.

The Crow tilts his head to the other side. It appears the strange man - who, according to Ashley, was the one originally responsible for their deaths - was leaving.

Huh.

Kind of anticlimactic, actually, but at least they were all still alive. However, this whole scenario had left him with a lot of questions...

"Didn't Santana say that the people who killed us were a problem and we should make hell for them?" he said, gesturing with his wing towards where Ray had once been. "We didn't really make hell for that guy. We were more of a nuisance really." He looks over to the kitchen. "Or was he talking about that weird thing in there? I'm confused." He glanced between Ashley and Emily in search of answers.

He got the feeling that Luka probably didn't know... or care.

And also he just didn't want to ask him.

"A fair point." Ashley begrudgingly gave to Luka. "But also a risky path to take."

"That man is willing to blow up a diner full of people to deal with a 'Shade'." she spoke gesturing to the now christened Mister Megaten. "I don't want to think about what he is willing to do against 'intelligent shades' at least not yet."

She then spoke to the Crow. "What he meant was filled with vagueness, so let's not do any rash actions for now, besides I think we will get an opportunity to
make our part soon."

Then she responded to Luka's offer.

"I'm afraid we would need to decline, it would be for the best if you don't explain to your friends why you let strangers and a crow in your limo." she explained.

"Before we part ways though." Ashley began walking towards a trash can, the one where Crow threw something. She began rummaging it for what she thinks are two important items that the Agent seemed to forgot was still missing.