IC: Initial Shadow Offering Options

[Musashi Forever]

Nadia gets close to Hobbes, trying to cover him with her body as much as possible and pulls the big Colt out of her bag. She holds it ready and waits for either something to shoot or for George to make a move.

[Sicarius]

approximately 6 seconds after the initial stoppage, the light flicker, go out momentarily, and than turn back on. The elevator begins going down again. It continues down, past the conference floor, and droping several more floors as well. The team can feel the sudden slowing of the elevator.

"BING"

The doors are about to open.

[Mister Juan]

As it passed the conference's floor, George immediately knew something was wrong. Shouldering the SMG, he looked at the floors counting down. His wired reflexes kicking into gear, time seemed to slow down to a crawl.

When the elevator touched down, it seemed like the doors would never open.

"Game time. Look sharp."

BING

[Tashio]

Markus draws his SMG, kneeling down at the back in the corner.

[Mister Juan]

George takes position opposite to Markus' side, making sure their fields of fire would cross to cover all the front angles. His deep brown eyes went to the side, catching Markus'. His cheek pressed on his weapon, he spoke in his usual low and gruff voice.

"If I go down, keep them moving. This is a death trap."

[Glyph]

Caitlin stands near the back wall of the elevator, slightly behind Markus. She doesn't need to worry about lines of fire - all she needs is line of sight. She opens her mental eyes to the astral plane, even as she allocates some of her precious store of magical energy to the task of protecting the group from any magical attacks.

She grudgingly credits the opposition for thinking outside the box, and settting things up to allow them to take out them and their client without causing a lobby bloodbath. Now all that she and the others can do is try to turn the ambush around on them. Her professional detatchment seems to be working, dampening down the sick rush of fear and adrenaline, keeping her focused. A slight twitch of a feral smile is the only expression on her otherwise impassive face.

[Sicarius]

It ended almost as soon as it began. And what started as an ambush ended up a slaughter.

For the Ambushers.

Markus was blazing away almost as soon as the doors opened, killing one and wounding another with well placed bursts. The wounded ganger would have no time to proclaim his good luck, as he was rapidly put down by George. The stoat and heavily armored ork than stepped up and put another one of the would be assassins to death. Seeing a good plan go awry, the last ganger went with the tried and true tactic of the streets... Spray and Pray.

When the metaphorical dust settled, the team picked itself up off the ground, except for George who had never hit the deck to begin with.

Than the ganger went down with a gurgle, blood trickling from his nose and ears, apparently Caitlin's work. Nadia peeked out from behind George armored self.. which had shielded both her and their employeer Hobbes from the mix.

[Mister Juan]

His weapon still trained on the four now downed gangers, George stayed in position for a few seconds, making sure none of the men were moving.

"Markus" he said in his usual booming voice, his eyes fixed on the sights of his gun "check for survivors. I'll cover you".

[Glyph]

After Caitlin helps Nadia and Hobbes up, her cold gaze sweeps over the fallen gangers as she steps out of the elevator.

"The one that I tagged should still be alive, albeit much the worse for wear. I think we should take the stairs back up to the conference room - but let's stay alert. This might have only been the first wave."

[Sicarius]

Markus checks, to find that two of the ganger' are still alive, the one who Caitlin cast against, and one of the two that he himself shot.
Both were unconcious and likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future.

[Tashio]

Markus quickly searches the gangers for any form of identification, not expecting to find much.

"Lets move, security will most likely be along very soon, someone would have heard the noise. We don't want to be caught around here. Head for the stairwell."

Markus picks up one of the guns, poping the clip out and clearing the chamber. Once everyone is out of the elevator he jams the gun between the lift doors to stop them from closing.

[Sicarius]

no identification is found. Markus does find additional magazines for the submachine guns, one of the thugs, something that looks like a children's toy with a birds feather a string and a round hoop, and on another, a cellphone.

[Tashio]

Markus grabs the phone and the toy from the corpse, slipping them into his pockets. Tossing one of the spare magazines to George he takes the another for himself.

[Mister Juan]

Without even looking, George's big hand went out and caught the clip mid air.

"I agree. Let's get out of here now."

Snapping the Cobra's safety back on, he slid it under his coat and snapped it back into the quick release rig. As he spoke, one of his big gloved ork fingers started to big around his lower chest.

"We keep the same moving position. Let's get Hobbes to this meeting."

After a few seconds, George threw away a flattened 9mm bullet on the floor as if it was a mere nothing. It seemed as if the fight hadn't even fazed the ork.

[Sicarius]

As soon as the party frees itself from the elevator, and the pile of bodies, it becomes immediately apparent why the gangers chose this floor. It is clearly under construction. white, plastic sheets cover much of the floors. Parts of walls are exposed, where the team can see into empty rooms, the floor is hard concrete instead of the classy carpeting used on the other floors.

The one good thing, is that there appears to be a clear line of sight to the end of the hallway, where there is a clear door. It is swinging halfway open.

Still there is no trouble as the team progresses up the stairs, to the appropriate floor.

[Glyph]

Caitlin lets George take the point, keeping back with the others, close to the client. Her astral eyes are open, scanning for any magical threats. She is muttering a few derogatory things about the hotel's version of "security", but still seems focused.

[Musashi Forever]

"That was no problem eh, boss," Nadia says to Hobbes as they head through the hallway and up the stairs.

"We'll have you to that meeting and done with all this in no time."

[Sicarius]

Hobbes stares off into space blankly. That was the closest he'd ever been to combat, and he clearly didn't appreciate it much.

"uh..." He mutters briefly, before shaking himself off.

"Let's get this thing over and done with." He says, seeming to have repossessed himself enough to smile as his escort.

[Sicarius]

When the team comes to the top of the stairs, on the same floor as the conference room, they are presented with a door, it is not locked, and opens up behind a fake tree in rear of the conference floor lobby. The lobby remains filled with a variety of different people, perhaps as many as thirty in all, milling around speaking which each other between seminars. The double doors to the conference room where Hobbes' meeting will take place is perhaps but 50 meters away.

[Glyph]

Caitlin stands just slightly closer to Hobbes, as she scans the crowd for any blatantly hostile intentions. She knows her astral scanning is far from foolproof, especially against a calm professional, but it's all she has at the moment. Besides, a calm professional would be less likely to be desperate enough to go for a publicly-posted bounty. She is not ignoring the more harmless-seeming people, though. They could also be a potential danger if they start panicking. Her commlink is active, ready to transmit as soon as she detects any danger.

[Sicarius]

Caitlin Only

[ Spoiler ]

As Caitlin Scans the room in the astral, the room is a light with the auras of the many different people. So many living beings in close contact makes telling the difference between them difficult. All sorts of emotions are displayed, greed, boredom, indifference, lust, stress. But there is nothing which Caitlin flags as overtly dangerous.

[Mister Juan]

Standing in the lobby, his longcoat flapped over his weapons to hide them, George cursed under his breath.

This is fragged. There's too many people.

The ork double checked his watch. The deadline for the hit still hadn't passed. As long as that hour was gone by, the game of cat and mouse was still on.

"Stay sharp. This could get ugly. Don't let anyone get too close to Hobbes. Wait for my signal"

George started to cross the room, walking a slow pace towards the door, all his senses in alert. If something went down, this could turn really ugly, really fast.

Once by the conference door, he turned around, watching the crowd for a few mores seconds. Finally satisfied that nothing was standing out, he activated his transceiver.

"Ok. Move."

[Tashio]

Markus carefully pushed the door open without stepping into the room. A quick check to make sure the room is clear before entering.

[Musashi Forever]

Nadia took Hobbes' arm with her free hand and began walking with him across the crowded room. She tried to walk casually, but was also ready to cover him at the least sign of trouble. She also kept her pistol hand concealed in her bag ready to pull it out and fire if needed.

[Sicarius]

With a sigh of relief from everyone involved, the group cruises practically unnoticed across the lobby floor, making it inside the conference room. Inside there are three people already seated around the long conference table. Two of them have an appearance which screams lawyer: One a thin brown haired, weasel of a man, who is sitting with his back to the door wearing a suit which easily cost more than this run had earned the team. The other, on far end of the table, is a rotund older gentleman wearing a suit which probably cost more than ten such runs. He is sitting on the right hand of another, younger man, who is dressed more conservatively in a traditional corporate cut suit. That man smiles and stands as the group enters. Behind those two, are two thick, corp-sec types, in longcoats, and with the obvious bulges of weapons and thick ballistic armor.

"Mr. Hobbes, I was beginning to fear that you wouldn't make it. I'm Francis Hollenbeck, I'll be negotiating on behalf of Microdeck today. This is our attorney Mr. Feathers."

If Hollenbeck saw irony in the name, it wasn't readily apparent.

Hobbes stepped forward through his escort, and brushed himself off elaborately.

"I appear to be somewhat underdressed." Hobbes said, " Mr. Fabian I presume," he says to the lawyer type at this side of the table. The man simply nodded at the seat beside him, and Hobbes sits down.

"If you wouldn't mind having some of your security wait outside? Two of mine, and two of yours is fair." Hollenbeck says, a statement in the form of the question.

Hobbes glances back at the team, letting them decide who stays, and who waits in the lobby.