[It's early evening in China! Kyon, Tomoyuki and Kyoko emerge from the secret room of the old Buddhist temple with the Sword. Mission accomplished! Or is it?] [Start!] * Kyon stalks out of the tunnel, the Sword by his side. He makes sure to keep Tomoyuki ahead of him still and checks back to make sure Kyoko's still keeping up. [Tomoyuki goes first! "I expected that to be more difficult. I'm almost disappointed." Kyoko quietly brings up the rear, and you emerge back in the storeroom of the old temple.] * Kyon snorts. "You didn't spend the last two weeks hunting through Beijing." [He smirks. "Good point."] * Kyon rolls his shoulders, and scans the area. "Heading back to Japan now?" [He nods. "I did what I came to do. I assume you'll hang onto the Sword?"] [You walk back through the mess hall.] * Kyon nods tersely, and smirks. "Means I don't have to buy a souvenir for the trip." ( Gimme an awareness check. ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyon (2d6) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 9. (Nope! And my streak of non-luck continues.) [He laughs as you return to the main room. "What, no Buddhist beads?"] * Kyon shoves a hand in his pocket, next to the Sword. "Can buy those at home. Pick something more Chinese." [Tomoyuki starts to respond, but his eyes narrow, and suddenly his knife is in his hand. Behind Kyon, Kyoko screams as a man steps outside from behind the Buddha, his hand stretching to grab her by her ponytail and drag her over to him. "I'm sorry," he says, putting a foot on Kyoko's neck and pointing a pistol at her head, "But I'm going to be taking that now."] [The man is actually more of a boy. He's roughly your age, with his hair combed back. His eyes are beady, his nose large and his chin square.] [He's wearing a white tank top and cargo pants.] (Wait, so he knocked her down, then? Just to clarify.) ( Yes. ) ( He's currently keeping her from doing anything by standing on her neck, though not with enough force to choke her. ) * Kyon rolls his eyes, and turns to look at the boy, keeping Tomoyuki in the corner of his eye. "Which one are you?" [He smirks. "You think I'm going to tell you that? All you need to know is that if you don't hand over the Sword, the girl gets it."] [Tomoyuki scowls. "I knew I smelled a rat."] * Kyon looks at Tomoyuki sidewise, keeping the boy in his sights. "You know this guy?" [Tomoyuki shakes his head.] * Kyon rolls back on his heels, and gestures from the boy to his side. "Come over here and take it." [He laughs. "I don't think so. You can place it on the ground in front of you. Slowly." He puts a bit more weight on Kyoko's neck, causing her to gag.] * Kyon fingers the bindings to the Sword by his side. "I put it down, and you let her go? Going to have to let her up while I'm still here. Not going to leave here with her under your feet." ["You let me worry about that, after I have the Sword."] * Kyon snorts. "Not going to put it down unless you negotiate a release. Otherwise, I give it up and you shoot anyway." ["Fine, here's the terms: You give me the Sword, and maybe she'll go free. You don't give me the Sword..." he pulls the hammer of the gun back, "And she definitely won't."] * Kyon shakes his head. "Not good enough. And you know you lose if you shoot her. Then it's two on one. Make the terms better." [He lifts his foot just long enough for it to extend unnaturally and kick Kyoko in the stomach. "Better two against one than three. I guess this girl doesn't mean much to you, huh?"] * Kyon shrugs quickly. "Means enough. Just saying, I'm not giving up anything if I don't know I'm getting something back." [He laughs. "Anything." He shoves the barrel of his gun against Kyoko's skull. "Hear that? You're a thing."] * Kyon shakes his head tersely, and suppresses a laugh. "Must not know me. Trying to play on her emotions to get to me isn't going to help you. Offer better terms, and we can make a deal." ["I don't think so."] ["You want better terms? How's this: Give me the Sword now, and you'll get her back in one piece. Otherwise, I start shooting bits off."] * Kyon narrows his eyes, and tenses his hand behind the sword carefully, watching for any movement on his part. "Tell me how you're getting her back to me at all, and we can deal." ["You give me the Sword. Once I'm safely outside and on my bike, I'll let her go."] * Kyon rocks back forward on his heels. "So. You get it, you let her up, you walk her out, and you let her go. That's your idea?" ["Unless you or the mummy tries anything stupid."] * Kyon glances at Tomoyuki quickly to see his reaction and where he is, then fixes his eyes closely on the boy again. "How do you get the Sword from me?" [Tomoyuki's knife is out and he's at the ready, but isn't making any threatening motions. He's standing next to Kyon.] [Meanwhile, the man points with his free hand. "Put it down, then walk over to the wall," he indicates a spot well away from the main entrence.] * Kyon shakes his head quickly. "Can't do that. Might as well just leave, if I'm over there. Need to be somewhere where I can see you and her." ["You can follow. Just stay faaaaaar away."] * Kyon cocks his head. "How far is far enough for you?" [He considers, briefly. "Thirty feet."] * Kyon gestures curtly to a spot about twenty feet off to the left, not further away from the entrance but not closer. "So I would wait there, and follow as you head out." [He nods. "That's the idea."] * Kyon glances over at Tomoyuki. "You in?" [Yomoyuki doesn't take his eyes off the man as he responds. "We don't have much of a choice."] * Kyon nods tersely. "Right. So. I put it down, and I go over to there. You let her up, take it, and we follow you on your way out. Then you let her go." [He nods. "Once I'm safe."] * Kyon narrows his eyes. "When are you letting her go? When you're on your bike?" ["Yeah. You don't think I'm going to give you a chance to stop me, do you?"] * Kyon rolls his eyes. "Not worried about stopping you. Worried about getting equal value for what I'm giving up." ["What's more important to you?"] What's important is not giving up what I have just to have you shoot her anyway. So I need to be sure. ["And if you don't give it to me, she will be. We've been through this before."] * Kyon shrugs quickly. "We have. So you should know that I need to be sure that you're really going to let her go. I'll deal with you, but it needs to be concrete." ["How about I give you a finger now, and the rest later?"] * Kyon shrugs quickly. "Right. So. You get to your bike, and you let her go. All right? We have a deal?" [He nods. "It's about time."] * Kyon unlaces the Sword from his side, and lays it down on the ground before walking backwards towards the place that he'd pointed out, gesturing curtly for Tomoyuki to follow. [Which he does, though he never takes his eyes from the man.] [Once Kyon and Tomoyuki are both backed against the wall, the man pulls Kyoko to her feet by her hair, whispering something in harsh tones to her. She nods a little and starts walking towards the exit, the man following with his gun to her back.] (Um... and they got the Sword in there somewhere? Or is that not yet?) (The sword lies there!) [He reaches out with his free hand as they go, and it extends to grab the Sword.] (How far do they have to go to get to the exit, again?) ( Through the courtyard. ) * Kyon waits until they're about thirty feet off from them, and starts following purposefully in right behind them at about 30 feet back. * Kyon silently measures the distance between the two groups and the exit. [Tomoyuki moves with Kyon as the man and his hostage slip into the courtyard. He slips around her suddenly, turning her so that she's between you and himself, with his arm around her neck. The man drags Kyoko backwards towards the gate of the temple walls.] * Kyon follows along, keeping about the right distance still. [They slip outside, and the man pulls Kyoko towards his vehicle: a heavy-duty mountain bike, but not the kind that has a motor. If he looks, Kyon can see that the ticket seller is unconscious in his booth.] * Kyon keeps walking over, keeping the right distance, but also clenching his fist and releasing it into a baseball holding grip around air. [He gets to the bike! He takes his time getting on it, stowing the sword in a sheath on the side of the thing.] (Does that mean his grip on Kyoko changes?) (Yes, but since the gun is still at her back, she doesn't try anything.) * Kyon stops, slightly inside of 30 feet off the bike, and rocks back on his heels, his hand still clutching air, and his eyes closely on the whole situation. [Tomoyuki stops too, holding his knife near his waist and using it to drill a hole into the tip of his thumb on the opposite hand.] [There's a tense moment as he mounts the bike, his gun still trained on Kyoko.] [Then he shoves her harshly to the ground and takes off, lifting his gun to fire as he goes.] ( Gimme an init roll ) d6+6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyon (d6+6) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 10. ( Kyon goes first! ) * Kyon smirks, and goes into a very quick stretch windup, unleashing a fireball at the boy's back, just over the tires. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyon (2d6) and gets a natural 3 for a result of 3. [BOOM! The fireball explodes with a direct hit, causing the guy to scream and flip over the handlebars of his bike. He gets up, despite being on fire, and raises his gun again, only to drop it as Tomoyuki's dagger pierces his palm.] [He struggles a bit, then falls onto his back, lying still and burning.] [Tomoyuki goes over to Kyoko. "Hey, you alright?"] [She nods. She's a bit scrapped up, but doesn't looks seriously injured.] * Kyon stalks quickly over, and stands between the bike and the boy to make sure he's staying down. [The flames are busily making sure he'll never get up again.] ( Well, you could put them out if you wanted, and then he'd get up. :P ) ( But he won't be rising this session, 'cause it's late >.> ) * Kyon gestures curtly at the boy, saying something in Chinese before calling back to Tomoyuki. "Put him out and tie him up while I get the Sword off the bike." Which he then turns to do. [Tomoyuki nods. "Gotcha." And he does!] [Though the bike is charred, and the Sword's sheathe is burning, the Sword itself is untouched.] [Or so it seems.] * Kyon puts out the sheath by batting it on the ground, and reattaches it to his side with the same binding as before. [Tomoyuki finishes tying the guy up. "What do you want me to do with him?"] * Kyon considers the bound and unconscious boy. "Leave him bound behind the Buddha in the temple. With the gun. See if he gets enlightened over the next few hours, before the Chinese police act on my anonymous tip that someone related to international crime is tied up with his weapon at this temple." He smirks. "Got nice interrogation methods in China, I hear." [He snickers. "Heh. Sounds fun."] [It does! End!]