(Untitled)

[stilljustandrew]

*Okay. There's starting to be a plan, now. Or at least the first outlines of one, and some ideas as to fleshing them out

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[river_meimei]

Here's someone he's seen before a time or two.

Currently, she's drifting past his table, her concentration firmly fixed on the bowl of spice-coated peanuts in her hands.

[river_meimei]

River's dark-eyed gaze on him is, for a moment, sharp and bright and penetrating.

And then she smiles, and it's small and incongruously sweet, and the impression is gone.

"Got a plan."

[stilljustandrew]

Not much of one yet, but ... yeah. It's gonna have to be a good one.

We've got maybe a day's breathing room left.

[river_meimei]

There's that fingertwirl again.

River's sober, serious and listening -- even if what she's listening to may not be just the spoken conversation.

[stilljustandrew]

*A small, steadying breath.*

They're going to use the Scythe in a death-spell that'll kill almost every Slayer in the world. Just leave theirs alive.

There's a component they need to make the spell work, and the one they had got destroyed, and we have maybe that long before they can possibly have gotten another.

We're trying to track deliveries of it, but ... *He shakes his head.*

[river_meimei]

River's eyes have narrowed fractionally.

"Interruption of the supply chain is unfeasible. The urban architecture precludes effective siege."

"We'll have to tunnel under the walls."

[stilljustandrew]

*He blinks at her, startled.*

Yeah. -- Well, yeah about the siege not being workable.

Tunneling under the walls probably won't be either, though, they'll have alarm systems. Both electronic and mystical.

[river_meimei]

"Dig deep," River says.

To the air; it's possible that this is directed towards herself, or is meant as metaphorical commentary.

Her eyes snap back to Andrew. "Tactical analysis."

[stilljustandrew]

Yeah.

*A beat.*

... what about it?

[river_meimei]

River gives him a dry, impatient look. If Andrew knew Simon or Gabriel Tam better, he might find that expression very familiar.

"Your cue."

[stilljustandrew]

-- oh, you're asking for a tactical analysis?

*He seems incongruously cheered by the idea.*

[river_meimei]

And this dry look is eerily reminiscent of one of Roland's, instead.

"Increase the data spread."

[stilljustandrew]

Well -- it's a high-rise office building. Last we heard, they were keeping it on the twelfth floor. That's probably changed.

Their defenses are going to include both human and demon security guards, plus a whole bunch of brainwashed Slayers, plus magic. We still need to get the details.

And that's assuming they don't bring in local law enforcement, which, no.

[river_meimei]

"Con your vantage," River says softly.

Thoughtfully.

"We'll have to penetrate the defensive perimeter. Stealth is the most efficient approach, considering available resources."

[stilljustandrew]

... Well, there's two ways to get into someplace you're not supposed to be, by stealth.

Either make it so nobody sees you, or make it so anybody who sees you thinks you're supposed to be there.

[river_meimei]

"Are you?"

(We applied the cortical electrodes and were unable to get a neural response)

Beat.

"They listen."