"Easy, Granite!" says Zeton, carefully easing his bulk around Granite Spear's spiky form and into the closet. "Let's get her calmed down fi...uh..." He blushes hotly orange, and his gaze quickly drops to the floor with Lybolt modesty. Spying the clothing there, he picks up the woman's garments and offers them to the Shurian without a word.
Granite Spear eyes the Lybolt blankly for a second or two, takes the clothes, and uses them to tie up the woman even more securely. In the process, she frees up one tentacle just long enough to say a curt, "See to the male," with her talkbox. Zeton complies quietly.
"This door solid," grunts Widjgleeby, tugging in vain with four arms. Then she backs up and levels the grenade launcher. "Just one?"
"Put that damned thing away!" snaps Lirassa. "If those are high-end boomers, just one will make us all mincemeat!"
Mon'Fargret peers into the corridor from the doorway and nods toward Ham. "Can he move?"
"He's coming around," replies Lirassa. "We're go."
Mon'Fargret nods at the guard on the floor. "What about that?"
Widjgleeby gives the guard a good sniffing and then shrugs two pairs of shoulders.
Mon'Fargret sets his jaw and peers at the double doors to the left. "I wonder what's behind those?"
Behind him, Nekshi pauses to look into the closet, bringing the rest of the party to an abrupt halt. So abrupt, in fact, that Betham barely avoids bumping into her. Bina, however, does not avoid bumping into him.
"Hey, watch it!" snaps the constable as much ahead as behind. "Can we all be just a little more alert?"
"Forgive me!" retorts Bina with an irritated sigh. Looking back at Mey'Luskar, she says, "Sister, you need to control your feelings! You're blinding my senses!"
"I can't help it!" whimpers Mey'Luskar. "I've been here before! I know what's coming!"
"I'm familiar with that woman," reports Nekshi. "She is Ami'Sallan, the host of 'The Civilized Kitchen' on the Morva Free Channel. I always thought her recipes sounded as overwrought as her fashion sense." She furrows her brows. "This, however, may qualify as an improvement!" She looks down at the man. "I may have seen him before, too. Maybe a news anchor?"
Betham squeezes past Nekshi. "With all this noise, it's a wonder the whole sodding place isn't on us by now!"
Bina clutches her head. "With all THIS noise, I can't sense...someone's coming!" She nods to the left.
Betham taps Mon'Fargret's left shoulder and gestures as he takes cover. Mon'Fargret eases partly behind the door, pistol at the ready. Across the hall, Lirassa starts to brandish her stun carbine, but Mon'Fargret hisses at her and nods back into the corridor. Lirassa nods in understanding, lowers the carbine, and backs toward the stunned guard.
There is a click, and the double doors to the left jolt apart a few centimeters. Armored fingers press through, and then the doors are slid ponderously open to reveal a single guard similar to the one on the floor.
"Help!" cries Lirassa in Yangae, gesturing at Ham and the stunned guard. "They've been shot!"
"Shot?" Echoes the newcomer in a masculine yet effeminate voice. He wrestles with the doors and enters the corridor. "With what? I heard a blast...over in the restroom..." Once he clears the doorway and releases the doors. they quickly slide shut again of their own accord. "Who's shooting?"
Lirassa points toward the doorway to the south. "They went that way!"
"Who?" He glances toward the doorway. "Why are you even up here? You're supposed to be down guarding the...who's there?" The guard leaps back a pace or two, wheels toward Mon'Fargret, and goes for his weapon.
Quick as a flash, Lirassa raises her stun carbine and...fumbles. The weapon flies through the air.
Mon'Fargret immediately follows and is more successful. Sparks fly from the guard's throat as laser pulses tear open the vulnerable spot. The guard hits the floor only a fraction of a second before Lirassa's carbine.
"I believe that's the way we should go," observes Mon'Fargret as he retrieves the weapon.
"I don't like it," retorts Betham. "Whatever it is that is bothering me..." He nods toward the double doors. "That's where it is."
