Session Start: Sat Jun 25 15:24:30 2005 Previously, on Hunters: The team has become the de facto embassy to the United States after the US Navy tracked down Mina-pu at her home. There is a shiny new agreement between the two powers. The Hierarchy will assist the United States against the Ningyo, particularly in regards to the carrier recovery operations in Tokyo Bay. In return, they will receive various assistance that only a very large nation-state can provide. Intelligence data, occasional surveillance help, maybe some weapons, and of course some general goodwill. Despite Leena's lobbying, though, they have not agreed to produce a television series about her. So this evening is the first period that the Hunters are going to stake out the Navy's command center at USC. They will go minus Lady Mallet (who herself is minus her Mallet right now) as she is still recovering from an exploded aorta earlier that afternoon. [Thursday, March 10, 2004 - 1750 local time] [in the streets outside Universal Shipbuilding Corporation] [session start] * LadyHeat twitches as she remembers the last time she was there. The perfect weather of the day has continued, with no clouds in the sky for the sunset to light up, but it is starting to get a little chilly. * LadyNightshade paces back and forth outside the gate, dressed in her black cargo pants, a black turtle neck and a newer leather longcoat. * Lord_Darkmoon walks along with his usual calm, not shivering as his shirt seems to have grown long sleeves sometime during the walk to the place. * LadyMysteria is as properly-dressed as she can manage, complete with dark colors and a windbreaker. She looks... nervous, to say the least. * LadyHeat is wearing a cute turtleneck sweater (blue), along with a fairly generic pair of jeans. The guardpost at the gate is already lit up for the evening, and there is a fair amount of traffic through it. Lots of workers are still leaving for the day, but some Americans in their larger vehicles are also coming and going. So what do you think is gonna happen tonight? *looks up at Maya* * Lord_Darkmoon watches the comings and goings for a moment, before turning to hear Maya's response to Nightshade's query. Hopefully, nothing. I hope so. * LadyMysteria rubs her hands together. "But, whatever happens, we're here to put forth a good face for the others." I really don't look forward to fighting any Ningyo tonight... Especially without Leena... If it comes to that, we will handle them. Tomorrow, we will handle that which keeps Mallet from attending. *matter-of-factly* Do you ever look forward to fighting Ningyo? * LadyMysteria shakes her head. * Lord_Darkmoon holds the Tessen out to Mysteria. "Would you like some warmer clothes, m'Lady?" You shouldn't. It's dangerous. Real dangerous. And I'm fine, Darkmoon. Just nervous, and I didn't bring the rings with me. Well it was easier when I had a team that was like made to handle them... * LadyNightshade looks around. "So is someone going to meet us out here or do we just go in?" We're going to keep a general eye on things. Not get in the soldiers' and workers' way. I hope no one recognizes us like that reporter. * Lord_Darkmoon puts an arm around Maya's shoulders and squeezes quickly before letting go. "We'll be fine." ^_^ I wouldn't expect any of them to be hanging around here at night. Well, like that guy who's office I had to bug last time. There's a uniformed American in the guard post eyeing the team. Mmmm! Right, of course! Shall we? They -are- expecting us. We shall. Let's go. * LadyMysteria heads along, taking up the lead like leaders should. * LadyNightshade follows the team, keeping her eyes alert as she scans the surroundings. * LadyHeat follows carefully. * Lord_Darkmoon follows just behind and to the right of Maya. * Lady_MakeBelieve walks along with the rest, bringing up the rear. * Officer steps out of the heated shack as the group approaches the gate. ^Excuse me, are you... uh...^ * Officer sweats, not sure how to put this discreetly. * LadyMysteria reflexively looks to the closest English-speaker, since hers is pretty bad. ^Uh yes, we are... them.^ ^The special guards you requested?^ * LadyHeat does not laugh. ^I'm sorry, I was expecting something more... showy. I need to see some sort of proof..."^ Mysteria, he says he wants some sort of proof. Just make something appear, MB. ...Yeah, that would be easiest. * LordDarkmoon puts the tessen back in his belt. * Lady_MakeBelieve steps forward, holding out a hand, and after a moment of concentration produces an Official Badge from nowhere. ^Is this an acceptable credential?^ * LadyMysteria chuckles softly, then starts twiddling her fingers in an attempt to lift the officer just a tad off of the ground. * Officer opens a folder, and looks something up, then stares at Lady MakeBelieve for a moment. ^That should be sufficient, though if the Captain doesn't recognize you, there will be consequen- yipe!^ * LadyMysteria then sets him back down. ^Good?^ ^Okay, you are the girls I'm looking for.^ We felt it would be best if we were...not immediately recognizable. Should we, perhaps, look more military? * LadyMysteria shrugs. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt." * Officer escorts the group around the gate, and leads them to a battered- looking Dodge pickup. ^Actually, no, that could create problems.^ * LordDarkmoon nods. "Understood." He offers a small, pleasant, business-like smile. * Officer gets in and starts the motor. There isn't room in the cab, so some of you are going to have to ride in the back. * Lady_MakeBelieve climbs onto the back, without asking. * LadyMysteria slides into the back, looking around curiously. * LadyNightshade gladly climbs into the back. * LadyHeat joins the others. "...I guess we're all in the back?" * Officer shrugs as no one climbs in with him, then pulls out onto the huge construction road that runs through the shipyard. Universal Shipbuilding looks much the same as the last time you were here - massive piles of construction materials and warehouses dot the flat concrete landscape. You're moving away from the headquarters building now, and north towards the lot where you observed the US Navy setting up shop that night. * Officer drives carefully, not wanting to spill his cargo. It's almost four minutes before the pickup pulls to a stop in the midst of trailers and temporary structures stenciled "US Navy" in multiple languages. Man the more I come here, the more I hate being here. ... At least we're getting in the easy way. Yeah, this is much nicer than being flung over the fence. * Officer gets out, and points towards a nearby trailer. ^This one is yours.^ True, true. * LadyMysteria looks to the trailer, then to the officer. She bows, politely, and offers a '^Thank you.^' before she scoots along. This is what we're guarding? * LordDarkmoon looks from the pointing officer to the trailer, and then follows Maya off the back of the truck. Darned girlfriends who move too fast to let you be a gentleman. Ah well. It's nicer than swimming in. * Lady_MakeBelieve hops off the truck, and examines the trailer. * LadyNightshade hops out of the back, sizing up the place. The trailer is anonymous, except for a long serial number stenciled on its long sides. A couple of wooden steps lead up to a doorway, and the lights are on inside. * Lady_MakeBelieve looks to Mysteria to lead the way inside. * Officer gets back in the pickup, and drives off. * LordDarkmoon walks up to it, and knocks, before stepping out of the way to give Mysteria access. It is not for leaders to do such mundane things as announce their presence. * LadyHeat climbs off. "I wonder what's inside." * CaptainWallace appears in the door window, then opens the door up. "Welcome!" I imagine-- him. * LadyMysteria chuckles a little. "Thank you very much." * LordDarkmoon smiles and bows greeting. Hello. * CaptainWallace backs into the interior of the trailer. He stops in the large, central compartment, which looks vaguely like an executive conference room, save for the leather couch on one side. * LadyNightshade bows formally, following the group inside. * Lady_MakeBelieve offers a handshake as she enters. There's a restroom to the front, and a door to the back compartment is standing open, revealing what seems to be a small bedroom. * CaptainWallace takes MakeBelieve's hand as she offers it. * LordDarkmoon looks around a bit, standing near Mysteria. Hm. This is... quite nice. * LadyMysteria hrms. "Perhaps a fallback if we're ever ferreted out... I'll think about that." This is going to be your base of operations while you're on site here. It's pretty well-appointed, with an internet hookup, and one of the Marines donated a game console to help keep you busy, that's in the back. Ooh. US or Japanese made? Er... *puts her formal face back on* * CaptainWallace shrugs. "I didn't look." * Lady_MakeBelieve wanders over to the console. We get to play videogames? There's a US-version XBox sitting below a good-sized plasma screen. Damn, that's bigger than my TV. Nice, now I can finally see how some of these games made the translation. And yes, mine to. * Lady_MakeBelieve starts paying attention to the Captain again. Well, there's going to be a lot of waiting around, I expect. * Lord_Darkmoon doesn't give the TV a second glance. I could imagine, yes... hrm. So we're waiting for the Ningyo? * LadyMysteria pokes at the couch. "Generally... if they show, we do our thing, last I remember." How much warning do you usually have when they show? There's a radio set here in the main compartment. Your callsign here is 'Omega Platoon' - if someone starts screaming that, then you're needed. How long are we staying here tonight? ... 'Omega Platoon'. I like the sound of that. I believe the plan is to set up 24 hour surveillance, Lady Nightshade. We will, likely, begin rotating in and out. The Ningyo have been striking between 1900 and 0200 hours - we do not know if they are limited to that time range for some reason, but... That is... unusual for them. Is it? * LadyMysteria rubs her chin. "They tend to not strike after sundown." Perhaps they hope the lateness of the hour will impede human efforts to stop them. Yeah, they usually only hit around the afternoon. ...or perhaps this has some bearing on the mechanism whereby they manifest in places with no direct, open route to the Sea... They have, mostly, come in from the bay. That's given us a couple of minutes warning, at least since we started watching. Has anyone else here ever fought a Ningyo directly from the sea? I know my old squad hadn't. I've fought one while under water at school. We had to hold off several while making our retreat from their sunken boat. That was...not pleasant. No... The closer to the sea, the worse they are, plain and simple. We think we might have killed one - one of the platoons got their machine gun to bear, and it eventually ripped the mermaid to shreds. * Lord_Darkmoon nods. "That should work on them as well as on anything." They are, in the end, flesh and blood. *absent-mindedly licks his lips* But its partner drowned most of the soldiers that saw that. * Lady_MakeBelieve doesn't look happy at the mention of machine-gunning things. ...they're attacking in teams, now? Sometimes. Maybe they only do it in the sea? * LadyMysteria sighs. "They're wising up, finally." It's probably easier to get enough water to support more than one out here by the sea. I see. I wish I had the range or numbers to set up a perimeter and see how they're appearing - whether swimming in or mystically appearing in the midst of the bay - but I can't. Anyway, we'd like a full team on hand during the known problem hours, at least until we can arrange to move, or resolve the situation at sea. I hope they can't teleport. They can do something similar, else how would they get to bathrooms and fountains? Probably just requires a conduit of water. * Lord_Darkmoon looks to Wallace. "That sounds like a wise plan." Maybe they can shrink really small? * Lord_Darkmoon shakes his head. "They'd get ground up in the water purification facilities." If it's you guys, that's fine, or if you have another group that will relieve you some nights, that works too. Perhaps they turn *into* water. I don't think we could get another group. We'll see what we can do about a second team. I can't make any promises, though. * LadyNightshade turns to CaptainWallace. "Do we need to contact you before we act on anything? Or just go when we here the call signal?" Lady MakeBelieve, that suggests too much uniformity of power amongst them. I know of no Lady who can turn into Earth, for example. You should respond to any emergency call directly. If you need me, you have my cell, of course. Perhaps the Queen of the Sea turns them into water then, or perhaps its akin to our transformation sequences. We don't know if they're like us, though. Alrighty. I just though there were different breeds, like normal fish. Anything else we need to know for tonight? * Lord_Darkmoon blinks. "...perhaps they're full-fledged fish detransformed?" That would make them pretty easy to hide. Well, I did want to show you around a little. Oh okay. Maybe they're normal fish that get perverted into Ningyo by the Queen of the Sea. Maybe we can discuss this later and get the tour over with for now. * Lord_Darkmoon smiles. "That would be nice, Captain Wallace." * CaptainWallace goes back to the front and opens the door... ...and a Japanese man walks right in. That would be very nice, yes... I'm curious if any of the soldiers are curious about u---eh? They're probably some kind of pirhana normally. * Lord_Darkmoon looks the man up and down, moving just his eyes. Haga-san, what are you doing here? * Haga is an older man, in his fifties at least, though he's still got a full head of greying hair. His face is pinched into a mask of displeasure, though his tone is polite. What is this, Captain? You're not giving tours to local school groups, are you? * CaptainWallace opens his mouth to respond, looks over at the team, then closes it with a troubled look. * LadyMysteria sighs a little, rubbing her temple. * LadyRoyal narrows her eyes at Haga. * LadyHeat stops talking about how she thinks the Ningyo are originally innocent pirhana perverted into evil by the Queen of the Sea. It's a long story, sir. They won't be in the way. And I've asked you to not enter our facilities without arranging things ahead of time. * LadyNightshade smiles awkwardly and tries to act like she belongs there. Because she does. Or something. This is Japanese soil, and my company's lands. I don't need your permission, Captain. We have to tighten security, sir. There is a danger you will be hurt if you continue to barge in. * Lord_Darkmoon ...holds his tongue. And yet you bring these... children here? Interesting, interesting indeed. * CaptainWallace gets in front of the interloper and points at the door. "Out. Now." * LadyNightshade leans over and whispers into Maya's ear. "Want me to kill him?" *smiles mischievously* * LadyMysteria stays quiet as well, pursing her lips and looking mildly offended. She shoots Taki a look. * LadyRoyal eyes the man. * Lord_Darkmoon eyes the man. * LadyHeat pulls a water bottle out of her always present backpack and takes a sip. There's a confrontation of wills for a moment, then the Japanese man backs down the stairs. Wallace follows him, slamming the door on the way out, and an angry discussion ensues which you can not quite make out. Not good. So much for cover. * LadyRoyal shakes her head and rubs the bridge of her nose. * Lord_Darkmoon raises and eyebrow, and turns to Maya. "Disrespectful." To who? Irrelevant, at this point. He's their problem, not ours. Yet. He dishonors his guest, treating him as a servant. Oh right. Yeah. That guy's a dick. This company fears what the Americans will discover. He would not be breaching etiquette so, did they not. * LadyRoyal pokes around. Are we going to have to deal with him often? Hopefully not. Mmm. This also creates the problem of the assassins now knowing that we're here. Assuming that they're connected with this place. * CaptainWallace comes back in, fuming. Captain, if I may make a suggestion? We can guess they are. ^Fucking hell!^ I'm sure they'd--ah? * LadyRoyal blinks cluelessly at ze English. * Lady_MakeBelieve gasps Is this going to be a problem Captain? * Lord_Darkmoon snorts out a commiserating laugh. I'm sorry. We should have sneaked you in, instead of bringing you through the main gate. Is there a problem? * LadyRoyal refrains from either rolling her eyes or saying "duh". She thinks it pretty loudly, though. Mmmmn. This was a bad idea. This could be a problem. I don't know. He's the man in charge of USC right now, with the top executives unavailable, and he has been doing things to slow us down. They're going to be watching out for us now. ..ugh. You should not have to sneak anyone you wish in. You are the guest of this company. The man insults you by barging in as though you were common servants. When next he acts in this fashion, politely assure him you're aware he cannot possibly mean to insult the United States Navy in this fashion, and for him to explain why he risks doing so. We cannot combat the Ningyo effectively if the men that are after us know that we're hear helping you. And this... I don't know what he thinks you are, but if they have been working against you... we may have put you in even more danger. Not a good start. Yes, we noticed. I am sure that your own security procedures will be excellent protection against...mundane threats. Danger seems to follow us, sir. * LadyMysteria sighs. "We will manage, and do what we can for now." If I may ask, what is Haga-san's actual position in the corporation? * CaptainWallace smiles at Lord Darkmoon. "On the base, yes. Off it... we are limited in how much force we can project. * Lord_Darkmoon nods, once. It turns up where we least expect it, like the subway. * Lord_Darkmoon glances at Heat warningly. Mn. Well, rush hour is annoying! * LadyRoyal suppresses a snerk. He is the CFO, I believe, which makes him really third or fourth in the chain of command, but he's top dog here at the moment. We need to get somewhere and bam, every salaryman in Japan needs to get home. I see. Then he should know better, indeed, than to insult you in this fashion. So um, speaking the subway, you mentioned being able to examine our attackers bodies. If we produced one. Remember, Captain, we Japanese are a very formal people, even in today's day and age. Allowing him to get you openly angry lets him 'win'. Turning it on him will...disarm him completely, as he is in the wrong, here. Perhaps he's hoping that the Captain might not pursue that route of retaliation, as it were. Yes, what, you have one alread- oh, the subway thing was you? * LadyNightshade nods. ... Yeah. We have one of them we took with us. He's still alive. Mostly. Ah. We can arrange a discreet pickup...? That's what I was hoping. Good. * Norcliff pokes his head out of Haruko's purse. When did we get here? I can have him dropped off wherever would be good for you. * Lord_Darkmoon smiles at Norcliff. "A few minutes ago." We just have to contact our home base. * CaptainWallace blinks, and spots the little Pet. "Um. What is that, a talking bat?" I am not a bat! Ah! Norcliff! I... suppose now's as good a time as any to say hello to the Captain. It's a um... pet. * Norcliff jumps out of the purse and glides over to Wallace's shirt I am a sugar glider! He...works with us. Has proved very useful in the past. I'll take your word for it, little guy. Norcliff! Get off the captain's shirt. He's at least as good at detecting the Ningyo as we are. And other dangers, as well. * Norcliff preens at the praise, and ignores Haruko, climbing up to Wallace's shoulder. Sorry, he doesn't often get the chance to talk to new people. Few Pets do. Poor things have to try to pretend to be normal animals. Which is considerably less interesting than being a normal human. I can imagine. Some, like Sunset, can't even do that well, being strange colors. * LadyRoyal clears her throat. "Anyway." So... um... all of you are transformed, right now? ...sort of. * Norcliff busies himself climbing all over and around Wallace * LadyMysteria simply smiles. "What do you think." ^_^ I know Lady Royal is, and I'm guessing the rest of you are. * CaptainWallace manages not to squirm. * Lady_MakeBelieve sighs, and snatches Norcliff back when he gets to the shoulder again. Hey! Behave, or you go back in the purse. Hope I do not have to transform. And do -not- shoot at me if I do. Please. ^^; I should be restraining my attentions to Ningyo at that point. Um... why would we shoot? He looks very... ev.. scary. Rather scary. Mm. It's bad. Uh yeah we're all transformed. *pries her attention away from being creeped out by the tube rat* Define bad? So I can tell people what not to shoot? ^Are you familiar with little red riding hood?^ * Lord_Darkmoon manages not to squirm or rub the back of his head. "I believe the English word is 'welu-woorufu'." Large slavering lupine form. * LadyMysteria looks to Rin, surreptitiously squeezing his hand. He likes fish, too. * Lord_Darkmoon smiles at her and squeezes back, gently. * CaptainWallace blinks. "Fascinating." So, um, if you'd refrain from shooting the three-meter-tall hairy beast, it would be appreciated. I, um, kind of lose my temper rather easily when transformed. In any case, not having to be in your, uh, uniforms makes you a lot harder to spot, and easier to explain to the troops. That's always good. We noticed as much ourselves. It might be best to tell us your cover story for us, in case we are asked to explain our presence. * CaptainWallace fishes a stringy mass out of one of his pockets. * LadyNightshade eyes the mass. * LadyRoyal raises an eyebrow. Uh? Here are your security badges. We'll get photos for them tomorrow, but have these on whenever you're out of the trailer. Ah-hah. Oh. * Lord_Darkmoon accepts his, nodding. * Lady_MakeBelieve manages to recover from the talk about Feral You are, to the troops here, Ningyo Specialists. * LadyHeat puts hers on. ...heh! True enough. * LadyRoyal puts hers on. * Lord_Darkmoon coughs, suppressing something between a snort and a laugh. "Interesting. I wonder how many will figure out what that means." He puts his own on. We have discussed with them the need *not* to discuss this with anyone else, so when they eventually figure out what that means... well. * LadyNightshade takes hers and looks at it. ...great, great. * Lady_MakeBelieve takes hers, and pins it to the hem of her sweater. * LadyMysteria takes hers, puts it on, and smiles. "... I feel official." Ha. Shouldn't be hard for them to sooner or later understand why a group of teenagers would be specialists at something. So do we get a tour now? I wonder how long it will take a few of them to buy our cards. *smirks* For the USC staff, who should not be in this part of the complex anyway, you are children of some salvage consultants we hired with local knowledge of the Bay. * Lord_Darkmoon nods. We're those Japanese Child Geniuses they always hear about, of course. The bigwigs are going to know that's a lie, but there's only so much you can do. Mmm. So... how about that tour? ...right. Mmmm... yes, let's. * CaptainWallace shows the team around the surprisingly expansive temporary base. * Lord_Darkmoon takes it in with a professional air, almost like a soldier. * LadyHeat has never seen it before in daylight, so she looks around carefully. * LadyRoyal looks for exit and entry points. * Lady_MakeBelieve takes it with mild interest, like a mediocre new story. * LadyNightshade looks at the whole thing tactically, looking for places to hide and where soldiers are likely to move and all that fun stuff. * LadyRoyal looks around for other stuff too, but. There are almost three thousand people here, some of them refugees from the sinking, others are disaster recovery specialists and construction staff that know how carriers are built. * LadyMysteria is trying to not rubberneck *too* much. * Norcliff pays attention, looking for anything out of the ordinary About half of them are actually living on site, in tent complexes. There's not a lot of actual equipment stored here, except for a mound of crates with extra RPV's for scouting the ship, a prefabricated communications center, where the Admiral you met at the embassy is hanging out, and a small weapons depot. The Marines patrol the perimeter, particularly facing the Bay. Several surveillance stations have been set up on that side, with tense young soldiers continually scanning the horizon. The team is on its way back to the trailer, when a piercing siren sounds. ...That's us? ... ohman, that was fast. ...oh, crap - that's the warning. ...I was wondering how long it would be before something happened. * LadyNightshade looks around for signs of an attack. * Lord_Darkmoon pulls out the Tessen, using it to pull his gun out from under his sleeve. "Let's go." * CaptainWallace leads the charge back to the eastern watchposts, where lines of Marines are taking firing positions behind embankments of sandbags. Thank god there's plenty of water around, the train was horrible. From what I hear, you still handled it pretty well. * Lord_Darkmoon laughs. "You're the only Lady I know who would say such a thing, Heat." * LadyMysteria moves along, pulling her wand from out of her coat. "Seriously... although... poor Mallet." * LadyRoyal winces. "Yeah." I hope she'll be ok. * LadyHeat sighs. "She's tough." And she's one of us. She does foolish things though. She will. *dead flat statement* * Marine runs up to Wallace and salutes. ^We've got them on the low-light, sir.^ Hopefully the secretary can keep her off the prisoner when she wakes up. * CaptainWallace follows the man back to one of the reinforced towers that dot the edge of the encampment. A monitor shows grainy, green video from a camera... Where are they? * LadyRoyal follows Wallace. * Lord_Darkmoon follows, too. ^She wants to know where they are^ ^What's the range, Sergeant?^ * LadyMysteria follows along as well, idly twirling the wand along her fingers. * LadyHeat follows Mysteria, because she needs to be able to see the damn things. ^That's about 750 meters off shore, sir.^ * LadyNightshade watches the feed trying to make out the Ningyo. * LadyRoyal does the same. 750 meters offshore, Royal. Hm. ...I'd try to grab a fish for a better look, but we probably shouldn't tip our hand just now. Probably a bit premature. They're fast, though... we should get ready to greet them, personally. The screen shows a Ningyo that is sitting on top of a huge column of water. It's looking straight back at the base, and as you watch, a round ball- thing of water rises in front of its face, magnifying it. ...bloody show-off. What's it doing? * LadyHeat realizes something. "Captain Wallace, if we do ever wind up fighting at night, I'm going to need some kind of night vision goggles..." Watching us? * LadyRoyal cracks her knuckles. "Ready already, Mysteria." We have better lighting on land, of course, but we can get you that. You're right, it *is* watching us! Thank you very much. ...look out for others sneaking in while it tries to draw all attention. Mysteria, should I try to take a closer look? I wonder if it can sense us from this far out. Norcliff, can you sense it? ...can we sense it? *tries to pay attention to that strange unpleasant sense he usually takes for granted* Well, there is a whole group of us. Not yet, not yet. Let's not give them any hints that we're here aside from what of the Earth they can feel. * Lord_Darkmoon nods. Are you saying we should detransform? I wish there was a way to get something vicious out there, after them. The team *isn't* feeling it - well, maybe, but not like they usually would. Well if Mallet were here, she'd probably hijack a boat and speed out too it. * Lord_Darkmoon looks at the water, trying (probably in vain) to see if any others are sneaking up. Wouldn't detransforming make it more obvious we're here? Since that's a burst of magic. Only barely... and its faint. See if you can sense any others approaching. Mn. Maybe the sea's blocking you out some. Makes sense. I'll do what I can. ^Sir, I'd like to engage it. Not give it a chance to scout...^ You can hit it from this far? * Lord_Darkmoon looks to the Marine who spoke, as if staring at him will make his language understandable. Norcliff, do you sense anything when we detransform? He's asking permission to shoot, so it can't observe us. Well, if he can kill it, so much the better. * LadyRoyal ignores the Marine but responds to Wallace's translation. Can it be hit from this far out? Maybe. Probably not enough to kill it. Its not noticeable on its own, but if you pay attention, you can notice the magic going away. And a group of us doing that would probably draw attention. The sudden drop in magic... yeah. Hmm... If we scare one off that'll just encourage it to bring friends. I don't think we have any real sniper teams here, so it would just be M-16 fire. We should just observe it for now, I think. No artillery? Probably not enough to do any serious damage. Don't you have a boat gun or something you could shoot it with? Or was the one in the harbor the only one? ...no, no artillery. This isn't a battlefield, and your government would not like it if we made it one. * Rinada nods. We have some ships, but they're all farther south, at the shipwreck site. hn. Right. I fear what'd happen if we made this a ranged fight. They can push a lot of water around. Especially if they work together. ^Sir?^ And they'd try to flood the entire area, odds are. Heat, could you intercept and destroy any projectiles? What is the range on the Mystery Star Gun, m'Lady? Heat? Ever tested just how *much* water you can cook at a time? * Lady_MakeBelieve says, sotto voice, "Good idea, Norcliff" * LadyMysteria hrms, pursing her lips. No, not really. Hmmm. * Lady_MakeBelieve pats Norcliff consolingly I can heat it up enough to hurt it pretty badly though. I'm not sure I could kill one with one hit without being a Princess It'd be tough to do... the Gun seems to aim itself sometimes, but I probably couldn't do more than... maybe a hundred meters, if that. On the screen, the Ningyo calmly continues its observations, sweeping its focus north and south slowly. * Lord_Darkmoon nods. "Then a ranged fight is entirely to our disadvantage." What if you set up a "wall" of superheated water a couple hundred meters out? We need to make it stop doing that. Can you boil its lens, or its column? That'd probably burn her out pretty quick. I could do the lens enough to damage it, probably. ...is that what you're going to try, then? * Marine is getting increasingly twitchy as he waits. Well, I'm not sure if my powers can work over a video screen. I'm not sure the magic would let me. Give it a try, Heat. If that doesn't do it, your men can try to shoo the thing away, Captain. * LadyHeat concentrates on the image of the Ningyo and tries to boil its lens. Unfortunately, nothing at all happens. ^They're trying something, Sergeant, but get your men ready.^ ^Yessir.^ ...No, I need to be able to see it myself, not through a video screen. I'm sorry. * Marine runs back to the line, and shouts something. Ah. I suppose that makes sense. As much as any of it does. Okay. ^YOU MAY OPEN FIRE!^ I wish I could... but... it's impossible. They just don't exist in Tokyo Bay. * LadyNightshade winces at the yell and watches the video screen. * LadyHeat hopes this doesn't turn out badly. Not a lot of soldiers actually open fire, and the ones that do take one shot at a time. This is a long distance for the standard M-16, and they're using clumsy low-light goggles on top of that. * Lord_Darkmoon watches the Ningyo on the screen dispassionately, waiting for the results. * Lady_MakeBelieve frowns disapprovingly. * LadyMysteria watches as well, brow furrowed. * LadyHeat waits. Eventually, a round splashes through the lens, making the Ningyo take notice. A second later, it twists as though struck in the hip. Its column of water collapses, and she makes a graceful swan dive to safety. * Lord_Darkmoon frowns. "We definitely need to figure something better out." There's next to no splash. 9.0, 8.5, 9.5... 6.5 from the Japanese judge. Well now it's gone. Now what? We wait to see if it returns. It's probably scoping for holes in the defense. This is where we wait. The shooting stops. That was... anticlimactic. Are there holes in the defense? Wherever we aren't? I need to go back and report in. If you want to hang around here for a little while? Yeah, sure. That's fine. It would probably be the best thing to do, yes. Take care, Captain. * CaptainWallace walks back towards the comm center. They Ningyo are definitely planning something Well of course they are. There's something out here they want. I wonder if the higher ups are all gone to visit the Sea. What? ... You mean conspiring with evil? Maybe they're really Ningyo in mansuits. ... well, if we can be normal and Magical, perhaps the Ningyo can hide as people, too? * Lord_Darkmoon glares at Heat. "They. Are. Men. Foolish men. But men." ...Sorry Darkmoon. Maybe the Ningyo were originally people who got kidnapped and converted to evil! * Lady_MakeBelieve consoles Heat * Lord_Darkmoon closes his eyes and sighs. "...it is fine. I apologize, as well." They get angry at me whenever I suggest that. So um. I think we should train another team to watch this base. If it's going to be a long term thing. We're not really the best equipped to fight Ningyo. And how are we going to be able to do our other job and this at the same time? Yeah, wouldn't a normal team be better for Ningyo fighting? It makes sense though, since we were just normal people. I wonder how they get made out of fish. That's why I suggested perhaps they're just normal fish. Then again, maybe they aren't. We don't know nearly enough about our enemy. Who says they have to be anything like us? I wonder that there isn't a team assigned to this area. Because it would have to be a really complex magical system, because they actually ARE fish. The minions of the Dragon King aren't anything like the Sailors. Well, most of them anyway. I'm sure they aren't. * LadyMysteria nods with Rin. "That will have to change... but for now, we wait and make our new allies happy." As you say, my Lady. But does the Dragon King have a parallel who leads the Sailors like the Queen leads us? Yeah, we can get the local team to watch this base. That's why I'm saying they might be like us, because we have the Queen of the Earth, and they have the Queen of the Sea. Heat has a point. The Sea magic seems to parallel ours in too many places for us not to take that as a hint. Working here is nice and all but it really isn't getting us any closer to finding out who our attackers are. To what, exactly? That is what bothers me. Too many similarities... * Lord_Darkmoon looks sharply at Heat. "Ahem. Ixnay on the een-quay with the American-ways." ...Oops! Well, that's just going on what I've heard in the Myths of the Ladies. Heat: The Dragon King wouldn't be leading the Sailors in the first place... Exactly, so I think we're dealing with a different system than how the fight with the Dragon King works. Why are we talking about the Dragon King? ... I'm not sure myself. As a parallel with the Queen of the Sea. * LadyNightshade sighs and rubs her forehead. ...and so it goes. The team spends most of two hours waiting, watching the low-light video feed, and seeing nothing. If the Ningyo are planning something, maybe it's not for tonight. Me neither. I was saying he works differently than the Sea Queen does. But he doesn't-- God, nevermind. Because it is MakeBelieve's equivalent of our Ningyo foes, Nightshade. He isn't mine. Puppies. * LadyMysteria smirks, slightly. * LadyRoyal twitches. Regardless, do you believe the bay would be...unobserved enough for me to make a sweep, more 'personally'? I wish to do this at least once. Then again, it may be better to wait for them to learn of our presence in an attack. Go for it, Darkmoon. * Lord_Darkmoon smirks. "Feral does not need friends, Mysteria." (in reference to the puppies comment) * Lord_Darkmoon nods. "Will do." He puts on a pair of sunglasses, and his face goes familiarly blank as he seeks a bay-fish or other swimming critter to possess, and starts patrolling the bay. * LadyNightshade grumbles at the mention of puppies and stalks off to be alone and examine the American's fortifications more closely. * Lady_MakeBelieve continues to discuss hierarchies of Evil with Heat * LadyRoyal rubs her forehead and goes off in the direction opposite Taki to do pretty much the same thing. * LadyHeat has crackpot theories, some of which make creepy amounts of sense! * LadyMysteria stays by Darkmoon, looking somewhat relieved. * Norcliff pipes in with expert commentary from time to time. * Lord_Darkmoon comes back to himself what seems like a long time later, taking off the sunglasses after slumping a bit, and rubbing his forehead. "Nothing. Just a dark, empty shoreline." Eventually, they decide to head back to the trailer. Better heating, among other things. * Civilian is waiting for them on the couch, snoozing. * LadyHeat eyes the civilian. ... heh. * LadyRoyal snorts and eyes the civilian. It's the same guy they met in the two meetings, who they still haven't gotten a name for. * LadyMysteria lightly pokes him in the side. * LadyNightshade yawns and stretches as she follows the group inside, eyeing their guest. * Civilian thrashes. ^I'm awake! I'm awake... oh.^ "Hi." * Lord_Darkmoon stands facing the seated man. Can we help you? Good evening. *bows shallowly* Hello. Hello. How are you guys doing? I heard there was some excitement earlier today. ^Evening^ So to speak. Is the Mallet girl okay? I notice she isn't here tonight... She is... unavailable. Nothing to worry about. She'll be back, she's busy. I would offer you refreshment, but I fear we have yet to make ourselves truly at home here.