The brutal woman scowled at Juno's response, clearly displeased, though at first she said nothing. With slow, deliberate steps she began to circle both students, keeping her distance but nonetheless maintaining her general sense of menace. "Brash. Direct. Intense. You're someone who hasn't been broken by the world yet -- you've always bounced back anytime you've been dealt a blow, always found a way over, around or through.." The scowl turned into something more primal, a fangs -- literal fangs -- baring snarl. "To think someone like you had a hand in my father's death. It's infuriating." She clenched one mechanical hand so tightly that Juno & Rory could hear the metal scratching and grinding itself, the hydraulics straining at their limits. "I should kill her -- take from you the way you've taken from me. I should make you SUFFER."
She paused, seeming to will herself calm without breaking her stride. "...You realize we could just take what we want from you? You students think you're so tough, but we're the only ones with weapons here. I'll bet you --"
"Deadman's switch." Rory, who'd kept one hand in his pocket since before they stepped into the room, interrupted the woman with those two words. The woman's eyes -- and likely several of the rifles -- locked onto him immediately as he slowly pulled out a device, looking very much like a modified pistol grip or flight stick, with his thumb firmly depressing a large central button. This had been the idea he'd had back at the apartment, and he'd filled Juno in on the details with a paper note before boarding the airship. "Any of you attack us, or so much as whisper another threat against Caja, and I'll trigger the suit's explosive fail-safe." It was, of course, a bluff -- Rory had no idea how to build a detonator and Juno's suit had no such fail-safe. The "detonator" was nothing of the sort; it couldn't blow anything up, but it could detect and trace radio and Scroll signals, feeding the data right into his goggles. If nothing else, it would give them a way to track these White Fang operatives if things went south. Buying the kit from a slightly disreputable merchant in Vale had cost him most of his savings... but there was no higher calling, no greater need, than this.
A long silence passed. The woman glared daggers at the boys but otherwise didn't act, only muttering profanities under her breath. Her next words were directed to her terrorist friends. "Open the crate."
Two additional White Fang members, who'd been keeping out of sight amid some storage boxes along the back wall, stepped into sight. With a crowbar the pried open a large wooden box and dragged out its contents: it was Caja, blindfolded and gagged with her hands bound behind her. The woman with the mechanical arms strode over to her forces and gestured for Caja to be moved forward at gunpoint. "Here's how this is going to work, you bastards: you hand over the suit and explain how to use it. When I'm satisfied, the hostage goes free and you disarm your goddamn switch. Got it?"