Day 162, closed first, then open. | Come get in more trouble with Colin!

[freedom_engineer]

Who: Colin, Paarthurnax, and others later
Open: Closed, then open
What: Colin wants something dead, and he wants a team to do it
When: Day 162, after Rin's been stabilized and things have settled. (Gosh, sound familiar?)
Where: The Dragonfield, then the Monument as he looks to grab people
Format: Any

PAARTHURNAX!

[The urgency in Colin's tone was evident. He'd taken another bath to get the blood off him, but that scent was unmistakable.]

I need you, we need to hunt!




[Now that Colin had enlisted his air support, it was time to get a strike team. He had no snacks for bribery this time, just an eerie look of serenity on his face as he headed to the monument to track down some heavy hitters. He snagged his amplifier from his lab, so that when he speaks, he's not going to be hard to hear.]

HEY! I need our big guns out here, post-haste! We've got a mission, search and destroy time!

[Dare you approach?]

Comments

[daughterofursa]

[Colin doesn't need any bribery for this one. Since moving the body, Zuko has already changed and retrieved her swords. Her thought had been to training, but this sounds like a better use of her time.]

You're going after the thing that got Night, aren't you?

[Her voice is too flat for it to sound much like a question.]

[freedom_engineer]

You got it in one.

[Colin nods in confirmation.]

Seem to have plenty of interest, too. I guess everyone can come together if they get riled up enough about something.

[Colin smirks slightly, though there's no pleasure to it.]

I'm gonna want to leave some people behind to defend this place while we're out, but we've still got room for a few more people. If you want to come along, I won't turn you away.

[daughterofursa]

I do.

I never saw either of them in a fight, but I heard Night was good. You're going to need a solid group, and I won't be much use here.

[Zuko can't say she expects an attack on the Bastion, but firebending tends more towards 'the best defense is a good offense.' Moreover, she isn't a healer and she and Rin aren't friends. What more could she do, light the funeral pyre? Better to be on the move.]

[freedom_engineer]

That's fine reasoning, and I'm not gonna turn anyone away.

You going to have any issue with bringing it back here alive if it surrenders immediately?

[Even Colin's not so unobservant to miss the mood in the Bastion at the moment. Most people want to murder this Gasfella, so he's making sure EVERYONE knows that they are going to make one attempt to bring it back alive.]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko frowns at that question.]

You really think it's going to surrender?

[freedom_engineer]

I think there's a one in five thousand chance that it will see the force assembled against it, and lay down its weapon when commanded.

I give much higher odds to fighting, and I give highest odds to running. If it does either of those, we're going to kill it so thoroughly that its descendants will die from shock.

But whether or not I believe it will, I want to give it the opportunity to. Justice will be served far better if we can bring it back here.

[daughterofursa]

What justice is that going to be? Are you going to put it on trial? Lock it up?

[freedom_engineer]

Bring it back here, lock it up, interrogate it, and unless there's extenuating circumstances, probably execute it.

Make no mistake. The Gasfella are intelligent, sentient even. I've been making headway with some of them. The squirts have stopped attacking and avoiding me, and even the Gasfellas that I've seen recently haven't been threatening. ... For the most part.

[He shakes his head]

But this is the end of the world, and this one... This one is a threat to all of us. If that attack was provoked, I will eat my sleeve.

[daughterofursa]

Hm.

[They've just seemed like animals to Zuko, but all right. Certain animals can be intelligent.]

Fine. If for some reason, it doesn't put up a fight, we'll bring it back.

[freedom_engineer]

As I said, I don't expect it to go quietly. I just don't want to lose control of everyone if it does.

[daughterofursa]

You say that like you're in control of them in the first place.

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin smiles enigmatically at that.]

In this scenario?

I lose control of the situation under one of two conditions, both of which I am already planning for.

I don't anticipate this will go smoothly by any means, but by aiming this chaos and taking charge of it now, I can steer it later. The variables are well-within operational parameters.

There is a third, unlikely scenario that might be trouble. But no amount of planning will be able to protect us from that one. Only lessen the damage.

[Yes, Colin doesn't think like most people do.]

[daughterofursa]

...right.

[Colin what are you even going on about. Actually you sound a little like her sister.]

We're people, not variables. Don't forget that.

[freedom_engineer]

Wrong variables.

I can't control people, nor should I try to. That would be what experts across the galaxy refer to universally as a "Bad thing."

[He seems weirdly pleased at the thought just the same.]

But I can set a mission and keep it on course easily enough, so long as I keep an eye out for the possibilities that will cause things to go badly.

[daughterofursa]

It sure sounds like that's what you're aiming for.

[But she's not expecting a response to that that makes sense to her. She glances off towards the bridge to the Skyway.]

Just let me know when we're leaving.