IC: Origins, It takes two to tango. Options

[krayola red]

Zee:

As the gangers from outside approach the house, you track their position with your radar and open fire with your sniper rifle, shooting through the door at them. One of your bullets catches the lead ganger in the shoulder, knocking him backwards. They immediately stop advancing and start moving backwards, slinging up their rifles and shuffling to take cover behind a car parked outside.

[Glyph]

Tasha waits, poised, for Zee's signal, gun ready.

"How many out there? I have a trick or two that might get us by them..."

[BlackHat]

Zee glances back at Tasha, "Still three. Just winged one." She begins to take a few steps towards the door, when it is clear that the gangers aren't going to come in anymore.

<<Moving to the door for a better shot. The guys from upstairs will be here any second, we need to keep moving. Stick close.>>

[Glyph]

As Zee opens the door partially and kneels to look through her scope, Tasha stays right behind her. Tasha remains standing, though, allowing her to take advantage of the same cover, while still being able to see out. Her gun is ready, although she might actually try something a bit different this time.

"Peyton, keep an eye out. We might have some of them coming up from behind us."

It's the chip-truth, although she partly says it to give the angry ork something to focus on, so his (understandable) urge for revenge doesn't make him do something reckless.

[krayola red]

As you guys swing open the door, you see the gangers taking cover behind a GMC Bulldog van, whooping and howling with manic expressions on their faces. When they catch sight of you, they whip up their guns and open fire.

[Glyph]

Tasha winces as she sees the already-wounded Zee take still more damage, then snarls a curse as she gets grazed by a bullet herself. The gangers may have been complacent and overconfident, but she can admit she was, too. These guys are way tougher than she thought they would be. But now it's her turn. Instead of firing her gun, her voice snaps out with supernatural power behind it:

"Throw. Away. Your. Weapons!"

[krayola red]

Tasha:

For a second, your words don't seem to have any effect, but then three guns sail over the top of the van in unison, clattering onto the sidewalk in front of you. The gangers blink and look at each other with empty hands and confused expressions on their faces.

"Hey, what the fuck, man?"

"Holy shit, she must be a mage or something!"

"And that other chick is like an android!"

"Screw this, I'm getting the hell out of here!"

"Hey, wait for me!"

The gangers blow out of their cover simultaneously, running down the street and away from the house as fast as they can.

[BlackHat]

Zee pain sensors alert her again, as a series of bullets tear into her left arm, and one into the side of her face. Her vision was beginning to flicker in and out, but her audio sensors seemed to be working perfectly. She distinctly heard Tasha calling out for surrender, and began to ready to dive in front of the doorway to protect her when the next hail of bullets came.

Then, to her astonishment, she heard the clang of metal on pavement several times, and the sounds of the gangers making their retreat. Zee looked at Tasha in disbelief - with one eye twitching, and a metal plate clearly visible through a bullet hole in her face. She looked at though she was saying something, her mouth was moving, and lips forming syllables, but no words came.

Not wanting to waste another second, Zee decided it was time for them to move. She slung her rifle back over her shoulder, and stepped out through the doorway unsteadily, motion for Zee and Peyton to follow.

[krayola red]

Zee:

"Incoming, behind us!"

You hear the sound of gunfire right behind you and turn to see Peyton blazing away, his gun pointed down the hallway. The three gangers from upstairs have finally managed to make it down, but they seem to be having second thoughts about advancing when, instead of finding the one enemy they had been expecting, there were now three. They're taking cover behind the walls and are firing wild, hapless shots in your direction. The elf you met upstairs doesn't seem to be amongst them.

[Glyph]

"Let's go! Follow Zee!" Tasha follows Zee outside.

"Peyton, shut the door. They'll probably think twice about following us if they don't know whether we're waiting to ambush them or not. We gotta get to the bikes and peel out before they can mount up a pursuit. There'll be time to come back and kill the rest of them later."

Her heart is still pounding with adrenaline, but it looks like maybe, just maybe, they'll all make it out of here. If they can just make it across the alley, if more of them don't come down the street, if that missing elf doesn't show up, if the gangers inside think twice about following them... if, if, if. She winces at Zee's terrible wounds. Hopefully it is mostly damage to her 'ware - is she one of those brain-in-a-jar types she's heard rumors about? - but it's a miracle she's still walking.

[krayola red]

Tasha:

The door slams shut behind you and the three of you begin to run towards the alleyway to hop on your bikes and blow out of this place. There doesn't seem to be any more gangers in sight, but you know that in the Barrens, danger lurks around every corner and you never let your guard down until you're out of the neighborhood and safe in your own bed. Suddenly, you hear the faint, but distinct sound of a magazine being loaded above you, and swivel around just in time to catch a flash of muzzle fire coming from the third floor landing with the blown out wall.

[Glyph]

"Shit! Incoming fire! From the roof!"

Her warning, and her desperate tumble forward to avoid the rain of bullets, both come too late, as a spray of bullets hits her, and her body armor just isn't good enough to stop all of it. A jolt of pain courses through Tasha, and blackness flickers at the edge of her vision. Damn it, they were so close!

[krayola red]

Zee:

You turn when you hear the sound of gunfire behind you and look up to recognize the gang leader who shot you before. Peyton growls when he sees Tasha get hit, whirls around into a shooting stance, and opens fire on the assailant with his Manhunter. The floor around the elf explodes into splinters and he stumbles back, but he quickly recovers to draw a bead on your group once more with his rifle.

[BlackHat]

Zee zigged and zagged across the front lawn, lumbering erratically as much because of her wounds as because of her desire to make herself harder to hit. When Tasha shouts a warning, Zee reacts immediately, leaping easily 2 or 3 meters into the air, sailing over the van as shots ring out. Mid-air, she twists around, so she can see what happened, and so that she can land on her feet.

She see's Tasha laying on the road, near some blood-splatter, then lands on the other side of the vehicle's hood - a little harder than she expected. Turning her stolen weapon, slightly, she verifies the weapon's mode, while Peyton distracts the elf with a few pistol shots. When he finishes, Zee responds by opening fire over the hood, spraying the opening in the third floor with bullets - hoping to take advantage of the elf's attention being on Peyton. If she couldn't manage to take the elf out, she could at least manage to make herself a bigger target than either Tasha or Peyton - giving them time to get away on their bike.

Zee text message flashed in Tasha's darkening eyes.

<<Keep moving.>>

[krayola red]

Zee:

Your bullets pepper the elf across the body, knocking him to the ground. He rolls and comes up on a knee, his attention now turned to you. He swings his gun around and sprays a storm of bullets in your direction.

[BlackHat]

As bullets rip across the hood of the van, Zee's sensors scream at her to move. Her body responds more slowly than usual, but begins to pull back behind the cab. Her wounded leg buckles, unexpectedly, and she drops to one knee - slapping her good arm on the hood of the car to catch her fall. A single bullet grazed her suit - registering a tactile sensor hit, and a slight tear, but failing to even break skin.

[Glyph]

Tasha feels a slight tremor run through her body, but ruthlessly suppresses it. She can fall apart later, when there's time. Right now, she has to act, has to survive! Crouched behind the van with the others, she sights upwards, steadying her aim with both hands as she shoots. Her deceptively compact gun roars as she sends two explosive rounds screaming towards the elf on the roof.

[krayola red]

The first round hits the elf square in the chest, and he's already falling when the second round blows out his throat. He crumples to a lifeless heap on the third floor landing, his gun dropping down to clatter onto the sidewalk below.

No other enemies in sight, you guys make your way to the spot where you stashed your bikes, hop on, and rev them up to life. Peyton slips his pistol into his waistband and slides into the back of Tasha's Suzuki. The two of you kick your bikes out of the alley, swivel them street side, and put the pedal to the metal, blazing your way out of there, leaving behind two trails of scorched rubber and many, many more dead bodies.

Eventually, you can no longer see the wreck of a gang house behind you, and you'll be out of Redmond soon. You're bruised, bleeding, and hurting bad, but there's only one thing that matters: you're still alive. Dozens die in Seattle every day, but you won't be one of them. Not tonight, anyway.