Before Kolath gets very far from the Men in Black, Hollis drops in on him. Literally. From the sky.

She's not alone, she has what appears to be a prisoner, a kandar male terrified by transported through their air against his will.

It's none other than Guruinath.

The men in black immediately recognise him. Two of them instinctively reach for their lightning wands.

Kolath

Startled, the tall Kandar looked from Hollis, up to the sky and then back to her and her prisoner.

"Hollis... were you aboard the airship?"

Hollis

[ooc: been out since Monday and without internet access in a hospital. See Members Roundtable for an explanation. I am SOOOO sorry! I am back and well now.]

"You betcha," Hollis said. She tossed the lightning wand to Kolath.

"When I was nosing around the basements of the human qaarter where we were supposed to be checking things out, I ran into a little trouble. *This* character -- you recognize Guirunath -- decided to take me prisoner and interrogate me.

"That didn't work out so well for him, and when I was making my getaway, I caught him taking potshots at the Academy with some sort of sky weapon. Well, I busted up the control room and most of the controllers and grabbed him while I made my getaway. I figured you would want to question him. He doesn't think much of the legion, but I guess you already know that."

Kolath

He looked surprised, but made a neat catch of the wand she tossed him.

"I think not too much of him, either, Hollis," he said, frowning at Guruinath.

"If I had known you were aboard the airship, Little One... no, I was about to equivocate. I would've shot it down even if I had known you were aboard, but..." he smiled slightly.

"I would at least have winced when I did it."

Kolath leaned in close to Guruinath.

"I think you should make an appearance at Legion headquarters."

Guruinath ignores Hollis and Kolath, and attracts the attention of the Men In Black, for whom he is the commanding officer.

"You witness what happened", he says, in commanding voice, "I had to take decisive action to rid the city of a menace contained within the Academy of the Mind. This unhinged and unstable Legionnaire took it upon himself to disrupt the operation, destroyed an irreplaceable artefact in the process".

Hollis

"Maybe his landing was a little too soft," Hollis muttered to Kolath. "I could do it again, only from higher up." She made a fall-and-hard- landing gesture with sound effects. "Phsssst-WHACK! No problem.

"You woulda shot me down *anyway*?" She punched him on the arm. "That's cold. But I forgive you, given what he as doing to the Academy."

Kolath

He pointed the wand toward the men in black.

"Keep your distance. This man is no longer your commander and is being held on suspicion of being a traitor to the city."

He glanced at Hollis.

"It is a matter of priorities," he said, but there was a glint of humor in his eyes.

"Let us take Guruinath to Legion headquarters. He needs to be interrogated to find out whether his is the sole wild card or if he is a member of a faction which needs to be sought out."

Hollis

"The Academy might have an interest in that process," Hollis said. "Not so sure I trust them to tell us the truth, though."

Kolath

"We might end up with the Academy, Little One, but I have my responsibilities and must report in to my superior officers."

He glanced at the men in black and then pointed the wand at Guruinath.

"You, you come with us," he said and gestured in the direction of Legion Headquarters.

"Watch them," he said to Hollis as he started off with his prisoner and gestured back toward the MiBs.

[ooc: how many MIB here?]

"Who, me?" Hollis said. "You sure?"

She gave the MIB the once over, then shrugged and cracked her knuckles. "Everyone pile your wands right over there. You can have them back when you leave. If you don't d it, you'll learn how it feels to drop from five hundred feet up."

She singled out one of them to lift in a giant swoop to twenty feet then drop him, only to catch him just before he hit and settle him back with the others.

"Anyone else want to try their luck?"

Kolath

He paused and turned, gesturing for Hollis to follow him.

"Oh, I didn't mean for you to stay here and watch them. Just follow me and watch them as we go." He smiled and gave her a quick wink.

"Cover my rear."

The Karazthani clearly decide that whatever loyalty they might have had towards, he's not worth dying for.

Hollis leaves one of them a quivering wreck. Another manages to keep his cool, and talks agitatedly to someone on a Karazthan communicator. Hollis can't make out what he's saying, apart from the odd word, like "psychotic".

Hollis

Hollis broke out her best Cheshire Cat grin as she backed up he stairs after Kolath and his new prisoner, keeping the MIB in view until they were no longer a threat.

Once they were safe, she closed whatever door behind them was vailable, and waited for further information.

Kolath

He gave the guard at the entrance of the Legion Headquarters the message that he was there to report to his superior officer and then turned back to Hollis, still keeping Guruinath in view out of the corner of his eye.

"I made a good shot... on the ship, don't you think?"

Hollis

"Looked good from the inside," Hollis said. "What do you think he was trying to do with the ship's weapon? It looked like he was shooting at the Academy ..."

Kolath

"That was my impression, also," he said.

"I had to stop him and, with your help as usual, Hollis, I did."

"You'll never get away with this, human", Guruinath snarls, "You cannot just arrest me. I am head of Security! This is an act of war!".

Kolath

"Well, if I cannot arrest you," he said, extending the wand toward Guruinath, "perhaps I should just eliminate you for the good of the state."

"Wait!" Hollis backed away a safe distance.

"All right, let it rip. I want to watch, I just don't want to get eyeball juice all over me when his explode."

Kolath

He grinned tightly at Hollis' quip, but he had no intention of killing Guruinath unless compelled to.

"Well, what is it to be, Guruinath? The human did not arrest you. I did. But she did rather easily bring you in so I could do it."

"You won't get away with this!", Guriunath says, "Arresting a high guildmaster, destroying the airship, with Guardians-know how many casualties on the ground".

It's as though he still has hopes of the cavalry coming to rescue him at the last minute.

Kolath

"You could well be right, Guruinath," he said with a slight shrug of his patrician shoulders, "but neither did you get away with your nefarious plans."

"And that, I think, is at worst a reasonable exchange."

Hollis

"UNless you cooperate, how do you think this is going to go?" Hollis asked.

She did not for one minute believe that the Legion practiced such interrogations, but she knew from personal experience that Guruinath did, which meant he wouldn't believe that others didn't.

"You're on the wrong end of the interrogation this time. Either you coopetate, or you'll die during the experience, after naming whomever we want as co-conspiraotrs and accepting total blame for all the deaths yourself.

"On the other hand, if you *do* cooperate, you can disappear to start a new life. Probably with a little juice in the pocket as well, and your name will never be associated with the wntire attempted coup and subsequent bloodbath wiping out your people."

She didn't think Kolath did that, *either*, but again Guruinath probably did. Etc. Etc.

Kolath

Kolath's eyebrows lowered in disapproval at what Hollis was threatening, but he held his tongue. Perhaps it was one of those times when the end justified the means although he didn't normally approve of such a justification for prevarication.

Guruinath certainly deserved worse than he was likely to receive in retribution for his crimes.

"Make up your mind, Guruinath. Your time is running out."

He fixes Kolath with a hard stare from his piercing purple eyes.

"I'll cooperate", he says, "A full and fair enquiry will exonerate me of all charges. You accusations are based on heresay and supposition. There was a nest of evil within the Academy of the Mind that needed to be rooted out. I trust you have informed the dome that I am being held here against my will?".