The Labyrinth

[albatross]

The hollow points Shroud fires pass through the woman as if she were an illusion or a ghost. She grins and levels her wand at Shroud's head.

Dante's shots hit the target and the man drops his concealment and stands up. Tiger sees him and blasts him too, but the rounds don't seem to do any real damage before the guy sweeps aside his cloak and hurls a bone knife at Dante.

The knife doesn't leave the cloak alone, five more knives follow it more or less, the six bone blades each spinning at a different angle and traveling at varying speeds. They arc through the room quickly, yet some are in front sometimes, and others at other times, like a flock of cliff swallows changing positions. All six blades veer first left and then right and then miss Dante entirely - flying right past him.

Tiger is not fooled by their feint for a moment, and she drops to the ground just behind Dante and is right in position when the knives all reverse direction straight for Dante's back. Her claws are out and she still holds her revolvers, firing each gun twice to deflect four knives and then knocking the last two aside with her vibro claws.

Tiger backflips to Dante's left. The knives are knocked back by her explosive rounds and her parries but they quickly arc back in, this time trying to get at Dante from the side - exactly where Tiger has now positioned herself. She double fires both guns again, clearly a trick shot, and makes her parries again.

"Cease fire!" Tiger orders over the comm line. "Everyone hold your fire unless I say so! Hold!" She turns her gun and blasts a chunk from the wall right next to where Patriot is still trying to gun down the knife thrower.

Out loud, Tiger shouts, "Abraham Lincoln!" None of the enemy slow their attacks, with the sole exception of the man who threw the knives at Dante, who hesitates. "Abraham Lincoln!" She shouts again as the knives dart in again, this time coming low. This time she only manages to shoot two knives, having wasted a shot warning Patriot. She parries two more and the other two puncture her warped and wrecked armor, sinking deep into her right arm and left leg as she keeps her body in the path of the knives. Those two knives slice right back out once they hit Tiger, changing direction to attack again.

"That passcode is expired," the man under the hover car says, watching Tiger carefully. Tiger retracts her claws back into their sheaths and says flatly, "Then validate it." She makes no effort to protect herself from the knives spinning at her and Dante again.

The man considers this and stops the knives a fraction of an inch away from Tiger. The knives spin back to their owner. All of the enemy disappear instantly and seem to actually be gone rather than just not visible in a different way.

The circle of fire around Jeckle and Wind Chill still burns, and Charger is still blind, but the monsters attacking Wind Chill are gone.

Tiger stands and bleeds for a second. "Patriot," she says quietly. "Get Jeckle out of the ring of fire." Patriot uses his swing line to get up and above the ring of fire, then drops down inside it and hoists Jeckle to safety.

"What the hell is going on," Patriot demands of Tiger once he has set Jeckle down out of harms way. He takes his guns back out and points them at no one in particular.

Tiger says nothing in response at first, she holds up a hand for silence, "Listen," she says softly, "listen and wait. Do nothing unless I order it." Her voice is even and relaxed.

There is a brief momentary lull.

[Renekin Skywalker]

Charger continues to sit, since Tiger seems to think not doing anything is a good idea. She's paying me to do nothing but sit. No wonder she was such a good Captain.

The lull is broken by Charger's off-key singing of Spice Girl tunes.

[Mierin]

Miranda sits and fumes quietly, not even sure what the hell she was supposed to be listening for, getting really sick of the way Tiger ran things never sharing any information about what was going on with the others. "Will you stop your damned singing?" She snaps at Charger in a low tone of voice.
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[dakota]

Khris checks his revolvers at Tiger's order. He couldn't help smirk as Windchill blasted Charger. " Tsk Tsk. There's that fiery temper again." He teased even as he placed a comforting hand on Jeckle's shoulder.

[shiivster]

*Jeckle is soaked with sweat. she also stinks of fear. a faint gurgling can be heard from her from time to time as her wide eyes remain unfocused and unseeing.

*Jeckle blinks once and then curls into a fetal position again covering her head and shudders again a few more times. then a few gasps are heard as she slowly returns to herself.

*still hearing the fire nearby turns her head to stare at it and tries to crawl over Shroud to get away. she settles for hiding behind him and in front of Patriot, clearly terrified bur now more aware of her surroundings. she suddenly starts patting at herself and then looks nervously about and quietly, so only Patriot and Shroud hear her, says 'sorry .... i don't like fire'.

[tag - any]

[Renekin Skywalker]

Charger stops with a start at Windchill's response. But... how will I know if the universe exists if I'm blind and can't feel around for it? Oh my god! How will I know if I exist if I can't even feel or see or hear around? "Fine. I'll stop. But, if I no longer exist, it's your fault." He mumbles back.

[albatross]

A faint echoing discussion can be heard from an alcove to the hanger.

“We can check for you.”
“I won’t cower in fear of my own daughter. I want to see for myself if it really is her.”
“It isn’t an imposter I’m afraid of…”
“Fine. Send T.S. and Bell off site as a precaution. They can wait twenty hours local. Now, if you will excuse me.”
“Yes, certainly.”

A massive cloaked figure enters the room stepping right through one of the walls. Standing about eight feet tall, with grey skin rippling with veins and muscles. The guy must weigh more than seven hundred pounds. His arms are disproportionately large with sharp nails that resemble metal. His head is bald and covered in what looks to be a mask made of brushed silver metal, though this could actually be his skin. His eyes blaze with energy as if they are electric.

His appearance is fairly terrifying, though none of the team are overly frightened of that alone. He focuses his gaze on Tiger and asks, “Is that really you my daughter?” His tone is polite, and his voice is strangely raspy as if he is related to Johnny Cash.

“Yes, father. I still bear your gift to me.” She holds up one of her revolvers. In the shadows, wands are raised by the now returned magic users.

The demonic looking creature laughs, “Don’t try to beat my daughter to the draw. You ought to be thinking of a spell to turn back time to save whoever she turns her guns on.” He pauses a moment, thinking. “What other gun is that? I recognize the type and I don’t care for it.”

“It isn’t the same type. It is the same gun.” Tiger puts her gun away and draws out the massive revolver she started carrying only recently. She holds it up for her father to see. Tiger is short, and the gun she holds must have been custom made for someone well over six feet tall. She holds it easily, but it looks out of place in her hand, like Cloud’s sword. The unique under barrel, break open design is obviously highly customized. “It is the Pilgrim’s gun.”

“How did it come to you?” The dark demon asks curiously.

“I killed him and took it from him.” Tiger responded slowly. Gasps from the shadows and from other invisible people can be heard.

“Magnificent!” Tiger’s father beamed. “It really must be you. How did you do it? Wait, you must tell me everything. It can wait until later, when I can enjoy it.” He looks at Tiger for a moment longer.

Tiger says, “It is good to see you again Father.” Her tone sounds sincere, though Patriot and Shroud know Tiger can summon all the charm she needs when the occasion calls for it. She genuinely sounds pleased.

“Likewise,” he responds warmly, “And welcome. Now that we are sure of each other, I hope you will forgive your reception. Your file with Omega Shield is full of deceptive half-truths. I did not realize it was you. You must be tired, I have been informed of your team’s progress. I will send someone to assist you.”

“Thank you,” Tiger says quietly.

“It feels so formal to call you daughter and impersonal to call you by your call sign: Tiger.” The grey creature hints good naturedly.

Tiger quickly says, “My good friends call me Captain.” The sharper members of the team realize that Tiger and her father are deliberately avoiding using each other’s names.

“Captain. I like it, it makes you sound independent. And you may continue to call me Father,” he smiles knowing she has been avoiding his name to shield her troops. “Very well, Captain, join us once you have refreshed yourselves.” And he and his minions disappear into thin air.

The Briefing

After Tiger’s father leaves, Charger’s sight returns, the circle of fire is gone, and Tiger turns to address the team, waving all of them to come in closer. She starts to talk whether they come closer or not.

“My father has taken the Minotaur’s place. He is a thief in the way that the British Empire was a thief. He steals things of incredible value: ideas, prototype technologies, information no one else can get. Industrial espionage, profiteering, and extraordinary larceny are his areas of expertise.”

She pauses. “He is very, very dangerous. If we were to kill him and everyone in this building it would stop him no more than me calling you names would stop you. He is a being who can manipulate time and space. His minions are dangerous in their own right – they also control time.”

“My father hardly ever kills. Don’t let that ridiculous statistic fool you. He only kills those he thinks are a serious danger. He wrecks the lives of those who cross him. He would trick you into killing your best friend, he would send you back to the time of the plagues, he would…” She stops for a second, “He would make you wish you were dead.”

“So. Dangerous and evil.” She looks around. “He does have a weakness though. He has a sense of honor, if you want to call it that. The concept of ‘face’ might be closer to the mark. He will allow us to negotiate. To make a deal. If,” Tiger holds up one finger, “If we are polite to him.”

“You can speak freely to his subordinates as long as you don’t say anything that would cause them to get angry enough to challenge you one on one – he would permit a duel.”

Tiger looks around at all of them, “Just don’t disrespect him. He probably won’t kill you, but you’ll remember any snide remarks later when he interferes with your life. If he says anything to you and you can’t respond politely then for our sake don’t answer. Obviously, we are in a terrible position to negotiate a deal already – and to make it worse would be stupid.”

Patriot asks, “You won’t fight him?”

“No,” Tiger scoffs, plainly irritated. “You want to go back and fight that creepy homeless man?” She asks. “You won’t win, and what would it prove?” She considers a moment. “Tactically speaking, even if we did decide to fight, there is no reason we can’t negotiate first but I want to discourage any of you from thinking this would be a fight we could win.” She looks Patriot in the eyes, “How well could you fight me if I had years to plan and prepare and I got to do it over if things went your way. The second time around you wouldn’t know what hit you.”

Tiger looks around, “We don’t have time to get into all the details, it is a very long story, so listen closely. He will try to divide us, and he will use tricks to undermine what we are trying to accomplish.”

“This is important: he isn’t going to lie. If he promises to reunite you with your long dead grandmother he isn’t joking – but don’t think for a moment that anything important that he offers you will be free and be very aware that he might interpret his own words differently. If he offers you a gift, judge its value carefully. Anything worth less than a million is likely safe. Food, drinks, dancing girls – go ahead and accept graciously. In fact, try to accept any token gifts if you can, no matter how much you would rather reject them.”

“If it is something valuable, something either very important to you or real expensive – the first Lamborghini, or a holy weapon – avoid taking it: it is a trick. He will give you what you want, and he’ll extract far more than you are willing to give in return.”

“Stay on your toes and think before you speak. I’m sure lots will change once we are talking to him. Oh, and one more thing – he will expect his subordinates and you to respect me. Showing me disrespect reflects poorly on him as my father. I won’t contradict him and he won’t contradict me. The negotiations will be handled by our subordinates. We will steer things a little and he may play around with you, but for the most part we are going to watch. Any questions before we get cleaned up for this meeting?”

[tag: any and all]

[Renekin Skywalker]

Charger, relieved that once again he could see looked around at the banged-up hanger. "Come to think of it, I liked the radio show version better." Turning to Windchill, he adds, "And be careful with that." he says pointing to her mouth. "Your voice carries."

After the briefing he raises his hand. "I just want you all to know, if you're not comfortable with the dancing girls, I'll sacrifice myself and take them off your hands." Turning to Tiger, he adds "It's a pity you got to me first. That lambourgini would have been fun."

Meanwhile, in the back of his mind, Charger's pondering how much fun it would be to go back in time and watch major events such as plagues, come about, all the time nagging the locals with 'I wouldn't do it that way.' or 'Well, OK, but it's your funeral.' and so on.

[Dome]

Dante listens intently as Tiger speaks, when she pauses for questions he says, "first of all, I want to say thank you for saving my life from those blades I didn't expect anything like that, and I couldn't really bring up a proper defense."

After a short pause he continues, " now forgive me if I am wrong, but based on what you just said, the mission is a failure. We were sent in to identify and take out the Minotaur. While we have just identified who he is at the moment, you say there is no way to take him out, and being he is your dad, I figure you wouldn't want to anyway."

"Understand I mean you and your father no disrespect what-so-ever. But if we are in a no win situation and he knows it, why would he even bother negotiating with us? What would we possibly have to offer him to make him give up this position? If he knew us well enough to plan for each one of us, he obviously knows why we are here."

[tag]

[shiivster]

*Jeckle simply holds up the phone and states* 'Heckle ... he's at Century Station. no name .. call from payphone .. super secure line .... '

*she simply hands the unit to Shroud and then curls up against Patriot's legs and shudders from time to time recovering from her recent terror. gone is the confidence she had, now she's a bundle of frayed nerves that has difficulty with focusing on anything.

'i'm sorry ... ' *she would have said more but she's trembling too hard and simply puts her hand to her mouth instead to still her body, biting the knuckle to focus on something other than herself.

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[Renekin Skywalker]

"Cerebra... Cerebellum..." He points at Dante. "This guy's got a point. And, what's with the no naming thing?"

[albatross]

Nodding to Dante in acknowledgment of his thanks Tiger listens as he voices his concerns. And then to Charger.

Tiger grins, "Well Charger, an alias is a form of protection, like a mask. And it doesn't just protect the person using the alias, it also protects those who could be forced to reveal an identity later."

"And you are both right to think the mission has gotten much more difficult. We must adapt the mission parameters. I'm not actually worried that we can't succeed. My father knows our mission and I'm certain he can satisfy all the parties involved if we can convince him to do so."

"That will be the tricky part. And you are right to wonder what we have that he will want. Why he wants to negotiate is very easy: His sense of honor demands it. If I had come to fight he certainly would have fought us to the death, since we are willing to talk he can't kill us outright or he will lose face. It is a sign of weakness to kill those who seek to negotiate with you in good faith. Maybe he could have overlooked it if we were strangers, but with his own daughter he must observe every point of honor."

"He loves humans. Genuinely loves working with them and teaching them. He thinks people have unlimited ambition. A real people person. He is eccentric and extremely rich. The price for getting him to leave the Labyrinth will have to be something that he wants. It could be something cruel, something unusual..." Tiger shrugs. "The worst case scenario - he'd ask us to work off the projected profits plus interest. That could mean years of servitude." Tiger left out that most of her father's servants eventually went insane, an unfortunate side effect of time travel, there was no need to lay out the worst case in detail.

"We are going to push hard for a different arrangement. If you can't think of one right now I'm sure your mind will get going once my father starts sharing his ideas. You will want to suggest alternatives. We may need to wait until we find out how much this operation is worth. If it is only a few billion a year I'm sure we come up with something." Tiger looks over at the hover cars. "If it is more than one hundred billion a year, then it will take something really big to get him to leave."

[dakota]

Khris was unusually quiet, his mind trying to fathom it all. He looked at Jeckle's phone in his had. He squatted down and looked at her, speaking lowly as he handed it back," Look, from what Tiger is saying, getting your number and making you think it's Heckle would be simple. Every one of us has had to face our fears at one point, but the key isn't facing them, it's getting past them."

He stood up and faced Tiger, " Well Tigg... Captain , you make it sound like we've got a chance, but I think we're pretty much buggered right now. We've done nothing but run away and regroup since we came into the Labyrinth, and now we find out we have to bargain with what you make it sound like it the bloody devil himself, not to mention he's your dad. " He groaned as he threw his hands up on the air before walking off to the side to sit down, and sputtered under his breath, " They don't pay me enough for this."

[albatross]

"A negotiation is merely a fight with words. We weren't sent here to assault and conquer the Labyrinth, we were sent to sneak inside and do a small dirty job. That is still the case, different though this dirty job may be."

"We were sent to find out who the Minotaur is and neutralize him. We have accomplished the first part of our mission. The second part will be extremely difficult. Who cares? I'm not going to run away just because I have to talk to someone scary. If things had played out differently and we were facing impossible odds in a fight, I might agree to the better part of valor."

"My father will expect me to speak to him, and while it will be hard to convince him of anything, I'm telling you from past experience that it can be done. It doesn't matter if this place if Fort Knox, there are things that would please my father more. We just have to find out exactly what they are and make sure they don't cost us an arm and a leg."

"I'm going on. And if any of you want me to tell my father I sent you back the hotel, I will. But I doubt the werewolves and snipers will be as easy to get past as they were on the way in."

Tiger doesn't seem at all surprised or negative of the team's dismay, in fact she is somewhat relieved they realize that her father is dangerous and that negotiating with him will be hazardous to their health. She just also knows that her father won't let them get away.

A short woman walks into the hanger. She is dressed in a simple black suit and stands far away at the other side near a door. It would be hard for her to overhear from where she is, but she is plainly sent to lead them where they are supposed to go. She stands patiently and silently.

"Who is with me?" Tiger asks. "Shall we roll?"

[Dome]

"I still don't like our chances, but I did sign up for a challenge. I'm with you Captain. Do you think there will be time to get in some shut eye? I'm a bit wiped."

[tag]