The beast lunged for the man with the rifle, and for a moment Amethyst's stomach dropped, thinking he'd succeed. But Carrick was growing sluggish now from his injury, and he missed, the man rolling out of the way and firing another shot hastily. The princess froze; she thought the shot was going too wide, right in her direction, but then the beast reared up, and caught it in the chest. Amethyst cried out again. "Stop!"

Did he do that on purpose...? The beast that just mauled someone, was he... protecting her?

Carrick staggered, swaying this way and that, wings and tail drooping, before he finally collapsed. Amethyst watched in horror. Was he...?

The shift was, once again, shocking to behold. Fur and claws disappeared, until Carrick was left in his human form, with wings and tail spread on the ground, and otherwise completely naked. Once the shift was over, Amethyst finally willed her legs to move, hurrying over to Carrick. He was covered in dirt and blood, and half covered with the injured wing. Amethyst reached out, but she was too afraid to touch him.

"What did you do to him?!" she yelled at the man with the rifle. A small topaz rolled down her cheek and clinked to the ground "This... this is... this is going to be a diplomatic incident!"

The beast could have dodged. It had the footing and it could see what was about to happen. Did it realize the woman who had yelled earlier was behind it? That was a future consideration.

Ranger worked the action and loaded another dart into his rifle. However, he lowered the rifle once it was ready. The beast had lost its aggressive demeanor. It was moving as if to flee, but clumsily. The tranquilizer was working. Ranger clicked on the safety and withdrew his finger from the trigger guard.

Then the beast changed. It shifted from a gryphon to a very naked man. With wings and a tail. That would certainly make apprehending the gryphon easier. Easier to cuff human wrists than figuring out a way to deal with a four legged and winged beast.

The woman who had yelled ran toward the naked man. Ranger pulled on a strap for his rifle’s sling and the weapon came to rest tightly against his chest. This left his hands free to complete an arrest while also keeping the weapon under his control. There was a near zero chance the weapon, even loaded, could harm him but it was better to take the precaution. He didn’t want someone else shot by it.

As Ranger approached the woman yelled at him. She demanded to know what he had done. Ranger guessed that she was with the naked man. While a gryphon the man had avoided dodging when it could lead to her being hurt. She immediately ran to the man when downed. She was worried about what Ranger had done to stop something that had just killed a man.

”Tranquilizers. He’ll be fine, jus’ groggy later.” Ranger said as he approached and drew his hinge-cuffs from his vest.

The woman said there would be a diplomatic incident. Ranger cocked an eyebrow but didn’t stop. A man was dead. The diplomatic fallout could be handled later. The kid didn’t look old enough to be a dignitary with immunity anyway.

”He killed someone, in broad daylight, with a crowd of witnesses.” Ranger stopped a few feet away, ”Unless he has a diplomatic passport on him, justice has t’ be done. Now. Move ‘r be moved.” He spoke matter-of-factly. It wasn’t spoken from animosity but purely a statement of what would happen. Ranger wanted it to end without more conflict but he couldn’t let the death just happen. If the woman refused to move he could go through her.

>>”Tranquilizers. He’ll be fine, jus’ groggy later.”

Carrick was not moving. Why was he not moving? Amethyst tried to see how much of the blood was his, but she couldn't tell. She could see his chest rising and falling slowly, so he was not dead yet. The other guy, he was about to be. The princess' face flushed with anger.
She was not sure how tranquilizers worked. But the man seemed intent on cuffing Carrick.

>>”He killed someone, in broad daylight, with a crowd of witnesses. Unless he has a diplomatic passport on him, justice has t’ be done. Now. Move ‘r be moved.”

"They were attacking us" the princess pointed out, pulling herself up to her full (not very tall) height. She didn't have a passport on her. And Carrick... Carrick didn't have anything on him. She leveled a glare at the man. "And I am royalty. I represent the Kingdom of Atlantis. He... he was protecting me."

The woman was mad. She tried to look intimidating… It was unsuccessful. Ranger was rarely intimidated and people who were in the realm of half his mass certainly didn’t intimidate him. She claimed that the killing was in self-defense. That was a completely valid justification, but it was a defense to prosecution and Ranger had no way of knowing on site what had happened. All he knew is that the man had killed another man while in gryphon form. The gryphon was injured so it had at some point been hurt by someone else. That may or may not have been the dead man. It also didn’t mean the other man was the initial aggressor. Crime scene investigators could piece out what happened after the fact.

Ranger shook his head and gestured for the woman to move aside. She then claimed to be royalty representing the Kingdom of Atlantis. Ranger sighed.

”D’ y’ have any proof on y’? Any identification, y’r diplomatic passport? Are y’ in the US f’r official business?” Ranger questioned. He did not put away the cuffs. ”An’ even if y’ do that doesn’t necessarily protect him. I’m not shippin’ him off t’ Gitmo. A man is dead an’ the law has to work through it t’ find justice. Y’ might be the rap but y’ cain’t beat the ride.” Ranger moved to step past her to cuff the naked man.

Amethyst raised her chin, glaring back at the man, hoping it was not blatantly obvious that she had gemstones forming in the corner of her eyes. Stating her royal lineage at least seemed to give the man a pause.

>>”D’ y’ have any proof on y’? Any identification, y’r diplomatic passport? Are y’ in the US f’r official business?”

She opened her mouth. She didn't have a passport, or an ID. Not on her person, anyway. "I'm an ambassador. Princess Iris Beryl Amethyst of Atlantis." She could sort that out later.

>>”An’ even if y’ do that doesn’t necessarily protect him. I’m not shippin’ him off t’ Gitmo. A man is dead an’ the law has to work through it t’ find justice. Y’ might be the rap but y’ cain’t beat the ride.”

She had no idea what he was saying. He had a strong accent, and he was using words she didn't understand. Amethyst bit her lips in frustration as he stepped around her. She was not used to people stepping around her.

"Where are you taking him?" she demanded "Are you the police? Are you taking him to prison? He needs a doctor, you know that right?"

The woman, Iris, was claiming she was a princess of Atlantis. She had no documentation on her but that was something that could be later verified. As it was he could treat her as her station dictated. Not arrest her as she was a dignitary (who had not committed a crime so far as he saw) but otherwise treat her as any other person. Hereditary titles mean nothing in America.

Ranger kneeled next to the naked man and checked for a pulse. Iris was demanding to know where Ranger was taking the naked man. While Iris had no authority to make any demands, it was easier to answer questions when the answer didn’t complicate things.

”First, he’ll be taken t’ a hospital t’ be looked over.” Ranger brought the man’s hands together and in one motion caught both wrists in the hinge-cuffs with a quick series of metallic clicks. ”I’m a Federal Agent, Ma’am. Right now he seems stable an’ I can wait f’r the local LEOs t’ arrive. They’re en route. EMS should be with ‘em. He’ll take a ride with me in an ambulance. Once he’s cleared by the hospital he’ll be taken t’ a Federal court for an arraignment if evidence indicates he should be charged. If it is in his favor he likely will be released.”

The man did not seem very impressed by her royal title. That was probably a first, Americans usually liked royalty a little too much. Amethyst pressed her lips together in frustration. With her title taken away, she felt useless. It wasn't like she could just punch the man. Well... she could have, but wouldn't have done much damage.

>>”First, he’ll be taken t’ a hospital t’ be looked over.”

Hospital. Alright, good. Carrick needed a doctor. Or a healer, more likely, but she could not call anyone at the Mansion until she found a phone she could use.

>>”I’m a Federal Agent, Ma’am. Right now he seems stable an’ I can wait f’r the local LEOs t’ arrive. They’re en route. EMS should be with ‘em. He’ll take a ride with me in an ambulance. Once he’s cleared by the hospital he’ll be taken t’ a Federal court for an arraignment if evidence indicates he should be charged. If it is in his favor he likely will be released.”

The princess frowned. Again, she did not know a lot of those words, and the accent was not helping either. The only thing she got was that they were going to take Carrick to a hospital, and then to... a court? Of some sort?

"Well... then I am going with you." she declared, folding her arms. She was not going to let Carrick out of her sight, not without knowing where they would take him. Not that she cared for him all that much, really, but the Mansion was going to throw a fit if she went back and couldn't tell them what happened to the guy. "I also need medical attention." she added, just to be sure.

Ranger’s eyebrows went up. Iris, who was in no position to be making demands, was making demands. As far as Ranger was concerned she didn’t have a leg to stand on. However, it would make things easier to just let her ride along. She wasn’t a threat and making a point to have her not ride with the naked man would require more force than he really wanted to have to use , i.e., any.

Not to mention Iris was injured as well.

”Alright.” Ranger stood. The man was out of it on the ground and cuffed. It wasn’t likely he would be able to escape any time soon if Ranger left him lying there until the ambulance arrived. ”Y’ can ride along. It’ll give me a chance t’ get y’r statement on what happened.” Ranger cast his gaze across the area. There wasn’t a ton of immediately obvious signs of what had happened. Thrown objects, some marks on the ground where people and griffin had moved, and the like. Most of the evidence would be witness accounts (unreliable) and video from phones (suspect since they normally miss the beginning of the event). It was times like that Ranger was glad he didn’t have to do criminal investigations. He worked intel and was a shooter.

He turned to Iris. "So what happened? We have some time."

Amethyst was a little surprised at her demand being granted; not that she was not used to it, but the man did not seem the type to see reason this fast. She eyed him a little suspiciously as he checked on Carrick. At least she was not going to be left here in the park to fend for herself.

>>"So what happened? We have some time."

"They attacked us!" Amethyst stated firmly. "That man wanted us to... be gone, and called him an abomination, and accused me of... having sex with demons? Which is ridiculous, I don't even have sex with him." she clarified, pointing at Carrick. "And then Carrick roared at him, and he got even angrier, and his followers started throwing... glass at us. Bottles, maybe? And that made him turn into a monster."