Chapter 16: Fear and Trembling

[Alter Grossman]

Alter loses any advantage she might have had when the sprinkler system goes on. She didn't know residential buildings even had sprinkler systems.

"As the Americans say... Well, shit."

Alter resolves not to give up. She enters a fighting stance.

"I can still take you!"

This is not really true. She is feeling very dizzy from the blood loss by now. Adrenaline only takes you so far.

Alter decides maybe she should try bargaining. She turns to the man who just entered the room. He looks very familiar for some reason.

"It's nothing you need to worry about. If you let me take him, I will leave all of you alone, as long as you don't cause any trouble. You have my word. If you kill me or if you don't kill me, they'll come looking for me. They know where I am, and then you'll be in the shit."

[Archer Aylmer]

When the sprinklers come on I'm very happy that I can stop doing anything remotely productive.

"She knows who we are, where we are, and what we look like. We can't let her go. Someone... You know... Get her."

I feel soggy and generally uncomfortable. This has been a pretty distressing day. It's impressive that Alter has put up this much of a fight.

[Emmet Fawkes]

Bishop's sight is fairly great at this point. One bonus in wearing a gas mask if that there's glass-covered eye sockets, so the smoke hadn't really gotten into his eyes. The filter on his mask did its own job, even though it wasn't as efficient as those connected to a gas tank. Oh well. Prisoner of war was such a play on words.

“Information you want? From me?” He sounded baffled, and a little offended she didn't know his name. Masked man? When they sent people after him, usually they'd have some sort of nickname for him. But the masked man? How unoriginal. He was a bit put off. Archer was right though. Bishop took a few steps towards Alter's right, before quickly snatching her right arm, then her left, to restrain her. He made sure that she couldn't kick him in the groin by slipping one of his legs between hers, pressing up against her back.

“We wouldn't want you to get too comfortable, toots.” Bishop said. He was waiting for Bonifaz to decided whether or not it was worth keeping her here—or if it was safe enough. "Didn't they teach you not to bargain with thugs?"

[Alter Grossman]

Emmet is much larger than Alter. This is good, because it means she can use his weight to flip him. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Alter grounds herself, and attempts to preform a very simple krav maga move. He really should have just knocked her out instead of trying to grab her.

"I don't know what a 'toots' is, but I don't like your tone of voice," Alter says sharply. Or tries to. The gurgle of blood in her throat isn't very threatening. Alter spits again. She sways a little, but steadies herself. She probably won't be able to keep this up for much longer. Considering how hard she smashed the masked man's face, she's surprised he isn't drowning in his own blood behind that mask.

[Emmet Fawkes]

Bishop wasn't really expecting that. Sure, some women he's seen had a little fight in them, but that was usually just keeping a stiff upper lip and that was that. This woman knew how to fight, she'd been trained in some kind of martial arts, and he wasn't much of a fighter. He was clumsy, had a decent punch, but often used weapons to win his fights—or fuck with their heads until they stopped.

Swinging over Alter's shoulder, he landed sharply on his back with a grunt. He lied there for a moment before grabbing Alter's leg, his other hand swiping a knife from his pocket. This lady was starting to piss him off. “Toots, I don't know where you've been... stop bleeding on me!” He shouted this as he stared up at her. This had been a distraction though, and instead he lifted his hand and a gas-like substance shot out from something in his sleeve. Part-plant. At least it had its bonuses.

Castor oil plant. Small doses to render someone unconscious. Large doses were lethal.

"Your harder to kill than a cockroach on steroids!"

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

"Why can't you just take Archer or something. He is probably full of information." Bonifaz says. He doesn't care for Archer since he stole Bonifaz's jacket. He crosses his arms and thinks this thing is a big mess.

"Or why can't you just ask Bishop the questions right now? Why does he have to come along? You'll probably throw him in Manalist prison or something.." Bonifaz asks during the commotion. But suddenly Bishop uses some sort of gas on her and she collapses.

"What the fuck was that?" He asks of the mysterious gas.

[Alter Grossman]

((Goodnight))
The gas disorients Alter. She starts smelling colors and feels very nauseous. "Gregor Samsa..." Alter mumbles, for no particular reason, before collapsing. She wonders dimly why the masked man didn't do that to begin with, if he could. She really should have just lit them all on fire.

[Archer Aylmer]

I shrug at Bonifaz's statement, since he isn't wrong exactly, but before Alter has a chance to answer him she goes down. I don't understand where everyone gets their amazing explosives, poisons, and other destructive materials. I certainly don't have any.

"I vote basement. We can't let her go."

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

"We could put her in the basement, but, others will probably come for her. I suppose we could just throw her down there, lock the door, and take a nice vacation...or, we could dump her onto someone else." Bonifaz says. He is trying to come up with some plan. They could torture her, kill her, or try to get some information from her, but she is dangerous and involved with dangerous people. Next time, they may send more than one woman to deal with the nihilists.

"I don't really care what we do or what happens. I don't want to go to Manalist prison though. Do you know why she would have come for you anyway, Bishop?"

[Emmet Fawkes]

[[ OOC: This song reminded me of Amelia, and I laughed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1VOQUkS-dw AND, I'm tired and also going to bed. ]]

Bishop should've been quicker, because before he could roll out of the way, Alter collapsed straight on top of him before he groaned and pushed her softly to the side. The gas would've been something he should've used in the beginning, but it wasn't as much fun doing that. Besides, he wanted to know what kind of person he was dealing with. They were lucky they weren't all melted corpses. What kind of power was that?

If Bonifaz could see his face, he would've seen the big cheeky smile ear-to-ear. His eyes twinkled beneath the class and his eyebrows furrowed, making his eyes look squinty. “I'm a plant, Boni... well, half plant. I'm a Kuiko, Castor Oil Plant.” He wasn't sure if Bonifaz had even seen one of his race, it wasn't something he announced so no one really noticed.

“I agree with Archie there, we need to... question her as nicely as we can. Strap her to a nice comfy chair in the basement.”

Bishop thought for a moment and shrugged. "No clue, I've never had anyone come after me before."

[Archer Aylmer]

((I'm off as well. Goodnight all.))

"It's been my experience that people like her always have a very unfounded sense of honor. I think if we made a deal with her she would keep it. Maybe... Her life in exchange for our anonymity. After torturing her for information, of course. Throw her in the basement for now Bonifaz-- We'll deal with it when she wakes up."

This entire thing has taken it's toll on me. I don't say another word and wander back downstairs. When in the livingroom I lay down on the couch again and close my eyes. I doubt that I'll be able to sleep, but I want to relax.

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

Bonifaz thinks about the situation. He wants to make the right decision, since he doesn't want more people at the mansion snooping around or trying to arrest all of them. "Very well, we will put her in the basement, but try to treat her well and see why she was after you. I think we should be prepared for more people to arrive and have a plan of how to deal with them, but between you and Amelia, it should be...alright." He says. It is nice to have some non human allies, that much is certain.

Bonifaz picks up Alter and carries her downstairs. He has some rope to tie her up, but assumes that she could burn through that as well as chain if they used that. He isn't sure what would contain her power, but he will have some time to think about it.

He would throw her in the locked closet, but she would probably just burn through the door once she wakes up. "What an idiotic problem."

He places her on a chair in the basement but does not tie her up. "Well, anyone have any idea what we could tie her up with that she couldn't burn through, or should we even bother. I suppose...let's not bother with it. I have a Manala gun, Bishop has his powers, and Amelia might assist us.

Bonifaz pulls up his own chair, a rusted folding chair and sits to her left. He watches Alter rest. "I don't think she would trade her life for our anonymity. She doesn't care. We're criminals or terrorists, or something. She would probably rather die than do us any favors. But maybe we can reason with her and find out what she wanted from Bishop."

[Heikki Toivonen]

After Emmet uses his gas cloud, Heikki, who was there all along but staying away from the main action to avoid getting hurt or making the situation worse, steps up to him. "That was really neat." Heikki says shyly. "You...know...I am also part plant. But I can't use any powers like you..." Heikki says with wonderment. "I am part...opium poppy. All I can do is donate my blood to Bonifaz."

Heikki follows Bonifaz down to the basement and is aware of the trouble that having the woman around will cause. He tries to think of a solution as well. "Maybe we could tie her up and put her in a bathtub or pool ...maybe if she is submerged she won't be able to use her powers."

[wyvernlord]

I sigh as I pick up my cell phone and motion for my man who Dr. West just shot to leave the building. Leaving the room, I answer the phone.

"Bargrin here."

[Archer Aylmer]

I join the others down in the basement and take a seat on the stairs. Watching them discuss the issue of confinement with a jaunty air, it all hits me as a little pathetic.

"Nylon rope isn't flammable, so, all you have to do is tie her up with that. Being a synthetic fiber it's also very strong and resistant to losing it's shape in water, if you wanted her tied and submerged in a tub. However, this kind of rope does cause the most severe burns of any. There are other ropes which are unlikely to cause burns-- like Cotton rope, but this material would obviously catch on fire, and in general retains water damage. You're better off using the Nylon."

I could talk about binding materials all day. Rope, tape, wire. I'm a bit of an expert.

"If you don't have any of that kind of rope, you should send someone out to buy some. You can find it at fishing or boating stores, generally... People out on water use Nylon rope. What I don't recommend is just hoping she sits there pleasantly. Restraint is advisable."