Oh, once you get involved, everyone will look this way - so you must maintain your charm…

[john_thane]

While, back at the Kashtta, an offensive against Thane is being planned, Thane himself is just getting back into the unfinished construction site he's made his bitch headquarters. He ordinarily prefers not to leave his projects, but the atmosphere in there is getting... strange. Stranger than usual. And, besides, while he has no intention of

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[sarkraticmethod]

Speaking of invisible ickle terrorist boys...

In a lot of ways, this is probably one of the most idiotic things Sark has ever done, and he doesn't think the odds are even remotely in his favor, but at this point, they're not in anyone's favor and he's better suited than most for this endeavor. Dedicated focus, spy training, plus the whole invisibility thing, which is going to get him absolutely nowhere if he gets close enough where his biosigns might trip something off

[john_thane]

The thing about Thane's proximity alarms is that it in no way is based on sound or light. So quiet as Sark is, invisible as he may be, it doesn't really... help

[sarkraticmethod]

There is nothing more unsettling to anyone in Sark's position than finding oneself unexpectedly unconscious and then having to make that slow climb back into consciousness with absolutely no clue where you're going to be and what's going to be waiting for you when you open your eyes.

He takes stock of the physical, keeping his eyes shut for the time being-head's a little bit swimmy, but not consistent with a blow to the head, so there's no concussion to concern himself with. Most everything else seems to be fine, but the familiar feel of cuffs isn't particularly inviting, but, to a certain degree, there are far worse restraints to wake up in.

He's alive. How long that will last is hard to say and that's about when the panic sets in. Please let this have just been a horrible dream and Sloane's just cross with me again for whatever reason. He knows better than to delude himself with that sort of hope and he chides himself for even allowing the thought to cross his mind. He can keep it together, and it won't do him any good to fall

[john_thane]

This could be going better.

At the moment, Thane is... twitchy. Thane is very, very twitchy. Having a psychic in his head does not tend to bring out the best in him, except for that one time with the mind architect, and Thane's made his position clear on that - and well, Sark, if your intention was to make Thane more paranoid than he already was, congrats. Your mission was a resounding success.

Thane's been pacing since he brought Sark in, twitchy as a wounded caged lion, and as soon as one of his frequent glances down to his wrist device registers a change in level of consciousness, he closes the distance between them and puts a knife to Sark's throat.

"Talk," he snaps. "Mission specifications are good, but I'll take name, rank, and serial number if that's what you want to give me."

[sarkraticmethod]

Oddly enough, for the first time in his life Sark's first impulse wasn't going to be to talk, but there's few things more likely to change your mind on that front than a knife to the throat. He lifts his head and tries to keep as much distance between the knife and his throat as he possibly can, keeping his eyes moving around the room- Sato, Lang, the Doctor, someone he doesn't know... No April. That's disheartening

[john_thane]

Sark. Julian Sark. Who is probably the Julian of April's-journal fame, and that - well.

He takes a step back, flipping the knife over his thumb and taking stock of the man. He's... young, not that it says much to an Agency man. Still vaguely familiar, and Thane would like to know why that is in an exact equal measure to liking not to have to think about it.

His lips tighten, one corner pulling back into what might be a sneer or the most fake smile ever. "Well. One of us was overly cocksure in our abilities, Mr. Sark. I'm not entirely certain it was me."

[xiaomei_mei]

April, for her part, has been huddled in the corner for a little bit. She'd shrugged into Thane's jacket after he teleported away, to keep warm, and was just starting to poke around for where he went when the psychic thingy went off.

After which she'd stayed huddled in the corner, rather frightened, for a few minutes. She's calmed down a bit, though, and notices that there's the psychic tang of a new presence in the building, in the next room.

Pretty much instantly, she's on her feet, practically flying into the room with the other hostages, wearing nothing but Thane's jacket, and throwing herself at Julian with no warning whatsoever.

[[ooc: The narration requests that everyone ignore the fact that she's smiling in her icon]]

[sarkraticmethod]

Sark gives Thane something of a defiant look. "You had me at a severe disadvantage."

Which is about when April charges in and Sark's too busy trying to stare down Thane to really notice until she's practically on top of him. Instinctively, he tries to get his arms around her, but that's greatly impeded by the cuffs, which is probably for the best, because it gives him a moment to realize that she's not restrained like the rest of the hostages... And he's just not going to think of the fact that she doesn't appear to be wearing anything other than that coat. Not right now anyway. Best he can do at this point is bury his face in her hair and breathe a sigh of relief that she's not dead, although given his situation... That's only a very small comfort.

As far as promises go, this wasn't the one I should have decided to keep, was it?

[john_thane]

...dammit. April. Not making this any easier.

Thane exhales, stepping forward to lay a hand on April's shoulder. He and I need to talk about his little psychic assassination attempt.

"Yeah. The sort of severe disadvantage you really should have factored in, shouldn't you?" He eyes him. "You're the age of a usual recruit, but something tells me you're not a new hand at this. Systems of advantage are the name of the game."

He crouches down, bringing himself more level with Sark.

"Like your little piece of alien technology."

[xiaomei_mei]

April looks up at Thane with a worried (and slightly scared) frown when he puts a hand on her shoulder. It's not that she doesn't want to cling to Julian, but she doesn't want to potentially make things worse for him. And if Thane wants her to back off and she doesn't, that might make him angry, and more likely to hurt Julian.

Not that she really thinks anyone could get out of here unscathed. Not even John.

Regardless, as much as she just wants to cling to Julian, she bites her lip and takes a couple steps back, pulling the jacket tight around her. She's not going to leave, and she's not going to look away from Julian, but she'll stand back for the moment.

[sarkraticmethod]

A careless mistake. It wouldn't have happened if he were working for Irina right now, but he's well aware that his innate fixation with following orders means that he'll follow whoever gives them if they see fit to put a leash on him, whether they're to his competency level or not. Never mind the fact that he handed Torchwood his leash personally and volunteered himself. Well. This is why no one should ever let him go at it alone and that first botched assassination attempt should have taught him a lesson about this. He got involved, he got emotionally attached, and this is exactly what happens when you let that happen

[john_thane]

Thane sighs, dropping into a seated position from his crouch, considering the angles. Oh, he could hurt Sark, deeply and extensively, but he has to consider the effect that would have on his lovely young companion. She might not turn against him, but she might turn away from him, and that leaves him to try to break her again - and, to be honest, a fully broken April is less interesting to him than a moderately broken and compliant April

[sarkraticmethod]

That's a convincing argument if he's ever heard one, and the ensuing panic that rises up within him can't even be remotely hidden, so it's right there now. He's scared. He's desperate. He does not want to die.

"I don't claim to know anything about psychic engineering, Mr. Thane," he says, his voice only moderately shaking. "I was charged with delivering the package and nothing more." It's not entirely a lie- hell if he understands any of this. One more reason he shouldn't have even come. "To be honest, it's all a bit out of my league... Obviously."

And as far as presenting himself as an asset to be left alive for whatever reason, that was probably not the best thing he could possibly have said. He's low on options.

[john_thane]

"Bad business for the underprepared," Thane says. He doesn't need to check his wrist monitor to tell that Sark's not lying - not about knowing nothing about psychic engineering. This kid, in his current state, isn't a threat. The fact that he's remaining as calm as he is stands to his credit - the fact that he's failing at being as calm as he'd obviously like tells Thane he's got some experience with these situations. Enough to anticipate.

It'd be a good position to be in, if he thought the man was useful.

"Why did Torchwood think you were the man for the job?" Aside from the fact that, if Thane's done his job right, the vast majority of them should be about ready to piss their pants at the prospect of going up against him. You know. Details.

[sarkraticmethod]

Sark doesn't drop his gaze, but God how he wants to. He takes a breath and gets his voice to stop shaking and manages to answer completely calmly again, "I volunteered, which was foolish on my part, but given the general skillset of Torchwood's employees, I thought this played more to my strengths than theirs. I thought I would succeed where they would fail." He shifts a bit, uncomfortably. "As my current state of affairs indicates, I was mistaken, as we've already covered."

It doesn't cover the most important part of this... That he wouldn't have even looked Torchwood's way if April hadn't been captured, but he's not about to admit that.

[john_thane]

Thane raises his eyebrows at that, but takes it at face value. "Well, then let's not belabor the point, shall we?" Thane knows he's won. Sark knows Thane's won. They're free to move on at any point. "How did Torchwood get its hands on a mechanical psychic inverter? An intuitive one, at that. Well, that or it wasn't mechanical. I'll take an explanation for that, now."