IC: Chasing the Prize, We always get our mark Options

[BishopMcQ]

The team prepares for war as weapons and armor get dragged out of duffel bags. Helios obviously is the most heavily laden, but he moves with a grim determination that speaks of countless nights carrying the same and heavier loads.

Some of you press into the woods, tracking across snow and the occasional patch of ice as you start to cover the distance to the private resort. Already you are sure that astral combat has ensued moving at the speed of thought.

[Johnson]

Looking at Edana, Tiny turning both hand face up. "I here if you need some support. Just let me know."
Tiny ready his kit, if he needs to go in for support. Stealth is not his forte, so he will be no use in the recon, but plans to be there if added support is needed.

[Bastard]

"Graves, you think we should take the guards down, or just try to avoid them as much as possible. Those hellhounds are going to seriously cramp my game plan, but a got a few tricks up my sleves. If you want I can make them all run away," JT snickers, almost half joking.

[BishopMcQ]

Bishop:
Your mind starts to clear as one of the fairies turns to face something you cannot see, moonlight reflects off its glistening fangs shattering any possible thought of a gentle fey creature. The Unseel launches itself from the branch fading from view.

One guard is closing in on your position, he has a stun baton drawn. The hound at his side almost pulls him off balance as it tries to break the leash and come bounding towards you. The guard's armored jacket carries an insignia you can't make out in the darkness under the canopy.

[BishopMcQ]

Bishop:
The cross hairs coalesce in your vision as the induction pad makes a solid connection with the pistol grip. Thermographic sensors outline the hellhound's breath and face clearly. A slight snag of the silencer on the holster means your pistol is a fraction of an inch lower than expected as you pull the trigger.

Seeing the gun leveled in his direction, the guard let's go of the leash and rolls to one side.

Two muffled explosions occur in the chamber of the gun. The hell hound yelps as it leaps towards you, taking the capsule in the throat. Following the human's movements is even easier, extend the arms, press off with the balls of your feet, drop the shoulder to roll. The second round slams firmly into his chest.

The guard comes up in a crouch, his stun baton lost somewhere in the dive. Leaning behind a tree, he takes cover and returns fire once. A gout of flame bursts out of the hell hounds mouth within a heartbeat of the gun's report.

[Buddha72]

Tigger looks around the van and senses the rising tension, the alertness of the other hunters. Setting his comm mic to voice activation. "Okay folks, we need to rethink some of this. I have a lock on Belle now and this is just a ski resort for the privileged not an arcology. We've lost total surprise but we can still bag this guy, but we need to move now before he makes it to a car or other fast transport." As he speaks, he reaches out to open a door and drops to the ground, low and tight. "Those we can, follow me. Let's get him and get this over with." With that said he sets off low and fast through the snow, following the trail to his prey.

[Johnson]

Tiny digs in his bag and gets the UZi ready. Checking that Edana's unresposive body sitting there he lets his thermal vision soak up the pale bule and blue. checking his surrounding for any heat signitures. Hoping that all is going to be well around here. The spare clips for the Uzi placed in the mag holder on his belt.

"I am staying at the van to make sure Edana has got back up..." Tiny voice rumbles over the com unit.

[toturi]

Graves: "Stay in the bloody fragging vehicle goddamnit! If we do get in, do you know exactly where he is? Even if we do, we are going to be going through every fragging guard in this place! We've got no extraction plan and places like these can afford good security coverage! Local police will want our hides." Graves slows down to catch his breath, amazed at the remarkable stupidity of that Tigger guy. "If we do it now, 1) we got to get in, 2) get the guy, 3) get him into the vehicle and 4) avoid being arrested. When all the local police knows, we are kidnappers. What are the chances of they believing "one of the guests in this resort is a wanted mass murderer, so we made a citizens' arrest"? For god's sake, they'll come after us with SWAT! Somebody stop that maniac."

[Johnson]

"Why the rush, now the foolish mistake I made is being repeated here." Tiny grimaces

[HMHVV Hunter]

"Tigger, get the hell back in here!" Helios hisses over the commlink.

Helios drops out of the van silently and grabs the errant bounty hunter by his back shirt collar, dragging him towards him.

"We go in together, got it?" he growls. "We don't, and we're all dead."

"Besides," he adds, switching off his link so he speaks only to Tigger, "this Infected freak is mine to bring down."

[Buddha72]

"I know exactly where he is and I have my license so local heat is not an issue." He looks around. "Who the hell is going to take us down, the ski lodge elite assassins? These guys are not Renraku Red Samurai." He shakes his head. "Do you think we're the only people after this bounty? I guess we'll talk later when we have some dead bodies because other hunters will frag us up as oppose to these yahoos."

[HMHVV Hunter]

Switching the link back on, Helios starts talking again.

"I don't care if they're not the damn Red Samurai; they could be more skilled than we think! Hell, they might even be ghouls for all we know. Haven't you learned that no job is ever as easy as it first seems?"

[HeySparky]

Edana sits quietly, peeking into the astral plane from time to time, monitoring, as best she can, the auras of the others. She senses Herne straining to catch their prey, slavering in the Astral plane with the desire to bury his muzzle in the wretched man’s throat and lick the blood from his jaws.

No. We can’t kill him. We have to bring him in or this is all for nothing.

No. Herne’s sending is an icy whip-crack. Not for nothing. For the Hunt. And the death of a murderer.

Edana feels a sympathetic surge of anger rise in her chest. No. Justice. This man must pay with more than his life. Much more.

And, she thinks, not directly at Herne, if he really is onto a cure, we can't squander that.

She blinks as the van has stopped and the others’ auras flare with ratcheting tension. Their prey is near.

She blushes and looks away from Tigger as he winks playfully, color rising in her pale cheeks, stormy skin swirling.

“Uh, I, need to change to. I think my bag is right… uh,” she turns her back as best she can in the confines of the van, and tugs at the duffel that Helios is sleeping on. She sees a patch of dampness when his head shifts away.

Mmm… drool. She catches a glimpse of reflected light on the stoic man’s face before he rolls over, face. Was that…? Tears? No way. She shakes her head, her momentary embarrassment at Tigger’s wantonness vanished in questions about the quiet Adept. She unzips the pack and fishes out her winter woods camo. Glad I packed these. She smiles and manages to change quite demurely, a feat master by the fairer sex since time immemorial.

She hisses involuntarily as she draws out the mystic blade – strange and seemingly too full of carving and frippery to be well-suited to combat. Her eyes become a solid sheet of glowing energy that crackles out over her face, along her horns, down her hair, trailing in a fine web of white-blue down her arms and onto her long-boned hands. She kicks JT out of the driver seat with a ‘since I’ll be astral anyway, makes sense that I can be ready to snap back here and drive if we need it’ Once settled and buckled in, she takes several deep breaths that are neither deep nor meditative, but rather more like a boxer entering the ring.

A spirit answers her summons and steps from the woods, sure-footed, wild and dangerous. Herne leaps to the spirit’s side and the two vanish as if they’d never been.

Bishop’s all by himself. Got to get out there.

Edana takes one more savage breath in and closes her eyes and goes completely limp… it is hard to tell with her pale skin, but the knuckles of her hand on the hilt of her spirit-blade are paler even still.

She surges into the astral plane with them, sword blazing as she streaks skyward, trailing clouds from the ragged crown of bolts. Clouds that obscure her form as she tries to maintain cover through the urge to shout and bay and fly.

Sturmdottir. We Hunt. The voice of Herne and the spirit blend in chilling harmony.

Yessssss…. Her astral voice blends with the hissing of her swift passage and the quiet girl who is Edana vanishes into the spirit huntress that is the daughter of the hunting storm.

From her height she looks down, searching out the dark flame she’d come to know as Bishop’s aura in the blaze of the astral wilderness. She spots him and in a herculean effort of will, returns to her body and relays his location as best she can to Graves.

<<Bishop spotted, not far, keep headed the way you're headed. He's under attack, I'm going in to draw them off. Will check back when his situation is under control. Uh... Over.>>

She plunges back into astral space, breath catching as the heightened emotions surge over her like a welcome heat. She streaks toward Bishop, blade ready, blood in her glowing eyes.

[Ecclesiastes]

A readout comes over the BattleTac Network:

BattleTac Systems Engaged.

Van Team: Move the van around to the front gate and cover that zone.

Tigger, Graves, and Helios: Converge on my possition and we will find the target.

Anyone left: Group up and provide cover over the area between the facility and the gate. Keep your Thermos on, the Hellhounds should be easy to spot.

MOVE PEOPLE!

[Buddha72]

Finally. Tigger moves out into the night, moving towards the rallying point at best possible speed.

[Bastard]

JT follows, keeping up with the lead. He isnt going to let them go in and face those hellhounds alone. They may be a bigger asset, than they are an enemy.

Moving through the snow covered forest, JT double checks his BattleTach for lifesigns, then uses a little magic to again check the area for targets.

[HMHVV Hunter]

"NOW we go in," Helios says to Tigger, rising from his crouch.

Helios makes a beeline for his troubled teammate's position, SMG raised and ready to fire at anything that moves at him the wrong way.

[toturi]

Frag... we are committed now. "You don't have to like it. You just gotta do it." Graves pushes his misgivings aside, the voice of his former drill instructor ringing in his head. Graves runs towards his teammate, weapon ready.

[BishopMcQ]

Astral Space:
Three hunters course through the land of thought and magic, crossing the threshold of verdant woodland to manicured forest causes a shiver to ripple through you. The discomfort doesn't have time to settle in as a writhing, hungry mass comes flying out of the tree cover and slams into the bark-skinned archer.

Teeth pierce quickly through the heavy bark that could stop bullets from most heavy weapons. The archer scrambles and beats innefectually at his arm, but gaping mouths seem to meet every blow and do more harm than they take. Herne comes to the defense of his partner hamstringing the spirit fey and causing a gossamer spray to fill the area.

Edana readies herself and closes the gap to the horde of faeries surrounding Bishop's glowing form. She slices cleanly through the first faerie that comes to her, shattering the perfection of blonde locks caught in a light breeze. Pixies and sprites wash over her en masse, each popping and dissipating before they can settle into a routine to aid their companions.

Outside:
Moonlight breaks through clouds, the sound of quick steps in snow echoing a stark counterpoint to your own heart beat. The sound of an engine roaring to life behind you grabs your attention.

The Van:
Charlie moves forward to pull Edana's body into the passenger seat, holding her in his lap while the short Gonzales climbs ito the driver's seat. The side door to the van hangs open as the engine turns over noisily. Feet on the pedals, and hands on the steering wheel, the dwarf isn't quite able to see over the dash but he gets the van moving faster than most people would think is safe. Shouted directions of right and left fill the van as it begins to careen down the road.

Off in the distance the sound of a gunshot cracks once. A humming thump-thump-thump comes from the sky well-behind you.

[Ecclesiastes]

Bishop turns to see where the engine is coming from, doing his best to forget about the Hellhound and guard, knowing the drugs will take them soon enough.

[Johnson]

Tiny Bails in to the van as he sees everyone getting in. Pulls the side door closed. Grabbing his duffle bag he removes his 5 concussion grenades from the bag and places them in his leg pockets.

"Okay Gonzales let get to that gate and try and make the road clear." Grabbing the UZI he cocks and readies the weapon so it can roar into action when needed.

"Lets get this back up rolling."

[Ecclesiastes]

Bishop opens his hand on drops his Predator to the ground, then reaches behind his back and pulls his SPAS from its secured possition. As the Induction Pad connects with the gun, his Range Finder zeros in on the incoming guard. Bet he doesn't see this coming...

With a *thunk* sound, a freeze foam grenade is launched from the underbarrel tube.

[Bastard]

What the... As the team suddenly bolt in different directions, JT has that aweful feeling that he missed something. Maybe while he was concentrating on his magic something happened, all he knows is its on. Dropping to one knee, he quickly scans the scene through the sights of his shotgun. Seeing no immediate danger, he is quickly back up following Grave's lead.

Over the comms he asks, "What the hell did I miss?"

JT activates his foci, preparing for battle.

[BishopMcQ]

Bishop:
The grenade launches in a low arc, landing softly in the slush and snow. Barreling towards you the guard doesn't see the matte gray cylinder in the shadows and darkness. A sudden inrush of air fills the area with foam locking the guard in place and encasing the hound's head and mouth in white powder.

The guard closest to you stumbles and falls as his body siezes and jerks. His eyes stare in horror as he loses control of his limbs. His hellhound companion is in no better shape, its head jerking back and forth.

[Ecclesiastes]

Where there were once four red blips near Bishop's possition on the BattleTac map, they are now green. Over the comms, he transduces, "Situation getting back under control. Four guards imobilized. Beware guard and hellhound to the west, 350m from my possition. Invasion Team, move in on my possition... JT, are you able to assist with the Astral issue?"

As he lets everyone know of the situation, Bishop re-holsters his shotgun and bends down to retreave his pistol. He then takes a moment to aim and fires off a shot at the imobilized guard and hellhound, putting them to sleep.