IC: SRM04-02 Extraction, Artifact Rush, Part 1 Options

[Dak]

Mr. White frowns and points at the nearby table with a floor length tablecloth.

"I'm here to help you, and am your only way out of this mess. Under the table." he points at the table, and with a quick glance around - hoping there's not a security good hovering over them - he directs Acson to duck under the table.

[ChromeZephyr]

Friday, 19:57; 30th floor of the Yojirushi building
Hermes Ikon: Hidden | SIN: Ivan Mozhayev

Tundra Wolf checked the clips on the harness one last time, then pushed off into the open air between the two buildings. He kept his eyes firmly on the form of the maniacal ork ahead of him on the zip line, not really wanting to see the ground 30 stories below him rushing past. Stopping proved challenging, but he managed to avoid impacting his teammate too hard, then braced himself in case Eclipse wasn't as lucky. He needn't have worried, as the last person across the line slowed to a stop with ease that made Nikolai look childish.

At 30 seconds to "go" time, the earbuds in his ear crackled to life with Needle's warning of the imminent alarms. Nothing is ever easy... "Acknowledged," he breathed into the subvocal microphone patched to his neck, then released the connection to the zipline and dropped to the balcony. A quick glance at the maître d' and the...dragon..at the bar as he mentally released the safety on the Ingram in his hands showed they hadn't noticed them quite yet.

Then the balcony became as daylight as every exterior light kicked on, and he heard the faint click as the doors from the balcony locked. He grimaced, then blinked as a hand cannon appeared in the hand of the maître d' and he began shouting orders into his now-obvious security microphone while taking cover behind the bar. Before Tundra Wolf could even finish bringing the Smartgun's stock to rest against his shoulder the revolver in the company man's hand roared. Too slow, Nikolai, even with your wires.

A veritable storm of return fire was directed at the company man, the cracks of the pistols wielded by his teammates joining the muted chatter of the suppressed sub-machine gun in Tundra Wolf's grip. Rounds blasted divots out of the bar and surrounding concrete, but their target couldn't evade them all. A small spray of blood misted from him as one of the lethal rounds from his comrades hit home, then he grimaced as a couple of the shock rounds from Tundra Wolf's SMG hit home and delivered their payloads. Nikolai grunted as the company man shrugged off the charge that should have incapacitated him. Had he simply gone down he would avoid more of the killing shots. A pity.

[Kiirnodel]

Friday, 20:00; 28th floor balcony of the Horizon Splendor

What does that thing fire, tiny missiles?! Gardner amazes as the pain blossoms from his side where the bullet blasted through his layered armor. With a grunt, he drops to the ground, staff still in hand after using it for added security on the zip line. Moving into a defensive stance, he moves in to muck up the man's aim with the threat of attack. At the same time, he gives a mental command to his spirit, ushering it to aid them.

The spirit materializes from the astral, coming into form as a massive living tree. Seeming almost as if it were growing from the balcony floor. It's roots split slightly to allow it movement, but as it observes it sees no immediate threat to those under its care.

As the man deftly dodges attacks, and shrugs off others, it is obvious that he could be a serious threat. After his defensive strike misses, and the company man continues to call out commands to his security team, Gardner makes a snap decision to take him down quickly.

Once again, the image of plant-life spreads across Gardner's face. This time, thorned and not nearly as calming. He gathers the magic around him quickly, forming the spell that will sap the man's strength. Ignoring the growing headache, Gardner releases the unseen blast of energy, and the Horizon security officer goes down unceremoniously.

The giant tree continues to stand still, observing the scene, but making no movement even as the wind blows everything else.

As the blood running from his nose begins to dry on his beard, he moves over to check that the company man isn't mortaly injured. I fear I may have over done it. Please Mother, let this child continue his journey...

With a small sigh of relief, he turns to the waitstaff huddled and frightened in the corner of the balcony. "He's alright, just stay down, nobody needs to get hurt."

[O'Ryan]

Friday, 19:57; 30th floor of the Yojirushi building
Disposable Commlink: Hidden | SIN (Criminal) Adam Pliskin

A steady hand clips Eclipse's harness to the shot line, his hand flexing lightly around the tensioned carabiner that would slow his descent. The remaining members of the group on the Yojirushi building get a grin, and he leaps off into the abyss. 30 floors off the ground with nothing keeping him from a very long fall to Acme territory but an impossibly thin wire.
I should be a bird...
A few dozen feet from the Horizon wall he squeezes the carabiner to decelerate at a nice pace. A few yards away and he releases, angling his swinging body to let the momentum carry him to a decorative ledge for his perch to wait. So far, so good. Especially since the 200,000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) worth of gear he owns to do exactly this is in a locked box back at his apartment.

Friday, 20:00; 28th floor balcony of the Horizon Splendor

"Roger."
With the single word into his commlink, Eclipse is ready. He gracefully falls from his decorate perch, body twisting as he goes to land in a crouch. Already his hand is in his jacket pocket, reflexively pulling the massively intimidating hold-out pistol free. He fires off two quick shots, eyes widening as the giant maitre-d' moves so quickly... even so he smiles a satisfied smirk as a thin blossom of red appears over his heart. ...to no real effect. The worry grows as two bursts of automatic fire yield the same result. There's clear blood, if not as much as there should be, and the man just doesn't care. Shit.

"What the..? Why y' little piece of..."
Two more POPs sound from his pea-shooter as Eclipse starts heading over. If the gun doesn't do it, a throat punch might... As he's closing in there's a surge of unseen energy from Gardner and the man crumples. ...Well then! The giant gets a sheepish grin and nod of thanks.
A hand dips into his pocket then, pulling out his commlink and, habitually, reading the text notification.
"Drones? Fuck. I thought it was a bloody interview!"
His speed picks up on the way to a set of glass doors leading in from the balcony. It may cost him what little demo he has, but being a sitting duck for drone-mounted autocannons, or even full auto tasers, sounds like a horrible day. He kneels, prepping the device, when Silus leaps to the rescue and caves in the glass wall with a vibrosword.

"Stop stealin' my thunder! ...thanks though."

[Mach_Ten]

Friday, 20:00:02; 28th floor balcony of the Horizon Splendor

The shadows are Silas' friends, his companion and his salvation in all that he does best. And now they are gone!
Crouching here on the balcony, the illusory waves lapping at his ankles and the halogen glow illuminating him from everywhere, his muscles and nerves tense to the point of snapping, he feels exposed more than ever before, the adrenalin increases the pace of his already rapid pulsing heart, the need to move to be freed burns in the front of his mind as his vision blurrs with red mist.

To his right the giant Gardner emits a grunt of pain as the roar of a hand cannon breaks the quiet of the night, he seems pained but is not out of the fight by any means
<By Thor's mighty pink knickers, what would it take to drop that guy, he'd shrug off a PAC I bet>

With that thought Silas becomes a blur, the coiled muscles release their energy and the augmented wires and synapses in his body scream at him in their joy at being free.
the pistol in his right hand raises in seeming slow motion as Silas springs up from cover by the bar and leaps the structure in one move firing at the exposed Maitre D'
the smoke rising from the revolver he had expelled at Gardner moments before, to his left the Barman, a tall blue dragon with a completely bemused look on his face, <note to self, Dragons DO NOT do bemused very well, looks like a happy puppy>

"Tables for one plizz mon sewer!" he cannot resist making a sarcastic remark as he shoots, but the target is already moving,
the lights from above giving Silas position away completely and losing him the element of surprise and his two shots go barely wide of the mark,
gel rounds impact the glass window behind giving off a weird "Byyooing" sound.

In his peripheral vision Tundra Wolf and Eclipse are firing as well and a hail of bullets fill the area the Maitre D' occupied, most missing or glancing off his obvously armoured tailored dinner wear. something hits him and tiny crackles of electricity flash across his torso, setting his muscles to contraction and his jaw locks but otherwise unaffected, other than being utterly pissed off.

As his feet hit solid ground again, Silas keeps his forward momentum pistol trained on the target, the Maitre D' ducks and dodges again, He's screaming into his comm "Where the HELL are those fragging drones! We have a full scale infiltration here. Call in the damn t-birds already." and begins a mad dash for some form of cover.
<Uh-oh, T-birds ? no one mentioned fraggin T-Birds ... Mommy !>

Silas has no time to worry about it any more though, there's a Wmuumpff, Wmuumpff sound from over head and he guesses at some form of grenade launcher mistakenly, shouting "Heads up Chummers, Grenades!"
Gardner takes a huge step forward as the Maitre D' tries to dash past him, the tree trunk of a stick he carries swooshes over his head as Silas fires wide again <keep frakkin STILL while I shoot you !>
in his ear the commlink chirps "Incoming drones, overhead!" so he keeps moving, trying to get under some form of cover from aerial munitions.

It is only now that he sees the magical form of a magnificent oak tree taking root into the solid ground as it materialises from the thin air
<groovy, I gots ta get me one of dose !> and within moments Gardner glows and shimmers in the same fashion as the materialised tree and the Maitre D' just crumples to the floor <DAMN , I REALLY gots ta get me one of dose !>

As he approaches the glass wall and doors Silas can make out frantic movement inside as security try to herd guests away from danger, he can hear muffled sounds and shouts "mumble muffle ... Go ..... exit .....That ....... numbnuts!"
<Where the frakk is Whitey ? >
with a practised motion the gun is transferred to his left hand which swings wide as the dragon form dissolves leaving the rather plain form of a human male, this promptly vanishes as the gun fires at the apex of it's fluid motion, the round pings off the bar sending chunks flying but no blood or sound of anguish.
<They's not playing fair, stands STILL I sez!>
His right hand draws his vibro-sword from it's sheath on his back and the subsonic hum feels re-assuring in his hand.

The run has bought him up close to the glass barrier and Silas closes his eyes with the effort and protecting his vision, he swings with all his strength expecting there to be resistance, completely unaware that Eclipse has arrived at exactly the same time, he has slid to his knees with explosives in hand ready to set off the boom. As he reaches forward to prepare, like a knife through sparkling butter.. the sword impacts!
and as shards of glass explode around him Eclipse is heard muttering "Stop stealin' my thunder! ...thanks though."

Silas opens one eye, then the other to examine his handiwork, looking down at Eclipse at his knees, plastique and detonator in hand looking perplexed
"Ooopsies!" is all he can think of to say.

Then the motion continues, Eclipse is shooting at guards beyond the shattered wall and the others are coming up behind him

over comms "Cover your eyes, flashbang!" and a quietly muttered "maybe it'll knock Drunky McPlanwrecker, out, too"
Silas looks quickly over his shoulder at Tundra Wolf, with an inquisitive and guilty look in his eye, but Tundra Wolf is looking over at where the Dragon was a moment ago, and his brief moment of guilt passes
<Whew, I'm not drunk> He thinks and steps in over the broken glass.....

[ChromeZephyr]

Friday, 20:00; 28th floor balcony of the Horizon Splendor
Hermes Ikon: Hidden | SIN: Ivan Mozhayev

Even as their opposition was yelling for air support Tundra Wolf heard a small foont noise from overhead. Autolaunchers? On a skyscraper?? He snapped his head up, the flare compensation in his cybereyes dampening enough of the glare from the lights for him to see the rapid descent of two rotodrones with smaller versions of Mishka strapped to them.

He muttered a choice word under his breath, then opened the comms channel again. "Incoming drones, overhead!"

The rangefinder in the Ingram put the drones at a distance he'd rather have the assault rifle which was in it's cabinet at home, but he was still capable of hitting them with the sub-machine gun. A short burst put 3 of the charged rounds into the drone closest to the building, with no obvious result. Pah, these are machines, идиот. Still looking up, his thermal overlay picked up a human shape come into view on the roof, and battlefield recognition informed him of the sniper rifle in the hands of that shape.

For a fraction of a second time seemed to slow as several options played out in his hyper-accelerated state, then he exhaled and began moving. The magazine in the smartgun ejected with a mental command, then he slammed it's companion containing full metal jacket ammunition into it's place. A longer, more controlled burst blazed upwards and blasted the drone into fiery ruin, then he was moving again. A burst in the back from an AK is more survivable than a bolt in the head from a Dragunov, da? He saw the flash of sparks as the blurring sword in the hand of his teammate opened the door into the ballroom ahead of him, then the faces of guards behind overturned tables further in. The flashbang was in his hand a step later, his thumb depressing the arming stud as he reached the entryway.

"Cover your eyes, flashbang!" The words spoken into the commbead at his throat were clipped, as phantom pain from the long-ago demolitions mishap burned along nerves no longer a part of him. A heartbeat later the grenade left his hand, describing a gentle arc as it flew towards a table behind the guards.

[Dak]

"Try shadowrunning" Marty said. "It's easy money." If Marty were here underneath a table in Horizon Corp's building, Mr. White would've punched him right in his big ork face.

There was something seriously wrong with this business. If he ever hired some people for a complicated task and then told them that they had fifteen minutes to prepare, he hoped that they'd laugh in his face and walk away. He wondered for a second if he'd have been smarter to have walked away from this one. He'd hoped shadowrunning would get some easy cash and pick up some good contacts. So far it had just been a huge pain in the ass.

Still, he was a professional, and he turned his attention back to the task at hand.

"Mr. Acson, I know this is chaotic and unexpected. They're likely to be tracking you via your comlink - may I?" he holds out his hand, hoping the fellow will simply hand it over, so that he can hit the power button. He tries to ignore the drunk. That can be dealt with in a few moments. Mr. White knew that if you keep them focused, a target can generally be directed successfully.

[Kiirnodel]

The thunder of a high caliber rifle echoes down the building. Only the quick recollection of a temporarily disabled sniper and some luck moves Gardner's arm out of the path of the high velocity bullet. Not enough luck, it seems. The second bullet, rips through his shoulder, causing a spasm in his arm. Even before his staff has time to fall from his weakened grip, Gardner is already running for cover.

The towering tree disappears as suddenly as it had arrived as the spirit perceives the new threat from above and returns to the Astral to close the distance.

Grabbing one of the empty tables with his good hand as he passes, Gardner drags it to the wall beside the now shattered windows where his team has breached the building. He falls heavily against the wall with a loud *whump* accompanied by the grinding of the table across the floor. Gardner steadies the table above him, creating a makeshift structure against the building for cover against the sniper on the roof far above.

The spirit reforms on the top of the building, over twenty stories higher. The trunk of its tree-like form splitting like a multitude of short, stubby legs. The giant tree begins to loom over the lone man, eerily silent as it readies to strike.

[Severus Snape]

Needle works quickly, her fingers deftly pressing the right keys to stop running some programs and start running others. After a few moments have passed, the terminal screen presents itself to her, a digital joystick to one side and a digital keyboard underneath. She waits but a mere moment for the terminal to show that she has a link to the drone, and she cracks her digital knuckles as she gets ready to wreak some havoc. She quickly sends a message to the team.

"Drone is on its way to help."

She types out a command in the terminal and hits ENTER to send the command to the drone: Fly as fast as it can down to the balcony. She can only hope at this point that she hasn't screwed her team.

[ChromeZephyr]

Friday, 20:00; 28th floor balcony of the Horizon Splendor
Hermes Ikon: Hidden | SIN: Ivan Mozhayev

Tundra Wolf suppressed his frustration as the guards scattered before the grenade detonated and flipped a table into a group of civilians. Then he was too busy attempting to dodge the fusillade of fire directed at him by the guards to his left to feel much of anything.

A single round thumped against his chest and he grimaced as a powerful shock blasted through his system. Warnings scrolled across his vision from the cybersystems in his chest and arm about potential damage, but no integrity breaches registered. He stumbled as he cleared the door and his teammates quickly filled the space around him, the crack of their pistols reverberating in his head. Through the subtle doubling of his vision he saw one of the two guards go down under a blood-less impact, then the Smartgun was back against his shoulder. A short burst finished off the prone guard, then a longer burst dropped the guard firing from the doorway of what looked to be the kitchen in a spray of gore.

He turned towards the two remaining guards as he sought cover behind the table in front of him, but it didn't matter. He saw the barrel of the light pistol in the closest guard's hands line up with his chest, then everything quickly faded to black. As unconsciousness claimed him the last thing he saw was Warning: system integrity at 62%, electrical dampeners overloaded.

[O'Ryan]

Friday, 20:00; 28th floor balcony of the Horizon Splendor
Disposable Commlink: Hidden | SIN (Criminal) Adam Pliskin

As soon as the door is smashed, things go to shit. Why would Eclipse think otherwise? He rises from his crouch to put a single shot into the gut of a security guard still in the open when the faint 'crack' of a high velocity rifle in the distance steals his attention. His head twists, in time to see Gardner staggering from a blow from a suddenly crimson arm. Shit! Reflexes kick in and he dives across the gap during a brief break in gunfire, already calculating the chance of vein retraction and where to place the tourniquet (The one sitting safe and snug in the top of the line medkit... at home.) when another hail of gunfire from inside sounds. This one, unfortunately, is different as it's followed by the smell of cooking meat and the unmistakably sad sound of a limp body hitting the ground. No, not limp - still twitching with the residual electricity from too many stick-n-shocks. Bastards!
Just around the corner and out of sight there's an explosion, the bright pop and flash distinctive to flashbangs. Lovely!

With his eyes already filtering out the flash, Eclipse dives into the room to the overturned table Tundra Wolf is behind. Eyes flicker back down to the unconcious form and he frowns. Already he's looking for uneven rise and fall of the chest and trying to identify where the bleeding is worst, but unfortunately there's not a whole lot he can do with hails of bullets still incoming.
This is more than I can do with strips of cloth. If I were a Horizon gala, I'd stash discreet supplies.... there! His eyes land on his new destination, the kitchen doors. He reaches out to try and get a grip on the fallen Tundra Wolf's body to haul him back into cover as his new priority patient, dragging and sprinting to the upper limits of his ultra-thin bioware-enhanced frame. Unfortunately, he makes it only a couple steps before the burning in his arms tells him just how much chrome weighs. His course changes to the balcony and the promise of sweet sweet cover. TW doesn't appear to be bleeding out, and there certainly isn't the equipment to stabilize Stick-n-Shock induced arrhythmia... unfortunately, he can wait.

"Shitshitshit! We can't keep takin' this fire! We're fuckin' sittin' ducks out here!" he mumbles, fantasizing not for the first time about lodging his fist in the Johnson's nose. Repeatedly. "We're out of time!"

[Mach_Ten]

Friday, 20:00; 28th floor, Gala room of the Horizon Splendor

The wind whistles past the shattered glass "door way" that Silas has created, it sounds to him like some ancient and angry spirit as it wails and thrashes against it's intangible bonds.

To his left Eclipse is rushing to the fallen TundraWolf and is <Looting dah body ? .. wow.. ballsy move!> dragging the unconscious form out of the building,
bullets are flying and Silas exhales in a loud <Whooooosh> as something solid impacts his chestplate, tiny crackles of lightning race over his body making his muscles contract and then the room is spinning.

He reaches out to the wall for some stability as he runs and stumbles as the wall moves out of his reach <Harr Harr verr' funnies >
shaking his head to try and clear his vision he charges down the nearest guard, vibro-sword buzzing angrily in his hand he leaps the table and using his momentum to shift it back onto it's legs and then over again he slides down the reverse side to land on his feet,

The arc of the sword aimed at head height would decapitate a nornal man, but the guard steps into Silas' personal space and manages to put his right hand in place to block the attack at Silas' wrist, the impact shakes the light pistol loose from his grip
<Ooooh, you lucky son of a ....> he doesn't get to complete the rest of the thought though, as some drunken guest swings at him with a broken bottle, Silas only just spots this in his peripheral vision and throws an armoured elbow up to block the impact as a reflexive action and manages to avoid damage. He Snarls angrily at the drunkard, but has to focus his attention on the security guard in front of him taking a defensive stance.

to his right he spots Mr. White and the target under a table preapring to move from cover "Oi, Chummer ! ... Sammiches ?!"

[Dak]

Mr. White watches the drunk stagger away from the table, and then raises his head to survey the chaos in the room. He turns back to their mark, "Alright Mr. Acson. I believe it's time to go. Straight for the balcony, don't stop, and keep low." With that, he directs Acson toward the balcony and then will follow behind him.

[Severus Snape]

There was a time, way back when Needle was just a small child, when she had a choice to make. She could either go outside and play with the other kids, building up some sense of social accomplishment and overcoming childhood fears of playing sports and games, or she could stay indoors and play on the computer, avoiding anyone and anything that had the slightest bit to do with exerting oneself in a physical manner. She chose to stay indoors, not knowing how to interact with other people and not caring for anything outside a video game console.

Now, some 15 years later, the wind in her face and the lights of the city a mere blur as tears rolled down her cheeks, she flew through the night sky, a parachute and a prayer her only saving graces.

If I live through this, I think I might be sick again...

She still couldn't believe it. She voluntarily flung herself off the roof of the building, some 30 stories above the street, with nary a thought or hesitation. And although the actual flight to the ground was less than 7 seconds, it seemed an eternity to her as every thought she ever had rushed through her mind, her life's work flashing before her eyes. The ground quickly approached, the black of the concrete looking hard as it rushed up towards her.

Well, I guess now is better than never...

She pulled on the rip cord, the parachute billowing out and catching air, slowing her descent. She finally touched down, harder than she wanted but much softer than she expected, the bus in plain sight and rather close.

"Well, hot damn - I did it!"

She began moving towards the bus, trying to remove the parachute from her back as she did so.

[Mach_Ten]

*CRACK* The muffled shot of the silenced pistol echos off the table nearest Silas.
The shot is true "Gotcha Mutha Fragger!" he snickers with a glance toward the intended target.

the rush of wind and napkins blown around the place indicates a new threat in the room and he reacts to it,
but not before noticing the Guard stooped over the corpse of his fallen comrade, who twists and takes the hardened gel round on the muscled upper left arm, and shrugs it off with a primal scream of rage and indignation.... <Wow ... and FRAK!>

as Silas propels himself towards the drone as it hovers in place, the bullets begin to fly in all directions he is almost forced to one knee as the automatic fire lays waste to the furniture and fittings, again the muscle toners and fibre optic reflexes take over, his thigh muscles tense and launch him upwards into the rafters. through the space the drone occupies as he thinks about a wide swing with the Vibro-Sword the hovering death bot explodes in a shower of sparks and flame, through the smoke Eclipse can be seen blowing gun smoke from the end of the barrel and smiling, satisfied in his work.

"Cheers for the buzz-kill Chummer!"

Then the smoke clears and in the broken window an angry spirit of air whirls and fumes, Mr. White and the target almost skid to a halt in front of it, Silas prepares a diving sword chop at the beast, but as he launches another hail of bullets ping off the metal around him and he steps off on the wrong foot, missing the spirit but landing nearby and drawing it's attention while the others charge past.

Out on the balcony it seems like a manifesters re-union, spirits are all over in a crazy dance of magic. He decides to make a last mad dash for freedom and the Air being swipes and nearly takes him down but Silas barely slips past it. checking his gear for the harness he begins a run for the dangling ropes

"Comes on, Tiny ! times ta go Chummer! they is all outta sammiches"

[O'Ryan]

Friday, 20:01; 28th floor balcony of the Horizon Splendor
Disposable Commlink: Hidden | SIN (Criminal) Adam Pliskin

As the smoke billows away from the now molten drone, Eclipse grins. Gotcha. He catches Silus' eyes and sends a wink. "Payback! Next one's yers, chummer." Ingram Smartgun is lowered after a few heartbeats without seeing another target, even if Randy Jones was still being a pest on the other side of the room. His free hand grabs Tundra Wolf's collar and he begins to haul, dragging the unconscious runner the rest of the way to their escape harness. Eclipse fastens himself first, cinching the harness tight over jeans and leather jacket. Not, he remembers yet again, the attire he'd prefer for this kind of thing... His new best friend follows until the two of them are ready. With one final glance around the roof, Eclipse lets a massive smile spill over his face before he steps back and goes a'tumblin' in free fall.

CRACK. The problem with rappelling is, apparently, swinging back in to the building when you hop out. Eclipse is quickly reminded of this as his shoulder is pummeled by the concrete. Sunovabitch! The rest of the descent goes easier, even as the lines begin to tremble with the increased weight of the rest of the team joining him in escape.
Hopefully Ascon's somewhere up there...
The thought is cut off as yet another drone opens fire. There's a splash of blood from somewhere up high, enhanced vision catching a droplet as it goes flying by his face. Well then - Eclipse pauses, feet planting firmly against the side of the Horizon Splendor as his purloined Smartgun X is hefted (bruised shoulder nonewithstanding), aimed, and fired. It bucks in his weakened grasp, but even so the bullets fly true. For the second time in as many minutes, he reduces a drone to slag.
INSERT USER NAME HERE: Ingram Smartgun X at 5/32. No additional ammunition detected on PAN - would you like to place an order?

"Silus! Yer slackin'!"


A long few minutes later and feet touch the ground. Seconds later, just as Eclipse has pulled the release straps on both himself and poor, poor Tundra Wolf, Needle's van comes sliding up. Timing! His ward and him climb in before his team has even touched down. Safety!

[Mach_Ten]

Friday, 20:02; somewhere near the 5th floor of the Horizon Splendor

The screech of tyres on tarmac echos weirdly up between the glass towers as Needle's vehicle draws to a halt.
Eclipse's form below shows the visible relief as he steps into the van a few stories belw Mr. White who is a bare few metres below Silas

He takes a breath of cool night air, regains a tight grip on the harness round the giggling form of Parker Acson and yanks the release rope on the descender mechanism
<Hmmmmm, guess it's only fun da' first time> It's apparent the adrenaline has worn off now, it's still fun but only truly exciting because of the unknown factor surrounding what awaits him on the ground.

As he comes to a controlled halt before taking Mr. White out,
the rope begins a vibrating hum like wind over a guitar string pulled taut, Silas glances up at the impressive bulk of Gardner as he launches himself out into open air, flailing wildly and fur coat parachuting around him in the night.
<Grab the lever! .... Grab the LEVER ... ooooh Drek .....this is gonna sting .. Grab the ....>
A tumbling drone explodes above him in a plume of orange fire and smoke and Gardner on a reflex reaches out for the descender, bringing himself to a sudden stop with an audible grunt.

The rope screams in torment and they drop what feels like a mile but is only inches as the line takes the new strain, and then he drops again, arms wide and the mumbling of what can only be a spell being cast is heard
<Frag the spells Chummer, don't drop on my head!> and again Gardner comes to a stop above them

"Whitey!" Silas almost yells below him "Get movin'!" and he releases the catch once more hoping to be on solid ground soon <Takes alla da fun outta dis!>

But the thought is almost too soon, Gunfire erupts below them and the sound of bullets impacting some form of thin material that should be metal but is actually paper or linen or some other lightweight structure
"FRAG IT ! ... not teh Van !" He mutters glumly to no one in particular .. <DREK, the bike's too far away to sprint, gonna have to get in dat rust bucket ?> He is not looking forward to that prospect but beggars cannot be choosers.

As he concentrates on the battle below, while Needle performs vehicular manslaughter on the 'Horizon HTRT' and Eclipse does his best impression of a Gangsta drive by, the vibration in the rope reminds him of the tumbling giant above him,
he barely notices that Mr. White has landed directly below him "Oh Drek... Ooooh Drek ....Ohhhhh .... Whew!" by swinging Acson underneath him, Silas manages enough lateral movement to narrowly avoid crashing into the guy below, landing on his feet and quickly snapping the caribiner from his combat vest-cum-harness.

"Gets in the VAN Parker!" he mutters with a heave and a grunt of effort he launches the guy prone into the bus, following him in he knocks equipment and medkits and food packets from their storage bays out all over the Van Silas makes a grab for one of the tumbling items, he strips the packaging and smacks it hard into the awkwardly fallen form of TundraWolf

"Chummer, Don't go into the Light .. okays ?? ... and for Frag's sake! .... I hopes dis is a StimPack and ain'ts a packet o' SUPA-NOODLES !"

[Kiirnodel]

Safely behind his makeshift cover, Gardner doesn’t have time to relax. He sends a quick call for one of his spirits so that he can have it help the group on its imminent descent from the tower. Then, he quickly shifts his perception to the Astral, checking for magical threats. He notes the retreating form of what can only be the frightened bartender, but recognizes the lack of active threat to the group by his lack of offensive action.

After helping Eclipse drag the limp form of Tundra Wolf out of the line of fire, he sends a mental command to the awaiting Earth Spirit. Help my team get down from this building, I will point them out as they approach. The spirit takes form near the bar, appearing as a squat shrub that seems as if it was uprooted and took the plot of land it was in with it. It readies itself to help the group.

[High above, the giant tree lashes out at the surprised agent. Vines and roots suddenly surround and engulf the man in a strangling hold, squeezing the breath out of him. Even as he struggles, the plant life continues to wrap around him and it is only a matter of time before it overwhelms him.]

A moment before it begins to materialize, Gardner notices the large man-shaped whirlwind, an Air Elemental. Just what I need, a spirit to get in the way of us getting down. With a slight hint toward his spirits, Gardner gathers his power and tries to damage the gathering spirit. The Earth spirit, clods of dirt falling off of its roots but disappearing instantly, moves up to his side and attempts an awkward attack. The Elemental is unfazed by both of them, casually sidestepping the stumbling spirit and hardening its will against Gardner’s assault.

[The threat above dealt with, the Giant tree dematerializes again, leaving the man to continue his struggle against the mass of plant-life. Hearing its master’s call, the Plant spirit returns to his side and moves to threaten the Elemental]

Seeing this new threat come rushing in, the Elemental thrashes at the Plant Spirit’s astral form. Invisible to all but a few, the magic tree spirit narrowly avoids the attack. Gardner backs away, taking this chance to get away from the dangerous spirit. He lashes out again with his magic, but to no effect. The Earth spirit, likewise, has little effect on the whirlwind.

Remaining in its astral form, the Plant Spirit strikes out at the Elemental, the two spirits trade attacks for a few seconds with no success to either side, but then the Air Elemental flees into the relative safety of the banquet hall, behind the ward. With this chance to get away, Gardner moves back toward the downed maître d’. Knowing he must wait for his team to get out, he grabs for the gun that started it all, attempting to at least recoup some of the team’s losses so far. Core, that is them setting up now. The shrub, remembering its real purpose makes a strange nodding motion and concentrates on Gardner, Eclipse, and the unconscious Tundra Wolf. The three of them feel a bit safer and sturdier as the grounding nature of the Earth Spirit protects them.

The Plant Spirit, its purpose to defend the team chases after the retreating Air Spirit, pushing through the ward and attacking Elemental. Caught a bit by surprise, the attack connects and the whirlwind reels momentarily from the unseen Astral spirit. Gardner shakes his head a bit as he concentrates to close his magical sight, he continues to search the unconscious man, grabbing for a few important looking items. “Core, give me that small item there by the granite slab,” he motions quickly at the dropped clip from Tundra Wolf’s SMG. The Earth spirit, still waiting for more team members to appear complies and picks up the piece of plastic.

Looking up momentarily from his search, Gardner’s glasses darken against the glare of the floodlights, and he spots the released form of the unfortunate sniper from the rooftop. The limp body, having fallen free from the rooftop has no chance of catching itself and will no doubt fall to its doom without some sort of intervention. Calling out again, Gardner gathers an Air spirit of his own to go and save the man. Not if I can help it… Wisp, save anything that is falling near this building.

[Inside the banquet hall, the source of the Air spirit’s movement is revealed as the giant tree takes form once more. With the other members of Gardner’s team moving out onto the balcony, the tree shakes and releases spores into the room, the tiny particles get sucked up into the Elemental’s form and a few short seconds later it lets out a hiss of pain as the mystic poison spreads through its system.]

Gardner’s Air Spirit takes shape, the form of leaves, twigs, and other plant matter moving about in an unseen breeze. It moves up toward the guard as he falls. As the group moves out onto the balcony, Gardner lifts the purloined commlink to his ear trying to listen for the chatter of the Horizon guard. He grabs the speed loader off the company man’s belt and the clip from the Earth Spirit, then motions to the last of his team, “color="#98FB98"]Those three too[/color]. The Earth Spirit turns and stretches its will out to Silas, Acson, and Mr. White as well, filling them with the same safe feeling as the others.

The Giant Tree crashes out through the narrow opening, a lash of limbs as it blocks a flurry of attacks from the Air Elemental as it follows. With a quiet hiss, the doors of the balcony suddenly open and the last guard braces himself. He shouts at Gardner and shoots, but the small electrical charge sparks harmlessly against Gardner’ reinforced jacket. As he stands up from the prone body of the maître d’, bullets wiz past him from the drone above, and with just a quick wince, he barely manages to avoid getting hit. The second drone hovers in relative silence and doesn’t fire down at him, not caring why, Gardner simply whispers a quick prayer and thanks to the Goddess under his breath. With the rest of the team already on their way down, Gardner makes his way to the edge of the balcony and clips in to the rappelling line. The squat shrubbery follows after him and attempts to assist, effectively blocking the guard’s view as Gardner works with equipment. Stepping up and over, Gardner starts his descent down the building, finally following after the rest of the team. The drones, persistent in their machinations follow Gardner down the side of the building. Luckily for him, their aim is off and the bullets impact with the building instead, shattering glass and showering the team with the tiny shards.

The Horizon guard runs out onto the balcony and leans over the edge. Just as Eclipse fires a burst of gunfire, demolishing the drone that was firing on Gardner, the guard fires two more shots down at Gardner. Not a hard target, both shots make contact, though only one seems to have any effect. Gardner lets out a pained grunt and tries to focus his vision back at the guard. Even through all the haze, his head swimming and the pain eating away at him, Gardner fires another blast of exhausting energy. The man crumples in a heap on floor of the balcony only seconds after his comrade is lowered safely down by Gardner’s Air Spirit.

[On the balcony, the Plant Spirit lashes out at the Air Elemental again, but it deftly dodges out of the way and focuses its attention on the tiny Earth Spirit. It lets out a ghostly wail, filling the tiny spirit with dread. The large shrub disappears as the spirit flees into the astral, trying to get away from Horizon’s Air Elemental. The tree gives another shake and releases another set of spores, and as another one of the Air Elemental’s attacks gets blocked, the shock sets in and wracks its body with the poison. The two Spirits continue to trade blows, neither one gaining a particular upper hand.]

Gardner lowers himself on the line carefully, then stops to spot two more drones as they descend toward him. Focusing his will, magical bands of energy wrap around the metal bodies, binding their movements. Gardner shakes off the migraine that follows that particular release of energy, but he tries to focus as he alerts the rest of the team, “more drones incoming!” His mind swimming, Gardner has trouble focusing on the rope as he continues down. The rope slips from his hand and his fall goes erratic. He slams into the building, which doesn’t so much hurt as it is annoying. Luckily the Air spirit is nearby and along with its orders stabilizes him as he falls. The drones continue to open fire, their own movements slightly erratic due to the restraints of the spell. One drone sprays the wall close to it and is hit by its own ricochet.

Looking down, Gardner has a brief feeling of dread as he sees the vehicle below littered with gunfire. Then realizes just how far it is down to the street below. His grip tightens on the rope, and he gets tangled slightly as his descent catches too early. The gunfire from the last remaining drone rings out just past his position, where he would have been, had he not stopped. Getting a grip on himself, Gardner starts his movement again, moving in earnest even as the drone continues to fire bullets around him.

[Shifting to the Astral Plane, the two spirits above continue their attacks on one another. Eventually, the Air Elemental’s wounds get the better of it, and Gardner’s Plant Spirit disrupts its energies, sending it back to its home. With the enemy above dealt with, it moves down the side of the building to deal with any further threats that might appear below.]

Finally, solid ground. Gardner lands heavily and disconnects himself from the ropes as the others wait nervously for Silas to make his way back to the bus. The Plant Spirit, charged with defending the team, materializes inside to cover his escape. The two guards, surprised and confused fire on it to no great effect, and are swiftly taken down by the others of the team. As he makes his way to the bus, Gardner sends out another series of magical webbing to slow down yet more drones descending on the team's position. One of them is stopped completely and smashes into the side of the building before falliing inert to the ground. The elevator doors open up, revealing yet more guards as they open fire on the Plant Spirit. The giant tree roars in anger as it rushes forward and spews yet more of its dangerous spores. The guards however, seem unaffected. It roars in anger and one guard flees while the other stands his ground to open fire once more. Just as everyone is on board, the bus starts to pull away. Gardner takes a seat and settles himself before sticking his head out one of the windows to fire a blast of lightning that disables one of the drones.

[As the bus moves away, the Plant Spirit stands and fights. Once the team is safely away and un-burdened by threats, its task is complete and it fades into nothing as it returns to its home.]

[Mach_Ten]

Friday, 20:05; Nowhere near the Horizon Splendor

< < @Danny Zucco {Silas} : Danny, we's got trouble! ... I knows, I knows... no, s'nuffinks that some meds won't heal... yeah s'what i sed too ... Looks, sorry but is dat warehouse still open ? yeah dat one, we needs ta lay low and get some gear before heading ..umm .. out...... yeah s'cool ... I'll wait a bit, buts plees hurry! > >

Silas slumps back into the bench seat and peers out a bullet hole at a "pizza-shak" as they pass.

"My Uncle Danny might has a place dat we can go on the way to Redmond, he'll get back to me inna bit kay?"

He goes back to peering at other food vendors on the busy night street scene and day dreams of various flavour of Sammiches.

"Hey Tiny! .. you gonna be okays man ? I not sees dat much blood onna fella before now... you not dropped a lung or kidneys or nuffink has ya ?"
He suddenly remember something else and looks over at Eclipse and TundraWolf
"Oh boy, TW I gots a levvuh jackets you can wears if you likes .. it's in the climbing bag, was too heavy for gettin' across to the uvver buildin, you wanna borrows it ? an' is dere' any ammo left in that gat' ? keep holds ov it fer now .. I gets it back later man"

again his attention is drawn outside and he's lost in thought <Least the Parker Chummer ain't got a scratch, we dids good !>

[Slacker]

What a clusterfuck the team would seem to be thinking. What kind of a crackhead newbie Johnson would send a team into that drek with only 15 minutes warning? I guess they will find out eventually once they make it to someplace safe and he deigns to call them back.

For now, Needle has set the set up instructions for the bus's pilot program to take them via a less traveled path to her home base. The system is throwing up various warnings to her AR vision thanks to the damage sustained in the initial volley at the front entrance, but it appears the bus will hold together long enough to get them out of the area. Any more excitement though may leave her without a ride or a home....

TundraWolf is pacing up and down the aisle of seats, muttering under his breath about a lack of ammo and nasty things he wants to do to the so called Scion.

Over in a corner, Mr. White begins to coax Parker Acson out of the fetal position. Shock and fear etch deep lines into the young mage's face. It takes a few minutes of soothing words about him being safe now before Acson fully sits up from the floor and braces himself against the wall of the bus.

He jumps forward for a second as the jagged edge of a bullet hole had dug into his back. He shudders for moment at the thought of how close that may have come to hitting him. Then he puts his old leather bag against an unmarred section of the wall and leans back against that. With a sigh he turns back to Mr. White. "Who are you guys, and why are you doing this to me?"

Mr. White returns with his spiel about the team having come to extract him before Horizon could carry out their terrible plans for him. Confusion wars with the fear on Acson's face at these words, yet he doesn't seem to care to know the specifics of what Horizon was planning, how the team found out about Horizon's plans, or why the team would care about what happens to him.

Eclipse checks over his gear repeatedly coming up with the same answer. We need more gear. He shouts up towards the front where Needle is watching things in the Matrix as well as meatspace to ensure the team isn't beinf followed. "Hoy, can we swing by my place? I am some serious need of more gear if Horizon ever finds us."

Meanwhile, Silas is wracking is brain to think of someplace they can hide from a freaking MegaCorp on the warpath... He shoots off a quick message Danny Zucco. Hopefully, he will be able to get back in touch soon with some good news. As the bus zooms past a brightly lit Stuffer Shack, his stomach grumbles and his thoughts return to those sammichs Mr. White was supposed to bring him from the party...

[Slacker]

Moments later. Silas's commlink rings. "Dannyboy here. What's going down chummer? You sounded pretty freaked in that there message you sent me."

Silas quickly explains he needs a place to lay low and he needs it fast.

"What kind of drek you gotten yousself into this time Silas buddy? Yeah, I can probably swing yous a place to crash were some nuyen to find its way into my pockets....You knows what I mean?"

[Severus Snape]

Once the autopilot is set, Needle lets herself stretch out for just a brief moment before tensing back up, the AR displays of major damage flashing in her eyes.

Come on baby...just get us home. I'll get you patched up as soon as I can...

She retrieves her Cavalier, noting that no more rounds were fired from it before placing it back in its carrying case under the front seat. She always kept it there, not really knowing if she should take it with her or not. She as no mercenary, but the events at the Splendor building reminded her just how dangerous this life could get. She silently vowed to make sure she always brought it with her, no matter what. Even if the thing could knock her over when she fired it, she still felt like she was going to need it from now on.

She moved quickly out of the front seat, starting to take stock of the damage. When she passed by Parker, she barely glanced down at him when she addressed him.

"I sure hope you're worth it. Whatever it is that you've got that this Scion wants..."

She turned to the rest of the guys in the team.

"Well, I guess that's as good an introduction as any. Now what?"

[Slacker]

The expression on Parker Acson's face flickers to a flat deadpan for a second at Needle's mention of who hired the team. Being 'worth it' doesn't seem to quite jive with Mr. White's story about you being their to rescue Acson from a Horizon plot against him.

But the confusion and fear return to Acson's face quickly as he turns back to Mr. White who ignored Needle's comment to continue soothing Acson's fears.

[Mach_Ten]

"What kind of drek you gotten yousself into this time Silas buddy? Yeah, I can probably swing yous a place to crash were some nuyen to find its way into my pockets....You knows what I mean?"

"Awww Uncle Danny .. You is da man! ... ands you knows dis Ork is good for it yeah? .. besides, if I dun' pay you just take it outta my allowance anyways... Tanks old man!"
Silas looks Glum at the thought of having to pay out more than the normal rent to his only trusted friend in the world, but then perks up
<I can make some top notch HotSims n' Beetles Outta 'dis nights work whooBoy yeah!>

"NEEDLE, Can you get us here ?" Silas points excitecly at his comm with an address and map " Dis address, on da way to da barrens we can hides your ...."
He looks around at the poor condition of the place currently but notices the finer touches that Needle has made to convert it into a home, then he tries to be a bit nicer about it than he has previously been
" your house, we can hides it there a day and gets it fixed up good, and 'den we can go boost somefink safer for da trip into da Barrens ... everyone happys den' !"
He's as giddy as a kid at christmas hopping from one foot to the other at the thought he can help Needle from being homeless.
<And there might happen to be a sammich shop next door too, but dey don't needs ta know dat>

[ChromeZephyr]

Nighttime, Needle's bus

Tundra Wolf paced, curses in every language he knew muttered under his breath as he scanned through the basic diagnostics of his cyberlimb and torso scrolling though his vision. Mostly burnt out dampeners from the shock rounds, but there were new holes in the cybertorso that would need repair when a chance presented itself. He dismissed the the report with a blink as Needle walked past him, the stims making his normally smooth movements a little more jerky than he liked, and he grimaced as his head throbbed again. He knew from the acrid chemical tang of their byproducts tainting the sweat building on his brow that the stims was the only thing keeping him on his feet.

Such a job should never have come from Ms.Ching, there are currents here I cannot see but could still sweep me under. Must be cautious. The flicker of expression across their target's face at the mention of the Scion only reinforced that thought. For a second he wished for the comforting weight of Mishka on it's sling over the newly-treated armor jacket sitting in his apartment, then he banished the thoughts and began pacing again.