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

[Ecclesiastes]

"Tiny, I've got you covered, get that head out here, we've got to get it to the right people."

Bishop waits not too far off, ready to cover Tiny if he is spoted.

[HeySparky]

Edana quails, gasping involuntarily at the thought of losing her magic. Without thought her vision shifts into her second sight and back. As the reassuring flicker of Astral sight vanishes she finds herself looking at bright droplets of her own blood on the patch. She feels stinging where it came off. Stars and darkness gather at the edges of her vision and a roaring in her ears. Blood. Oh! She tries to focus as consciousness recedes.

Her voice slurs as she tries to speak a warning, hand reaching out to grab the suited man's sleeve, "...blood may... contamin... careful...HMHVv..." Her eyes flutter closed and her hand slips off the man's arm.

[Johnson]

Tiny slings his back over his shoulder and heads for the undergrowth, trying to keep his larger form in as much cover as possible. Heading away from the SUV hoping not to be spotted by the heli crew

[BishopMcQ]

JT and Graves:
With your companions running into the woods to try and flee down the mountain with Ballefour's bloody head, the both of you stand clear of the vehicle with your weapons on the ground.

A voice carries over the loud speaker instructing you to lay face down on the pavement with your hands on your head. It's easy to see a failure to comply will only result in a short chase and you being gunned down from above by the minigun mounted on the helicopter's nose.

Laying flat on the pavement, the sounds of sirens continue to get closer. Within another minute, you feel the cars come to a stop a few meters away. Officers move forward covering each other, restraints bite deeply into your wrists. Quickly you are both lifted to your feet by the restraints, as your joints scream in agony from the strain being placed on them.

The shotguns held in the rear officers' hands never stray from your midsections as you are patted down. Not until you are locked into the backseat of the patrol cars do the guards give the slightest hint of relaxing.

Three more patrol cars and an ambulance blast past you towards the manor house. Tight conversations in French pass between the guards as the chopper sweeps off the street moving over the forest to follow your companions. You think you may have bought them a five minute headstart to run.

[Ecclesiastes]

Bishop makes his way through the trees with Tiny. The troll's only indication that Bishop is around is the red blip that follows him on the heads-up display of the BattleTac Network.

"Keep moving. If that chopper comes looking for us, you just keep moving, I'll take care if it. I've got thermal camos on, it'll have a heck of a time tracking me."

[Bastard]

In the back of the squad car, JT's heart pounds. He fears that he did not allow Bishop, Tiny and Kane as much of a headstart as he had planned.

Knowing there are probably recording devices in the car, JT doesn't lead onto the others fleeing through the forrest. "So thats it then..."


Kane on the other hand, is right at Bishop's side. Following him by scent, much like he had to when his shaman master was under the cloak of invisibility.

[BishopMcQ]

Tiny and Bishop:
Kane chases at your heels as you flee through the forest and down the mountain. Within moments the helicopter loudspeaker can be heard echoing across the valley between the mountains.

"Halt with your hands above your head. Drop all weapons, this will be your only warning."

[Bastard]

Still following Bishop's lead, Kane hears the chopper's loud speaker thundering above. While he doesn't understand what it says, he knows it isn't good, and thinks to himself, Oh shit.

[Ecclesiastes]

Bishop quickly scans the skies, looking for the source of the voice. As he does so, he reaches behind him and looses the strap that holds his shotgun in place.

[BishopMcQ]

Bishop:
You make out the chopper hovering high above the canopy of the tree at a distance. They have probably picked up your heat signatures against the cold snow and night air.

[Ecclesiastes]

"Tiny, take cover behind a tree for a sec"

Bishop takes his own advice, then pulls out his shutgun and launches a Freeze Foam grenade up towards the chopper, hoping to cover their sensor array.

[Johnson]

Tiny Keeps cover in the trees hoping not to be spotted.

This is going to be a longer day than expected.

[Bastard]

Kane trots ahead of the team not wanting his friends to be discovered. Hopefully the chopper will follow him instead, as well as not fire.

JT waits patiently, the mask of the dog subtly creeps upon his face as lets the mana flow through his body. It dissapates as he releases the energy around him, suspended, waiting to commanded.

[BishopMcQ]

JT:
The guards around you obviously grow nervous at the blatant display of magic at your command. A quick tense exchange happens and the effect is immediately obvious as one of them turns and aims his sidearm directly at you. Aiming for your head, his body language telegraphs a distinct desire to shoot you if anything supernatural happens.

Forest:
With a muffled thump, the grenade launches out. It explodes in mid air as the helicopter veers back and away from the incoming projectile. The foam wraps partially around the sensor grid, but you are uncertain how effectively it has blocked the electronic transmission.

The undernose turret cycles to life, with lethal intent.

[BishopMcQ]

Forest:
A stream of electrons courses across the landscape returning with sensor echoes that lay a digital map across the virtual dashboard of the helicopter. Gunfire echoes across the valley.

[HeySparky]

Edana's sharp sense of self-preservation, quite independent of her waking mind, kicks itself into gear as unwelcome mana gropes through her brain. Otherwise, the darkness is welcome to the sleeping woman. She hides from consciousness, running through her own dreamscape, made bleak and hellish with the unkind chemicals.

In the dream, Herne chases her, eyes burning mouth bloodied. It is her blood. She is holding something... she looks down and Ballefour's severed, blood-smeared head leers up at her, his refined voice purring, "I wish we could have met under... different circumstances."

A pain in her heel flares and she stumbles, head pitching up and forward propelled by her momentum. Herne! Ballefour's head tumbles away, "This is not over, femme d'os." His voice trails away as Edana hits the rocky ground, hard and blackness comes for her again.

[BishopMcQ]

Forest:
In the echo of the gunfire, Tiny cries out, but the sound is soon cut short as blood bubbles up in his throat as vital organs in his chest and abdomen are shredded. The troll stumbles to the ground and soon the snow around him takes on a crimson color.

Kane leaps to the side with self-preservation overriding the orders he was given. Next to him, a tree splinters and fractures under the heavy barrage.

Taking advantage of the momentary spike of heat coming from his collapsed comrade, Bishop steps out from behind the tree he had been using to help cover him. A shimmer of ruthenium is all that's visible as the mercenary raises his shotgun for another blast. Two grenades launch out filling the air with foam and blocking visual contact.

[Ecclesiastes]

Bishop slings his shotgun back into place and neals down next to Tiny. Sorry my friend. He pauses to make the sign of the cross over the body of the dying troll. He picks up the bag that contains the severed head and the next instant he is back on his feet, stealthing his way through the forest. He whistles, calling Kane to follow him.

[BishopMcQ]

Forest:
Realizing that a grenade targeting the rotors could do serious damage to the chopper and not being able to target effectively, the rigger bugs out. Ground support will have to take care of tracking you from here.


Time passes...

French National Security HQ
Treated like terrorists and serial killers, JT and Graves get brought in through the maximum security entrance and passed through airlock style doors. Stripped of armor and weapons under the watchful gaze of sentry guns, they are taken to different interrogation rooms and left to sit.

Hours pass as you stare at the small black table in front of you. Your hands are manacled behind you, cold against the gooseflesh that crawls along your skin.

JT:
A man in a black suit enters the room and sits across from you.

"Why are you here?'

Graves:
"Who are you?"

The voice echoes through the room.

Edana:
You come to with a jerk, the world crystalizing around you in simulated sensation. Standing in a large conference room, two techs back away from you. A door opens.

Three men walk in.

"Please, sit."

The techs leave the room, fading out as if never there.

"Due to the nature of your abilities, all interrogation will take place in this room. Why are you here?"

[HeySparky]

Edana gasps and feels a strange echo of the sensation, like deja vu. Where is this... who are these - hey?!

"Due to the nature blah blah blah..." Edana blinks. What is going on? Where did those guys go...? She peers into the astral to find... nothing... The man's droning voice continues, "...blah blah room. Why are you here?"

She thinks ...because you put me here? ...unhelpfully. The echo of the thought, the sense of being measured and remeasured. She looks at the men soberly and sits down, wincing before she even feels the pain of spikes that tear at her flesh.

She is still trying to parse the distinct lack of mana she can touch or sense. Herne! She shuts off the thought, calling it back, before it can tip off any of these unknown interrogators. She fold her hands neatly before her and calmly schools her mind to an icy stillness. Anything they get from me they get from my mouth alone.

She answers flatly, "Am I under arrest?"

[BishopMcQ]

Edana:
The center man, caucasian in his late 30s, dark colored suit, takes a seat at the table opposite you.

"Perhaps, as it stands now, you are being questioned for your involvement in an attack on a member of the aristocracy, his household and guest. Said attack left twenty-three dead within the house and several guards outside were drugged. Surveillance footage has left a mixed report, including several members of your team using explosive devices and illegal chemical compounds.

"We also have confirmation that you never passed through customs and are thus trespassing on our native soil as an unregistered awakened individual. I'm sure that you understand, we have ample grounds to arrest you if such is necessary but I have convinced my superiors that you will cooperate with us. Isn't that right, Ms. O'Reilly?"

It was difficult because you had never seen his face, if this digital representation was even accurate, but the voice finally registers in your mind. This man was the one who had stabilized you at the chateau.

[HeySparky]

Edana's hand flutters to her neck as she connects the dots with the voice and the digital image before her and the matter-of-fact man at the chateau. Fear and gratitude well in her chest. Tears gather in her eyes as the out-of-control mess that has come of the team's efforts unravels in its entirety before her.

"Who wa-" she chokes off, throat constricting, "Who was that man?" She dashes her hand across her eyes. "The one they killed."

[BishopMcQ]

Sparky:
"While we are still sorting out the exact details, the list of deceased is as follows." Your wayward savior pulls a datapad out of his coat in a small show of system magic.

"Jean-Paul Goy, Marquis de Lyon. Luc Baiour. Amandine and Marie Chevry. Marc Dufey. Henri Duval...."

His voice drones on reading out every single name of the servants and house guard.

[HeySparky]

Edana's face goes even more sheet white than ever. This is all my fault. I should never have made that site. Gonzo was right... Edana forces herself to listen to each name, scourging them into her brain forever. Dammit, if anyone deserved to die it was that sick bastard Ballefour, but... her mind rejects the carnage of the other group's attack.

"He was the Marquis? And the woman, the one Ballefour..." she swallows, a wave of nausea and revulsion rolling in her gut.

She stares blankly off to the side at a simulated speck on the table before her. Why would the sim model a speck? The thought floats unbelonging through remembered flashes of blood and savagery that no amount of distance in time or space will ever purge from her mind. Before her captors can reply, she gives her head a shake, pale hair shifting around her shoulders. She lifts her head intending to speak, still staring off to the side, unable to look into even simulated eyes.

She freezes, mouth slightly open, desperately wanting to confess to every wrongdoing in the whole venture, wanting the whole sordid affair to be done with. A voice shrills in the back of her head that full disclosure would be A Very Bad Thing. Another shrills that anything less than full disclosure would be A Very Bad Thing. And in all that, Ballefour's empty eyes staring up from the blood-stained rug. She swallows again.

"I don't know what to do," she whispers. This is it. She hardens her resolve to not to let her fear melt her brain down. She pares the problem down to its simple parts. "I don't see any reason not to cooperate, but I'm scared to." Her face and thin frame are very still. Her eyes are wide and pleading, though her jaw is set and her tone steadies somewhat. "And I'm even more scared not to." Her eyes flicker to the man in the center.

"Under the circumstances." She finishes weakly and her eyes go back to the speck.

[BishopMcQ]

Edana:
"Cooperation is vital if you want my help. I may be able to convince the prosecutor to drop charges against you if you are able to fill in the whole story and testify. Otherwise, I'm going to be honest here, you will probably end up in a vat. I've seen what happens to Awakened criminals on capital offenses. They are kept in a Sim sense environment, drugged to the point that they are unable to fight the simulation. Then slowly, as the need arises, organs are removed to help productive members of society."

Extending his arm across the table, he lays his hand palm up, offering it out for emotional support.

"I don't want that to happen to you. You seem to have been caught up in a web of mistakes and bad choices. Help me, so that I can help you."