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

[Ecclesiastes]

"Lets guard the stairs until we hear back from your spirit on what is going on up there. We can use the stairs as a choke point to trap the team in and shit them with some heavys."

[HMHVV Hunter]

"Guys, Balfour's got a victim in the third floor bathroom I just busted out of," Helios says over the comlink. "I heard..."

He stops, unable to bring himself to say it. Knowing that he's responsible for anything that happens to her because of his inability to save her.

Helios's arrival at the staircase that Bishop mentions halts his musings, and he joins the rest of the team at the rendezvous.

[BishopMcQ]

Edana:
"The Mistress-Master of this abode cannot oppose you, she has already fallen."

With that, the ancient butler fades up through the ceiling, rising intangibly through levels visible only to your astral sight. As you scan the room, you do see a dumbwaiter in the corner near the pantry. It appears to have been modernized when the cabinets were last refaced. A simple keypad controls the ascent and descent from the third floor to the basement.

Team:
You converge on the foyer. Security was obviously overwhelmed by a professional team using lethally efficient tactics. Most appear to have collapsed and died in the nerve gas, though a few have bullet wounds from shotguns and automatic weapons. There is a thin haze of smoke in the room and discarded casings from NATO rounds.

A woman screams.

"Tire pas! Tire pas!"

Gun fire echoes down the stairs.

Tigger looks to the team, "she said 'Don't Shoot'." He then goes springing up the stairs with violent intent.

[HMHVV Hunter]

"Tigger, wait! The ghoul's up there! And they've got stun gas!"

Helios follows Tigger up the stairs, SMG unslung and ready to fire, not willing to let someone else make the same reckless errors he made.

Maybe not everyone on this team is so different from me.

[Bastard]

The invisable shaman stays right with the lead, that now being Tigger. He is ready to fire his IR Smoke to further camoflauge himself, in case the enemy is using thermo vision. As Tigger quickly moves ahead JT casts invisibility on him as well.

[BishopMcQ]

Team:
The sound of a third set of footfalls hitting the stairs and the movement of JT's marker on your battletac grids is all the sign that the shaman has given pursuit. You watch Tigger fade from view as he reaches the first landing.

[HMHVV Hunter]

Helios runs his damndest to catch up with Tigger, sweeping the first landing from side to side as he reaches it before following the hunter.

[HeySparky]

Edana blinks at Bishop and Graves as the other team streaks past them, her mouth hangs open. << Hostiles upstairs. Expect four. They are VERY dangerous. Armed with bad gas. I mean... >> She makes a face at Bishop. << Uh... Be careful. We're following. >>

She shakes her head as she follows Herne up the stairs, she calls over her shoulder, "Come on guys, can't let them run headlong into trouble alone."

[Ecclesiastes]

Bishop curses under his breath, so much for tactics. Pumping his legs to bound up the stairs, he does his best to stay right behind Tigger, weapon at the ready.

[toturi]

Graves makes a grab for Bishop and holds him fast,"Just because the hotheads are rushing in, it doesn't mean you have to. Use your head, you got a tac comp, use it, don't think with your dick alright?"

[Bastard]

<<Got it. Four. I will try to slow Tigger down a bit, let you guys catch up. I have IR smoke, so they shouldnt be able to detect us. Maybe we can flank them, and when you all open fire, we can catch them, not only off guard, but completely by surprise.>>

"Tigger slow down, we're making too much noise. Im going to launch smoke and we will sneak around to flank, as the rest of the team comes up the stairs," JT whispers.

[HMHVV Hunter]

"Hey, anybody got a spare gas mask?" Helios whispers to the team members coming up the stairs, not wanting to repeat his experience with the stun gas.

[Ecclesiastes]

Bishop turns to face Graves, "Actually, its ok. If they are still on the fourth, we can use the stairs between two and three as the choke point instead of this set."

[BishopMcQ]

Team:
Tigger reaches the top of the stairs and bursts in to Ballefour's room. The door has already been blown from its hinges with explosive ammunition. Inside, the Society is spread out to keep melee from spilling over into the entire team. The central figure is holding a gun to Ballefour's head. To his right, an older French man is also held hostage. His hands are well manicured and his bedclothing made of silk.

"Stand down and no one else gets hurt."

Behind the figures in security armor you can see a private bedroom, a wheelchair is knocked down. A woman naked from the waist down has several lacerations and is partially flayed, though the cause of death was definitely the burst of gunfire which caused her chest cavity to collapse.

[HMHVV Hunter]

Oh god...forgive my cowardly soul, woman... Helios silently pleads as he sees the dead woman. The woman he could have saved had he just not fled.

His rage taking hold, Helios fights off the stun gas long enough to lay into those cowardly Society bastards.

"STAND DOWN, NOW, OR YOU'RE ALL DEAD!!!" he shouts, training his SMG (and its laser sight) on the nearest Society member just to hammer his point home.

His finger tenses on the trigger.

Go ahead. Give me a goddamn excuse...

[Ecclesiastes]

Bishop lets the data feeds from Tigger and Helios flood his mind. Quickly he begins to compile the data and ready commands.

[Johnson]

Tiny hold his ground.No we don't need this, looks like this is going to get messy really quickly.

Tiny's voice crackels over the comms.
"Just let me know where you want me to position myself. I am ready to get my hands really dirty."

[BishopMcQ]

Tigger rushes forward into the room, his hands moving in a blur. An assault rifle connects with his forearm as the Society member deflects the first feinting attack. The impulsive bounty hunter drives his palm heavily into the midsection of the newcomer.

Staggering back, the armored thug lowers his rifle. The sound of automatic fire roars through the small room. Two bursts fire in quick succession at Tigger.

The second Society member who has his hands free opens up on Helios. A torrent of gunfire and explosive ammunition.

"Last chance." Both hostage keepers shove their barrels into critical areas of their victims.

"Stand down." They are obviously ready to open fire, killing the hostages if anyone takes an agressive action.

[HeySparky]

Oh no. This is... this is bad. Surely they wouldn't kill Ballefour...? Edana's brow breaks out in beads of sweat. She can't tear her eyes away from the barrel of the gun at Ballefour's temple. Tigger moves in a blur. Then Helios rushes forward and the loud report of gunshots in close quarters makes the shamaness' ears ring. She is frozen while as the room leaps into action around her.

On three, Herne. She feels, the spirit's surge of assent roll across their link.

One...

[Ecclesiastes]

"Stand down. I've got something that should help out. Let me sneak up there and if they don't see me coming, I can drop some freeze foam in on them before they know what hit em."

Bishop quickly holsters his pistols and activates his Rutheniums. He creeps his way up the last set of stairs, closing in.

[toturi]

Graves: "Negative. Remember the last time you tried that rutherium stealth trick? They have a hostage, what we have for now is a Mexican standoff."

[HMHVV Hunter]

Son of a...!

As the gunfire streaks towards him, Helios jumps towards the door they came in from (hoping to roll out into the hallway) and praying for his life.

I really need to learn the value of coordinating a plan with non-Infected hunting teammates...

[Ecclesiastes]

"Give me a break Graves. These are Mercs, not the type to catch sight of me on the Astral."

[toturi]

"Analyse the situation. These guys got some serious backing and throw in the church connection, you want to gamble a hostage's life on they not having a mage? Be my guest, man."

As the sound of gunfire echoes again in the building, Graves mumbles something about how he should have stayed in Delta Force.

[BishopMcQ]

Helios:
By sheer luck or perhaps a higher power, your leap clears you from the path of the incoming bullets. You feel the inrush of air as explosions rip through the wall behind you and decimate the chair you land next to.