Scene #8133: The World is Not Enough

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James Bond	<X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] James Bond says, "I've taken some time to look into things about my childhood. Visited the orphanage where I grew up, requested my medical records. Apparently I had an 'immune deficiency.'" <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Lilian Rook says, "How convenient." <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] James Bond says, "That's what I thought. Especially since I don't remember Dr. Moon or Dr. Seabrook after her explaining that to me. Ever. I looked the both of them up in the medical register at the National Archives--neither's in practice any more, and I imagine Moon is dead by now. I'll have to do a little more legwork to find Seabrook. I've also noticed since I got back from the orphanage I've had a few shadows." <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Lilian Rook says, "I'm confident in your ability to lose them, and your unwillingness to call upon me if you can't." <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] James Bond says, "These days I'm willing to do a lot of things I wouldn't have before. I'll let you know once something comes up from the trace." <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Lilian Rook says, "Oh? Then I suppose I should't take my boots off just yet." <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Tamamo says, "An 'immune deficiency,' is it?" <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Tamamo says, "Sounds dreadful, yet vague, does it nott?" <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] James Bond says, "Exactly. I would've been about 7 or 8, or thereabouts, when I was put into that place. I don't know much about sicknesses like that, but if I'd actually had one, I imagine I would've been a lot more isolated from the other children." <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Tamamo says, "It does seem most suspicious that there would be no present sign of such." <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] Tamamo says, "For what reason such a thing would be recorded, however, I do not know." <X-Paladins-Chatter> [4] James Bond says, "Working backwards from my suspicion--that there was 'something in the water,' like Lilian said--I'd say that it's there to keep up appearances. It's vague enough that someone other than me, some pencil pusher in an NHS office somewhere, could see it and file it away without a second thought." Seabrook House St. Ives, Cornwall, England Bond has brought you along to the country estate of one Dr. Jonathan Seabrook. A lavish, three story English country house overlooks a rolling descent of green terraced hills, which eventually give way to the densely packed cobblestone houses of the premier port-town English vacation spot. From here, the beachgoers aren't even visible as specks, with the beach being a few miles out. The grounds are clearly the work of an on-site groundskeeper, with topiary flanking the approach to the front door and flowerbeds laid out flush with the front of the home. There are three roads leading here, all of which begin as dirt roads closer to the estate and only become paved later on. The considerably-sized grounds are encircled by a cobblestone wall, with a gate guard set up at the front of the property. As Bond said on the way here, 'always have a way out.' Watching for unexpected arrivals will be important, and an eye in the sky wouldn't hurt. As Bond has explained it, he's more than capable of getting what he needs from the doctor. The issue is that, ever since he asked for his records at his childhood orphanage, he's had more than a few shadows. It's possible someone besides the doctor and his gate guard knows that he's here--and he'd rather get the information without any unwelcome interruptions.
James Bond	Considering that Bond had to arrange this meeting ahead of time (naturally, using an alias) it's also possible that someone is already here. 'Friends' along for 'emotional support' would therefore also be a good idea. Finally, the countryside surrounding St. Ives is highly open--forests are few and far between, and looking to the coast allows you to see the entirety of the port town, right down to the warpgate on the tip of the peninsula, as a faint shape on the horizon. While it'd be easy to see someone coming, the openness means there's also not a lot of places to take cover. Once everyone's decided on postings and gotten into position, Bond starts down the greenway to the front door. A butler that looks younger than Bond is there to receive 'Mr. Franks and guests,' ushering all of you to a foyer with old, ugly but undoubtedly expensive (and rather comfortable) furniture. Dr. Seabrook is an unimpressive-looking man, of average height, without much to his frame in his silver years. Mid-to-late sixties, with only hints of blonde color in his wispy hair, he receives the indoors guests in a rather drab shade of 'business' wear--a brown vest and tie, matching slacks, and large horn rimmed glasses. "Well, Mr. Franks, it took some doing, but I was able to retrieve your medical records from the orphanage," he says, coming down the grand staircase to meet 'Mr. Franks' with a manila folder tucked under one arm. The butler from before brings out tea and light baked refreshments for everyone, laying them upon a low table within arm's reach of the chairs and loveseats available in the foyer. The interior is the very picture of an English country house, right down to the aged grandeur and the coat of arms hung just below the railing of that double staircase. "I see you've brought some friends. I do need your consent if I'm to discuss it with them present..." "Of course," says 'Mr. Franks.' Bond waits until the doctor sits down to continue. "But you might as well put those to the side, because I'm not Peter Franks. My name is Bond. James Bond."
Kale Hearthward	> Friends, along for emotional support "I don't understand this backstory. You made it too complicated," says Lady Scone, an entirely normal human English woman, adjusting her hat. "I kinda have to agree..." says her normal human english nurse, who has to be close at hand while she travels because Lady Scone has Amphibological Syndrome. "(Shhh,)" says Dr. Scone, her elderly normal human english father, leaning on his cane which definitely doesn't have a sword in it. "(Stick to the script and don't go out of character.)" "What script? All you gave us were the costumes and a small novel's worth of random background notes. Why do I need to know what 'my' favorite dessert is?" Dr. Scone ignores the mad ramblings of a woman clearly stricken by Amphibological Syndrome, and leads his little subgroup on into the interior after Bond. Refreshments are taken. Small talk is made. Rehearsed medical facts are slotted into the conversation as appropriate. > "Bond. James Bond." "(Wait, no, I haven't even gotten through half of my prepared material,)" protests Dr. Scone, weakly, but after a stern look from his 'daughter' he gets up to his feet and grips his cane, just in case.
Hellwarming Trio	"So we're supposed to be... Tailing whoever's tailing him?" Utsuho strokes her chin slowly as she floats along one of the paths leading to the country house, turning over in midair a few times to get a better look at her surroundings. "Got it in one. We just gotta make sure not to blow bro's cover." Rin replies with a light snap of her fingers, then winces right after upon realizing that snapping makes noise that she might not want. "But humans have eyes. Wouldn't they notice us?" "Only if they're payin' attention. Like the ones in the cities!" "Or the ones in their homes. Like the ones... Here, most likely?" Satori sounds mildly skeptical as she walks along behind the floating pair, waving them both over to her as they draw closer to the designated house. "It'll be easier to blend in if you're both smaller, too." Without further ado, Utsuho and Rin transform into a crow with an eye on its chest and a two-tailed cat, respectively. The trio's subtlety is still dubious at best, though, between Satori's rather old-fashioned style of dress and the two animals just perching on her shoulders rather than staying out of view by the time they reach Dr. Seabrook's home. If nothing else, they all exhibit rather exquisite manners despite clearly being from somewhere very much not here. Satori's greets the doctor and his butler with polite curtseys and bows of her head, and the two animal youkai even stay firmly on her shoulder rather than flipping out and charging for the food when it comes out. "Thank you for seeing us, Doctor. We won't take too much of your time." Satori speaks for the three, smiling politely and feeding the pair of animals some of those baked treats. Although she's playing the part of just someone lingering and observing (the doctor) (by staring directly at him the entire time), she's already probing the doctor's mind, to listen to his surface thoughts, and to try and filter through the noise to make sure the doctor isn't trying to pull one over on them with half-baked details or outright lies.
Strawberry Princess	Spycraft isn't something that Strawberry has positive experiences with. That's evident in the way she can't seem to get settled in her seat on the ride over. Or maybe that's the fact that, finally, she's swapped her jeans for a skirt and leggings. "I'm proud of you," she says to Bond spontaneously, while getting out of the car. It's a little hard to hear that soft, hoarse voice over the car doors clunking shut. "For... looking into this. Even if it's easier to, you know, just not think about it. ... You're doing something kind for my friend. So thank you." After a bit of thought, she decides to leave the extremely ominous carrying case of her wand in the car. That's not getting past the gate guard. She's barely getting past the gate guard, even trying her best to defray her towering stature and alarming scar with an awkward mealy smile and waist-height wave. Before she lets go of it, though, she spins off a handful of gossamer-faint, near-invisible 'ghosts' of herself. These silently disperse around the country house's grounds, keeping an eye out for any new arrivals. She seats herself in Dr. Seabrook's foyer as comfortably as she can, which is never very comfortable at all; Strawberry's limbs are just a little too long for her feet to rest neatly on the floor in any normal kind of chair. "Hi," she says lamely, when he remarks about friends. Strawberry stops halfway through biting into a scone when Bond drops the act, and tries not to cough. So soon?
Ishirou	Ishirou decided that the best use of his skills would be to hide out somewhere to do it. There weren't a lot of places to do that, with the ground being open. The nearest forest was too far away, and flying openly to the house would reveal himself. This left one method. Underground. The R.E.S.C.U.E Unit burrows underground to get close to the house, then slowly rises to try and avoid disturbing ground on the surface. Once there it flattens out as Ishirou takes direct control of the sensors and starts blanketing the area in various scan types to try and do various things. First of all track everyone in the manner. Second, look for anything that SHOULDN'T be there. From there it's a matter of waiting for the shadows to make their move.
Tamamo	It's really not so much that she expects Cornwall to be especially cold at this time of year, but that it is well away from what could even be charitably termed as Summer, and that the coat she'd gone and picked out with Lilian is something Tamamo again wishes to show. It's more form-fit than styles of prior centuries, deep blues with silver fur trim, but for having come from a very definitively English tailor, perhaps that connection will triumph over the drifting of fashion over time. There's nothing really to be done about the presence of her trio of tails, there at the split tail of her coat. The bunrei is an easily recognizable sight, even when entirely disguised, and she walks along with Mr. Franks without hiding that indicator. She is always, in a sense -- almost always -- hiding herself, to a certain degree. But that's only the degree to which one might suppose she was only someone who had taken on a divine name that was not her own. That she is 'Tamamo' should still be readily obvious. After a pleasant walk through well-kept grounds, she inclines her head to Dr. Seabrook at 'Of course,' but does not follow up with her own announcement. Rather, "We are here to discuss that which has been recorded of Mr. Bond. Some small surprise to accompany this request shall not be too much trouble, I hope. It would be well to hear that your memory is sharp, given that one does not always find that the reasons for that which is written is, itself, written in the margins. Oh, but I would not guess at your own meticulousness. Please pardon me." While she isn't well prepared to tail any spies, she was prepared well enough to quietly drop a few talismans in the entrance hall, to subtly alter the senses of any who slip in. It'll be terribly inconvenient for the staff should anyone else need to cross the room, but it's not like they wouldn't find their way through the maze (that isn't there), eventually. It would simply take them some time, and make their presence obvious to anyone looking in from outside the room. She'll apologize, later, if necessary.
Archer EMIYA	Bringing friends along for emotional support? Well, Archer does suppose that learning about your childhood self is a pretty traumatic experience. The Heroic Spirit doesn't say it out loud, instead keeping it to himself. It doesn't stop him, however, from having a shit eating smirk on his face for the entire ride to the doctor's place. As much as he'd love to sit outside and wait for things to eventually go south, Archer figures it'd be better to go inside. After all, the guards are going to check for weapons, and as far as they know, he doesn't have any. Unfortunately, this means he needs to be on his best behavior. And so he tries, sitting down and keeping his arms and legs to himself as he lets 'Mr. Frank' talk. That is, until he drops the act almost immediately. Archer's best behavior suddenly becomes his worst, as he now kicks his feet up and rests them on a nearby coffee table and leans his chair back til its dangerously balancing on only two legs. There is, surprising no one, an amused and smug expression on Archer's face now.
Lilian Rook	Though to some degree, Bond's indication of potential intrigue --spy versus spy and all that-- has teased the urge up from Lilian's id to wait around at an external post, observe the place, wait for the Mi6 or whomever to show up, and try her skills against the country's finest, the better half of her thinks that's completely stupid when she is allowed to simply walk into the place. 'Emotional support' gets a quiet, sardonic laugh from her when explained, but the fact is that she just happens to be the very picture of a well-bred British* young lady, and the inside job would be beyond trivial for her to blend with. Along the way in, after being seated next to Strawberry in companionable silence for a while, Lilian remarks cryptically aloud "Opposite arcs." with the tone of having said something very thoughtful, and then moves on. When on the grounds, she of course provides Tamamo the cover of being the plus one's plus one-- that is, 'Franks' brought his friend, and she brought her '''friend''' in turnn. Simple. "Hm? Why is that?" Lilian asks Doctor Seabrook, every so half-paying-attention conversationally, when it says it 'took some doing'. "Do orphanages typically guard something as boring as medical records even when being asked for by the very person they pertain to?" An airy, intentionally-obvious-faux-unconcerned laugh follows his question. "Oh I'm certain I wouldn't understand any of it anyways, if it's for doctors and all that." She is, of course, leaning into her lackdaisical personal call absent-minded affect to focus on absorbing the full bandwidth of thought and feeling that runs through the doctor's mind when divulging the information.
Strawberry Princess	Earlier, in the car: Strawberry takes a moment to process Lilian's words, but then nods. "Opposite arcs," she repeats. Then, self-consciously: "I bought it, and Blueberry talked me up to wearing it. ... So thanks again. For helping bring her back."
Lilian Rook	"I'm glad I did." Lilian replies to Strawberry, genuine, yet sounding just a little surprised that she is. "It's incredible what a complete about face that girl's moral character does whenever she's around you in particular. It's practically as if she were built with the need for a specific sort of stabilizing presence." Lilian trails off a moment. "Well. So much more that I'll leave that at that."
James Bond	>I'm proud of you. For... looking into this. "Thank you," says Bond quietly to Strawberry. After a momentary pause, spent searching for words, "It hasn't been easy. But it needs to be done." >Thank you for seeing us, Doctor. We won't take too much of your time. "Oh, it's hardly valuable these days, my dear," says Dr. Seabrook, nodding and tapping the manila folder against his thigh. "I thought of all sorts of things I'd want to do, once I retired, and somehow I manage to keep putting them off. It's nice enough to stay busy." With a curious glance towards the definitely-just-animals, "My goodness. What unusual pets! You simply must tell me all about them once our business here is done." Ishirou's scanning reveals a lot of somethings that shouldn't be here. The house is wiretapped. Extensively. Someone went to a lot of trouble to make sure there was no room in this house in which the doctor could have a private conversation. >Bond. James Bond. The color drains from Dr. Seabrook's face at the mention of that name. As the butler excuses himself and disappears up the stairs, Seabrook removes his glasses and wipes anxiously at the lenses with a handkerchief. >We are here to discuss that which has been recorded of Mr. Bond. Some small surprise to accompany this request shall not be too much trouble, I hope. "No trouble at all," he says with a nervous smile, waiting for the butler to be out of earshot before he continues. "I don't see that the deception was necessary, but how may I help--excuse me!" Seabrook casts an incensed glance towards Archer, who is on his worst behavior the moment the facade drops. "Don't look at him. Look at me." Bond's face is as a statue, his voice as cold as his eyes. "The orphanage in Lower Hardres. You took over as the resident doctor from Dr. Bohyun Moon in 1955. I was eleven. You and Dr. Moon both seemed to think I had an 'immune deficiency.' Would you mind telling me what kind, and what you used to treat it?" Seabrook reclines in his seat, though however relaxed he might try to make the gesture appear, it comes across more like he wishes he could retreat into it. "Ah, yes. A rare genetic disorder," he begins. "One in two hundred thousand, or something similar. We treated you with a combination of antibiotics and immunoglobulin." He seems to have puffed up slightly from the ease with which he gave the explanation. Lilian can tell it is a complete lie--and that the doctor is hoping, more than anything, to be done with this quickly. A sickly undercurrent of fear runs throughout his thought processes. "Really, Mr. Bond you could have simply--" he begins. >(Wait, no, I hadn't even gotten through half of my prepared material.) Don't worry, 'Scone.' Apparently, Bond's done a lot of research. "Dr. Scone here is my new primary physician," says Bond, interrupting with a calm sweep of his palm towards the other old man present here. "I showed him the records, and they confirmed what you said. But do you know--he told me if those records were true, I'd have to be on those injections for the rest of my life. Tell me the truth, doctor." The doctor fidgets with his glasses anxiously. He squirms in his seat, looking for some way to escape this with silence and finding none. "The truth... yes, well. I'm afraid the truth is that you've probably killed us both by coming here," he says quietly. This, Lilian finds, the doctor believes to be true. "That doesn't even begin to discuss what would happen if I gave you what you're looking for."
James Bond	Bond's hand tightens into a fist on the arm of his chair. For a moment, something dark travels across his features, an impulse he has to fight against. "I can protect you," says Bond after suppressing it. "We can protect you." Seabrook shakes his head. "Not from her." Ishirou picks up something else that shouldn't be here. Vibrations--the kind that internal combustion engines make. Four-wheel drive, V8s. They'll be here in a matter of minutes. "Even from her. I'm here, aren't I? Just tell me what you did to me and we'll go anywhere you want. Anywhere in the Multiverse." Bond flashes his Paladins ID. Seabrook eventually puts his glasses back on. "Protection in the finest, most secure manner the Commonwealth can provide, for me, my daughter, her husband and my grandchildren." "You'll have it," says Bond. "The answers, please." "...it was Dr. Moon's formula. She developed it before she ever came to the Isles. A combat drug--she'd meant to use it for the Korean Independence Movement, but her colleagues wouldn't have it, or so I'm told. I'm not sure how she came to us--but she discovered that small doses, given to..." He swallows. "...children, would completely obviate the side-effects." It's faint, but there might be a helicopter a few miles out.
Ishirou	Several things become revealed. Taps everywhere, and you don't do that for just your average doctor. Sending the location of them through the HUB, he'll leave that to the inside team themselves. Then a moment later, thanks to Kale's hearing and then his own picking it up the helicopter sound. Slowly he moves towards the surface to push out. He doesn't immediately unsurface all the way. This DOES give him the chance to get long-range sensors up to start looking at what might be coming around them, as well as just who was in the helicopter. Kale was going to make it a no-fly zone, so he'll have to rely on his ground forms.
Strawberry Princess	Earlier: Strawberry rubs the back of her neck awkwardly, and smiles a lopsided smile. "I told you a long time ago," she says, "there's three ways power can mess somebody up. Blueberry... has a hard time, with one of those. But it helps a lot, to have something to ground her. Even just one thing." ---- Now: When things don't immediately degenerate into conflict, Strawberry takes the chance to stuff the rest of her scone in her mouth. 'Given to children'. Her expression tenses. There's the crux of her familiarity with the problem. But she doesn't find a moment to interject, or the words to do so. Strawberry pushes herself up to her feet when an approaching helicopter is mentioned. Her ghostly 'clones' outside haven't yet spotted anything, but it can't be long; one of them darts down the road, trying to appraise the incoming forces. Her wand. She needs to get to her wand, out in the car. But they still have a minute. "Doctor Seabrook..." she starts, halfway to the door. "Why? Why did you think that's... something okay, to put on a child. I don't understand." The words should sound accusatory, but they don't. She hopes he has an answer. She hasn't found one. Then, after touching Bond's shoulder, she opens a window and slips out gracelessly.
Kale Hearthward	Dr. Scone nods along with Bond's counter-lie. "Of course, when I realized the discrepancy, I just had to see what was going on myself..." Bond learns what he needs to. A deal is struck. The doctor keeps up the act throughout... ... Until Ishirou reveals the taps, and Bond confirms that he's jammed them. "Alright, then," says Kale, dropping the accent - and along with that, the disguise, the human facade fading from him and his crew (though they've still got the rest of the clothes on). "Excuse me - and thank you," he says, the first to the actual doctor, the second to Tamamo, as he takes a talisman from her in passing. "I shouldn't waste any time in getting this going, even with the boost." With that, he heads outside, leaving his crew to evacuate with the rest of the group. Kale heads directly outside (though not by the main door), trying to find a spot with at least a bit of overhead cover that's still as open on the sides as he can - if all else fails, hugging the side of the building opposite where the helicopter is coming from. The talisman is slapped on his chest, and he takes a long breath, as long and as deep as he can, and lets it out, fingers moving to catch and shape the exhaled air - literally, twisting it, tying it up in barely visible knots, a barely restrained ball of potential energy raging against itself. Then with half a second to check his work, he pulls back his arm and casts the spell by throwing it, picking out a nice incoming sea breeze to pitch it at. The nice incoming sea breeze becomes rapidly less so - less nice, and less of a breeze, but still quite incoming. Within less than a minute, the winds have intensified to the point where being more than a few meters above ground level is between 'highly hazardous' and 'flat out impossible'. Even at ground level, it's heckin' windy, which should help with the group's escape. And then Kale goes to leg it after the group, kicking his boots on and jetting to catch up.
Hellwarming Trio	"After our business is done here, certainly. I don't know how much you expect to learn from a regular crow and housecat, though." Satori answers the doctor with a light chuckle, apparently finding the big freaky eye on Utsuho's chest and Rin's double tails normal. She doesn't comment on his shift in color, however, nor does she say anything about the fact that he's lying about the treatments. Instead, she's distracted by Archer's complete disregard for the table's cleanliness. She stares at him for far too long with a disapproving squint, but she soon turns her attention back to the doctor when he really starts letting his fears show between whoever's after him, Bond, and the rest of the group. Rin perks up in particular when she hears those approaching helicopters from further out, and it only takes a thought for Satori to pick up on that warning and to stand up (startling Utsuho slightly at the sudden movement). "Bond is right. Whoever may be coming after you or him have not met any of us yet." Satori says, trying to both reassure the Doctor while also totally sounding like she's bragging before even seeing whatever's making those strange air-choppy noises Rin had heard. "Please leave your questions for later, though. My pets will need to focus if they're to do this nonlethally." The crow and the cat droop slightly at that last part, but they soon head out (through the windows thanks to Tamamo's warning) and transform into their full people-y forms with loud, boisterous shouts as Satori readies to leave with the doctor and everyone else looking to make a getaway. "How're we supposed to do this nonlethally?" "Uh... Hmm. Oh. We can make it flashy, but not right at them? Like aaa.... Warning shot." With little other guidance other than improvisation and prior experience to work with, the animal youkai get to work! Once they get a visual on the helicopter, Rin climbs onto Utsuho's shoulders as they start collecting fire together, conjuring it and drawing it far overhead into what looks like a giant version of Utsuho's eye, but floating in the sky above them and burning ominously. They turn the burning angry eye towards the helicopter, and it glows ominously as fire churns around the center, eventually blasting a massive blast into the sky that will most certainly spike any temperature or radiation readings on the aircraft even without coming anywhere near it. With any luck, that might keep attention off anyone leaving the house.
Tamamo	Tamamo's head slowly tilts at the doctor's explanation of treatment, ears raised. The 'hmm, that does not seem possible' doesn't quite pass her lips before Dr. Scone is instead pointed to as having already called it out. The true explanation is given. "Something that can only be accomplished by children... ah, no, that is not quite right, is it? It was something that could only be done by those that had begun as children. Yes, I see the way of it." She stands, having done little more than politely touched refreshments, and reaches into her purse. Out comes, first, a cloth bag for Kale. Inside it, carefully wrapped, the talismans she'd prepared for him in particular, having by now become familiar with how his 'breath' works. They'll provide that highly convenient, immediate supercharge, as well as the pleasant aroma of freshly crushed herbs. Next, she considers retrieving something for Satori, but it appears to be unnecessary. "You have jammed the... signals, yes, Mr. Bond?" She clearly doesn't know how that works. "Hmm," a finger to her chin, gloves on, "it would be convenient to take on any pursuers at a prepared location, yet this is one they have seen, before, and we know not whether they would destroy it utterly, these walls being less than those of a castle. Strawberry-Princess and the others have already gone outside. Our goal is safety, first. Escape is second, and the live capture of our pursuers is third. Let us proceed in order." She retrieves several more talismans. "Please excuse me," and she places two in the doctor's hands, pressing them closed, and walks around to stick another to his back, below his collar. "Place those in your pockets, if you would. In any case, do not lose them. They will preserve your life even in the case of terrible trauma, though that which I can do to raise the dead is far more limited." They don't look like much of anything. Bits of paper, ink scrawls, designs of turtles and marsh grass and shining suns, if you squint and have an artistic, abstract sort of bent. Nevertheless, she speaks with casual confidence, knowing the sort of combat-grade shielding and automatic regeneration granted by their magical effects. "I shall recommend that you take the doctor with you, Mr. Bond, as I have brought no vehicle. I shall entrust my own transportation to Lilian, and to many others, they possess already the speed necessary to make their way from here. Ah, come to that..." Speaking again over the tactical band, "By what route did you arrive, Ishirou? Are you able to open this to others, or is it one too narrow or hazardous?"
Lilian Rook	"A . . . combination of antibiotics . . . and immunoglobulin." Lilian repeats after Seabrook, suddenly much less half-there, given just the space of a breath after Ishirou had informed everyone of the taps. "For a doctor with full medical records, 'antibiotics' is more than a little nonspecific, don't you think?" she says, that disgustingly proper accent that no one naturally has making the cold creep into her voice that much faster. "I'm actually curious now. I'd thought you for simply hapless, but . . ." Her eyes drift downwards. "That folder. Isn't it fake? Don't you know it is?" 'I'm afraid the truth is that you've probably killed us both by coming here' She laughs. Without warning. Short and sharp, a few seconds at most, and yet filled with such rich, venomous irony that the young woman accompanying Bond as a 'supportive friend' suddenly seems the less merciful one. "It's funny to me that you think that." Lilian says, down to a restively menacing purr. "You think that he isn't aware of what sorts of forces he's playing with here? Don't get the wrong idea. I'm here so that our mutually acknowledged strangers can fuck around and find out." Ishirou's perimeter alert pings her tac comm. Lilian sighs as if some dreary but trivial task had just been tacked on to the edge of her shift. "I see that they came loaded for bear. A rational response, given whom they're hunting. Their intel is outdated, though." She glances sidelong to Bond. "That might be enough to give you a stiff run, especially with this sweaty little cretin in tow, but in expecting a bear, they've charged right into a dragon's lair." Lilian turns right on her heel and moves for the door, slowing slightly as she crosses by Tamamo and indicating her to follow simply with her gaze. "As usual, leave your exfiltration in my infallible hands. Before then, however, I hope you won't mind keeping pace with the vehicle as Bond extracts Seabrook, even if only on the off chance he suffer a slip." She thumbs her local band to all Paladins. "Prioritize neutralizing all pursuing threats. Don't send any running back to base. We need them to inform their employers as little as possible. An unprovoked attack with ostensible extrajudicial intent to abduct or assassinate a PaladinsElite is plenty enough cause." As she strides past Strawberry and out the door, black-gold light shines from what must be(?) Night Mist under her blouse, spreading criss-crossing streams of black particles and shining motes across her body, hardening into the interlaced bands and interlocking pieces of her armour, a faint light radiating from her hairpin between black tines. "Strawberry. Secure your wand and dial it to low output. I trust you should be able to dial it to a surgical beam, yes? I'd like you to scramble their transceiver equipment with a near-miss burst, if you can, and then take apart their vehicles from the struts down. As long as they're driving, they'll be in a predictable location that's easy to avoid hitting. With your beam, fuel and ammo should have no possibility of cooking off." Lilian takes off into the air as well, following Kale with a leaping splash of grainy black static and a faint light trail. She advances ahead of the car, aiming to make visual contact with the enemy first, and draw their attention to herself.
James Bond	>Why? Why did you think that's... something okay, to put on a child. I don't understand. "Because this country, and its values, are under attack. Always." Lilian finds that he unfortunately believes that. "I did what was necessary to protect the ideals of democracy and hard work. You... you're a mahou, aren't you? Yes, I thought you were a little tall--" Bond lifts his watch and adjusts the bezel. Throughout the house, there's an unpleasant squeal that boils over to a fizzle and pop. "What in God's name was that racket?" "Wiretaps... doctor." Bond utters through gritted teeth. Steeling himself, he utters, "It's not safe here. We need to go." Ishirou's attempts to plot an escape route find that the fastest one is also going to be the most frantic. As he'd said on the tacnet, the closest warpgate is on the peninsula just past the farthest point of the beach in the town below. That'll mean a downhill dash through narrow streets packed with buildings in various states of resisting modernization, with the only saving grace being the somewhat small(er) amount of tourists during the colder season. When Strawberry dips from the window, she's greeted by four black late-eighties model Range Rovers, each with tinted windows, roaring down the dirt road. The first of them crashes through the gate, just as Bond and the aging doctor join her outside. The black Aston rolls up of its own accord, and Bond unceremoniously shoves the doctor into the back seat after quickly flipping up the passenger side seat. "I'd pocket those talismans, if I were you." He climbs in--waiting only a moment for any extra passengers. His urgency is well warranted. As they approach the house, the Range Rovers all split off, windows down, commandos in navy sweaters and knit caps aiming compact submachine guns and firing in leave-nothing-to-chance fashion, the bullets stopped by resistant glass on the Aston's windows, tearing through the ground-floor windows of the estate as the vehicles circle around for another pass. One team ventures into the house--Tamamo's charms work their magic, and the spray of gunfire from that squad promptly vanishes, the commandos no doubt confounded by the illusory maze she's set up. The helicopter is clearly military, painted matte black and frighteningly fast (Bond IDs it as a 'Lynx' if given visual feed). It's already in firing distance of Rin and Utsuho by the time their warning shot is fired, and is apparently agile enough to do complete rolls, as evidenced by the one it does to avoid the blast. The proximity appears to have severely affected its instruments, if the clumsy landing attempt afterwards is indication. Kale's literal no-fly-zone smashes it into the unoccupied Range Rover near the mansion's front door, the fleeing pilot and crew thrown clear by the resulting explosion.
James Bond	[BGM:] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkr7POoHf7Y The Aston sends up a spray of wet earth and grass as it takes off with the baritone snarl of a V8, the back end smashing one of Seabrook's topiaries as it passes. Kale, Bond and Strawberry are pursued by the three remaining 4x4s. They stay spread apart, taking advantage of the open spaces while they can to try and focus down the Elites with a rolling crossfire. Inside the Aston's cabin, as bullets scrape and collide with the body, Bond turns a dial on the radio and reveals a spread of options. "Take your pick," he says. "I'm taking us down the intermediate route to trouble our friends." MISSILE - SPIKE - MAG - AUX The last one isn't a button so much as a port--exactly the size of Strawberry's wand, it seems. A small patch of forest--harrowing, at ninety miles an hour. It buys time, precious time, keeping the car out of sight of the two black helicopters flying up from the coast. One banks to engage Lilian, who'd cut ahead. Two rotary cannons spin up and shoot contiguous streams of lead with such rapidity that misses chew through quaint cobblestone fences like they were butter. The other chopper flies past to open fire on Ishirou, Utsuho, Rin and Satori with air-to-ground missiles, a hissing salvo fired as the craft makes a blisteringly fast circle-strafe around them.
Ishirou	Missiles fly, targeting him on the ground, but a burst of speed has him sailing out of the ground in a heartbeat. The transformation is quick, but soon enough the modular R.E.S.C.U.E. unit swaps ground for flight, and for an extra boost. The explosion rocks the unit, but not enough to ground it as it soars into the sky. This is followed by a barrage of energy bullets, aiming to try and aim for the propellers on the copter's top, trying to ground the units before they could do any harm to either himself, his allies, or his other allies running towards the warp gate. He also sends a hacking signal into the copter, trying to start scrambling their onboard electronics so that they can't report back, following Lilian's instructions.
Hellwarming Trio	With the idea of capturing their pursuers brought up, Satori has to come up with a new plan on the fly for Rin and Utsuho while keeping them apprised of the ever-changing scenario. Leaving the Doctor's safety to Bond, the trio remain at the house to run interference. The burning eye in the sky continues cast its seemingly baleful glare at the approaching military craft even as one of the helicopters moves to engage the youkai and Ishirou. "Change of plans. We'll be capturing some of these humans." "Whoa, really? Isn't that super illegal, though?" "But Master's sayin' it, so it's gotta be fine!" The trio takes to the sky roughly around the time Ishirou starts flying as well, joining him in the air to avoid getting caught up too much in the missiles' explosions and to create an impromptu squadron of four flying projectile spewers. Satori looks rather surprised by his energy bullets, but catches on fairly quickly and starts joining suit with her own spreading pattern of colorful magical projectiles. Unlike his aimed shots at the propellers, though, Satori hasn't quite seen enough aircraft to know that that's where the propulsion might be coming from. She just launches them in a net-like pattern, bringing in those brightly-colored orbs from multiple directions at once to both mesmerize the occupants and also ding the crap out of the vehicle over time. Utsuho and Rin, meanwhile, are still committed to the bit with the flaming eye. They send the complicated-looking fireball forwards, letting it home in on the helicopter and pick up speed. It explodes long before getting anywhere near hitting it, however, spreading floating wisps of fire around in it in sweeping patterns to complete the projectile enclosure started by Ishirou and Satori.
Kale Hearthward	Kale's crew squeezes into the backseat... briefly. When James flips open the radio panel, the mousey medic immediately leans in between the seats. "Onboard weapons - now we're talking. The spike strip! Do the spike strip- no, wait, the aux- plug it in!" she badgers Strawberry, backseat-gunning. Kale, meanwhile, goes to grab and cling onto the back of the car, perching easily with three hands gripping onto it. (He ends up scratching the paint a little bit, which he'll later deny being his fault.) "Okay, we're getting away-" A bullet flashes nearby, narrowly missing Kale due to his contingency defensive spells going off. "- Not fast enough!" <Tac-Paladins> 4 Tamamo says, "His daughter's family -- do we know where they might be?" <Tac-Paladins> 4 (NPC) Dr. Seabrook says, "Staplehurst, in Kent! Off the A229!" <Tac-Paladins> 4 Kale Hearthward says, "I've got it handled." <Tac-Paladins> 4 Tamamo says, "Thank you. I would be quite worried for them, otherwise." Elsewhere in Kent, Kale does have it handled, arriving via the nearest warpgate, taking off, and then keeping an eye on the house and surrounding neighborhood from above. Ideally nobody should ask how he's managing to be in two places at once, or realize that he is in two places at once - he's hoping that the general bedlam of 'running away' here has nobody noticing why he's simultaneously clinging to the back of a car in Cornwall and on surveilance duty in Kent. The Kale that's stuck in Cornwall breaks open the cane that had been part of his disguise - and activates the sword hidden inside, which unfolds into a drill. As soon as it gets up to speed, he slams it into the ground, causing a spray of dirt behind the car as it goes!
Strawberry Princess	Strawberry freezes with her legs already out the window, and looks back over her shoulder at Dr. Seabrook with an expression just short of panic-stricken. "That's- how'd you know?" When that fades, she processes the rest of his answer. She'd hoped, really, for a good one. This isn't it, though. Her mouth opens, but she hesitates on whatever she was about to say. Instead, what comes out a second later is: "I'm sorry you thought that was necessary. That must have been really scary." Lilian doesn't require more than a brisk nod of confirmation. Then she's gone, booking it across the lawn and sliding into the Aston's passenger seat while reaching back to grab her abandoned wand. When it boots up with a clank-hiss of moving control rods and flashes its 05:00 timer, there's a slight prickling on the skin for everyone in the car. Her costume flashes onto her unceremoniously, by comparison; the tiara scrapes the car's ceiling until she takes it off.. "Sorry," she says sheepishly. "Maybe- skip your X-rays, this year." The existence of the AUX is enough to make her nervous. She hesitates before plugging her wand in: "I'm not hitting that until I know what it does!" she says, to the back-seat gunner. "James- what does that do, exactly?" Visions of accidentally incinerating their pursuers flash across her mind's eye. 'SPIKE' seems safe, for now. She slaps it. At the same time, one of her ghosts shimmers into substantiality overhead, skirting just under Kale's turbulence. The wand it holds draws power from Strawberry's reactor, beginning to glow with that now-familiar hideous light. "Hang on. Don't look in the rear-views," she says to the others in the car. It's good advice. The ghost dips low and sweeps the pursuing cars at roughly axle-level with a needle-thin beam, still bright enough to scorch retinas. The radiation should muck up their comms at the same time.
Tamamo	Those that enter Tamamo's maze find themselves unable to determine the correct course for leaving it. That's the normal situation for mazes, this case only being unusual for how the squad seem, to anyone not actually in the room with them, to be moving in circles and squares, as if maneuvering walls and furniture that always pull them back away from any of the room's exits. There's nothing stopping them from spraying bullets everywhere, even so, apart from there being no sign, from their perspective, of a target. Before leaving, Tamamo slips a few more talismans into the room. A curse of lethargy, like a poison, will only work more quickly on those whose hearts are beating quickly, adrenaline charging their motions. They might still make it out of the maze, if they're lucky or determined, but that won't prevent them from collapsing just outside it. 'As usual, leave your exfiltration in my infallible hands. Before then, however, I hope you won't mind keeping pace with the vehicle as Bond extracts Seabrook, even if only on the off chance he suffer a slip.' "I may certainly make the attempt, if you think it best." Tamamo's thoughts are more focused on the younger née Seabrooks, a woman she's never met, but knows to have a husband and children, in addition to a father whose sole demand, whatever his other faults, was for his family's safety. Her imagination is distractingly rich with wonderful and terrible thoughts of families destroyed or reunited. Weaving through the stumbling commandos like she knows which way their confusion will turn them, barely a sun-bright ghost in fading vision, she exits by the door, and reaches once more into her purse, this time pulling out talismans for her own benefit. For her health, she isn't worried, but the sort of lower strength necessary to keep up with Bond's driving may prove to be a challenge for even her legs, as proud of them as she is. Magical reinforcement, bursting energy, and a pull on the 'threads' that grant her vision into the future make up some of the difference. It's only easier over rough terrain. Her leaps are sure and graceful, immune to slips 'by chance,' and able to take her up and over every obstacle in her path. Winding roads and old houses are even better, without having that more mundane worry of whether something that seems still will remain so when it takes both her weight and the impact of her leap.
Lilian Rook	'Because this country, and its values, are under attack.' 'I did what was necessary to protect the ideals of democracy and hard work.' "Careful. I might mistake you for a delusional American." Lilian says to Seabrook as he's escorted out. "This is the country still in love with monarchy in the twenty first century. Let's admit it. We all love the divine right of kings here. Right alongside our historical estates, convoluted bloodlines, and the deathly seriousness of inheritance. When did democracy and hard work become English virtues? This island is obsessed with grasping at the robes of antiquated glories." "Though, in that respect, you've certainly participated in doing an admirable job upholding it. Far better than this would suit a farce like democracy. It's just a shame the only one embodying hard work is the man who was chosen to shoulder it all." §Four cars, down one, but the crew are inside. Tamamo's wards will keep them busy for a while, but not prevent them from reporting back. Down one heli. Crew on the same site. I'll have to double back and clean them up, though at this distance that's not very hard. The two up in the air are obviously the biggest problem; if they're serious, that podunk town won't be cover enough to matter. I'll simply pray that Bond knows what he's doing behind the wheel of that thing even more than usual today.§ <Tac-Paladins> 4 Tamamo says, "Oh, my. In Kent, is it? That is some distance. As I am not one to travel easily by air, shall I leave this to another? If they are this swift to react, I imagine they shall think to make their second move when their first company of soldiers fails to report. And on this note... shall I take custody of those that have entered the mansion? Yes, I believe I shall." "Please do. Let's not go running back and forth. The pilot and gunner crashed near the gates too. Round them up as well before they get away, if you please." It's timed just to the percussive roar of the autocannons opening fire. Of course, by the time the gunshots are audible on the ground, Lilian is already a black spiral contrail in the wind, maneuvering around the cannon fire by virtue of being a miniscule target compared to what the cannons were made for, up until she closes in to the point of being dangerously near. Lilian's radar blip skips into direct proximity in a single frame. Armoured heels can be heard crashing against the canopy from inside the cockpit. Braced against it by the helicopter's forward motion, Lilian raises Night Mist just slowly enough for the pilot to catch a frightful glimpse, and then smashes the canopy in with a single, tremendous blow, bursting the bulletproof glass in like a shattered eggshell. The jagged edges of the screen, spalling screws, and cracked off slivers of glass, explode towards the men inside, eviscerating them a split second later-- -----[stop]----- Lilian drop from the canopy into the cockpit through the massive hole she'd just made, absently running her gauntleted fingers through her hair to untangle it whilst the concept of wind, defined as moving air, ceases to exist. Hanging fragments simply bounce gently off her armour and spin gaily away before freezing again. She reaches out and simply tears the pilot harness of with one hand, bursting the buckle casings. A hissing stream of black particulate flows from her clenched fist, drawn out into solid line with a garrote pulling motion. -----[start]-----
Lilian Rook	--or not. One helicopter goes sailing over the countryside, listing out of control without a pilot. The other is subject to the fiery whims of Utsuho's and Orin's bullet hell. In both cases, both members of crew appear out of thin air, dumbed unceremoniously in the front yard, rather viciously bound with inexplicably sturdy black . . . something. Lilian aims to meet Tamamo just as she's cleaning up, catching her as she leaves and quickly picking her up to join the car chase in a moment.
James Bond	The Kent Kale finds that no one has yet visited the Seabrooks in Staplehurst, which gives him prime opportunity to exfiltrate them. With communications jammed in Cornwall, there won't likely be any knowledge that he's there--though as Tamamo had mentioned, they certainly responded quickly to Bond's presence at the elder Seabrook's home. The attack helicopter focused on Ishirou makes an agile flip to keep its blades clear of the energy projectiles. A few hit the fuselage, drawing smoke and cracking the windscreen--but there's nothing it can do about Ishirou's EW. Agile as it is, the craft's rolls and flips can't keep it clear of concentrated fire from Ishirou, Satori, Rin and Utsuho working in tandem. Piece by piece, they whittle it down, forcing the pilot to put all available effort into evasive maneuvers, firing the rotary cannons only intermittently. The final, most complex projectile, with its cluster of wisps, proves the tipping point, clipping the tail rotor and melting through a blade, forcing a landing. To his dubious credit, the pilot of the craft, after bailing from the smoking bird, attempts to flee, firing a service pistol at the four of them on his would-be escape. Before he can get the second shot off, he blips into place, bound to the pilot and crew of both birds.
James Bond	The Cornwall Kale, holding onto the back of the car, sprays up a plume of dirt. Two of the 4x4s split off, leaving the third to react or take the heat. The driver doesn't make the right decision, panicking and veering right--just in time to overcorrect into the spike strip being fed from the Aston's bumper. It spins out in the dirt, crossing into the path of another, ramming into it and locking the two of them in place for Strawberry's beam to bisect them both at the axle. The medic gets a gently chiding warning from Bond. "Ah ah. Seatbelt," he says, looking askance at her in the rear view mirror. She has about three seconds to do it before the Aston breaks clear of the treeline, crests a hill and goes flying into the town of St. Ives proper, narrowly avoiding a collision with a sparsely-populated tour bus. The car sails over a stunned gaggle of bundled-up tourists, while behind, the remaining 4x4 barrels the long way around to catch up. What does the AUX do? "It 'diffracts and refocuses exoenergy.'" That's what R from the Paladins' development team told him, anyway. Cobblestone houses race past in a blur as Lilian joins in, along with the local constablulary. Blaring sirens and blue plant-pot lights join the spectacle, as the sole remaining Range Rover tears down a side street. The chase is briefly single-file down a street packed with shops. Bond makes a left, veering into oncoming traffic heralded by a chorus of angry horns, weaving in and out before taking a right... "Fancy a trip to the shops?" ...through a scenic storefront. "Have you lost your mind?!" cries Seabrook, as Bond leans on the horn. Startled shoppers in dart out of the way as the Aston plows through plastic food court tables, abandoned purchases and subpar food. Crashing through a plate glass window on the other side, the gate is in view. With a horde of police cars spread out through the town in hot pursuit, the lone 4x4 is caught up in the narrow streets, easy pickings for Lilian once she reaches the town proper--but Kale and Strawberry will still need to do something to get the cops off the trail and keep them from following through the gate on the peninsula just a few minutes away! Back at the estate, Tamamo, Ishirou, and the hellions all benefit from a little peace and quiet--relatively, anyway. The fire from the first chopper is slowly crawling its way to the house, and the bound-together crews of each are making spirited, if futile attempts to escape their bindings. There's also a lot of confused cross-talk from inside. In all, if the intention was to capture rather than kill--indeed, a stronger message to intelligence agencies--then it has been satisfied quite soundly, between the squad trapped in the maze and the one bound on the lawn.
Ishirou	Ishirou is actually relatively impressed with the copter's maneuverability and speed. It's not something that he usually see's out of military craft in this era, so it's notable and something he'll scan and commit to databanks for later analysis. However, eventually, teamwork brings the bird down, and the Hellions are working on securing the crew. Ishirou notices that the fire is spreading on the other side. Turning, he banks the flight unit towards it and releases some internal containers, which spray the fire down with fire retardant material to avoid losing the lives of the people there. Slowly he turns in the air and shifts from flight mode to humanoid mode so that he can slowly float down and start securing the people there. From here he can just start using biohacking to get what he wants...trying to see what information he can get out of their heads. Such as 'who do you work for' and 'what are your intentions here'.
Kale Hearthward	KENT: Exfiltration time! Kale flashes his Paladins ID and plays bodyguard and generally has a better time than the Kale that's being irradiated and shot at while clinging to the back of a car. CORNWALL, IN THE CAR: "A general exoenergy converter! Great! I'll have to see if I can get a look at the schematic - I put together my own implementation for the Breathlink system, but it's elemental dependent instead of being a general solution, technically we could hook up any wind mage to it but we don't run into too many of those, especially not any that are fine with being a living battery for a weapons deployment system, but for a general solution we could re-engineer the bootup sequence and skip the need for reserve tanks on the-" Bond's seatbelt warning is either ignored or just not realized - and the chattering about engineering gets replaced with screaming (squeaking) about being airborne as the car crests the hill. The other ridealong grabs her and pins her down into a seat before she can hit her head on anything, fortunately. CORNWALL, CLINGING TO THE BACK OF THE CAR: The cops! Fortunately this is all a big misunderstanding and - oh, wait, they did do a lot of reckless driving with a side of property damage. Okay, something else. Kale tries to recall what band the police use in this world, and tunes his radio... "<This is Officer (mumbled), we have spike strips set up at the warpgate plaza, fall back or you'll run over them yourselves, repeat fall back.>"
Hellwarming Trio	The helicopter is brought down safely enough, and the pilot ends up tied to several other people without any of the youkai really seeing what just happened. Satori looks utterly baffled, and that only gets worse when she looks between Utsuho and Rin who both seem to just nod and carry on with cheering like that's a normal thing to see. Despite that apparent confusion, Satori eventually guides the duo back to solid ground near the estate, then towards the bound crews. It takes a moment for them to explain to her what Ishirou's doing ("some weird mind computer stuff" "that totally works"), but that's not quite enough to keep her on standby. Instead, Satori approaches the crew, even smiling to look like she isn't about to do something magical and freaky with that red eye thing she's holding and wearing around herself like some kind of weird sentient noodle. Utsuho and Rin stand by on each side of the bound up crew, too, with Utsuho even nudging them with her control rod every now and then to hint at potential beatings (she wouldn't actually give even though she totally looks like she would). "Tell me... What's the worst thing you've ever been hurt by?" Satori pauses to probe their minds for the answer shortly after asking that so she can just pick it out without actually needing to hear the answer, then waves her hand dismissively. "Never mind. I was hoping it would be something interesting, but that'll do. So." She rests her hands on top of the eye. It watches them unblinkingly. "Who are you working for?" As she asks that, each crew members' particular worst thing (or whatever they thought about after she asked the question) appears before them. It might be a monster, a person, a weapon aimed right at them, all poised to deliver a blow before Satori snaps her fingers, and they disappear just as quickly. It's not so fast that it might be mistaken as a hallucination, but it's not so long that it'd be easy to pick out flaws in their perception based on pure logical deduction from overexposure. She doesn't actually need to hear the answer coming from them, of course, but Satori's still eager to flex at least that much and try to break their pride down enough to get a verbal answer that matches. "And why here, today?"
Strawberry Princess	A seatbelt can't save Strawberry from banging her head on the Aston's roof when Bond makes a jump like that, though thankfully her shimmer aura diffuses it with a flash of pink. She still rubs her scalp and grimaces, then clutches onto one of those ceiling handles that every car has for panic-gripping as he plows through a storefront. Between Bond's elaboration and the mouse's rambling, Strawberry at least vaguely gets the gist of the AUX setting. "'Diffracts and refocuses'... so if I don't put in anything deadly, then...?" Reluctantly, and with another glance out the rear window, she jams her wand into the socket and shuts her eyes. Pink magical arms erupt from the pavement behind them by the dozens, grabbing the cop cars by any handhold available or simply digging in their fingernails to create one. The aggregate friction brings the pursuing vehicles to a soft stop, and then makes starting again impossible. Strawberry's face briefly contorts with the effort: those are, after all, her arms in a sense, even if refracted and amplified magical proxies. But once everything's brought to a halt, keeping it that way is easier, and she lets out a sigh of relief. "There. Thanks, James. That'll hold for the next..." She checks her wand's display. 02:47 Good enough!
Lilian Rook	Lilian's captives are more neatly tied loose ends than the others (association fully intended), but she's of a mind to make extra certain they go precisely nowhere. Outside of the essential precociousness of hoping to force one's way out of binds that were literally applied with the full benefit of total helplessness given only human strength (doubly so for not being any sort of standard capture tie), testing them creates a thrum of deeply ominous power. One that rapidly exhausts the precious energy needed to escape, and hammers home the inescapable psychic impression: Give Up. Given a moment to get Tamamo in tow, Lilian catches up with the car chase in two bursts. Muttering "What an absolute mess." to herself, the first thing Lilian does (after releasing the tactical bunrei) is to zip between the cars Strawberry is struggling to hold in place, and cause their tires to mysteriously rupture and their axles to sort of just blow up on their own. Those that she hasn't face about the most insultingly mundane sequence of mysteries possible. They suddenly slam their own brakes, and their drivers suddenly find the keys are nowhere in the ignition. Thus is the extent of Lilian's respect for cop property.
James Bond	So far as Ishirou is able to tell (mind reading is an absolute necessity), the commandos work for MI6. Their intentions were to 'eliminate a foreign agent attempting to secure sensitive information from a former asset.' In other words, they were told only what they needed to know, and even that much seems to have been skewed in favor of shooting first and asking questions never. None of them rise to Satori's questions about who they work for. But all of them fear the same thing--the same person. A woman known only as 'M.' She is thought of in varying shades of admiration and fear, known for curt, cold manner that can cut to the very heart of one's insecurities, but also for rare displays of praise that even seasoned operatives go out of their way to earn. To be opposite her desk after a failure is to have all of one's weaknesses and anxieties excruciatingly picked over; to feel her stern, silent stare stab into the darkest, most vulnerable corners of one's heart, with only the smell of a lit cigarette for company. "You know damn well who we work for if you can conjure her up like that." It's resentful, the way the pilot of one of the choppers says it. From there, all she gets out of them is name and rank, verbally. Reading their minds gives her largely the same idea as Ishirou, though 'why here, today' amounts to 'the Soviets got one over on us.' In town, the approach to the beach is chaotic. Tourist trap cops are type-weak to convincing fast talk, and enough of them buy it to cause irate cross-chatter and tire-squealing confusion. When Strawberry inserts the wand into the AUX slot, a panel rises up on the roof of the cabin. With a distinct whine, a motorized, complex cylinder of crystal spins up rapidly, pink light flash-printing a plethora of magical arms. Each one is made in seconds, spun up from one concentrated thread of energy after the next. The patrol cars smart enough to see through Kale's lie are stopped up on the roads leading to the beach by those arms, sending take-away coffees splattering on windshields and eliciting a wave of frustrated beating upon dashboards and steering wheels. Of those, a few particularly stubborn souls devoted to some misguided idea or other attempt to tear free--only to find their tires mysteriously blown out, their frames sliding off the axles, or their engines mysteriously silent. The Aston races through the warpgate with only a few bullet marks and spiderwebs in its resistant glass--that's one clean escape. "I don't understand you," says Seabrook, after a few minutes of silence on the other side. Rural America passes by, trees and plains eventually giving way to the squat buildings of an interstate town. "You're finally free of that bloody awfulness, and you decide to go digging up the past. Kicking up hornets' nests. Why?" He asks, dabbing at beading sweat on his forehead. "You had a whole world out there waiting for you." The black sports car pulls into a dirt-and-gravel parking lot somewhere, overlooking some sort of fairgrounds. As a ferris wheel lazily turns, and people a short distance away queue up for a hot air balloon ride, Bond looks to his watch. The analog 'face' fades, replaced by a digital interface notifying of an incoming communication. "'The World is Not Enough,'" says the agent with a smile, before stepping out of the car. "We'll be safe here for now. Get out and stretch your legs. I've got to take this." 'ALEC' displays as the source of the communication, before Bond heads somewhere with a bit more privacy.