Flashing lights illuminate the park at this late hour, making it look like
some odd parody of a late night TV show. The majority of the white lights,
at least, seem to be focused on a small open area, where a police cordon
has been put up. 

Indelicato tries not to spill his coffee as the squad car TH-BUMPS up off
the street over the curb towards the area of the Park where the action is. 

Indelicato emerges from the car, wiping his jacket off ruefully. He tosses
the cup into a nearby trashbin and saunters towards the cordon, shaking
the last sticky drops from his hand. He approaches the ranking officer.
"Hey, Mullen. What's the story?" 

Mullen walks up, scratching his head, and yawning deeply. "Well, looks
like we got a couple of shooters here. They both shot each other..." he
shrugs. "...over what, I can't tell. They're down there, though, if you
want a look." He jerks a thumb towards the cordon.

The ambulance drivers have already arrived on the scene, and appear to be
tending to one of the victims. You notices them briefly go to the other
one, and the medic shakes his head sadly and pulls the sheet over the
body. 

Indelicato nods. "Sure." he says, scribbling his name on the scene log and
handing it back. "Hang onto it until ballistics finishes up." He ducks
underneath the cordon and saunters down the gentle slope towards the knot
of EMTs who have not yet finished with their charge. With an authoritative
tug, he moves a uniformed policeman away from the group and looks down at
the sight. 

One can only picture what may have happened here from the scene before
you. One body lies obviously dead, beneath a sheet, on the grass. Blood
seems to be seeping out into the ground, still fresh. The other victim, a
young girl, appears to be severly wounded. You can see the EMT's tending
to her arm and chest. The girls is unconscious, but appears to be mumbling
something, although it is faint and she appears to be fading fast. 

Indelicato leans over slightly near her head, well out of the way of the
EMT's work. "What is it, sweetheart?" he murmurs paternally. "What
happened?" 

She does not even open her eyes, as she has lost a considerable amount of
blood, and does not appear to be regaining consciousness. Her mumbling
does increase in volume slightly at his voice, and as he leans forward,
you hear a faint, "...bullets... " a brief pause, then, "...bracelets..."
after which she says no more. The EMT's give you one of those looks, as if
they are not sure she's going to make it, and begin loading her onto the
back of the ambulance. 

Indelicato rises with her, looking briefly at her wrists: the damaged,
then the undamaged one, before taking a single step back and asking one of
the uniformed officers: "Find the weapons?" 

Particles of gold flecked 'paint' adorn the wound, although there is
little left of her left wrist to check, as the bullet passed completely
through it and it is heavily bandaged. On the other wrist, you find a
cardboard 'bracelet' with a red star painted on it. The uniformed cop
looks up at you, hearing your query, and stops smirking, pointing to the
nearby police scientist, who is collecting evidence from nearby the dead
victim. 

Indelicato nods. "Wipe that smile off your face before the press sees it." 
he mumbles, then moves towards the other body. His mind is clearly
elsewhere suddenly, and he curses. "Mullen!" he calls, beckoning the
ranking officer closer. Even before he gets to the second body, he is
muttering to the ranking officer: "Clear all non-essentials from the
scene. It's probably too late, with all these lookie-loos trampling all
over the place, but we just upgraded this to a priority case. Move." When
he gets to the second body, he nods to the police scientist. "McCarty." he
says, looking down, noting the wounds and the clothes and the face and the
age before his eyes begin to slowly wander around the scene, taking in
every detail. 

Lifting the sheet, you get a sensation of deja vu, as this girl is dressed
remarkably like the girl who died several days ago, falling off the
building. Red tube top, blue shorts, even the cheap cardboard tiara,
painted in gold with the crude marker red s tar atop it. The wound is
ugly, apparently entering her belly and exiting in her back somewhere. You
would have to guess that she suffered a bit before dying, mostly from the
expression of pain, and fear that still remains on this young girl's face.
She can't be more than 13, you would guess, with dark curly hair, and a
pair of gold 'painted' bracelets with red stars matching the one you saw
on the other victim. 

Mullen makes his way down to your side, eating a donut that he apparently
picked up from god-knows-where. He nods to you. "Ugly job. Can't imagine
why, though."  

Indelicato lets the sheet go. It crumples back over the body. "Y'know,
McCarty. Sometimes I hate being right." He carefully gauges the distance
between the bodies, almost out of habit, his eyes peering across the grass
for empty shells or discarded weapon s, or anomalous footprints, or signs
of a struggle, or anything that will keep him from having to think about
the conclusion he's coming to. "We expect about one a year. If we get two,
it's no big deal. Three, in two weeks? It smells.  Bad. Sure, motive is
 a tough one. Maybe it's some kind of gang thing..." he says meditatively.

McCarty acknowledges your greeting by glancing at you ever so briefly,
then continuing to scour the ground for evidence. He examines the grass,
noting the places where powder residue and gold flecks reside. He sighs,
and looks up at the detective, and shrugs. "From what I can tell, and this
is just preliminary, mind you, but these two girls came out here with the
intention of shooting each other. The victims knew each other, as you can
tell from the number of footprints near the scene. In fact, they were here
for over an hour, talking before getting up and shooting each other." 

Mullen chimes in, a mouthful of donut obstructing plain speech, "Yeah, we
got a couple of witnesses who claim to have seen them sitting over there
by that tree, just sitting, and talking. They claim that was over an hour
ago." 

Indelicato shakes his head a little. "What, then, a suicide pact? I could
believe it with just two...but what about two weeks ago? It can't be a
copycat, we didn't release the details. Maybe they knew each other...well,
we can't do much more until we get an ID. Just keep a -lid- on it, will
you, fellas?"

Wonder Woman enters the area of Central Park, from Fifth Avenue.
Wonder Woman has arrived.

The two men nod, almost in tandem, and then McCarthy goes back to
gathering evidence, while Mullen walks over to the two young officers who
seem to be having a good time, as one of them half-chuckles before
noticing the approaching man. A few harsh words are exchanged and white
faced, the two young officers seperate, and begin dispersing the crowd.

There is a telltale shimmering in the sky, and in the clear night, a
woman's form is apparent in its shape as her legs twist downward, arms
outstretched, and she glides gently to land just past the encircling cars. 
Her manner seems relaxed as flashing lights reflect from the metals of her
armor, blues and red, tinged here and there with gold, her own lassoes
glow visible even over their garish strobe. She takes a pair of steps
closer to the detective, and then waits for his approach to speak with
him, an expression of some sorrow on her features as she sees the
blankets, and knows that they represent at least two dead.

Indelicato scratches his head, which makes his hair even more mussed up.
"Frickin' kids." he mumbles to himself. "Not enough they shoot each other,
they gotta -schedule- it." 

The ambulance pulls away, it's precious cargo now securely inside. Mullen
silently mouths a prayer as it pulls away. 

Indelicato turns and sees Diana a short distance away. He trudges up
towards her. "Hey, Pri...er...Diana." he says, his eyes scanning the
quickly dispersing crowd almost compulsively. 

Wonder Woman looked at you.

        Diana is a tall, handsome woman of noble bearing and carriage, but
with a certain quality about her as she apprehends you that is far more
the girl next door than goddess. Her skin is a deep olive tan, like
burnished bronze, her muscles honed to p erfection beneath. Her thick
black hair forms a mane of curls, reaching down to her mid-back, and
tumbling soft as a waterfall over her shoulders. Her eyes are large,
clear, and blue as they look out from beneath her golden tiara, holding
back her hair an d adorning her forehead with a large, red star. In each
ear is a matching red star as an earring, offsetting the redness of her
full lips, seemingly always impressed with a quiet smile. 

        Her armor is simple, covering only her central body. Her red,
stiffened leather bustier rises up to cradle her breasts, emblazoned
across with a pair of golden, metallic 'W's, one atop the other. On each
forearm is a silvered bracer, gleaming of a rgent and flashing in the
light, stretching from elbow to wrist. About her waist is a golden belt, a
pair of points, one rising up over her midriff, the other dipping downward
extending from it. On her left hip, slung from the belt, is her shimmering
gold en lasso. Her tights are dark blue satin, a pair of large white stars
on the front, one on either side. Her long, powerful legs are bare down to
just beneath her knees, where they meet her boots, a deep crimson red,
with white stripe running up from toe t o peak, and forming a rim around
the upper edge. 

Indelicato(#1385Pfces)

        Ed Indelicato is a man in his mid-to-late thirties, with dark hair
that is seemingly permanently uncombed. He has a thick mustache that arcs
downward on his face, and a loose-fitting suit of navy blue. A very slight
paunch pushes his rumpled shirt out over his belt. On the lapel of his
coat is clipped a NYPD identification badge showing that he is an
Inspector.

A slight, almost weary smile, this evening crosses Diana's features as she
reaches forward to make a brief and utterly fruitless attempt to adjust
your terminally rumpled coat a bit. It is likely an attempt to put off the
details of this horrible crime for a few moments if at all possible,
"What's happened?" She finally asks, following Ed's gaze ot the crowds
only briefly before returning her blue eyes to him. 

Indelicato shakes his head a little. "Couple of kids. Bracelets just like
yours. 'Cept when they shot each other, the bullets didn't bounce off. 
One's headed to Memorial." He doesn't say where the other is. He probably
doesn't have to. He takes the scene log from Mullen and signs off on it,
tucking it under his arm. He accosts a passing uniformed officer carrying
an evidence bag. "Hey." he says. "Be sure the guns' IDs get traced before
the ME starts the fingerprint search." 

Slowly, almost as if there is no hurry, another ambulance silently pulls
up to the cordoned off area. The two EMT's seem to be taking their time
getting out of the cab, and stand by the doors, lighting up cigarettes and
talking quietly. 

McCarthy looks up briefly as he hears the reference to fingerprints, and
then goes back to his work. The uniformed policeman, one of the young men
who found humor somewhere in all this, nods silently to the detective. His
face shows no trace of his earlier inpropriety. A short, "Yes Sir" is all
you hear, as he goes over to the evidence to carry out your request. 

Indelicato doesn't ignore Diana, he just doesn't look up at her. "Sorry." 
he says, scratching the back of his head, a cowlick popping up. "We don't
know if they knew the previous victim, or where they got the guns, or
anything about them, not yet. But there's obviously something going on." 

Her brow furrows, and a bit of the shine fades from her eyes as Diana
looks past you toward the sheets once more. She seems almost confused when
she returns her attention to you, "But...you told me this happens only
perhaps once a year?" She wonders if she has made some error...some
mistake in publicity or image...if in spite of her efforts, the World of
Men is getting only worse, and not better. Many thoughts cross her mind,
but none of them helpful, and none of them making her feel any less
helpless. 

You see the uniformed policman making a few notes, and then turning,
coming straight over after a moment's hesitation. He waits there, unsure
of whether to deliver a report, or remain back and wait. He finally
chooses to wait, and stands back a slight distance away.

You say "Yeah, usually once a year."

Indelicato finally looks up, just when words fail him.

Diana seems uncertain for a moment whether or not to step past you and see
the victims or not. She decides for now to not. She shakes her head
slightly and looks into your eyes once more, "Do you know what it is that
is going on? Is there any way that we can know for sure? Where can I look? 
How can I help?" . o 0 (Is it my fault?) She asks, seeming desperate to
find some way to stop this from ever happening again, "I have been
speaking to girls at local schools, trying to help more...since the
last...but now it has happened again." 

Indelicato nods slightly. "Yeah. I dunno what you can do." He pauses. "I
dunno what -we- can do. We're going to do what we did with the last
victim...just a hell of a lot faster and smarter, try to get ahead of the
curve. Figure out why." 

Diana lowers her head slightly in a gesture that may be a nod. A few curls
fall over her shoulder as she does so. She leans toward you ever so
slightly as her hands brush at her sides, "Edward, sometimes I simply do
not understand." She makes as if to turn and just run away for a flicker
of an instant, but she does not. She stays. "Is there anything I can do,
for the families? To help you?" 

Mullen notices the young man's discomfort and smiles slightly, heading
over. He pulls the man to one side, and they speak briefly before the
senior officer sends the young man to start packing up things for the
night. McCarthy has even finished up his analysis now, and signals the
ambulance drivers to come and take away their charge. 

Indelicato shakes his head a little. "No. Same thing as before. It would
be worse, not better. Plus, we don't know who the families are yet. I'm
just trying to figre out why. If this is more than just a...a sick suicide
game...what is the angle?" He shakes his head more emphatically. "No
answers tonight, Diana. Tonight is question night." 

Mullen moves over near to you at this, and mutters, loud enough for Diana
to hear, "I got a question for you then. Where do two young teenage kids
get hold of weapons wit' no serial number on 'em? Add that to your list of
questions. Although you can bet they didn't walk down to the corner drug
store and snag 'em." He looks up at Diana for just a moment, then starts
to excuse himself for interrupting. 

Diana raises her eyes to meet yours again, and her expression forms what
is not much of a smile, particularly for her, but is something managed in
light of what has happened. She allows the other officer speak showing no
hint of resentment before she speaks once more. Her voice is calm if not
assured, "You are a wise man Edward. I will trust you with my questions. 
Know that I will help you all that I can to find the answers we need." She
takes one last look toward the ambulance and the EMTs before adding, "I
think that I will take tonight off work and spend the time in prayer."

Indelicato nods to Mullen. "Okay. Well, that'll bring in at least the
Major Crimes boys. More the merrier." He looks to Diana. "Yeah? Yeah. 
Okay." he says, as if this reassures him somewhat. He looks between the
pair, Mullen with his donut-sprinkle-sprinkled beard, Diana, radiant as
ever. The juxtaposition of the two seems to stabilize him somewhat. "Okay.
Get in touch with me tomorrow. I'll give you what we find." 

Diana nods slightly, "I will be in touch. Thank you again." She begins to
turn, but pauses, "For your friendship." She turns and slips into the air
gently, without any hint of effort on her part, her arms spreading wide as
she is born aloft by the night breeze, and she moves upward in a slow
circle. 

Indelicato watches her go, then looks back at Mullen. "I need some more
coffee." he says. "I spilled the last cup before I got any use out of it."
Together they move back up the slope towards the cars. 

The two EMTs silently crush out their cigarettes and begin to move slowly
to back of the ambulancence, where they begin to off-load their body bag,
and rolling cart.