Toby's efforts to control his thoughts waned and then died as he heard Montana speaking freely about the potential danger of a mind manipulator's approach. 

Maybe feigning neutral intentions--feigning that they didn't know she was there--in order to lure the mind manipulator into shooting distance was a bad tactic anyway. Wouldn't it just be better to avoid an altercation altogether? He imagined it would be a small percentage of ashlanders - even powerful mentalists - who would intentionally pick a fight with a trio standing ready to kill.

[color=lightblue][i] Yeah, okay. Go away. Let's not fight,[/i][/color] he thought, all literary distractions falling away from his mind, leaving him to think clearly of the fact that he was, indeed, aware of her, aware of her range of influence, aware of what she could try to do to any one of them, and aware that they were on some level prepared for that possibility.

Unlike his younger brother, Spire rather wished to maintain the charade of innocence; despite the danger of the desire, he wanted the mind manipulator and the teleporter to come close enough. Three of them. Item one, psychic, good to be shot in the head as soon as possible; item two, regenerator, some disassembly required; item three, teleporter, a veritable surprise box - Spire's power could just as soon bury her alive as leave her to fall through a thousand feet of air and go crunch on the ruins.

If Spire's mental distraction hadn't died enough with the slip of his imagination, it did when he answered Montana's warning.

[color=ivory][b]"If that happens, I hope there are no hard feelings if we need to stuff you back in your box for a while, Dracula,"[/b][/color] he said. 

He smiled. Since killing Montana was already on the docket for the day, whether the mind manipulator made him a puppet or not only affected whether they could speak of the old War or not. In his mind, the only real danger was if the mind manipulator was coordinated enough to control all of them at once.

[color=ivory][b]"And, ah... I'd appreciate any force to be of the nonlethal variety if Toby or I suddenly try to take a shot at you,"[/b][/color] he added.

The hypocrisy of this request was not lost on him.

Dawn, it may be noted, would not find Spire's consciousness a pleasant place to dwell if she chose to thread the tendrils of her mind into his. Even if its fringe hadn't been hosting scenes of gory possibilities at the moment, it was not exactly a warm place.

It was oddly quiet there. Isolated, like some distance muffled and dulled everything outside.