World Tree MUSH

    Early morning, outskirts of Rome, Italy, year 1503.

    "Looks like they've finished the surround." mentions the young woman to a much older man, the hooded figure dwarfed by the mountain. The man's gruff response is a chuckle. "A target rich environment, wouldn't you say?"

    Aquila looks up, cracking a half-smile at the use of her own terminology, but she quickly goes back to work on her holoscreen. "I am sending out a general call for our offworld allies. The Brotherhood is also sending reinforcements, but they may not make it in time for the battle to begin... we will have to hold them as long as possible." the shinki reports, finishing her typing, then wiping the screen away as she stands and summons her armour and equipment.

    The arrayed forces around the fortified keep don't have any siege weaponry, but are well supplied and have all angles covered, so no resupply can sneak past them... a speaker steps forward from the line, riding on a horse with full platemail, glimmering an off-gold hue with little tracelines of pale cyan. "Bartolemeo, surrender, you are surrounded, there is no help coming, it is only a matter of time."

    The mountain of a man laughs, and spits over the side of the wall. "You're all talk, Medici. Come up here and say that to my face and we'll see who walks away!" He then gestures, and a volley of arrows launch over the wall from the archers arrayed behind it, landing around the mounted man, but strangely none of them even come close to hitting him, looking to be turned aside subtly as they arc downward.

    "So be it, I will enjoy taking your head."

Misaki didn't mean to come to Rome, any Rome. She was just going back home after exploring when the Vine she knew would take her home placed her elsewhere "Huh, that's weird." She mutters to herself, and sees the situation. She remains on the outskirts, trying to get a better clue as to what's going on.

    Fortunately Josuke has one of those Shinki as well! Which means he's likely to get the call as well, as Roberta the Bright Feather has the comms to pick that up. And someone needs help, so, off he goes! Also fortunately, Josuke gives less than half a deepfried crap about law, so some rich jackass is going to lose their big, heavy, expensive, American motorcycle.

    And so, in short order, a terrible roar can be heard slowly approaching the battlefield, raising dust as something big approaches. That... would be Josuke on that big American motorcycle!

    "Comin' through!" Josuke probably is unheard over the roar of the engine, but nonetheless probably still makes for an imposing sight, a large fellow with a poofy hairdo, bearing down on the gathered soldiers in a massive, roaring machine.

    Roberta's far enough overhead that she can stay mostly out of the way of the battle, but can also see what's going on and report it -- not only to Josuke, but to Aquila as well, since she'll send out electronic 'feelers' to let any friendly electronic contacts know she's in the area.

    Somewhere in the reaches of space, a battered silver gunship putters between the stars. The old ship is practically an antique, but she flies and she flies well enough for the man piloting it.
    "Okay kid, just another jump and we'll meet up with the Rogue Shadow and you get to see auntie Juno again." The Mandalorian says, head turning to glance over his shoulder at the small green babbling child in the passenger seat behind him.
    Right up until a panel begins to blink.
    "Hm?"
    Flicking a few buttons the panel lights up, displaying a familiar style of message from a well-known sender.
    "Mmm. Looks like that's going on hold. We're making a side trip, kiddo." Mando says, much to the curious looks he gets from the foundling as he flips several more switches and adjusts his course, making the jump to lightspeed that launches the Razor Crest through a nearby vine.
    It's not long before the gunship comes streaking down from orbit, blazing red as it enters the atmosphere with the bright fiery contrails of a shooting star...
    And then he keys up the laser cannons.
    With a shrill whine they come to life, powering on before a salvo of scarlet beams of pure heat and light start firing into the masses of the army surrounding the fortress.
    "Aquila. Tell Piera the kid says hi." Mando says into an open comm line as he swings the gunship around for another strafing run.

    Piera glances quickly over to where Misaki arrives, spotting the Magical Girl before any of the mooks do, she asides to Bartolemeo, "Looks like help is arriving."

    Then the sound of Josuke's bike comes roaring in, and the soldiers, unused to the sound of a combustion engine, start to panic and break ranks as the deep thrumming sound bears down on them. Some don't get clear in time and get knocked sprawling by the heavy machine and its rider.

    What breaks the entire formation is the giant, silver dragon that erupts in flame from overhead. Screams of 'DRAGON! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" erupt from the gathering, as those laser blasts cut craters in the land, vaporizing some unlucky fools that get in the way.

    Aquila sends a confirmation back to Mando, and links sensor nets with Roberta, sharing info between the pair of Shinki. >Glad to have you with us.< she sends via tightbeam, as the gates of the keep open and heavily armoured men with great axes storm out to engage the broken siege army.

Misaki doesn't quite know what's going on yet, but she recognizes Josuke and decides to follow him. He's one of Yumi's friends so he's probably alright. "Hey, what's going on here? Don't look at me." The magical girl asks, before bursting into three successive flashes of blindingly white bright light to hopefully help clear a path.

    >Glad to see you're still okay!< Roberta sends back via tightbeam. She's also reporting to Aquila the positions of the scattering soldiers on the battlefield.

    Assuming the Mandalorian isn't aiming at him and/or isn't making it overly difficult to do so, Josuke can probably dodge through the laser fire relatively easily. He'll bring his motorcycle alongside the greataxe-wielding fighters to try to protect their flank.

    Oh hey, there's Misaki! She requests him to look away, so Josuke does, until the bright stuff happens. Then when he can look again, quickly gives a little TL;DR, "Those guys over there are trying to storm the fort here. The guys in the fort are my friends, so I'm helping."

    Yep. That's a dragon alright.
    Jets roaring as Mando swings the ship around in a tight turn, he readies for another run as he lines the ship's targetters up with a good cluster of men and squeezes on the triggers again.
    The Razor Crest whines; shrill and wild as the blaster cannons lance down in another hail of fire from the skies.
    In the back seat, The Child is having a grand old time, waving both arms overhead and giggling as the ship pulls tight turns and spins.
    For the most part he's aiming at the attacking army, veering his fire away from Josuke and the men emerging from the fort to fight as he makes another swoop blasting soldiers left and right, keeping the pressure on the attacking army to keep the pressure on and shatter morale.

    With allies now on this side of the surrounding forces, and the mercenaries breaking out with cover from the silver gunship, Bartolemeo nods, grasping Piera's shoulder as he turns to join his men, picking up a large axe that looks almost like a lybris, the elegantly curved blade belying the heavy nature of the weapon.

    Piera looks as the commander jonins the fray, pulls her hood back up and leaps over the side of the wall, joining the fray with a much more direct drop and roll into a run.

    The bliding flashes from the Magical Laser Girl cause screams of pain and surprise from some of the mooks that seem to regain their courage, only to get knocked back on their heels by the sudden blinding light.

    Josuke manages to slip through, then turn in to provide cavalry support to the heavy infantry, and with the flying cover from the Razor Crest, the group in front of the gates is easily smashed, though the armoured guy on the horse is nowhere to be found.

    Aquila pings to Mando to land in the keeps courtyard, as the sieging army breaks off and retreats, heading back to their own keep to dig in against a counterattack. Piera and Bartolemeo, once the enemy is driven off, round up people for a briefing, before going off to storm the hostile keep.

Once it seems the enemies are mostly gone, Misaki too heads towards the courtyard to try to get a better sence at what's going on. She manifests Joyous, to make it clearer she's armed when she makes to the briefing, "Sorry to drop by unannounced."

    Josuke's noticed that the armored guy doesn't seem to be around. And so he contacts Roberta. <<"There's a guy on a horse somewhere around. I don't know where he went to -- can you find him?">>

    <<"I'll try!">> Roberta replies, and sets off to circle the battlefield to see if she can find that guy.

    Meanwhile Josuke goes to meet up with everyone else. "Is anybody injured?" he asks. "I can help."

    "Alright, kid, looks like we're coming in for a landing." The Mandalorian asides to his giddy passenger. The big silver 'dragon' comes veering around from one final run, turning toward the keep and making a descent where it disappears behind the walls and slowly touches down for a landing.
    "Not bad, huh?" He asks The Child, who responds...
    "Vurp!"
    By throwing up his lunch all over his little robe.
    "..."
    The Mandalorian's shoulders heave in a lame sigh as he uses the hem of his cape to wipe down the foundling's face and chest as the gunship's cargo doors slowly start to buzz open so they can join the others.

    Bartolomeo is a very large man, and a rather jovial and aggressive one when not in combat. As the others arrive he speaks broadly. "Welcome friends, It is good to meet some of you, I am Bartolomeo d'Alviano, and I am leader of this mercenary band... those bastardi are in league with some very bad people, and now I aim to make sure they don't threaten anyone again.". She stabs the head of his axe into the ground, and leans on the haft, looking between Misaki, Josuke and The Mandalorian. "Colourful friends you've made, Singorita Forta." he says to the shorter woman beside him.

    "All of them very capable, I can attest fo that personally." she rep;lies to the taller man, and looks between the others. "I have already scouted the keep, it is rather impervious to conventional attack, and we have no siege equipment... however I believe you are all suitably qualified to pass for siege equipment." she looks to Josuke particularly, then to Mando.

    Aquila helps Roberta try and track the mounted man down, but he seems to have vanished with the rest of the army he came with... though there are hoofprints leading back toward the other keep that can be just seen on the horizon.

"I'm not sure I am qualified to pass as siege equipment." Misaki admits somewhat nervously, "And uh... I don't think I am a friend for miss Forta. We've met once. I'm just here because I ended up in the wrong place and saw someone I know is trustworthy take part." She looks towards Josuke, "But I'm glad to help!"

    Introductions happen, and Josuke gives a smile. "Hi there! I'm Josuke Higashikata," he offers with a polite bow. Though he is very much in agreement with one thing. "If they're threatening people, yeah, that's gotta stop," he decides.

    Though at Piera's mention of each of the group classifying as siege equipment, he snickers. "I'm gonna take that as a compliment," he replies with a grin. And he nods at Misaki's words, with an affirmative sound. That's usually his motivation to do things, overall.

    A Mandalorian and a Foundling walk into a war room.
    There's no punchline, this isn't much of a joke. Mando joins the briefing with The Child at his side.
    Siege equipment.
    "Funny thing about that." Mando considers. "I just restocked my explosives. I've got plenty aboard the Razor Crest."

    Piera nods then turns to Bartolomeo. "I will need twenty of your best men, we can get inside the keep, open the gates, then the rest of your forces can storm through. We should be able to take the place in less than three hours." she says.

    "I am going with you! We just need a signal for my men once we have the gate secured... so these slimey rats don't have any chance of fleeing."

    Piera looks at her arm briefly, then smiles. "We'll use this." She points her arm skyward, and fires her Hidden Gun into the air, the plume of smoke easily peeking over the walls from the discharge.

    "Works for me! Lets do this then."

    Men mount horses, bringing extras for those without their own mounts, though one look at Mando has the horse he's provided with balking and backing away... that armour looks /heavy/, after all.

Misaki doesn't bother with a horse. "I am faster on foot." She insist. "Just tell me where to go and who to shoot at, and I'll take care of the rest." She nods to Josuke, "Let's do this."

    Josuke nods as well, to the mention of getting the show on the road. "Right!" Fortunately he stole that motorcycle, and it's currently still in decent shape! So he's able to get there without having to mount up on a horse. He is ready, and Roberta's scouting, so they should have plenty of forewarning.

    That horse is just going to have to grit teeth and bear it as Mando swings his foot into the stirrup and climbs into the saddle, The Child's floating pram hovering into place at his side. Mandalorian armor is something one simply gets used to wearing; Mando probably even sleeps in his without issue. The horse will live.
    And he will ride the horse. It's as simple as that, his ancestors had ridden the great Mythosaur in the age of Mandalore The Great.
    Long story short, Mando grips the reins and gets riding.

    The trip to the other keep is rather uneventful, the portcullis slamming down about five minutes before the group arrives... and a few arrows sailing through the air toward the mounted group from the few archers that kept morale and climbed to the walls to man defenses. Their fire is uncoordinated and sporadic, allowing the group to get right up to the walls, so Josuke can do his thing.

Who needs siege engines when your friends organize meetings on top of skyscrapers. Misaki just leaps onto the walls near one of the archers that's still firing arrows and tries to touch his bow with the business end of Joyous, firing a laser. Her other hand is summoning Marvelous to send beams at the feet of anyone coming her way. "Surrender, if you would?"

    Josuke has his Stand partially manifested as he drives the motorcycle closer to the walls; this is to knock away any arrows that get too close to him. Those in the fortress would be forgiven for seeing a similar phenomenon as what happened with their armored leader and the volley of arrows in the beginning, particularly if they can't actually see Stands...

    With this making an open path, Josuke drives the motorcycle close to the walls and turns sharply, bringing the bike to a stop with his side facing the wall. He's close to the portcullis, where he hopes the walls are a bit thinner.

    Once here he does what one would probably expect him to do, and aims Crazy Diamond at the wall. The Stand fully manifests here, and unleashes a flurry of high-speed punches, to the tune of its loud, ascending, "DORARARARARARA!" Hopefully this will make a path for others to get in, too.

    Charging the locked gates of a fortress would usually be considered suicide.
    The Mandalorian isn't too bothered. Not as arrows spang harmlessly off his beskar armor and the floating pram at this side.
    Once they reach the walls... He's standing in the saddle. And with a sudden jolt, he lifts, jetpack carrying him up the wall and landing on the battlements.
    His blaster is not as kind as Misaki and her dual guns, aiming to put bolts directly in people's chests rather than make them dance.

    The archer's bow snaps clean at the impact point, the string tension sending the lump of wood into his face, knocking him over and leaving a nasty looking dent in the quarterhelm he was wearing. A couple of spear-users try to approach, but are kept at bay by the shots from Marvelous, though the other wall defenders start to rally and turn their bows, and a couple of crossbows on the magical girl.

    Then Josuke knocks the entire wall next to the portcullis in, sending stone fragments flying everywhere. The mechanism is there, and the rest of the mercenary group if hanging just outside of arrow range, waiting for the wignal.

    Mando lands on another section of wall, his blasters dropping several soldiers before they can even process that's happened. Then another spearman comes to try his luck against the Man in the Beskar Mask.

    rPiera, meanwhile, is climbing the wall as well, much slower than the other two on top, while Bartolomeo leads his mercenaries to the hole made by Josuke. "Whatever that is." says the big man to the Teen, looking past him to Crazy Diamond. "I think I like you." he laughs, then shoulders through the breach, bringing his axe into play against those inside with a roar that would make a bear come up short.

"Oh c'mon. It's not bravery to fight a hopeless battle." Misaki shakes her head and starts taking shots at the bows and crossbows aimed at her, moving back and forth quickly enough that it'll be very hard for them to get a clean opportunity to return fire. "Just accept you're outclassed and surrender. Please. I don't want you to die, but that guy will probably kill you if you don't surrender." She points at the Mandalorian.

    Jouke is actually brought up short by Bartolomeo's words. More particularly, where he's looking -- not at HIM, but at Crazy Diamond. He looks at axe-wielding man, eyes wide in surprise. "You can see it?!"

    Of course that's probably going to need to wait until after the fight because now that there's a hole in the wall and people can get in, the fight's starting in earnest. So Josuke puts that motorcycle back in gear and drives in!

    Now he's not going to just randomly start running people down, no. But he will be utilizing his Stand for the time-tested method of grabbing someone by the arm and throwing them into their buddies. Bones will probably end up broken, yeah, but he's also kind of against killing.

    That said he also understands that These Were Different Times, so while he's going to try to keep from killing people where he can, he isn't going to be lecturing anyone else against it. Besides, maybe he can save a few people once they quit fighting.

    That's right. The ones Misaki doesn't kill?
    Mando probably will.
    It's simply more efficient that way.
    Like how when the spearman comes charging at him, he simply turns his head to regard the man before aiming his left gauntlet at him.
    The sudden plume of blazing hot fire from his gauntlet-mounted flamethrower will probably end that charge fast.
    "Yep." He confirms exactly what Misaki said.
    "So. Anyone else? Are are we going to listen to the Magical Girl?" He says pointedly.

    Misaki's words seem to fall on deaf ears, the spearmen trying to get in close to Misaki, thrusting with their spears, their helmeted faces obscured.

    Bartolomeo just pushes lesser men back away from the mechanisms, while a pair of mercenaries follow after Josuke to start turning the wheel to pull the portcullis up.

    Mando's flamer cooks the unfortunate spearman in his armour, a scream of agony cut shot as he back sup, then falls off the wall inside the keep. This causes some of the others nearby to literally throw their weapons away, but the golden armoured man steps out with a glowing maul and a large shield. "Stand your ground! They are no match for us!" he bellows, lofting the maul, which releases a pulse that seems to invigorate those nearby, a soft glimmer surrounding them.

    Piera finally gets on top of the wall, lifts her arm skyward and fires her Hidden Gun, signalling the rest of the mercenaries to charge as the portcullis clanks to its open position. "Save your breath bastardo, you will get all these men killed for your own vanity!"

Misaki walks backwards to stay out of reach of the spearmen. The golden armored man gets her to sigh, "Sir. You should stop lying to yourself." She says, and puts both her guns together, still making sure to stay out of reach of melee weapons, and begins to concentrate laser powerer at his maul, trying to melt it.

    Bartolomeo's words give Josuke an idea. "Don't any of you have families?! People who care about you and want you to come back after this?!" Josuke shouts to the men under the gold-armored man's command, supporting Bartolomeo's words. "How do you think they're gonna feel when you don't come back?!" he points out.

    "Even if he himself is a match for us, look at the rest of your friends that went down!" he replies, pointing at the nearest fallen man. "Do you wanna take the chance that the next one's gonna be you?!"

    Even with a man literally cooked before their eyes, these men don't back down? Well some of them do, but how many don't when their leader rallies them with that seemingly magical maul...
    The Mandalorian heaves a sigh. It is somewhere between a tired sigh and an annoyed sigh. A deeply annoyed sigh, as his pauldrons heave with the breath.
    "Dank ferrik." He mutters under his breath and drops down from the battlements and unslings his blaster rifle from his back.
    Taking aim, he lines up his shot while Misaki tries to superheat the maul, Mando aims for the man himself, center of mass, lining through the scope of his rifle, he squeezes the trigger; the twin-pronged disintegrator rifle lancing out a bright bolt of golden voltaic energy that would reduce lesser men to ash in an instant the second it hit them.
    But will it work on this man?
    "The rest of you listen to the kid, dammit."

    Misaki lasers the Maul. The Maul begins to glow as it heats up from the beams, at least until he redirects his attention to the magical girl and the beams get deflected by a small bubble of force that appears around the weapon. He then snorts, interjecting his sheild before turning to other, closer threats. "I'll deal with you later."

    Josuke's words seem to fall on deaf ears... at least until Big Tall and Dumbass gets distracted by Misaki's attack, they then start dropping their weapons, surrendering as the mercenaries come charging through the gates, and Bartolomeo steps out behind the Kid, axe resting over his shoulder. "You should listen to the young man, he's far wiser than any of you sorry lot." he offers gruffly, landing a thick, meaty hand on Josuke's shoulder in solidarity.

    Mando engages Lu Bu. The disintegrator bolt sprangs harmlessly off the isu metal armour, leaving a scorch mark, and light dent, a testament to just how much power is behind those bolts, but it also earns him a backhanded swipe from that maul. "Vermin!" He advances on Mando, bringing that heavy lump of metal up overhead, aiming to crush the Man in Beskar but gets knocked aside with a quick flick of a throwing dagger, striking the raised arm and deflecting the blow and knocking the man off balance. "You cannot defeat all of us. Surrender." comes Piera's voice, her eyes shrouded by her hood, both her Hidden Blades deployed as she stands framed by the sun cresting the battlements.

"You won't have time to deal with me if you don't deal with me now." Misaki answers, not deterred by the maul's resilience to her attack. If it's hard to injure him directly, she uses her guns for another purpose. Joyous is used for taking pot shots at the man, while Marvelous is aimed straight at the ground underneath him, trying to burn through the floor he is standing on.

    Josuke is fortunately used to large, muscular people putting a hand on his shoulder or things of the like, so he's not knocked off-balance. He's a pretty big guy himself, after all. he also nods as the people start to come to their senses seemingly, and points in the direction of the 'extra door' he made. "Go, quick!"

    Yeah, he didn't miss that -- these guys didn't start surrendering until the armored guy wasn't specifically paying attention. "Is he controlling them somehow?" he inquires to Bartolomeo.

    The Mandalorian's near-smackdown experience gets Josuke to start towards him to try and help, but he pauses when Piera's knife knocks the strike off-balance, and breathes a sigh of relief.

    There are probably also still-living but injured soldiers that he'll go and tend to -- with luck the armored guy will be too busy dealing with other attacks to assert whatever control he has over these people, or to notice that he's healing them and then sending them out of the place.

    For a moment. For a brief moment, Mando lowers his rifle, helmet canting ot a curious angle as he regards the scorch and dent his disruptor rifle left on that armor.
    "Huh."
    WHAM.
    The maul slams the beskar-clad bounty hunter aside, pumelling him clean through the nearest wall. Between the hammer and the wall, The Mandalorian's bell is a bit rung as he grunts and tries to slowly right himself, head spinning. But...
    The beskar holds. There isn't even so much as a dent on his armor. The man inside it however is probably cradling a few bruised ribs and a swimming head. He's struggling to get up for a good moment, and it looks like he might need Josuke's healp as he's about to be battered some more-- until Piera steps in.
    This is good, because it allows the man in beskar to get back to his knees and tumble away,
    But not before rolling several explosive charges along the ground to try and stick them to the armored man's legs and the ground beneath him for Misaki to shoot.
    "Target practice!" He calls up to her.
    ... Mando will probably see Josuke and Roberta for medical attention afterwards. Handling this guy is his focus at the moment.

    When gravity hates you, and the floor is rebelling against you, all you can do it fall over and die... well, fall over at least. The ground literally turns to molten slag under those golden boots, the offbalance man goes down, the armour weighing him down and making him an easier target to deal with unti he can get back up.

    Josuke manages to save a few of the people Bartolomeo and his group beat to a pulp on the way in, though a couple are too far gone to help. The mercenaries outside gather up the surrendered and strip them of any remaining sidearms, and their armour... but don't harm them unnecessarily.

    As Mando rolls those explosives toward the fallen commander, the man's eyes fall on one of the sphears and he just... stops. There's that moment just before you die that you can see exactly what's happening, understand it completely, but not be able to do anything about it but let your face show that realization.

    This is what happens now.

Misaki sighs when it's over. "Why do people delude themselves like that?" She asks, sounding sad and upset as she jumps down and goes to find a place to sit down and hug herself.

    And you know what? Believe it or not, Josuke would have still gone and tried to help that armored guy. But when you sink into molten slag and there are explosives involved? Yeah, there's not much he can do about that.

    He shakes his head, closing his eyes, and heaves a sigh. "Didn't have to be this way, y'know?" He might get that out before things go boom. He is, however, trying to stay out of the way, not wanting to get boom'd himself.

    Mando's explosives?
    Yeah they go boom.
    It's a loud boom, too.
    The castle might even shake a bit, and Mando waits for that to calm down before he picks himself up to his feet and heaves a weary sigh.
    Before he checks the floating pram at his side, the panels popping open to reveal The Child blinking about curiously and prettymuch okay, as usual.
    "Ready to go home, kid?"
    "Vurp!"
    The youngling answers by vomiting again. His stomach is probably still upsset
    "..."
    Sigh.

    As the dust settles, the commander's shape solidifies... before it clears completely some might be forgiven for thinking he might get up... but that's quickly put to bed with what the exposed body looks like after that blast. The armour, maul and shield look almost completely unscathed, just a bit scorched, and stained with red.

    Piera drops from the wall, walks over and retrieves the Maul, the Shield and calls over a couple of mercenaries to help move the rest so they can get the armour too... more artifacts to seal off so noone can misuse them.

    The young Assassin looks around, "Thank you, all of you. I will have some compensation ready in a few days, I must get these artifacts back to the Brotherhood." she looks specifically to Mando and the Child, giving the former a comiserating look.

    Bartolomeo, meanwhile, helps round up the remaining soldiers. Many of them were pressganged into service, it seems, and now they seem more than happy to be going home, at least after they've been prisoners for a couple of days to make sure none of them are trying any long-game funny business. "I agree with my little amiga, thank you all. Come, rest at my fort, mia moglie(My wife) will cook something for us, I am sure!" he doesn't sound very sure.

Misaki shakes her head at the invitation, "I'll just ... take a moment, and then go home, sir." She answers in a quiet monotone.

    Josuke nods to Piera. "I'm glad everyone seems okay after that. <Great> job, everybody," he offers to the group at large, with a smile. Bartolomeo's words get a snicker. "I don't mind helping," he offers. After all, it's not out of the question that he'd be called to help his own mother with cooking, since she now works.

    In short order Roberta, Josuke's Bright Feather, comes down from the skies. "Is everyone okay?" she inquires. "I was keeping watch out up top in case anyone came in to try to trap you all in."