[semi-open]

[idkmybffbloodwing]

CHARACTERS: Mordecai, Lilith, Jack, Raven, Edgeworth, Michelle, Soysauce
LOCATION: Lilith's room, then elsewhere
WARNINGS: Language, violence, idk
SUMMARY: Jump 14 brought in Handsome Jack. The Vault Hunters want him dead. Jack wants them dead. There might be a problem here.
NOTES: Backdated to shortly after the jump. See this OOC post if you wish to join in, particularly if your character is a member of SEC.

Jack.

Mordecai had never expected to see that masked bastard again. Not after everything he and Lilith and the others had all gone through to kill him. Sure, he'd heard of the dead turning up alive again onboard the Tranquility, but he hadn't exactly been prepared to see a post from Jack turn up on the network. And trying to play the role of the innocent victim, too - though he couldn't imagine many would fall for that.

Still, it wasn't all bad, Jack's appearance. The man was a tyrant, yes, and profited off the exploitation of Pandora, wanted its residents dead, and to top it off, had personally wronged Mordecai a few times too many. His having turned up here meant one thing, though. It gave him a chance to kill Jack himself. To seek his own revenge. Lilith had had her turn, and she'd deserved her moment of victory, and it was a shame it hadn't lasted. Mordecai would make it stick.

Neither he nor Lilith had replied to Jack's message, of course. Hopefully nobody would blow their cover while they scrambled to organize. He wasn't worried about giving him a fair fight, because Jack had lost that opportunity to play fair a long time ago. If he and Lilith could track him down and kill him before the asshole ever knew they were there, it was all the better.

Mordecai was alone, for the first time in a long time - his bird was too young and too inexperienced to be anything more than another tool for Jack to use against him. He wasn't going to let anything like that happen again. Rather than let the bird bore itself in his room and start shredding things, he'd dropped him off with Jaye before heading to Lilith's room. He tapped a brief knock at her door, and waited.

Comments

[bibliophilism]

A paper blade passed right through Mordecai's gun as it glowed with blue light and...disintegrated? Vanished? For one moment, Michelle found herself blinking and gaping at the spot where the gun had been. It definitely wasn't the work of her magic. But she had no time to wonder about that, because Mordecai was still moving. She crouched down beside her briefcase and pulled out what looked like a long ribbon of paper.

This wasn't going to be easy. But that was why she always had her supply of ammunition.

"I said, that's enough!" Michelle gripped the chain of interlocking sheets in one hand and hurled the other end toward Mordecai's ankle. The paper wound around it like a snake, and Michelle pulled with both hands to trip him up.

[idkmybffbloodwing]

He fell with a thud, and managed to avoid impaling himself by rolling away from the blade. He tried to kick the paper off, but it wasn't giving up, apparently, and he snarled at the girl on the other end.

"Damnit, woman, lemme go! If you're tryin' to help people here, tie up that asshole with the mask, not me!" he spat, as he sat up and tried to tear the paper off his leg with his free hand.

[bibliophilism]

"Oh, no, I think he's already tied up enough," Michelle quipped, managing to smile triumphantly (to say her smile was predatory would be inappropriate, as it was still, in more ways than one, rather like her normal sunny smiles) as she glanced briefly at Soysauce keeping Jack at bay.

With one hand still on the paper chain binding Mordecai's ankle, she gestured toward her open briefcase. Two more long, paper chains, the size and thickness of ropes used on ships, sprang from within and blazed white trails toward him, toward his already bound ankle and toward the hand ripping through the paper.

[idkmybffbloodwing]

Freeing himself wasn't impossible, but it was a real pain, and was made much easier when Lilith came to free him. The flames from her phasing reflected off his shield, which shimmered briefly in the air around him, and burned the paper in his immediate vicinity. He immediately sprung to his feet and held out a palm toward Michelle.

"If you're not gonna restrain him, then back off, chica. We're just tryin' to finish something we thought was already over," he said as he glanced in Jack's direction. He could get his gun back out, sure, but security was gonna make it pretty damn hard to shoot - and drawing attention to himself and off of Jack was just as dangerous unless Lilith could take advantage of it as well.

[bibliophilism]

Michelle gasped, dropping her ribbons of paper. She had felt the heat, and had seen the beginnings of fire touch what were supposed to be Mordecai's bindings. Her paper chains were being burned, and she couldn't do anything to stop it. Paper was paper, in the end, and she could not erase its natural weaknesses. Well, technically she could try and arrest the combustion process somehow, but it would use up time she could be spending on making sure Mordecai and the others made no more trouble.

She stood up from where she had been crouching beside her briefcase, using her foot to close it and keep the rest of her paper safe in case the other girl - yes, Michelle had seen Lilith reappear with flaming wings in passing and instantly realized where the fire had come from - tried any more of her tricks.

It didn't help that Michelle was even wearing her paper dress today. Luckily, only the paper chains suffered. When Mordecai extended his hand toward her, she blinked in surprise but made no further moves.

"Mr. Soysauce will restrain him," she pointed out calmly. "We just don't want any more trouble. Innocent people could get hurt."

[idkmybffbloodwing]

"No, no, innocent people are gonna get hurt if we leave that man alive," he insisted. "Lock him up, or let us solve this ourselves, but believe me, a bullet through his head's the best way to solve the problem."

[bibliophilism]

Michelle shook her head, her expression serious but a touch softer than before. She had often taken matters into her own hands, but as much as possible, she tried not to actually kill. "No," she objected, shaking her head. "Please, let us help you." She gestured to herself.

"Just come with us quietly. We can talk about it then."

[idkmybffbloodwing]

As long as she wasn't attacking him anymore, he was going to keep more of his attention on Jack, because he knew that asshole would shoot them all if he thought he could get away with it. He tried to catch Lilith's eye, too, and try to somehow convey the idea he'd come up with, but she had two guards to deal with, and that was keeping her plenty occupied. If only she'd gotten telepathy like Angel had.

"Look, I'm not goin' anywhere until someone's got Jack bound an' gagged an' ready to be shoved out the airlock, or until you leave us all alone. We don't need your help with this."

[bibliophilism]

Mordecai was not the only one keeping an eye on Jack. In fact, Michelle was keeping her eyes trained on everyone else around them. If anyone tried anything, she could easily pull another paper bow and a supply of arrows from her sleeves. Still, despite her wariness and her concern, her movements and stance were both relaxed.

"We'll take care of him. We won't let him get away, but we want to hear your and her side of the story." "Her" meaning Lilith, of course. "Trust us. We're from security; it's our job to help."

[idkmybffbloodwing]

"Trust you," he repeated derisively, and shook his head. "That's a tall order." As if being part of a self-elected security team made her or anyone else on it somehow automatically a figure of authority? "I already told you how this is gonna work. You get him handcuffed, you take his weapons away, an' I'll tell you whatever you need to know about him." Right after he shot Jack in the face, preferably.

[bibliophilism]

"We will restrain him and take his weapons away." Michelle tilted her head toward Jack and Soysauce's general direction. "Why wouldn't we? We've seen what he's done, but killing him or hurting him, or endangering others on the ship won't solve the problem."

She bit her lip. As much as possible, she didn't want to use force or restraint. It was just that a moment ago, she and her colleagues had to intervene, and intervene fast.

"...I have an idea. We'll leave last. I'll protect you, and you can watch Mr. Jack be taken away before we follow. And I won't handcuff you or anything."

[idkmybffbloodwing]

"I don't need protecting," he grumbled. "If you wanna get him outta here without him getting shot, you damn well better do it immediately." And that was the last warning he intended to give her.