Session Start: Sat Jan 21 16:13:36 2006 Last time, on Hunters: It looks like the Tokko has successfully been lured to the Palace, but there's a hiccup - Taki had a very strange encounter with one of their field goons and fed them some misinformation that might distract or delay the expected attack. There's just one solution. Lady Nightshade must die! Or something like that. At Sakura's prompting, the Hunters put together a plan to stage Taki's death in front of a known Tokko lookout. A very, very messy death... [Tuesday, March 29, 2004 - 1910 local time] [Inside a van parked a few kilometers north of the Palace] [session start] * LadyNightshade is looking down at her hands and not saying much of anything. * Lord_Darkmoon keeps glancing at her, worriedly. He's quiet, even for him. * LadyHeat drinks some water. * Lady_MakeBelieve sits quietly, glancing around the van at random, looking both excited and kind of disappointed at the same time, * Secretary has climbed through to the back of the van and is adjusting packets of blood taped under Taki's clothes. * LadyRoyal is helping her. * LadyRoyal is looking mildly amused, though there's a strange brightness in her eyes. "Oh, c'mon, didn't I tell you this'd be one of the options?" * LadyNightshade tries not to look to awkward at being uh... adjusted. Don't worry about it. *poke* *wiggle* *yank* I'll call the Palace and there will be a nice shower waiting for you afterwards. You didn't say I was gonna get eaten... HEY! Watch your hands... At least you're going to a good cause? Could be worse. And that was her, not me. ...at least you don't have to taste it. *attempts a weak grin at his even weaker joke* * LadyRoyal jerks her chin at the Secretary. * LadyNightshade shoots Darkmoon a _look_. Anyway, it's only for a bit. * Lady_MakeBelieve mutters under her breath about Nightshade being a bitter pill. * LadyRoyal doesn't look over her shoulder. "I heard that, Haruko." * LadyNightshade just ignores Haruko. * LadyRoyal sits back and lets the Secretary finish the rest, pondering. * Lady_MakeBelieve looks innocently at Royal "Heard what?" * Secretary grimaces. * LadyRoyal shoots Haruko a Look, then turns back to her reflections. Okay. Everybody good on their timing? So... How are we doing this again? * LadyRoyal rubs her chin. "From what y'all told me, you bust out of here like you're trying to escape from us, and then we chase you down and Feral chows down. We're going to drive back towards the Palace. As we get near the lookout point, I'm going to start swerving and slowing, like something is happening in the van. Nightshade-san goes out the side door and runs... and then it's up to you. Well... I run faster than the rest of you... So you're going to have to slow down, for starters. We need to make it look like you were actually fighting in here. I should probably be tied up then. Right. Haruko, would you mind giving us some rope? * LadyRoyal , meanwhile, takes out the clip from her hair and shakes it loose, then summons a card and starts slashing a bit at her clothes as she waits for MB> How much do you want? * LadyRoyal eyes Taki. Do you want any steam? Not too much. We just have to make it look as though she *were* tied up, since she'll be "escaping". I can do it so it's not too hot. 6 feet or so then? Steam...? Oh, coming out the door? * LadyRoyal nods. "Sounds good." Enough to wrap her arms in a loop...she can shake it off while running. Maybe trip over it. * Lady_MakeBelieve passes over some nylon rope Yeah. Yeah, we should probably also have some of it tattered so's it looks like we tried a bit harder. * LadyRoyal takes the rope. "Thanks, Haruko." How is this going to lead to Feral coming out? * LadyRoyal uses her cards to saw through when necessary and ties together Taki's hands and feet, then cuts a jagged rip in the rope binding her feet. I was thinking about that. Anyone willing to sort of hang out the door and play dead? It could be a sort of outrage thing. Maybe I should have a gun... If Nightshade-san is too fast for you, perhaps the beast would chase after her? * LadyRoyal nods. "Or that, too." It's got a longer stride... Or both, really. * LadyRoyal looks at Taki. "What would you do with the gun?" Nightshade will still have to trip, or slow down, though. She's just plain faster than it. Shoot at you guys. Well not really right at you. * LadyRoyal blinks, and thinks it over. "I don't think it'd be that necessary, especially since you haven't been trained with them like Leena and Rin have..." I've been practicing. ...you have? Huh. Well, if you think so, then. She has. In another week Sakura was going to let her start carrying. Ahh. * Lord_Darkmoon pulls out his gun and offers it to Nightshade, pistol first. "The safety's on." * LadyRoyal finishes scratching herself up and looks around at everyone else. "Muss yourselves up a bit, please, everyone who's pursuing." * LadyRoyal runs a hand through her hair and crazies it up but good. * Lady_MakeBelieve concentrates for a second, and her outfit becomes cut up and ragged. * LadyRoyal nods in approval. "Very nice." * Lord_Darkmoon uses his Tessen to turn his clothing into a mess, and loose his hair rather wildly about his head. * LadyNightshade takes the gun as best she can with her bound hands. Please don't worry about hurting me. We need to make this look real... * LadyNightshade doesn't sound very certain as she says that. Are we about ready then? * Lady_MakeBelieve opens her mouth.... then closes it. * LadyRoyal nods. "Exactly. So...hold still for a min, please." * LadyRoyal summons another card and scritches Taki up too. Sorry. * Lord_Darkmoon rests his hand on Nightshade's shoulder. Those aren't tears in his eyes, no way. "You will be alright." * LadyNightshade tries not to wince as she's cut. Hey, if you cry they're not going to buy it. I will not cry. *quietly, but not as coldly as he'd like* * LadyRoyal shifts back and the card disappears. "Anyone who doesn't want to run around, smear one of those extra blood packets around and sort of hang out of the door limply. Couldn't hurt, yanno?" * LadyHeat tears her wetsuit as well as she can and takes off her backpack. * Secretary goes back to the driver's seat and starts up the van. *rumble* * Lord_Darkmoon swallows, and sits back with an obviously false calm. * LadyRoyal pats Rinada on the shoulder as she slips back to her seat. * LadyNightshade goes back to looking down at nothing in particular and tries to control her breathing. * Lord_Darkmoon forces one of his calm, assured smiles that is about as strong as his earlier attempt at a joke. Taki, want me to pour some water on you? I won't steam it too hot. Uh... *recalls the face melting of the men on the train* I think we'll be okay... Okay. The van rolls out of the parking lot and back onto the road. Traffic is light here - the landscape is dotted with mansions and estates for a surprisingly low population density. Mina can put a card in my leg if I get too far off. If we just need special effects, I can make steam. * Lady_MakeBelieve offers forth a puff from her hand. * LadyRoyal nods. All right, we'll be in sight in a moment. So, steam or no steam? Just say when you're ready. We're putting on a show so try not to make it too hard for them to see what's going on. Mm, let's go with no for the time being. We're going to--right, what Taki said. Okay. I'm going to start in about five seconds. Hold on! * LadyNightshade braces herself. Gonna Flurry soon's she pops out, as a warning. * Lady_MakeBelieve makes sure she's buckled in, and holds on to the armrest. * Lord_Darkmoon nods and gets ready to jump out. The van seems to stumble a little, then rocks back and forth. The brakes get slammed, released, slammed again... funny, this isn't nearly as frightening a ride as the Secretary's normal driving. Okay, I'm stopping! * LadyHeat prepares to tumble out of the van after Taki. * Lord_Darkmoon grips his Tessen tightly. * LadyRoyal blinks, but shakes her head and braces to leap. * LadyNightshade gets ready jump out, she fires a couple rounds into the roof of the van, before throwing open the door and rolling out the side into the street. She tucks and rolls as best she can. The van swerves off the road into a shallow ditch. The engine cuts out, and the van stops. Gogogo! * LadyNightshade tries to work the ropes off her legs as she stumbles along the street, trying to get away. No! I'm not going back! * LadyRoyal lets a Flurry loose outside as soon as Taki leaves the van, then runs out after her. "TRAITOR!" Leave me alone! Cards explode randomly in the air! Pretty fireworks! * LadyHeat falls out of the fan, fumbling with the water bottle in her hand. * Lord_Darkmoon leaps out of the van, angrily brushing his loose hair out of his purple-flaring eyes as his Tessen flashes into a Katana once he's free of the vehicle. "You are, one way or another!" he screams, almost hysterically. * LadyNightshade fires a couple shots, trying not to hit anything important. * Lady_MakeBelieve pops the release on her seatbelt, and bails out of the side door. * LadyRoyal sends a few more cards flying. "Betrayers of the fuku must die!" * LadyNightshade gets most of the rope off her legs as she stumbles faster down the street. She fakes a limp from the crash as she moves. I'm not letting you get away after what you did! She had it coming! * Secretary pretends to try to restart the motor. The van backfires. Murderer!! * LadyHeat tosses it "desperately" in Taki's general direction and explodes it. You never should have tried to do this! * LadyNightshade turns and tries to shoot again as she moves. Tears are streaking down her face. * Lord_Darkmoon runs after her, barely keeping pace and not quite gaining ground even with her limping. * LadyRoyal looks back at Darkmoon, while still running. "She's too damn fast! I can't catch the bitch!" I had to! * Lady_MakeBelieve runs after her "We can't let her get away!" * LadyRoyal tries to speed up a bit. "Slow down so's I can rip your eyes out!" * LadyRoyal then realizes she sucks at this yelling things thing and just shoots cards. * Lord_Darkmoon growls, rather convincingly. "Traitors DIE, Nightshade!" he yells, flinging his katana at her. And missing spectacularly. He snarls as it embeds itself in the dirt, and just hunches lower and pours on as much speed as he can muster. Still not enough... An amplified voice echoes from a largish house nearby. "RUN WEST! WE CAN PROTECT YOU!" * LadyHeat pulls herself off the ground and throws another bottle at her. * LadyNightshade continues firing until the gun clicks and then just throws the gun at the group following her. * LadyNightshade looks up. What the hell? She follows the directions given to her, moving towards the rest. * Lady_MakeBelieve has been conjuring pointed objects and flinging them as hard as she can at Taki * LadyRoyal ducks the gun and looks up wildly at the voice. "The hell! There's *more* of you bastards around?" * LadyNightshade scans the area for where the voice came from. ...oh NO you don't! Eclipse the mind! FERAL RAGE! *starts swelling even as he runs, fur and claws replacing cloth and hands* You won't get away from the beast! * LadyNightshade screams at the sight of the beast. "NOOO! PLEASE NO!" Now you'll get what’s coming to you! There's no obvious sign of people there - in fact the house is completely dark. * LadyNightshade scrambles as fast as she can while still letting him catch up with her. * LadyNightshade legs get caught up in the rope still around her legs and she falls hard. NOOO! PLEASE... PLEASE LET ME GO.... As she gets closer, a window lights up as someone sprays automatic fire from inside. Bullets careen off the pavement around Feral and Taki. * LadyNightshade crawls as fast as she can, trying to get back to her feet while she moves and failing badly. * Feral_Beast growls low in its throat, baring its teeth in a...grin? It's eyes flare purple - yes, purple - for a moment as it uses it's forward momentum to leap in the air, and land almost right on top of the traitorous girl. * LadyNightshade screams again as loud as she can, and just cringes into a ball. * Feral_Beast ignores the bullet fire for the moment as it roars, opening its jaws wide to close around the girl's body and lift it in the air. For all its ferocity, Taki herself is being held rather gently, with just enough pressure from the monster's tongue to keep her from being shaken about too much as it shakes its head a bit. * LadyRoyal snarls. "That's the price traitors pay!" Swallow her whole! Another window flashes as someone takes an aimed shot with a rifle. A bloody line appears in one of Feral's massive thighs. * LadyNightshade 's scream slowly subsides as she's eaten. She takes the time to squeeze out as much of the fake blood from the packets as she can. * LadyRoyal rolls up the tattered remnants of her sleeves. "And let's get her filthy friends, too!" * Feral_Beast growls, a bit uncertain, trying to be ferocious and protective at once. It's eyes glow white as it's thigh is grazed. * LadyRoyal flurries the nearest window. * Lady_MakeBelieve tosses a handful of lit smoke bombs between Feral and where she thinks the rifle fire is coming from Blood drips from the wound - much more cascades from the beast's mouth. * LadyHeat tosses a water bottle towards the compound and explodes it with real force. * Feral_Beast drips fake blood from its jaws around the limbs that protrude. It turns towards the smoke bombs' screen, as if readying to charge. A roar, muffled by the burden in its mouth, issues from its throat. The window disappears in a cauldron of flying wood chips. More gunfire sounds off from inside, but it's completely wild now. * Feral_Beast takes a step towards the noises, then pauses, the light in its eyes fading. It pauses uncertainly, the wound on its thigh already almost gone. * Secretary gets the van started, and it begins to roll towards the melee. I hear the van, lets get out of here girls! * LadyRoyal backs up, "accidentally" bumping into Heat, and mutters out of the corner of her mouth, "Hold me back." We can't let these other traitors live! * LadyRoyal prepares to make a running dive into the house. We're in no shape to fight them now! The voice returns, oddly muffled. "-AADY YOU STI- -IVE?!" I don't care! We need to *get them*! * LadyRoyal sends a few more cards into the windowsill and starts running. * LadyHeat runs after Royal and tackles her. * Feral_Beast snarls at the voice, a low, rumbling, angry sound. You're not getting yourself killed for this! * LadyRoyal beats and wails and gnashes and generally just does her best Leena impression. "Let me go! Let me go!" * Secretary pulls up near the group. The side door is still open, Come on! We can get them later! * Lady_MakeBelieve tries to help Heat with Royal * Feral_Beast looks at the others, and back at the smoke, and sniffs. * LadyHeat picks Royal up and carries her back to the van. * LadyRoyal struggles futilely. * LadyNightshade can't help but shiver inside the beast's mouth. She's trying really hard not to just flat out cry. More gunshots splat off the pavement. * LadyHeat runs to the van tosses Royal inside as gently as she can then jumps in. Taki takes a round in her hip. * LadyRoyal dehysterics as soon as she's in the van and out of sight. She gestures urgently at Kyouko. "C'mon, get 'em in, get 'em in." * LadyHeat is inside the van. She grabs Haruko when she gets close and pulls her in. It sounds like multiple shooters are opening up now, though their fire surely can't be aimed yet. * LadyNightshade winces, but suppresses any sort of sound. * Feral_Beast jerks its head a bit at the impact on the thing in its mouth. It takes a step towards the gunfire. * Lady_MakeBelieve throws more smoke bombs * Secretary yelps as the windscreen shatters. DARKMOON! GET IN! "Go go go!" * Secretary spins the tires to get right up to the Beast. * Feral_Beast 's eyes flare purple, and it turns to run towards the van. It drops Nightshade's "mangled corpse" into one of its hands as it goes, and, as it detransforms, catches her so Darkmoon is carrying her in his arms, bridal- style. His eyes are still glowing purple as he jumps into the van and puts Taki in one of the seats. * LadyRoyal SLAMS the door shut. "Right!" * Secretary doesn't wait for the door to close - she just floors it and the van spurts away from the mess in the street. * LadyNightshade acts as limp as she can. ...are you okay, Taki? * LadyRoyal leans into her seat. "Yeah, what he said." * Lord_Darkmoon whispers that without any of his usual controlled tones, genuinely worried. * LadyNightshade doesn't yet open her eyes, she's still shaking. I... don't know... Bullets punch through the rear of the van. Make-Believe and Royal are hit. * LadyRoyal hisses. "Everybody down!" * Lady_MakeBelieve screams in pain, but drops to the floor. * LadyRoyal ducks down. * Lord_Darkmoon glares out the back of the van - was that a hint of Feral's white in his eyes? - before ducking down. * Secretary starts weaving, tossing all the passengers back and forth. * LadyNightshade falls down to the floor, dripping with fake and real blood and a good amount of saliva. A few more rounds perforate the cabin area, and the left rear tire explodes, but the van keeps moving forward and in fifteen seconds the shooting stops. * LadyRoyal takes a deep breath, waits, releases it, then army crawls over to Taki, still cautious. * Lord_Darkmoon puts an arm over Taki, looking frantically to make sure she's not really hurt. * LadyNightshade can't do anything to stop herself from crying at this point. * Secretary steers one-handed while making a phone call with the other. "Get the gates open, we're coming in hot!" Is everyone more or less all right? * LadyHeat clings to something. She can't tell what it is - between the fur, saliva, vomit, and blood, the interior of the van is trashed. Haruko? * Lady_MakeBelieve is busy dressing her wounds but mutters an "mmm" Can I have an extra one of those dressings? I'm okay. In a second here. Right. * Lady_MakeBelieve finishes bandaging herself, and offers some gauze, and antiseptic to Royal Anyone else need first aid supplies? * LadyRoyal starts wiping Taki down with said supplies. Rin, did you get hit? The van slows down, and passes through the front gates and up the drive to the front of the mansion. Once. Feral healed before I turned back. Good. * LadyRoyal finishes with Taki and gets to work on herself, sighing. "Man, I swear I have no idea how Leena does it. The yelling and thrashing took up more energy than anything else." I think its part of her transformation. Did I tackle you too hard? * LadyRoyal snerks at Haruko. "Yeah, could be." * LadyRoyal shakes her head vehemently at Kyouko. "Oh, hell no. Last thing I wanted was to, y'know, actually *succeed* and run into that place blind." Yeah. We don't want someone to actually die. * Lord_Darkmoon pulls out his Tessen and begins carefully waving it over Taki, trying to clean and repair the worst of the muss and gore. His expression is back to unreadable. * Secretary parks, and there's silence for a moment before a gaggle of Ladies bursts out of the front door of the Palace. * LadyNightshade holds up a hand and grabs Darkmoon's wrist. "Stop it..." ... *complies* Last stop. Permanent stop for this poor thing... *strokes the steering wheel* * LadyNightshade just lies there until she's told to do otherwise. I don't even wanna think about how many vans we've gone through this year. I hope we get a volume discount. Is someone going to carry the corpse inside? I'll do it. Someone opens up the side door from the outside. A bright light STABS into the van, making everyone squint. * LadyHeat winces. * Lady_MakeBelieve is suddenly wearing sunglasses * LadyNightshade squints. I'll help. *winces, shading his eyes with his open Tessen* * LadyRoyal shakes her head. What now? * LadyNightshade goes back to playing dead. * Akahara-san is standing a couple of meters away, with a cameraman. "This team just came in from the field where - oh my god." * LadyHeat mutters. "I can do it myself." * Akahara-san winces as she sees the mess inside the van, and stops, unsure of how to continue. * LadyRoyal dives in front of the door. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, this isn't a good time." * LadyHeat moves in front of the body. * Akahara-san stands silent, and allows the riders to climb out. * Lady_MakeBelieve attempts to hurry inside the palace. ...oi, maybe this isn't something we want to show. Guys, don't worry, this isn't a live feed or anything. * LadyRoyal takes a good, deep breath. "Oh thank everything." * LadyHeat carries "dead" Taki in. Is she really dead? * LadyNightshade plays dead anyway. * Lord_Darkmoon does not reply, and walks in quietly, ignoring everyone gathered around. Doesn't look like it. But they sure put on a good show. Mina, how'd it go? * LadyRoyal scratches her head. "More or less as planned. They seemed to get good and riled up by our senseless murder." * LadyHeat puts Taki down somewhere appropriate. * LadyRoyal flashes a not-grin. "For once they're on the other side." The hideout's a good size, didn't look too sturdy from the outside. * PrincessSakura eyes the van. "There was more firepower there than I thought. Or they were less careful about showing themselves, maybe." I didn't hear any alarms when I busted the window, but I shouldn't think--if they're even going to stay in that hidey hole--that there won't be in future. I guess it just means they believed it after all... * LadyRoyal nods. "From what I could read, they seemed sort of distraught. Was that the voice of the guy you talked to?" Mitsuko will find them wherever they go. * LadyRoyal grins beatifically. "Ah, Mitsuko." * Akahara-san stays outside with the van, trying to figure out how to work this into her report. Taki, you look... well, perhaps not so good. Thanks? You're welcome? * LadyNightshade swallows. "It was all I could to to stay calm inside... that thing." * Lord_Darkmoon does not stiffen. He does not reply in any way at all. Well, you didn't flip out and punch your way out of it, so that's a point in your favor right there. * LadyNightshade shivers again. That's only because I don't think I could've won... * LadyRoyal squeezes Rin's shoulder. "Well, we're all glad it didn't come to that." I was told there was going to be a shower? Shower. Yes. Right up these stairs... * LadyRoyal eyes Taki, and looks at Sakura. "No chance there's a copy of the Agency hot tub in here, is there?" * LadyNightshade rubs her thigh where the bullet hit her and looks where Sakura indicated. No... there's a smaller one, but it's only good for a couple of people. * LadyRoyal jerks her head towards Taki. "Big enough for her, though, right? She looks like she needs it." * LadyNightshade makes her way towards the shower dripping blood and saliva and bile and fur and whatever else might be stuck to her and not really caring where it lands. Of course. That one is further back, in Squeegee's old quarters. We'll have to kick out whoever's rooming there right now... Do it. * LadyNightshade doesn't really seem to care where she goes as long as it has warm water shooting out of the wall. Right. * PrincessSakura heads back into the maze of corridors in the residential wing. * LadyNightshade follows Sakura, hugging herself. * LadyRoyal gives DM's shoulder another squeeze, then releases him. "And how are *you*?" I am fine. * Lord_Darkmoon says that evenly. Knowing him, when he talks that way, he's - not- fine. * LadyRoyal eyes Rinada. "Riiiight." Let's go get some tea. A couple of hours went by as the team recovered both physically and psychically. Sakura disappeared shortly after showing Taki where the bath was and shooing Princess Flare's relatives out of the way... but as the team was starting to think about heading home, Lady Blue chased each member down and informed them that the Princesses were waiting for them. In the throne room. Very well. *rises, and strides with unhurried purpose towards the throne room* * LadyRoyal shakes her head and follows him. * LadyHeat sighs. She still has the fighting from last time in her mind. * LadyNightshade was found curled up on the room's bed, not really asleep since she still won't let herself get any rest. She's wearing a fuzzy pink robe with a flower print because it was too much to hope that the Palace had a black robe. Her clothes are left in sticky tatters outside the shower. Everyone makes their way there, finding the waiting room doors slightly ajar as they arrive. * LadyNightshade stays near the back and really doesn't look like she wants to acknowledge let alone talk to anyone. * Lord_Darkmoon goes on in, and stands off to one side, out of the way, stoically watching the throne room doors. * Lady_MakeBelieve also makes herself unobtrusive. The throne room seems subtly different - the pile of cushions has been somewhat disassembled, and a number of them are arranged in a circle off to one side. Come in guys, sit down. * LadyRoyal walks in, as usual, and nods curtly to everyone. * LadyRoyal goes and flops in a cushion. * Mayuki is not transformed. She, too, has a robe on and what looks like silk pajamas underneath. * LadyNightshade takes the cushion farthest from the Princesses. * Lord_Darkmoon goes in and finds a seat. Regardless of whether it has a back, his own is ramrod straight. If it's a cushion on the floor, he's in proper kneeling position with his Tessen laid across his lap in lieu of his katana. * LadyHeat sits down somewhere. After everyone gets settled, it becomes apparent that there's one extra cushion in the circle. * Lord_Darkmoon calmly examines it, as if that would allow him to divine who it's for. * LadyNightshade looks like she'd much rather curl up and go to sleep than participate in any sort of a meeting. So I take it that the Hunters were successful? It seems like we were. We can't gauge long-term effects yet, but preliminary results indicate: Yes. As they say. I sure hope so. * Mayuki sips something from a steaming mug sitting beside her. ...Squeege, why are you doing this? He's showing off. So we're going to show him that we're not intimidated. And we can use what he brings. * LadyRoyal has her thinkin' face on. * Lady_MakeBelieve looks puzzled * Lord_Darkmoon turns a sharp glance on Oak and Squeegee. "He?" We have a... guest. * LadyHeat looks at the cushion. She almost says "A talking cushion?", but cuts herself off. * LadyRoyal raises an eyebrow. "Oh?" * LadyNightshade doesn't even look up at that. He called me and told me to let his car in through the gates. *shrug* The pissy thing would have been to say no, but we can't afford that just now. We can, however, make him cool his heels for a few minutes. Just good business sense. Who is it? * Lord_Darkmoon is being uncustomarilly forward. Even rude. Our American friend. Ah. He of no name? He'll be the first outsider who's ever been let in here. And you're starting with a lousy American. Sheesh. You got it. * LadyRoyal shrugs. "He's been...useful." * LadyNightshade looks up a bit. "Should we all hide?" Perhaps he will deign to introduce himself, this time. Jump out and shout surprise? Maybe drop some balloons? He'd just give us an alias, if he did. There's more romance in not knowing. Maybe we can make a pyramid. * LadyRoyal snerks. * PrincessOak simmers. Like they weren't going to find out when the Tokko found out anyway. * Lady_MakeBelieve bats a balloon at Nightshade. * LadyNightshade pops it. * Lady_MakeBelieve then lets it evaporate. * LadyRoyal shifts a bit. "Well, what's he want?" Dunno yet. He wouldn't say on the phone. Just to be certain, first. Sakura, Chiako, are we ready for the Tokko? Almost. Yes. What? Hedger. Gaaaah. One at a time. *points at Chiako* We've got everyone moved to where they're supposed to be. We have 122 Ladies here, and sixteen Princesses. Overwatch is up, alarms are ready... we should be able to take anything on and win. Good. Well, yeah. The numbers are good, but I'm still working on getting the lookouts on task and convincing everyone to take what they're facing seriously. In another day or two, I'll be comfortable. Will we have another day or two? I doubt more than one, honestly, especially after our little show tonight. So far there's no sign of immediate attack, but if they stage outside the immediate vicinity we may only get ten or twenty minutes warning. I would guess tomorrow night - night for stealth, delay to get some throw weight. But it could take longer if they are well-dispersed. They have to have noticed that there aren't as many targets in other places right now. That plus the sites we spotted makes me think they're clumped in a fairly easily-deployable way. It depends on so many different things, but I doubt there's many that have to come in from outside Tokyo. After all, we're all here. * LadyRoyal nods. "Exactly." * Mayuki nods. "On the other side of things, I've been discussing press release scenarios with Ms. Akahara. She'll have more cameras delivered tomorrow, and the first prepared releases ready tomorrow morning." And where did you want us during all of this? Well... that depends. The plan was to hold you in reserve for the return strike. I think we should devote even more firepower for that. Really make an example out of Sato. I thought we were going to watch them. I do have a room rented near the IHA complex. They wouldn't be watching that, would they? Hopefully not - I did it as anonymously as I could. Feral wants to taste Sato's blood. I'll settle for humiliating him before the nation. Well, we'd better hear what our guest has to say. Maybe that will change things. * LadyNightshade sits up straighter and almost looks formal. It's like she actually has respect for someone. * PrincessOak nods and pulls a phone out of her purse. "Send him in." * Lady_MakeBelieve just looks happy that the waiting will be over, she doesn't like these meetings. * Lord_Darkmoon is already kneeling as stiffly and formally as he is capable, and doesn't change posture for the newcomer. * LadyHeat fiddles with her water bottle belt. * Civilian wanders in after a few seconds, looking around the chamber bemusedly. The empty cushion is obvious enough, and he kneels on it formally. * LadyRoyal nods and flicks a wave at the civilian. *looks around* ...your majesty? * Lord_Darkmoon focuses an implacable and unreadable gaze on the civilian. And keeps it there. * Civilian looks at Oak, unsure of who she is. No, just another Princess. The Queen is... unavailable. And I am unsure if we would let you in to see her anyway. * LadyNightshade gives a slight smile in greeting to the other man. Nightshade-san. You look, uh... well. For someone who was just swallowed by a monster. * LadyRoyal snorts. * LadyNightshade blushes a bit. * Lord_Darkmoon does not react. It's... not as fun as it sounds. I saw some video... what was that all about? Call it...damage control. She had to die. ...right. What did you come here for? You know that this place is dangerous right now, and the way you just dropped in has put some of us on edge. * LadyNightshade looks at the Civilian. Ah. Well. It's obvious you're moving into some sort of endgame with the Tokko... We got some good signals intel tonight just after Nightshade got ripped to shreds, and I wanted to make certain you got it. * LadyRoyal leans forward eagerly. "Oh?" * LadyNightshade perks up a bit. The man pulls some folded sheets of paper out of his coat and hands them to whoever is next to him. The men watching here made a phone call to the IHA - it went in the main line there. * LadyNightshade scans the paper. Shortly after that, a half-dozen cell phones there made a total of one hundred and fifty-two calls to various places around Tokyo. ... Did you record the conversations? * LadyRoyal reads over Taki's shoulder. We're working on it, but it may take a couple of days to descramble them. The paper lists all the phone numbers involved, and where all the phones were at the time. Most of them are cell numbers. * LadyRoyal tries to match up numbers of phones at different locations. They're using a very good encryption system, and there are other priorities back at the NSA this is competing against. Are there any names attached to these phones or do they all belong to the IHA? Most of them are privately owned. A few are corporate, one or two are military. There's a list of names there, too. * Civilian shrugs. "And that's the gist of it. Oh, the cell calls came out of the fourth or fifth floor on the western side of the main IHA building." * LadyNightshade flips through the papers. There's a floor plan of several IHA structures there, and that location is circled. Granted, it's a big circle. * LadyRoyal continues looking over her shoulder, taking any she puts aside. * LadyHeat waits her turn for the papers. * LadyNightshade passes the sheets along as soon as she finishes looking through them. ...that's all? * PrincessOak looks annoyed. * Civilian raises an eyebrow at her. * LadyNightshade ignores Oak. "Thank you very much for all your help." She's new at this - she doesn't get it. It could be worse. It could be Tiara. * Civilian nods. "I understand. All of you seem so young." Understand wha- HEY! Quiet, Oak. * LadyNightshade sighs. * LadyRoyal pinches the bridge of her nose and shakes her head at Darkmoon. What's America's official response to all this going to be? We will do what we must. Thank you, and please be careful going out. You wouldn't want to be traced... This is as close as we can get, Nightshade. We will continue to provide this sort of data to you, but we can not get physically involved. Of course not. And... if things work out, we will be... supportive. Good. Thank you. *turns his gaze back on the Civilian* I assume you're monitoring this location now. Is it possible for you to give us an advance warning when they move? It depends. We will try, but if they stage somewhere we're not watching...? *shrug* Riiight. * LadyRoyal scratches her chin and nods. * LadyNightshade nods. Any idea where around here they could covertly stage something of that size? * Civilian stands. "Ladies, Princesses. Good luck." We're working on that. But nothing comes to mind. Alright. Thank you again. * LadyRoyal nods. "Thanks." Thank you. Call ahead next time, okay? Of course. * Civilian turns and walks out. Well... this does seem to have been the last piece we needed. What? What does this mean? I guess they're bringing out the big cavalry... ... giant horses? * LadyNightshade sighs again and slouches her posture immediately after he's out of sight. Definitely less than three days, most likely less than two. I hope they don't have giant horses. Then we'd be fighting the Sea AND Horses. *quietly* That and we know where the counterstrike should go. * LadyRoyal nods firmly. There's a Lady Pony... so I think the horses are on our side. * Lord_Darkmoon still hasn't relaxed, even with his exit. How soon after attack should we counter? ...not until we contact you with news the Palace is safe. Mm. Wh-- What if you can't contact us? Then a counterattack probably won't help anyway. *nodnod* If we fail here, then you are to go into hiding. But... Preserve something - the Ningyo are still out there. * LadyRoyal nods. Where's the Queen during all this? Maybe we should take her someplace safe... Survival of the Hierarchy is what we're fighting for, but it's not, perhaps, our true goal. The Queen... no, she's here. She would never have left willingly. And we're too scared of taking her away. *sheepish grin* If she was awake she could fight. And she may awaken in the midst of it. If you're forced to retreat though and you have to take her too... We will win. The Earth will make certain of that. * LadyNightshade sighs. It's probably better you go in thinking that anyway. Eh, who knows. Maybe it'll even be true. [end session] Session Close: Sat Jan 21 19:33:47 2006