Well, I will not be an enemy of anything, I'll only stand here…

[that_damn_paki]

Maya's driven as quickly as possible to the Main Gauche - as quickly as won't get her stopped by an officer, and as would be safe given that she still has to get used to everyone here driving on the wrong bloody side of the road - and finally come to the Main Gauche and parked. She recognises the other Torchwood SUV, parked with an

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[savesomelight]

Piper has no idea what's going on and there's a part of her that really doesn't want to know, but when you hear someone shouting to be let in like that and they don't look particularly threatening... Well, you might as well go and let them in.

"Hi! I'm here! I don't know what Torchwood is, but I'm here," she says, trotting up to the gate and opening it quickly. In hindsight, she really should be more suspicious, but she's still not in control of the whole empath thing and if either of the two women were giving off malevolent vibes, she'd feel it.

[that_damn_paki]

Fortunately Maya is radiating concern, and Karu is a calm centre beside her. Nothing threatening.

"Hello," Maya says, pulling out her badge. She has no idea if it will count for anything, but- "Detective Inspector Maya Roy." I have important information for Elashte." Because that's probably the easiest way to find Sam. And then, Oh, God. There are children here. "Do you live here?"

Karu lets her wings out, keeping them folded flush against her back and watching, quietly.

[savesomelight]

"Yeah, uh, you'd have to talk to Tay about finding him. I haven't even met him, but Tay would know." She frowns. "Not that I know where Tay is either. Eric might be around."

There's such a blind sense of panic around the building that she's almost hesitant to go back inside. That's why she was out here in the first place- cooling her head.

"Yes," she responds to other question, tilting her head to the side a bit and keeping an eye on Karu for a second. All she knows of angels are that they occasionally kill demons and Tay is terrifying, but she's so calm, that she really can't be wary of her for long. "If you'll follow me, I'll get you to someone who can help."

[that_damn_paki]

Oh, she's going to have to evacuate these people. Romana and her archangels will be here at any time, and as little as Maya knows about the exact quality of their moral fibre, she knows as much as any civilian can about battlefields. She knows that you keep civilians, especially children, off them.

"Thank you," she says, and follows. Karu follows the two of them like a ghost, smiling reassuringly at Piper when she looks her way.

Piper isn't going to die today. It will be all right.

[savesomelight]

Piper takes off at a brisk walk towards the Gauche and heads inside, expecting them to follow unless there's some weird treshold that makes it impervious to angels... But then Tay wouldn't be able to get in and never mind.

She bites her lip, attempts to suss out where someone might be and dares to take a left and after that takes a gamble on a staircase.

"I think it's this way."

Yeah, Piper's sense of direction isn't the best- it's a big building and she's new, but she thinks she knows where she's going.

[that_damn_paki]

Maya nods, and follows after.

Find Sam. Warn him. Talk to Mr. Elashte and see if she can't arrange an evacuation of the Gauche. Hope that today isn't going to be as much as a disaster as the last Archangel attack - she's seen one bloodbath, and has no desire to see another.

[savesomelight]

Piper's luck is apparently very good today, because as soon as she's up the stairs, she finds Tay with... Well, she doesn't know the two men, but Tay is apparently very upset about something.

"Tay!" She calls out, vaguely trotting over to her, but refusing to get too close. Angry Tay is angry, but there is work to be done. She vaguely points to Maya. "This woman's looking for Elashte."

[that_damn_paki]

And Elashte isn't in evidence. Sam is, though. Fair enough.

"Sam!" She steps forward, Karu hanging back for the moment. "Romana's dispatched a wanderer to kill you. And something's wrong with Jack - Gwen wasn't terribly specific, but I'm supposed to warn you."

Karu is watching him, with only sympathy in her eyes.

"We need to get this building evacuated."

[definitivestep]

Sam stops and stares at Maya, naked fear in his eyes for a second, and then he glances past Maya to Karu with an expression of pure fury. There's nothing he can say to her, of course, not in front of Maya.

"Thank you, Maya," he says stiffly, trying very hard not to panic at the fact that she's here and there's an archangel army on the way and he should get her out of here as soon as possible... "You should go back to the Kashtta."

Now. Please. Please just leave.

[that_damn_paki]

Maya reads that - and takes a step back, because Sam doesn't show his emotion like this, and if he does, there must be something really wrong.

But she stands her ground. "This building needs to be evacuated," she says. "There are children and civilians here." And I'm an officer of the law and don't you DARE try to send me off to where I can't do any good, is the message in her voice, clear enough for people who have known each other as long as they have. "I heard Elashte was injured. Is that true?"

[definitivestep]

Sam could argue with her. He might even win, maybe, but it would take time they don't have. He shoots one more glare at Karu, and then looks back to Maya. Fine, if he can't send her away, he'll just have to stay as close to her as possible. Karu hasn't said anything about his death, after all.

"We'll make sure they're out. And he was, yes. Apparently by Jack." His voice is level, even, though his mind's whirling and he just wants to scream. Too many things to worry about, too many things to consider, and not having all the facts isn't helping.

[that_damn_paki]

Maya shakes his head. "I know the man is insane, but that doesn't make sense even for him," she says. It's one thing to annihilate an attacking force with great prejudice and an entirely different thing to attack an ally with no motive.

She kinda wishes Sam would stop randomly glaring at her guardian angel.

"Whole city's gone bloody mad. What can we do here?"

[hymnsofgenocide]

"Nicely said, lady. You, I like." Jeremy breaks into the conversation, having just finished writing a hurried entry in a small leatherbound journal. "I've got the word out. There are tunnels under the complex we'll be evacuating to." He looks them both over. He played good little soldier boy for Harkness when they were on his ground, but, in the absence of anyone better qualified, this is his show now.

"Either of you going to be any good for combat? If not, unless you've got some brilliant tactical advice, you can assist in getting the civilians out."

[definitivestep]

Sam's a police officer, not a soldier, and he's more than happy to get the civilians - and Maya - out of the line of fire. "We'll go knocking on doors," he says, and then, much as he doesn't want to acknowledge her presence, looks to Karu. "Can you help? We'll do this faster if we each take a floor."

[samsara_dharma]

Karu nods. "Of course. I'll do whatever I can."

Maya crosses her arms. "There are three buildings here," she says. "Do we have people to cover all of them?" This is when PA systems come in handy. This entire day has been a day of communications failures, though - door to door, at least, is basic and relatively effective.

[hymnsofgenocide]

Jeremy checks his journal again. "No PA system that anyone told me about," he mutters. "Nice oversight, El. We've got someone on the east building, someone working the south... One of you takes west, working top-down, someone else goes bottom-up. If you're comfortable splitting up that much, someone else on the south building, bottom-up, same deal."

He looks at each of them in turn, sizing them up. "We cool with that?"