A city named as a joke. Though subterranean and not well lit at all, the denizens of Tarantella live a very normal, very modern life. Pretty much everything one could find on the surface can be found here, including shrubbery in the form of mosses. It is a vast metropolis, full of spider-folk, though it only rarely receives surface guests.

---

It's not too long before Alou begins peeling Yin out of her web-wraps. "You look like hell," he notes. "Lie down somewhere."

The second her arm is loose, she pulls a strip of webbing from her mouth, nose wrinkled. "Tastes like...moldy rainbow. Or something. And glad to see you, too." Actually, she is, but it amuses her dryly. Or normally would, anyway, it's habitual.

Alou nods a bit. "I'll get you something to drink. I have a flask from Tuleau's storage for you." He glances towards a table, and couch. "Whichever's more comfortable. I'll get some bandages." He moves away, not really looking at her. Troix is standing by what appears to be a meager kitchen, holding a little stuffed cartoon spider in her arms. She doesn't speak, but doesn't seem all that upset.

Once she's sure her feet are fully separated, Yin manages a few limping steps--her legs aren't hurt, just very, very asleep from being held together so tightly--and half-falls onto the couch, laying her good arm over her eyes a few moments before she tries to sit up to start picking the rest of the webbing off of her, just for something to focus on and stay alert. Cringes at the through-and-through hole in her abdomen, thinks the better of it, and sets to getting it off of her bound arm. Her body's natural healing has actually already kicked in in a big way, and she's more or less stable. It'll be the better part of a week before she's fully functional--she'd actually lost some of her vampiric tendency towards healing when she'd gained draconic abilities.

She doesn't notice Troix...her thoughts are far, far away, and too tumultuous to sort anyway.

Troix notices her, though. "You don't look so good," the child notes, skittering towards her. "Here," she holds out the stuffed spider. "This is Edgar. He'll make you feel better."

It takes the dragoon a few moments to look over to the girl. She manages a smiles despite herself. "...thanks, Troix." Smiles. She reaches over herself--the injured arm is on the outside to be more accessible--to take it lightly, holding it at the edge of her chest nearest to the girl. She looks at it, and looks back to the real spider, trying to keep her eyes from sparkling. "Edgar is very pretty. Does he help you, too?"

"Yes!" Troix smiles right back. "Edgar is my math tutor. Unfortunately, uh, he only counts to eight."

Yin's lips twitch up again. "Legs are handy things," she agrees. "I bet he can go to nine and ten if he uses his head and body too, though. I bet you're good at math in any case."

Troix smirks a cute little smirk. "I can count to thirty on my fingers and toes. I got Edgar whipped!"

Yin has to grin a little. Winces when she shifts, and quickly forces it back into a smiles. "Who's tutoring who, now? Sounds like you need to be teaching him."

"Edgar knows lots of stuff," Troix nods. "Those men who came to see Mom were talking to him. They told me never to leave him behind!"  She blinks. "And then we came here."

Yin's throat tightens a little. She wants to ask, of course, where her mom is now. Just be sure. But...no. Just no. She smiles. "Edgar sounds like a good friend." Doubly so. He's hiding her arm from Troix's eyes before anything looks amiss.

"Troix." Alou calls to the child from the little kitchen. "Would you see about setting the table? Yin's going to eat with us today."

"Yuh huh!" And she scampers off to do exactly that. From the couch, Yin should be able to see her jump straight up to the countertop from the floor, where she begins to rummage through dishes after she washes her hands off.

"Okay," Alou kneels next to her. "Where do you need bandaged? Stitched, too."

Yin looks up after a few moments, grateful to let the strained "oh, yeah, everything's happy and great" go for a bit, though she's happy to do it. "My left forearm's pretty much shattered, there's no way it will heal straight as it is. Need some stitching on that hold in my right side and its exit wound. Everything else should take care of itself before too long."

And he sets to work. The arm is tough going, of course-- working with bone never works as well as it ought to. Still, he gets her forearm braced and her bigger wounds stitched up neatly eventually.

"Word's getting out," he informs her. "It's already travelling on the subnets. People are saying that a Dragon assassinated one of the three graces. If he's not dead already, whoever's set this up will probably try to see that he doesn't make it out of the medical facility he ends up in."

Yin's face darkens. "One did have a hand in the security breaches that the attackers probably worked their way through. It was a damned neat operation. They didn't just have to pretend a dragoon was involved, I was. Played us for idiots and did it well." She is...absolutely seething, on dozens upon dozens of levels. Closes her eyes after a few moments. Of course, that's not the only thing wrong here. And she's not helping. Finally, quietly, now that Troix went upstairs to get something, she asks what she's been wanting to. "I have to know for sure...what happened to Tuleau?"

Alou ties off the last stitch. "She's..." he looks over his shoulder, to make sure Troix's still upstairs. "... they tracked her to our house. The wyvern's sent a squad." Eyes close. "I couldn't stop them. She's gone."

Yin closes her eyes...nods. "I'm...sorry," she finally notes, quietly. Speaking as someone else in a profession where loss is inevitable, even expected. But...this is different. No question. And poor Troix...that's who she's thinking about, even more than Tuleau. Half-opens her eyes to gaze thoughtfully at Edgar.

"She understood the risks." It's not like it's any consolation, really, to say so. "You know. Troix's not my natural daughter." Begins putting away his things. "Her real father is an official in the justice district of Tarantella. But he won't have anything to do with her, and pretty much denies that she exists."

"Blood doesn't mean that much, when you get down to it. My natural mother--mortal, of course--couldn't handle vampiric society. Cracked and left when I was a baby. It would be a gross misunderstanding to call me motherless, though." Examines her double-splinted, bandaged arm. Yeah, she'd figured he'd know what he's doing as much as a hospital. "Troix was solidly young enough for you to be her father when you got here."

"Yeah, I know. Only thing is, she knows I'm not her father. That kid is sharp. Tuleau was the same way when she was young." He sits on the table near the couch. "It's just a matter of time before she figures out what happened. Thing is, we've got to get out of here, all three of us. She'll start asking questions when her Mom's not with us."

Yin is quiet on this at first. Flammable issue. Finally, tentatively..."kids are startlingly comfortable with the idea of death. Troix probably more than most because of her health problems. I'm not saying it would be a good idea to tell her right away, when she might break down at a bad moment when the need to hide is a distinct possibility, but...I do think she'll be okay, in the end. She'll grieve. But she'll get through it." Pauses. "I need to get ahold of my unit commander before long." It is not going to be pretty. "There's a solid chance that we can all claim sanctuary awhile at Okarthel." Dragons are, on average, quite solitary creatures...however, there's still a small central city of sorts, Okarthel, where the ruling powers convene.

"If it's possible you'd better set it up right away, before they have time to convince even the Dragons that Dragons perpetrated this." He stands up and heads out, just about the time Troix is returning downstairs. She's an agile little thing, but certainly winded from the trip.

Yin nods. "Is there anywhere I can make a private call?" Okay, so that's understandably iffy from Alou's side...but there's no way she'll be able to get a good read on her commander if someone else is there, and, mostly, Troix doesn't need to hear.

Troix looks at her. Breathes in. Hisswoosh. "There's a telephone upstairs," she softly says, "Alou was using it earlier. He's done now though. Want me to show you?"

Yin smiles at Troix a bit, and nods. "Sure, Troix. Thank you." About 85% withholds her cringing when she turns to set her feet on the floor, and drops to 65% when she stands up. Then, even as she tests her balance, smiles at the girl. "Lead the way, huh?"

Troix nods, full of exuberance. She turns and begins scampering up the stairs, her spider legs moving so smoothly that it looks almost like she's flowing up the stairs. At the top, she points into a moderately furnished bedroom with an ancient rotary telephone. She's breathing pretty heavily, and the hissing of her breath is accompanied by a warning beep that slowly fades away.

Yin smiles...doesn't take much time in sitting again, on the bed this time beside the phone. "Thanks, Troix."

"You're welcome. I'll come back when food's done. Alou's a bad cook, but this is easy stuff." The little girl skitters out, then, allowing Yin some privacy.

Yin breathes out slowly...closes her eyes. This is not going to be fun. This was a damned bad screw-up. It could start a war...and she was very freaking directly involved. Finally lets out her breath and slips off the bed. Takes a small, bluish half-orb and sets it on the ground. Pulls her hair back, takes another few slow breaths...and kneels again, failing to supress this particular groan against how it feels. Stands back up after touching the orb, with difficulty, and...waits.

It's just under two minutes before there's some response. She'd been having a bit of trouble standing, largely due to tiredness, when a large, lightly armored, more or less simply clad fellow appears before her in a faintly blue mist, large horns curing back and down. He evaluates for several moments. "Well. You look like hell."

She almost smirks just slightly. "It's not the first time I've heard that line in the last hour, Major."

"It raises the next question. Why the fuck are we suddenly being bombarded with talk of you trying to assassinate one of the Graces?"

Her arm suddenly seems to hurt more. She goes through the whole thing as dully as possible, trying to keep her biting rage intact...right next to the rising dread of the black-haired fellow's complete and uncharacteristic lack of response.

Finally...well, nothing. Silence. His face is...crossed by shadows of something, no doubt, gaze utterly tumultuous, but it's a long time before there's any response, leaving the much smaller warrior squirming. A solid two minutes later..."Yin. You acted on bad information. Information is a very large part of your job. You've managed to neglect that. You may have started a war in the process. A cataclysmic WAR, Yinxirziji. You, your contact, and the daughter can come to Orkarthel. The council is going to want to speak to you personally, anyway, I have no doubt. A court marshal, Yin. A private plane will be landing shortly to take you there. In the meantime, you are hearby suspended from your title and duties as a dragoon pending further investigation."

"What? Arux...!" The transmission's end abruptly cuts off her cry of protest...it just leaves a stunned, trembling woman behind, eyes brimming in shock. Not that the guy on the other side is much happier. He closes his eyes. Sorry, Yin. Better this than we have to hunt you down.

It's not long after that that spider feet race up the stairs. Troix bursts into the room, gasping and panting for breath, hissing and whooshing. 

"Yin...whoooosh... are you okay? I heard..." she sucks in a breath, "... I heard you yell."

Yin closes her eyes a few seconds. "Sorry about that. I'm okay. Something just surprised me, that's all." Takes longer than usual to properly erase her face...picks up the stone and puts it back in her bag. Stands there. Finally manages a slight smile, and turns around. "So. Ever been curious to see a city of dragons? I've arranged a trip for us. Since you like whales, something tells me you'll like the water dragons quite a lot." Her steps are still careful against her injuries, but she heads back for the stairs, holding out a hand for Troix to take if she likes as she goes.

Troix looks up at her. Holds up a finger, indicating that she needs a minute. She leans her hands on her front knees, panting. beeping and panting. Finally she accepts the hand.

Yin's eyes soften with concern. Well. No. She isn't the only one with problems. Smiles a bit, and heads back downstairs, careful to keep her pace manageable.

Troix goes with her, amusedly smiling while she works to keep her breathing regular. The box is still angry with her, but at length the slow beeps stop. By the time they get downstairs, Alou has everything ready to eat, and beckons them into the kitchen.

"All good?"

"He said you and Troix are welcome to stay in Okarthel awhile, and he'll have a private flight at the airport 'shortly' to get us there. So...progress."

Alou's eyes narrow a little. Nods, though. "Do you like ramen?" He pauses. "Troix, your respirator's in the red. Come here." He bends down to adjust some dials on it, still listening to Yin.

"Never had it. My palette is somewhat limited." Smiles a bit, and sits quietly.

"Right... sorry." Troix's respirator beeps softly. She smiles.

"All better!" Alou nods ands lifts her onto her chair, patting her hair gently. That he loves her is not something to be conjectured about. "So..." looks at Yin as he serves the child. "You'll need to rest before we leave?"

"I'd like to, but I'm not sure we have time." Yin nods a bit, considering. The nearest non-emergency flight I can think of could be here in twenty-five minutes. Not to say we have to be there right then, but...a draconic plane here may cause problems." She fiddles with a flask idly. Takes a drink. Eyes pop open, and she coughs immediately. Might have done a spit-take had her hand not been there. Coughs. "Holy hell." Looks at Troix. "Sorry. Don't repeat that particular word choice."

Troix covers her mouth with both hands. Wide-eyed, she looks at Alou, and back at Yin. Lowers hands. Whispers.

"You said a bad word...!"

Alou nearly cracks up. He can't help it, Troix's just so serious when she says that.

Yin's mouth has to twitch towards a smile. "I know, I know. Some grown up will probably punish me later for it, too, if I know my friends." She excuses herself to carefully stand up and wash some blood from her hands and lips. "Sorry about that. Wasn't expecting there to be a fair portion of dragon's blood mixed in, although it would explain the random gift of it. Stuff's inherently great on a number of levels, but...does get your attention, and I wasn't ready for it." Snickers.

"Heck of a thing, eh?" Alou grins, but Troix points at him, wide-eyed again.

"Watch it, mister! I heardja!"

Yin smirks. "He's coming awfully close to being as bad as me, isn't he? Come on, Troix, you really need to keep your dad in line."

"Alou," Troix declares, "isn't my dad. He's Alou." Smiles at him. "Oh, don't worry! Alou's just as good. But he shouldn't say dirty words."

Alou nods a bit. "I know, I know. So Troix, how about it? Going to see some Dragons?"

"Sure! Can I tell Mommy?"

Alou's face remains perfectly unchanged, but his heart feels like it's been mule-kicked.

"I'm pretty sure she already knows," Yin observes. Not entirely untrue. Depends on beliefs. "We can't get ahold of her just now, but I'm sure she'd want us to go. It should be a good trip for all involved." Smiles. Like, by them not getting killed.

Troix blinks. "She's not coming? How come?"

Alou shakes his head. This is going to be tough. "She got sent out on a special mission," he tells her, a spy quality lie. Troix looks at Yin, searching her face.

"Your mom's a really brave lady," Yin oberves, sipping more slowly from her flask. "It's amazing the things she can pull off, that no one really can." She smiles at Troix.

Troix's suspicious, of course she is. But it's all true, so, hey. "She is! My Mommy is so cool. I love her, but don't tell her. She always gets googee eyes and wants to hug."

Yin laughs softly. Meanwhile, her heart cracks a little in her chest. "I'll keep that in mind." Quiets. Sitting around here is going to drive both she and Alou nuts. "Hey, is there anything you wanted to take, Troix? We probably should get going to catch our flight."

"Edgar," she nods, "and food, probably. Snacks! I'll get 'em!" She hops off her chair and dashes for the cabinet, whooshing all the way.

"Hey," Alou calls after her, "pick stuff that at least pretends to be good for you!" Looks to Yin. "You're not okay to make any kind of trip."

"Well, no. If I were human, I'd be dead right now, and I'll be happy when I can walk a straight line." Takes a drink. "I'll survive, at least, and I wouldn't complain about Troix being out of the wyverns' potential lines of fire fast, safely away. Also, I've been informed that I've been suspended and am probably facing court-martial, so they'll be making damned sure I don't drop under the radar. They'll come looking. Thus, it won't be that long a rest even if we try to take it. Waiting will only increase the risk that dragoons and wyverns are going to come looking at the same time and cross paths. That kind of hell doesn't need to break loose." Looks at her flask. "I need an alcoholic version of this."

"I know an Irishman, we'll see about it." Alou sighs a bit. Looks at Troix. "I spoke to my superior officer." Singular. "She's not pleased, but told me that the deception was so good that even her spies didn't notice until too late. She'll vouch for you, I think."

Yin nods a bit. "We'll see. Doesn't really matter right now. A million more pressing concerns. Neither of our peoples can afford a war right now, besides the fact that the three of us would like to stay intact. Also, I'm pissed. I've taken this damned personally now. Besides..." sips her blood. "You know full well that we'll both go insane sitting here and trying to quietly deal with all the various truths of today."

"There are enough pieces to pick up that I could stand it. We've got salvage work to do, too." Is quiet a second. "Got to find the dead man responsible for this."

"Save a piece for me," Yin notes. Something darker in her nature shows through a few moments before she erases the expression. "On top of it all, there's still a dragon's egg missing, and it's starting to close in on its hatch time, even if it's environmentally delayed."

"I don't know if we can help. There's no telling how far the false information has gone; we'll have to weed out our network first. I'm willing to bet that it's the same entity's doing, though-- otherwise, how could they risk saying a dragon's egg had gone missing? Who else would know?"

Yin shakes her head a bit. "Have a list of potential contacts, each less reliable than the next. Your network was the best bett, with reliability balanced against liklihood of lying to me. They still need to be investigated, though, in a hurry." Taps her fingernails agitatedly against the side of her flask. "But, physical health aside, I'm suspended." She could be permanently dismissed or worse for continuing the mission. Tap. Tap. "But there's still a job to be done. There's no way another operative will be able to pick up the trail fast enough." Tap.

"You're wounded. Don't even think about it." Alou takes a bite of his food. Chews thoughtfully for a moment. "People in positions of real power can quell this if they want. Dragons can't be bothered, though, and Wyverns are just as likely to use it to their advantage. Not that my people would do any better. We like the status quo."

Yin has to smirk humorlessly after a few seconds. Yeah...that was a damned good description of the three races' involvement. "Almost makes you want to put humans in as much power as they think they have and just let them blow things to hell. At least something decisive would happen for once."

"The worst thing that could ever happen to this planet," Alou points out, "is humans."

"Well, there is that." Yin swirls her drink thoughtfully. She's mostly fighting to stay awake right now. She'd passed out intermittently while web-wrapped, which had helped a little, but...yeah. "I'm curious to see what the dragons will do next. I actually think they'll take the diplomatic ground in a big hurry. They don't mind being in conflict with wyverns, but hate being manipulated into a conflict on a false premise. They also get defensive when wyverns are involved. They don't particularly care if they're blamed for something they didn't do usually...unless wyverns also think they did it, in which case they immediately take steps to correct it."

Alou nods. He doesn't care for politics, really. As antithetical to his profession as it might sound, that really makes him a perfect operative-- it means that he'll do his job without conflict.

"I should get packed. I'll need to get some things for Troix's respirator. Battery will need changed, saline will need changed... and so on. For the record, you're one of two non-spiders that I know of who knows about the airport path to Tarantella. Let's keep it that way, eh?" Alou scoots away from the table. Starts to get up when he almost runs over Troix, who is standing by the table with an overnight bag in her little hands. And Edgar, of course, rescued from the couch.

Yin, for her part, just looks over that way and...waits. They do have things to do, after all. Lays her head down on her arms, which feels extraordinarily good.

Alou steps out of the room, then, to pack.

Troix looks at Yin. Tilts her head. "You'll be fine," she notes. "I brought a pillow."

The dragoon opens her eyes again, and smiles a bit. "Oh, I'm sure, Troix. I heal fast, and you'll be there to take care of me anyway, right?" Nothing keeps kids focussed and happy like a sense of purpose, after all.

"'Course! And Edgar." She plops the spider on the table. "He's whistling right now." Sure enough, there's a soft, mechanical whirring coming from inside the stuffed spider. 

Yin has to smirk a little, though she's wondering about it, too. "And does he whistle often?"

"Just since those silly men in uniforms came and talked to him." Troix nods. "He's weird, I guess."

Aaaalright. Crap. She hopes that it isn't a bug. Have they said anythign that damaging...? Not really. Still. Wait. They did tell her to never let him go. She sits up...much against her will. "May I hold Edgar a moment, Troix?"

"Yup!" She pushes the plush towards Yin, beaming at her. The whistling is a little more obvious now, but still very quiet.

Yin smiles at Troix. Can't quite keep her eyes from being tepidly serious when they turn to Edgar, though. She scans lightly with her eyes and fingers and ears, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise.

The noise comes from just behind his eyes. One of them seems hollow, and is quite full of recording and transmitting equipment.

Yin narrow her eyes. Sets Edgar on the table, and stands up oh-so-carefully herself before picking the plush back up. "Hey, I want Alou to hear Edgar's whistling, Troix, it's pretty cool. Want to look for another snack or something, and I'll be back in a minute?"

"Sure! Just be careful with him." Troix grins, and hops off the stool to snack hunt.

Yin wastes no time in heading off in the direction she'd seen the elder spider disappear to. "Alou?"

He's standing by the stairs, stuffing some things in a bag. Looks up at her. "What's up?"

She holds up the spider. "Left eye."

Alou blinks. Takes Edgar. blinks. "Fuck." Takes the eyes, gently pulls it off. "You can all go straight to hell!" He whisper-growls into the eye. Looks at Yin. "What do you think about this?"

"First, it was pretty clever. Second, we're not safe or hidden here, and just expedited things if they'll move against us. Third, I want to rip someone's throat out for dragging a little girl into this, even if it might be what saved her life. And last...if you're going to unplug that thing, please be quick about it so I can put it back on. A certain daughter of yours wouldn't be thrilled to see a one-eyed Edgar." Out of the blue, she remembers the silver trappings of her horns, retrieves them from her bag, and begins slipping, winding, and fastening them back on.

Alou plucks the recorder out and grinds it into the floor with his boot heel. Repairs Edgar. "We'd better go then. Watch for tails. That was stupid of me, I know better than that." He's just way to out of sorts without Tuleau. Never would've done that with her in the room. "Grab Troix, eh?"

Yin nods. Grabs Edgar as well, and heads into the next room. "Ready to go, Troix?"

Troix's got a bag of muffin-things in her hand, pondering the calorie values when Yin walks in. "Uh-huh! Did you know," she points at the sack, "that muffins have high fiber?"

Yin grins a bit. "I do know. Like fiber?" Okay...sometimes she slips and says something a little silly. It happens when you dont' eat. "Thanks for letting Edgar come with me." Holds him out. "Ready to go?"

Troix takes Edgar and tucks him under her arm, smiling at him. "He's a good boy." And she goes, not waiting to be asked again. In the front room, Alou checks the door, and motions them to go.

"Head north," he tells them, "we'll catch the plane when it arrives and be out of here."

The vampiress nods, starting off beside Troix. She's trying to be extremely watchful and alert...she probably isn't succeeding as well as she likes, and knows it. A lot of pain and general exhaustion aren't making it easy.

Still. She'll be damned if anything's getting to Troix, who she's quickly beomming attached to.

Alou marches along. "Something feels wrong," he notes as the pass the shopping arcade, "we're being watched. I called for backup before, but they may not be onto us yet."

Troix is humming to herself when Edgar slips out of her hand. She turns, looks at him, and skitters to pick him back up. Doesn't notice the little red laser light dot set on him.

Yin glances back after her more or less idly...eyes snap wider. "Troix...stay away from there!" Lunges forward, and grabs the girl's arm to jerk her back.

Troix squeaks, but Yin just pulls her back before Edgar burst into fluff and cloth shreddings. She stares at him, blinking, not realizing that they're being targetted yet.

"Edgar!" She wails, pulling against Yin.

"Move for the alley!" Alou commands, pointing to a space between nearby buildings with a lift of his chin.

Yin is quick go shove Troix to the side of her opposite the sniper's direction, doing her damnest to just shut down pain and run, pushing the girl's pace and looking for its limit. "Quick, Troix...move it!"

Troix runs, but it's not long before her respirator begins to beep, and beep rapidly. She coughs, but keeps going. Alou goes behind, but is looking for the shooter. He knows that a trained sniper won't give himself away after one shot. Also knows that it's probably a warning shot-- they could have taken any one of the three of them.

Yin slows the pace...ponders how much Troix weighs. Eighty, ninety pounds, maybe? No, though...she can't really hoist the spider and still move fast that wouldn't make her a four-legged shield. Is relieved when they get to the alley, though only marginally so. Pats Troix's shoulder. "You okay, honey...?"

The respirator beeps rapidly now, and the first thing Alou does when they're all behind cover is kneel next to it and begin adjusting it. Troix coughs and gasps, always with the hissing and whooshing sound, mixed with bawling over the valiant Edgar and the pain of not being able to breathe.

"Yin. Watch what I'm doing, okay?" He looks at her. "This button," he touches a green one, "that's the emergency monitor. If she starts beeping like this, push that button and move the settings around until it turns blue. Okay? Red is bad, if it goes red, push the button and call a doctor, if you can." Looks at her. "Do you understand?"

Yin nods. She'd watched carefully. "Yeah. Should be able to do it in the future." She's near a wall, but solidly between the spiders and alley entrance. Turns to face that direction, a leather-wrapped metal bar in hand, eyes narrow. "So. 'Don't even think of approaching that plane,' you think?"

"Maybe. Ballsy of them to try it in broad daylight." Something clicks, and Troix's breathing returns closer to normal. She's still crying, though, and Alou gathers her into his arms for a moment, holding her gently to his chest. "We need to draw him out. Escaping this one isn't gonna do it. We need to show them we won't lie down."

Yin nods. "Also, to determine whether he has backup." Scans the area outside as best she can. "Had to be someone on one of those three buildings...the one with the balconies, the one with the brick, or the smaller one with the brick. Ponders. What they need is a solid bullet hole...but from a sharpshooter? Glances towards the end of the alley. Tries to see whether it's a dead end, and any other possible escapes.

The alley is a dead end, but all three should be agile enough to get up to the roof. Whether that is a good idea or not is up in the air.

"Was there a laser light," Alou asks, "or did you see?" The light had been on Edgar's front, and he had been facing the safe house, ish. South.

"There was a laser. It was from the general direction of the house, but not directly on it. Probably had a sight on us half the time we were there."

He nods again. "Okay. Let's see..."

"The little brick house," Troix sniffles, "Edgar got shot from the brick one."

Yin blinks. Looks down to Troix. Considers. Well...she is her mother's daughter... "are you sure, Troix? Did you see him?"

"I saw fire," she whimpers, "and then Edgar blew up. It was in the window of the brick house."

Above them, a rapid tapping of spider-feet pounds on the rooftops. The Humvee spider peers down at them, peeking into the alley.

Alou smiles grimly. "Backup."

Yin glances up. "Nice. Anyone else?"

The big spider clicks.

"Nope," Alou shrugs. "Troix says our shooter's in the small brick building. Feel like checking into it?"

In response, the big spider goes roof hopping in that direction.

In the lull, while they wait for word. Yin is busily disconnecting the various armor pieces from her bodysuit, adjusting them to sit over Troix in various ways. Actually, the nice thing about it is that the semi-translucent pieces aren't really that obvious as armor. "Here you go, sweetie. If a bullet hits any of these, it won't go through. This stuff's better than any bulletproof vest you'll ever find." A sniper could still easily take her out. But it should protect her from ricochet.

Troix just nods. She's scared out of her life, really, but is keeping as cool a head as one could ever hope for.

Alou watches this quietly. He's listening for something, anything, some sign that the shooter's been found. Listens.

Finally, a gunshot snaps the silence, and he grins a little. "Time to go. That'll be someone firing at Kaz."

Yin smirks just the littlest bit, and nods. "Okay. Troix, you stay on the side of us away from the house at all times, okay?" Her left hand cools quite a bit, ice crystals gathering faintly here and there on her fingers. She's testing her power levels.

"Okay," she nods, trying to be strong. "I can do that."

Alou peeks out. Pulls his head back. "Um. I don't know that we're home free, but we won't have to worry about that guy anymore."

Kaz is happily wrapping the sniper in webbing, twirling him, full of amusement. He'll take him back to his bosses, for sure.

Yin glances that way, and smirks. "That guy needs a raise." Steps cautiously out before anyone else does.

Nothing. No shots, no cries, no shadowing steps. Apparently Kaz did his job pretty well. Alou steps out too, herding Troix in front of him. "The airport's not too far," he notes, "Kaz'll watch our backs. Still, a little hurry never hurt anyone."

The dragoon nods, walking along in front so that Troix is between. She's still not at 100%...but a little adrenaline goes a long way, and she's much more successfully scanning than before. Her left hand still retains that faintly misty, ready quality.

Alou herds them towards the lateral lift, which takes them to the other side without incident. There, a pair of rottweiler sized spiders are waiting to escort them the rest of the way to the elevator.

"Hope that plane's coming here," Alou notes.

"It took us longer than anticipated to get out of Tarantella...if I had to venture a guess that it's already here. Or almost so if it's not."

Actually, the sleek, unmarked plane--built for speed and maneuverability, it looks like a cross between a Blackbird and a Concord with a few other modifications--is nearing the end of its descent, all of twenty seconds from alighting on the runway.

"Ooh," Troix beams at the plane, "that's cool! Can we go on that one?" She tugs Alou's pant leg. "Can we?"

"Sure. Let's get over there." He starts walking, flashing a facs security card at anyone who tries to get in their way. The airport personnel move aside.

Yin's unusually quiet. She's wondering what kind of personnel are on board. Gets some clearance ready, regardless, following through security checkpoints as the plane taxis to a stop. By the time she and her two associates approach the plane, there's a human on the ground talking security with three airport personnel, verifying this and that. There are a few scales on his face, mostly around the right eyebrow, but nothing approaching Yin's hyper-draconized appearance.

Alou heads that way, too. He doesn't have a sidearm, but isn't particularly worried about it. It won't come to violence out here.

The human--a dragoon, certainly, but a low-ranking one--nods to Spider security, and looks up to Yin as the three approach. "Captain Iejir. We'll be heading to Okarthel without stops. We don't need fuel, so we're ready to depart whenever you are."

"Fine." She hands him a card with a somewhat odd panel in it. What looks like a half-marble on a stick is set over it, and a few moments later, he hands it back. Identity confirmed. Looks to the two spiders...particularly Troix. A little girl...? They'd expected two adults, just for Alou to be older. Still...all that equipment...it really needs to be searched.

Yin is glaring at him. "No."

"Captain..."

"No. The plane has scanners. Enable them."

There's a pause. She has no official power right now and they both know it. After a few long seconds... "yes, ma'am. You can board whenever you're ready."

Alou leads Troix onto the plane, patting her hair a little bit. She's just smiling at it, commenting on its level of coolness every so often. She does look at the dragon folks, though.

"Oooh," she notes, "pretty eyes!"

The woman who had prompted the comment--also human at her core--smiles a bit at the little spider, deeply purple and slightly slitted eyes shining. Troix is cute even if she has too many legs. "Well, thank you, Miss. You must be Troix, right?"

When no scanners go off, the doors are shut and latched behind them.

"You're a stranger, though." Troix nods to this. Looks at Alou. Looks at Yin. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"You won't get too much stranger than me, Troix," Yin notes, amused. The inside of the airline is pretty posh, certainly by military standards...it's designed for moving assorted people--often VIPs like halfdragons--comfortable for extended periods of time. The ice-dragoon heads for a seat--nothing crowded, no real rows, and it will be almost like a tiny lobby once they're though with take-off--worn out and hurty again.

The purple-eyed woman grins a bit at Troix. Looks up to Alou as well, and bows her head to them. "I'm Lieutenant Lilbhiahin. Make yourselves comfortable, but do strap in for the first little bit. We'll let you know when it's safe to be up and about. We'll leave as soon as everyone's ready for departure."

"Thank you. Listen, do you have any painkillers on board?" He speaks softly, so that Troix, who is busy inspecting their seats. "I had to adjust her respirator manually, a while ago. She's running on adrenaline, but when it thins out she's going to be in a lot of pain."

Lilbhiahin nods. "Sure. We could probably perform surgery on one of these, if we had to...are there any medical intolerances of your species or her personally I should know about?"

Alou tenses up. "Our immune systems are better than most. Her lungs are transplants, and... well. Her body doesn't like that."

She nods. Defensive defensive. "No allergies, gotcha. She looks to one of the guards on board--there are two, plus the two pilots including the lieutenant--and before long, Alou is in possession of some strong, fast-acting pain medication.

He thanks her gratefully and sincerely for them, and straps in next to Troix. He gives her a little bit of the medicine after looking it over, as she's already complaining of pain in her chest. He settles in then, and just closes his eyes. If it's important, they'll rouse him.

Yin, for her part, isn't able to sleep sitting up right now...once they've reached cruising altitude, though, she stretches out on what's essentially a couch, and is gone in a hurry.

She's awakened later by light rumbling. Nothing alarming, just a small bit of turbulence. Keeps her eyes closed a couple of minutes, thinking, until she yawns quietly and sits up. Cringes. Shakes it off. Looks out a window. Huh. Right mountain range, not all that far below. They're approaching the city. Stands up and heads over to Alou. "Awake?" She inquires, softly so as to not bother troix.

"Yeah," he answers quickly, too quickly really. Wipes his eyes. "Feeling okay? I think we're almost there."

"A little better. And yes, we are." She sits down beside him. "I'm more worried about Troix. We're working on circulating air now, but this city's at more than 15,000 feet. Whatever else is going on, our first stop should be to a doctor. All of them up here are exceedingly magical--it's part of the business--and he should be able to acclimate her breathing to it."

"Yeah. yeah let's do that." Wipes his eyes again. "What do you suppose it'd cost me to get something done about that box? Dragons can do that, right?"

"They can, sure." She considers this. "There will be some red tape to cut, but I'll see what I can do. Call in some favors."

He nods. "I've got money. And influence. Whatever it takes." He looks at her. Doesn't mention that she's all that he has left of Tuleau.

Yin nods. She understands.

The plane slows. Actually...yes, slows, and then stops. The rest of the decent is taken vertically. The runway landings and takeoffs had been for show.

Yin looks out the window as they begin losing altitude. "I'm not sure exactly what's going to happen when we land, but I doubt I'll be free to just wander off. You'll be looking for a Doctor Toliteq. I'll try to get someone to show you there, but if not, just ask around. The office is easy to find. He works mostly with dragoons, so if you give my name and say it's an emergency," he is preventing one after all, "hopefully you can get in right away."

"I'll look into it. Thanks. Where are you going to be?" He glances out the window. "Must cost a fortune in fuel to power those Harrier thrusters."

"You'd be surprised." Doesn't go into undue detail...she actually does trust Alou, but the fact remains that he's a spy for another government, and they may very well end up on opposite sides someday. "I don't really know. I may be pulled aside for questioning or worse...or, I could simply be ignored while they sort things out and just make sure I say in sight." She shrugs a little. "I can't really venture a guess at this point."

"I ask because I'm sure by now they know I'm a spy. If they don't, then Dragons are as foolish as Wyverns say. I'll probably be watched pretty closely." He shrugs a bit. Understands her professional discourtesy. "I figure we might as well be pariahs together."

"Oh, we will be." Yin nods. "Most of the visitors to Okarthel are dragons. Thus, not only is the only inn," she's used to using the old-fashioned word, many details of the culture of this place are strikingly anachronistic, "more or less unsuited for Spiders, it's also very expensive. I have a guest room, so you can stay there, unless you'd be uncomfortable."

"I'm a Spider. I can be comfortable anywhere, on anyone's pillow." He smiles. It amuses him, really, how frightened most folks are of spiders in general. "Troix needs somewhere comfortable, though. I'll just spin a web somewhere."

Yin nods. Really, she's almost disappointed...she lives alone, and feels that way sometimes. Tries not to show it. The next part is actually driven just by pragmatism. "In our near my house would still be recommendable. Dragons are...territorial." She crosses her legs. "They're known for guarding their wealth jealously, of course...even humans know that. People don't really mention or realize that they're also very generous in taking care of their own, but...yes. You're not 'their own.'"

"Oh, I'd planned on it. But just so you know, I've never met a dragon I couldn't handle." Looks at her. "Present company excluded, of course."

"But of course." Listens as the plane finishes up its landing protocols. "Would you like to give Troix a minute after the cabin depressurizes, or just give it a shot?"

"We may as well get on with it," Alou answers. "The sooner we can find this doctor guy, the better, anyway."

Troix's eyes open a little. She yawns, and Alou's heart just breaks.

The dragoon smiles at the smaller spider. "Well, hey there. Have a nice nap?"

Troix looks at her, eyes far too alert to have just slept through the whole trip. "Um hm." Yawns again. "I have to go to the bathroom, though. I had a waterfall dream."

Yin smirks. Kids are so great. They don't have "too much information" buttons. Then again, neither do some adults. "There's a bathroom right over there, if you'd like to use it before we go."

"Okay. Um..." Troix glances nervously around. "No one's watching, right?"

Yin smirks. Spy's kid, right. "Right."

"Good, 'cause that gray guy looked kinda peeky." She undoes her clasp and hops up, skittering to the bathroom with hopping 'I gotta pee!' steps.

Alou blinks. "Gray guy?"

Actually, Yin's stumped, too. She'd taken note of the actual people in the room when she'd boarded and inferred who the captain was from this lieutenant's presence and manner, but she'd fallen asleep so quickly that she could have missed someone. "I'm...not sure."

"Do you have motion sensors or heat sensors on this thing?" Alou's a little alarmed, now. Spiders have been on the verge of cracking stealth suit technology. So close that working prototypes have been assembled, though most have weak batteries or emit something that lets them be seen. It's not unfeasible that someone else could have made one.

"Motion, infrared to ultraviolet, also electrical signature." She stands up.

"Better have the pilot sweep. Troix's never been one for imaginary friends." He does, too. Looks around, feeling for something out of the ordinary. The little hairs on his body aren't picking up any unusual vibrations, but whoever it is could just be standing still.

Yin nods once, heads towards the cockpit and checks with the pilot in short order, a critical eye turned to the scanners as they do their work.

Troix comes out of the bathroom, hands washed and everything, in short order. She smiles at Alou.

"Troix," he asks, "what gray man did you see?"

She blinks. Scratches her hair-antennae. "Um... that guy." She points to the wall. Alou looks, and though he sees nothing, he's almost certain he could hear a sharp intake of breath.

Just about the time the scanner picks up a figure in that spot.

Yin blinks. Steps out of the cockpit, looks that direction. Holds out her hand. The response is for a slushy, clinging mist of ice cystals coating that area, bathing things in snow-like, clinging, freezing crystals.

An almost instant exothermic reaction negates the ice, but certainly gives away the presence of a someone. The spot shimmers until a person, clad in an allover gray skintight jumpsuit of some kind, appears in the air. She steps hastiliy back, looking back and forth. Her face is covered, as well, but she's definitely nervous. Her hand falls to a strangely shaped pistol at her belt, one whose barrel looks more like a bullhorn than a pistol.

Yin just shakes her head, folding her arms. "Everyone on this plane is highly trained to shoot you the second you twitch. Better to start explaining yourself."

The woman looks at them. Troix tilts her head.

"That's a girl," she notes. "I thought I saw a guy. She's got nipples!"

Alou looks at her.

The scanner in the cockpit beeps. Another presence, this one emerging from the bathroom. This one armed with automatic pistols.

"We don't want violence," the woman says, her voice slightly muffled through the mask. "We just needed a ride."

Yin narrows her eyes. She hears the other presence, but doesn't know that he's armed. "To what end?" Unlike the pilot and copilot, though, who step out suddenly, weapons raised and pointed at teh bathroom.

The armed stowaway isn't oblivious to this, and is pointing at them, as well. Not firing, though, or even moving to, as he fades into sight.

"We needed to get to the Dragon city. It's the only safe place for us." The woman unclips the strange pistol. "Please, just let us off at the port. Forget you ever saw us."

"Let two armed stowaways of unknown intention just slip into a central seat of Draconic government? No. You'll have to do better than that." Yin's expression doesn't particularly change.

"Come on. If we had meant harm we would've taken the plane already." The man doesn't lower his pistols. "Doesn't take much to hit someone from this close when they can't see me."

The woman looks that way. "Stop it, Never. Listen," back to Yin, "this concerns you and that stunt you pulled at Grace Tower. Or rather, the stunt you were set up to pull."

Yin straightens up just slightly. "I'm interested."

Alou stiffens a little. Quite.

"We're Mediators," the woman explains. "I'm Martyr. That's Never."

The man with the guns nods a bit. "Yo."

Alou coughs. "Mediators?" Looks at Yin. "And that means...?"

Martyr moves her hands away from the weapon at her side. "Sometimes people learn too much, or present an opportunity to wreck the balance of world affairs. We make them disappear, to preserve the balance between the four species. Either with this," she taps the device at her hip, "or with those." Never twirls one of his pistols.

"So. It begs the question. Yin's expression still doesn't change. "Who's going to disappear?"

"That's why we're here. Someone in our ranks has gone rogue and vanished, and is using his training and resources as a Mediator to aggravate the Dragons and Wyverns into open conflict. He has a contact here."

"I see...well, you understand, for aforementioned reasons, that I'll have to ask that you cooperate with our forces. It can be kept quiet and within a small circle, however...now you're two heavily armed people with an admittedly interesting cover story--albeit one that shows a lot more knowledge about the situation than anyone shoud have at this point--so you can see my diemma."

"Don't test us, Yin. We're not Wyvern doorguards that you can dart in the neck." Never taps one gray clad foot. "We don't cooperate with Dragons any more than Wyverns or Spiders or Humans. We just balance. You already know too much."

Yin narrows her eyes. They should not have details of her break-in. Regardless... "I am very interested in letting you succeed in your mission. However, I cannot let you into the city without proof of your intentions. Since very litte could be acceptable as sufficent proof, I'm simply asking for your temporary cooperation with a small group of elite dragoons. If you cannot agree to that, it casts a shadow upon your intentions, anyway."

Martyr sighs softly. "He's right, you know. We can't. If we allowed your forces to take us into custody we would be disavowed, and then liquidated as security risks. Never." She looks to him. "Don't kill anyone." Her hand moves to the weapon at her side again.

"No one's talking about arresting you, unless you were to force our hand on the matter. If you know some of the details you've already pointed out, you probably know that I hardly act as part of a normal unit. We don't have to go on the record when we don't feel like it."

"I apologize if you misunderstand. No custody, ever. If your elite dragoons detain us, that is enough. I am offering you all one last chance to simply forget you ever saw us, before we act." Martyr's finger wraps around the trigger of the weapon, still at her belt. "I am not asking you to be reasonable. I'm asking you to save yourselves."

Yin narrows her eyes. Glances to the other dragoons...the pilot and copilot, and a guard. She can already tell that they're no match for the two stowaways. Eyes travel to Alou some indication of his input.

The spider is mostly concentrating on keeping Troix corralled. Of course the little one is curious about all this, but seems to understand well enough to keep quiet.

"I think," the older Spider begins, "that we all need to put on a big ol' happy hat. If no one's opposed, we can let these two to their business and catch up with them a little later. How about it?" Looks to Martyr, whom he perceives to be the more reasonable of the two. "A little information in exchange for our inconvenience, here?"

Martyr pauses. "No. Well..."

Yin is silent, deeply conflicted, which is only poorly hidden in her expression.

She can't allow two elite assassins--she has no doubt this woman's told the truth about that, it's obvious in how they move and observe things--into the Dragon capital. The chances of there actually being an important leader at this exact moment actualy aren't all that great...but she isn't positive of that, and if they are targetting someone, they may very well be. Or any other dragon, really, other than a truly treacherous one...she's sworn to protect their kind, and she'll be setting her primary duty aside for personal satisfaction if she chooses to let them in for validation and comeuppance.

Not that she isn't burning with the desire to let these people give the bastard who perpetrated this his just dessert.

There are also the rest of the aspects of the situation...the other three dragoons will be some leverage, but she doesn't think it will be enough. Isn't sure enough on Alou's exact level of skill. Is sure it's high, but can't count on its being enough. There's also Troix to think about...but these are precision killers. She's only in danger from ricochet, and that slight, or if they elect to take out all of the plane's passengers. Also...with one arm available, not quite full mobility otherwise, and not enough power for a fully-encompassing ice shield that wouldn't shatter under a single shot...she's debating whether she can take them at all.

For now, she remains silent, waiting for further word from Martyr, eyes clouded and undecided. Maybe something will change. Otherwise...well. She'll have to figure it out.

Martyr blinks, but no one can see it through her mask. Pauses.

"Let me just waste them," Never shrugs, "we'll blow up the plane, let the authorities think it went down accidentally."

"No. There's a child on this plane, and these people aren't our enemies."

"But--"

"That's an order. Listen, I promise that we will bring you into the loop of this investigation if you just let us off now." She looks at Yin, who is the apparent leader. "Please, before this gets further out of hand."

She's silent. Until, finlly...nods, just once. "When will you contact us?"

"Before the hit. I will make sure that you have the opportunity to interrogate the traitor." Martyr moves her hand away from her weapon. "You have my word."

Yin finally bows her head just slightly, closing her eyes a moment. Quite the symbol of trust among assassins. They could take her out in those two seconds easily. "Alright. We'll see you then." Gestures just a little to the door with her head.

Martyr smiles under her mask. "Thank you. One of us will come to call soon." She moves that way, Never covering her back with the pistols. He goes, too, though, once she's safely out.

"Watch that kid," he says as he follows her, "she's something special if she saw me."

Yin nods a little. Nearly smiles...doesn't quite feel up to it. But hey. He's right. Tenses as they leave the plane. An explosion is still a con artists' possiblity.

But there's nothing. Apparently, they're good for Martyr's word-- so far.

Troix looks out the door as they go. "Bye!" She looks at the rest of them. "So who were those three?"

"We'll figure that out later. They thought you were cool, though, Troix." Yin doesn't manage a smile, but tries. Looks over to the girl, then the other dragoons. "I will report this to Major Fiexnah myself. Not a word from any of you on this incident or you'll be hearing from Unit Eleven, understood?"

They nod.

Yin looks to the spiders. "Well. We have errands, anyway. Shall we?"

"Sure. Troix, ready to go?" Alou glances at her.

"In a second! Just a second!" Troix skitters over to the crew, offering them a bright smile. "Thank you for the ride and the bathroom!"

The purple-eyed lieutenant smiles at her. "You're welcome, Miss Troix. See you some other time, I hope."

"You will. Trust me!" Troix smiles even bigger for them, and runs back to the adults. Alou holds out his hand, but she passes it and goes for Yin's.

The vampiress blinks. takes it, though, and finally manages a bit of a smile for Troix. Looks up to Aou, though deciding whether to be apologetic. "Shall we, then?"

He's smiling, but he's a bit confused anyway. Oh well, kids, and Yin's a woman when Tuleau's not around, and... something. "Let's." He goes for the door first, suddenly wanting to breathe some fresh air in a hurry. Troix just stays with Yin, content to be lead around.

Yin nods, and steps out into Okarthel.