So Sakura sets out across town on her motorcycle - she got herself a new toy, it appears, a sporty Honda with pink cowling - Maya hanging on for dear life behind her. Sakura is... proficient with the bike, but not a great driver yet, and it shows. In any case, there is no chance for conversation before they arrive at the steps of the palace. [mini start] * PrincessSakura pulls off her pink helmet and shakes her hair out. * LadyMysteria was indeed hanging on for dear life, and as soon as she's off it, the helmet comes off and she works over her face with a napkin. "... and once again, we're here." Oh, Maya, it's not so bad. We're going to kick some ass tonight. I hope so. I could use the pick-me-up. That said, the setup is probably going to be a little rough for you. Don't worry - you're not in trouble - and just say what feels right. ...maybe not too much detail about our "lead", though * PrincessSakura grimaces. If you know what I mean. I'll leave her out as much as I can, of course. And don't worry about me being quiet. If I can say something that'll make things easier for us, I'll say it. Good girl. * PrincessSakura heads on into the palace, and breezes by the front desk. Lady Mysteria? Would you please follow me? ... right, right. Of course. The clerk leads Maya back into the main body of the palace - not to the throne room wing like before, but seemingly into a section that is combination living quarters and ceremonial space. * LadyMysteria moves beside the Clerk, trying to look as together as she can. She stops just outside an unmarked door, and stands there, waiting. After almost three minutes, at some unheard signal, she turns and pulls the door open. "Thank you for waiting." * LadyMysteria nods quietly and proceeds along, smoothing out her outfit and adjusting her tophat. Her expression is even, steps measured. May enters a dim study. There are paintings on the east and west walls of tranquil seas and pastoral farmland, but her attention is captured by the tableau in the center of the room. The inner circle, or at least a sizable chunk of it, is waiting for her. Princesses Sakura and Squeegee are sharing a couch on the left. Both of them have notepads on their laps. On the right, Princesses Majestic Tiara and Purity sit on chairs of their own. In the middle, the Queen is placidly kneeling on a familiar-looking pile of cushions, though not nearly as outrageously high since the ceiling here is about three meters lower. There is no place provided for Maya to sit. * LadyMysteria has little choice but to stand, then, before the assembled higher-up types. She does, however, pay her respects to the Queen with a bow. * TheQueen nods back. * PrincessSqueegee clears her throat, then begins the meeting. This session of the court has been convened to discuss the situation that occurred in Warabi earlier this evening, and what should be done about it. And who's going to pay to rebuild my mall! * PrincessPurity grimaces and looks over at Tiara. The others just ignore her. * LadyMysteria remains quiet and at attention, waiting for the go-ahead to speak. Lady Mysteria, you were the leader of one of the teams on the scene, and... probably the one with the best perspective on the situation. Could you please relate to us what you saw? * LadyMysteria nods. "I'll begin from shortly before the actual Ningyo attack. We'd located a few individuals in the mall who had a faint sort of Sea magic aura on their person, and proceeded to keep tabs on their locations and activities. This was cut short when the Ningyo appeared, as they almost immediately joined the fray on the Ningyo's side." I would like the Court to note that they did so before the Ningyo was dead - this is unprecedented. * PrincessPurity hmmms. * TheQueen barely looks like she's listening. Yes, as Princess Sakura stated. They didn't waste any time; only melee weapons this time, which was unusual. In almost every other incident, guns were used to some extent. In any case... * LadyMysteria takes a breath. "We quickly engaged the assassins, since we simply couldn't stand there and let the local team be overwhelmed. Even then, they took some injury, as you all know. At a certain point, Lady Mallet attempted to strike one of the attackers down and missed." Injury is something of an understatement. * PrincessPurity flinches at the thought of Leena missing. So does Squeegee. That, along with the water the Ningyo had brought with it, was probably the cause of the eventual chain of collapses. And... yes, it is, but right now the situation requires me to focus on the actual battle, ma'am. You brought down the whole fucking mall! No, they didn't. Just the front half. Well, they trashed the back half last fall! Girls, girls... please proceed, Lady Mysteria. Of course, my Queen. As I stated, the floors collapsed, and we were in the basement, which was slowly flooding. Too much dust was in the air to proceed with combat, and the attackers were pulling back as well. We proceeded to search for our fellow Ladies. As you all know, we could not find Lady Goggles, and Lady Snowball did not survive. Strangely, this brings the most reaction from Lady Sakura - the others barely blink. * LadyMysteria takes another moment to breathe. "The Ningyo remained, but Princess Majestic Tiara quickly disposed of it." She makes sure to pronounce all of Tiara's title properly. Good thing I did, too - I don't think any of the weaklings on the scene could have managed it from the terrain they were in. * LadyMysteria does a masterful job of not saying anything without thinking, or betraying the small bit of anger washing over her. Is there anything else that I should speak about? Goggles, Maya. * LadyMysteria nods, slowly, and seems to be forming her reply in her head. You could tell us all how Lady Mallet is going to pay to rebuild- Gods, Tiara, get off it. I'm sure Leena didn't mean to destroy the place. It is going to create problems, though, if anyone saw that it was one of ours that struck the blow that brought the place down. And Sakura's covered for that girl too many times recently! I understand protecting one's own, but this has to stop! She was fighting for her life, and the lives of YOUR own, dipshit. But the polls are swinging slightly, gaining negative momentum. We can't afford this crap. * LadyMysteria makes a face, if only for a second. "As for Lady Goggles. The only reason my team were even at the mall was because she had earlier approached me concerning a bad feeling she'd had around the mall. According to her, none of her teammates took her seriously, and it seems that she knew a little about my team, perhaps from being around a Princess." Not from me. I don't tell ANYONE about Sakura's Folly. You're not supposed to, dear. I decided that it was worth looking into, and we discovered the Sea-taint. Since it was small, mobile sensations, we decided to look into it again the next day. That day was, of course... today. Had I not listened to Goggles, your entire team would probably have been wiped out, Princess Tiara. It's been getting out, though. I've been hearing things in the air at the Tea Club - there's some perception that we have some sort of special squad. That's another thing we can't let out! How will the norms feel about a secret service? ...none of you are listening. * LadyMysteria holds off on trying to sound spiteful; simply relaying it all matter-of-factly. * LadyMysteria seems to be noticing what Sakura's saying, judging by how her eyes dart between the ongoing spat. She said, she got intel from a Lady. Not from me, or my sources. Not from Squeegee's sources. And not, Your Majesty, from your source. Think about that. No warning. No. Warning. And they still prevented a total loss. * PrincessSqueegee does think about it, and her eyes narrow. Pfft. Sounds more like Goggles got off the reservation to me. I'll have to discipline her. You can't discipline her, idiot, she's MISSING. * LadyMysteria somehow doesn't react to Tiara's comment. "If I may speak freely for a moment." Please do, Maya. Thank you, my Queen. What intel we have at this point is effective to a degree, and we've done a good job with what little time and solid, hard facts we've been given. But... in a way, I feel this is a sign that our enemy is shifting tactics, and we might have to shift to counter this. But... that brings a problem with it; namely, our team's relative secrecy. You're secret for a very good reason. Yeah. Heh. I am well aware. That is, unfortunately a very sharp sword, cutting both ways. Funny - nobody ever explained that one to me. * LadyMysteria allows herself a sigh. "I will be honest in admitting that I'm nowhere near as capable of coming up with a solution, but... Princesses, my Queen. We're going to need one, and soon." This can only be the beginning. Openness would be a dagger pointing right at my heart, dear Mysteria. Indeed. When I agreed to the expansion of this team, I just knew it would end up this way. But circumventing it was the only way this disaster was prevented. Sakura's right - if we can't get intel of prescience, then we need our teams to be alert and know where to go. Yes... I've long accepted that. If there was some other way, though... at the very least, some way of trying to seek out alternate methods of information-gathering. Keeping this team a secret has to remain the number one priority, but I'm concerned about our effectiveness in the future. * LadyMysteria thinks about said team for a moment, and her mouth takes a tiny downward turn. Lady Mysteria is entirely too diplomatic. Secrecy, particularly within the organization, is STUPID. It serves NO FUNCTION at all, and it's time to stop it. ...Sakura, you're... still new here. There are reasons. You should be guessing at them by now - certainly you're not that oblivious. ...I don't like them. It was a decision we made a long time ago... but perhaps we'd best go on. *glances at Maya* If you don't like them, Sakura-chan, you'd best find a different club to join. Sakura is here at my invitation and insistence. She will remain. Fine, you don't want it getting out? Guess what - it's already probably too late! ...put the pieces together for them, Maya. * LadyMysteria has the sort of look on that says she's pondering something that's... not very fun to ponder. All the while, she's looking Sakura's way... and her eyes go wide when Sakura speaks. "... Sakura, do you mean..." You guys pointed out earlier. ...look - the *other* thing that was completely new and different about this raid was that the attackers appear to have kidnapped Lady Goggles. * LadyMysteria opens her mouth... closes it. Opens it again. "We spent a considerable amount of time searching, and there were still conscious assassins there with us in the basement. Goggles wouldn't simply just hop up and leave after having her skull raked and having fallen a few stories." * PrincessSqueegee is silent. There's a very good chance they have her, and there's a very good chance they will do anything in their power to extract information from her. * PrincessPurity grimaces. They "have her"? What foolishness - she's a Lady, she can fight them off. ... Tiara... some of them has Sea-imbued weapons, and they were apparently *very* good with them. Oh, indeed. Somebody go remind Lady Nike and Lady Spoon about how helpless the normals are. * PrincessSakura twitches. She could make it interesting... Goggles? Eh. But if they tie her well enough, she wouldn't get anywhere. And there is one of my concerns. We are powerful, yes, but normal human beings readily outnumber us. Now imagine even a small cross-section of them with Sea weapons and training. Eh. I'm more worried about the enemies that are paying for this war finding out. And despite their alliance with the Sea, I doubt the connection is that strong. They'd have far more Sea armament if that were the case. But if we want to stay ahead... if we want to have a chance to win... * LadyMysteria nods, slowly. "True, but it would still be best to stop that from happening in the first place." It's ugly, isn't it? Both options are bad. In the longer run, though, revelation is inevitable. No one will believe we don't have some sort of black-bag team once... You guys are crazy. This was decided long ago! It was decided, then, for reasons we had, then. ...Sakura, I can not let this be part of our public image. So don't let it. We have the authority to Order our girls to keep it that way. Keep it private - just not so private as to be useless. It's a good compromise. By the time it does get out... I can live with that. Idiots. * PrincessMajesticTiara gets up and kicks her chair aside as she storms out of the room. * TheQueen giggles. "Someone find that girl a new shopping mall. Fast." Your Majesty? * LadyMysteria takes a deep breath, fidgeting for a few moments... and tries hard not to giggle. She almost succeeds, before looking guilty. ...right. Okay. Here is the new Order. All of you are to tell your teams and associates about Sakura's squad... heh. They need a name, don't they? Call them the Hunters. Hunter team. * PrincessPurity quirks an eyebrow. Literary reference. Right. *with Authority* All of my subjects are to know about the Hunter team, and they are also to be ordered not to ever reveal its existence to anyone not in the hierarchy. ...will that do? I suppose I can live with it. Compromise is a part of life. ...your Majesty? What about the rules the team is working under? Shouldn't those be revised as well? *blink* Of course. Maya, you can notify your protectees. *gleefully* Thank you, Your Majesty! * PrincessSakura sits back, greatly satisfied. * LadyMysteria smiles, faintly. "Thank you, my Queen, Princesses. We will do our best." * LadyMysteria bows again, to the room in general. Lady Mysteria needs to get going. They have a lead on where Junko may be, and are heading out of town tonight. "Junko"? Goggles. And thank god. Maya, good hunting. Of course. Sakura, I'll contact you as soon as I have news worth your time. You do that. [end mini]