[Yates and Ben continue to stay in the tunnels.]
<Ben> 'So,' Ben says quietly.  'When you mentioned Eckerd before,
it was because you thought I was fishing for a bribe, wasn't it? 
So let me ask this: what did you possibly think you could have to
offer me?  You have no possessions.'  Ben laughs quietly. 
'Please tell me it wasn't going to be sex.'
* Yates looks bemused at the first bit and then eyes Ben at the
last bit and speaks quietly.  "Oh, you seem a creative man, I'm
sure you could think of something.  Maybe you've got a basement
you want to expand."
* Ben smiles slightly in the darkness.
<Ben> 'Well, let me make this worth your while.  I'll generously
consider what you were considering offering me as part of an
escape plan.  And trust me that I'll make giving me that
information worth your while.'  Ben pauses for a second.  'I'll
tell you why the Vice President of France resigned in 2013.'
* Yates chuckles slightly and then looks at Ben with a slight
note of sorrow for a moment.  "That does sound interesting, but I
doubt you'll know anything about the particular news that
actually concerns."
<Ben> 'What news is that?'
* Yates looks up to Ben.  She's got the slight note of sadness in
her expression, but her face is mostly steely.  "Who killed my
daughter."
* Ben raises an eyebrow.  'Let's hear that story.'
* Ben also takes a step back.
* Ben's hand has never left the remote control of explosive
death.
* Ben is, in short, not letting his guard down.
* Yates sighs slightly.  "If you don't know who my Melissa is..."
She then catches herself. "Was, I doubt you'll know any more. 
Dame Sarah had been," slight note of bitterness, "kind enough to
awaken me and inform me she'd been kidnapped and killed,  but she
told me no more today."
<Ben> (Greg: Is telekinesis hereditary in this universe?)
<Grysar> (Can be)
<Ben> 'Did your daughter share your talents?'
* Yates comments, bitterness still in her tone, "Yes, or maybe
her father's, or at least so I'm told."
<Ben> 'Do you know when she was kidnapped?'
<Yates> I didn't see a calendar.  But I think at least two years
ago.
<Ben> 'That's terrible,' Ben says sympathetically.  'And you were
never told anything else?'
<Yates> Her father died as well, but that was later.  ::Her voice
loses a bit of the steel.::  But he was avenged.  ::You can't
tell if she finds that much of a comfort.::
<Ben> 'That was later?  What happened there?'
* Yates frowns slightly, gritting her teeth for a moment.  "I
don't know.  Apparently it wasn't worth waking me for that news. 
She just told me he died with distinction and those behind the
attack which had killed many other S.A.B. agents had been
arrested or, predominently, killed."
* Ben nods.  'And this information...  About your daughter.  What
would it be worth to you?'
<Ben> (Ben reads War and Peace while waiting for Yates to reply.)
* Yates looks up.  "Would my actual thoughts on a bribe cut it?"
<Ben> 'Sure.'
* Yates speaks quietly.  "I'm quite capable.  The precautions
they've taken to keep me trapped make that obvious.  I feel no
particular ties to my former employers at the moment, so I'd
offer to do several small jobs or one big one."
<Ben> 'Fair enough.  And in return for that little part of your
escape plan, as promised: it turned out he was actually straight
and his gay marriage was a sham to attract homosexual voters.'
* Yates looks vaguely bemused but doesn't say anything.
<Ben> 'Hey, you wanted to know what's been happening while you
were sleeping.'
<Ben> 'Feel anything happening?'
* Yates furrows her brow.  "No, nothing big and earth moving. 
Combat is definately still happening though."
<Ben> 'Fair enough.  So, Emma, let me ask you this...  If you
were somehow to knock me out and so on, where would you go?  You
only have an hour.  Any locations for illegal labs you remember
are probably long abandoned.'
* Ben kicks at the dirt.
* Emma smiles slightly, but speaks sadly.  "I can move fairly
fast.  If I felt safe about other contingencies, I'm sure I'd be
able to contact old friend, or perhaps make a new one.  People
don't always change much over time."
* Ben continues to kick at the dirt.
* Ben smiles slightly.  'And I owe you a piece of information in
return, don't I?'
* Yates looks up, she says evenly.  "Yes."
<Ben> 'Miami won the World Series in 2015.'
<Ben> 'So, here's a stumper.  If you run from the S.A.B., they'll
keep after you, and when they find you again, your old
imprisonment will look positively cosy.  But if you play nice on
this op, maybe your standard of living will improve.  So, why not
play nicely?'
<Yates>  I've been free and hunted before, I'm willing to risk it
again.
<Ben> 'You got caught before.'
<Yates> Perhaps I could use a patron for time.
<Ben> 'You could.  Oh, and in exchange: the Summer Olympics were
held in New Zealand this year.'
* Yates looks right at Ben.  The steel's back in her voice.  "I
would consider it a show of good faith if the next piece of
information you gave me was substantial and told me what you know
about my daughter's murder.
* Ben smiles slightly.
<Ben> 'Are you in a position to make demands, Emma?  Think about
it.'
* Yates keeps the steel.  "It wasn't a demand.  It was a
statement of what I would consider good faith to be."
<Ben> 'Fair enough.'
<Ben> 'But then, you haven't been giving me much either, have
you?  You told me what you knew you'd need to figure out in order
to escape, but not what you actually had planned.  You're a smart
woman, Emma.  If you really have nothing more than what you've
told me up your sleeve, I'm disappointed.'
<Ben> 'You've been working out an escape plan.  I know you have.'
<Yates> I know a fair number of ways of incapacitating you with
the ground, but depending on your reflexes, they all have risk. 
Let your guard down and you're in serious trouble.  But, if I
succeed, I could get control long enough to test just how
effective the backup measures are.  This involves an additional
risk.  At the moment, these are not risks I'm willing to take.
<Ben> 'See, this is my problem.  You're telling me the problems
involved.  I know those.  You're not telling me the solutions.'
<Yates> Encasing your hand in solid rock, might not break you,
but you couldn't move.  Severing nerve connections won't work on
you, apparently, so that leaves out a lot.  I apparently can't
kill you before I'm dead, so if I wanted to trade your life for
mine, I'd probably try to drown you or otherwise cut off your air
supply or take you far down into the earth with me.  Maybe you
can survive that range, but it isn't pleasant.
<Ben> 'See?  Was that so hard?'
* Yates doens't respond.  She just watches Ben for a moment.
<Ben> 'And I've heard that the S.A.B. ran into some telekinetics
a while back.  That might relate to your daughter's
disappearance.'
* Yates nods and looks curious.
<Yates> I take it she wasn't the only victim of these
kidnappings?
<Ben> 'Ah ah.  You know the rules.  Give me something in
exchange.'
* Yates blinks.  "The passage between the service tunnel and our
tunnel was just blocked... by ice.  Might be how they planned to
defend themselves from the flood."
<Ben> 'Break that ice open.'
<Ben> 'But carefully, if you can.  There may be people trapped
inside.'
* Yates apparently focuses at the first command, acting before
Ben concludes the thought.  And then glances up at Ben.  "For
future reference, would you prefer immediate action or waiting to
see if you have any extra orders?"
<Ben> 'How about if, when I'm finished a command, I say 'go!' 
That should work.'
<Ben> 'Wait for that.'
* Yates nods.  "Works."
<Ben> 'Did you do it?'
<Yates> Yes.
<Ben> 'Hmm...  If they were planning to ice themselves off from
the water and that's how they'd survive blowing up the tunnel...'
<Yates> Not a complete solution, obviously.
<Ben> 'No.'
<Ben> 'Something else would be necessary...'
* Yates then smiles slightly.  "So I'm helping."
[And meanwhile you hear a voice from Kurt.  "Can you reinforce?"]
<Ben> 'What's your situation?'
<Kurt> Squad of dead terrorists, but the specialists are proving
harder.
<Ben> 'What sort of hostiles are you facing, in terms of numbers
and abilities?'
<Ben> 'And where the f*** are you?  Are you here invisible?'  Ben
looks around.
<Kurt> Bottom of the tunnel.  Didn't want to sneak up on you.
<Grysar> (Seems plausible acoustic wise)
[Yates barrier is still there, for the record, blocking easy
view.]
<Kurt> Ice user, some sort of teleporter, stone giant.
<Ben> 'There's supposed to be a mind controller here somewhere,
according to the briefing.  I'm afraid that presents a problem.'
* Ben gives Yates a look that tries to indicate that he's busy
talking with Kurt and she should hold on a second.
* Yates nods.
<Kurt> I'll get back to the fight.  We could use the help if you
can.
<Ben> 'I don't want to risk bringing Yates into range of a mind
controller.'
<Ben> 'If she gets controlled, that would be unfortunate.  I'd
have to blow her up, and then we can't stop them from bringing
the house down.'
<Yates> I'm actually rather good at resisting any mind control
that tries to access my powers.
<Ben> 'And what if it makes you take a jog away from me?'
<Ben> 'Or what if it makes me take a jog away from you?  Or push
the button?'
<Ben> 'Hell, what if it tries to take me over, and that messes up
my brain waves enough to trigger that failsafe?'
* Yates shrugs, she's got a slight grin.  "Just trying to be
helpful."
<Ben> 'We need a better plan,' Ben says loudly to Kurt.
[Kurt isn't responding at the moment.]
<Ben> 'Yates, can you detect that... Stone Giant Kurt mentioned?'
<Yates> Well, just know that I'm committed, and willing to take
the risk, hopefully for better conditions.  I'm willing to
entrust my safety to you, as you'll likely die if this goes bad,
but we're both fine if it doesn't.
[She put an ever so slight emphasis on die.]
* Yates nods.  "To some degree, by the tunnel entrance."
<Ben> 'Can you, say, drop a column of rock onto him and smash him
thin as a pancake?'
<Yates> I can try, might hit anyone nearby.  And he seems able to
phase through rock, but I might be able to surprise him.
<Ben> 'What do you want to do?' Ben asks.
<Yates> Give me discretion to act, and it will work out.  I'll
tell you everything I'm doing.
<Ben> 'If you get out of line, you're dead.  Remember that.  You
need to get my approval every step of the way, understand?'
<Ben> 'You say you want to help, but how can I trust you?'
<Yates> Would Dame Sarah take these many precautions if I was
stupid?  Only fools betray pointlessly.
<Ben> 'Fine.  But say I do let you help out on this whole
anti-terrorist mission.  What were you planning to do?  You just
figure you can take all the opposition forces out all by yourself
and that's the end of that?'
<Yates> Want me to try for the stone guy?  I can do a great deal
if you trust me.
<Ben> (These are the times that try men's souls.)
* Ben coughs.  'You didn't answer my question.  And I don't trust
you any more than I have to.  So explain to me what your damn
plan is, or you stay right here and miss out on all the action.'
<Yates> I'll kill the stone guy from a distance; I can sink the
rest of the cars; we can then leisurely kill off the survivors
one at a time.  I can try to kill the stone one right now even to
show good faith.
<Ben> 'It's too risky.  Too many unknown factors.'
* Yates frowns.  "I'm open to suggestions."
* Ben smiles slightly.
<Ben> 'Well, Emma, it would help if I had a fuller understanding
of your powers, for starters.  That'd help us come up with a plan
that's reliable.'
<Yates> I can control what I'm connected to.  That control can
break when switching types of materials, so from here lots of
earth.
* Ben steps forward.
<Yates> And if we need to hold anyone temporarily I can easily do
that, without crushing more than a little.
<Ben> 'Glad to hear it.'
* Ben looks at her quizzically.
<Ben> 'Emma?  You're going to be a good girl and forget every
single thing you've learned from me or told me down here, okay?'
<Ben> 'Trust me, it's for your own good,' Ben adds meaningfully.
* Yates looks confused for a moment.
* Yates looks at Ben.  "Wait, what's for my own good?"  Definite
tone of suspicion in her voice.
<Ben> 'Staying here with me.'  Ben raises an eyebrow.  'Didn't
you hear me the first time?'
<Ben> 'I know it's boring, but what can you do?'
* Yates just stands there quietly for now.
[Break]