Log:Icelantic Holiday, Scene 3

Icelantic Holiday 2014/04/10 	 Anthony Quinn|Anthony Harlequin Ten Titan Ceclia Leonid Rasputin

3

Reykjavik, Iceland
Once the jeeps deliver the holiday group to the hotel, the guides tell you all that there's an hour to unpack and settle into your rooms before the jeeps will be back to pick everyone up to take the group to the famous Market Square of Reykjavik, which will be the starting point of the guided tour of the city.

Eve knows little about Iceland, and so is rather interested to go on the tour. She unpacks and gets ready. She looks, as she often does, that she's misjudged how cool it is.

Pretty much dead on the appointed time, which says a lot about the tour company, the jeeps return to the hotel and park in front of it.

Titan comes back out of the hotel, after having dropped off his bags in his room. He waits for the others to arrive, just hanging out for the time being.

The three tour guides go into the hotel and hurry around to each room booked for the group, knocking on doors and advising people that the jeeps are here.

Harlequin waits outside for the tour group. The rather dour man that he is reading a PDA while wrapped in thick clothing.

Anthony first ushers his charges to their rooms before going to unpack himself and spend a little time unwinding. Flying like this is extremely stressful for him as going through airport security with the Q-drive in the center of his chest causes massive complications, doubly so since he is suppose to be incognito. He had to talk with security in a private screening who then had to make calls to verify security clearances. Since they weren't told of the nature of the Q-drive or the force field suit he was wearing they were extremely reluctant even after the calls were made and treated him with a certain veiled hostility.

Also his luggage got lost.

When the group has gathered together, one of the guides, an Icelander named Haraldur Sveinsson, greets you in passable English. "Good morning. The weather is looking good for the next few days so you should have a great time. To remind you of the schedule of events, we'll start off today with a tour of Reykjavik city, starting in the market square and carrying on to take in several of the fine museums and art galleries in the city. Can I remind you, whatever you might buy in the market square will have to be taken back to your home countries. Think of the excess baggage fees before buying anything big or heavy."

Eve thinks. o O (I wonder why they don't have Transmat here yet!)

Harlequin nods, or rather Steven nods, as that is the name he has on his false papers. He asks in a European RP accent, "Do we need to worry about exchange rates?"

Haraldur Sveinsso shakes his head as he answers Steven, "No, Sir. We have much tourism in Iceland. The traders will deal in most major currencies."

Titan makes a mental note to count the kids, just to make sure all of them are present and accounted for.

The Market Square, when the jeeps arrive there, is large. Very large. The center of the Square is dominated by a towering staute of an Ice Giant complete with massive club. Filling the Square are literally hundreds of stalls, from little more than a table holding goods to covered areas that resemble shops, although clearly able to be disassembled and taken away each night.

Eve thinks. o O (The kids could easily slip away here... best to keep an eye open....)

Titan looks up at the statue curiously. . o O (If this was a movie, that would come alive sooner or later. Probably due to magic.) He goes back to trying to keep track of the kids.

The Market Square is buzzing with activity even on a weekday morning. There are many languages being spoken and it's obvious the guide was correct. There are many tourists here as well as locals.

Harlequin eyes the Ice Giant statue for a moment then choses to shadow the Wolfguard twins as they wander the marketplace.

The kids keep together, which makes keeping track of them much easier. They make a beeline first for the area of the market which seems to have most of the food stalls. And very shortly they are sucking, licking, or chewing various candies and icecreams.

Anthony eyes up the ice giant statue, wondering what the likelihood is that it will try and kill him. After the big Atlas statue back in Colonial Bay last year he gives it a fifty-fifty and wishes he had his combat armor a little closer. Oh well, can't be helped. He follows along with his assigned kids, poking around through various stalls selling woolen goods such as sweaters and scarfs.

Under the urging of Mark and Patrica, the next stop of the kids is at a stall that claims to be selling genuine Viking swords.

Harlequin selects a lemon ice and slowly sucks on it. The man's eyes roam the surrounding crowd as he follows along with the kids.

Eve keeps a discreet distance from the kids and alternates watching them and looking at the items of the stalls.

Cecila's trip was rather uneventful after switching seats with someone and making use of at least one air sickness bag. At least her luggage wasn't lost then again unlike some people she packed light and had most of everything she needed in her carry on bag "So this is iceland... I would have thought it would have been a good bit colder" that said it's probaby not so cold since she's actually dressed for the weather "So what do they sell at this market anyways?" she asks. Naturally she tries to keep track of all the kids with her unique sense despite some of the guardians shadowing them and such.

When you have special senses, sometimes you see things others can't. Harlequin sees a moving enchantment working its way through the crowds. The enchantment is malign. This he can tell although further details excape him. There doesn't seem to be anything visible where the enchantment is.

A sudden commotion breaks out at a stall near to the Viking sword stall where the kids are clustered. An American voice is shouting that his wallet is missing.

Harlequin looks over at an empty spot in the crowd. He murmurs, "My how interesting."

Titan raises a brow, and heads over in that direction to find out what's going on.

After a while Harlequin observes the area of enchantment is going from person to person, mostly selecting the better dressed tourists.

A well dressed Amercian tourist is complaining loudly that his wallet is missing from his pocket.

Harlequin chuckles softly. "Now that is just unfair. It makes it far too easy." He looks at the kids and the other adults. "Excuse me. I need to go, hmm, find someone."

Harlequin heads off through the crowd.

Harlequin notes the enchantment is moving away from the proximity of the shouting tourist.

Eve heads toward the tourist, keeping an eye open.

Quinn stays with his children for the moment, directing them away from the commotion with the distraction of handcrafted goods. "Look, kids. Hakarl."

Maybe the shouting makes others check their wallets, because after a few moments other voices are being raised also complaining of missing wallets.

Eve makes sure she keeps a good hold on her handbag, which holds her staff!

Harlequin sneaks up on the enchantment, within arm's reach. Still there seems to be nothing visible there."

Eve thinks. o O (Where on earth is the thief?)

Titan furrows his brow, reflexively keeping a hand on his wallet. Just in case. He looks around slowly, trying to spot anyone suspicious.

Harlequin murmurs to apparently thin air. "Really, do you need to be so greedy?"

There's an audible gasp from thin air at Harlequin's quiet comment, followed by a terrified 'no...' in the Russian tongue. Then the enchantment starts to dash away from Harlequin.

Harlequin takes off in pursuit of the presence. He says as he runs, "Really? Running just gets us both tired." This last was said in Russian.

Harlequin paces the presence as he remarks, "The enchantment on you is harmful you know. I hope you did not cast it yourself?"

The voice is male, young, and plainly utterly terrified and ends with a sob. The boy pleads, "Go away. I don't want to die."

Harlequin murmurs, "Why would you die?"

The boy is sobbing in fear, his words coming in broken gasps, "The curse. Rasputin cursed me. Please, go away. Please..." he says in Russian, fleeing as best he can.

Harlequin twists his hand in grasping manner then slows down. He stops and keeps his eye on the presence as he turns to keeping an eye on the teen with more mystic eyes.

The boy, fleeing from Harlequin, and looking back to see where Harlequin is, collides with a stall, knocking the table over. It seems to daze him briefly, because for a few moments he becomes visible, looking like a twelve or thirteen year old boy who is gaunt and skinny to the point of severe malnutrition, dressed in old shabby clothes.

The boy is dirty and has open sores on his face and hands.

Harlequin slowly, oh so slowly, follows after the child. He raises a hand to his chest to touch the Princess' Guard communicator. "I am in pursuit of a child pickpocket under a curse," he murmurs softly. "I am going to track him back to his Fagin and then cut out the Fagin's heart. Back soon."

 Harlequin says, "Well, the child calls him Rasputin."

Harlequin waves his hand at the child in a shooing motion. He smiles gently as does so.

 Titan says, "Alright...keep us in the loop."

 "Lovely," thought-mutters Quinn. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

The boy vanishes again. Harlequin's Clairsentience can follow the enchantment however, going to a large town house in a upper class area. There's a new SUV parked outside. The house seems to be empty but the boy goes to a hidden trapdoor. Beneath the trapdoor is a messy wizard's workshop. A man in dirty robes is trying to revive a zombie. When the boy arrives the man demands his takings, speaking in Russian. The boy hands over several wallets. "Is this all?" then man says in annoyance. He picks up a bruised over-ripe pear and casts a spell on it. "This is all you get to eat today." he says. The boy wolfs the pear down hungily.

Eve still has no clue what's going on, not having a PG communicator. She returns to watching the kids while keeping half an eye out for the thief.

Titan heads over to Eve to let her know what's up. He speaks quietly to her, "Harl's on it. Apparently there's a thief about with some magic involved."

 Harlequin says, "My, my. So a necromancer under a townhouse. I might need some help rooting out this Fagin."

Eve nods. "Nothing to worry about immediately then? Ok...."

Cecila tilts her head as she listens to the communicator talk and then focuses her attention on the children nearby and goes up to some stall, this case it just happens to be that Viking sword booth and asks "So what do you got for sale here?" she asks, since you know she can't see the goods herself on hearing the answer and moves on her way.

 Bulldozer Cecila says, "We could always you know drop the house on him if that would solve the problem"

It all comes together to make horrid sense after Harlequin sees the spell cast. The spell allows the pear to ignore the curse on the boy, suggesting very strongly that the curse prevents the boy from gaining any nutrition from normal food.'

 Anthony says, "I thought that was the solution for witches."

 Titan says, "Harlequin, we should keep some folks here to keep an eye on the kids. Who do you want as backup?"

 Bulldozer Cecila says, "Naw the solution for witches is burning at the stake if history is any indication"

Harelquin stops dead still for a moment then says over the communicator, "Rasputin has cursed the child to be unable to get nutrition from any food save what the child gets from Rasputin." He is silent for a moment then adds, "Anyone who does not mind blood."

Mark and Patrica look at Cecila and then Mark lifts a sword hilt first to Cecila's hand, "This is the only genuine Viking sword on the stall." he says, getting a scrowl from the stall keeper.

Harlequin continues slowly towards the townhouse under which Rasputin dwells.

Titan nods to Eve, "Harl says he's going to need some help. If you're not squeamish, I think you'd be a good backup for him."

Peter, the nerdish kid, asks Cecila very quietly, "What's happening?"

Eve says, "Ok..... what's this about 'squeamish' though?"

 Anthony broadcasts, "I'll stay here with the kids. I'm probably not wearing the right suit for fighting necromancers anyway."

Titan says, "Something about a blood tie. The thief is tied to a necromancer. He can only eat what he's given. He said something about the people backing him up 'shouldn't mind blood'. I suspect he's going to do something nasty to the necromancer. C'mon..."

 Titan says, "Cecila, I'm bringing Eve to back up Harlequin. You're welcome too, since Anthony's watching the kids."

Eve nods. "You're coming too? Lead the way....."

Harlequin waits patiently outside of the townhouse. He keeps an eye on the child with his inner eyes while he takes out a cloth from his messenger bag and stuffs it into the tailpipe of the SUV.

Titan nods, "I initially was thinking of watching the kids, but Anthony's on it." He heads in the direction of Harlequin, trying to not draw attention.

Naturally it's Harlequin who gets to the town house first. Easily identifiable by the new SUV parked out front.

Cecila holds onto the sword for a moment almost like weighing it since she really does not want to swing it around in a crowded marketplace and blow her cover "Well these kids certainly lucked out on picking a good sword. Not that I'd be using it personally but I think it would make a great gift for my father. He was in to fencing and swords and the like. Say hold onto this one for me and I'll be back. I left most of my money at the hotel" she then turns to Peter and smiles "Oh nothing to worry about, I heard someone shouting about a pickpocket and I guess they got ran off. I'll be back soon dont worry"

 Bulldozer Cecila says, "Alright I'll come to help,"

Eve goes with Titan, though neither of them is the best at not attracting attention.

The district the town house is in is upper class and quiet at this time of day during the week. There seems nobody around to notice, or remember, the strangers to the district.

Titan walks over to Harlequin, "What's the situation? And...more importantly, what needs to be done to resolve it? You seem to have an idea on how to undo that spell in question."

Eve sighs. "I really should learn more about magic."

Harlequin points to the townhouse. "They are inside in a hidden basement accessible via trapdoor. I do not think the child will be a problem. 'Rasputin' is an unknown powerwise. But is attempting to animate a zombie he has down there." He taps a finger aginst his chin as he adds, "I think I will be able to break the curse. My Baba was good at that and taught me well on it."

Harlequin adds. "I can open a Gate to the basement when we are ready. I suggest knocking out 'Rasputin' as quick as possible."

Titan nods. "We're ready as soon as Cecila gets here."

Eve says, "Knock out bad guy, check. Is restraining him any use, or do we have to go with the KO?"

Cecila managed to ditch the kids and such under the pretense of going back to the hotel for her money and makes it to the location "Alright so I take it we go in and pummel first and ask questions later?" she asks as she draws dirt and stone up around her body "Who's leading the charge?" she asks the others

Harlequin says with apparent difficulty, "Yes, he can be restrained if you can get his arms and mouth. But I would really prefer he be beat unconscious with a great deal of attention to making it painful as possible. It would be good for his soul."

Eve says, "Holding him *and* causing pain can be done."

Harlequin grins a dark grin. Dark as sin. "Good." He says, "Two by two we can go through the Gate. I will raise it when you are ready."

Titan says, "I'm going to suggest that Eve and I go through first, then. I'm ready when you are."

Eve says, "Sounds good."

Harlequin raises his hands and a swirling mass of blue and silver light grows in mid air. It coalesces in a moment into a wide circular Gate that shows the interior of the dingy wizard's wormroom under the townhouse.

The wizard is facing away from the gate, leaning over a corpse on a table. His skin, where visible is a mottled grey and one area of hair, and skin, is missing, the bone of his skull showing through.

Ten charges straight through the gate, staff in hand, and attempts to wrap the staff about the magician and squeeze before he knows she's there!

Even when surprised the wizard reacts with remarkable quickness. Not quick enough to avoid Eve's attack however.

Ten's staff grabs the wizard but its contraction is somehow unsatisfactory, the segments of the staff slipping to less than the optimal position.

Titan steps through, moving to where the Necromancer is. He then takes a reasonably strong swing. He pulls his punch, as he's unsure how much punishment the morbid fellow can take.

The punch from Titan seems to somehow slide in a glancing blow rather than the solid strike that Titan would have expected.

Titan raises a brow when he doesn't connect quite as solidly as he expected. . o O (It looks like I don't really need to hold back.)

The wizard turns his head a full 180 degrees to face Eve looking straight back behind him. His eyes catch hers, invoking a icy cold in her mind. "Release me!" he commands Eve.

Ten releases her hold on the wizard - so he can give him a darn good thwacking!

Ten lashes out in anger, which is perhaps why she misses. The wall behind the wizard accordingly suffers.

Titan doesn't bother holding back at all this time, taking a big swing at the necromancer.

Once again it seems to Titan his punch, perfectly aimed, somehow seems to only deliver a glancing blow.

Titan slugs the evil wizard fairly hard, despite it glancing again. "You should surrender now. This is only going to hurt you. A lot."

The wizard appears to be unimpressed with the heroes' efforts so far.

Cecila takes the time to do a few donuts around the yard or wherever they are located and build up a bit of speed before charging through the portal with the intent on running the necromancer over. That would be how she got her hero name in the first place, that and the amount of subtlety she employs when dealing with badguys.

"The good news. There are other rooms in the basement complex. Cecila breaks through the wall rather then getting stopped by a solid barrier. So only half damage on herself."

Harlequin slowly steps through the Gate into the basement. As it flashes out of existence behind him the glamour arund Harlequin falls revealing his true self. The revealed mage says, "Rasputin, surrender now or I will unmake the magicks which keep you from Death." A cold light flickers over his hands as he speaks as the temperature drops.

The wizard's eyes literally light up, with a sickly green glow, as he tells Harlequin, "I shall take your power and use your skull as my drinking vessel." Only a keen observer would see the slight uncertaincy that passed across his ghoulish face.

Well that could have went better... Cecila totally missed the necromancer but just plowed right through the table, corpse and right through the opposing wall creating an instant doorway to the next room! Hey she should totally get a contractor gig at some point.

Titan. o O (This can't be THE Rasputin, can it? Hrm.)

Ten says, "Skulls make bad drinking vessels, idiot. They've got holes in them."

With Titan in his face, the wizard turns his body, his head turning in counter direction so it's facing forward again rather than looking straight back. His hands lift and long talons dripping with poison slash at Titan.

Titan watches as the claws rake across his chest, only damaging his clothing. "Seriously? Is that the best you've got?"

The poison bubbles on Titan's skin but without a wound it's ineffective.

Ten grounds her staff and tries a powerful blast at Rasputin once more.

Rasputin screams in rage as his talons rake ineffectively across Titan's chest. Opening his mouth he exposes lengthening fangs and tries to bite down on Titan's right shoulder.

Rasputin grins toothily as his fangs penetrate through Titan's skin. Then he stares in horrified realization as Titan continues to move instead of being paralysed by the toxin now in his blood.

Titan grimaces as he's bitten into. He growls quietly and winds up for a big uppercut, "Just...stand right there, genius."

Titan swings upward through the Necromancer's chin. "You can't kill that which is truly immortal, you know!" He grins as he connects solidly. Rasputin is caught by the blow and lifting off the floor slams back into the top of the basement wall.

Cecila reaches out to the ground itself and smirks a bit well looks like she's dusting herself off and shakes her head "Lets get this over with" she rips a chunk of concrete out of the floor and throws it at the Necromancer.

Rasputing is hit by a truly mighty blow from Titan, but yet again, the blow somehow seemed to slip off to a significant degree. Even the impact against the wall seemed to do the same. Then Cecila hammers him with thrown concrete floor. And now Rasputin appears to have now fallen into a berserk rage against the closest target in his sight which is Titan. Ignoring everything else Rasputin climbs to his feet and heads back to where Titan is.

Ten tries once again to blast the magician with all her might!

Titan cracks his knuckles while Rasputin so thoughtfully closes the distance again. He doesn't bother winding up for the punch this time, instead just leading with a cross.

Titan connects with another glancing blow. "Is he not completely here or something?"

Cecila decides to go a different route this time as she rips a bigger chunk of concrete out of the floor and throws it at the Necromancer.

Rasputin gets to his feet again after being knocked down by Cecila. He seems a little slower in doing so this time. And he moves back to Titan, all semblance to thought gone from his mind in his rage.

Ten simply keeps up with her mindless blasting!

Rasputin is slammed back against a cracked wall by Eve's attack. He sinks down to the floor, still twitching and trying to get to his feet but unable to do so at this moment.

Harlequin shakes his head. "You should have surrendered, Rasputin'." A cold grey light fills Harlequin's eyes and hands then leaps out at Rasputin.

The grey light encases Rasputin as it strikes. The grey cocoon seems to tear at Rasputin's being causing his skin to tighten even further and bits of bone to crack. The necromancer slumps down against the wall.

Titan's minor wound heals moments later. "Well...that could have gone a little better, I guess. But at least none of us got hurt seriously."

 "Oh, God in Heaven!" Anthony suddenly broadcasts, just as Rasputin slumps to the floor. It is a wail of agony, pleading to an uncaring Universe for mercy. Feelings of incredible horror and revulsion bombard the members of the Princesses' Guard, seeping through the link established by the communicators. There is an overwhelming sense of a horrible wrongness, the discovery of something so awful and alien that it seems as though no kind and loving God could allow in it to exist in a sane world which he is said to love. A tidal wave of nausea crashes through the communicators, conveying what can only be described as a vile and twisted combination of the raw essence of that which lurks in the dark and frigid depths of the cold and unforgiving ocean and the distilled putrescence of Death which awaits all mortal flesh.

The boy is staring from his huddled position in the furthest corner he could find.

Ten says, "Yeah. Tougher than he looked."

Ten says, "Mind, he mostly looked dead."

Harlequin shudders slightly then says over the communicator, "Anthony? What is wroing?"

 "Hak...Hak...Hakarl..." Anthony manages to choke out. "My qPid translated it as 'shark', but oh God, it is so much worse! I thought it was like some Icelandic version of beef jerky or something. I swear. I had no idea!"

Cecila nods a bit at Titan and dusts herself off as she goes to repair the damage done as best she can but there's really no way to fix the wall "So what do we do now that he's out of it?" she asks as she receives the communication on the guard channel.

Titan shakes his head, "No idea. Harlequin?"

Harlequin turns while speaking and goes over to the child. He kneels down as he approaches and says, "Are you alright, child?"

Meanwhile back with the Kids in the Market Square
Meanwhile, back in the market square.. the kids are a little restless. They've noted the absense of more than half the people watching over them and realise something must be happening.

Sukeban keeps one eye on the kids with her, and another on the oddities in the market. "So, uh, ya kids want to do somethin'?"

Anthony tries to keep the kids distracted with the various goods and crafts available from the marketplace stalls. "Hakarl," he says, consulting his qPid. "Apparently it's the Icelandic word for 'Shark', so this must be dried out shark." He indicates a sealed plastic package with little pink cubes of meat vacuum sealed within.

The kids nod to Sukeban. Anne Maria start to ask what they can do... and it's then that Peter winces and puts a hand to his head as if suffering from a sudden headache. He moves closer to Sukeban and whispers, "Someone is really angry. They want to kill someone. It's like shouts in my mind they're thinking so loud. He's thinking about a knife."

Sukeban nods, "Thanks for the heads up. Got a range or direction for me?"

Peter points, "He's in that direction. I don't know how far. Depends on how loud his thoughts are in his head. Not very far. I don't hear normal people very far away unless I'm concentrating."

Anthony is a bit too far away from Peter right at the moment to hear what is being said to Sukeban or to notice his distress. He accepts the plastic packet from the lady at the stall and prepares to tear open the top, asking "Who would like to try an authentic Icelandic snack?" to the kids in his charge. He gets ready to open the packet but then notices what is going on and makes his way over toward to two.

Sukeban nods again, "Stay here. Don't get involved. Yer normal brats on a holiday, don't forget that." She grabs Anthony by the arm as he approaches and heads in the direction Peter indicated. "Guy with a knife, gettin' ready to kill. This direction. Help me spot him."

Anthony blinks in slight surprise as he is chivvied along by Sukeban. "What's he look like?" he asks as he starts to scan the crowd, not being aware of how Sukeban found out about the knife.

As Sukeban and Anthony make their way through the people and stalls in the market square they soon spot a likely suspect. There's a group of three men, two in fisherman's clothes, the middle man wearing a long yellow oilcoat with one of his hands concealed inside it. Unlike the wandering aimless movement of the shoppers, the group of three are making straight for a stall where a good looking man is flirting outragously with a female tourist.

Sukeban says, "No idea, but I bet that's him. Or them." She moves to step on the path of the three men. She tilts her head back slightly and sneers, "Listen up, ya stupid punks. If ya know what's smart, yer goin' to turn around, go home, get drunk, and forget all about this." She lowers her chin, "Or I can give ya some percussive help in forgettin' if that's what ya want."

"Oh great," Anthony mutters, "he's brought back-up dancers." He glances about at the crowds. "Do you have anything in your bag of tricks that. . ." He blinks again as Sukeban steps in front of the three men. ". . .won't attract a lot of attention," he finishes slightly lamely.

The middle man of the trio, his face twisted with anger, speaks to Sukeban in broken terribly accented English, "Who you? You get out way." The other two men speak in Icelandic, probably asking what is happening.

Anthony steps up behind Sukeban, providing her with backup. In an attempt to defuse the situation he shakes the still unopened package of Hakarl and tilts the top towards the gentleman as a peace offering. "Jerky?" he asks.

The disturbance, slight as it is at the moment, catches the attention of the good looking guy at the stall. He looks up. Sees the trio, and breaks into a run, leaving the female tourist he was talking to bewildered.

The trio of men Sukeban is confronting also break into a run, going around Sukeban as they take out in pursuit of the fleeing stall holder.

Sukeban's smiles slashes across her face, "Who am I? Who am I!? I guess nobody a dumb hick from country like this might know. I guess I'll have to-- Hey! Wait!" She runs after them and shouts, "I said, WAIT, ya dogs!"

It seems Anthony's offfer of 'jerky' wasn't successful in bringing peace.

After Sukeban's call the two chasers in fisherman's clothes pause. The man in the yellow oilcoat continues on without seeming to notice.

As the man in the oil coat rushes past Sukeban Anthony snakes a foot out to try and trip him up.

Anthony clips the gentleman's leg, making it look like an accident as he tries to step around Sukeban. "Oh! Hey! Watch out there!" he says as he knocks the man sprawling to the ground. He steps toward the downed man to help him up, stepping with all care and deliberation on a flap of the long oil coat.

Sukeban sighs and walks over to the downed man, winds up, and aims a kick right for his groin. "Moron."

The downed man screams like a little girl as Sukeban's boot strikes in a very tender spot. That brings winces from the other two men, and they are clearly now intended to aid their fallen companion.

As Sukeban kicks the fisherman right in the tackle Anthony steps forward, still looking like he intends on helping the fisherman up but with a slight change in target. Instead of treading on the man's coat he attempts to tromp on the man's hand, forcing him to drop the hidden knife before he stands him up.

Although Anthiny manages to 'accidently' tread on the man's hand the man's grip on the knife proves sufficent to maintain his grasp of it.

Seeing their ship captain on the ground and being kicked and trodden on, the two fishermen move forward and swings powerful but unskilled punches. One at Sukeban and one at Anthony.

The punches miss their targets.

The captain gets to his feet and turns towards Sukeban. He hesitates briefly as he sees once again she is female, and then punches at her jaw using the hilt of the large sharp looking gutting knife rather than the blade.

Clearly still feeling the effects of Sukeban's kick, as he's slightly hunched over, his attack with the knife hilt blow misses Sukeban.

"Hey!" Anthony shouts as the captain pulls out the nasty looking knife and punches at Sukeban, "This is a field trip! What kind of example do you think you're setting here? Somebody needs to think of the children!"

Sukeban laughs, "Ya should give this up, if ya don't have the guts to try to actually stab me." She stares at Anthony blankly, "What?"

The kids have moved up to watch. Mark and Patrica especially are looking on enviously.

The Captain says in his dreadful English, "You not sleep with my wife while I at sea."

Sukeban shrugs, "I'm thinkin' the kids probably find this fun to watch. I know I would've at their age." She casually slips to the side and tries to take the knife away, "Yer wife doesn't belong to ya, and if yer upset about her sleepin' with someone else there's these things called counselors or divorce attorneys."

Anthony chuckles a little. "Man, if I had a nickel for everytime someone tried to stab me over that I'd have..." He pauses to think for a moment. "Actually, I guess I do have a million dollars, don't I?"

Sukeban takes the knife and examines it critically, "Not bad. Nice edge. Think I'll keep it."

The two fisherman pause, waiting to see what their captain is going to do. The Captain is still angry. But it's starting to sink in, especially after Sukeban took the knife from him with such ease, that he is outclassed. And she's Japanese. Everyone knows Japanese are martial artists that can take on dozens of ordinary people and win. He delays and unless provoked that delay will continue.

Graham asks innocently for the kids, "Why is he angry because his wife had a nap with somebody?"

Sukeban starts to answer, then decides to let Anthony field that one.

Quinn just shakes his head and says quietly to the captain, "Just walk away. You don't want her to kick you again, do you? Trust me. Nobody wants that." He glances over toward Sukeban. "Well, except for her, I mean. I'm pretty sure she's only too happy to just keep kicking." The stand off lasts for twenty seconds or so. And then if nothing has been done, the Captain turns and walks away, his two crewmen following.

Sukeban nods, "Yep. I won't say kickin' guys in the balls is my favorite thing, but... probably in the top 10. Maybe 5 even."

A police officer is making her way through the gathered crowd but she's too late to witness anything that happened.

Sukeban realizes she's standing there with a wicked looking knife in her hand. She reverses her grip so she's holding it by the blade. "Yo, officer lady, someone dropped this."

Mark and Patrica grin at Sukeban. The officer looks at the blade. Sees it's a local fishing knife and decides not to ask any questions as there's no sign of blood on the ground. She takes the knife, "Thank you." she tells Sukeban.

Sukeban grins, "No problem." She wanders back to the kids. "So, who's hungry?"

There's a chorus of "yes me's" apart from Graham who asks his question again as he didn't get an answer the first time.

Quinn sighs. "I've really got to get a better suit for this sort of thing," he says. "Something that I can actually use without being blatantly obvious."

"Can we have icecream." Anne Maria and Maria Anne ask. Mark and Patrica smile at Anthony, "Let's try that shark." they suggest.

Sukeban sighs, "Graham, he didn't mean a nap, he meant, uh, well, ya know. That thing adults do together." She looks at Anthony, "Anytime ya want to learn judo, just let me know."

Graham slowly blushes and looks away from Sukeban.

Anthony nods to Mark and Patricia. "Good idea," he says with a grin. "The only thing sweeter than the victory of the righteous is the sweet savory taste of a good piece of jerky." He grasps the edge of the packet and gives a sharp tug, tearing off the top.