A rescue plot

[splendid_roman]

Who| Ian and anyone involved in:
What| Plotting Ian G's rescue
Where| Around the tribute tower
When| Right after Ian G's plea (during the mini-arena)
Warnings/Notes| This is the IC plotting post. The OOC plotting is here, but you can still be involved even if you haven't volunteered there. Anyone who wants to speak to Ian directly about the rescue can do so here, and also speak to each other too. You don't have to participate in the IC plotting in order to go on the rescue.


Ian saw the plea on the televisions - it was hard not to, even though he wasn't particularly keen on watching people kill each other in another arena. It had made his blood run cold and for a minute all he could do was stand looking at the television with his mouth open, even though it was now showing commercials.

And then he swore. Which was not something he did often, but the situation definitely called for it. His small rebellion had got someone else into trouble, which was something he hadn't anticipated and definitely not something he'd wanted. He had to do something before they tortured Ian.

There was one clear course of action - rescue. They'd have taken Ian to the same place they'd taken him and he knew where that was. And the arena going on was a good distraction - he had to move fast. He went around the tribute tower looking for tools he could use as weapons, but wouldn't be spotted as weapons.

Comments

[hit_girl_mindy]

Mindy darkened his door, and she did not look happy. She'd happily been catching up on some well needed rest when the message had come in, and that had gotten her out of bed but quick. Ian was a good guy, and OTHER Ian had been far too stubborn to let the Capitol have its way. Looked like they were going to get him to move another way.

And if they could do that to IAN, Mindy didn't to think who else they could do that to next.

"You heard. So did I. What do we do?"

i hope this is ok!!

[confidentially]

She might've seemed like an odd choice to aid with the rescue mission, but she was taking the part seriously. An innocent kid could get hurt on account of Ian C.'s stupidity. Hadn't she warned him about all that? It was too late to say 'I told you so' now.

Jessica knew it was risky to get involved. She'd already gotten into trouble for her small acts of rebellion and it would be stupid to press her luck with the Capitol again, but she liked her Ian. More than that, however, was the promise she'd made to Eponine to try and protect the other Ian. With the younger man in dangerous hands, Jessica knew it was time to act. She'd rushed across the suite to Ian's room too, somehow arriving behind Mindy.

"We don't do anything stupid, first off. Whatever happens has the potential to explode right in our faces." She leveled a look at Ian.

Totes fine!

[hit_girl_mindy]

That was a good start. Mindy had seen bits and pieces of Jessica and had even come across some old tapes. Based on that...Jessica was not someone who had allowed the killing part of the Arena to touch her. She did not respect that. She instead had used her wiles and favors to win. She liked that even less. Mindy had figured, then, that the two of them would simply be better off not interacting with each other, less Mindy say some rather unsavory things.

Azula's arrogance, after all, was barely tolerable.

Still, at least she was smart enough to know they need not get insane. Mindy knew she couldn't go into this the way she wanted, not that she was a mentor. They needed a plan.

"Right. So let's think about how we cover our tracks. Ian?"

[splendid_roman]

"Discussing anything out in the open is a terrible idea," Ian said, looking between the two of them. He agreed with them both, but didn't dare say so after what they'd just heard. "I don't want you both to get into trouble." He looked between them and then set off across the suite, heading for where there were more people, so they wouldn't be overheard. He'd happily do this on his own, but if they wanted to help he wouldn't complain, as long as they did cover their tracks.

[confidentially]

Jessica's lips pursed into a half smile as she followed Ian into the suite proper. As his mentor, she'd have good reason to speak with him openly. Mindy could use that excuse, too. They just needed to be careful about being too loud. Even Avoxes could be dangerous in this situation.

"What are you thinking?" She was asking Ian, but was curious about Mindy as well. "Do we go get him, or...?"

It felt strange, hearing those words whispered from her own mouth. But sitting around and playing stupid sucked. It was tiresome and she knew it was wrong for Ian G. to be punished like that, even if it was pure Capitol M.O.

[hit_girl_mindy]

Mindy was similarly trying to figure out how they could do this without all of them getting into trouble. The three of them, Jessica and herself in particular, were well known. If they did this mission in defiance to the Capitol, they could wind up pretty screwed.

"We're going to have to go at this carefully, as the mentors. If we're found, we'll just say we didn't know what he was doing. It's possible that we missed the broadcast, right?"

She wasn't going to bother blaming Ian. He probably felt bad enough as it was.

[splendid_roman]

Ian nodded. "This is my fault, I'll take the blame if anyone gets caught." He didn't want anyone else getting into trouble. He would have quite happily dealt with this on his own, but if people were offering to help he wasn't necessarily going to turn them away.

"I think I know where he's being held," he said, quieter. The background on the broadcast had looked the same as where he'd been held. "I just need to get there, break in, then break him out." It sounded simple when he put it like that.

[confidentially]

She wanted to warn Ian that they would all face punishment regardless, but she had the sense to realize that anything she said would likely fall on deaf ears. So instead, she focused on the rescue itself.

"What is that place?" She hadn't recognized it offhand. "Do you know the layout and stuff?'

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Yeah," Mindy agreed. "If you really want to break him in and out, without oversimplifying it, we need a plan. We need a look out, a cracker, a diversion, all that shit. This is the Capitol we're talking about."

She already had a pencil and paper out to sketch blueprints.

[splendid_roman]

"Not exactly," he replied to Jessica. "But I know where it is." He knew the location and he'd seen a room. And the path to the room. It would have to be enough.

"We have a diversion," he pointed out, "the arena. Everyone's busy watching that. But I don't think we should write anything down," he added, looking at Mindy's pencil and paper. Anything not recorded could be denied, but if something written down fell into the wrong hands it could be disastrous.

"Perhaps we should start with a group of people," he said, thinking on his feet. Some more time to plan would be good, but he didn't want Ian left in there too long. "Then everyone splits off in different directions at different times. Even if the capitol is suspicious, they can't follow everyone." Which would mean he was better as a diversion, since he'd be most suspicious, but he could live with not personally rescuing Ian as long as someone did.

is it all right if I jump in here? If not, PM me and I'll start a new thread

[youbarium]

The door to the District 3 rooms opened, and a man with a beautiful lab coat and not-so-beautiful hair was framed in the doorway.

"Ian?" Carlos said, walking in. "Are you in here? I need to -- oh."

The dark looks, the serious faces, the quiet conversation, it all told Carlos that he had just interrupted a private conversation. He could make a very reasonable, educated guess about what they were discussing -- what else could it be?

Carlos cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. It's just that -- I just saw something, something I'd like to talk with you about, Ian."

of course!

[confidentially]

Jessica's eyes narrowed at the intrusion, not because she didn't welcome the help, but because she found herself miffed at no longer being the most attractive person in their collective.

"If it's about that unscheduled commercial break, you've come to the right place." She hoped Carlos would been quick enough to catch her meaning.

Re: of course!

[hit_girl_mindy]

"We need more of a diversion than that. Think about it, they specifically showed it during the broadcast. You really think they did that so you could just stew in your own juices? I think they're expecting you to do something, and are planning accordingly. If you're the diversion, go big. Next question is naturally, what should we expect to see there?"

She paused when the man came in and said no more. Better to wait and see what we wanted, just in case.

[gardienne]

"YOU!" Eponine ran straight at Ian, her hands raised as if to slap him. "Monsieur, what have you DONE? What have they done to Ian? Where is he? You bring him out RIGHT NOW. You go and get him. YOU! You - you EURGH!" She stamped her foot on the ground.

"We need to go and get him. RIGHT NOW! I shan't have my friend in prison, not Ian. He is so good, and this is ALL YOUR FAULT."

[hit_girl_mindy]

Mindy was here, and she was glad that she was too: Eponine going into full on cat mode was not helpful to anyone, least of all them.

"Eponine, shut up." Mindy's voice was cool, but in command. "This shit isn't going to accomplish anything. This isn't even his fault, the Capitol just wanted to punish him for not playing their game. Ian can't go and get him either, you know that."

And here, she lowered her voice, and her expression was clearly trying to tell Eponine more than she could say. "You should cool off. Come on, we can talk about it away from here, ok? Then you can scream all you want."

[gardienne]

Actually, Mindy quite took the wind out of Eponine's sails and she stared at the younger girl in utter befuddlement.

"They've taken Ian. Do you know what they do? They kill you. BAM. Executed, like that. Mademoiselle, believe me, they will kill him. I can't lose him. I cannot. He's my friend. He's my only friend - he's stuck by me all through - please, please we have to do something now. We have to. We -Oh God, if they hurt him... I don't care any more. He's a good boy. So good - he's never even killed"

But she let Mindy escort her out to wherever the kid thought was safe so that she could explain herself. Eponine was physically shaking. They could NOT hurt Ian. They just couldn't. She couldn't even look at Ian C right now, so she kept her eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

[hit_girl_mindy]

Mindy led her out of the room. They were headed toward the park, to look like they were going to talk, which they were, of course.

"Ian feel shitty as it is. You know why they're doing this, don't you? He didn't want to kill anyone, just like you, just like other Ian. Difference is, he wills himself to die. The Capitol wants to make an example out of him, so what's the best way to do that? By fucking with someone else who has nothing to do with it, and a kid. What do you think is going through this Ian's mind?"

The answer: it didn't matter.

"But no one is letting it happen. We're going to get into a shitload of trouble, but of course we know that. We're planning to get him out."

[gardienne]

"How?" Eponine kept her voice low, breathed deep, did her best to control herself.

"What are we going to do?" Because of course she was coming. She was fast, she was skinny enough to slink through tight spaces and she was really good at pickpocketing. And he was her friend. She was going.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"We'll decide that here, when they get here. That was why everyone was going their separate ways. The tower is not a safe place to talk about what we're doing. But there's a few of us. That girl Jessica. The scientist dude. Ian, obviously. We already had to talk him out of stupidly going himself. This way, at least, there's a chance."

Before they would inevitably get fucked up, of course.

"But we have to be inconspicuous. So, you know, we can putter around. Go on a see saw or some shit. It'll look even less awkward since I'm with you. I'm small enough to want to do this still."

[gardienne]

"What's a see saw?" Eponine looked around at the play equipment in bewilderment. This was moving too fast for the poor girl to keep up. But then her eyes lighted on the swings, and she at least knew what they were and how to work them.

"Oh! Mighten we go on the swings?" She asked in childish delight. So much for Mindy being young enough to want to play.

When Eponine was settled, and rocking to and from slowly on her seat, she asked, "Jessica? The mentor? She wishes to help us?" Jessica was slowly creeping up in Eponine's humble opinion of her.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"It's this piece of wood people sit on the opposite ends of, and you take turns going up and down."

Apparently, Eponine had already found something that she liked. Not that Mindy minded: she had always liked the swings.

Mindy sat in one next to her, kicking her legs up and soaring a little higher. "Yeah. Surprising huh? I figure she'd be to busy primping herself or something."

[splendid_roman]

Ian approached the swings cautiously, unsure whether Eponine was still angry at him. It wasn't as if he could refute anything she'd said. "I won't let them hurt him," he said, trying to look casual, leaning against the frame of the swings.

[gardienne]

Eponine slowed to a stop.

"Sir, then you are too late. They will have already hurt him." She got off the swing so she could stand face to face with Ian.

"Don't you see? You know - do you remember I tried to run away when we went to District Three? Sir, I was made to travel home with the Peacekeepers, arrested, you know? In chains and the like - I did not sit or lie the whole time. And you know what they told me? They say, 'Eponine, you will die. And the ones you love will die.' And when we get back here, well, what they do to me is unimportant, Sir, but they hurt Madame Eva, and they have killed Monsieur Aunamee, and next it will be Ian because he is all I have left, and I can't stand it. I can't - Sir, I have been so good, you understand, so good. I have done as they wished. And now Ian shall be hurt because of you, and now perhaps for me as well, and Sir, I shan't forgive you. "

She spat at Ian's feet, and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. "Mademoiselle, what is it that we shall do? What is your plan?"

[hit_girl_mindy]

Mindy had her palm to her face. She didn't know what was more dumb: Ian talking to an obviously pissed off Eponine, who was definitely right that young Ian was being hurt, or Eponine for her stupid ass diatribe that was helping no one. Christ, when she had given Kick Ass his DESERVED guilt trip, she was at least brief about it. That was how you twisted the knife. Amateur.

"Right. So that happened. Moving on: first thing we need is all the people we have, right? So we can get an idea of what skills we have. Then, Ian, you can give us an idea of what we're facing. We have to start getting an idea of what we're going to be dealing with so we know what to bring. After that, we should decide when we're all gonna go, when to meet, so we're coordinated. Sound good?"

[splendid_roman]

Ian had already been feeling guilty, but now he looked it too. He wanted to tell Eponine that he was sure Ian hadn't been hurt yet, but that was mainly because he was doing his best to believe it himself.

But Mindy was right - they should move on and deal with getting Ian out of this situation. Nothing he could say to Eponine was going to make much difference and he could hardly blame her for not forgiving him, because he was hard pressed to forgive himself.

"Let's go and speak to Carlos." He nodded his head in Carlos's direction. "I'll tell you all at once." And having more people around might make Eponine less inclined to tell him what she thought of him.