Goblin Town -- Logs

A couple of days later Baird gets the time and date for the job to the Coblyn folks who have volunteered to help. He also lets them know that the paperwork to get them to where they're going will be arriving for them -- and not to worry because it will be covered as part of the remuneration for the job, just as it is for anyone else on his team. Shane is amused by this, since he already has false papers that have an identity on them. James, after all, isn't his actual mortal name. Cinnamon is relieved, however -- she really doesn't want her actual name to get out! She curiously checks as to what her 'current name' is... both because she hopes it's not awful, and because she wants a bit to get used to thinking of herself under a different name.

Cinnamon's passport, visa, and other papers come in the name of Elizabeth Dearcteine. Thorn's come in the name of Harold Lannsair. Shane's come in the name of Jason Claid. All of the names make Shane chuckle and shake his head. Cinnamon grins uncertainly at Shane, tilting her head inquiringly, "What's so funny?"

Shane points at the paperwork, "Elizabeth Fire Lizard. Harold Surgeon. Jason Sword. Baird is not subtle. Or, well... he's subtle enough for people that don't speak any form of Gaelic. No one's going to look twice at these names if we're not actually going through the UK at all."

Cinnamon blinks at that, then checks again... then laughs! "Lizzy the fire lizard? Okay, he's silly!" She pulls out her cell and taps a bit... then grins at what she reads, "He got your names backwards, though -- Jason means 'to heal' in Greek, and Harold is 'army leader'!"

Thorn blinks in surprise, "I wonder if it's because I was in the National Guard?"

Shane mmms, "The first names look like they might just be chosen at random. Elizabeth is 'God is My Oath.'"

Cinnamon nods amusedly, rolling her eyes, "Yeah, total nope on the meaning, for me! But I'm okay with Elizabeth... it's certainly prettier than my original name!"

Shane grins, "Jason would definitely be more Thorn's speed, if it means healer. Which... well. You see why Iason chose Iason."

Cinnamon nods, then asks, "So are we supposed to wear anything in particular? I mean, I don't have any, um... like, military style clothing?" Fortunately, with the paperwork is some information about just dressing down and bringing dark clothing: black jeans, dark t-shirts, that sort of thing. Baird seems to indicate he'll have any kind of specialized gear they'd need on the other end of the flight -- or at least, the wording is: 'Don't worry about togging up special. That's all taken care of.'

Cinnamon frowns consideringly at the information, then mutters quietly to herself -- she'll have to go shopping for black jeans right away! She has a dark t-shirt she can use, though, she thinks... and, in fact, by the next day she's got everything together that she thinks she'll need... plus her new titanium frame glasses! She'll take along her old glasses as an emergency back-up pair, she decides. Thorn too wonders if he even has a pair of black jeans. He doubts it; he'll have to find a pair. Cinnamon curiously checks with Shane, "So are these, um... identity papers just thrown away afterwards, or what? Also, any idea how we're getting there?" She's pleased her hiking boots are well broken in! She gets a dark sweatshirt as well, for just in case it's cold.

Shane looks the papers over, "Honestly, unless things go seriously south? I'd keep them. But we'll ask Baird. Having an extra identity isn't bad. I have three, technically. My birth name, Shane Rowantrod, and James... and now this Jason Claid." He grins. Cinnamon is relieved she can keep the alternative identity -- she doesn't really want folks knowing about boring old 'Mary Brown,' after all!

When it comes time to travel, everything goes smoothly. Cinnamon is excited -- this is further than she's ever gone before! She stares out the windows in fascination, chattering questions at whomever will answer, "Ooh, the Ukraine! Is this where the radioactive place is? Will we be going near there? What language do they speak here? Can we talk to them, or are we being secret? Are the people here friendly?" ...and so on.

Thorn is a little nervous and unsettled. He's reasonably certain this is of dubious legality, though he isn't too concerned with what they're doing. He's just wary of any mercenary work... old biases from when he was in the service. Still, he was telling the truth when he said it sounded interesting. He just would rather not run afoul of the local government. He doesn't know much about Ukraine -- he knows Chernobyl is here, which he provides to Cinnamon -- so he pays attention to the answers Shane gives Cinnamon. The half-beansidhe does his best, of course: "They largely speak Ukrainian, though a large part of the population also speaks English. Don't refer to them as Russian, though. It's... sort of a sore spot for them."

The little group lands on the other end of the Ukraine, and make it through customs quite easily -- easily enough that Thorn and Shane (who have both been through customs a lot more often than Cinnamon) are likely a bit surprised. In fact, Thorn is definitely surprised by how easily they got through customs -- these must be more than just merely rock-solid identities! Cinnamon has no idea this was an easy trip through customs, however -- since every time has been easy for her and her group, so far! It's Baird himself and one of his men that meet them with the SUV when they exit the airport, and she beams and waves excitedly once she spots them, "There they are! Hi, guys!" It simply hasn't occurred to the happy little dragon that Baird might want things low-key! She's just proud of herself for remembering not to shout Baird's name -- in case his is different too!

Baird chuckles and waves, leaning his head sideways to murmur to the man with him. The man smiles and nods, heading to the back of the SUV to open the tailgate, so the three new arrivals can put their luggage in the cargo compartment. Baird calls back, "Flight went well, I take it?"

Cinnamon tosses her recently-purchased duffel into the back, her voice cheerful, "So cool! I haven't been in planes much -- they're really neat!"

Thorn replies, "No problems at all." He hopes his 'at all' isn't too pointed.

Baird chuckles, "Well, of course there would be no problems. You're all squeaky clean citizens of the world. No black marks on your records. In fact, those passports show a couple of easy crossings of the border and good dealings with the people of eastern Europe. A good legend can't seem too new, after all."

Cinnamon laughs, "I saw! Passports are so neat!" As she hops into the SUV she cheerfully adds to the other guy, "Hi my name's Elizabeth what's yours?" Even though she has met the man, Rodolfo, before, she's not sure what names to use, and she doesn't want to mess anything up.

The man smiles as he shakes Cinnamon's hand, "Still Rodolfo. My legend is pretty solid here, so we don't have to change it."

Shane shakes his head, smiling and a bit impressed. Cinnamon beams, "OK! So, where to now?" She adds, "When's our thingie?" as she shakes Rodolfo's hand. Thorn tries to store the jargon away for later. So, the legend, as it's called. Interesting....

The car gets moving and slides into traffic with no issue. Rodolfo seems to know the area well, because he's not consulting a GPS. Baird twists around in his seat and smiles at the three folks, "We're heading to Moldova. We'll stay on this side of the border until nightfall, and then pass over. We don't want to actually pass through a legit border crossing in this case. We'll be going via water. It's an exfil." He holds up a hand, "Legitimate exfil, I promise... and I don't expect anyone to be a Judas goat." Shane is watching carefully as Baird talks; he nods when the Scotsman finishes speaking.

Cinnamon glances at Shane... then grins interestedly back at Baird, "Okay! Go on?" Thorn nods thoughtfully and picks up the jargon as he can; so far he understands this fairly well.

Shane nods, "Exfil... exfiltration, right? Like the opposite of infiltration?"

Baird continues, "It's tonight around 1:00 a.m. -- late enough that everyone is likely to be asleep but us. Time enough for you to nap a while before we have to get across the border -- and yes, that's exactly what exfil means." He grins a bit sardonically, "Because there's not a snazzy word for the opposite of kidnapping."

Cinnamon bounces slightly with excitement, "Tonight! Oh, good -- I hope this is fun for everyone!" While she means well, Cinnamon has clearly not quite internalized the illegal and possibly dangerous nature of their mission!

Thorn wonders how to best put this both diplomatically and delicately... "What sort of possible injuries might I have to treat?"

Baird considers, "Abrasions. Contusions. Sprains. Fractures. GSWs. Punctures. Hopefully none of the last three. The first three are fairly common on any mission."

Cinnamon curiously asks, during the drive, "So... what's a legend? How is it we have them? -and what's a GSW, please?" She winces, and Thorn nods thoughtfully, at the answers. GSWs -- Gun Shot Wounds. That admittedly doesn't fill Thorn with much hope for a less... exciting operation.

Baird explains that a legend is a background that's so thorough that you'd have to dig so deep as to be ridiculous to prove it false: "They'd find grammar school report cards for you if they went far enough. There's a credit history for you there." He grins at Shane, "Yours is abysmal. You were a very imprudent college student." That makes Shane snort.

The trip to the safehouse is smooth and they're greeted by mostly people they recognize from Bulgaria. They also have time to nap at the safehouse, and Baird's comment about having appropriate clothes there turns out to be quite correct. Everyone has a kevlar vest which fits as well as possible, along with warm clothes, boots, and gloves. Baird doesn't try to arm Cinnamon or Thorn, but he does have blades for Shane, "I figured you'd never get yours past customs... and I saw what you used in Bulgaria."

Shane chuckles and says, "I appreciate... it..." He blinks as he's handed a couple of swords that are shockingly well-balanced and well-made -- if also quite obviously modern -- weapons, "I... I'll return these in good condition."

Cinnamon blinks, impressed, as she listens to Baird... then she giggles at Shane! She's a bit dubious at the clothing and the kevlar vest, considering her shape... and how did Baird get her measurements? She's rather trepidatious about how this is going to fit. She blinks again, in surprise, as she realizes the clothing and boots fit... surprisingly well! She tilts her head inquiringly at Baird, "How'd you get my measurements?" She knows how difficult it is for her to find things that fit well -- and she has her own measurements!

Baird nods to Shane, "If you like them, you can keep them and I'll deduct the cost from your pay. They're made by a bladesmith that works with us for our more mundane things. He was happy for the challenge." Then he turns to Cinnamon, "Photographs. The ones we took when we got photos for the passports -- I got a couple of full-body shots. With some reference points, we can get pretty good body measurements."

Thorn is well familiar with body armor, even though he didn't wear it often in the Guard. He helps Cinnamon with fitting hers, cautioning her that it'll restrict movement and also get very warm. Cinnamon is trepidatious again as Thorn helps her into the body armor -- from what little she's read about it, the army has a really difficult time with kevlar for women's curvier body shapes! Sure enough, once she's strapped in she looks very much like a barrel on legs, with a small head sitting on top. She sighs resignedly, but doesn't say anything. At least the boots and clothing fit nicely! Thorn is also surprised. This is not off-the-shelf body armor. Cinnamon frowns thoughtfully at Baird, pushing up her glasses as she thinks... then she says curiously, "So which parts of our clothing are bugged... so we know which parts we shouldn't toss in an emergency?" She doesn't say it aloud, of course -- but the kevlar is so getting tossed if she needs to move more freely for some reason! It makes her feel like she's wearing a corset, and she hated it the one time her sister insisted she wear one for a wedding.

Baird's voice is matter-of-fact, "None of what you're wearing, yet. I'll give you the trackers now -- I wanted you to know where they were. We all have embedded ones, but I knew you'd never go for that." He hands them each a small capsule on a beaded chain, adding, "Hang it around your neck. The chain's pretty solid. If you don't want to actually wear it, put it in a sock or tuck it into a piece of clothing you won't ditch."

Cinnamon blinks interestedly at the little capsule, holding the chain up to study it for a few seconds... then she hangs it around her neck, "Okay! What's next?" Thorn examines his capsule briefly before also putting it around his neck.

Shane checks his out and hms... then arches a brow as he realizes just how tiny it is, "This is small enough to swallow."

Baird chuckles, "Yes. It is -- if you want -- and it will, of course, pass through your system harmlessly in about 72 hours." Shane nods, shrugs, grabs a bottle of water and swallows it. He figures in 72 hours they'll be safely back on Coblyn and unable to be tracked, anyway. Cinnamon blinks startledly at Shane -- then unwittingly winces slightly as she watches him swallow it. After that she resolutely turns back to Baird -- she's not saying a thing! Thorn too blinks at Shane, opens his mouth... then closes it. That's... one way of doing it, he guesses! Shane nods. He didn't, after all, swallow the chain -- and the capsule is about the size of a Tylenol. This way, he can't lose the thing.

The team splits up. One part of it goes... somewhere. Another part -- with Cinnamon, Baird, and Thorn -- goes somewhere else, taking an SUV to be dropped off at the side of the road next to what looks like pathless forest. Rodolfo and two other men are with them, and Cinnamon actually hears one of them ask Baird, in quiet disgust, just why they brought an over-excitable 16-year-old girl on a mission? Baird snorts amusedly, "You'll see, lad." Rodolfo just grins at the question; he was there in Bulgaria, after all.

Cinnamon blinks startledly at overhearing the question, and is about to swing around and indignantly announce that she's actually 26 years old, thank you very much! -- but then Baird defuses the situation. Cinnamon smiles a little shakily to herself, feeling a bit unhappy with the man but not wanting to be a problem... and sticks close to her friends. Thorn and Shane appreciate her, even if that silly man doesn't! Shane puts an arm around Cinnamon's shoulders and murmurs, "Hey, a lot of women would love to be taken for 16."

Cinnamon glances up at Shane and smiles wryly -- sounds like he overheard too. Her murmur is soft, "Maybe... but I don't think he meant it in a nice way." Baird leads the way with night-sight goggles on, often consulting something he carries in his hand and then correcting the direction in which they all hike. Cinnamon is rapidly panting and breathless -- she's certainly not a sprinter! Plus the kevlar really is as hot as Thorn promised, and by now she feels like she's going to melt into a puddle! The little group ends up somewhere deep in the woods, standing near a large concrete pad and what looks like a very old, very rusty pulley-and-winch system. Cinnamon looks down at the concrete pad, then up at the pulley and winch... then over at Baird, waiting for instructions. She's still breathless from the hike through the woods to get here, so she's not bothering to waste air on asking questions! Thorn remains silent as well. He's tense and a little nervous, but he uses that to keep alert and aware.

Baird pushes some fallen detritus off the pad and motions Cinnamon over, pointing and speaking quietly, "See the seam?" He's pointing at a round seam in the concrete, "It's a plug. Back entrance. Me and my men are going in. It's all but forgotten. I want you to open it." He points at the pulley system, "The winch is old and noisy as fuck. But if you can get the chain and use the pulley to raise the plug and get it out of there..."

Cinnamon glances up at the pulley, then at Baird, "Um... what chain, please?"

Baird points at the winch, "That one." 'That one' is a wrist-thick chain made of heavy steel that's wrapped around the winch and threaded through the pulley. It's got a hook that looks like it can attach to a ring in the middle of the concrete pad. Rodolfo and the other men are already unwrapping it from around the winch. The men they haven't met seem rather confused as to what they're going to be hooking it to.

"Oh!" Cinnamon studies it, watching as Rodolfo and the other men hook one end onto the big steel ring embedded in the concrete pad... then patters over to pick up the other end of the chain. She smiles at Rodolfo, "When you're ready, just have everyone step off the concrete, okay?" Then she studies the plug carefully, making sure she can make out its edge, so she doesn't accidentally stand on it while pulling.

Rodolfo nods, then hands the two unknown men backpacks, hands Shane a prybar, and scoots everyone off the concrete pad. He and Baird have a prybar each as well, just in case they're needed. There's a mutter from the one that asked about a teenager, wanting to know what's up -- and Baird says firmly, "You, lad, are about to see a miracle and a wonder, and are about to learn why you just shut up and trust me when I tell you I know what the fuck I'm doing!"

Cinnamon giggles at Baird's reply, pushing her glasses firmly into place... then she takes hold of the chain and tries just pulling down on it. If the ground-in dirt at the seam-edge of the plug is any indication, it's been quite a while since the plug was lifted... so it may be a bit stuck in place! Unfortunately Cinnamon has little to no idea how to use leverage... and her weight isn't sufficient to counterbalance the plug. She slips and scrambles, trying to get traction in the new boots. Shane murmurs, "Let's try something, acushla -- bare feet actually give better traction... and put your back into it. Literally." He goes down on one knee and starts unlacing Cinnamon's boots, "We're going to turn you around and wrap the chain around your back."

Cinnamon stops pulling and blinks down at Shane... then "oh!"s with understanding. She flumps down onto the ground -- the kevlar vest doesn't really bend at the waist, unfortunately -- to start untying the other boot as well. Then she pulls off her socks -- no need to get them all dirty, after all! She hands the boots (with the socks neatly tucked inside) to Shane, with a shy grin... then clambers back up to her feet, puffing at how awkward the kevlar vest makes things -- she is not impressed by them, so far! She picks up the chain again and hesitates, then softly asks Shane, "Um, could you... tell me what you mean, please? So I... do it right?"

Perhaps unsurprisingly, once Shane shows the little dragon where to lay the chain across her body, and how to back into it, things go much, much better! Cinnamon's toes are gripping the concrete nicely as she backs up, away from the plug, and there are quiet creaks and shivers in the plug's edges as she rocks her weight back and forth to loosen the dirt-encrusted plug. Baird and Rodolfo move forward to start clearing years of dirt and debris out from around the edges of the concrete plug, to help it get clear. The others are staring in shock as what looks to be a chubby young woman starts to pull a several-ton chunk of Soviet concrete out of a hole in the ground!

Cinnamon is concentrating hard on not slipping, so she just mutters, "Thanks!" to Baird and Rodolfo, as she continues carefully backing up one step at a time. When the plug really resists, she pauses and takes a deep breath -- then does as Shane has explained: giving a few short, sharp jerks before she sort of crouches... then really shoves backwards hard with her legs! That's more than the plug can withstand, and with a heavy scraping noise it jolts upwards... and ends up swinging slowly in the air beneath the winch. Cinnamon beams, still leaning back at almost a 125 degree angle as she happily crows, "Got it!" Shane grins and gives a quiet little cheer for her as he, Baird, and Rodolfo move in with the prybars to get them angled under the plug. They've got leverage this way, and Shane talks Cinnamon through lowering the plug in a way that gets it settled onto the ground beside the hole.

Cinnamon nods to Shane without looking away from the plug -- the sudden thought of what might happen to her friends if she slipped caused a short, nerve-wracking certainty that she Can Not do that! She follows his directions to the letter, stepping as carefully and precisely as she can, so that the plug does precisely what it's supposed to do. Only once the men have guided the plug down onto the concrete pad next to the now-open hole does she give a short, heartfelt sigh of relief... and relax her nervously tight grip on the big, heavy chain. She grins happily at Baird as she pushes her glasses up again, "I did good?" Only the perceptive might notice that the question seems to be directed as much to Shane as to Baird!

Baird murmurs, "You did better than good, lass." He pulls a balaclava down over his face as the other men do as well. Thorn is never not impressed with how Cinnamon can display such feats of strength. Seeing her grow in confidence and strength in other areas is equally impressive, and kinda cool to see. He glances over at the two men whom Baird brought with him -- the ones who didn't know Cinnamon before. They take a moment -- and in the case of the one who was grumpy about teenagers, a literal slap upside the head -- to get moving on getting the masks on. Baird growls at him, "Next time I tell you I have a plan and not to ask questions, you'll believe me, asshole!" The man nods, still a bit wide-eyed, and Rodolfo just snorts amusedly... while Cinnamon laughs softly to herself. Then the men all also pull down goggles over the ski masks, and Baird says, "If we aren't back in half an hour, Rodolfo will get you to the extraction point and you'll get the hell out, hear me?"

Cinnamon blinks and nods, wide-eyed as she watches the men turn from 'people'... to faceless soldiers. It's a bit eerily unnerving to her! Once the men are gone, she sits down on the concrete pad and asks for her boots back from Shane so she can put them back on... then she sighs happily, leaning back on her hands and looking up at the sky, "Yay, I did good! Whoa... also, aren't the stars brilliant out here? So pretty!" She grins over at Shane as she shyly adds, "Couldn't have done it without you, though, Shaney... I had no idea how to do that backing up thingie you showed me!" She blinks... then lightly smacks her head, "Doh! Jason, sorry!"

Shane/Jason laughs and murmurs, "The stars are always amazing away from the light pollution. You did really well." Cinnamon beams exuberantly up at Shane! It occurs to her that it's probably a good thing she's seated... or she'd have impulsively hugged him! Not very professional of her, she supposes, blushing slightly. She grins, ducking her head to push her glasses back up, and decides it's a good thing it's dark out too... so her blush doesn't show! She'll just relax here and... enjoy the night and the company! It's really nice out here, actually.

Cinnamon blinks a moment later, her voice a bit embarrassed and a bit worried, "Oh! Did, um... I forgot! Did someone note the time when everyone went down the hole?"

Rodolfo murmurs, "I've got the time marked. Don't worry." His voice is almost soothing; they needn't have worried.

It's less than twenty minutes later that Baird and the others come boiling out of the tunnel, with another person accompanying them -- someone with a black hood over their head! They're hugging a black backpack to their chest, but they don't seem to be resisting. In fact, they're moving with the others quite willingly. Cinnamon blinks startledly at the figure, scrambling up to her feet -- is he wearing a hoodie, or is there actually a hood over his head?! "Is... is he okay?!"

Baird nods, "He's fine. Safety measures all 'round. Don't worry." Shane seems relaxed at Baird's comment, and the Scotsman says something to the guy in a language that Cinnamon doesn't yet speak. The man is wearing a black hood over his entire head as he chuckles and says something back. He seems quite unperturbed, though perhaps a little nervous about getting going.

Cinnamon blinks, nodding slowly once... then relaxes a bit at Shane's calm demeanor. Looks like it's all fine... weird though it seems! She slips in next to Shane and Thorn, following the group as they all swiftly depart. Thorn straightens as well, seeing the person with a hood over his head... but he tries to take Baird at his word for the time being. He too glances to Shane, then nods and relaxes a little while falling into place to leave. He also quickly checks the man's pulse as they head off to the first extraction point, since he can't very well check any other vitals. The extractee's pulse is very fast -- but then again, they are running away from what seems like some sort of former Soviet military installation! As they go, Cinnamon pants quietly to Shane, "D-do... d'we still need th... th'kevlar?"

Shane calls quietly, "Do we, Baird?"

The Scotsman thinks, then says, "Probably not for her, no."

Thorn decides he'll do a more thorough check of the man once they get the hood off, but for now it's time to run. "Any injuries?" he remembers to ask Baird.

Baird's voice is curt, but it doesn't sound angry -- just sharp, in the way of someone whose body is going at top speed, "No. Not so far. But I think some alarms may have gone off despite our best efforts."

It takes less than a minute for the group to break out of the forest. As she emerges behind the others, Cinnamon pantss confusedly, "D-do we what? Have alarms for us? But... how could we?" A moment later, tucked in between Shane and Thorn, where they stand on the edge of some kind of either river or large lake, she blinks, "Oh! Y-you meant kevlar -- got it!" She sighs in relief, picking at the stiff, noisy velcro straps as best she can, while waiting for the men who are uncovering and launching a small skiff.

Rodolfo and Baird start herding them all toward the boat. Cinnamon sidles cautiously onto the little skiff, remembering just how wobbly and unstable they are... and ends up seated next to Shane again, facing the newly rescued guy. She smiles uncertainly at him, and then remembers: hood! He can't see her. So instead she drops the kevlar, with relief, into the bottom of the boat -- though she wonders what they're going to do with the little punt once they've reached wherever they're headed. She remains shyly quiet and still, though, trying to stay out of everyone's way... since they all seem to know what they're doing, and she sure doesn't, now!

It doesn't take long for them to get underway on the water. They're heading in a different direction -- definitely across the lake this time! There's another of Baird's crew aboard piloting the boat, and everyone's busy doing something or another. The boat is moving quietly, using a low-speed engine; they don't want to give themselves away with a loud motor after making so sure to get away so silently before. Thorn takes a slow series of breaths. It... it looks like they're actually going to make it without much incident! Cinnamon glances around curiously, wondering where they are... and if it's beautiful here too... and then it occurs to her to ask, "Can, um... does the guy have to k-keep the hood on still? Er... if it's okay to ask?" She's careful to simply whisper, of course, since everyone seems to be staying very quiet.

As Cinnamon's speaking -- and is also, coincidentally, the only one actually looking at said "guy" -- she notices him put down his bag and fumble quietly in it for something... which he then seems to drop by accident in the bottom of the boat. Cinnamon smiles and leans down to pick it up for the poor man, since he can't see it, "You dropped some... thi..." Just as she's starting to hand it back to him -- the man falls sideways out of the boat and over the side! Cinnamon blinks startledly, "Oh! Wha-"

Thorn too blinks as the man just... falls out of the boat? "What the...?" He starts to move to jump in and help him. The man in the hood is already starting to disappear under the water... except that he doesn't realize one thing about that hood Baird put on him: it's got some sort of substance that starts to fluoresce once it gets wet! Thorn is still able to see him.

As Thorn moves to go in after the guy, there's a lot of movement -- Baird swears and abruptly stops the engine; the boat starts drifting to a halt. Shane also reaches for what Cinnamon picked up -- just as Baird snaps, "Grenade!"

Shane's amber eyes go wide and he does something he rarely ever does: he swears in front of a woman, "Oh, holy fiddly fuck." He takes Cinnamon's hand, hastily adding, "Acushla, can you sort of... wrap your body around this? All around it? Hug it like it was a teddy bear? Don't let it get out? Because if it does? This goddamned boat is going down with every fuckin' one of us on it? OK?" His voice is calm despite the language and he lays a hand on the side of her face, "I know you can do this, sweetheart."

Cinnamon blinks at Shane, then down at the grenade -- and a small part of her mind carefully analyzes the size, heft, and shape so she recognizes one of these nasty little things if she finds it again. Her voice is quiet and reassuring, "Of course!" -- as she's simultaneously folding herself over her hand, wrapped around the grenade, in her lap. She wraps her other arm tightly under her legs, so even if the nasty thing makes her bounce or something, she won't let any leak out! It's only after she's done so that the shocking/wonderful/astonishing thought hits her: Shane called her sweetheart! Yes, he's just being encouraging so no one dies, but... but wowsers does that word sound wonderful on his lips, spoken to her! Fortunately, Cinnamon's tiny, embarrassed/delighted giggle is lost in the sudden, muffled whumpf! of the grenade going off!

Thorn feels his face go ashen when he hears Baird's shout, and he freezes in place. It's already been long seconds since the shout and he doesn't quite know what to do -- when the grenade decides for him, and goes off. The new men are preparing to abandon ship (well, boat) but Baird and Rodolfo stop them -- and then the boat rocks alarmingly with the explosion! However, it doesn't capsize and it doesn't explode into flinders -- and once it settles, Baird snaps, "Go after him!"

Thorn blinks after the grenade goes off. That was as close to a grenade as he's ever been, and closer than he ever wanted! At Baird's order, though, the healer reacts: guided by the fluorescence, Thorn dives into the water, intent on grabbing hold of the 'rescuee.' Cinnamon whews quietly as she glances around... looks like none of the explosion escaped! Shane lets the others go after the asshole that just tried to blow them all to Kingdom Come and leans over to check Cinnamon, murmuring, "Acushla? Are you OK? Talk to me, please? Is everything alright?"

Cinnamon takes a deep breath and sits up cautiously, glancing down at herself as she does so. Her small, fierce internal pride that she'd not let any harm come to Shane and the others abruptly dissipates, however, when she sees the tattered -- and mostly missing -- state of her clothing around where the grenade went off! With a small, dismayed cry of, "Oh, no... my clothes!" -- she hastily folds herself flat again!

Thorn can't hear Cinnamon's embarrassment, underwater as he is, and trying to follow the glowing-hooded jerk. Shane's relief, however, is naked on his face as he immediately starts stripping out of his body armor and his shirt, offering the slightly sweaty but undamaged shirt to Cinnamon. After all, he can put the kevlar back on, and not be naked. He smiles widely at her, "You did great! Oh, thank the stars you're fine!"

It takes a few moments to convince herself to sit up (will Shane see her tummy flab? Her family always considered it revolting) and then shake the hot metal remains of the grenade out of her hand and overboard... but eventually Cinnamon sighs in a mix of relief and embarrassment as she hastily pulls on Shane's shirt. Fortunately his height means the shirt is big enough to cover her well enough! Sheepishly she mutters, "I'm sorry to need to borrow your shirt, Shane... I forgot it'd tear up my clothing."

Shane laughs shakily, "It's not like we knew you'd have your shirt blown off!"

Cinnamon sighs again as she keeps her flushed gaze downwards, studying the shirt, "Well, I do seem to go through them way too fast. I suppose I should have realized..." She gives Shane a shaky smile as she adds, "But thank you -- both for the shirt, and for thinking fast about the grenade. I would have felt terrible if anyone got hurt!"

Shane cups the side of Cinnamon's face, "I'm going to slap the sh... shinola out of that guy once we're on shore, acushla. You did great." The little dragon flushes hotly again as she drops her gaze, hunching her shoulders slightly in embarrassment and barely stifling the urge to giggle nervously. Shane almost had to see how fat she is, and she knows from her family how awful she looks... losing part of her shirt was way too close to a disgusting nakedness on her part!

Thorn, being the one that saw where the guy went down, is the first to reach and grab at the guy. He's just shedding the fluorescent hood when Thorn seizes him, so he immediately starts to struggle to get free. That's when Baird comes up on the man's other side, and clips him on the side of the head. Fighting underwater isn't the same as fighting on land, but Baird apparently knows how to do it well -- because the blow lands perfectly and the escapee goes limp. The Scotsman helps Thorn get the asshole back onto the boat. Cinnamon blinks as the limp, dripping body is hoisted unceremoniously over the gunwales -- then she hastily shifts to make room as the escapee is dumped into the bottom of the boat. She also swiftly grabs his backpack, moving it out of the way as well... and then curiously peeking inside it. What was he clinging to so desperately, that he was willing to just... well, to just abandon it to being blown up?

Inside the backpack the little dragon sees... several more grenades! -and something with a blinking red light. Cinnamon's eyes widen in startlement at it -- then she looks up and says in a small voice, "Um, Baird? ...blinking red lights and grenades aren't good things, right?" She frowns worriedly, trying to figure out how to defuse these as well, "Is it a bomb? I think I can handle a bomb, but... I can't handle all these grenades at once, I don't think?" She gets a funny look on her face as something hits her, then indignantly adds, "And also! Why would a guy that wants to escape work so hard to ruin his own escape?!"

Baird shakes his head and pushes his wet hair out of his face, swearing. Well, it sounds like swearing, "No. Blinking red lights and grenades are not good." He grabs the bag and pulls out the thing that's blinking. Then he swears again, "Not a detonator. Tracker." He flings the thing as far as he can away from the boat, then looks around for his men that went in the water after the 'rescuee,' grumbling, "Goddammit..."

Thorn freezes at Cinnamon's comment about blinking red lights... then lets out a huge sigh of relief when Baird says it's a tracker. That's much, much better than a bomb. Cinnamon too sighs in relief, "Oh, good! I haven't got any more shirts!" She has no idea how surreal her words might sound, however. Instead she simply asks worriedly, "What's wrong now?" She adds hopefully, "Can we dump the bag of grenades into the lake as well, maybe?"

The Scotsman motions, "I can hear my men, but I can't see them." Rodolfo is still in the boat, but the other two aren't. "Are you sure it's only grenades in there?"

Cinnamon smiles, reaching out to help Thorn into the boat, shaking her head as she replies to Baird, "No, I didn't want to mess with them in case they were, like, er... booby-trapped or something?" Pointing, she adds, "Also, your other two guys are right there, and there. Is it okay if I take them out one at a time -- the grenades, I mean -- and check?" Glancing around, Cinnamon worriedly adds, "Also, um... are your other other men supposed to join us somewhere, or something? The second team, I mean?" She adds more quietly to Thorn, as she and Shane help him over the gunwales, "You okay, Tho- er, Harry? Sorry I don't have a towel for you."

Baird blinks as Cinnamon easily points out his invisible (to him) men, and Shane adds, "I can see them too. Let her check out the grenades; I'll help with the rescue operation."

Thorn smiles, shaking his dripping head, "No, I'm fine, thank you! I'm more glad that you took care of that grenade." He frowns curiously at the unconscious man, "This just got... a lot more interesting, I think."

Cinnamon giggles and nods to Thorn -- then nods to Shane and smiles, "Good idea!"

Baird too nods to Shane, then grumbles, "I'm starting to really despise that word. Interesting, I mean." He adds to Cinnamon, "Be careful. Make sure they aren't daisy-chained... one at a time. But if he was going to leave the fecking thing in the boat, I doubt he left anything important in it. Probably has it stashed on him." He casually kicks the unconscious man in the ribs as he says that. Shane slides into the water and helps the two other mercenaries back into the little boat, before climbing back into it himself and wringing water out of his braid. The boat has been brought to a halt for a moment, so no one got left behind.

Cinnamon is very careful as she removes the grenades -- she sets the bag in her lap and cautiously checks for any threads or wires before taking each grenade, one at a time, out of the backpack. Fortunately there are just grenades in the bag... and a gun. But it's at the very bottom of the bag, as if it were a very last resort. She sighs in relief, removing the gun last of all as she happily announces, "OK, nothing horrible! Just four more of those little round ball grenades, and one stick with a grenade can on it... and this gun!" She adds politely, "Could someone else take the gun, though? I don't know how to, er... turn them off? No, um, that's not it... but isn't there a switch or something you flip on guns?"

Baird takes the gun, turns it over in his hand, flips the safety on, and tucks it into the back of his waistband, "Safety. Engage the safety." Then, muttering to himself, he motions at Rodolfo, who starts the boat's outboard back up. The two new men are just staring bemusedly at Cinnamon's apparent ignorance!

Cinnamon beams as she pushes up her glasses, "Safety, got it. Thank you! So, is it okay to toss the rest of the grenades overboard, then?" At Baird's nod, Cinnamon is happy to get rid of the rest of the grenades! She carefully eases the bag into the water so there's no splashing, then releases, watching it fall out of sight into the dark waters below them... then she sighs in relief as she sits up again. "So, where are we going now? Back to the car, or what?" She glances around them again, curiously shifting her sight from IR to UV, just to see how different it is, out in nature and at night.

Baird nods, "Back to the SUV, yes -- where it's now parked, on the far side of the lake... because we are getting the hell out of here, and we're still taking this bastard with us."

Cinnamon nods gravely, "Sounds good to me." The re-started boat angles towards the new docking spot on the other shore, where they'll be making their silent landing. Cinnamon turns to study the shoreline they're aiming towards, tracing along it visually to where she sees a dock, then up past it to the SUV... and then she realizes not only is the SUV there, but so are several other people who weren't there the last time they used the SUV -- and those eight or nine people are wearing uniforms. Cinnamon brightens, "Oh! The rest of your team must have arrived, Baird -- I see three, um, five... no, seve- er... ten or so new guys? Whoa, that's... there's, um, an awful lot of soldiers there? And... all carrying really big guns...?" She turns to push her glasses up and blink worriedly at Baird, "Um... are you sure that's your team waiting there, dude?" As she studies the four mercenaries, she adds thoughtfully, "No, they can't be your team... they're all wearing a uniform, and you guys don't do that."

Baird goes still, "Tholdierth?" His voice is suddenly quiet, and he seems to have developed an unusual lisp. He leans down and mutters something to Rodolfo -- who actually turns the boat around and heads back into the lake. Then Baird grimly shakes his head, "No. Not my men. None of us like uniformth." Once they're a little farther back out from shore, the lisp drops, "God-fucking-dammit... and now there are lights going on out on the island too!" He kicks the unconscious man again. Thorn feels his heart sink... this got even more interesting. But he doesn't say that out loud. He wonders what he got himself caught up in, and takes in a breath to ask what they do now -- then shakes his head and keeps silent. Baird will tell them soon enough. Cinnamon too watches silently, not really sure what's going on. Still, it can't be too bad, right? It's not like people are screaming and shouting and shooting, or anything. Baird will just go to whatever his backup plan is, she supposes.

Out on the island that apparently was the mission's target, even more and brighter spotlights flare into life from the concrete blockhouse there, swinging upwards into the night -- and two helicopters rise noisily into the air, as alarms start howling... and Baird swears again. This time he doesn't bother trying to be quiet. Instead he immediately turns and starts trying for a hasty re-plan with his men, the group of them tersely discussing alternative landing spots on the shore, and whether they should just dump the unconscious man overboard. Baird is not in favor of this! Thorn's eyes flick around as things start to go south very, very fast. He's not in favor of dumping their unconscious man either, but mostly because that'd be bad karma, and he isn't sure that would jive well with his role as a healer. He reins in his worry, though -- he has to give Baird and the others time to think! Him panicking will not help that.

Cinnamon blinks at sight of the choppers, her quiet, "Oh, my!" lost under the men's creative swearing. She stares at the closer one worriedly... then blinks and leans to listen to Shane's quiet, hasty murmur to her -- then beams and nods, "Oh, sure! That'd be easy!" Glancing around, she frowns and adds, "The hard part would be changing -- I'd have to do it in midair." She thinks for a moment, then shyly asks Shane and Thorn, "Would you, um... would you two be willing to... to sort of help throw me into the air, please? ...maybe? Or... or we could ask Baird, Harry, if you'd rather?" She sheepishly adds, "I, um... I know I'm kinda..."

Thorn blinks at Cinnamon, "Throw you into- oh. Oh! I see! Yes, that'll work -- I can help!"

Shane grins, amber eyes twinkling in the dark, "Why change mid-air? Could you change in the water? Or would it be too hard to get airborne from there?"

Cinnamon brightens again, beaming at Thorn, "Oh, good -- thank you!" Then she turns to Shane and shakes her head, "No, I know from the ocean that I get sort of... like, waterlogged? Like the water kind of sucks onto the wing membranes, you know? -and there's nothing to push up off of!" After that she turns to Baird and says politely but insistently, "Excuse me? Baird, excuse me, please? Um, would it be easier if I just carried the boat away with all of you in it?"

At Cinnamon's query, Baird stops, mid-swearword. He's great at logistics... it's just that he's never had 'dragon' as one of his vehicles before! After a moment, a grin that looks almost vicious spreads over his face -- he's so happy that they're going to have a way out that these assholes aren't even going to able to fathom! That's what makes him look so wickedly gleeful, "Oh. Absolutely." He turns around and starts telling his men to strap everything down. Now. Securely.

Cinnamon sighs in relief, "Oh, good! Okay, so I'm not entirely sure how smoothly I'll be able to change, so can you be real sure that Jason and Harry are braced, and I don't accidentally knock them out of the boat, please? Also, may I ask you to have everyone stay real low, and away from the sides of the boat, please? That's where I'll have to grab. Sound good?" She glances inquiringly at the other three men as well -- then adds firmly, "Also, please, no shooting at me this time, okay?"

Rodolfo snorts amusedly at the firm request; the other two men look puzzled. Baird actually laughs, "No, no shooting! We know better this time." There will be explanations later.

Cinnamon grins at Baird, pleased, "Oh, good -- thank you!" Then she turns to Shane and Thorn, adding worriedly, "Okay, I've never done this before, guys, so you tell me what'd work best for you, and I'll do my best to jump in whatever way you describe... okay?"

The two new men seem to think things are going south very quickly, as Shane moves as if he's getting ready to do some kind of aerobatic maneuver with the ditzy, weird woman. Thorn moves to mirror Shane, keeping his legs spread athwart ships so as to not tilt the boat too much as he mutters, "Maybe... just up, and then she can come down and grab the boat?"

Shane nods at Thorn, "Just straight up, I think. High as we can. On three?"

Thorn nods in agreement, "On three!" Cinnamon nods to Shane and Thorn, then shifts carefully around so she's between the two men. She shoves her glasses as firmly into place as she can! After that she puts her booted feet where Shane instructs her to, rests her hands on the shoulders of both men as they raise her up, and concentrates on not wobbling and causing the boat to tip! Shane counts off as the two men swing her back and forth -- and on 'three' she pushes off as hard as she can from them both!

The take-off toss is a little wobbly -- this is, after all, the first time they've tried anything like this together! The soft whumpf! of displaced air as Cinnamon successfully shifts is completely lost in the abrupt rocking and splashing of the little skiff, and a bit of startled swearing -- and then both of Cinnamon's wings come down hard, working to gain altitude -- and the tips splash noisily into the lake! That, however, isn't really audible over the continued rhythmic thumping of the choppers circling nearby, systematically sweeping the lake with spotlights hung below them... so despite panting a little from nerves and excitement, Cinnamon manages to get aloft! She gives herself a very quiet cheer as she circles around, eyeing the skiff and planning the best approach to neatly grab it up out of the water.

Shane gives a quiet whoop of triumph as Cinnamon's transformation goes smoothly. Thorn hurriedly sits, crouching down into the boat and grinning almost madly up at the circling dragon. [I'll never get tired of seeing that!] he thinks. There's some swearing at the rocking of the boat from the new guys... but Baird is another one that whoops. He even fist-pumps and says something under his breath that sounds like, "Beat that!" Next, he and Rodolfo busily shift things around to make good open places on the sides of the boat for Cinnamon to grab easily. As they do so, Baird calls out into the night, "Once you've grabbed the boat, go as high above the water as you quickly can!" He points off in the direction away from the dock, "That way until we're well away from the lake!"

Cinnamon tilts her big, triangular head, wondering why Baird wants her to go up fast... ah! That way the helicopters won't be able to spot her, due to their spotlights being mounted under their bodies -- very clever of Baird! She grins, then narrows her eyes and concentrates as she comes swooping in, low and as slow as she dares, her foreleg/arms held out low and wide... and then she's overflying the boat and she grabs for the sides!

The boat lurches heavily -- there's a tremendous sluicing of water -- and then they're aloft! Cinnamon gives another very quiet, pleased cheer for how well she's doing, then carefully wraps her forearms and paw-hands around the little boat to keep it secure and braced against her chest scutes. She immediately beats wings for lofting herself much higher as well -- and lifts so rapidly that her tail splashes into the lake behind her for an instant! The loud splash starts a couple of spots swinging over in her direction... but by the time any of the choppers get over there, the dragon is already far overhead and out of their beams.

Cinnamon grins happily -- and toothily -- over her shoulder at the receding lake, and unwanted enemies... then curls her neck up so she can glance down into the little skiff, "Okay, so where to next, please?" She's still beaming as she adds in explanation, "I can do celestial navigation, but I do need a direction!" She's unfortunately completely forgotten Baird's remarking on how toothy she is when smiling! Consequently, the two new men are a little wide-eyed and a lot shocky.

Baird thinks for a moment, then replies, "Well... if you go straight to the airport, you're going to get pinged by radar, and that might cause issues. I'm going to radio my men to meet us a few miles out in a backup vehicle." He gives some directions and gets on the radio. There's some swearing and some talk in what sounds like it could be code, or might just be some lingo that's obscure enough to sound like code. Cinnamon nods and continues some lazy, relaxed flapping and gliding way up above where the choppers can quickly reach, but low enough that she won't be causing problems with airplanes. She glances around as she does so, orienting herself on the stars so she's ready when Baird has directions for her. Shane apparently fearlessly climbs up onto Cinnamon's shoulder to help with the navigation, which causes Cinnamon to blink, then grin with pleasure as she calls back, "Hi, Jase -- welcome aboard! Buckle in securely please, okay?"

Shane makes sure he's not going to fall off, then lays low against Cinnamon's neck as he calls, "I just want to make sure you've got a second set of eyes, acushla!"

Cinnamon beams happily, thanking Shane for thinking of that -- and completely unaware that she mostly just really likes having him right there with her! Moments later, Baird calls some directions up to her, letting her know it's mostly "as the dragon flies," and that his men should be there by the time they land. It's apparently an abandoned farmstead. The dragon nods to Baird, still beaming cheerfully, "Got it!" -- and swooshes swiftly off in the direction Baird gave her. Because of her speed, it takes almost no time at all to arrive; she circles cautiously high above, calling quietly to Baird, "How will we know they're okay, please, and not prisoners?"

Baird replies firmly, "We'll know!" He gets on the radio and speaks with someone. After a few minutes of conversation, he calls up, "We're good! The farmstead's about two miles south of here! Set down as gently as you can!"

"Okay!" Cinnamon angles her wings and peels easily off to the south... and moments later, with much beating of her wings, she settles lightly down to earth. Last of all she delicately places the boat on the ground... then sits back and beams proudly down at the men, "How's that? Did I do good?"

"I'd say you did fantastic, actually!" Thorn says enthusiastically, not using her real name. He pauses at that, realizing that he now considers 'Cinnamon' to be her real name. Curious! -and somehow cool!

Cinnamon grins happily down at Thorn, "Thank you!"

The people waiting at the farmstead are ones that were mostly in Bulgaria last time. Only one or two weren't there, and there's one that has a low-level freakout and has to be subdued. That makes Baird roll his eyes and look to Rodolfo, who shakes his head, "He'll get over it."

Baird just nods once, checking some things on a small tablet as he almost grumps, "I'm concerned here. I'm getting tired of being thrown under the bus. Someone has obviously got a hate-on for us."

Cinnamon tilts her big, triangular head at Baird, faintly disappointed... then sighs softly and studies the other men. She smiles and waves at those she recognizes, and looks a bit worried at the one freaking out. Her rumble is soft, "Oh, dear... will he be okay?"

Baird looks at him, and nods in reply to the dragon, "He will. Or he'll never work another job for me." He actually smiles up at Cinnamon, "You have been a blessing." Cinnamon brightens at Baird's compliment, her tufted ears tilting back in shy pleasure. A blessing! Wow, that is awesome sounding, in her book! He scowls at the tablet a bit more as he adds, "I don't want to do a legal border crossing if we can avoid it. I mean, I want the legends we have in place to stay squeaky clean, but I don't want to actually go through the checkpoint..." He looks up at Cinnamon and purses his lips as he considers... then asks, "Think you can get us all across the border? I know of a safehouse back across the border and I can get us transpo to the airport. Once we're back on that side of the border, we're golden."

Cinnamon grins and nods eagerly, "Sure, it should be easy to fly over! Um, as long as you all can, say, settle into a boat or box or something that I can carry? I've only got backpack enough for six, after all." She hesitates, then adds almost sheepishly, "Also, umm... when we arrive, can, ahh... can I borrow a blanket or sheet or something for a moment, please?"

Baird hmms, "I think we have a tarp somewhere in all our gear..." With some moving around and conversation, they manage to pare down the equipment and men so that everything they need can fit into the skiff. "Most of our equipment is replaceable," the merc explains to the fascinatedly watching dragon.

Cinnamon nods interestedly as she watches the men shifting and packing... and she checks with Shane and Thorn: would they like to ride on her shoulders? Actually... she tilts her head to glance down at Baird again, "Would you like a lift on my shoulders too, Baird? That might make it easier for you to give me directions... and your regular guys can make sure the new guys stay calm?"

Thorn nods, almost eagerly. "Sure, that'd be great! Thank you! And it'll take some of the pressure off of the people in the skiff."

Cinnamon nods cheerfully, and lowers one wing so Thorn can clamber up, "Come on aboard then!" Thorn clambers up on and over the wing to carefully settle himself upon Cinnamon. He wonders if Baird is going to take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity... or if this is the line that the mercenary won't cross? Actually, Baird considers this for approximately aught-point-two seconds before clambering up to ride with Shane and Thorn! Cinnamon giggles -- a rather odd, rumbling sound -- then adds firmly, "You be sure and buckle in carefully too, though, okay?" She checks the boat and nods approvingly, "Oh, yeah, this'll be easy to carry! Let's go!"

The little group makes it over the border with no problems, fortunately. There are vehicles waiting for them, though there's no one with the vehicles. Baird explains that he couldn't find anyone to stay with the vehicles, that he trusted to take a dragon in stride. Cinnamon giggles again at that, shaking her broad head, "That's fine with me -- I don't really want to terrify your guys, after all!" Glancing around, she adds, "So... are we safe here? Should I change now?" She sniffs carefully at the vehicles too, slightly untrusting of their having been left alone -- but then it's been that kind of night! The cars just smell like cars. Everything seems to be like it's all good. For once.

Shane looks around carefully, eyes wide and pupils dilated. After several long minutes he says, "I don't see anyone. What about you, acushla?"

Baird leans down and calls, "Anything on the IR goggles?"

Cinnamon replies to both Shane and Baird, since she doesn't realize the merc isn't talking to her, "No, I'm not spotting anything in either IR or UV, actually?" She twists her long neck around to grin down at the three men on her back as she adds, "Even the cars smell okay... so go ahead and hop down when ready!"

Baird lets out a breath of relief, "I think we're safe for you to change, then!" Shane slides down with his not-entirely-human grace, and both Thorn and Baird scramble to the ground as well. Shane gets the tarp that Baird promised, and starts unfolding it, and Baird also presents Shane with some clothes that no one actually asked for but the Scotsman figured they'd need, since the grenade ate most of Cinnamon's.

Cinnamon thanks Shane with relief, stepping behind the tarp and concentrating for a moment... then laughing delightedly as she steps out in human form a moment later! "Yay, it worked -- first try!" She exuberantly hugs Shane, then Thorn -- and if he's near, even Baird gets a gleeful hug, "Wasn't that fun?!"

Baird seems nonplussed at the hug, but hugs back. He's actually not a bad hugger and he feels... really nicely solid under all the clothes. He chuckles, "That was quite fun... aside from the whole 'double-crossed by this asshole with the grenades' part." He nods toward one of the vehicles, which is a van, "You can put on the clothes in there, if you want."

"Oh, thank you!" Cinnamon patters hastily off, clutching the clothing... and comes back a few moments later feeling much better! Admittedly, the clothing is a little large for her, but she feels more able to fade into the background if she wants, this way. She hands Shane his shirt again, with a smile, "Thank you so much, Jason, for sharing!"

Thorn takes the opportunity to check the double-crosser's vitals, checking with Baird first to make sure he can temporarily remove the hood, and making sure the man is handcuffed while checking him. Being knocked unconscious does have some medical effects, after all! The double-crosser is awake but groggy. His pulse is good, but one of his pupils is larger than the other, and it doesn't take much medical expertise to know the man's got a concussion. Cinnamon also checks with Baird, once Thorn is done, to see when and/or how Baird wants to teach her the difficult- or hostage-negotiation skill -- to which Baird replies, "I'll show you once we're at the safehouse. Out here is not the place for it."

Cinnamon grins excitedly, "Okay!" After that she wanders over to shyly study the other men in the team. She's not sure if they'll want her around or not, so she's careful not to butt in at all to whatever they're doing.

Thorn hmms, and tells his patient to not fall asleep. The man nods groggily, and one of Baird's men mutters about a concussion not being too bad, considering they could have all died. Rodolfo looks at said man, "It would have been better if he hadn't had a concussion, either. Addled prisoners are harder to question."

Thorn nods to Rodolfo, "That'd be true, but a concussed person can slip all too easily into a coma, and then they need a hospital, and there'd be questions, and... yeah."

Rodolfo nods, "And we don't want to be asked questions. The questions are on our end."

Cinnamon beams proudly at Thorn, "You'll keep him safe and healthy, though!"

Thorn says, "I'll certainly try to. But some of that kind of depends on how he answers their questions."

Cinnamon smiles calmly, "True, but I meant you won't let the concussion get worse, Harry."

Indeed, since Thorn doesn't want the man to die on them, or go into a permanent coma, he uses a very small bit of healing magic to ensure the rescuee will survive to the safehouse. After that, the man's pupils even out and he seems to respond to questions a little more clearly. Thorn's touch works well, though he wants to keep most of his healing energies prepared, in case there are more serious wounds that come up -- they're not out of the woods yet! Since it works, Thorn reports to Baird, letting the merc know the prisoner was suffering from a concussion, but should be all right. Cinnamon watches with fascination -- she'd really like to hear why the guy tried to kill them all!

The drive to the safehouse goes well. The men mostly know Cinnamon and remember her from Bulgaria. The new ones are looking at her a little askance, but are starting to understand why Baird wanted her along -- though they're also really far out of their depth right now! None of them yet realize that Thorn is more than just a medic, either. The safehouse they come to is on the outskirts of the city, just out of the ambit of the local police, and isolated enough that three vehicles full of people pulling into the back garden isn't going to be remarked. Cinnamon glances around with interest when they reach the safehouse, curiously asking, "So... why is this place a safer house than the last one we were at, please?"

Baird replies, "Because the last one just happened to show up on a topo map as abandoned and I have no feckin' clue about who owns it. It had no electrics, no water, and no internet. It was a safe place to set a dragon carrying a boat down. This house is swept for bugs, has all the modcons, places to sleep, food in the kitchen, good lines of sight and an armory in the basement."

Cinnamon's eyes are wide with fascination, "Cool! Um... can I get something to eat from the kitchen, please?" She grins with a bit of embarrassment as she adds, "Sorry, but, um... dragoning can be hard work?" She curiously adds, "Also, what's a modcon, please?"

Baird motions toward the kitchen, "You can eat every crumb in there if you want. You saved all our bacon."

Shane's walking by with a bottle of water; he answers, "Mod cons. Modern conveniences, acushla." He grins, "British slang."

Cinnamon beams delightedly at Baird, "Oh, thank you!" She beams up at Shane too, adding, "Cool! Thank you too!" -- and then hustles on past into the kitchen. Her stomach is growling already! She opens the fridge, and the guys can hear her happy sigh, "Oh, yummy... lots of lovely food!" She pulls out sandwich makings and is soon steadily devouring high-stacked sandwiches -- interspersed with the occasional muttered, "Hm... needs more cheese..." or "Where's more water bottles?"

One of the men snickers and says something outside of Cinnamon's hearing, about: "Of course a girl built like that eats like that..." He gets a glower from Baird -- and from Shane, he gets a fist clenched in his shirt and the half-beansidhe right up in his grill, speaking in deadly calmness, "That woman saved your ass and the ass of every man on this mission tonight. You will respect her. Do you understand me? She literally wrapped herself around a grenade. She carried your sorry ass over half a fucking country, safely. If I hear one more snicker out of you, I will break your nose. We clear?"

Cinnamon blinks, still chewing as she looks up in startlement at the rapid motion spotted out of the corner of her eye... then going still as she watches intently. She can't really hear what's being said, so she doesn't know what the issue is, or why Shane is so angry -- but she really hopes the guy isn't stupid... because she doesn't want to have to use fire to back Shane up, but she sure as heck will if the mercs try ganging up on him!

The merc starts to take a breath, preparatory to saying something -- partially because he's shocked that what looks to him to be a 21-year-old kid moved so bloody fast... and partially because he's not used to being disrespected... and then Baird is beside Shane, and saying just as quietly, "And once Jason is done, you'll get a boot up the arse from me. She's to be treated with the utmost respect." Then he raises his voice, "From all of you." The rest of the mercs all agree; most of them are actually scowling at the mouthy one.

Shane steps back, takes a deep breath, and dusts his hands off, "Good." Then he's... Shane again, smiling and relaxed. Even when he had a fistful of the guy's shirt, he didn't seem out of control -- he just seemed very serious and intense.

Cinnamon too relaxes once she realizes the other mercs actually are being very polite! In fact, some of them seem to think the one that really annoyed Shane is a doofus, from their body language. Well... good! As she turns back to her sandwiches, Cinnamon feels a small surge of pride in Shane. He's pretty awesome, even if she doesn't know what he was so upset about! A moment later she glances around thoughtfully... then looks over at the others, "Um, there's more than enough for everyone here, I think, if you guys are hungry too?" She knows food seems to calm people down, after all.

The rescuee/double-crosser has been taken upstairs somewhere. Once Cinnamon has eaten a few sandwiches, Baird asks her, Thorn, and Shane if they want to join him in going to talk to the guy -- Cinnamon because she wanted to learn interrogation, Thorn in case the guy is hurt more than they thought, and Shane because... Baird doesn't say why. Privately, he knows it's because Cinnamon seems more relaxed around Shane. The little dragon brightens, grabbing a plate and loading her last two sandwiches onto it, at Baird's invite, "Oh, thank you!" She tucks two water bottles into the thigh pockets of these... nicely baggy, actually! -- sort of canvas-like-cloth pants-things, and patters up the steps after the others. Several of the mercs look at the mouthy one, as if just daring him to say something. One or two might even be wanting him to say something, just to see if Shane really will break his nose. Shane himself waits a moment to see if... intervention... will be necessary... then follows after Cinnamon and Baird when it's clearly not needed.

The prisoner is in a bedroom with another of the mercs, who has zip-tied him. He's wearing a pair of boxer briefs, and the rest of his clothes are in the room as well, but in tatters. The merc present there says, "I've got some other clothes ready. Just hadn't had a chance to get them for him yet. These are clean. I think he'd been counting on getting picked up in the lake."

Thorn never went through SERE training, but he's heard rumors of it. He's reasonably sure Baird isn't going to do anything that'll be questionable, but... Cinnamon glances a bit guiltily at Thorn and Shane, whispering, "Oh my gosh, guys, did you get some nice dry clothes too?" She tilts her head, realizing they're in different clothing as well, and looks relieved, "Oh, good -- don't want you both catching colds or anything from soggy clothing!" She beams at them both, then moves so she can see, but stay out of the way... and so her small blush isn't easily visible. This guy is nearly naked! She hopes that's not an integral part of negotiating... she's not going to be really excellent at it, if so, she fears!

Baird nods and motions for the merc to leave the room. Then he sits down across from the rescuee and sighs, "First question. Are you the man I was actually sent after, or are you a cuckoo?" The prisoner -- that's what he truly is, now -- looks directly across at Baird and doesn't say anything at all, mouth closed. That makes Baird rub his face with both hands, "OK, I'm taking that as a no." He takes his hands away from his face and his expression is serious, "Look, I'm not going to torture you. It's not something I enjoy doing. But you will answer my questions, because honestly, you'd rather talk to me than the Ukrainian police... and I can make it look like you've done a lot of things they really, really don't like."

Cinnamon blinks as she listens. 'Cuckoo'? Interesting term -- and very self-explanatory, actually! She smiles, pleased with herself for figuring that one out, and continues gnoshing on her sandwich as she watches in silent fascination. Shane blinks. He blinks several times, as a matter of fact, then looks across at Cinnamon, brows up. Apparently everything Baird just said there was true! The merc really doesn't like torturing people, and he could make the Ukrainian police think this fellow is a criminal by Ukrainian law. Cinnamon glances up at Shane's reaction and raises a puzzled eyebrow -- did she miss something? Thorn too glances at Shane, re his unusual reaction.

Shane murmurs, "Don't fu... mess with Mother Nature, mothers-in-law, or mother-effing Ukrainians..." He says it as if he's quoting something. Cinnamon tilts her head as she considers that... then grins and nods, giving a small thumbs-up before she continues eating her sandwich. The prisoner looks around the room as if he's trying to figure out who these people are.

Baird looks over his shoulder at Cinnamon, "Rule one, lass: be truthful. Nothing gets you the information you want like sincerity. And I'm telling him the truth, aren't I, lad?" That's directed at Shane, who nods slowly. Thorn starts to relax somewhat; he's feeling a little better about the situation.

The prisoner looks around the room and then back at Baird, starting to look worried as Baird asks, "Is he dead? Or did they move him?" The Cuckoo's eyes flick from person to person again as he licks his lips. He opens his mouth, seems to think better, and then closes it again. Baird goes on, "It's going to go better for everyone if they just moved him. I'm going to be upset if he's dead. If they moved him, I can go about my day. Change my plans, and get you somewhere safe and less unpleasant than a Ukrainian prison. If he's dead..." Baird shrugs, "I'm going to find out if it's still as bad here as I remember, or if there's somewhere worse. If there's somewhere worse, I'll create the rap sheet there. Do we have an understanding?"

Shane's head is tipped and he ahhs a bit. He glances over at Cinnamon and gives her a little wink. Even though he winced slightly at the last bit of what Baird said, as if it caused his head to hurt. Cinnamon watches silently, wondering how Baird can rescue someone he doesn't know by sight. Hmm... maybe he was pointed at a particular cell or something? Though... really, that doesn't matter now, does it? The important thing -- for her, at least, if not for Baird -- is learning as much as she can about difficult interrogations. Hmm... must have a viable threat, it looks like. Though... would having a carrot work as well as the big stick? She's not sure, so she keeps watching intently even as she consumes her second to last sandwich. It really helps her thinking, she decides -- not having that gnawing feeling in her stomach!

Baird actually smiles; he's got a really nice smile, aside from the scar. If he weren't scarred, it would be an almost devastating smile, "Also, I suspect I can keep you safer than they can... and I can pay you better. I know just how broke that particular government is." That makes the Cuckoo look really thoughtful. From there, there's a little more back and forth. Baird is really good at seeming sincere, probably because a good 75% of what he says is true, according to Shane -- and what he says that isn't true... fits really well around and against what is. In the end, he gets some of the information he wants: the actual detainee was moved, not killed -- but the Cuckoo doesn't know where to. Also, the reason there was a Cuckoo is that there's someone, somewhere along the line of this job, that sold them out. It's not clear if they were after Baird specifically, though, and the Cuckoo doesn't know who the mole was -- but there is someone out there who is not to be trusted.

Cinnamon grins wryly at Shane -- by now she's figured out that hearing lies when he's listening carefully is painful to the poor guy! She offers him her second water bottle, so he doesn't get a headache from the not-truths, and quietly keeps on observing. This is really fascinating to her! She feels like she's learning a lot, and that she was on the right track already -- but hopefully this will help her get better faster and more smoothly. She feels a bit bad for poor Baird, though. Was this entire operation a financial bust for him? She knows he most likely does this because it pays well, after all.

Shane smiles and takes the water bottle thankfully. Later, he'll also find some aspirin. He drinks thirstily and sighs when Baird motions them all out of the room. The merc sends the other man back into the room with food and clothes for the Cuckoo, then growls, "Well, bloody fuckin' hell! We'll still get paid -- this contract didn't specify success -- it specified best effort. But I want successful exfil." He rubs his face again, "Plus, I'm pissed."

Cinnamon nods gravely up at Baird, "Understandable, guy. He did try to kill us all, after all, right?"

Baird nods, "He did... and I take that personally."

Cinnamon giggles in spite of herself! "Can't blame you! So... now what?"

Baird hmms, "Well... for now, we get you three back home, and I dig in a little deeper to see if I can find my original target -- and I send you all your payment for this... and then I call you if I need you for part two -- if there is a part two." He adds to Thorn, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt him. I was telling the truth: I don't enjoy hurting people."

Thorn nods to Baird. "I believe you," he says firmly. "I'm sorry it didn't work out as well as ideal."

Cinnamon smiles at that, leaning a bit against Thorn so he hopefully feels reassured, as she replies, "Thank you, Baird. This has been really fascinating!"

Baird nods and smiles wryly, "It has been that... and a lot of other things."

Cinnamon beams up at Shane as she adds, "And we all did really good too!"

Shane grins down at her, "We really did." Cinnamon turns pink with happiness! For a weekend's worth of work, they've made a really nice amount of money... and Shane's happy too! And so is Thorn! Her excellent mood lasts all the way back to Coblyn, in fact.

Thorn doesn't talk much on the trip back to Boston. He's glad he wasn't seriously needed, and just helped the guy be non-concussed... but besides that, it was extremely eventful. He's kind of glad he never got deployed with the National Guard -- this sort of special-ops kind of work would drive him batty. Fortunately the flight is smooth and trouble-free, and Cinnamon enjoys getting to spend time with her friends.

Baird is beginning to worry about this last string of jobs. He's gone decades with a nearly spotless mission record -- in fact, he's been one of those mission leaders that people want to learn from. For a villain, he's a gentleman. His teams run like clockwork and he doesn't double-cross, which has meant that he's had his pick of jobs over the years. But out of the last six jobs, three have gone south in spectacular fashion! True, three have been unremarkable -- but they'd also been cake protection details that were more or less on the calendar every year for the past decade. The one to retrieve Vladimir, though, and the one in which Cinnamon had been integral in not getting them all blown to smithereens in a boat! ...and there'd been another that had gone spectacularly badly, too -- he'd almost lost a man. They'd all taken time off to recover from that one... and when you've got two missions that are such clusterfucks that it takes a dragon to haul your arse out of the fire? Sometimes Baird wonders if maybe he ought to have himself committed... because it all honestly seems insane in the times that he's not directly dealing with the supernatural.

Consequently, after discussing things with his core team, Baird has a serious talk with the company that employs them, letting the company know that his team wants to back off their normal type of mission, and take a few less lucrative jobs. Yes, yes, he knows they're in demand for the more dangerous ones because they're known to have the skills. But the less lucrative jobs are less high-risk -- and he and his men need a little time to recover! There have been too many close-calls.

The next time Baird talks to his handler, however, she sounds almost chipper! She reassures the frazzled and frustrated Scotsman that this job should be a doddle, even if it's essentially a kidnapping. So Baird, who ordinarily trusts his handler implicitly, agrees to take the meeting.

When Baird shows up, the handler has the dossier ready; she also assures Baird that she spoke personally with the family. The handler really is trustworthy, Baird would swear (and if Shane had met her, he'd have found her to be so, too) -- so he believes her when she assures him that the family really is worried about their daughter, and that they're for real. The handler passes the hard copy across the table to Baird, letting him leaf through it as she talks about the information she has. It's the usual spiel: went missing, worried about the girl's physical and mental health, yadda yadda yadda...

They've both -- handler and merc -- done these kinds of retrievals before, and know that most cults are pacifistic idiots. Admittedly, some are well-armed doomsday preppers, but... Baird flips through the paperwork; it's all the normal stuff, with nothing unusual. Last known sightings, last known address and phone number, last reports from work, blah, blah, blah... and then he gets to the actual CV of the victim -- the bit with the photograph and biographical data.

The person caught in the DMV photo is a solemn, dull-eyed, dull-haired, dumpy, tired-looking, chubby young woman with thick glasses and the resigned expression of someone that knows no matter what they do the photo is going to look horrible so why try to do anything other than just stare at the lens? She almost looks like she's waiting for someone to yell at her or hit her -- as if she's waiting for abuse or punishment or some other unpleasantness. Because of that, it takes Baird several minutes before it hits him: he's looking at Cinnamon. But... this looks nothing like the now-vivacious, bright-eyed, laughing young woman he first met in Bulgaria!

Baird just stares at the photo, jaw-dropped and goggle-eyed for a moment, before he groans and mutters, "Oh, bugger me! I am truly cursed, goddammit -- they want me to grab Cinnamon?!"

The handler looks confused as Baird flips back to the last sighting of the 'victim,' skimming over the description of what happened, and the person who was with her at that time. The Scotsman mutters to himself as he reads, "James. Male, mid-twenties... approximately six foot... long, lank, dark hair, light brown eyes... pallid skin, possible Goth?! -ah: dark duster, jeans, t-shirt, violent, threatening, fanatical..." Baird puts a hand over his face to hide the expression of exasperation as he sighs, "Shane."

It's a really bad description. As a single example, Baird very much doubts that "James's" hair was lank... since every time Baird has encountered the young man, Shane has been impeccably groomed -- if also somewhat eccentrically dressed. Plus he's very protective of Cinnamon, and strikes Baird as a warrior, so likely had to take some kind of protective measures... but violent? Really? Baird takes a deep breath -- he's going to take the job. The contract specifies they'll get half pay even if the retrieval is unsuccessful, and he suspects he can convince Cinnamon to come with him long enough to go to her parents and tell them to go bugger themselves with a spiked stick. Baird drops his hand and looks across at his concerned handler, "I'll take the job. I think I know what, ah... cult... we're dealing with here. Leave it with me."

The handler relaxes and smiles, "I'm glad. They're really quite concerned for her."

Baird smirks, "They needn't be -- this cult isn't really such of a much. Their little girl is likely actually thriving." He closes the dossier with a sharp slap of paper and taps it on the table, "I'll see you later, luvvie. Take care." Oh, he so hopes Cinnamon and Shane find this funnier than stupid!

Baird lets his men know what's up, and a couple of them laugh and roll their eyes -- while Rodolfo snorts, declaring that he'd not want to cross Shane... while simultaneously glancing from the corner of his eye at the merc who Shane went toe-to-toe with over making fun of Cinnamon. After that, the Scotsman calls Cinnamon, who answers her phone cheerfully, if also a bit absently -- she's head-down in one of her accounting jobs, after all, "Hi, Baird! What's up?"

Baird sounds both amused and exasperated, "So, can you and Shane meet me at that little cafe in a day or two? I have something the two of you really need to know about. It concerns you both rather intimately and I'd rather not talk about it over the phone."

Cinnamon pulls herself away from the accounting enough to glance at her calendar, "Ummm... ok, tomorrow good? Lunch okay?" She adds, "I'll have to check with Shane, but if there's a rush on I can hustle."

Baird glances at his calendar, "I can make it there by then, yes. I'm... not that far away."

Cinnamon giggles at that! Her voice is teasing, "Ah, not Bulgaria, then?"

Baird chuckles, "Not this time, no."

Cinnamon laughs, then settles the currently planned time and date -- contingent upon Shane's agreement, of course -- then says her goodbyes and turns back to her accounting. It's about then, however, that Baird's words really register: something she and Shane really need to know about? Hmm... has something bad happened, regarding the Ukrainian job? The little dragon frowns, absently nibbling on her lower lip as she considers... and then worry grabs her, and she hops to her feet. Ma-aaybe she'll just go find Shane right away to ask about this!

Cinnamon glances at the time, and is relieved -- almost lunchtime! Hopefully he's heading her way already. She saves and closes down her current work, pulls on her shoes and a jacket and grabs her purse, then slips out of her little cottage. A moment to lock up securely... and she turns and looks up and down Coblyn as far as she can. So... which way might Shane be, today?

Shane is actually just about a half-block down the street and headed her way already, humming to himself as he says hello to the folks he knows. Cinnamon brightens as she spots him, and patters down the street to meet him halfway... hmm, she'll invite him to have lunch with her at, umm... one of the local restaurants, maybe? That should work -- and she can quietly tell him what Baird said, and see if he thinks she's worrying too much... or perhaps even not enough! She grins at that, waving and calling out to her friend, "Hi, Shane! Want to do lunch?"

Shane grins and slips his arm around Cinnamon's shoulders, "I'm starving. Let's go find something delicious to nom on." The little dragon is happy to lunch with Shane! They end up at the small, plant- and customer-filled Indian restaurant -- appropriately named Little India -- mostly because Cinnamon has yet to eat there, and loves trying new things. As it turns out, Urvashi, the owner/cook at the restaurant, is very pleased to see Shane! She's a beamingly cheerful, rather lush-figured yakshini, as well as the wife of John, the rakshasa at the nearby bank. Urvashi and her many happy, well-fed children manage and run the restaurant, while her two oldest -- a strikingly lovely young adult daughter and a teenaged son -- sell the delicious roast meats which Josie loves so much, out of the little booth in front of the restaurant. Also, once a day, one of the kids heads over to the Vault, not quite staggering under the huge lunch which the motherly Urvashi always sends to both John and Fionn.

Shane introduces Cinnamon, and then he and Urvashi chat together like old friends. When asked, Cinnamon shyly asks Urvashi if she could try the yakshini's favorite dish, please? The little dragon rapidly discovers, after that, that spicy foods make her mouth tingle as if she's breathing fire -- kind of a nice sensation! Later over lunch, Cinnamon also quietly tells Shane what Baird said, and what the projected appointment time is, then anxiously checks: can Shane come with her to meet with Baird at that time? -and also: does Shane think she's worrying too much?

Shane listens in concern. If Baird called and asked for a meeting and seemed concerned and specifically mentioned them both... then Shane is definitely going! "Baird does not strike me as the person to ask for a meeting unless it's important. Mercs do not ask for a face-to-face meeting unless it's something they don't want intercepted." He chews his lip slightly, "Yes. I'm going with you."

Cinnamon sighs in relief, "Oh, yay." She blushes slightly -- did that seem too eager? -- and hastily adds, "I'm glad you d-don't think I overreacted, then!"

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Last modified: 2019-Jun-12 19:53:32

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