To Butterfly: Both are certainly possibilities…

To Cesar848: That's a good point. They did start the Agreste Family Akuma Victims' Charity as a way to help those who had been hurt by Hawk Moth, and the Charity has supported hospitals and opened drug rehab centers, but I haven't done as much with the idea of them aiding the victims psychologically. However, with "Group Therapy" we're delving a little more into the ways in which Emilie and Sabrina use their powers to help people in a counseling scenario, and that opens up a lot more possibilities, especially since Emilie is taking a more active role in the Charity.

To yellow 14: Not every "SLD Case Report" will feature an epic battle with things blowing up; the intent for now is that more of them will be closer to this, where they investigate a super-powered incident and have to arrest a criminal.


Gouger stood with Ramus in front of a monitor in one of the two rooms on the near side of the basement level set aside exclusively for the SLD's laboratory and testing facilities. The remainder of the open-plan floor was dark, apart from the room they were in and the single occupied holding cell built into the far wall. The monitor showed the interior of that cell: their prisoner sitting on a rough cot bolted to the floor, his elbows resting on his knees, staring down at the cement. Gouger frowned: something in his attitude wasn't adding up. For some reason, the prisoner appeared to be strangely unconcerned with his situation.

They had brought him to headquarters two hours ago, escorted him inside through the back entrance, and thrown him in this jail cell after a brief examination to await his interrogation. The Spartan room was one of two new, specially reinforced cells which had built directly into the wall, designed by the SLD and Heroes of Paris with special features intended to keep super-powered criminals contained until they could be transported to prison. However, while she had no delusions of her own ability to escape such a cell, Gouger privately wondered whether they would actually hold up to someone like Taureau Dechaine with his level of overwhelming strength. But despite those concerns, in the case of their current prisoner it was proving to be more than sufficient; the young man, who had given his name as Jean Papon and whom they had identified as a student at the University, had made no move to break out or even attempted to use his powers since they had captured him. On his arrival he had allowed them to examine him without a fight, content to wait them out in silence. Gouger narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she stared at the monitor, watching him continue to sit still, the occasional fidget the only indicator of his nervousness.

"What do you make of him?" Ramus asked, giving her an evaluating look.

"He's a little too calm and collected for someone who was arrested and thrown in a secret prison cell underground," observed Gouger, frowning. "But what the reason could be…"

Vernant walked into the room from his lab and stopped on the other side of Ramus. "Every test I have run on M. Papon has come back normal," he reported. "I scanned him for implants – nothing but a tooth, and that just a normal dental implant. I checked his DNA – a cursory analysis shows it to be that of a normal human, though I sent a sample out for further analysis. No unique jewelry, no unnatural aura that I could detect… nothing to explain his control over the elements."

"The Heroes of Paris have reported cases of magic users with unique, innate abilities," Gouger pointed out. "Could this be an example of that phenomenon?"

"Anything is possible," Vernant allowed, nodding. "But never having had an opportunity to study any of these so-called sorcerers for myself, I couldn't tell you what scientific explanation there is to account for what they do."

"Well, until we know any more, we need to assume he is simply suppressing his abilities for some reason," Ramus decided. He raised an eyebrow at Gouger. "And as far as why… I suppose at this point we have kept our guest waiting long enough."

She nodded firmly and followed him across the open space in the center of the lab floor to the cell, which resembled nothing so much as a concrete bunker on the outside with a double layer of bulletproof glass separated by clear hardened plastic across the front to provide a viewing area. The inside was lined with a nonreactive material, the ventilation funneled into its own filtration system, and it had a built-in foam suppressant system in case of fire. The only concession to comfort – the only piece of furniture in the cell – was the cot, made of lightweight aluminum and bolted to the floor. And on the couch sat their prisoner, his hands folded in his lap. He looked up as they approached

"What can I do for you officers?" he asked, eyeing them calmly.

"You caused quite a stir this afternoon," Ramus began, gauging his reaction.

"Let's see," Gouger added slowly, ticking items off on her fingers. "You started a fire – arson, with a super-crime enhancement. You broke into your professor's office – breaking and entering. You attempted to change your semester grade – academic fraud. The University already expelled you for that one as an aside. You stole the professor's car – grand theft auto, with another super-crime enhancement. You assaulted the professor – assault and battery, and there's a super-crime enhancement on that one, too. You can thank Hawk Moth for the doubling of your prison sentence when you meet him, by the way. Should I keep going?"

His eyes widened. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he insisted.

"You mean the Keep Paris Safe Super-Crime Law?" Ramus asked, surprised. "According to the University you are – or more accurately were – taking law courses at Panthéon-Assas, so you should already know. Any crime committed using superhuman abilities brings with it an automatic doubling of the minimum sentence. That means–"

"That means that you're going away for a long time, Papon," finished Gouger, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Not that," Papon insisted. "I mean the charges against me. You said you think I…" He cocked his head. "There's no way I could have done any of that!"

Ramus gave him a hard look. "Do you expect us to believe you?" he asked dubiously. He turned to Gouger. "Is he being serious?"

She raised an eyebrow in amusement. "He sure sounded serious…"

"The water manipulation preventing the Fire Brigade from putting out the fire stopped the moment Sergeant de Gouges accosted you," Ramus told him.

"The wind that nearly blew me away came from your direction," added Gouger.

"We know it was you," Ramus finished.

"I'm telling you it wasn't me!" Papon insisted, pounding his chest. "I have no idea how it was happening! I'm just as much in the dark as you are! So why don't you tell me where I am and let me go? I know my rights: you can't hold me here indefinitely. I have a right to speak to an attorney."

Ramus shook his head in amusement. "No wonder you needed to commit academic fraud to pass," he observed wryly. "You should have paid a little better attention in class. You do have those rights, and you are going to speak to an attorney eventually, but the super-crime enhancement brings its own caveats to how we honor those rights. Now I'll ask you again: how were you doing it?"

"I wasn't!"

"Do you really expect us to believe that you just happened to snap your fingers right before a mass of water formed together out of thin air?" Gouger deadpanned, raising an eyebrow. "And you just happened to be in the area when the earth moved under your professor's car so she stopped, right before her car was stolen?"

He shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you."

"You could start with the truth," Ramus suggested. "How did you do it?"

"I'm telling you, I didn't! You've got the wrong guy!"

"If you had wanted us to believe you, you should have changed more grades than just your own," Gouger informed him. "The fire damaged a lot of the physical evidence, but our lab was able to reconstruct everything that you did to the grades on your professor's computer before setting the office on fire."

"My grade was changed?" he asked innocently. "I didn't know anything about that."

"Why don't you lie to me a few more times?" Ramus told him, fixing him with a deadpan expression. "I'm sure I'll believe it eventually."

"Because criminals always tell us the truth…" Gouger scoffed. She shook her head. "Fine. For the sake of argument, let's say that it wasn't you, and that someone else was manipulating the elements and committing academic fraud. Why would this unknown person be doing all of this just to frame you? Why would they just target your teacher and your grades?"

Papon sat back and shrugged. "I couldn't tell you," he replied. "Maybe it was a super-genius who knew you would be suspicious. Maybe someone didn't like me."

"Whatever the reason," Ramus informed him, "we have more than enough evidence to charge you. And unless you explain to us exactly how you did what you did, we have no choice but to assume you are a serious risk and remand you to await trail."

"Wait… remand where? Where are you going to send me?" he asked nervously, his cool façade finally breaking.

"There's a new wing at La Santé for super criminals," Gouger explained. "If you won't tell us how your power works, you'll be sent there with the other high-risk super-powered offenders, just in case. That will be your home for the duration of your sentence – you won't even be allowed to see visitors in person for fear that you might use your powers on them."

"What!?" he yelped, all pretense of calm dropping away. "But I don't have powers!"

"Are you going to tell us how all of that was happening, then?"

Papon clenched his mouth firmly shut and shook his head. "I'm telling you, I can't do anything anymore!"

Gouger cocked her head. "'Anymore'?" she repeated. "So you were able to do it before."

Papon stared at her in shock, flushing.

"How were you controlling the elements?" demanded Ramus, eyes narrowing.

Papon remained silent and turned away from the window, folding his arms.

"Was it tech?" Gouger asked.

No response.

"Was it magic?"

Again, no response.

Ramus frowned and turned to walk away. "If that's the case, I hope you enjoy hanging out with the super-villains," he called over his shoulder.

Gouger followed him across the lab floor to the monitoring room where Vernant still stood in front of the screen, waiting for them. He looked up as they walked into the room and stroked his chin contemplatively.

"What do you make of him?" Ramus asked.

"In what sense?" Vernant responded, frowning. "I have no doubt that he was responsible for whatever happened. But how it happened is still unclear."

"So he is guilty?" Gouger clarified.

Vernant gestured to the smaller monitor showing Papon's vital signs. "I cannot prove that in a court of law using this. However, I was watching his heart rate and blood pressure during your interrogation, and based on that, he knew exactly what was going on. But he was probably telling the truth when he said that he didn't have the ability to do it anymore."

Ramus furrowed his brows dubiously. "So are you suggesting that we don't need to put him in the super wing?"

"Not at all." Vernant shook his head. "My analysis could be wrong. He could have guessed that we were monitoring his vital signs and changed his heart rate to fool us. I would still recommend that he be kept in the super wing, at least until we can determine exactly what the source for his abilities was or is."

"Have we received the arrest paperwork yet?" Gouger asked.

Vernant nodded and passed a sheet of paper to them. "The prison transport will be here for him in an hour."

"Good: that way he can be someone else's problem tomorrow." Ramus let out a yawn. "Care for a drink?" he asked them both.

Vernant nodded. "I will join you for a drink this evening." He hit a button on the control panel. "Élodie, and then Mathieu, can keep an eye on our guest until the transport arrives."

"Sounds good to me, too," Gouger agreed as they all got on the elevator together. "I'll meet you at the bar; I just have one quick stop to make on the way."


AN: Tomorrow I'll have another "Life and Times" one-shot, with "Group Therapy" starting the day after.