[Thursday, October 23rd. 5 PM] [You've all been called into base. Solaris is there. So's Sister Admin. Eternal Warrior's out on patrol, but it's still pretty quiet out there.] [After a good night's rest and some healing courtasy of Abby, most of you are pretty much healed up, though likely sore or nicked up in various ways.] [Also, maybe some of you went to the afterparty with Tim Gunn. If you did, it was fantastic.] [Session Start] * TheRedcoat didn't, but is seated and filing her nails * Horus shows up, all masky and glowy. She didn't go to the afterparty since, well, she felt like complete crap. But here she is nevertheless! "Afternoon," she comments as she wanders over to her chair and flops into it with a sigh. * Jacqueline didn't actually go to the after party either, but she is, of course, present. * Christian is present as well, kickin' up his heels and chillin'. "Yo. How did it go?" * TheRedcoat shrugs. "Pretty well. And with you?" * Abby actually did go, shortly. Maybe it made some tabloids. You didn't go, you don't know! She is floating above her chair. * Christian lets out a breath slightly. "Gettin' sick and tired of those fuckin' Axe guys and Disco Ninjas, I'm tellin' ya." [It did, in fact! NYTimes fashion blog was very complimentary. Gawker made a joke about the arm. Jezebel stormed Gawker in response.] * TheRedcoat wrinkles her nose. "Eeech." Yeah. Exactly. [Solaris sits down at the table. "I've got good news, bad news, a question and a mission briefing. I'll go in that order."] At the same time? Fuckin' hell. * Horus looks to Solaris and nods. * TheRedcoat sighs, shrugs, and puts away the nail file. ["Good news is that BabeLon's safely in custody. She was transported from SPLEE-NY HQ to a secure facility outside the city this morning. Half of Europe has already filed petitions for extradition."] * TheRedcoat gives another sigh mixed with a snort. [Solaris runs a hand through her hair. "Bad news is that Kama Sutura escaped while being transferred overnight."] * TheRedcoat gives a snort in conjunction with a shrug! * Horus nods. * Abby looks over at Jackie and comments, "Maybe you shoulda kept her under private observation, huh?" [Sister Admin calls out from her chair. "From what I've been able to piece together, the prison transport people got sloppy, didn't read the file Stone sent them. Figured by sending two female guards they'd have things covered. They didn't."] * TheRedcoat snerks a bit. * Jacqueline glances sidelong at Abby and mutters, "If only; the system is truly broken." Awesome. We trackin' her down? [Solaris rubs her forehead. "Better than BabeLon escaping, since Sutura's less the type to come after you guys seeking revenge. Still..." SA chimes in. "I'm on it. If she pops up, she's toast."] For what purpose? She's only a neutral. And however mercenary her nature, she hasn't signed on with Master Magus, for whatever reason. [Solaris nods. "If we catch her scent, we'll go after her, but it's not a top priority."] [She turns to Christian. "Anyway. Question about yesterday."] * TheRedcoat shrugs and stretches her arms. "If you want my opinion, it's not worth it. There aren't many neutral mercs left, and they are capable of being useful to us as well, you know." * Christian glances at Solaris strangely, like the kid who's been blowing bubbles in class and is suddenly called on by the teacher. "Yeah?" [Sister Admin turns around. "You suggesting we hire her?"] I'm suggesting she's a possible future asset. And that in general, it will set a bad precedent to start going after neutral mercenaries after their employers have been defeated. There are /worse/ ideas. [Solaris leans forward a bit. "Stone's been concerned about Daegal since the attack on the young heroes. You spent some time with him... did you get a read on him at all?"] [Sister Admin pauses for a moment, looking thoughtful. "On the other hand, it could send a message not to screw with us. But I see your point about how she could be useful."] Are you kidding me? * Christian looks a bit confused at Solaris for a moment, then pauses for a while. He looks off to the side slightly, and adds in a bit of a low voice. "Yeah... He's fuckin' pissed. I would be too in his shoes." It wouldn't send a message not to screw with us, it'd send a message that we're going to go after them. Every free operator would see it as an insult. She didn't break any of the understood protocols. If we go after her, it makes us look like *we're* acting out of vengeance. * Abby glances to The Redcoat, and lets her argue it a moment. * Horus does the same as Abby. Double glances! [Solaris nods. "Understandable. Do you think it could be a problem going forward?"] * Christian looks sideways at Solaris. "Personally?" [Sister Admin tilts her head. "She broke laws assisting a psychotic cyborg hosebeast. She escaped from justice. You don't get to walk away from that in this city. Those aren't the protocols around here."] [Solaris nods. "From what you could tell. If you couldn't, that's fine."] * Jacqueline quirks an eyebrow very slightly as she says, "I once placed a city on stilts on account of a long-standing Baba Yaga fetish, and here we are." * TheRedcoat rolls her eyes. "So what you are saying is, we have done our job, there are no dangers, and we have nothing better to do than to open up a multiple-front war with the free operators in this city and their connections." [SA turns to Jacky. "But you had every expectation people would come after you, right?" She looks back at Redcoat. "No, we have lots better to do. But if the opportunity arises, we might as well take the chance to get another player off the board. She might not have signed on with Master Magus yet, but she still could."] So... Wouldn't... employment with us be removing her from the board? If they're not with us, they may be against us, so it's a "righter" decision to go after her. [SA nods. "It would." She shoots Redcoat a look. "If they've shown a willingness to work for someone like BabeLon? I've got no problem with that."] She's a mercenary, a free operator. They do what they do based on *who employs them*. She was a paid employee, not a minion. I mean, we were willing to work on the same side with someone like the American Dream. * Jacqueline looks down at her nails and begins using her gun to file them as she casually says, "Not to belabor the /obvious/, but do not have the advantage in numbers these days, turning away a possible balm to that issue would be foolish." [SA shrugs. "Then she should have better standards in terms of what jobs she takes."] * TheRedcoat clutches the edge of the table with her hands, nails under. * TheRedcoat then says softly. "Well, maybe we all should.' [She turns to Jacky, but Solaris cuts her off. "Enough. Redcoat has a point; we'll at least give her a chance to work with us. If she doesn't, we'll go from there."] * Horus looks to Redcoat again curiously. * Abby glances to The Redcoat, then speaks up and says, "Damn, Solaris, you just cut me off again from more or less agreeing with her." [Solaris shrugs. "It's my other superpower." She looks back to Christian. "Well?"] * TheRedcoat crosses her arms and sits back in her seat, slouching a little in Jacqueline's direction. * Christian seems to be considering something, not paying too much attention to the conversation. He then turns to Solaris. "Personally, I think he's gonna be tempted to put someone in the hospital. If you consider that a problem." He shrugs slightly. "I dunno." [Solaris frowns. "I'll get Eternal Warrior to talk to him. He helped train Daegal; maybe Daegal will talk to him."] ["Anyway. Mission briefing."] [Images come up on screen. Those of you who pay attention to the news will recognize them as the three leading candidates in the upcoming mayoral special election.] ["The final mayoral election debate is tonight. After yesterday's attempt to kidnap the Brooklyn Borough President, who's the leading candidate right now, there're obvious security concerns."] [She turns back to Christian. "You must've impressed him, because he's asked for you specifically. And that means the team."] Security detail? * Christian raises an eyebrow at Solaris for a moment. "Wait, what?" ["We don't know if yesterday's attack was just the Disco Ninjas freelancing, or if it was part of a plan by Master Magus. Either way, if they took out any of the mayoral candidates, it'd throw the city into chaos. We can't let that happen."] So... what do you want us to do, exactly? ["Debate starts at seven. You'll coordinate with NYPD. Deploy however you see fit, keep an eye out. Hopefully it ends up as nothing more than a good photo op of you all looking vigilant."] ["Questions?"] Yeah... no. Not yet, I guess. * Horus seems a little dubious, but she's not about to argue. * Abby shrugs slightly. "As long as the press stays... away from the work." [Solaris leans forward a bit. "Keeping the morale of the city up and making sure things like the election go off smoothly are just as important as beating the crap out of the people causing the problems. We lose the people, we lose the city. And we're not gonna lose this city." ] [Session Endish]