Working on anger, Belle marched in through the still-open door to go face the scientist, Eclipse following her closely.

The scientist sat in an open room just beyond the main foyer, sipping from a glass calmly. He watched them approach, a faint smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

Andy followed her, glancing around nervously every so often to see if there was anyone waiting to grab them.

Belle marched right up to the scientist. "I demand that you stop tracking us right now," she said, her hands clenched into tight fists. "And leave us alone. We don't want anything to do with you or your experiements."

The scientist spread his hands. "Very well. You are welcome to leave whenever you like." His eyes glinted. "But I keep track of all my 'guests'. So I'm afraid I cannot stop tracking you. Just in case, you understand?"

Belle growled weakly, Eclipse putting one hand on her shoulder.

"Why do you have to track us?" Andy asked. "Obviously, it's not like we can do anything to you. Why can't you just let us go?"

"In case you bring police here," he said reasonably. "As you just tried to do. And in case you die. I like to know if any of my 'guests' dies or vanishes."

"Yeah, fat lot of good that did," Andy muttered darkly.

The scientist chuckled. "Luckily for you, I no longer need you three. Not for the moment, anyway. You may go."

Belle growled and, fed up with his attitude, pulled back her fist and punched him hard, right in the nose. He let out a strangled yell, his nose snapping, and Belle swore violently as she shook out her throbbing hand.

Andy jumped when Belle suddenly punched him, though she was oddly pleased at the sound of his nose breaking.

"And that would be our cue to leave," she said, grabbing Belle's sleeve and pulling her towards the door.

Belle followed her out quickly enough, Eclipse smirking as he followed her. She shook her hand out again.

"Ow. I think I'm going to bruise," she muttered, looking at her knuckles.

"That means you did it right," Eclipse said, wrapping one arm around her.

Letting out Temeraire again, Andy climbed on quickly.

"We may as well make our way as far as we can today," she said. "I just want to get away from here. Any particular direction in mind?"

"That direction." Eclipse pointed off to the west. "The sea is that direction, and far enough away from this place."

Belle climbed on behind Andy, Eclipse staying close to her. "Maybe Li Li can come out too. I think it'll take us a little while."

"That direction it is," Andy said as she made herself comfortable on the dragon's back. She felt Sess wrap his arm around her and knew he'd settled himself behind her. Once Temeraire was ready, Andy released Lien as well.

"You may as well stretch your wings too, Li Li," she said. "We might be flying for a while, so it's as good a time as any."

"Very well," the dragon replied. Spreading her wings, she followed them as Temeraire took off.

Belle stayed quiet, leaning back against Eclipse as Seth leaned lower, almost lying down against Temeraire's hide. She closed her eyes briefly, wishing she could listen to music.

When they finally caught view of the ocean nearly three hours later, Belle was very ready to get off. She shifted and squirmed in her seat, making Eclipse chuckle a little at her antics.

Andy could tell that Belle was getting twitchy.

"Set down on the beach," she called to Temeraire. He nodded and relayed the instruction to Lien, who also nodded. The two prepared to land on the beach, slowing their wingstrokes and actually backwinging to set down more gently. Andy grinned when Belle immediately scrambled down, followed by Seth. Calmly, she slid down Temeraire's hide, into Sess' arms.

Belle sighed in relief when she got down on the sand, and she stretched out. She grinned briefly before she took off her boots and socks, rolling up her jeans. Then she ran out on the sand until her feet were in the water.

Eclipse rolled his eyes and stood a little bit back from the waves, simply keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't trip and kill herself.

The beach was large enough that Andy didn't bother recalling Temeraire and Lien.

"Feel free to go swimming, or fishing," she said, "just don't go far. Keep it under a mile, if you can." Both of the dragons nodded. Slipping off her own shoes, she rolled her jeans up to her knees and followed Belle. The water felt wonderful, and the sand was soft and fine-grained.

"I take it you're happier on solid ground," she commented.

"I love flying," Belle replied. "But after a few hours I'd prefer to have room to run around and be somewhere where I can trip and not fall off the world."

"I just get bored, on long flights," Andy said. "I can't read or anything, because it's so windy. But it's interesting when Temmy or Li Li gets it in their head to go swimming, because they float."

Belle laughed at that. "Oh that would be fun." She grinned. "Hey, maybe we can all go swimming later!"

"I'd like that," Seth said, moving up next to them, his shoes off and his jeans rolled up. "That would be fun."

"Finally got your land-legs back?" Andy teased. "I was just saying how Temmy and Li Li naturally float, because of something with their anatomy."

Seth snickered. "You could just lay on their backs and let them do all the work, then," he said with a grin.

Belle chuckled and paused when she saw dolphins out playing in the waves. "Look out there."

Andy looked out over the water just as Temeraire and Lien did, and she knew instantly the fate that befall two of those dolphins. Indeed, the two dragons immediately took off and went after the dolphins.

"Those dolphins won't know what hit them," she muttered. "At least that takes care of feeding Temmy and Li Li tonight." She watched as the two dragons settled into the water and floated there, eating their catches and then cleaning themselves neatly.

Belle rolled her eyes and looked away. "Well they're never coming to my version of SeaWorld."

Seth snorted. "And we still have us to feed."

"I'm sure we can figure something out for us," Andy said. "It's them I usually think about feeding first every night. Once I take care of them, I can usually take care of us. At least, when I was on my own. I can ask them to catch us something, if you want. Something not a dolphin."

"I'll ask Kurama to take a look around too. There should be some berries along the coast here, too." Belle tapped two balls, and Kurama and Hiei emerged. "Go look for edibles."

Kurama nodded and he and Hiei took off to go look around and see what was around.