Up from the Bottom, Wipe Those Tears and Pass the Ammo Options

[Abbandon]

Zed’s Salvage – ‘Since 2032’, Northeast Renton, 5.1km S of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:11
Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden

Maybe 800+ pounds was to much to climb up a vertical pile of loose metal but it sure as hell wasnt to finish bending the thin metal of the fence. Sliding the predator down the backside of his pants yet again he pulled the IWK up and into position and then hopped on the fence. It stretched and made the noise fences make when they shake as Cerberus stomped across it. With only a few footfalls he was back on dirt and walking towards the end of the wall to see how things were going and to hopefully help Rocky out.

Looking to his left as he got to the end of the wall he saw Rocky fighting with one of the mafia guys. Then Rocky's voice came over their comms, "LOUIE's DEAD! LETS BLOW THIS JOINT!". Rocky must have been fired up because the next thing Cerberus knows the guy he is fighting is layed out on the ground. As Cerberus let out a sigh and began to relax his extremely short feeling of peace was shattered by Sledge, "Sniper, trailer roof."

Cerberus quickly looks back to the semi and its trailer and then to the roof and thats where he sees a guy taking aim at Rocky with a pistol. Moving as quickly as he can he realizes its already to late but trys to warn Rocky anyways, "Rocky! Behind You!". The guy on the trailer fires and all Ceberus can hear is a body falling against the middle suv. Between the cover and the speed at which Cerberus was attempting to line up his shot his long narrow burst whiffs and flys off harmlessly into the night but not before making the sniper go flat. Fuck! Before he can turn to see had happened to Rocky he goes sprinting by towards the van.

Thinking there is some kind of glitch with his cybereyes Cerberus turns to look at the spot where it sounded like Rocky had fallen, thats he spots a guy standing at the head of the lead suv aiming right for him. Throwing himself to the side he manages to dodge the first shot but still gets tagged by a second. Another grazing shot, nothing serious. He felt like he had been through a few rounds of fighting though.

Cerberus watched the semi trailer roofline and took a peak around the corner at the guy who had tagged him and gripped his gun a little tighter. Then Rocky came over the comm again telling them about the long-haired guy behind the middle suv was taking pot shots at Sledge keeping her pinned in place. Inhaling and exhaling a breathe he quickly developed a plan. Make the guy at the head of the suv keep his head down, distracted the long haired guy with a little grenade and then hoof it for the van. Hopefully Sledge would be able to make a break for it and they could all carry out Rocky's plan of getting the hell out of their.

[Abbandon]

Zed’s Salvage – ‘Since 2032’, Northeast Renton, 5.1km S of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:14
Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden

With only one bullet left in the clip of his IWK Cerberus decided to switch to the predator. Once again he let the IWK hang from the gyro harness and pulled the predator. Not seeing any movement from the roof of the semi-trailer he began to carry out his plan. Leaning around the corner of crap he was taking cover from the guy at the head of the lead suv was moving towards his position but as soon as he saw Cerberus he began running and the shot from the predator Cerberus sent after him only made him get there faster, failing to hit the guy.

Cerberus turns to look for a spot to toss the grenade and the next thing he sees is Johnson sprinting for the lead suv. Luckily Cerberus's eyes were cyber or they would have most definately popped out of his head at the sight of this preppy kid in a suit running around in the middle of this warzone. Cerberus closed his eyes and shook his head and got back to the task at hand. But then another sight unfolds in front of him. There is Sledge running and leaping through the air off the top of a 8-10 foot tall shed. This only reinforces his need to get things moving. Reaching up he pulls another cylindrical frag grenade from his bandolier with his free hand. Giving another high arcing hook shot toss he aimed for the passenger side of the middle suv where this long haired guy was.

Not waiting to see what effect the grenade might have he takes off at a decent pace only to see Johnson following on his footsteps but Johnson's demeanor says keep on trucking so Cerberus doesnt stop. Are we going to get away with this? His thought is punctuated by the explosion of his latest frag grenade shattering glass and ripping into metal and hopefully turning the long haired guy into hamburger.

[pragma]

Zed’s Salvage – ‘Since 2032’, Northeast Renton, 5.1km S of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:14
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden
Astrally Projecting

Fortunato rocketed skyward through thinner and thinner layers of mana density. He felt short of breath, the pressure on his chest was enormous. Suddenly, he broke through a layer of background count and touched the sky.

A giant snake encircled the world, eating its own tail. Every color faded to black and white. He could not breathe and did not need to. His understanding was complete for a moment. Then he remembered that he was running from an elemental and that this was how astral forms died.

An instant later Fortunato screamed back towards the earth and spun to a perfect halt outside of Zed's salvage firing a salvo of magical energy at the fire spirit. He didn't kill it, but it departed for reasons which he was not privy to.

He flew around the firefight, scanning for targets and informing his team. Then set about the arduous task of erasing all the astral evidence that he had been here while periodically updating his coworkers about the men trying to kill them.

[DireRadiant]

Zed's Salvage - since 2032, Northeast Renton, 5.1 km south of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:20
Sledge - Broken breaking
PAN - Hidden

...breathe ... !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ ...

Rolling out of the cab hadn't even registered, and before she could even think, she was running in a crouch around a small shack. After tossing the shotgun on the roof and climbing after it, everything was fine until she hauled her torso over the lip of the roof.

That's when the breathe exploded out of her and the man standing in the cab door looked right at her. More importantly, she saw the other one. Several rounds in her direction later she realized the explosions she'd heard hadn't been shots directed at her. Must have been some munitions the trog just tossed around like candy.

She squeezed off a couple shots herself, not any good, but it got their attention, somebody's attention. A couple slugs sprayed plaster up in her face, but when the word came over the net she was relieved.

She slid over into a half push up and bent her knees, paused !@#$%^&*())(*&%$

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

Next thing she was up and flying over the fence the ground rushing up !@#$%^&*())(*&%$

On her feet, the road ahead, she kept moving

... breathe ... !@#$%^&*())(*&%$

She spotted the kid, Sugar Lips, all too cool on his bike, snarling she !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ stumbled over to him and grabbed him !@#$%^&*())(*&%$
"bike..." !@#$%^&*())(*&%$

If every run ended this way, she was going to ask for a lot more nuyen.

[Abbandon]

Zed’s Salvage – ‘Since 2032’, Northeast Renton, 5.1km S of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:20
Rocky - Physical Adept
PAN - Hidden

The evening had been a blur, it started with the team waiting for its shot at Louie to the chaos of a full fledged gun battle in some random junk yard on the outside of town. The run in behind the semi had gone as planned, but then Rocky found he was out at the front of the fight by himself with a lot of bad guys just on the other side of a pair of SUV's. Wondering what he had gotten himself into Rocky stalled for a moment trying to figure out a way to help and not get killed. So he pulled his pistol and opened the back door of the SUV he had been using for cover. Much to his surprise he found what he guessed was Louie's hacker all by himself. Then the far door opens and he's getting shot at again, which seemed to be happening alot lately. Some how the SUV started and jumped forward a little, but Rocky held on while the goon across the way fell. With a quick shot the hacker was no more, and then the goon was back and shooting again, this time hitting once, grazing his arm.

The next thing Rocky knew grenades were rolling around and it was time to leave, stopping half a second to crack some goon in the face, breaking his nose. Some how he knew that Louie was in the next SUV over and by himself. Seeing it was time to get the job done Rocky moved to the lead SUV, this time going for the driver's door. Surprised to find it unlocked, he was greeted with the target that had brought all of them here. One Louie "Fishbreath" Finnigan, Rocky wasted no time and took his shot, but some how that slippery so of a bitch dodged at 1 foot away. But his luck was short lived as Rocky lined up and put two bullets in to his brain, spreading it across the passenger's side of the SUV.

With the job done it was time to go, but it had taken time to take the shot and now he was primary target for the goons that seemed to be coming from everywhere. The bullets were really starting to fly and Rocky wound have sworn he was not going to make it out of this junkyard tonight, but he had to try. As he started forward he heard warnings coming from all over. IF ever asked later how he did it he couldn't really answer but some how Rocky launched him self up and backwards out of the path of way to many bullets, landing on the roof of Louie's SUV and rolling over to the other side. The side that before had been where he didn't want to go now provided the cover he needed to make his run for it. A few seconds latter he found himself in the back of the teams van. He was beat up, had been shot three or four times, but he was alive and Louie was dead.

Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden

Cerberus ran the rest of the way to the van and climbed into the rear. Rocky was waiting for him when he got there and closed the rear door after he climbed in. Cerberus braced himself for whatever sudden movements when come from the van and then began stripping down his gear and tossing it into storage box's under the seats. Setting the predator on the floor he quickly unhooked the IWK from the gyro harness and placed it in thb ottom of the storage locker. Then came the bandolier of grenades now a few grenades lighter. Finally he removed the gyro harness and placed it in the box.

Spending a few seconds Cerberus disassembled the IWK and stuff it back into the bag Johnson had deliever it to him in. He then stuffed the grenades and harness into the bag. Zipping up the bag he then closed the storage locker and grabbed his predator and took his seat facing Rocky. He looked like he had taken a few shots.

Thankfully he had come through the fight mostly uninjured. He had been tagged a bunch of times but the shots had either hit his jacket or been grazing wounds. Maybe he could play doctor on Rocky and return the favor from the clinic. Yanking out the medkit he began trying to figure out what he had to do to fix some of their more minor injuries..

[pragma]

Zed's Salvage, Astral Plane
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:20
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Projecting

Fortunato plucked apart the final remaining piece of astral signature like one would pull apart a cotton ball; spreading the mana thinner and thinner until it was indistinguishable from the astral ebb and flow behind it. As he finished the task his aura swam with yellow relief. His job here seemed done, the firefight seemed to have subdued and everyone was reconvening at the van. It was high time he did as well.

He floated gently into his body and prepared to ...

"MotherFucker! Shit" He convulsed. His shirt had worked its way into the heatless burns that appeared on his chest. He clawed at the injuries. "Goddamn, Fuck!" The front of his shirt came away with a layer of charred skin and fat. "Shit...Shit" He was calmer now.

Turning to the back of the van he took stock of who had arrived. Someone needed to coordinate the escape. He typed quickly while his watcher took an exaggerated breath and said "My boss wants you to know 'MotherFucker! Shit ...'"

<<@Team: We've got trolls, Angel and Me. Are Sledge and Johnson mounted?>>

He received rapid confirmation while he silenced the spirit as it finished echoing his stream of profanity. He typed again.

<<@Angel: Time to get rolling kid. Drive us out of here.>>

[BlackHat]

Zed’s Salvage – ‘Since 2032’, Northeast Renton, 5.1km S of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:20
Smith - Anxious to Call it a Night
PAN - Hidden

Smith waited for the right opportunity, but before that came, his gut told him to go so he did. As he sprinted across the battlefield, he didn't have time to think about how crazy what he was doing was. Somewhere to his right gunshots when off, but he didn't hear any of the tell-wale 'whizzing' noises that would indicate he was their target.

Boom. He collided with the SUV, and pressed against it for cover quickly before maneuvering into the open door. He saw Louie's dead body laying there. What was left of his face was looking up at him.

Okay, I'm convinced. Step one, complete.

He quickly patted down the ex-mobster, hoping to find a commlink, but knowing that was like finding a needle in a haystack. More bullets fired. It was time to go. Smith removed his hand from Louie's jacket pocket, where he had found a wad of money. With his other hand, he finished popping the ring off of his finger.

He wasn't sure that he would need these things, but the cash would certainly come in handy. The ring... well, in the movies, Smith would have taken Louie's finger. This wasn't the movies, and Smith didn't really want to carry around a bloody finger all night. The ring would do, if it needed to do anything.

More chatter on the team network triggered Smith's retreat. He wasn't even sure what was being said - only that the rest of the team would have already responded to it. Sure enough, as he sprinted back towards the van, he was behind Cerberus. By the time he got on his bike, though, he realized Sledge was the last one out, and he could see her charging towards him. He got on his bike with just enough time to glance back at her and hear her snarl before getting on with him.

Smith's bike wasn't built for two, but he managed to make it down the street as far as Sledge's bike without crashing. The move probably shaved a second or two off of her escape, but Smith doubted anyone else would notice. In fact, the van was already pulling away. Given Sledge a second to hop on her bike, Smith and Sledge rode north after the van.

he finally had a moment to think about the network noise, which, at that moment, was being replaced by someone else's network chatter. Someone sounding very professional, and very concerned about the recent disturbance.

<<@Team:: "Great work everyone. Keep your eyes peeled, and stick together.">>

[pragma]

Zed's Salvage, Astral Plane
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:25
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Inactive

Fortunato had calmed down for a split second after asking Angel to drive them to freedom, but his relief was short lived. Moments after he had given the order, communications from someone's security channel started streaming into his comm.

"...eyes on. Action looks limited to Niners Delta and Charlie."
"Central: lock down and wait for Lonely Hearts. Redirect MODs to north and south exfil routes."
"Scrambling on that - runners moving north now."
"Lonely Hearts ETA?"
"Looks like...90 for the bird...ghost should be on site already."
"That wraps us up except for battening down the hatches. Open channels two and three for data streams from the MODs to Lonely Hearts. Keep this channel clear for necessary traffic."

"Shit."

He quickly typed a message:

<<@Team: Whatever secuirty we're dealing with has drones inbound (that's MODs). They've also probably got astral presence at our exit point (that's ghosts). I'll do what I can to get us out of here, but I'm in bad shape. I'm going to need someone to keep an eye on me with a medkit.>>

He typed the last line grimly. This was a dangerous escape and he was already injured and tired. He had considered not telling the team about the spirits so that he wouldn't have to put his neck on the line. But it was his own skin he was saving here; injured or not, his back was against the wall and they'd need to see him break out of this.

He relaxed his mind and called to the air as he'd done so many times in the past few days. The same angry, whirling astral vortex descended and enveloped the van and the two bikes and the team shot off towards their destination.

Fortunato leaned back in his chair and prepared to project.

[adamu]

Driver's seat of concealed and magically accelerated Love Machine
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:26

As he relaxed himself, Fortunato heard the spirit's voice breeze through his consciousness - A policeman descended upon me from my sky and strove to impede my service. Thus, I have dissuaded him.

[adamu]

Tripping the Light Fantastic above the Love Machine
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:27

Freed from the confines of his mortal shell, the essence of Gregory Blaine bounded up and out of the speeding van, through the dual substance of his spirit servant, and into the industrial night air.

The Love Machine, concealed to all but himself and his teammates, hurtled along ahead, but he wasn't worried, knowing that with the slightest exertion he could catch up to it.

Looking around, he saw no obvious signs of pursuit on any plane open to his perception, but if he'd learn one thing in Christians in Action, it was that the most dangerous threats were the least obvious.

[adamu]

Halfway to the Freeway
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:32


<<Dammit - they've gone dark. We are eyes off. Repeat, eyes off.>>
<<Concentrate all MOD assets on chokepoints Bravo and Charlie and record at high speed on all spectrums. Take sensors from target acquisition to zone coverage and get some meat brains in there.>>
<<White Spider Three making the jump now.>>

Listening to the sec chatter, Angel opened her mind to the inputs from the Love Machine's impressive sensor array, straining to pick up the signatures of these drones Fort had warned her about. But she really had no clue what she was looking for, and failed to pick anything up.

The CIA mage himself, meanwhile, had just leapfrogged himself a few hundred meters ahead of the mystically speeding vehicle, and taking another look around, saw what he'd been waiting for - two more astral figures zoomed in over the horizon, split up, and started running up and down the road. They were looking for him and his teammates, who under normal circumstances would have stuck out plain as day on the empty access road. The auras of the two figures were clearly marked as Lone Star officers - Fortunato had known that the moment the first cop had woken up screaming in his bed and tearing at his IVs to go hide in the bathroom that the situation's threat level would be upgraded and they'd have more company - the Star knew local rentacops were filming everything, and they couldn't afford to look bad during the current contract renegotiations.

It was only a matter of time before the two magecops found the Concealed runners...

[adamu]

Halfway to the Freeway
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:33

...and Fortunato's response was textbook - preparing himself to ward off spells, he mentally directed his Air Servant to give the two newcomers the same treatment the first responder had received.
Within half a second the two officers were gone...though whether they had fled in terror or simply ducked out of sight was impossible to tell.

[DireRadiant]

Highway to Hell, south of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:33
Sledge - Breaking Away
PAN - Hidden

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

In a spike of clarity she noticed the white stone lodged in the thread pattern of her front tire. It was going to have to be removed so that the rubber wouldn't warp around it and cause a ridge that would make the tires vibrate arythmically and give her a little bump during a high speed turn. Especially on the front tire, losing traction there meant you lost all control, the rear tire could get a little sloppy, and there wasn't any real problem, but the front one would leave you at the mercy of your last physical vector. And it had none.

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

Another bump, the bike caught some air, but she wrestled it straight, the torso twist lifting her cold wet shirt off her side and a rush of cold air washed icily over her frigid skin. The landing was smooth and yet another block flashed by in a blur as she blinked in response to the touchdown.

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

The pavement grooves screamed, her sticky wet shirt boiled on her skin, her back prickled in the heat, her pants were now soaking from the top down, the leather seat becoming slick and slippery, not absorbing and providing friction as she tried to grip the slithering bike thumping beneath her.

...breathe... keep going...

<<@team:: kill ... sensors ... eyes ...>>

Hands on the grips, tucked over the tank of ice, slick with slush, pink moisture streaming away along her side in the slipstream that cooled her shivering frigid body, her frozen face locked tight against the gelid air slamming against her. Sledge kept her eyes locked on the spinning tube of vulcanized rubber propelling Sugar Lips crotch rocket ahead of her at impossible speeds.

[Abbandon]

Halfway to the Freeway
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:33
Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN: Hidden

By the time Cerberus had pulled the medkit out of storage and started opening it up they had already began to haul ass out of there and then before he could concentrate of trying to fix his own wounds or ask Rocky for help Angel was feeding some unidentified comm's chatter through to the team. Apparently they were attempting to capture the team. Were they the FBI goons from before?? If so he was sick of running into them.

Then Cerberus lurched backwards as if the van had fired off some massive rockets attached to the sides fueled by nitrous oxide. He regained his balance and then dug around in the medkit for something to close some of his gashes with. he was about to grab a needle and thread but the medkit flashed some lights around what looked like a gun. It was a staple gun used for suchering.

Forgetting to take something for the pain he began stapling shut one of the longer gashes in his arm.......

[adamu]

Highway to Hell, south of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:34


Caittie Natome's head was spinning. She was a sharp girl, and the stakes they were playing were not lost on her - there were drones she couldn't see trying to take pictures of them, and they'd probably already had their pictures taken back at the dump. She knew she should be doing something about all that, something about the drones, or the chatter, or whatever a Lonely Hearts was, but she just didn't know anything about how all this corporate security stuff was organized - she didn't know where to start working.

And now Sledge was telling her to kill her sensors? Or the bad - the good? - the other guys' sensors?

Using the virtuality of her voice to hide the stress her meat vocal cords would certainly have betrayed, she said simply <<On it.>> and redoubled her search for these damned "MODs."

[DireRadiant]

Highway to Hell, south of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:36
Sledge - Breaking Away
PAN - Hidden

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

The streak of spinning rubber ahead of her jerked into the lower field of her vision, the AR overlay of the Love Machine flashed from the background into her foreground view. Surrounding the wire frame view a series of specifications and status symbols flashed.

... do something ...

<<@team kill ... >>

Her left thigh slipped back, her lower back complained as her right leg took all the strain as she straightened the wheel. She could see her hands on the grips, but couldn't feel them anymore.

<<@team ... power !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ >>

Her hand moved, sliding the throttle a bit, she had to watch it to know when to stop, she flicked her eyes down to see if she had her foot above or below the gear shift.

<<@team grid ... >>

Left hand a claw of ice, her right a flaming torch, she steadied the handle bars, everything in between a slick damp haze.

<<@team MOD ... sparkle >>

Eyes closed, the spinning tires and vehicles ahead of her flashed in ARO that primarily squawked about the impossible numbers, Sledge ignored them all and concentrated on the important details.

<<@team ammo bin ... sensors !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ >>

The disturbing part really was that she wasn't hearing anything at all, not even the wind in her hair.

[adamu]

Highway to Hell, approaching onramps
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:37


Competing with Sledge's tortured voice was an ongoing stream of chatter from the industrial parks' security forces.

<<Got anything?>>
<<Negative, we are still eyes off.>>
<<White Spider Three?>>
<<Nothing, electronic or opt...what the fuck?>>
<<Uplink with Blue Crew online. They are routing to Lonely Hearts.>>
<<Bill? You okay?>>
<<It doesn't feel like an agent...>>
<<Bill?>>

Ahead of them the onramps were coming up fast.

[Abbandon]

Highway to Hell, approaching onramps
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:37
Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden

Cerberus took some gauss out of the medkit and wrapped it around the wound he had just stapled shut. "Hey Rocky rip this end in half and then tie it", he held one end of the gauss bandage out to Rocky and held the rest of the bandage in place on his arm.

Rocky, "Uh sure.." Rocky tore the one end of the bandage down the middle to make two smaller pieces that could be tied together to hold the bandage in place and then wraped them around Cebrerus's arm and tied it. Cerberus grimaced as he tightened it but it was better than having a loose bandage.

"Ok your turn bro, let me see the worst of it.." Rocky opened his jacket and pulled it back from the shoulder exposing a gash...

Cerberus grabbed a scanner and ran it over the gash. The medkit beeped and flashed green to show that there were no bullet fragments inside. Grabbing the staple gun he had use on himself Cerberus reached out to close the wound when Rocky grabbed his wrist. "Hey! What are you doing? Im not like you, I'm not into that invasive stuff, dont you got anything less severe? I heal quick.."

Cerberus's neon green eyes didnt really show any acknowledgement but he shrugged and put the stapler back into the medkit and punched away at the keys. Another tray lit up and Cerberus grabbed a small packet while reading one of the display. "The kit says this stuff should help and is totally natural, just hold still". Ripping the package along one edge he poured the fine powdery granuals into the gash which made them go from white to red. Dropping the packet to the floor of the van he grabbed a tube of some clear liquid and squirted some along the gash to. With a small plastic thingy he pulled from the same place he got the tube he smoothed out the liquid and cleaned up the access.

"That clear liquid is some quick drying glue that is suppose to hold just as well as stitches. Ok now we just have to bandage it up and you will be good to go...". Cerberus put the gluetube and plastic thingy back and grabbed some gause.......

[adamu]

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:45

As the Love Machine rocketed under the freeway, Fortunato ordered his spirit to cut its power of Movement Through Air - gently. Everyone's stomach lurched as they decelerated from hyper-speed, but the Astral Being took care to steady the bikes, having no wish to inadvertently harm its master's companions. Once again feeling the grip of the van's tires on the asphalt, Angel instructed the vehicle's thoroughly bewildered Pilot to take the westbound onramp and head them toward Northgate. The bikes followed suit, one of Fortunato's watchers making the rounds to remind everyone to watch traffic, because traffic wouldn't be watching them.

The sec chatter continued.

<<Da...dam-m-m-mit....pull it...plug.>>
<<White Spider Three has been taken offline. Initiating Pilot.>>
<<Imagery?>>
<<Nothing obvious. We'll break down the...shit! MOD down. MOD down.>>
<<Central, Blue Crew saying everything we're sending is corrupted. Lonely Hearts seventy out.>>
<<Too slow. Tell them to get ground units on all our approaches, and get whatever imagery we got at Zed's into cold storage.>>

Angel smiled with satisfaction as she ordered the Pilot to slow to a legal speed and focus on collision avoidance.

[JDragon]

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:47
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

Rocky was still in a bit of shock from the events of the evening as he sat in the back of the van working with Cerberus on patching up himself and the team.

Now that Louie was dead he could move on and try this whole Shadowrunner thing again. It seemed like he had found some people that he could work with and that his melee skills complmented, but he needed to change his look or he was going to have his past catching up to him and bringing even more heat. From what he heard on the comm, not that much of it made any sense to him they had gotten some attention, but may have slipped away for the moment.

Maybe Johnson or Cerberus would know someone that could do some work on his face to make him dissappear in to a crowd.

With no skills or understnding of exactly what was going on, oce he had finshed helping with the first aide he closed his eyes and tried to relax a little as the van made its way to the teams next stop, where ever that was.

[BlackHat]

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:50
Smith - Johnson
PAN: Hidden

It was all Smith could do to keep his crotch-rocket from literally blasting out from under him while it was under the spirit's influence. There was a lot of information racing through his commlink, but he didn't have the attention to spare processing it until they had made it to the freeway. It seemed like someone else felt the same way, because that was when the spirit began to gently ease Smith and his bike down to reasonable speeds. Assuming their persuers had lost visual contact, changing their speed would throw off any predictions about where they might be, or when they might end up somewhere. It also seemed like Angel was leading them somewhere, but Smith wasn't sure exactly where - since they hadn't set up a rendezvous-point, beforehand.

Smith made a note to himself - another pebble on the mountain of things he wanted to try doing differently the next time Franco put him in charge of something like this.

<<@Team:: "Okay, team, what's everyone's status? We need to find a place to debrief, settle-up, and figure out what you guys need to get back on your feet.">>

[DireRadiant]

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:16:10
Sledge - Bleeding Edge
PAN - Hidden

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

All she could see was the rapidly spinning tire in front, and a small patch of crumbling recycled cement road it was traveling on. Everything else around the edge of her vision was dark. It was like looking at the world through a pinhole, or down the barrel of a gun. The hot flashes had stopped, everything was now icily numb. And sticky.

One hand on the wheel, mental command to the accelerator to match speeds with the vehicle ahead of her, she reached her right hand across and started feeling for the damage.

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$ breathe exploded out

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$ tooth cracked

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$ ....

<<@team:: Shock !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ short 5 units Type O ... 2 rounds ... upper right front 7 and 8 ribs shattered punctured lung ... left lower abdomen round through ...!@#$%^&*())(*&%$ ... right shoulder never mind ... !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ ... getaway clean and clear? >>

... BREATHE ... keep breathing ...

[pragma]

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond Line, Astral Plane
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:46
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Projecting

Fortunato was having the fit of panic that accompanied a recent escape. Had he been a better trained spy, or had he come into his employment through more standard channels, he would have had training to deal with it. However, instead he was jumping at shadows and assuming that every flash of light was a pursuing mage-cop.

It was this state of hyper awareness that drew him to the two snakes circling in the air, each eating the tail of the other. The two spun in a lazy circle and Gregory Blaine was drawn towards them and sucked into the center of the doubled ouroboros.

An undefined place
Time unknown

Fortunato sat on a rock in an empty, blasted plain. Cracked earth stretched to a perfectly flat horizon, like that seen on an ocean. The sky was perfectly blue, even though there was no sun. The world was swelteringly hot.

He had been sitting here forever.

Two snakes slithered towards him. They seemed familiar. One was a cruel looking krait, spade headed and covered in obsidian scales. The other a python, the color of dirt.

They spoke in unison.

"You will come to understand through shadowed half truths.
The hidden shield is impenetrable and none shall escape the well informed sword"

The first spoke saying

'Quick strikes and strong venom to scatter your enemies
Sharp eyes and sharper mind to cut them to ribbons"

The second said

"Long patience, slow pressure to confuse and ensare.
Invisible, resilient, you will prevail."

Fortunato dimly remembered years spent studying hermetic mysticism, endless streams of useless formulae. Teachers pounding their heads in frustration at his inability to understand the numbers, the science of magic. None of it seemed particularly relevant here.

Again they spoke in unison

"Learn your lessons, break the cipher, solve the puzzle, find the clue."

The serpents' shapes oscillated, the krait becoming a cobra and the python a sidewinder. The cobra a rattlesnake and the sidewinder a meek garter snake. Each snake stared at Fortunato in turn. He could not meet their eyes. They saw through him, but they appeared inscruatable and alien. What did he understand of their lives, their world. What did he even know of his. He hung his head in shame.

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond Line, Astral Plane
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:46

Fortunato became aware of the astral plane and he was sailing parallel to the freeway watching for astral threats that might be pursing the fleeing love machine. He was sure something important had just happened and desperately wanted to stop, to spend some time thinking. But the night wore on and the chase was far from over. The love machine needed to be free of this mess and it needed to be free soon.

He thought at the van's watcher "Get off the freeway at the first exit. Then we can switch disguises."

[Abbandon]

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:16:15
Cerberus - Street Samurai/Doc
PAN - Hidden

Cerberus finished tieing off Rocky's bandages. Judging from the way they were still bleeding it didnt look like he did such a good job but it was the best he could do in this situation. Giving Rocky a pat on his uninjured shoulder to let him know he was done he grabbed a biometer from the medkit and stuffed himself into the front of the cab as best he could to check out Fortunato's wounds and turned the medkit towards Rocky. "Can you hand me the stuff I ask for?". Rocky looked like his mind was somewhere else but he answered, "Uhh sure."

Fortunato looked like he had been set on fire. Patches of skin were melted and wrinkly and raw. He didnt know in the hell he could have got these wounds since he had been in the van the whole time but it probably had something to do with magic. If this was the price you paid Cerberus was glad only his genetics had been touched by magic. Cerberus remembered about Fortunato's watcher and tried to speak to it and think it, "Uhh Fort?? We are starting treatment for your wounds let us know if it hurts or something."

Taking a deep breathe before starting was a mistake it smelled like cooked meat in the front of the van. Cerberus checked the biometer, "Ok uhh see what it says to do for 2nd degree burns..". Rocky punched buttons and stuff in the medkit lit up. Grabbing a tube he handed it to Cerberus, "It says to DAB this stuff on the area's but do not rub it on". Cerberus squirted some of the contents of the tube into his hand which was some thick goop. He took his time and dabbed it on slowly but Fortunato wasnt even around to say if it hurt or not. "Ok what next?".

Cerberus handed the tube back to Rocky who put it back where he had gotten it. Taking a fresh roll of bandages out he handed it up to Cerberus. "It says to wrap the area's up with that gauze firmly but not to tight". Cerberus wrapped the first wound and then asked for Rocky's help tieing it and then he moved on to the next and the next until they were done. Having finished he thought he would update Fortunato, "Rocky and I just bandaged up your burn wounds, as soon as you can you should check em out."

He put the left over gauze back into the medkit and cleaned it up and straightened as best he could before closing it and then climbed back to his seat in the back and begin to rest when Sledge reported back on her injuries. Broken ribs, a through and through and a busted tooth??

Good! Freaking backstabber deserves it! was the first thought that ran through his head. They had all shown up at the clinic to save his butt though so he figured he still owed her. <<@team:: "Those sound like some nasty wounds, if you want we could probably pull over and you could ride in the van while i drive your bike until we find a place to stop and get you fixed up....">>

[DireRadiant]

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:16:20
Sledge - Bleeding Edge
PAN - Hidden

<<@team:: Clean away? MODs down for good? Ground units?>>

The tunnel vision affected her balance, Sledge flipped up the balance ball ARO and centered it in her vision field, she was going to have to concentrate on the level indicator instead of the complete absence of sensory feedback from her legs and lower body.