Session Start: Sat Aug 07 15:38:24 2004 Last time, on Hunters: The firefight over Lady Octane got really wild, as the bad guys brought some heavier weapons to the party. Our heroes still won the day, and the protectee - protectees as it turned out - only got mildly shot up. Even better! The team finally, finally captured one of the assassins due to Taki's remarkable stalking and hand combat skills. Only problem is... what do they do with him? [Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 1700 local time] [a convenient alley, just down the road from the Tachikawa speedway] * LadyMallet knows what to do with him. Carry him over her shoulder! [session start] So... now where do we go? Back to the Agency. Ehhh....We should get him somewhere safe...where we won't all get shot. Call up the Secretary... we need to get him back without too much attention. * Sniper mrphles slightly, as he's somewhat gagged at the moment. * Lord_Darkmoon nods, and pulls out his cell phone and auto-dials the agency. Moshi moshi? Hello, Madam Secretary? This is Darkmoon. Can you send a...discrete...ride to the race track to pick us all up? We have a "guest" we're returning with. Oh, Lord Darkmoon! You can hear the stars in her eyes over the phone. ... * Lord_Darkmoon eyes the phone nervously with it still next to his ear. How can I ser- uh, help you? * LadyNightshade stands near the entrance of the alley, looking around at the street cautiously. We need a ride back to the agency. One with a driver who won't ask untoward questions. Taki and Leena caught one. Caught... one? One of the enemy. We need a way to get him back to the Agency. Without being seen by too many people. * LadyNightshade mumbles something about how she's the one who did all the catching. Oooooooooh! Oooh. Um. You can hear some frantic typing at the other end. Hold on just a second. * LadyMallet tosses the sniper up in the air a foot or so, catching him on the way down, whistling. "Why not just ask her to come?" So do we have a ride? Mallet, don't play with him. He's not a toy. * Lord_Darkmoon covers the mouthpiece for a moment. "She's typing, asking me to hold on a moment. I think she's arranging it." * Sailor_Waterfall leaps easily to the top of one of the nearby buildings, keeping a lookout for trouble * LadyMallet responds cheerily, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna break him!" Um. Right. Forge that... use the priority backdoor... Okay. You're in Tachikawa, right? Yes. Right. Okay, be there in ten minutes, Darkmoon-sama! The cell phone beeps, and Darkmoon is holding a dead line. * Lord_Darkmoon snaps the cell shut to hang it up, and pockets it. Now...we just have to wait. She says our ride will be here in ten minutes. Mallet, may I see the prisoner for a moment? I'd like to arrange a blindfold, so he can't see where we take him. Sure! * Sniper thrashes a bit more. Chain link is a little beyond his ability to snap, though... * LadyMallet drops him. Bottom end/feet first though, and she doesn't let go of him completely, she keeps one hand on him. Relax, why doncha? You're not going anywhere soon, so you might as well take your time about panicking. ^__^ MMMMPH! * Lord_Darkmoon walks up, and runs his Tessen around the man's shirt-collar, then up around his eyes, trailing fabric. The shirt loses some material 'round the neck, but now there's a very snug, one-piece blindfold 'round the sniper's eyes. * Lady_MakeBelieve tosses a strangely colored ball from hand to hand as she waits for something to happen. That should do. (tosses a) So is uhm...anyone thirsty? * LadyHeat fingers the waterbottles clunking around her waist. * Sniper twists about a bit more, but can't dislodge any of his bonds and eventually stops. * LadyNightshade continues watching the street outside the alley. * LadyMallet pats the Sniper on his head once he stops struggling. "See, I told you you weren't going anywhere! Just relax." ^__^ A few minutes pass, then there's a crackling over your radio sets. Eh? -ello? Are you receiving me? We are now. Loud and clear. Yeah... Okay, I'm in Tachikawa, can you talk me into your location? * LadyNightshade says what streets they're by into the headset. We're near the big race track, if that helps. We can see it from here. * Sailor_Waterfall keeps a lookout for the car, from her perch on top of the building Right, it will be just a second. I'm in a black panel van, with tinted windows. Excellent. Thank you, Madam Secretary. * Lady_MakeBelieve quietly calls out what the vehicle looks like to Waterfall It's only a minute longer before Sailor Waterfall notices a black van approaching slowly. Yo, the van is here. ... * Secretary pulls up - you can barely see her inside in the dim light of early evening. * LadyMallet looks up at Waterfall and nods, silently acknowledging the warning. Great. *goes up and opens the side door, waving the others in* * LadyNightshade keeps watch on the side walk while everyone files into the van. * Secretary gets out and unlocks the side door. * LadyMallet waves vigorously at the van once it's in sight, then hoists the sniper back onto her shoulder. * Sailor_Waterfall jumps down, landing lightly on her feet Lets get out of here. * Secretary bows. "My pleasure." * Lady_MakeBelieve makes a small "Victoly!" V before crawling into the van with everyone else * LadyHeat climbs into the van. * LadyHeat cracks open a water bottle and takes a big gulp. Your rides here, buddy. *she pats the sniper on the back, and walks to the van, getting in, making sure the sniper gets in before her. Sorry it took so long. * LadyNightshade crawls into the van after everyone else, closing the door and locking it. Quite alright. You got here with remarkable alacrity, actually. * Sniper can't find the seat and lands abruptly on the floor. * Lord_Darkmoon climbs in last...well, except, apparently, for Nightshade. With the door closed, it's *dark* in the back of the van. I mean, you can see, but barely. * Lady_MakeBelieve pulls a flashlight from somewhere, and flicks it on underneath her chin. "So who's ready for ghost stories!" * LadyNightshade keeps a careful eye on the sniper. * Sniper squirms. So... where do you want to go? * LadyNightshade ignores MakeBelieve. The office was our plan, unless you have a better idea. * LadyMallet lets the sniper have the floor, but keeps a foot on him. "Back to the Agency." Yes, ma'am! * Secretary , it turns out, is a fast, nearly reckless driver. * Lord_Darkmoon sits in his seat, buckled securely in, with a studious calm posture. * LadyMallet loves it! Whee, fast! * LadyHeat worriedly clings to her waterbottle. Hey Driver Lady, are you trying to kill us? The passengers feel vaguely like they're on one of the racing bikes they saw this afternoon as they swoop in and out of traffic. * Sailor_Waterfall is not happy. * LadyHeat sloshes some of the water on herself. ..oops. * Lady_MakeBelieve turns to her "shush" * Sniper rolls back and forth on the floor of the van, the centrifugal forces tugging this way and that. Have *you* ever driven in early evening Tokyo traffic? Yeah, let the lady drive! If we want to make good time, I need to push a little. * Lord_Darkmoon does not comment. He's very calm. Really. * LadyMallet isn't calm. She's excited! * LadyNightshade doesn't say anything or really react at all. * Lady_MakeBelieve has to struggle to keep Waterfall quiet. ...No? * LadyHeat is slow to react. "Good time", it turns out, is about forty minutes from Tachikawa to the street in front of the Agency. The sun is completely down now, and the streetlight across from the front door is conveniently dim. * LadyMallet drags the sniper out, setting him over her shoulder again. "We're here!" * Sniper is dragged! * Secretary climbs out as well, and unlocks the front and inner doors. Okay...so...what do we do now? * LadyMallet looks over the blindfold, making sure it's still in place. "Hey, did she have a room good for this type of thing?" * Lady_MakeBelieve trails along * Secretary starts, stops, looks at the prisoner. ... SHE never caught one. You can thank Nightshade. * LadyNightshade looks down at the ground as she trails the group into the building. ...I guess if you're going to make a mess, I'd suggest the bathtub. We can wash stuff off...and down the drain... * LadyMallet GRINS, and says happily, "Ooh, lots of water, too! Heat can have some fun too!" I...don't really want to though. * LadyHeat mumbles. ... It's no big deal if you don't want to. * Sniper just looks unhappy about this conversation. * LadyMallet perks up more. "That just means more for me!" * LadyMallet resumes draggage of the sniper. "Hey, buddy, you're getting a bath!" * Secretary lets everyone into the back, goes back to her desk in the front. "Let me know if you need anything." * Sailor_Waterfall seems unconcerned with the whole mess. * LadyMallet actually doesn't drag the sniper up the stairs- she picks him up for that and carries him up them, then heads for the hottub, and once in there, tosses him in wholly into it. I'll heat the water up if you need...but I don't want to hurt him too badly or anything Well hopefully he'll talk before we have to hurt him too bad. * Sniper thrashes at the sudden submersion, and bound as he is can't quite keep his head above water. * LadyNightshade grabs him by the back of the hair and pulls his head above the water. * LadyMallet jumps in after him, and rotates him so he's face-up. "Okay, now the fun starts. I'm going to ask you questions, and I'm going to like your answers. Because if you don't, I'll get mad, and you won't like me when I'm mad!" MMMPHLE EMMPH. She gets scary. And you can get any foolish notions of 'mercy' out of your head RIGHT NOW. You wouldn't have shown any for Octane. You might want to remove the gag, if you want to hear his answers. I'm sure they'll be quite...enlightening. * LadyNightshade pulls the gag out of his mouth. Are you ready to talk? * LadyMallet smiles cutely at the sniper. "Do you understand me so far?" Dammit, who the hell are you? We're not your friends. * Lady_MakeBelieve conjures a deck of cards, and plays in the corner with Waterfall Your associates have made us rather angry. What would you say if I was your daughters best friend? Hmm? * LadyHeat makes a vaguely spooky face at him, then goes to sit by MakeBelieve. ...don't have a daughter. * Sniper is still blindfolded, so he can't see spooky (or any) faces. You know someone who does. What if I was their daughter? Take off his blindfold. I want to see his eyes. What does it matter? Did you ever stop to think for a moment WHO you're after?! Let's not. ...very well. Mallet, making him feel bad isn't what we're after. * LadyHeat waves to MB and Waterfall. "I don't really know you...I was sick for a while so..." I'm after a bunch of people who my employer wants dead. Which, I'm guessing, includes you. ... right then. First question. Remember what I said about giving me answers I like! Who're you? Your name, your parents names. ... ...are we going to be hunting down his family and exacting Yakuza revenge like on TV? * LadyNightshade rolls her eyes at Leena. Eh, fuck you, little girl. Cute, but not an answer I like! I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were a pedophile as well as a murderer. * LadyMallet moves over to his feet, grabs one of his ankles, and crushes his toes. Ewww....lolicon is gross Darkmoon. Unnnngk. He's the one who suggested he'd fornicate a "little girl". *cold, unemotional, pitiless* I can do this reaaaaal slow. I can break them and bend them and even rip them off. Who are you? Guys? Please? * Sniper just clams up. Obviously you're not afraid of death. ... But there are worse things than death. * LadyMallet secures her grip better, above and below his ankle, and starts bending. Real slow like, steadily building the pressure. ...you haven't... oi-OI! What's your name, buddy? * Sniper tries to twist away from the pressure, and winds up with his head underwater again. Mallet, calm down for a second. * Lord_Darkmoon counts to five, then pulls him out again. Now sir, who are you working for? * LadyMallet lets go, to let him recover. Meh, I don't know anything. Then where do you get your orders? I'm sure you know something. What is your name? Sure you do. You know your name, you haven't forgotten that, have you? We could check his pockets... for uhm..id and credit cards and stuff. Who cares what his name is? He's insignificant. * Sniper twists and tries to spit at Leena. He misses, but the intent was clear. ... It matters. I'm sure his family would love to know what he does for a living. * LadyMallet sighs. "See, that's still not an answer I like." * LadyMallet simply breaks one of his ankles. * Lord_Darkmoon winces at the sound. "Stop that." * LadyHeat twitches. Jesus Christ, Mallet. Hold off on that, will you? He. Gets. No. Mercy. BllblbbppPPTAAARRRGGK! We should still look in his pockets... Go. Sit. Down. If he passes out, what good does that do us? Then we wait until he's awake again. I'm not resting until I get some answers. Mercy has nothing to do with it, Mallet. Torture for the sake of torture is just stupid, though. Go "gently". He's obviously a well-conditioned drone. GaaaaaAAAAAHHH! I searched him when I first incapacitated him. Maybe they have weird special brainwashing machines. * LadyMallet waits for him to finish screaming, then asks nice and cutely, "What's your name, mister?" Hhhhnn. Hhhhhn. Hhhhhhhn. * Lord_Darkmoon holds the man up out of the water. "Heat, can you cool as well as warm? WE need some ice on that ankle of his." ...keep that psycho girl offa me! Please! No...I can only heat things up. Why should we do anything for you? You won't do anything for us. We'll try. But she DOES get quite uncontrollable when she doesn't hear thing she likes. Like your name. At least..as far as I know. ( Things ) Maybe, if you ask Heat real nice, she'll try to get some ice on that ankle of yours. -If- you are a bit more cooperative. Name - name - name's Skate. * LadyMallet whistles. "I can break your ankle again, you know. I could probably break it or crush the same spot four or five times in a row. You sure you don't have a name, mister?" There, now. Was that so hard? Pleasure to meet you, Skate. I am Darkmoon. Oooh, Mister Skate. Hi, I'm Mallet! ... I'm Heat. * LadyNightshade rolls her eyes again. We're not making friends here. Now who sent you? * Skate is still panting in pain. Friends are so much more useful than enemies, my dear Nightshade. Mallet-chan, could you get an ice-pack for our new friend, please? Sure thing! Maybe some painkillers if I can find them! * LadyMallet wades out of the hottub, to do just that. While she's getting that, perhaps you could answer the lovely Nightshade's question? * Skate feels the psycho girl get out of the tub, and babbles. "I'll talk, I'll talk, just don't let her touch me again!" Sure thing. Of course. * LadyNightshade leans over to Darkmoon, perhaps you could take the girls *gestures at MakeBelieve and Heat* out of here and let me talk with him. They don't need to be exposed to this sort of thing." ...who sent me... that's sort of a trick question... As you wish, my Lady. Come, girls, let's let Nightshade talk with him in private for a bit. *opens the door, and gestures for them to leave* * LadyNightshade takes off her long coat and sets it on a shelf. Okay... I mean, my boss ordered me to come, but he sent me because someone paid him to. * LadyHeat gets up and leaves the room, gesturing for MB and Waterfall to follow. "We can play cards out there." Well, let's start there. Who's your boss? * LadyMallet latches onto Darkmoon as he comes out. "... I can't reach em." He goes by "Garter". He runs the Wedding 12's - wanna see my tattoos? * Lord_Darkmoon nods. "Show me where they are; I'll get them." No, that's alright. So the Wedding 12's are all in on it? * Skate tries to look around as he hears Lady Mallet's voice. "You said she wasn't coming back!?" * LadyMallet latches onto -HEAT- as she comes out. "... I can't reach em." Oh. Okay. She's just checking to make sure you're being a good boy. * LadyHeat helps Mallet get the painkillers. They're up here? Don't worry. Now who's the one who pays Garter? I dunno if everyone knows about it. Sometimes Garter likes to keep secrets but he was pretty amped about this job. Mallet, you get to be our "bad cop", since you're so good at it. But that means you have to wait out in the living room, and only come in if Nightshade calls for your help. * LadyMallet points at the cupboards. "Yeah..." She looks a bit annoyed that she can't reach them. Why's that? It might be too tall for me... You would be excited, too, for 60 million yen. * Lord_Darkmoon reaches up and gets them. * LadyHeat stands on her tippytoes and stretches...too late. * LadyNightshade whistles in mock impressment. Oh. Thanks Darkmoon. So who's the one paying for all this? I don't know. You've never seen them? * LadyMallet grabs the icepacks, then! And returns with those, silently handing them to Darkmoon. No... * Skate sounds unsure of that. ...I think I'll take them in. Quietly. He needn't know he's not alone. *goes back to the hottub room on suddenly stocking feet, and silently hands Nightshade the bottle* You don't sound very sure about that. Are you lying to me? Well... * LadyMallet blinks, and peeks in. "Did you say he was lying?" ...NO! Oh uh. Someone heard you... What aren't you telling me? Look, I never saw the guys who hired us, exactly, but Garter said they were a bunch of real suits. Did he say any names? Oh, okay. Call if you need me! *closes the door again, leaving it cracked open.* He said they wouldn't tell him their names. And for that sort of money, he wasn't going to ask. * LadyHeat sits outside and fiddles with her waterbottles and listens in on the conversation. How did he contact them then? They found us. I don't know how. * Lord_Darkmoon slips out, as well, a devious look on his face. In the other room, he waves the girls over, and says quietly, "I have...an idea. We can't let this guy go, now; he knows just a touch too much. And I'd rather not kill him out of hand." Was this your first job for them? Okay....what do we do? Are we gonna turn him into a magical girl or something? * LadyMallet talks quietly, too. "Put a tracker on him?" can we do that? .. if we rip out his tongue, he won't be able to talk. Yeah - we were training with the weapons for the last couple of weeks, and planning our strategy. .....No, ew. No. A tracker wouldn't be all that useful...and he could still write. Heat's probably on the right track. After all, the Queen did make her cousin into Princess... So then you knew what was going to happen that day that early? * LadyMallet closes her eyes for a moment, solemnly. She looks pretty serious. But before that, we'd only heard rumors of big payouts to other Yakuza. ...So we call up the _Queen_ and have her make him into a magical girl. * Lord_Darkmoon shrugs. "Or a Lord. But one with a slew of Orders chaining him up tighter than Pie had her girls." If we're to do any such thing, though, we should do it through proper channels. We need to get Sakura to suggest it to the Queen. ... that could yield something, if it worked. If it didn't, though... Besides, he might be useful as a double-agent, then. The exact details were kind of strange - we were told a week ago *where* it was going to happen and *when* it was going to happen, but we had to send someone out to look before we realized the location was a racetrack and it was going to be during the race. I guess we should get in contact with the secretary to have her call Sakura...and stuff. You were told by who? He's too old, though. Garter just passed the notes to us - we figured they were from whoever was talking to him. What exactly were in these notes? Does it sound like a good idea to you guys, then? If so, I'll go ask the Secretary to contact Sakura now. I wasn't really being serious...but I guess we could try... ... that sounds like a good idea at best. I don't like it. Basically the date and time and location, and not to bother the Ningyo, and to take out the magical girl. Why don't you like it, Mallet? * Lord_Darkmoon sounds genuinely like he's asking for opinions/advice, not critical. Hmm... Does it mention any names? The whole idea bothers me... I've got a bad feeling about that plan. ... especially the part about him ending up as a Lord. Well, they probably have ways to find magical girls...so he'd be dead pretty quickly if we sent him back I guess? * Skate turns a little in the tub and hisses as he drags his crushed ankle against the side. I would normally be the last person to suggest doing such a thing to someone...but I think he deserves it. And, if the Queen chains him up in Orders, maybe even Ordering him to obey any other magical person and never to give them Orders... Hey, you made your point, can I get out of the water, please? I suppose so. ...um... You promise you'll be good? * Skate kind of needs help, what with blindfold, arms tied behind him, and busted ankle. ...yeah. Have you another idea for what to do with him? If nothing else, he knows our transformed state names. Again, I'd really rather not kill him. Okay. Mallet, can you come help our friend here out of the tub? He promises he'll be good. Okay! * Skate tenses up. Be nice, Mallet-chan! * LadyMallet nods at Darkmoon, Heat, and MB, then heads in. "Heyas, Mister Skate? You getting along well with my friend Nightshade?" ...yes? Okay! He's been pretty good so far. He's soaking wet though, I don't think we want him in the living room. * LadyMallet steps into the hottub, and floats him over to the edge. "Careful, now. I'm lifting you out now." I could dry him off? Without melting his skin off? Hey! * LadyMallet lifts him out, gently setting him down on the floor next to the edge. "There ya go!" I have some control Nightshade! * LadyNightshade puts the ice pack on his broken ankle carefully. I think he'll be okay on the floor here for now. * LadyHeat attempts to heat the water out of his clothes without giving him horrible burns. Lady Nightshade, the other Ladies and I were just discussing a possible conclusion to this problem. One our erstwhile friend may or may not like, but that we should perhaps discuss with everyone...in private. What about Garter? Where can we find him at? We'll talk about it once he tells me everything I want to know. Lady Mallet is not fond of the idea...understood. ...geez, if I tell you that, *they'll* kill me! And I won't? She's already killed people... We can keep you safe, Skate. You saw how we protected our friends. Would you like to be one of our friends? You've been written off as dead to them, probably. You can disappear to who knows where after this. WE know that you're perfectly alive. Dammit... And I, for one, dislike the idea of killing you for no good reason. But I'm in the minority, so you need to prove worth keeping alive. Look, we're based on the northside. If you want an address... An address would be nice. * LadyMallet 'hmms'. What about his office? Where would he keep his records about who the suits were? But then they might have moved. Even if we botched it, we still have the advance money and that might be enough to move to better digs. ...office? RECORDS? * Skate boggles. If you can tell us what we need to skip your boss, I'm sure he'd appreciate it. If we know who the suits are, we don't need to ask him. ...scummy warehouse? The smaller outfits, like his, probably don't have offices. Just bases. You have us confused with one of the big Yakuza - we're barely above street-gang level. So how do we get in contact with Garter? This was our ticket into the bigs. I guess we'll have to talk with him personally, then. I can get you to the old hangout. If he's not there any more... *shrug* Or his cell number, too. But... I don't know what he's going to be able to tell you. -That- would be most useful. Please, do share. Both of those will be great. He should know how to contact the suits. I mean if he wanted the rest of the money if you guys succeeded... * Skate gives you the numbers, then shrugs. * Lord_Darkmoon takes them down. Thank you. They found us using other methods to begin with. So do they tell you who you're killing? Someone did - all I got was the note. Was there anyone else on the note? Huh? Any other jobs? ...do you still have a copy of one of these notes? No, just this one, and I threw it away a few days ago. Well I guess that goes to show you're not as dumb as you look. Your weapons, did they provide them? ...oh, yeah. I mean, where the fuck do you find an automatic rifle in this country? On a racetrack, apparently. *smirking* in your closet, underneath the ruffly dresses? We should get in contact with Sakura and see if she has anything she wants to ask him. We went and picked those up after the boss told us about the job. Before we figure out what we're going to do with him. ...you weren't supposed to get into Sakura's closet, Heat. They gave you the money, the date and time, and then the weapons? * LadyNightshade heads to the front office to talk to the Secretary about just that. No, the weapons before the date and location. They wanted complete deniability. Professionally done, on their part. Where did you get the weapons from, from a person, or from a cache? I just found it by accident, Darkmoon. That was some deal - we had to go down to the west side of the bay, where they unloaded them off a boat. Which boat? * Lord_Darkmoon 's expression immediately darkens. ...three guesses, Mallet. The first two don't count. *muttered* ... I think we can guess the place. A specific boat would be good to know, too. I dunno for sure - I think it was a huge pallet ship. They were unloading sheet metal off it, probably for the ship construction they were doing on the same site. Construction workers of evil? That ... is very interesting. ...I'll explain later, Lady Heat. There was a manager who we talked to, and he got us the crate. Did he have a name? When was this? Which day? I... gah. I don't remember his name. It was like exactly two weeks ago, maybe Tuesday. * LadyNightshade returns from having talked to the secretary. Sakura should be here any minute. Good timing... I think I'm done. Anything else you want to tell us? Look, I'm sorry, okay? * Lord_Darkmoon sighs. "I'm sure you are. I just hope you're sorry for the right reasons." It wasn't anything personal, just about money. Why are you apologizing to us? You weren't trying to assassinate us. ...but you're... never mind. * LadyMallet slides her palms against the other, then puts her hands on her hips. "... I'm done. I'm going to wash my hands." Have the men of this nation fallen so far? It's never about honor anymore, never about clan, or family. Always about money. *sigh* He wouldn't know honor if it bit him in the ass. * LadyMallet walks out, to do just that. * Lord_Darkmoon steps out of the room, and into the kitchen. He fills a plastic baggie with ice, seals it, wraps it in a paper towel, and returns to the bathroom. Hold still, Skate. I'm going to put ice on your ankle. *does so, carefully* * PrincessSakura bumps into Darkmoon as he walks back. ...so. Oh, hello, Sakura. Sorry about that. Hi Sakura. * Lord_Darkmoon steps back, out of the Princess's way. * PrincessSakura is transformed and incognito, for obvious reasons. So this is the little piece of scum you managed to pick up today. ...how did that happen, exactly? He is. He goes by "Skate". Lady Nightshade did it. Mmm. Of course it was Nightshade. * PrincessSakura pats Taki on the head. And... how goes the interrogation? Well. He's cooperating. So long as we don't let Mallet touch him. We found some stuff out...and talked about ideas. * LadyNightshade blushes a little. Um... I think it would be best if you told our friend here exactly what you just told us. Yes...we have an idea of what to do with him, when we're done interrogating him. One that doesn't involve needlessly killing him, risking our safety, or wasting a...potential opportunity. * PrincessSakura kneels down in front of the prisoner. "Yes, what have you told them, little man?" * LadyMallet returns, her hard face gone. Now she just looks exhausted, and her cheeks are glistening from something- probably tears. She slumps against the hottubs rooms wall and buries her face in her knees. * Skate gibbers out a relatively good summary of his interrogation, including what was done to get him talking. * LadyNightshade goes over to Leena and puts a hand on her shoulder. Eh? Mallet? * PrincessSakura stands up, and gestures for the team to join her outside. * LadyNightshade sits down next to her and asks quietly. "Are you okay? You went a bit nuts back there..." * LadyHeat follows Sakura out * LadyNightshade helps Leena back up. Come on. * LadyMallet doesn't say anything, just sniffles. She stands up on her own at Taki's prompt. * LadyNightshade puts a hand around Leena as they walk out of the room. * Lord_Darkmoon follows Sakura, and pats Leena on the back as he passes her. "You did fine, kid. It'll be okay." * PrincessSakura closes the door, then goes across to the other side of the large room to have the conversation. It sounds like you all did good. * LadyNightshade looks down and blushes a bit more. * Lord_Darkmoon shakes his head. "I didn't do anything." I can't think of anything else worth asking him, anyway, and you didn't even hurt him very much. * LadyMallet doesn't acknowledge that. She just keeps staring at the floor. ...I couldn't even transform... *shakes his head, snapping out of it* I woulda smacked him around more, myself. Well, he's got a broken ankle. Which needs to be treated. Pffft. An ankle. What were you going to do with him, anyway? ...that's what we were discussing. Well, some of us. While Taki interrogated him. I had an idea..but I don't know if it will work or be reasonable. ... it's not a good idea, but it should be said at least. Hmm? I thought, maybe, since the Queen made her cousin into Princess... Uhh...we get him turned into a magical girl You what? Uh... And then the Queen can wrap him so tight in orders that he can't even disobey a Lady. Truth be told, he might consider that -worse- than death. And, at worst, it gives the Queen another footsoldier in the overt war. Mmm. Heh. ...heeehehehehehehehehehehehehe, hoooooooo! At best, it might give us a double-agent. ...not to mention it will remove the need to give his-- *falls silent, grinning, at Sakura's reaction* * PrincessSakura falls on her ass, laughing like she's gone loony. I know it was a bad idea...but... * LadyMallet breaks away from Taki to seek solace in one of the couches, burying her face in the cushions and curling up into a small ball. ... Sakura? * Lord_Darkmoon quirks an eyebrow, smirking...then notices Leena and deflates some. * LadyNightshade decides it best to let Leena alone for now. Heeeeeee... wooooo... hnnn. Hnnn. ...I'm sorry, I'm sorry... No, no, I don't think that's an option. Why not? Well... there's the fact that Princess is the only magical girl Her Majesty has ever "made" from scratch. And she certainly tried in the early days. Well, it's insane. Not to mention that she never would agree to do it. Even Princess's level of magic would be sufficient. I assume she's able to be Ordered by her cousin? ...she might, if it were pitched right. It would just have to appeal to her sense of social sadism. She'd laugh us out of the mansion. Nor would I ask her to - she wouldn't take it well. *sigh* I just don't like the idea of killing him out of hand. * PrincessSakura stops chuckling, but doesn't get up yet. So then what do we do with him? I don't trust him enough to just let him go. *quietly* ...honestly, Rin, how is it different from slaughtering him on the field of battle? He is potentially useful. ...and he's not actively trying to kill us right now. There is that, I suppose. * PrincessSakura thinks for a moment. ...I'll just take him. That doesn't mean I don't acknowledge it could be necessary. Half of me wants to kill him myself, just to prove to myself I'm not being too soft-hearted or sentimental. This requires...cold logic. But... --take him? Where? Where, exactly, is none of your business. He mentioned evil construction workers, you should look into that. ..we know about them, Lady Heat. Apparently, they work with my father. * Lord_Darkmoon stares darkly at a wall. But... let's just say this is a point of order that I have not encountered before, and I need to check with Her Majesty for guidance. .....Oh. * PrincessSakura stands and brushes off her skirt. "I'm sure She will have an opinion, and I will follow her wishes." * Lord_Darkmoon shakes his head again. "Perhaps I'm just being vindictive. It would have been...cathartic...to watch someone else humiliated before Her Majesty," he spits the title. Well, you can imagine it. So what do you want us to do with the information? Oh, here's the address and cell number. *hands Sakura the paper he took it down on* About the Yakuza... nothing. Her Majesty's interests will not be served by magical girls wading into Yakuza business in an organized fashion. But... * LadyNightshade bites her lip. Of course not. Much of them pay her fealty. A punitive raid, maybe, if we could nail down this team... but even that has problems. Revenge would be nice, but I fear that's all it would be, and it would show our hand. I think we should work our way up their chain of command and figure out who is behind all of this. As it is, we have a strong suspicion of who the "suits" that are hiring them are. * PrincessSakura nods. "We need to start thinking about operations to investigate Universal Shipbuilding and Hitachi-2osen." Squeegee pulled their trade commission filings yesterday, but ultimately we're going to need to put someone on their lot to find documents and information, and that will be you guys. Uh-huh ...don't do anything rash, but if you have ideas that won't be traceable, you have permission to run with them. ....None here. It is high time I went to my family's new home. I've not seen Mommy or Daddy in a long time, now. ... * LadyNightshade looks down and doesn't say anything in response. Perhaps it's time for me to take a new interest in Daddy's work.