1393/Ruby Rose, Set Up!

Ruby Rose, Set Up!
Date of Scene:	19 April 2016
Location:	Uminari City - Juuban Avenue - South
Synopsis:	Having located Ruby Rose, Nicola's long-missing device, the girls go track her down. But someone else has found her first.
Cast of Characters:	Bryony Elan, 158

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Bryony Elan has posed:
    Nicola slips out of the apartment first with no word to their guardian, eager to start her journey, possible punishment later be damned. Bryony hops behind her, putting on one shoe at a time as she moves, hopping on the other leg precariously as she does. Before she leaves, though, she's uncharacteristically diplomatic with Jessamine, offering an excuse for their next adventure. It's a far cry from the usual brushoff. "There's a new game out! We're going out to the arcade! We'll be back in a while!"

    Their objective: the intelligent device, Ruby Rose, built by Nicola's father. After being separated from her for nearly a year, Nicola is eager to be reunited with her erstwhile AI companion.

    Their guide is the intelligent device Aegis, the one whose Wide Area Search ability found Ruby Rose to begin with. Technically, she belongs to Bryony, but presumably TSAB-programmed restrictions have left Aegis less than cooperative with her mistress. Nicola is wearing her now instead, at least for the moment.

    It's only at the nearby street corner that Bryony catches up. "Wait! Lets stop and figure out how we're gonna get there. I got a good look at the map." Did she? They only saw it for a few seconds before they started moving. "It's about five kilometers to the southwest. I think bus route 233 has a stop near there." She knows her busses, apparently, even if her performance wasn't quite up to par with the numbers in math class. "What do you think we should do?"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"We should go there, then. I'm trying to get Aegis to do a more narrow search in the area so we can find what we need." Nicola answers right away, the sheer excitement of her voice is noticable. Nicola hasn't seemed this happy, this hopeful, ever since they met again. "I hope Ruby Rose isn't too damaged..."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    It's a short walk to the bus stop, followed by a brief wait. Even if this journey was impulsive in origin, they picked a good time to leave. It's late afternoon, and the commute is starting to wind down. It's early enough for busses to still be running frequently, but late enough that they're not packed like cans of sardines.

    "I'm sure she's fine. A well-made device is pretty much immune to conventional damage, isn't it?" She pauses there. "You seem to know more about these things than I do." There's regret in her voice. She's not entirely over what they were talking about? "I'm really glad you were there to protect me. I just wish I could have done the same for you. I was kinda hoping we could look out for each other."

    The bus arrives, and the two hop aboard. Five kilometers takes a while, though, at bus speeds, with frequent stops along the way. Eventually, without any prompting from her friend or their map, she stands in her seat and reaches up high to pull the cord to signal that they're getting off. A few moments later, they're back out on the street. Hopefully, Bryony knows the way.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"I don't think dropping out of dimensional space and landing on a world unexpectly counts as conventional damage." Nicola says a bit worriedly, though she seems to be relaxed a little by that suggestion, "She's probably okay. I'm just worried, that's all."

When thet get off the bus, Nicola finishes setting up the refined search parameters, "Aegis, Area Search." She instructs the device, and looks towards her friend, who seems to know the way. "I hope we're close."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "We're about dead center in the rough area that the first search pointed out. And the target area was only about five kilometers wide." Bryony's voice is casual but matter-of-fact as she rattles that off. She seems certain. "So it can't be that far, right? It's walking distance, at worst."

    There's a single soft beep from the bracelet around Nicola's wrist, as Aegis confirms the command. "Search radius . . . 3 kilometers. Resolution . . . maximum. Search parameters . . . set. Repeating last search." The six needles again materialize around Aegis, orbiting the girl's wrist as they condense into solid white spheres of energy. They then streak outward, passing through buildings and trees alike as they begin to cover the desginated area in an outward spiraling search pattern.

    "Do you think someone picked her up? What if she's in one of these houses? Or if someone found her, and she's on sale in a shop?" Like most place in Tokyo, this area has been heavily developed. But by this city's standards, it's only a low-intensity mixed zoning area. Medium-rise apartment buildings dot the area, but it's a handful of taller office buildings that dominate the skyline. Beyond those, though, it's mostly squat residential development and small shopping plazas.

    With a flash as they again pass into view, the seekers return. "Search complete. Rendering map." Again, Aegis protects a wireframe 3D map of the area. This one is much more heavily-detailed, though, featuring both buildings and several smaller landmarks. "Search . . . positive. Triangulating location." And finally, a tiny red dot starts to pulse on the map. Looks like they're going . . . up? The dot is located near the very top of what appears to be . . . a giant Pez dispenser? That isn't quite a normal building.

    "Why does that look so familiar?" Bryony asks. "Wait! I've seen that in one of my magazines!"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"I don't know what that is. ... where to?" For all her smarts and all the exploration she's gotten to do that Bryony hasn't, Nicola has never ventured much beyond where they could walk, and this far beyond that. She hasn't bothered trying to familiarize herself with parts of the city she hasn't been to either. "You seem to know this area better than I do..."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "I don't really know this area. I just remember Aegis's map," Bryony says. "But I have seen that building. It's the uh . . . something Civic Center?" Names might be harder than directions for her. "I don't think we can miss it. I think it was that way, right?" She points off to the south. In the distance, there's a cluster of tall buildings. It's a tiny bit of a walk, but nothing the two can't manage in a relatively short time.

    As they draw closer, though, the foot traffic in the area starts to increase. A few people turn and look at the interesting "fashion" Nicola is sporting. "Do you think that outfit will be OK?"

    Bryony leads Nicola off the main road, her approach instead following a side street. As promised, it's impossible to miss the building. It stands tall, with a distinctive observation deck that likely offers a sweeping view of the surrounding area. Ruby Rose is somewhere near the top of that building, either in the uppermost levels or on the roof itself. And it looks like it gets a lot of traffic, judging by the number of people passing through its courtyard. Many of them are shoppers or couples out on dates--the building must have some commercial areas--but a handful of official-looking vehicles and personnel hint that this place, true to its name, is also a seat of government.

    https://imgur.com/a/1iBir

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"Wide Area Force Field" Nicola tries to set up a barrier to make the whole getting there bit a whole lot easier. She ignores the people staring at her outfit, she doesn't care, and instead focuses on her effort. "That building looks odd." She mentions softly to her friend.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    A shimmering dome spreads outward from the spot where Nicola and Bryony are standing. As it passes through the passerbys near the two, they vanish one by one, as the real world is separated from that within the barrier. Eventually, it engulfs the entirety of the Muncipal Building, as well as the surrounding few blocks.

    "Oh!" Bryony rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. "I never even thought of that." She laughs nervously. "I thought we were going to have to sneak by everyone, like secret agents." She grins and salutes Nicola, the other girl still in her TSAB officer's uniform. "This is why you're leading this operation, Captain Nicola! Lead the way!"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"I haven't done these much, but I've seen them used to hide from people before, and I thought it'd help." Nicola shrugs the compliments off, heading towards the building, and knowing how these things work, has no qualms about blasting open the front door if it doesn't open normally.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    This is a public building, thankfully. The fact that it's mixed use means most of the doors, at least on the ground floor, readily open. And so the two head inside without much obstacle. With the usual shopping crowd absent, the only sounds within are their voices and the sound of their feet against the faux marble flooring. It looks like the first three levels in here are an indoor shopping plaza. Shops rise upward, square walkways ringing a central courtyard with a fountain. A set of escalators provides ascents and descent within the shopping area, but they don't go any higher than the third level.

    Bryony just drifts toward one of the shops. "Wow! This place is really nice!" She pauses. "Kinda spooky, though, with nobody else here." She suddenly spots something, an excited look spreading across her face, bounding over. It looks like a small specialist eatery. "Pretzels!" Yes, she has learned that word. Nevermind that she has never actually eaten one. She inhales deeply as she draws close. "I can't smell anything, though." Pointing to a display case, she asks curiously. "Do you think we can eat food within the barrier?" That's not quite their mission.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola keeps her eye open for ways to get forther up; ignoring the sights to be seen. "Focus, Bryony." She says softly as her friend gets distracted by all kinds of things. For Nicola, nothing could be more urgent than this. Getting back her device isn't like getting back some toy; it's like getting back a long-lost friend.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony returns, a chagrinned look on her face. "Sorry. Was just curious. I know why we're here." She smiles reassuringly. "Don't worry. We're going to find Ruby Rose." The brown-haired girl stops there, tapping her lips with a single finger as she sways slightly. That's her "I'm thinking" pose. "Alright. I think the map said it was on the roof. Or somewhere near the top of the building, anyway. I'm not sure if it was more specific than that. We saw the observation deck from outside; my magazine said it was public. And there are probably people working in the upper levels, right? So there must be a way to get there too."

    It looks like there's a large elevator at the far side of the building; one merely needs to cross the shopping area and enter it. There are also a few side hallways. It's hard to say what's back there. Employee entrances to shops? Restrooms? Utility rooms?

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola heads straight for the large elevator, it seems to the obvious way of getting up there. "I know you're curious. We'll stop by some other time, when we don't have other things to do, I promise." Nicola sounds cheerful, excited; and it's a promise she seems to feel like she could easily make. "Let's go up now, though?"

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony follows behind as the two girls enter the elevator. This one seems to be intended for public use, particularly to reach the observation deck and whatever is on the floor beneath it. There are no buttons for the middle floors. Nicola pushes the button for the top floor, and the elevator starts to silently rise.

    Bryony's eyes wander, her demeanor a bit fidgety as she stands there, watching the number for the floor tick up. She turns toward Nicola, her voice curious. "Can other people detect barriers like this one?"

    There's not really much time to ponder her question before the doors again open; one hardly feels it, but this elevator apparently moves fast. Bryony steps outside first, and the two again find themselves under the sun, in the open air. The observation deck extends outward quite a bit, and Bryony heads straight for the safety railing, looking outward across the city. "We're so high . . . " But she peels away from the view quickly enough, starting to look around. "Where would she be? Do you think she's up here?"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"I think they can, if they have magic of their own." Nicola answers, though she doesn't sound entirely sure. It's not something that's come up a lot to her. And once they leave the elevator, Nicola takes a look around. "I have no clue where to start looking, but..." She touches the device again, setting up search parameters, "Area search." She smiles, "Aegis might?"

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Aegis seems to know the drill by now, the device chiming once as Nicola specifies a narrower search. "Search radius . . . 200 meters. Resolution . . . maximum. Search parameters . . . set. Repeating last search." Six energy needles materialize and begin to swirl around the bracelet, coalescing into orbs and spiralling outward a moment later. This time, the girls can actually see the search taking place, at least for a few moments, as the orbs scour the observation deck and the communications attenae mounted above the roof. Eventually, they drift downward, disappearing into the building. The search is faster this time, though. It's only about ten seconds later that the orbs return. "Search complete. Rendering map." With this map, the girls see the building in far more detail, the orange wireframe projecting every wall of every room and shop, though the contents aren't clear. A single red dot flashes. It's just beneath the girls, on the floor below them.

    "That's it!" Bryony runs back toward the elevator, only to slow to a jog and then stop a few steps short. She looks at the elevator door quizzically. Whatever she's thinking, though, she seems to dismiss it. "C'mon. I think the elevator had a button for the floor below this. That must be open for public access too."

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"They probably sell souvenirs there, I imagine a lot of tourists visit towers like this." Nicola suggests, agreeing with there likely being access through the elevator in her own way. She gets back into the elevator and starts looking for the button. "Earth numbers are hard, which one was it again?" She asks her friend.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "That one!" Bryony steps forward and pushes the button for the floor just below the observation deck. A moment later, the doors close. "I feel like I've been staring at numbers for weeks now." Maybe she should've done better on her final exams if she didn't want a mountain of make-up work over the break. An exasperated sigh too slowly slips through her lips as she starts to recall that unfortunate reality. She never did talk about how she got that F. "What's it like, Nicola, to actually get a vacation?"

    She barely has time to ask that question before the elevator dings, and the doors again slide open. She doesn't quite wait for the answer. Stepping out onto a ritzy marble floor, her head pans, first to the left and then to the right. "That way!" She sounds confident. Walking with quick, sure steps, she passes the entrance to a rather nice top floor, top shelf restaurant. Inside, recessed mood lighting and a wonderful view make for nice, if likely very expensive, ambiance. The only unsettling element in that immaculately designed place are the empty chairs pulled out for a non-existent crowd.

    Bryony keeps on walking, and the hallway turns white and nondescript as you move away from the restaurant; this is a government office building, after all, mostly. The hallway keeps winding before her, forking in places, though she never hesitates to pick a path. But she starts to look confused, more than once adding reassuringly, "It should be right here." When she finally arrives at her "destination," the girls are staring at a wall. "I don't understand," is all she says. Is she lost? She only got a moment's glance at the projection, and that was on the floor above you.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola spins up Aegis, pointing it at the wall in front of them. She's gathering up energy for an attack, and quickly releases it, mentioning. "We're inside a barrier, we're not actually damaging the building." It's her justification for her willful act of destruction, though she's also right.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "Yes! This is just like Die Hard!" This is actually nothing like Die Hard, but Bryony couldn't understand the words, and she only got through a third of the movie on late night TV before Jessamine made her go to sleep. Maybe this is just like her imagined version of the movie.

    The needles spin before streaking, one by one, toward the wall. It looks like it's a standard non-structural interior wall. Even Aegis's relatively weak blasts should tear through it like butter. That's not quite what happens, though. Yes, the wall does crumble as tiny magical blasts blow chunks of burning plywood and plaster outward, with Bryony hiding behind the safety of Nicola's henshined form. But all that does is reveal the glowing, red tinged transparent energy field behind it. Looking through the field, one can see a hallway with several doors. There's definitely something there, and it's likely important. Someone apparently designed a secure space with no doors, or perhaps more likely, with an obscured door that the girls haven't yet found. On the bright side, whoever they are, their magical tech isn't quite up to snuff. The field flickers; it's probably only still up because of Aegis's weak offensive power. With a more determined assault, the girls could likely breach it.

    "It's a government building, right? Maybe it's a standard security procedure on this planet," Bryony tries to helpfully suggest. No, it's not.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
That worries Nicola, because magical barriers suggest they might not be quite as alone as hoped. "This world wasn't supposed to have magic." She reminds her friend, nervously so. She takes a good look at the wall in between them and their destination; her Device, and takes a deep breath. "We didn't get this far only to get stopped by some piddly magic wall. Aegis, keep firing." She instructs the device.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "Burst Needle. Rotary," calmly replies the accented voice of Aegis's AI. The six needles rematerialize around the bracelet, and again they slowly start to rotate. This time, though, they keep whirring for nearly three seconds, until they're spinning fast enough that they blend into a blur. A few moments later, projectiles start to stream forward toward the shield. Apparently, they're being replaced as fast as they're being fired, as the barrage continues uninterrupted. It's more draining than Aegis's basic Burst Needle, though with the way it only sips off Nicola's energy reserves, it's very likely still designed for efficiency over outright power.

    But efficiency is enough. The barrier flickers again and starts to fade as ripples of magical energy spread through it with each impact. Finally, it collapses entirely, and Aegis ceases firing a moment later. The girls have made themselves a door.

    "I don't remember the map having any detail of what's inside this area. I thought it was just one huge room, but I guess not," Bryony states. "If this world isn't supposed to have magic, why is this here?" Her voice is a little more apprehensive now. Maybe she gets it too.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"I don't know, but I don't like it." Nicola says softly, lowering her arm as she passes through the hole she's created. She's looking around very carefully, and then adds on softly as she carefully moves forward. "It's clear that there is some magic on this world, but... I haven't ran into any magic that didn't mean something was trying to kill me yet."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "But you've got Aegis, right? So we should be OK?" It's transparent now. She's fishing for reassurance. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the threats the two girls have faced are just as fresh for her.

    Bryony trails behind Nicola, keeping close, her steps deliberately quiet. At the very least, as quiet as one can manage with a child's newish tennis shoes. "Lets just get Ruby Rose and get out of here quickly." She looks around, trying to get her bearings. "It should be uh . . . that way." She's pointing at a wall. "We'll probably need to walk around a bit."

    It looks like the girls are walking through a small office space, big enough for two to three dozen people to work. The hallway bends in places, but it seems to be roughly square-shaped. A few exterior doors lead to small individual offices filled with the usual productivity staples. The interior areas, those doors closed, are less obvious, but that's the direction Bryony pointed. "What do you think they actually do here?" the brown-haired girl asks. "I'm seeing offices, but not any actual workspace. Is this one of those white collar things?" It doesn't seem like she's entirely sure of what "white collar" means.

    There are only few areas of note visible from the hallway. A small service elevator door leads somewhere, maybe the lobby. And marked prominently, a stairway visible through a glass door leads up. Bryony stops, again staring quizzically. "I don't remember seeing a door on the roof," Bryony states. "Was it one of those secret passageways you reveal by pulling a candlestick?" Either it was concealed, or the stairs lead to the far side of the roof, away from the observation deck. Is there even anything there?

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola takes a moment to think, rather than talk. Nerves don't allow her to both focus on the task and talk about things beyond pure objectives, and this is too important to her to let sit idle. "Aegis, refine search. I want a map of the immediate area to go along with it." She says softly; clearly taking Bryony's comments on how this area looks different from what she thought it'd be like into account.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Aegis remains calm, even if the girls beside her are not. "Search radius . . . 25 meters. Resolution . . . maximum. Parameters set." The orbs swirl outward, only to return a moment later. This time, there's only an image of this small area. The scan doesn't seem to be able to penetrate the shielding around this place. The map mostly just confirms what the girls already know, though. A large, roughly square-shaped hallway provides movement around this space. The outer rooms are mostly offices and miscellaneous gathering spaces. Two large rooms are in the interior, the smaller of which houses the same glowing red dot that represents Ruby Rose. There's a door leading into that room not ten meters away.

    Bryony is starting to get nervous. "What are we waiting for? Lets grab her and go."

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"You're right." Nicola agrees, and out of perhaps somewhat unwarranted paranoia, she aims the business end of Aegis at the door in question, firing off a few blasts to open the door that way as she approaches the door. She mentions to her friend, "Stay behind me, I don't want you to get caught in any surprises."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    There's no interior shielding around this room. A single needle is all it takes. The door is blasted off its hinges with a rather loud crash, flying inward. Inside, there's a store room and not much more. These aren't quite the usual materials, though. No, what the girls see is a warehouse of the Not Quite Right. Stacked nearly to the ceiling, articles of various kinds are here. It's a seemingly random selection of small items that come in every conceivable shape and size, neatly stacked on rows of shelves. "This is getting creepy," Bryony says in a near whisper. There's only one common thread for the items here, and it's one that the girls can sense: energy, or as others might call it, magic. Some seem like they're genuine magical artifacts. Other look like half-destroyed debris that were merely touched by magic.

    There's a /lot/ of stuff here, much of it junk, and it doesn't seem to follow any particular organizational pattern. One item does stand out, though, at least to Nicola's eyes. It's a locked evidence container, one that she has seen before. It's the same type that Ruby Rose was put into, back when it was confiscated from her. And somehow, it still has the tamper seal on it; it doesn't look like anybody has even opened it. "Why is she here, Nicola? Why is any of this stuff here?" She pauses. "What is this place?"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"I don't know what this place is, but I guess someone is collecting magical objects. Don't know why." Nicola says softly, with just as much confusion on her face. "Stand back, if this is trapped I don't want you to get hit." She says softly as she rushes forward, trying to reach, and grab, the box that contains her device.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    It doesn't look like there's any trap present. The box is in Nicola's hands, and no sooner does she pick it up than she hears a familiar voice from within.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
<Hello, Master. You appear to be distressed.> Nicola, and only Nicola, hears. This appears to have the effect of fixing much of that distress, and she smiles as she heads back out of the room, and starts to head for the door she made earlier. "She's still working." She excitedly whispers to Bryony; before adding to her device. "It's fine, Ruby Rose. I was just scared because I snuck in somewhere dangerous to get you back, but now everythign will be alright." She sounds confident about that.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Maybe Ruby Rose has something to say about it too, but Aegis apparently has a warning. "Unidentified target approaching."

    It's not much of a warning, though. The forcefield seemingly masked their approach. Outside the room, the girls can hear a door opening, and then footsteps. Did someone get into the barrier? Or were they already here? Bryony doesn't do much more than cower behind Nicola.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola takes a quick breath, opens up the evidence box and dismisses her Barrier Jacket, handing the device back to Bryony while grasping Ruby Rose. "Ruby Rose, set up." She instructs her own device, looking around the corner to see what's coming.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    It's not a particularly large space, and whatever scant distance was between the two groups has already evaporated in these brief few moments. As Nicola completes her new henshin and peeks out from around the corner, she finds three people looking back at her, standing no more than a dozen paces from her. She's not going to have much time to deliberate her next move.

    It's three men, all of them dressed in rather plain black-and-white business suits. Their clothes are formal, yes, but midrange in quality and price: a salariman's suit rather than that of an elite. But they're tall, physically imposing, and armed; these aren't accountants. How they're here and what they're armed with is less certain. Their handguns are neither crude conventional firearms or Mid-Childan level technomagic; something in between might be the best way to describe them. And barely visible, a faint red forcefield occasionally flickers around their forms. At least visually, it appears to be similar technology to this place's shielding. If one had to guess the source, they each wear a rather bulky bracer over their suit jackets, though the exposed wiring and circuitry seems to be Earth tech rather than anything familiar to the girls.

    And whether or not Nicola is surprised to see them, they're clearly surprised to see her. They raise their weapons, but they don't yet fire. The girls get a brief reprieve as a short conversation happens around the corner.

    "She's just a little girl," one of the men speaks, audibly uncertain about his next move.

    A woman's voice--deep, confident, and calculating--speaks in reply, crackling over what sounds like an open walkie talkie line. "Of course she is. You've been briefed about this. Don't worry. If they're here, you won't permanently harm with your weapons. They'll be unconscious once you disable their alternate forms. Just take them down."

    That applies more for Nicola than it does for Bryony, of course. Bryony doesn't have a henshin. Whoever is talking, they either don't know the details of how this works, are making some incorrect assumptions, or they simply don't care and are deceiving their own men.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola's hands are full and she walks forwards, right as Ruby Rose takes up its old position as combat trainer. <Master, do you remember rule number one of getting through a fight?> Nicola remembers, and she nods, whispering softly. "If you can, don't."

It's with this in mind that she's looking towards Bryony. "Jump on my back, Bry." She's talking in their own language, no point in having those strangers get a clue of what she's about to do. The next step is fairly simple, she's using the offensive punch of her familiar device to create options, putting the barrels of her twin handguns together and pointing up.

After a brief charge up time Ruby Rose announces <Thorned Rose>, this time not just to Nicola but also to Bryony; and quite likely the people around the corner. Immediately, a big red energy blast is flying skywards; with many smaller 'thorns' circling around it. The goal: Knock a big hole into the ceiling, and the roof.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony is a bit small for her age, but she might still be too heavy for Nicola to carry, at least in normal circumstances. But with Nicola in her henshin, her weight might not even be noticeable as she jumps on the other girl's back. It looks like she has no interest in questioning Nicola's plan, whatever it is. She just closes her eyes, turning her head away as she sees the gun point up and hears the activation phrase for the massive blast.

    Armed now with a device attuned to her, and using Ruby Rose's much more potent offensive potential, the huge attack easily tears through the forcefield surrounding this place, blowing the roof outward. A massive hole, some five meters wide, now leads from the storage room to the observation deck directly above.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
And with that hole opened up, and Bryony on her back, Nicola instructs her friend. "Hold on tight." Then she jumps, and immediately the little magic wings on her wrists, ankles and head do their job, taking Nicola skywards. She keeps a close eye on where they came from, wanting to make sure they're not being chased, and that she can dodge or block if they try anything.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony holds on tight, only opening her eyes once the two of them are well clear of the building. When she finally does, she finds herself looking down across the city. Maybe she regrets that. It's hard to hear her over the rushing of the air in Nicola's ears, though.

    "Wow. We're super high up, aren't we?" She doesn't sound terrified of being this high: merely incredibly, terribly nervous. "Wait, you can fly? Your dad taught you to fly on al-Furat?" That nervousness, though, is quickly replaced by jealousy. Somewhat. "Are we . . . are we OK now? We did it, right?" It doesn't look like anyone is pursuing, though if the girls keep flying at this pace, they'll soon hit the edge of the barrier.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Soon after ensuring they're not being followed, Nicola finds a safe and secluded place to land, putting down her friend. "Dad wanted to make sure I could get away if something happened." Then, she drops both her henshin and the barrier; both of which have served their purpose. Ruby Rose returns to its standby form, a red bead necklace, and she puts it on, slipping the bead below her clothes. "We're okay, we did it." She seems so very much excited.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    The girls find themselves in a small side street, away from prying eyes as they seemingly appear out of thin air. They emerge back into a busy world. Just a few dozen meters away, the sounds of midday traffic are heard, as cars flit by along the tiny visible slice of the busy main road. It takes a few moments for Bryony to again collect herself. Having her feet on the ground again seems to help, though. She takes a few wandering steps to stretch her legs, taking a deep breath in, and then slowly, audibly exhales. When she again turns toward Nicola, she's wearing her usual smile.

    "That was kinda crazy, wasn't it? We uh . . . we've been having a lot of close calls lately. I guess, even if we've come close to being drowned and getting shot, at least . . . " She laughs half-heartedly, trying to lighten the moment with a joke that even she doesn't really find funny. "At least it's not boring with me around, right?" There's a pause, as her tone gets a little more serious. "Thanks for getting me through this. /Again./" She lifts her bracelet, briefly watching it before her arm again falls. "And thank you, Aegis and Rose." She adds, a little more quietly, to Nicola, "I'll repay the favor one day."

    She slowly drifts away, starting to walk toward the opening of the side street. "There should be a bus stop on a street this busy, right?" And then a pause, her voice again a little fearful. "I wonder what Jessamine is going to say."