Difference between revisions of "6342/Immigration Control"

Latest revision as of 08:16, 27 March 2019

Evangeline McDowell (6888) has posed:
    The tides were high on this moonless night, bringing to the surface tiny creatures whose faint greenish-blue glow underlight the gentle waves upon the windless sea sea. A black shape moves through it, cutting a bright green vee of a wake to the sound of muffled, low-pitched puttering of some old yet well-treated engine. The tramp freighter, perhaps a fifty meters long, bear no lights and no flags. It's seen only in silhouette against the distant line of lights of a coastal road and, sometimes, as it blots out the green and red upon less skulking traffic.

A dim red suddenly flickers to life, a cone directed down at the rusted, grimy steel deck of the ship, counterlighting the stacks of wooden crates lashed to eyelets. A man in old boots walks behind this night-flashlight to the lee side rail. There's a zipping sound, then the faintly audible tinkle of a stream hitting the water below. He hawks, then spits, grinning a little at the round, green-glowing ripples of disturbed plankton that he makes in the sea.

Behind the man, a hatch is open - where he had climbed out of. The thin metal cover rests against a crate, allowing yellowish light to spill out and illuminate the worn "S.S. Lau Fang" shipping label pasted on the crate, and the one stacked above it. Laughing of men can be heard coming from below, along with a shouted query as to the ancestry of the man above and whether it had anything to do with his poor performance at the rails. He answers, without turning, that the questioner can make love to the barrels of their below-decks merchandise, unlike what anyone else would choose.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona adjusted her modified goggles to zoom the magnification in on the tramp ship. It looked like an unglorious wreck on the outside. But the ears of a machinist could tell even from a distance that the engine was running smooth and was cared for. It made sense, make sure they can always readily move, while leaving the exterior decrepit so pirates or other smugglers wouldn't take interest in the ship and her potential wealth of cargo. That lined up with the lack of active running lights and coming in at such a late hour on a calm night. They were putting effort into avoiding attention.

After uncovering plots on her own world to bootleg off-world goods to the black market for a profit Corona was now on the hunt for places the bandits could be getting their dirty stock from. This late night rendezvous certainly fit the bill, so for various reasons it was worth the wily vixen checking out even if it wasn't directly connected to her own issues. It -could- be, or become such, and that was enough to get her paranoia itching as much as her trigger finger.

One light moving about the deck. Probably a night watch while the rest of the crew prepped their cargo for unloading once they docked. Pity they're not close enough yet, even her exceptional ears can't pick up what the deckhand is saying from this distance.

August Kohler has posed:
There's a man waiting at the docks. Non-descript in a gray winter hoodie, a lean redhead who is either a teen or in his early twenties, has come to do business. August Kohler is armed, but he's not looking for a fight.

When the ship docks, there's also a truck nearby, probably for his use. When the ship docks, August will approach, and make the universal declaration when he finds someone who looks important.

'I've got money and want to make some deals.' That's right. August is here for an arms deal.

Evangeline McDowell (6888) has posed:
The freighter sheers away from the blinking buoys outlining the way into the harbor, instead turning towards a dark part of the shore where two red lights were shining dimly. As it came within two kilometers of shore, three more men climbed out of the hatch, brushing away cigarette ash from their clothes and lighting up their own red flashlights. Chains and cables were unstowed and looped preparatorily onto the stanchions, and one man climbed up the single-level pilot house to crank the shuttered spotlight in a series of coded flashes towards shore.

Nothing.

August got yet another wary look as two men on shore were physically shoved out of the card game set up between the tractor-trailor trucks parked silently and unlit ashore, at the end of the wood-and-old-tires piers. They were sworn at, threatened, and commanded to go man a spotlight at the pier. Grumbling, the two split up, one to start the diesel generator next to the light and the other to crank the shuttered spotlight into a series of flashes out into the dark sea, apparently towards nobody.

The puttering grows louder on the shore, then falls silent. A dark shape drifts in on the tide, coasting along slowly. Four men, visible behind their red flashlights, can be seen on deck as they throw ropes and cables over towards waiting hands ashore. The wharf creaks as the it flexes, shedding last of the ship's momentum. Then all was still except for the sounds of practiced shoremen making fast their visitor.

Corona Arclite has posed:
The ship is turning course? Actually that does make sense that they wouldn't be going towards the main harbor if they weren't going to try and pose as legit traders as a cover. But then where is it going?

Corona watchs the ship change its path until it is sailing straight in the new direction and starts to taper off her speed, evident in the engines idling down. She does a quick calculation in her head to determine it's new heading and figure out where on the dark shore it is going to drop anchor... Oh, there. Now she notices the tiny red lights in the darkness, when she's actually looking for some sort of clue. Looks like she needs to move a bit.

Dropping from her perch Corona switchs her goggles off so she can use her own natural nocturnal vision, and dashes off amongst rooftops and alleyways to make her way towards the destination.

All she needs to know is what these bootleggers are dealing in. Once she can determine if that's a danger or not she can either move in or move on with her investigations.

Evangeline McDowell (6888) has posed:
    Once the gangplank was down, the first man to go aboard was in a tailored, English-cut suit, holding a briefcase in one hand and flanked by two significantly larger men in similar suits. They're greeted at the gangplank by one of the crew - who looks as if he'd really rather be anywhere else and in fact hadn't planned on this at all.

"Where's Thiun?"

"In his cabin. With merchandise."

"Will he buy it?"

"Buy?"

"It's not his to enjoy."

Maybe? It's been hours." "Start unloading. He better be done before you're unloaded."

A deckboard crane rolls into motion, pulling up massive cargo nets full of crates as their lashings are undone. Everything had already been pre-packaged for unloading from the ship as quickly as possible. The longshoremen are practiced and efficient, but also reek slight of terror as they look towards the trucks and especially the black cars parked around the trucks - in which several men are sitting and watching them.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Big ominous black trucks. That's pretty imposing to potential business partners. Definately a message of 'don't mess with us and you'll get what you want'. If you don't, you end up at the bottom of ... no, wait, that guy isn't in the right style of suit for cement overshoes. Probably more of a bodybag to sleep with the fishes sort.

However the trucks are to Corona's advantage. With her lithe build she can get down on the ground and slink up underneath one from behind to stay out of sight. She should be safe to watch from here, as long as she remembers to slip out before the truck drives away again. But she still wants to see what these men are dealing in, not trusting the generically modern surroundings as a guage.

August Kohler has posed:
August steps up towards the gangplank, looking like a ruffian compared to the well-dressed man. As he approaches, he speaks up to the 'guards'. "One-Eye Jin told me this is the place to get permanent solutions."

By that he means guns. The name he gave, according to his contact, is someone important. Hopefully, it's enough to get him moved inside.

Evangeline McDowell (6888) has posed:
The three men in suits who had boarded the ship remain there, apparently supervising the unloading (not that it appeared anyone in this entire place needed supervision - they were skilled and motivated). None of the crew take any time at all to mind August, but one of the suited 'guards' turns his head in askance towards the smallest of three. He receives a nod - somehow full of 'yes, yes, just get on with it' impatience - and hauls one of the yet-to-be-offloaded crates aside.

"Crowbar." The command/request/sentence was directed at no-one, yet a short time later a three-foot crowbar was skidding across the deck towards August's 'salesman'. The top of the crate takes just one solid pull to loosen, revealing the long nails on the lid and... the cabbages inside the box.

The crowbar pulshes in again, cracking open a hidden panel under the cabbages and revealing a smaller crate buried under the purple leaves.

Around the same time, Corona's hiding-truck receives its first load, a crate carried up on a dolly whose wheels leave deep ruts in the sandy earth. Three very distinct smells follow its arrival: the mustardy scent of fresh-if-slightly-ripened cabbages, the distinct odor of metal-preservative wax, and that sharp tang of ozone, like the aftermath of an intense lightning storm. The truck's springs creak slighlty as the crate's loaded, then the longshoreman - one of perhaps ten - goes back immediately for another trip.

The box is fully open now, revealing the hidden compartment with two bulky, rifle-looking weapons. Except these were certainly not 'guns'... the barrels were almost wide enough to shove a hand into and calligraphic runes in ruby-red pigment crawl in circles around the muzzle. Between the two were forty, maybe fifty round cylinders the size of cigar cases. The cylinders had black ink stamped on the side: "CARTRIDGE, FCA 99, MK 4". Everything reeked of ozone.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Ugh, that smell. Corona's muzzle scrunches up in disgust. Though at least it's produce slowly rotting, and they're not using manure as a cover-up. That... was not a pleasant experience, for her or the bounty she was hunting. And at least these guys took care to protect what they were hiding underneath, if the waxy smell means anything.

But why ozone? Or more accurately, why ozone idly? Usually you only smell that after use of something that produces intense heat, or electrical current... or both. What kind of weapons are these men dealing in, that's not the gunpower and oil she had been anticipating.

The smells and the jostling of the truck as it's loaded almost distracts her from the other conversation going on. The voices make her ears perk up... and realize that she probably shouldn't actually disrupt the business, as the radio bit buzzes in her ear confirms it. She mutters softly under her breath. Though that would explain the ozone smell.

Well, this is kind of awkward.

August Kohler has posed:
From the way August moves as he looks over the merchandise, he seems to be lightly injured. He avoids pushing too much weight on one of his sides, bruised from last night's fight. There's a bag slinged over his shoulder, which he moves to check is still there, before proceeding. He doesn't know magic, but from his glances, these seem to be pretty good. The redhead moves to confirm prices, his bag full of the money he'll pay with.

The Watch isn't rich, by any means, but this is a decent portion of their weapons budget (August does not remotely have the money to be buying military surplus). Depending on how much these run for, August should be able to easily afford a crate, maybe two, maybe three if the prices are generous, and will move to start discussions of transactions if so.

He's not super talkative, really. These are professional criminals...and August considers himself one too. He needs to learn from them how to behave, he thinks.

Though now he has a suspicion he's not alone. Maybe another Elite, perhaps a foxy one, is nearby?

Touta Konoe has posed:
     A black truck drives up to the wharf. It's completely black with tint so dark you couldn't see inside even if you were to come right up next to the vehicle. It's one of those vehicles you can tell must have a VIP or some sort of -big- shot inside. A person dressed down in black comes from the passenger door side in a full black dress-suit, he opens the rear passenger seat, as a step plate comes from under the truck to accomodate the person coming out.

     The person is short. Really short actually, no taller than a kid at best. He's got black spiked-hair, a black gakuran jacket with a small red rose embroidered on it. A pair of black pants, and a red t-shirt to finish off his wardrobe.

     To August though, he should just recognize this person as someone he's familiar with...Touta Konoe. Or at least, it looks like Touta. The only difference is that instead of that casual smiling he's always wearing he looks absolutely pissed...

     He walks out of the vehicle with three other gentlemen similar to the one that opened the door following behind him. Each one taking a spot by the boy's side or behind him as if they were body-guarding him. But it seems strange that the people who are suppose to be looking out for him seem rather...Flustered.

     The young man looks back to the gentleman who opened the door for him and asks his question as bluntly as possible.

     "This is where he is?"

     Whatever's going on, Touta's apparently not playing around.

Evangeline McDowell (6888) has posed:
By the time that August has had the sample crate stuff all opened up and a reasonably-overhigh price quoted and then haggled down, August was standing at the only crate left on the boat. There's easily ten tons of (mostly) cabbages ashore now, with a steady loop of longshoremen getting those off of the ground and onto the waiting trucks. Yet the ship wasn't done unloading yet. There was some shouting belowdecks, followed a few solid impacts. Two crew resurface from the hatch, pulling at one end of a long rope and swearing at the other end of it.

People start climbing unsteadily out of the ship - ten... twenty... thirty people between the ages of perhaps twelve and twenty, most of them girls. The terrified gang is marched past August and towards the trucks (and Corona) ... but are stopped short by the boss-man-in-suit, standing there on the wharf and eyeing Touta with equal parts annoyance and fear.

"You are a very troublesome person - I hope that you have as much money as to pay for the courtesies of having access before the auction." He gestures at the roped-together line of people, "The boss said you had a particular one in mind? They are all here."

The flow of crates towards the trucks had slowed to a crawl now, as nearly everyone's eyes are on Touta, staring at him. The gang-boss tchs and shouts, "What are you looking at?! What do I pay you for!?" The flow resumes, more hurried.

"Apologies. They are not... this is most unusual."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Okay, let's see here. August is here buying weapons for the Watch's use. Within the usual questionable morales the Watch operates, and she rationalizes that it at least puts the weapons to the use they were intended for and keeps them off the streets where they could cause bigger problems. These magic weapons aren't the kind of off-world equipment she's seen before so they're not in on that black market, at least not yet. That they are 'magic' is probably out of the league of the bandits she's been hounding.

She starts to back-crawl out from the truck, but stops when something else is loaded off the ship.

Correct that, someONE else. Quite a few of them. Bound and led around like slaves, and the mention of an auction makes her ears slick back as she refrains herself from growling in disgust.

She creeps as close as she can to the edge of the truck without actually poking out. Slowly as to make minimal noise she reachs down to grab one of her sidearms and slip it out of the holster.

She had been no older than some of those girls when she had been a street orphan, barely keeping out of the grasp of men like these, dragged off and sold like a piece of livestock for some rich lout's pleasure. Corona was lucky she had an honest man take her in, most of those girls wouldn't be....

Carefully she leaned to one side so she could cradle the gun in both hands and aim... Though she wasn't sure if she should shoot the guards, or shoot the ropes to give the girls a chance to run.

In the end she opts to aim but wait a moment, and see what August does. And the new arrival for that matter.

She's only got maybe two shots before it gives her away, so she's going to wait for the best oppritunity to make it count.

August Kohler has posed:
August has a crate. It's a nice crate. He moves to lift it, though it's heavy, so he's about to summon his Persona to do the heavy lifting. But then, something interesting happens, and August pauses, turning towards the gang marched past him.

Human trafficking. That's not acceptable. August summons his Persona with an incantation, the Tin Soldier...moving to pick up the crate he'd just purchased and start walking it quietly down the gangplank, towards his nearby truck. He's going to calmly place the weapons in the back of the pickup. He paid for them, after all.

August isn't going to let them get damaged when he then turns with the Tin Soldier, hands free, starts to move back towards the dock, and the Tin Soldier raises its gun leg at one of the guards near the girls, moving to blast him in the chest with a small fireball, hopefully setting his clothes lightly aflame and stopping him from being a hassle if he survives. Over his radio, he shouts. <"Arclite, if you can interfere, now's the time!">

And then, August leaps on the Tin Soldier's shoulders, and the two move forward. The redhead speaks firmly to the traffickers. "My name is August Kohler, Cloak of the Watch. I did business with you because I thought you were just weapon smugglers, maybe narcotics. But you're going to let these girls go right now, or I'll shoot again."

It's going to lead to a fight. But August can't let these girls be treated like this.

Touta Konoe has posed:
     Touta doesn't seem to care if the guy is annoyed or afraid of him. There's a reason that this young man came here today and apparently he meant business. He ignores the man's statement at first not thinking much of it. Though the rope line of people being dragged from out of the ship, Touta's eyes seem locked on it.

     Like he actually was looking over the 'goods' that were being brought out. But his demeanor doesn't change from the discontent animosity he had as he walked out of that truck, in fact the moment it looks like he's finished looking he grabs the guy by the collar and pulls him forward.

     "You've got a lot of balls to tell me I better have money for what you stole from..."

     It's at this point that the Tin Soldier starts its assault on the guards, and it seems like things are really beginning to escalate.

     "And I'm Touta Konoe, UQ Holder #7. Now, you're going to tell me where this girl is...Or you're going to wish that the guy over there had gotten to you first..."

     Touta's grip tightened as his face scowled. His fangs, no not his teeth, his fangs bare sharply at the man. Touta's already got a picture pulled out, the image of what appears to be a girl no older than 10. In fact, it looks like its the picture from a school photo or something. Long blonde-hair, blue-eyes, a porcelain like face. It's not someone you couldn miss, and it was apparent that she wasn't on the line with the rest of them.

     On the other hand...Touta's face was easy to miss. Or rather, in the small puddles near the dock the man Touta grabs onto can see his own reflection...But not the reflection of the boy grabbing him. Just a picture floating in the air. Whatever was grabbing this man...Was not just some punk kid.

     "Where is -she-?!"

Corona Arclite has posed:
--And Tin Soldier setting a guard on fire is about all the diversion she needs. Corona double-taps to fire off two shots quickly, both aimed at ropes leashing the girls to their guards. That'll give them a chance to at least get out of the way of the fight that's going to start, and not be easily used as human shields. And because that's the sort of damatically timed trick shooting a gunslinger does.

The gunfire is likely going to give away her position but for the moment she stays put but ready to move. Even known she's got better cover under here than she does if she suddenly jumped out from under the truck.

Okay, the other guy has some freaky powers too apparently, but that's not a concern right this immeadiate moment. As long as he's not going to get in their way.

Evangeline McDowell (6888) has posed:
"The foreigner is crazy!" The shore boss shouts, grabbing under his jacket for a pistol. His two companions... had different priorities. One also grabs for a pistol, while the other ducks for the giant pile of crates, tightly clutching the bag of Watch money. Deals go sour all the time. What's inexcusable, apparently, is Not Getting The Money.

One flaming runs off of the pier and into the dark sea, screeching in a panic. He had released his end of the rope, which now lays smoldering on the ground in front of a bunch of confused, screaming, and tangled-together mostly-girls. The other driver looks down at the axe handle that he'd been using to 'encourage' quickness, promptly drops it, and runs back up the gangplank onto the ship. The spirit of August's demand might be complied with right now, but somehow the situation doesn't actually seem to be improved.

The situation worsens drastically a moment later, when four car doors opened one after another - those men who had been silently watching from their own vehicle. They step out and there are suddenly four pistol muzzles pointed at Touta, "Let go, you brat, you want to die?!"

"Hey, hey, Touta," The shore-boss in Touta's hand gulps, clutching Touta's wrist, "I don't know! I don't know what you're talking about! It's all here! Everyone's OH COME ON-"

Corona's shots do something very Alexandrian to the central ropes holding everyone together, and suddenly there is a lot of people running everywhere. The longshoremen had all run back towards their trucks - apparently not noticing Corona underneath one of them, and from the sounds of it were trying to get them closed, started, and away. The ship crew are shouting about the shore-boss (whose name, apparently, was Roh) being an asshole and that they were going to make sure HIS boss hears about it. Five bewildered muscle have their guns pointed at Touta, but really didn't want to shoot since they were using their own boss as a backstop. They are also shouting for Touta to tell "his friend with the fire thing" to stand down.

NOBODY's noticed Corona.

"Let's just... everybody... calm down. Right? Nobody has to shoot anybody."

"He set Little Fat on fire!"

"Nobody has to shoot anybody /anymore/." Roh hisses at his guards, who at least stop pointing their guns at Touta's face. More... around his feet. Less dangerous.

Touta Konoe has posed:
     Touta isn't someone who can just ignore the people who had been captured, and under any other circumstance he'd be personally making sure that they were brought somewhere safe. Especially when you have so many minors in the group. But there's something that's taking more importance right now than that. Something so important that even as multiple guns are pointed at him, or at his feet he just stares at Roh dead in the eyes. He needs this man to know he's not screwing around. That whoever it is that Touta's looking for, he intends to do whatever is absolutely necessary to get them back.

     Alot of attention is being brought to Touta's feet with those firearms...Probably more attention is brought to it when the concrete below him looks like its slowly cracking.

     "WHERE?!"

     There's no smart ass remarks. There's no assurances that everything's safe. There's no more talk to the others to keep an eye out for the girls. He just wants answers and he wants them now...Hopefully before that black miasma that's starting to accumulate at his elbows reach his finger tips...Is that shit contagious?

Corona Arclite has posed:
No one noticed her shooting? Or are too busy panicing and wanting to get away to notice. Either works for Corona. For a moment she considers sabotaging the truck, but seeing the girls are scattering in their panic makes her decide there's more important things to do.

Quickly Corona tucks her ears up under her hat and pulls up the collar of her duster to partially cover her face. With her tail hidden under the coat she doesn't immeadiately stand out as non-human. Then waits for the doors to slam shut so the thugs are in the truck, and pushes herself to slide out from underneath the vehicle. As soon as she's clear she kippups onto her feet and goes to grab the closest paniced girl. Holds a finger up to keep her from shrieking more than she probably already is, then points her in one direction away from the secret harbor. Go hide so everyone can be gotten together.

Then goes to repeat the process. Trying to get as many of the girls together and out of immeadiate harm before she is finally noticed.

Not the king of wrangling a cowgirl normally does, but we'll do what we can.

August Kohler has posed:
August's demand is complied with in a way, but guns are being pointed at Touta, who August is sure is fine, because he's seen the kid eat a massive laser beam, get melted down a little, and be fine. When Touta asks August to help, August laughs, coldly. He's serious right now, even if he agrees with Touta. He's actually frustrated. These people don't seem to know who he is, besides 'in the Watch'. And part of him...wants to be recognized. He wants them to not underestimate him, as he waltz towards the running girls with his fire-spraying robot, and shouts to them.

"Hey! If you want to get out of here, come to me! I'm your best bet at keeping you safe!" August did just help save them, so hopefully at least some of them will come to him. He has a vehicle, and if Corona has a vehicle, she can probably help move them out, too, once Touta's part ends.

And out of the corner of his eye, August can see Touta's strength. This kid...he's not factional, as far as August is aware. It might be a good idea to be cooperative, to have him as a potential ally.

Evangeline McDowell (6888) has posed:
"I don't- k-k-know!" Just about wetting himself, Roh, "I swear to you this is everyone!"

"Boss... uhh... Thiun."

"Okay maybe Thiun can explain. Look, he'll agree with me."

"No, I mean... Thiun was busy."

Roh looks even more pale, and seems like he wants to cringe upwards into his collar, "There... ah... Mr. Touta... there may be another one... two?" He glances towards the muscle who had interjected, who in turn shrugs. "Maybe a few more on the... ship. If you let ... if you would kindly let go, we can all go and look. Together?"

After the sixth one, Corona's Rescue Program For Mistraveled People snowballed into a mass escape, as a handful started spreading the message instead of simply running away. At least two dozen are together now, hiding behind a bunch of rushes by the side of the dirt road. The others were... missing. Ran off somewhere, and nowhere to be seen, at least, not unless Corona wants to go search wider.

As far as August's concerned, or as the locals are considering him, 'That scary kid's accomplice', he's too slow. And shouty. And everyone's looking at him. And might have said something that was said to the 'merchandise' shortly before they were abducted, in bad faith. That apparently makes him unpopular amongst the new escapees, and so he stands alone.

August Kohler has posed:
August is visibly hurt by being rejected completely and utterly. As the girls move towards the bushes, August slowly walks in that direction, his robot disappearing and his hands moving up and flat in a show of good faith to the girls. He can't be older than twenty (which he is, in fact, twenty years old), as he pulls his hood down.

"Okay, look, you're scared, I understand that, I'm shouting, but you can't stay here, and I have a truck. My name is August Kohler - I'm one of the leaders of the Watch, a freedom fighter organization that tries to help people like you, tries to do what's right." He seems genuine, as he tries to talk to these scared girls, focusing on the older ones, who are more likely to be 'leaders' among the women.

"The woman there is with me. You don't have to trust me, but if you go running out in the streets, they'll just sweep past you with their big trucks and pick you up again."

If any of them have heard of the Watch (it's Multiversal news-worthy, as one of the big three factions), and has delved into Multiversal politics at all, which August finds unlikely but could consider, August Kohler is indeed the name of a firebrand Watch leader. In his heart, he hopes someone, anyone, can recognize him. Is that selfish, he wonders?

Part of him thinks, selfishly, that he deserves some recognition.

Touta Konoe has posed:
     Roh is finally released as he hears the two conversing. One of the two must have said something worthwhile maybe? It's hard to tell when Touta's face is still visibly scowling.

     "If she's hurt...If you're lying to me so you can run...You better hope I don't catch up."

     At that moment Touta runs towards the boat. Actually, it's alot more than just running. The moment he runs his body becomes a blur to the eye. A crater is left where he was standing as he uses Shundo, his flash movement to launch himself into the boat.

     Once upon he shouts at the top of his lungs for the person he's looking for. He's running all over busting doors down left and right, not even bothering to check if they're locked or not. He's looking for someone. The person who had on a mission a while back. The person who had taken him in. The person who taught him to fight. The person he cared deeply for. The person he's been trying to get into contact with, but hasn't been able to get a hold of. The person who's image was on that picture. The person who was supposedly part of this shipment.

     "YUKIHIIIIIIIIIIME!!!!"

Corona Arclite has posed:
Wrangling a bunch of scared little girls is apparently easier than herding cats. Or at least it is once the girls start cooperating and pulling each other into the fold instead of running off in fright. There's a few that will need to be tracked down later, but that's for then.

Corona hunches down with the girls, gun still in one hand in case she's got to fend off any thugs that recover their wits and try to take the girls back.

With the other hand she dials up a private channel on her comm unit. "Windrose, bring the truck down to the shore." Pauses at the response. "Ah know it don't exactly blend in, not important rawht now. Got a bunch scared gals here that gotta get out, pronto... No, not part of the plan. Ah didn't know they were dealin' in trafficin' guns -and- girls... Just get the truck down here."

Then she finally pauses to look at Touta. More accurately, at the impact left in the ground as he becomes impossible to follow.

"Ah reckon someone's a might bit pissed off."

Evangeline McDowell (6888) has posed:
August gets a few hesitant looks in his direction - faces peeking out from behind vegetation where people have all run off to. A particularly large group of them seem to be just up and off of the road. Nobody from that group wants to move towards him, but ... success! Two runaways come out of the trees and, carefully keeping August between them and the gang of goons, approach him for protection. Frightened, sure. Uncertain, sure. But one of them seems to have armed herself with a pistol and the other one was holding the bundled-up blazer jacket from one of the ... goons.

There are FIVE goons around Roh. There were two with him earlier and four from the car. One's gone missing, during the chaos?

The deck crew scatter several heartbeats after Touta arrives, apparently stunned by the rather extraordinary "oh look at me I can run so fast I don't need to use the gangplank or be considerate of the cameraman trying to follow me with a pan" schtick. One of them shouts that this is none of his business and that Thiun pays poorly and is down the hatch and towards the front. Beyond that, though, the crew seem to want nothing more than to merge into the deck plating and not to be noticed at all by the raging pipsqueak.

The captain's quarters wasn't hard to find - it's the only one whose door was closed, of all the doors in the short, cramped corridor belowdecks that led away from the cargo hold. The smelly, filthy cargo hold that had no-one in it but had all the signs of having had been lived in by a lot of people for a few weeks, without sanitation. There's a stereo on inside the room, past the closed doors, loudly screeching out some kind of rock opera ballad thing. Touta hears no other sounds coming from within, though.

Touta Konoe has posed:
     That decck hand is alot smarter than he gives himself credit for. Giving Touta the info he wants immediately let's him avoid being decked in the face to try and prod information from him. He had been bolting through the shit so quickly but upon reaching below deck he takes it slower. He can't help but feel contempt for the poor living conditions these people had gone through. He can only imagine what sort of ordeal they had undergone. Maybe he'll end up smacking Roh up after all.

     As he hears the music he has no idea why its blasting so loudly, but if this captain or boss or whoever he was, was in there, with Yukihime, he was in for a crude awakening.

     His arrival would likely be very difficult to hear...Actually no it wouldn't, he slams the door open using all his strength. This was the last place he had yet to search, Yukihime had to be here. She had to be! If not...Well...

     "Yukihime?!"

Corona Arclite has posed:
It takes a few minutes for the half-track truck to drive up on the road. As it arrives it's not hard to see why there was some concern about it sticking out. Not the shape of the truck in itself, but the fact that it has a lot of additional pipework greeble on the exterior, that leads into the vertical exhaust smokestacks, and the front sports an approximation of a cowcatcher instead of grille and fenders. Though being as late as it is darkness does work to their advantange.

As soon as it pulls up and brakes hiss at the stop, Corona is ushering young ladies up and helping them climb into the back.

Then walks around to the cab, opening the driver side door and nudging her 'girl in the chair' to move over. Once the skunkette scoots over Corona climbs in, slams the door shut, and revs the truck back up.

Windrose gives her a worried look, then glances back into the bed. "So.. uh... where are we taking them?"
"Away from here." Corona puts the truck into gear and pulls away from the edge of the road. "Someplace safer, we'll work out specifics once we're 'way from this dump."
"Kind of ironic, isn't it?" Windrose murmurs as she sits back and buckles up. "You rescuing a bunch of probably orphans and abandoned people."
"Ah'm tryin' to not think too hard 'bout it, thanks."

August Kohler has posed:
As Corona brings her vehicle to take probably the bulk of the girls away, August grabs his own truck. Since only a few seem to be coming with him, they might not need to sit in the bed, and he offers them the seats while he drives. He's going to coordinate with Corona to get them somewhere safe before they try and find these girls' families.

A few of them seem to trust August, at least. That helps his self-esteem that his speech worked at all. But August needs to do better. And he will do better. He'll read. He'll learn. He'll become a better leader, a better speaker. Better at fighting for these people. And little does he know it, but that'll probably be relevant for him very soon.

Evangeline McDowell (6888) has posed:
Touta liberates the door from the hinges, sends it shivering across the room, watches it bounce crunchily off of the face of a wiry, naked man, and sees it settle, Touta's-hand-shaped-dent-side-up, against the cushy-looking, if still rather small, bed leaning up against the far wall. Fortunately, he needed not worry about having killed Thiun - he was already dead. At least, nobody alive should have that bloodless pallor, that slack posture, or complete non-reaction to getting door'd in the face. Thiun did not enjoy his last moments, for his now slightly crushed expression was frozen into one of anger and horror.

There's no one else in the room. There's just the corpse, a TV, several boxes of military rations, some magazines scattered across the floor, the loud stereo, and the bed. And the open porthole that the bed is leaning up underneath. And the half-a-handcuff attached to the top-rail of the bed, up against the porthole. And the chain leading off out the porthole, presumably to the other half of the handcuff.

Touta Konoe has posed:
Touta enters the room thinking he might have ended up killing the guy when the door slams to the otherside of the room. Touta may be plenty of things but even in the most dire of situations he wouldn't want to be a killer. Though whoever had done this had apparently no problem with it.

     "Yukihime...You didn't have to go that far did you?"

     He knew how powerful she was, and how she was willing to go beyond just apprehension, but was it really necesarry? He understood these guys were slime but wasn't there a better way?

     He wouldn't get to ask thouh. Because upon further investigation, it looked like the room was empty. No Yukihime to be found. Only the signs of someone escaping from cuffs into a porthole and into the night.

     Touta attempts to get through the porthole to see where it leads? Does it lead? Maybe if he was quick enough he could still catch up. Maybe he could still get to her.

     "Yukhime!"

     If he doesn't see her he can only imagine one of Roh or his men will have hopefully spotted her and tell him which way she might have went. What the Hell was she thinking?!

Evangeline McDowell (6888) has posed:
One inch past the bottom lip of the porthole is a small hand. Below that, the handcuff around the wrist that the hand's attached to. Below /that/, a blonde girl that's attached to the wrist, dangling against the ship's hull with her goes in the sea but otherwise quite stuck. Touta sticks his head out the porthole in time to hear a bit of extremely unladylike swearing, in really rather old Gaelic, and then two pairs of what-should-be-familiar eyes meet. A beat passes. The lower pair tears away violently, leaving Touta only with a big mass of frazzled, ill-kempt blonde hair to stare down upon.

WIth his head outside, Touta can hear the sounds of trucks being loaded again and crowbars being used against wood - it seems that Roh wasn't about to let all this unpleasantness make him abandon the merchandise - well, this half of the merchandise, anyway - on the wharf.

Touta Konoe has posed:
     Wow, that is quite a bit of fancy swearing he's not familiar with...Or he wouldn't be if not for the Multiverse translating enough of it for him to be kinda surprised. But with all that said the only thing he does in response to her looking away from him is one statement, "I was so worried about you!"

     Since the time he's arrived even though she can't see it now he's smiling. He's honstly relieved that Yukihime was alright.

     "You had me so freaked out! How did these guys even ca-"

     It's at this point he can hear the sounds of trucks in the distance and the sight of Roh getting away.

     Well, he did tell the guy not to let him catch him... But yeah, they couldn't really ignore this.

     "That guy...Here, we'll talk more all this later but first how about we give that guy a proper 'thanks' for helping me find ya?"

     Without another word Touta grabs that small hand as he tries jumping through the porthole in a rather large leap in an attempt to get back to dry land towards the vehicles. It's a powerful jump to say the least. While he can't really fly he definitely has a lot of air time, and Yukihime gets to tag along! At least until she probably flies off now, and shoots ice magic at the truck to stop them. She's probably more ready to kick these guys' asses than he was.

Evangeline McDowell (6888) has posed:
"Huh-?" is approximately all that Evangeline manages before there's a blur, a wet and sticky crack-popping sort of noise, and then she was sailing through the air with Touta! Well, her hand was. Such a small, delicate, yet surely strong and powerful hand. Those fingers twitching and gripping the side of his, as if in welcome - or in spasms because Touta's pull had used the steel cuffs to rip Evangeline's hand off at the wrist.

There's a moment of free-fall, then Eva fell with a soft plop into the ocean, still in shock over What The Hell Just Happened Touta You Idiot.

The two trucks weren't hard to track - their headlights were on as they rolled up the dirt road back towards the coastal highway. Touta, with Evangeline in hand, can see them right up there, laboring up the slope. It'll be easy to shortcut and catch those no-good smugglers!

Touta Konoe has posed:
     Touta had figured that when he would tug Yukihime along she'd do so easily. He had no idea why she hadn't broken from those cuffs, but he thought she had just been pretending she couldn't break out of them. She was just as strong as him. Maybe stronger? So when he hears her plopping into the water and her hand still lingering though he's just about ready to dive in. But he sees Roh is about to get away. He doesn't know what's going on with her right now but at least knowing that Yukhime's safe and out of the hands of traffickers he can chase Roh without too much worry. He'll have to deal with a earful later but...

     "Yukihime! Hang on! I'll be right back! I promise!"

     He shouts to the water before getting back to land to chase after Roh.

     ...A considerable time later and after a bit of roadrage the situation with Roh and his extra merchandise is settled. There's a bit of relief as he jokingly even high fives the hand he brought along with him. He had originally forgotten to throw it back to Yukihime but he figures that at the very least it'll help him find her again when he tries to meet back up with her. And speaking of Yukhime...There's a phonecall, from Yukihime! He pulls up his phone and answers more calm than ever. "Hey, I just finished up with those guys. Sorry about your hand though. I'm bringing it back when I get back towards the docks."

     "Touta, what are you talking about? I just finished my business and was telling you I'm heading back to the base now. And what the hell do you mean you have my arm...Touta what's going o-"

     The boy stops in confusion at that remark. But...He just saw her. But Yukihime just said she hadn't been here. So if that was the case...Who's hand was he holding? He hangs up the phone immediately and bolts

     It'll take him some time but he runs back to the docks in hopes of finding the not Yukihime while holding onto her hand for dear life!