5195/What Follows An Uprising, Is It Called A Downlowering

What Follows An Uprising, Is It Called A Downlowering
Date of Scene:	11 April 2017
Location:	The Quilt
Synopsis:	Molly has lost Irvine! Time to track him down. Luckily, some nice loyalists have found him, and just need a bit of info from him...
Cast of Characters:	Starlight Bandits, 399, William Pauwel, 1094, August Kohler, Lyria Mason

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Starlight Bandits has posed:
    The Kingdom of Chapter has fallen upon hard times. The rightful king has been deposed owing to a revolution of the underclass, who were sick and tired of being used as labour in the fields and below the earth, excavating the grand buried library known as Opera Bibliotheca.

    Though the king stepped aside willingly, he has been confined to the palace dungeons until a decision is reached. Many call for his blood, others call for his deposing to the underclass. The Page Council, headed by the revolutionary leader Perplex, are dragging their heels on the decision, as well as many others. All of them are discovering that running a nation is no easy feat.

    But they're not important right now. Tonight, it's Molly's time to shine.

    The call she put out leads people to the upper-crust section of Chapter. It is here that the nobles, the head Librarians and the like would take up residence. Obviously, this part of the city got hit hard, both during and after the rebellion. Horrid slurs are daubed on the wall, no window has gone unbroken and every house has been turned over again and again. Upon its hill, one can see the grand entrance to the underground library, dark and silent. No work has been done since the rebellion.

    Molly is reclining on a pile of rubble, carefully drinking from a broken bottle of wine. A large pile of said bottles sits beside her. Clearly, she's been doing her best to have a good time in spite of things.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city...

    The warehouses around the edge of the mine opening have also been abandoned. It was here that tools, machinery and mining supplies would be stored for use. But since the library has been closed, they have laid abandoned, the rampaging rebels having torn through this place, breaking everything so as to prevent further excavation.

    However, one of them still sees use that could be described as nefarious. Those with a stake in the library's future have been discretely asked to come. A man waits outside, wearing a simple robe. His stong body is evidence of a hard life... a former city guard perhaps?

Taro (399) has posed:
    Knowledge is power. A basic tenent of faith and a guiding principle. Small wonder that Taro had been here when the city was attacked, and while he and Medusa had barely been able to access it then, he did at least manage to prevent Kirito from (accidentally) burning the place up.
    Small wonder that he's returned now. While he honestly has other business crying for his attention, he certainly couldn't ignore the unexpected and discreet invitation. Not wanting to call undue attention to himself, he's left his combat armor on its rack at home, instead garbed in the simple cassock of his order and a hooded robe. Which isn't to say he's unarmed and unarmored, only that he's keeping them nicely hidden. As usual, his face is a slightly dour mask as he walks to the meeting place, giving the other man in robes a shallow nod once close enough to be seen.

William Pauwel has posed:
Molly? Separated from Irvine!? No! Impossible! Inadmissible! If you only have one, there are no Starlight Bandits! There is only... Starlight... Bandit.

The plural is important. Everything is in that s. With out it, how could their name possibly start and end with the same letter!? Tarlight Bandit!? No! That's not right either!

But nevermind the name. Will has come because Will is concerned. The young Chaser looks like he hasn't slept too well lately, owing to... certain other events in the multiverse. His eyes are heavy with dark circles and slightly red from harsh rubbing. His hands are filthy with oil and rough with recent, furious toolwork, but he comes none-the-less.

"Molly?" Will asks, coming up to meet the woman and her... frankly worrying amount of spent AND unspent wine bottles. "You... Have you been drinking long?" Beat. "Do you have any idea... where Irvine might have gotten to?"

Flamel Parsons (1094) has posed:
    What does 'secret agent' look like in a post-apocalyptic neo-feudal kingdom? Agent Parsons has decided that it involves a shadowy cloak over more local flavor for clothing, a sort of king's rogue look, with the cloak's drawn cowl helps cover up his usual sunglasses, obscuring his eyes. He's with Taro, keeping his invisibility active for now. The fact that he emerges from his invisibility in the shadows between warehouses, ominously, with strange glints below the shade of his hood and speaking via strange telepathy, is totally at odds with the rather friendly way he approaches the man, eager and ready to help.

    "Hi there! Are you the one who invited us?" He 'says', in a silent and private telepathic communique that only the League members and their host can hear. "We're the ones who are interested in that business from before! We're here to help, what's wrong?" An awfully positive tone for something so potentially nefarious. He keeps it ambiguous, though, just in case, but he'll follow the man or head out to whatever destinations he's directed to from this point.

August Kohler has posed:
It's only about ten minutes after Molly puts out the call that August arrives, dressed in a hoodie. He's holding a shard of mirror as both a weapon and a tool, sliding up next to Will once he spots him and nodding to his friend. "Sorry I'm late. Tell us what happened, we'll find him with you."

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Molly rolls off her pile of rubble, surprisingly graceful for the amount of alcohol she seems to have consumed. One can easily smell it on her breath as she comes up and scoops up the teenagers in a single, crushing hug! "Thanks for coming everyone~!"

    She releases them and stretches, considering the questions asked. "Not long enough~ As for Irvine? Well, he did just say he was going to the bathroom. I wasn't worried at first, because he does tend to take a long time in bathrooms, but never this long!"

    She looks around at the three and smiles. "But don't worry, we'll find him! Once we're close, I'll know where he is. I just need you all to keep me on track. My sense of direction isn't very good, so I'll just wander in circles without help." She points out at the city and says, "Lead the way!"

    Meanwhile, at the warehouse...

    As Taro and Flamel roll up, the man at the door stares at him. The telepathic communication seems to have him spooked, but he nods and opens the door to let them in. The warehouse is large and mostly bare, with much of the junk left behind by the rebels being pushed against the far wall. Several men mill around a table set up just left of centre. One of them stands as the Leaguers approach.

    "Welcome. We are the Index. Loyalists to the king and nation of Chapter," says an elderly fellow with a scar down his cheek. "We ask you here for your assistance. Our goal is to reinstate the king and return Chapter to its true glory and purpose. This would involve reinstating the Opera Bibliotheca excavation project. For that end alone, we hope that you are willing to assist us."

Lyria Mason has posed:
William isn't alone nope, Lyria's come along finally coming out of her machine shop on her family's ship. That took some doing but the talk of the Library has her attention. She may be a little focused on that until she hears that the bandits have ... been separate? She figured only /death/ would do that to the pair. That was something she didn't expect either.

"You do seem like you been hitting the tankard for a while..."

She now seems concerned well that William is concerned about this. This is his friend and she has to respect how showy the pair are in their heists after all. Given her own family's background she looks back to Molly sympathicly.

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

William Pauwel has posed:
Molly's hugs are... A thing to be experienced. Usually survived, too. Usually. She's pretty good at remembering that human bodies are squishy things, but then, she is ALSO on several bottles of wine right now so 'usually' goes right out the window. "Hrk--" Will hrks as several somethings snap and pop in his back. Probably just his vertibrae realigning!

Probably.

"I-it's no problem, Molly," Will wheezes, trying to get his breath back after having it SQUEEZED OUT OF HIM like toothpaste from a tube. "We'll find him. I'm sure he just... Saw something that he thought he needed to do? Or maybe he's... Still in the uh." Wait, no. That's not right. Who takes days to use the bathroom!? "...Well! Let's get looking!"

AND SO THEY SET OFF!

INTO THE CITYYYY!

...But...

"...Wait, Molly, where did you last see him? Did he say he was going to a... Specific bathroom?"

Flamel Parsons (1094) has posed:
    Parsons whooshes into the room, floating, like some kind of weirdly friendly and upbeat Dementor. He finally speaks, instead of relying on telepathy. "A loyalist faction! Anyone wanting to dig that grand library back up is a friend to me as far as I'm concerned." Technically the Psychonauts as a whole would normally disagree, but Parsons and his obsession with preserving knowledge means that he's the one calling the shots as far as the Psychonaut interest go, and he's not expecting Taro to turn that down either. "As long as whatever you're doing can promise that recovery, I'm all for it!"

    His drifting takes him to the table, where he settles onto the ground with the rest of the men. "I'm guessing you wouldn't have called us if you didn't have an opportunity that needed our help, though! I'm Agent Parsons, League Psychonaut. I'm pretty sure people as well-informed as the Index must be are people who probably know about my friend here, I'm here to support him on this. How can we help?" He is absolutely one-hundred-percent ready to get a task here, and distressingly friendly for his aesthetic.

Taro (399) has posed:
    Taro cannot help but arch an eyebrow at Flamel Parsons' sudden appearance, physical appearance, or some combination thereof. Then, he turns his gaze back to their presumed host, pretending as if the man's behavior wasn't unusual at all. He'll hold his tongue as they're ushered inside the warehouse, brushing back his hood once they're inside.
    He offers a polite bow to the men, then takes a few steps toward the elderly man. "Taro Daisho, Bishop Engineer of SHODAN." Flamel has made his own introduction, thus doesn't repeat for him. "Thank you for this opportunity. While I admit politics is not my personal forte, both the League and my order firmly believe in the pursuit and preservation of knowledge. What sort of assistance is that that you are looking for from us?"
    Yes, he's going to act as if floating around the room is a perfectly normal thing. It is. Really.

August Kohler has posed:
That hug is a familiar feeling to August. Specifically, that feeling where you get hit really hard and crushed by a monster. Atleast Molly isn't a monster...right? "He's been in the bathroom...for days? That's odd. Possibilities are...not great. Your teleporting device, which of you has it?" It's an important question, August thinks, as he heads towards the city with Will, leading Molly ahead.

"So, what were you guys out here for? That might give us a clue. Maybe he's surprising you with a special heist or something?"

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason looks again to Molly as she listens this does sound concerning. It seems they have a means to find him and she's redy to get up and going. She doe want to check out the Libary itself but that can wait right? That place isn't going anywhere right now. So she's up with a spring in her step and she moves head out along with William off into the city they go.

"Wait he said he was going to the canteen and never came back? That's ... hummm."

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Walking through the city draws plenty of looks. Either from the rebellious peasants, or dethroned nobles trying their best to not draw attention. Molly rubs her chin and hmms... "Well, we were at a tavern. We were talking about our latest find, somewhere down in this big hole in the ground..." She gestures at the entrance to the underground library. "He got up to use the bathroom, and I spent the rest of the night drinking~ And then a few days passed without me seeing him, which is why I got concerned!"

    Looking to August, she smiles and produces Terminal Getaway. "Not that Irvine would ever leave me behind!" But then, apruptly, she comes to a stop. Sniffing at the air, she looks down at her feet. The ground is dirty, with the passing of several feet over it, but she bends down and touches a stain in it. "This is Irvine's blood."

    Meanwhile, in the warehouse...

    The gathered loyalists smile and nod to each other as the pair of Leaguers agree to their terms. "Thank you for understanding. I hope this leads to fruitful cooperation," says Mr. Scarred Cheek. "I am Dion. And you are correct in assuming there is something here we need your assistance with. Bring him out!"

    One of the men stands and rushes to an area enclosed by shelves. The sound of a dragging chair echoes throughout the warehouse as someone tied to a chair is brought over. Soon, a fellow with dark hair and golden eyes is beaming at them.

    "Ah, guests! How rude of me. Jeeves, fetch them a drink, would you?" says Irvine Lune. The man who pulled him over gives him a backhanded slap, drawing a laugh from the Bandit. "Oh, what would I do without your jarring wit?"

    "This man has made claims of some incredible treasure he found in the depths of the Opera Bibliotheca. It may be something to contribute to our cause. We want your help in drawing the information from him. He has proven... resilient to interrogation."

Taro (399) has posed:
    Taro's brow furrows slightly as the trussed up Irvine (who he hasn't met personally until now) is dragged out into view. Whether it's in distaste or in thought is hard to say. His expressions are hard to read, really, as they consist mainly of frowns of differing intensity. "I see...well. I suppose I could subject him to one of my sermons on the virtues of sharing information," he says, voice deadpan. Then, he glances back to Dion, saying more seriously, "I assume you already asked him what he'd want in return for the information, but couldn't come to an agreement?"
    He casts a quick and surreptitious glance at Flamel. He's aware of the man's abilities, but does not volunteer them to their hosts.

William Pauwel has posed:
    "Something down in a big hole in the ground...?" Will blinks slowly. If she means THIS big hole in the ground, then... Well, he wouldn't just fall into it, would he? That seems very much not like the other Bandit. "You don't think someone--"

Blood?

Will's eyes narrow. His hand rests on the familiar handle of his gun. "...He wouldn't have been bleeding for no reason. Molly, can y'all follow his trail? We'll get him back, one way or the next."

Flamel Parsons (1094) has posed:
    Agent Parsons' sunglasses glint ominously. "Interrogation? Oh! Don't worry!" He seems quite friendly. "We don't need to do any of that. There's way less awful ways of doing that sort of thing. You called in the right guys!" He looks quite cheerful. Confused, though. "This guy? Straaaange. What's your name? I'm Flamel!" He offers a handshake before realizing how silly that is. Then he ponders Irvine. "I'm kinda curious why you won't tell them. I mean, you don't exactly look like the kind that's trained in that sort of thing, so whatever you found must be... really important? What's the deal?"

    He stops leaning over and examining Irvine, and stands up instead. "Hey, Taro, have you ever tried Psychonautry? We could probably make this work!" He returns that glance with an offer, one that's not likely to be taken. He tugs a... Small door out of his pocket. This can't be for real. "Let me know if you're up for it, it's really very simple!" With Irvine secured as he is, Mr. Parsons probably won't have too much trouble fixing the thing on the young man's forehead. "They been hitting you a lot or something? Sheesh..." He gives a grin and an "OK" sign to Taro, signaling that if he wants to work on the outside, Parsons will do his work on the inside to soften up the response.

    Barring anything unusual, he'll take off his sunglasses, an ominous sign of work beginning. "Alright!" He says, cheerfully. "Prepare your mind!" He's setting up to target the memory centers of Irvine's mind, and barring any obstruction, he'll dive right in...!

William Pauwel has posed:
There's a moment where Will just sort of... Blinks. You can practically hear the lightbulb *DING* in his head.

"Molly..." Will asks, "How... do you know that's Irvine's, anyway?"

Taro (399) has posed:
    Taro gives a (perhaps too) sharp shake of his head in answer. "I will leave such things to experts." But he does not stop Flamel from going about his work, and while his eyes might be just a bit narrowed, he shows no other sign of objection. It wouldn't do to show divivisions in front of their hosts, after all.

August Kohler has posed:
August is primarily letting Will lead the way, but when they see that blood, he clenches his hand around the glass shard. "Alright, we need to go in, if that's Irvine's blood. It's been days, so he might...but it's Irvine. Can't think that, he's probably still fighting in there."

There's a glance towards Will, a resolute one. "Will, I'll lead the way. Have the Solano ready and support me. Mason, you as well. This is, hopefully, a rescue mission. Dear god, I hope it is."

Lyria Mason has posed:
The Adventure goes ever on as Mia keeps with Will and Molly. Given how Lyria dresses getting looks in more conserative lands is something she's long been used to even before she ended up in the multiverse. She almost enjoys it making people double take or stare at her. She listens to Molly giving more information.

"It would be odd to see him ditch you, I swore you were connected physically in some fashion to be honest."

She looks to WIlliam for amoment

"Wait ... what's that?"

She takes a loot at the blood for a moment and her own hand goes for one of her own pistols.

"Right I'm with you Will."

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    "I just know," Molly says to Will. Instantly and curtly, no trace of any drunken slurs in her voice. Looking closely at the stain, she follows the way it's pointing to uncover another. She's running at a jog now, finding the next stain with unerring accuracy.

    "Irvine won't die," she says, agreeing with August. She's produced her own gun too, that monster of a revolver with the hatchet stock. People are making sure to get out of the armed groups' way as they run through the streets, some calling for the guards.

    But eventually, they find where the blood stops. The front door of a warehouse, near the mineshaft. Molly comes to a complete still, pupils dilated and body tense. It looks like she's ready to just break the doors down... but that's probably not optimal.

    Meanwhile, in the warehouse...

    "Irvine Lune! One half of the Starlight Bandits!" Irvine says. "I would give you a proper introduction, but I am missing my partner and tied to a chair!" Dion looks to Taro and nods. "We offered him anything we could. Money, a position in the city, all the books he could want. But he refused. He said-" "I can explain myself, thank you! I'm sorry, my hosts are quite rude. You see, everything belongs to we, the Starlight Bandits. For now, we are quite happy to let others hold on to things for us, but eventually we'll be by to take them back. And this includes the thing we found! It's in our possession now, so we'll never be 'returning' it." He smirks. "Besides, what kind of dastardly villains would we be if we just played along with people like that?"

    But Parsons does his thing, Irvine crossing his eyes to try and look at the thing on his head. "Well, this is new. What are you up to, my fine fellooooooooooow...." And woosh, inside his mind Flamel goes!

    It's immediately confusing. A massive honeycomb, oozing with the sweet nectar stands before the secret agent. Just looking at it makes the head ache... without the confines of the physical world, a mind can be any shape it likes.

    And Irvine's happens to be a beehive, in the shape of a tesseract. This is going to be harder than anticipated...

William Pauwel has posed:
Molly is... Being cryptic. Cryptic in that way that you know there's something she just doesn't want you to know. Cryptic in that way that makes Will frown because he thinks someone he admires isn't comfortable with sharing something. B-but... Perhaps this is just...

                          E>~The Power of Love~<3                          

So he can't exactly hold it against her.

More importantly, there's a sealed door in Molly's path. The chances are not insignificant that she's about to just tear them right off their hinges. But maybe that's... Not the best way to do it? Or maybe...

Maybe...

They could... Find another way in?

"Hey y'all. I think maybe we should knock," Will says. And then draws his gun, the Solano's barrel glowing with bright, blue light. He pulls the trigger right at the door. Plasma meets steel. The result is... Probably a lot of melted steel. And a door. And this way, Molly doesn't need to waste any energy getting in! Win-win! "Knock-knock!" Will grins into the glow. "Aaaaanyone hoooome?"

Flamel Parsons (1094) has posed:
    Parsons' eyes begin to glow under his cloak's cowl, and the whispy white strands of light that show his astral self emerge from the cowl. The door pops open and soon, both men are just sort of staring at each other. Irvine shouldn't find it too difficult to continue a conversation or an interrogation with Taro, though. He's intending to facilitate, not extract singlehandedly. He's... Not even sure he CAN extract singlehandedly.

    "A hive... What???" He says, in a confused way, squinting at the terrible 4D tesseract and trying to comprehend a path of navigation. "Urrrrgh... This job will never make sense. Whelp! Time to work." He gets to it. Honey, honey... This symbolizes something positive, at least. And the object of great value is something that's very positive to Irvine, right? He needs to head for the greatest visible concentrations of honey. By following the contours of the hive's segments themselves, he should be able to trace linear paths through 4-dimensional space, while also comparing a given segment to its neighbors effectively, right? But his levitation-based platforming is going to be a NIGHTMARE to deal with in this space...

    Parsons can still speak as he projects, though, just not move or have much cognition of what's going on around him. "Hey Taro, the inside of his brain is-- Good lord, I don't blame you for not wanting to deal with this, I'm getting a headache just looking at it. I'll try to soften things up a little, you just make some convincing arguments if you can, okay?"

Taro (399) has posed:
    "Well met." Taro answers. Arrogance in this one, but then again the Starlight Bandits have earned their reputation. "I merely thought that you could have more greatly profited if you had chosen to be agreeable, accepted the terms the gentlemen had offered, and then returned to collect your item at a later date when you had greater need of it."
    How much of a conversation partner Irvine can be while Flamel is in his head, Taro has no idea. If the Bandit chooses to keep talking, all well and good, but otherwise he'll let his ally do his job with as little interference as possible. To that end, he turns his attention back to Dion and his men. "You said that you wish to return the king to his throne. Given that he is sitting in the dungeon the last I heard, I assume you have already made plans to rescue him. Still, given how he was deposed, how do you plan to keep him on the throne once he is there?"
    In all honesty, it is the library itself that interests him. Which exact person happens to be in charge of it, less so.

August Kohler has posed:
They finally find the end of the trail. A warehouse. If Irvine's still alive in there, it'd be dangerous to just go in guns blazing. But at the same time, who knows how long he has? Especially since they already alerted citizens to them. It's then that August decides on a plan, because he's taking control because, well, he wants to.

And then Will pre-emptively does what August was going to ask him to, causing a brief laugh to come from the German. "Alright, let's bust the house down. Molly, lead the way to Irvine. Me, meanwhile...PERSONA!" In a flash of energy, the Tin Soldier appears behind August, the burnscarred robot soldier silently dashing forward, as August follows behind it, using it as a bodyshield, and shouting where anyone can hear him. "Alright, I know you fuckers can hear me! Return Irving Lune at once, or we'll burn this warehouse to the ground." The flamethrower goes off briefly, not aimed at anything, to send the message. "Have you ever burned alive? It's goddamn /painful/."

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Molly watches on as Will melts the doors lock. This also liquifies the chain holding it in place behind the door. Everyone crowding around the table looks over to the door in shock. "We've been discovered!' Dion exclaims... only to be shoved into the arms of Taro by one of the loyalists, the one who was guarding the door. "Get him out of here! Our movement is nothing without him!" They're arming themselves and preparing for the attack...

    The door comes down. August charges in and starts making demands as the loyalists arm themselves with blades and spears. "Defend them!" the take-charge loyalist shouts, indicating Irvine and Flamel. A makeshift phalanx is formed, every man glowering at the invaders.

    Meanwhile, inside Irvine's mind...

    Following the honey seems a wise bet. As Flamel explores the 4D space, he starts to notice something. Despite hexagonal structures being one of the most orderly to occur in the natural world, Irvine's mindscape is... well, not. A lot of the honeycombs join at strange angles, leaving gaps and holes in their structure. However, he does soon arrive at a massive, well-made one, dominated by a single, giant hexagon, overflowing with the stuff.

    Molly's reflection can be seen in the goo, and their most recent escapades can be observed in the smaller honeycombs... he said 'we,' right? That would mean this woman was with him...

Lyria Mason has posed:
Molly is being cryptic and that has to be meaning something. She doesn't doubt August and Molly on Irvine not dying but he could darn well be in toruble as they rewach the door she has her pistol out she moves to flabnk will and start to look for a way in.

"Does that ever actually work William?"

Knock? What is this thing called Knocking, well Lyria's humor aside she's worried about whaty might be waiting but well Will knocks she sighs and she gets reayd for a fight making sure she's not standing infront the door should some sort of attack come their way the moment the door opens.

"Whelp here we go full sails."

Flamel Parsons (1094) has posed:
    Indeed, they do find Flamel, zoned out and... Wearing a cloak for some reason? He's connected with Irvine, too! By telepathic connections, seen in the form of strange glowing...

    Parsons creeps forward, focusing on the memory center of the hive. Getting here is a nightmare, but being here is a wonderful reward. "Here we are, here we are..." He says, eagerly, eyes shining under those sunglasses. "Show me what you found down in that library..." He doesn't poke at the hive itself. Rather, he takes his concentrated clairvoyance ability and focuses it, hard, on the memories. He's trying to pierce into that hive and get at the memory of what they found, where they found it... Even just a few clues will do. His psionic super-senses should be able to scan and locate something there, or else gather a high volume of information for it.

    Parsons is totally zoned out. It's like he can't hear the people breaching the hideout. The Watch members who see him will find him utterly unreactive to their sudden arrival! The first hit that anyone lands on him, from here on out, is likely to be free. But it should be easy enough to shout at him over his radio, if they want to, since he keeps it with him in the astral plane.

Taro (399) has posed:
    There was a noise at the door. More properly, the noise -was- the door, its locks and chains began melting thanks to heavy application of plasma. Taro's head turns in that direction, and finely-tuned reflexes begin to kick in even as his neuralnet is still parsing what he's seeing. His first reaction is to reach out to grab Flamel, since the man might not even realize what's happening...
    ...except the leader of the Index is shoved into his arms instead. He cannot argue with the logic of being appointed to see to Dion's safety, and so he agrees with a sharp nod. He spins them both around, reaching for his beam sabre with his left hand even while guiding the elderly man into a crouch with his right. "This way, sir, quickly." A path around the crates and shelves, toward the opposite end of the warehouse is his goal. If need be, he'll cut their own door out just as the others have cut their way in.

William Pauwel has posed:
The door melts. This reveals...

Uh.

...

Is this... Some kind of cult thing because this looks like some kind of cult thing.

Wait, no. More important than that. Flamel Parsons is doing weird mind things to a chained up Irvine! If this IS a cult, and Flamel is here, that means... THAT MEANS THAT FLAMEL IS A CULTIST! That would explain the hood! And the glasses! And the weird clothes! And that means... That means that Flamel is trying to brainwash Irvine!?

Was Flamel brainwashed, too!? Is that what they've stumbled onto!?

"All of y'all," Will says, levelling the Solano at the Phalanx. "Aught to get outta our way and hand over the man in the chair, else we'll have to get nasty." He points the gun at the ground beneath their feet and fires. A bolt of white-blue plasma bubbles into the concrete. "Y'all don't want us to get nasty."

August Kohler has posed:
Well, they won't listen to negotiations, and August has been banned on actually setting them on fire. He tsks, as the Tin Soldier approaches the phalanx, pointing the gun sort of downwards. "Alright, you got your warning. Now we have to get physical."

And then it happens. The flash of the muzzle, but no noise, as a bullet moves to fire and hit the foot of one of the cultists. And then another on another. And again. And again. Precision shots, rapidly moving to cripple the goons. "Are you going to give him up or not?"

Lyria Mason has posed:
So they door melts they have a cvult or something ijside she just kinda stares for a moment at this.

"Serpoent Coils what insanity is this?!"

She's got her pistols out now ans she's looking at everyone in the room.

"I'd parley if I were you, or your going to end up deep sixed if you end up hurting our 'friend'"

Ircine counts close enogh to friend for this situation after all a crazy cult with their hands on him he's a theif not a cold blooded killer.

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Dion protests as he is dragged off, but he doesn't make much fuss. He does see the logic in all this. Taro carves a hole in the wall and is gone quickly. Thankfully, there is no pursuit. No one is here for him, only Irvine.

    The Index bunch up tighter in response to threats. Even the melting of the concrete scares them none. In fact, it only emboldens them. These are clearly young people, unwilling to spill blood. They are seasoned veterans, willing to lay down their lives for the cause. So instead of backing off, they begin to advance. Only to get shot in the legs by August.

    Several stagger and fall, bleeding hard. The legs still have a lot of blood after all! And now all that's between they and Irvine is Flamel, who is proving to be amicable enough. All he has to do is keep probing... in one of the honeycombs, a memory. Far underground, a book that filled with words of its own accord. Words about the Bandits, their past... and their future. Said book hidden in a shelf, known only to them... and now to Flamel.

    Except, Molly is striding by her friends, revolver drawn and pointed right at Flamel. A monster like that could cut a man in half!

Flamel Parsons (1094) has posed:
    "There. There it is. THERE." He says, his eyes growing ever wider... And then, a snap back to his body. He stumbles back... And right into the muzzle of a revolver. Molly's, in fact. His whole body tenses dramatically, in a strained and stressed way. His head crackles with a startled sort of energy, unable to actually assert a psychic barrier with the muzzle pressed to him. It is astoundingly dangerous, and in fact represents a situation where he could be instantly killed if the trigger's pulled.

    "Oh." He whispers, quietly. Then he does it again when he sees the current situation. "Oh."

    He raises his hands in a sheepish and awkward surrender. "I'm out of his head." He says. "No harm done to Irvine. Solemn promise from me. I took a peek at something I needed to know. Nothing else done." He sweats, but more the sweat of a man with a gun to his head than a liar. "Can we have the guns down just for a moment? Got no reason or any chance of surviving if I start fighting you guys, I think we both know that."

    He's hoping to back out of this peacefully and respectfully, it seems.

August Kohler has posed:
August glances and winces at the guys he shot, especially their age, but focuses on the mission at hand. The Tin Soldier's leg gun is levelled at Flamel until he exits, and after a tense discussion on radio, he puts it down. "I recommend taking these guys to get medical attention. Now, that the gun's not to your head, who hired you to do this?"

William Pauwel has posed:
Will wears an expression like he's maybe not quite so trusting of psychics as... Well. As the guy who had one step inside his head to no apparent long-lasting harm. But then, maybe that's just what Flamel made sure he would think!? MIND GAMES!! The cowpoke frowns as the various cultists go down and hopefully manage to find a way to staunch their own bleeding. His gun slips back into its holster, but his hand remains hovering over its handle.

Just in case.

"So. You want to tell us what was goin' on here, partner? Maybe let us know just what it is you were looking for?"

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason keeps he pistols ready but she does not fire, she does not fire yet. She sees they are hardened and he says.

"Die now, in a ditch never recalled by anyone."

They move and lyria sighs as she moves to stomp one foot trying o cause the ground it self with her Genomancy to upset the balance of those cultists still looking to fight. She then levels both her guns at Flamel.

"I'd back off if I were you, mate. Your Extraversal sea snaking won't last much longer, swavy?"

She has the pistols level she sees him backing up at this point she doesn't like it but he is backing off. She does lower the weapon slightly.

"So the rest of you you fancy bleeding out there or want to do something about it?

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Everyone is making a lot of points, asking a lot of questions. All of them crash against Molly like waves against the uncaring, rocky shore. There's only one voice she cares to hear right now. She looks to Irvine, tied in his chair as he slowly regains lucidity, looking to her with a fond smile. "I'm fine, my dear. More than fine, naturally. Sorry to worry you!"

    Immediately, the beast of a revolver is lowered, Molly more concerned with freeing Irvine from his chair. "Of course you did! Partners in crime are supposed to worry about each other~" No trace of the quiet, ruthless woman remains as Irvine stands and discards the ropes, only to be caught up in a bear hug.

Flamel Parsons (1094) has posed:
    "Backing off was my plan, yeah!" Flamel says, still in that friendly tone, making placating gestures at Lyria. And August gets a gesture to the disabled and wounded around them. "The Index. You'll see more before long. I hope it goes better for them next time! This looks /really/ painful." He doesn't elaborate on anything besides that, either out of crypticness or out of not knowing all about it himself.

    Then, now that the guns on him are down, he lets out a deep breath, and lowers his hands. "Okay, you want information, then I'll give you what data I can be sure won't cause any issues." He then locks his gaze on the two, who are busy with the hugging, and then turns to the rest of the group, putting his sunglasses back on.

    "They found something down there. Something written about their past and their future." He says. Are they more than they seem?! Then he gives a long look to Irvine... "...I don't know how much I can say. How much is, ethically, right to say. This is bigger than you think. I'm sorry, okay? I don't know it all myself. And I don't know enough to tell you, not while being sure it won't hurt you or hurt them." And then, now that the guns are down fully, he--

    HE VANISHES!! Suddenly, he's invisible! And no doubt darting out of there. He doesn't want to spill any more than he has to, to avoid dying. These are Watch members, after all! They're dangerous!!