On the Palace roof, the exposed guard's hand switched from scratching his neck to clutching it in shock and pain.  Arget's shot scored.  The guard's knees buckled and he collapsed.<br/><br/>His fellow, the one obscured by the helicopter, heard the sound of armor clanking against stone and turned.  The collapsed guard began leaking blood onto the roof just then.  The guard left standing drew a walkie-talkie and spoke a quick sentence into it, then rushed over to the downed guard, only to find that he was dead.<br/><br/>As Chiro changed course, the guard became blocked again - this time by the front end of the helicopter.  This benefited Chiro and Arget, however, as they were now only a few dozen yards from landing, and the guard - as he scanned his environs for signs of an attacker - could not see them.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Seth either ignored or didn't understand Baz's remarks, but when Feign approached the spider hunched itself very close to the ground, ducking its head to further hide its eyes.  It almost shivered in fear as Feign said his piece.  Then, very slowly and warily, it click-clacked its way along the floor, drawing within scent of Baz, but still about a dozen yards away.<br/><br/>The spider's glow illuminated a dark black hallway ahead through the ornate opening, painted that color perhaps on purpose. Halvorson reached his hand out to touch the wall, feeling a rubbery substance.  He darted a look at Baz as the rat made his comment to Feign.  He barely had time to remark before footsteps sounded up ahead - suddenly there, not far off and numerous.<br/><br/>"Back, back!" he whispered harshly.  He, O'Toole, and the medic pressed themselves up against the walls of the hallway, the decorative opening hiding them from the twelve guards that rounded the corner of the black hallway ahead.<br/><br/><br/>The guard leader saw his troops head down the funeral hall.  He turned to see Mad Adam still standing there.  "Well, guard?  Get to it!"<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Lanner didn't change his expression as Dreamer shrugged off Kitten's predicament.  Dreamer was talking too smoothly for Lanner's liking - he knew he held a card when he held the young blond man.  As Dreamer unshackled Maeve, Lanner told his men to disarm Kitten and put him against a wall, keeping him there with a pointed blade.  He stood away from Dreamer, far enough to be out of reach, but close enough to keep his gun trained on Maeve's head.<br/><br/>Maeve's face, streaked with tears that mixed with the dried blood on it, twitched slightly at Dreamer's whisper, briefly flashing puzzlement.  It took her a moment to realize what he had said.  He felt the muscles in her back tense.  She reached a hand weakly forward to input the combination.<br/><br/>Then Lanner said, "No."  Maeve's hand stopped.  Lanner jerked the barrel of his gun at Dreamer.  "Stay back.  Make her tell me the combination."<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>The First Sergeant's eyes widened when Jenten told him what he'd heard.  "Let's hope it does," he said.  Looking down at Emiko, he asked, "Willing to give it a shot?"<br/><br/><br/>Janus let out a little yelp as Iln's maw engulfed he and Fenson together in one large bite.  He shifted uncomfortably, terrified but just trusting enough to let her keep swallowing him.  Fenson weakly struggled, but soon gave up as the two friends slid effortlessly into the dragoness.  The moist confines of her healing sac enclosed around them, and Janus just barely remembered to pull the pen out of Fenson's throat before the two of the blacked out.