:: Sophia steps forward and decides now is as good a time as any to reveal their secret. ::

"Don Roselli. Nobody has turned anyone over. Gio came here willingly to speak with my father about a peace that Gio and I have been working towards."

:: Sophia reaches out and takes Gio's hand in her own. ::

"A peace we need to make for the sake of our marriage."

As soon as Alice mentions there is trouble outside, Akuma lifts his head from the game of cards and tosses the cards down onto the table. Like lightening, he is up and moving, tipping over the table he was sitting at and taking up a possition behind it. In an instant his Predator is drawn and ready.

over the comm

"Alice! Alice! Come in! Speak to us, girl!"

Tossing his cards down, Lex stands up, slowly, with his hands out in a non-threatening gesture. "Don, no one is turning anyone in to anybody here. Things are just got a little more complicated than we originally intended."

Over the transducer "I told you this was a bad idea, but did you listen to me? ooooooh nooooo"

A lot of stuff happened somewhat all at once there, and based on Akuma's actions I'm going to insert more things going on in between Alice's apparent death on the radio and Sophia's announcement after the entrence of the Rosseli's. The IC actions below happen after the gunshot rings out that some could hear that annouced the apparent end of Alice's driving career.


@ Everyone
When Akuma tips over the table the he and Lex were playing on, Sophia, Gio and Don Caroletto look over and stand from their table.

The bartender notices the action and ducks behind the bar and doesn't return. Bob looks like he's ready to make popcorn; he's remains leaning against the bar looking out at the assorted people that have entered the room.

At the comotion, the two human Caroletto guards draw pistols and sit up straight. The woman continues to remain seated and looks calm. The elf, which Mojo reported as awakened earlier, has also heightened his sense of awareness -- sitting up straight and twisting his chair to put the table between himself and the door.

The drunk dwarf snores on.

Moments later, the Rosseli cadre opens the bar door and enters the room. When the Caroletto guards see that the Rosselis are visably armed, the two human guards duck down using the table as cover and begin to aim in the direction of the phalanx of Rosselis. The woman rises to her feet and the elf rises but begins to back away cautiously while still watching the phalanx. Mojo reporst that two of the Rosselis are awakened.

Don Rosseli: "All right, Caroletto, I want my son back."
Gio: "Dad?!"

At this point, Sophia brings up her spells. Also, Caroletto's Major Domo dives for cover. When Sophia brings up her spells, Mojo reports that one of the Rosseli mages also brings up a spell. As the spells begin to take effect, Sophia, Don Caroletto, and Don Rosseli all begin to glow with a soft light.

Rowan: "Don Roselli, please have your goons stand down. Your son is fine. Also do you mind if I go out and check on the health my driver? I would have thought you smarter than to shoot first and ask questions later..."

Lex (at about the same time as Rowan): "Don, no one is turning anyone in to anybody here. Things are just got a little more complicated than we originally intended."

Don Rosseli: "No, Rowan, that is not possible at this time. I thought you had more sense than to turn my son over to the Carolettos."

Sophia: "Don Roselli. Nobody has turned anyone over. Gio came here willingly to speak with my father about a peace that Gio and I have been working towards. A peace we need to make for the sake of our marriage."

@Sophia
Gio gives you hand a little squeeze when you announce the marriage, but doesn't spare you a look, rather faces his father and watches for his reaction. You father, on the other hand snorts for a moment and then whispers in your ear, "Quite a bluff, dear. Can you back it up?"

@Everyone
There's a general outburst of mumbling amoung the Rosseli guards at Sophia's annoucement. None of them move to put their weapons away, but then again, no one in that group is pointing their weapons at anything but the ceiling. The Caroletto people are also similarly surprised but remain professional.

Don Rosseli steps forward crossing his arms over his chest. "Gio is this true."

"Yes. Sophia and I are husband and wife. Considering our rather tentative situation we didn't ... "

Sophia: At this, your father's expression changes from mirth to one of wonder and then worry. He remains silent, watching and waiting.

Don Rosseli interrupts, "I don't care about your reasoning. We'll anull it at our earliest convenience." The Don speaks as one accustomed to having his wishes fulfilled at a moment's notice. He begins to turn away from Gio and the rest of the room saying, "Come with me, Gio."

Sophia: Gio is holding your hand very tightly -- not enough to hurt yet, but it is mildly uncomfortable.

"No, father. You have to listen to what we have to tell you."

@Rowan
Bob whistles slightly as he looks back and forth from the Rosseli's to the rest of the room. He leans backwards and reaches behind the bar for a bottle not really looking at which one. He pops the top off, raises it in your direction and takes a drink.

Akuma's eyes narrow as they settle on Don Rosseli. His mouth opens as if he wants to say something, but them forces himself to stop and glances at Gio.

Its his show now. Let us hope things don't go as bad as they did for me when I was in his shoes.

:: Sophia squeezes back and sets her other hand on his arm, trying to wordlessly give him as much support as she can muster, her eyes, however, momentarily flash to her father with an apologetic expression, sorry for not telling him sooner. ::

Rowan glares at Don Rosseli. "Don, you know the importance of family, dont make Gio anull the wedding, they love each other, and had it not been for this meet, Gio would have been killed by one of your own, one who has been playing the two families against each other."

@Rowan
Don Rosseli looks away from his son for a moment and glances in your direction. "If you're speaking of Jimmy, we are aware of his colusion with the Carolettos, but we have reason to believe that they were behind his double cross. That hardly seems like someone playing the two families against each other."

Don Caroletto steps forward, putting a hand on his daughter's shoulder, "You should listen to what these two have told me. What they say ..."

The other Don interrupts the former, "They," he begins indicating Rowan and the others, "are in my employ and therefore deserve some respect. You, on the other hand, are only my rival and I've seen nothing in the last few days to convince me otherwise and much, in fact, that has all but forced me into this conclusion."

@Mojo
The earth elemental is back. <<OOC: while you were away, Mojo saw an earth element arrive with the Carolettos and then leave while Sophia, her father, and Gio speak.>> Glancing at the elf, which seemed to be controlling the elemental earlier, you see him stiffen. Taking a look at his aura tells you that he is surprised and a little worried. The elemental appears to give him some signal -- it looks like it holds up five fingers. It then disipates, its services complete. You watch the Elf while the Dons spar verbally for a moment and you can see a shamanic, bird-like mask begin to appear around him. The spell goes off and you see it coalesce around one of the Rosseli guards. That guard stiffens for a second and then you see his arms and legs go slightly ridgid as his eyes glaze over. Glancing at the Rosseli mage you see that he is no longer watching the astral plane and, therefore, is unaware of the elf's actions.

Rowan contiues to talk to Don Rosseli, "A woman named Medea, she is the responcible party, she drew Gio into a meeting about reperations and he walked into a bloodbath, Sophia saved his life. Then when we found Gio, still unconsious in a hospital, we moved him to a safer location. The work at the resteraunt was Media's. I'm half surpised she doesnt show up with her own goons and try to wax all of us."

:: With that thought, Sophia suddenly shifts to the astral as she draws closer to Gio, the sudden fear that Rowan's words were coming just a bit too late. ::

"Oh my god. She's right. How did you find us so quickly? There must still be ears on both sides of our family for you to have found the news and gotten here so quickly. What perfect bait, your son and your enemy. Medea will strike any minute, she orchastrated this!"

:: Sophia then casts another armor spell around her husband, then begins to conjure a force 6 hearth spirit as her eyes search the astral for any sign of the impending attack. ::

Fragging mages

Upon hearing Sophia's realization, Lex slowly (as to not spook any of the goons) reaches into his pocket, pulls out some driver's licenses, and holds them out in the direction of Alessandro. <<OOC: Don Roselli is Alessandro, right?>>

"Don Roselli, I know she's from your enemy's family and all, but she's telling the truth! I have with me the ID's of your two men who were sent to wait for us. They were both murdered and it wasn't Don Caroletto's doing. It looks like this Medea's the one behind all this. Worry about this family feud later, right now she's the one you need to deal with."

Over the transucer: Hey Mojo, speaking of the devil, any sign Sophia's right and she's on her way here?

@Everyone
As Sophia brings up her spell around Gio and he begins to glow with a soft light and Lex begins to move toward the Rosseli's to show the Don the IDs from Ana Mia's, the guard the Mojo noticed being ensorcelled earlier raises his pistol and fires in the direction of Gio, Sophia, and Don Caroletto. The gunshot sounds far louder than it probably was in the silence that follows it. Nothing happens for a split second and then -- chaos.

@Akuma, Lex, Mojo
Your four caught a glimpse of the face of the Rosseli guard that fired. After pulling the trigger he look confused, almost surprised at his action.

@Rowan
When the guard raises his pistol and shoots, you're eye follows the trajectory of the bullet towards it's target. The shot strikes Don Caroletto in the shoulder twisting him around. Between Sophia's spell and the fact that he was probably wearing some form of armor, you're pretty sure he'll be okay. Risking a quick glance at Bob in the moment of calm before the storm, you see that he's totally poleaxed, "Not like the sims, is it?" you mention to him before readying your weapons.

@Sophia
You don't see much of anything on the Astral plane. You do see Mojo astrally perceiving. The elven Caroletto mage and well as the Rosseli human one jump out at you. But there are no projected mages, spirits, or elementals in the area at the moment.

Just before you can summon your spirit, but just after you encase Gio in an Armor spell, a gunshot goes off. You can feel the bullet fly by your head and your hair is pulled back in its wake. You hear your father cry out, and looking at him you see that he is only lightly wounded. You're hopes drop of seeing a non-violent end to this evening.

Over the comm Mojo answers: Don't know, exactly. Elemental just showed me the number five... so maybe the'll arrive in five minutes? Or something else entirely...

Mojo catches the look on the guard's face and recognizes the look of a control spell in action. He looks around for someone who could have done it while slipping farther back and down, into cover.

Again on the subvocal mic: The fraggin' daisy eater's throwin' control spells on people an' trying to start a fight!

Just when I thought things could go nicely, we got to get double crossed. That bitch is gunna pay for it.

Akuma peeks around the table he is hiding behind, taking aim at the Elf's head.

He yells, "You're gunna pay for that!" and pulls the trigger.

COMBAT PHASE ONE

With a crash and a bang, the storm that has been gathering about these two families breaks. Akuma’s shot breaks the moment of silence that preceded it ringing throughout the bar and moving everyone into action. The Elf that you all know started this shindig is in the process of standing when the Demon’s shot takes him in the back of the shoulder, twisting him around and dropping him onto the table behind which he was seated. At about the same moment, two of the Rosseli guards grab their Don and put him up against the wall, covering him with their own bodies and turn, at the ready for further action.

Mojo and Sophia, as you begin to move into action, you see on the Astral that the human woman you both thought was mundane must actually be a hell of an adept. She literally leaps into action, rising about four meters off the floor propelling her self in a graceful arch towards the mob of Rosseli guards and extends two hand blades that shimmer as she seems to walk on air.

Two of the Rosseli guards by the eastern door to the bar turn and fire at the two Caroletto human guards that drew pistols previously. All four seem to fire at each other almost simultaneously, their gunfire blending into one, loud explosion. One of the Rosselis fires a burst from the pistol in his hand putting two bullets into the table top and the third takes one of the Carolettos in the chest. It doesn’t seem to phase either of the Carolettos who both return fire, but their target dove for the floor gaining cover of the table and their shots embedded into the door. While the Carolettos focused on the Rosseli guard with what looked like a machine pistol, a Rosseli wielding a SMG fired at them on full automatic, spraying bullets into one of the Carolettos pushing him back over his own chair and putting him on the floor. The rest of the bullets make a sharp tattoo on the kitchen wall. The sight of his fellows blood all over the place only seems to enrage him further as he pulls the trigger and explodes Rosseli’s head with a shot between the eyes.

Bob looks at Rowan when she tells him to scoot outside but looks back towards a Rosseli guardsman covering him with a pistol. His hand is about half way to his sap, and he looks back at Rowan for encouragement just in time to see her pull the pin on a grenade and with a wink, Rowan uses Bob as cover and moves towards the door, dropping the grenade at the guard’s feet who looks down giving Bob the opening to follow Rowan.

“HOLD YOUR FIRE! HOLD YOUR FIRE!” Lex yells over the fray as Gio steps forward and adds his voice to the cacophony, “Rosselis, this is Giancarlo! Hold your fire! This isn’t what it seems!”

The remaining Rosseli guards put up their guns as Mojo throws a powerful blast at the Caroletto Mage who was just getting up off the table where Akuma’s shot threw him which slams him into the floor unconscious. You can see Mojo shiver as the drain hits him, but with a brief shake of his head, he stands straighter with a grin on his face as he looks at the prostrate form of the elf before him.

Seeing that there was a brief lull in the action, Sophia stands from behind a table that she tipped over for cover, “Everyone STOP!” she yells, “And watch that grenade.” The Rosseli guards man with Rowan’s grenade at his feet kicks it behind the bar where you hear the bartender say, “Oh Shit!”

The adept who jumped over the fray lands behind the main body of the Rosseli guards and puts hand blades at the throats of the guards blocking her way to Don Rosseli. The guards stare at her in shock and try not to flinch as the silvery blades draw thin lines of blood from their necks.

Everyone is staring at everyone else and no one seems willing to make the next move.

Seeing the opportunity, Lex stands from his cover next to the bar and points to the downed Elf, "Is that mage dead? He'd better not be, 'cause he's got a lot to answer for. Mojo, help me out here, did you see what I saw before the drek hit the fan? That Elf did something to the guard. Dons, please, just hold on a sec. Let's take this one incident at a time. You don't like each other, that much is obvious. You also both know enough not to just open fire on each other in some run down bar. C'mon, you're both better than that. So I think it's safe to say that you both told your men NOT (Lex looks at the Roselli who started the quick firefight) to start anything unnecessary. And of course I would think you would only bring men competent enough to follow a simple order like that, right? So why would this man open fire? Probably because he didn't know he was doing it. That's some magic trick, huh? So I ask myself this, 'Why would this pointy-ear disobey his Don's order? My money's on he's collecting a paycheck from someone else, and I think by now we all know who I'm talking about. So why don't we all just put the guns down, (Lex looks at the adept holding the two Rosseli goons by the throats) and why don't you put your blades down and go back to your corner? For at least tonight, you both have a bigger problem."

The whole time Lex is giving his little speech, he's walking around the center of the bar, pointing to people he makes note of in his speech (with the empty hand, not with his gun). Hopefully his walking around slowly will take everyone's attention off each other's guns and will calm them down somewhat

@Everyone but Rowan
A few seconds into Lex's speech, a muffled explosion goes off from behind the bar. The bartender stands up and shrugs and behind him you see the remains of a small minifridge that seems to have taken one for the team.

"Don, I swear, I didn't want to shoot," the guard who made the shot heard round the barroom started to say when Lex finished up, but Don Rosseli silenced him with a curt wave.

Pushing past the his two guards and the now more relaxed Caroletto adept, the Don turns to his own mage, "Did you see this elf cast a spell?"

@Rowan (and Bob)
As you exit the bar you can see that the parking lot has become more full since the last time you saw it. The vehicles of both the Rosselis and the Carolettos are parked haphazardly throughout the larger lot. Thanking your elven eyes, you're able to see quite well by the moonlight filtering through the clouds. As your breath steams in the cold air, you gaze about you trying to see any signs of danger.

Nothing seems out of order. You can see the corpse of the Caroletto left to watch the cars as well as what you think is Alice's corpse slumped in the front seat of the loaner van you all drove. Plus, you can see one other body in the parking across from the Caroletto's. And that's when it hits you -- If that third body is a Rosseli, then someone else must be out here!

Over the comms, Rowan whispers, "Mojo, go astral, look around, we have company somewhere"

Rowan scans the lot once more, looking for anything moving about.
She moves fluidly, keeping to cover as she runs to the unidentified corpse.

At Bob, "Someone's out here."

over the comm

"Good work Lex, try and keep everyone calm for now. Rowan, if someone is out there, get your ass back in here before they deside you are the next target."

Mojo finishes sinking into cover and does as Rowan requests, scanning about on the astral for anything out of the ordinary.

@Sophia
As Lex does his speechifying, you move over to where you can see the Rosseli guard who fired the first shot. Switching onto the Astral and spending a few seconds studying his aura, you can clearly see the remains of a Control Manipulation -- probably Influence -- cast upon him very recently. The Rosseli mage approaches you as you work and begins to perceive astrally as well. You point out the evidence that you detect and he turns to his Don, saying: "Don, they're right. This man was forced to take that shot. There's someone manipulating all of this."

"Listen to your man, Rosseli," Don Caroletto interjects. "And these people," he continues while indicating the team, "have shown themselves to be intelligent and honorable in your service."

Looking back at your father and Gio, you notice that Gio's face remains trouble as he looks at his father. Also, you remember the Caroletto that was shot. Looking at him you see that he is bleeding badly, but not unconscious. He's keeping a stiff upper lip as the other guard tries to staunch the bleeding.

@Mojo
Dropping into the Astral is a little difficult for you. You want to figure out what's going on out there but you also don't really want to leave you meat body here where the shooting might start again. But, you do it none-the-less. Taking one quick look around outside the bar, you do not see anything out of the ordinary and so you zip outside for a quick perimeter search.

Out front, you can see Rowan and Bob, both astral forms warped by cyberware, though Rowan's more so than Bob's. But, that's not all you see.

Moving toward you at a rate only possible on the Astral is an air elemental. Behind it, you can see from your vantage point five other beings, most warped with cyberware, but one awakened form astrally perceiving. These people are using the cars for cover in the lot across the street. What's worse ... you can see Rowan and Bob moving towards the lot as they try to find out what's going on.

@Rowan
You and Bob move away from the old church building keeping to a line of low bushes for some cover. You realize, however, that if you're going to be able to see more of the area than you can now, you're going to have to leave even this meager safety. Moving as quietly as possible, you move across the street keeping low and keeping within the pools of shadow in between the sporadically-working street lamps. Bob is having a harder time keeping quiet, but is actually doing an admirable job, for a Troll and an amature.

As you get closer to the corpse, two things happen that are very important. First, you notice that coming from behind one of the vehicles is evidence of someone breathing -- namely you can see their breath steaming in the cold air, just as yours is before you. Suddenly, from a different car, a figure leaps up moves toward you drawing a silenced pistol and beginning to aim as he runs.

You're not too surprised that someone noticed you, concidering they were probably eventually expecting company just as you were, but Bob on the other hand stares at the rushing figure in shock, not yet even readying his sap.

@Lex
It seems that your speech and the evidence discovered by Sophia and supported by one of Rosseli's own mages is having the desired effect on your audience.

Finding what he was looking for, Mojo flies back to his meat body and comes to wakefulness. Into the com, not able to subvocalize in his haste he says: Rowan! You've got incoming! Air elemental and five meat bags!

Akuma bolts for the door as quickly as possible to get outside and help Rowan. As he runs, he draws out his Katana and keeps it in his off hand, just in case he'll need it. As he nears the door, he yells at anyone that is in the way, "Move it! Out of my way!"

:: Still holding tightly onto Gio's hand, she pulls him with her to the side of the injured guard. She kneels down and pats his shoulder gently. ::

"As soon as it's safe to drop my spells, I'll tend to you...just hang in there."

:: Unconsciously, she assignes her entire pool of spell and sorcery dice as spell defense covering Gio, herself, Don Roselli, Don Carletto, the injured guard and the next closest. ::

"Mages, bring up whatever spell defense you can spare. Medea's behind this, I can feel it."

@Akuma
As you leap off the stage and run for the door weilding a katana a few of the Rosselis almost lift their guns before they realize that you're not attacking, just trying to get by. They spread out before you giving you a clear path to the door.

@Rowan
Oh shit you think to yourself as you hear Mojo's voice over the comms. One ... well two with Bob ... against five isn't good odds.

You move for your gun, but it's clear that the previously hidden figure has got the jump on you. Now that you've had a moment to look at him, you can tell that it's an elf. As he runs to close the distance, you mind slows down time and you can almost see his finger pulling the trigger back. His first shot goes wide of you to the right but his second shot is more accurate. Your body reacts without thought and you throw yourself to the side feeling the bullet slide by your head.

Meanwhile, Bob is having troubles of his own. He was watching you and the shooter and didn't notice that a second person popped up from behind a second car to his right. Pausing for a moment and then taking a quick shot, hitting Bob in the back of the thigh just below the hip. He cries out in pain and falls to a knee grabbing the wound, but he finally snaps out of his surprised stupor and pulls his sap. With a bellow he climbs to his feet and begins to move towards the second shooter.

He's got balls, that one, you think to yourself quickly pulling your gun up and returning fire at the elf, you're surprised to see him dive forward to dodge. Your bullets bracket him above and below as he flies horizontal to the ground for a moment before tucking into a roll and coming to his feet before you. He fires one more shot which goes wide to your right before he drops the gun pulls two whips from concealed holsters at his hips and readies them before.

"AMBUSH!" you yell, hoping those inside might hear you. Judging from Mojo's comment over the comms, you feel a little better knowing you don't have too much longer to last on your own before Akuma comes bursting out of that door. And, the other shooter has Bob to deal with -- an enraged Troll is a nasty thing even if he is an amature. Then, however, a series of flashing, colored lights assault your senses and you begin to feel slightly dizzy. Damn, you have the chance to think to yourself, forgot about the fragging mage.

The other shooter takes two more shots at Bob as the Troll runs toward him. Showing some experience -- or some time watching trid action movies -- he zig zags slightly presenting a harder target and the first shot misses him. A second hits him in the center of mass, but he seems to just shrug it off and keep barreling toward his opponent.

Following quickly (or as quickly as he can) behind Akuma, Lex yells over to Sophia, "Keep everyone together, this is probably another diversion!" And at the Dons, "Try not to kill each other while we're gone, k?"

Drek, I need to get to the van

@Rowan
Shaking your head for a few moments seems to clear your vision slightly, but there are still some faint, distracting colors waving to-and-fro in your vision. Squeezing off one more round at almost point-blank range, the elf has no time to dodge before getting struck by your round. He staggers for a moment but ultimately remains on his feet.

You look around for a moment, trying to find the mage that zapped you, but you don't see anyone except for the shooter that Bob is trying to reach before he can shoot at him again. Bob has just about reached the vehicle behind which the shooter his hiding. But, luck is not with the Troll as the human shooter fires twice more. The first shot goes wide as the Troll zigs when the shooter expected him to zag and the second hits Bob in the chest but as before he seems to shrug off the shot. He must be wearing some form of balistic armor underneat his shirt, you assume.

<<OOC: End of combat turn>>

@Akuma and Lex
Bursting out of the doors, you see Rowan feverishly trying to avoid another elf who is attacking her with whips toward a vehicle on the left hand side of the parking lot while Bob tries to get around a second vehicle on the right toward a man armed with a pistol -- looks like an Ares Predator from here. Akuma, you can tell from your experience that it looks like the vehicles were arranged to provide cover for people behind them as well as to create a killing field between the two where shooters would have easy line of sight to people approaching. Further, there's not much cover between here and the vehicles, just a line of low bushes on the left leading from the door of the old chapel to the cracked and pitted sidewalk.

@Sophia
Gio turns to you, drawing the weapon that Akuma let him borrow previously, "I have to go out there. These people are in danger because of me." At you concerned look he says, "Don't worry -- I'll stay behind Akuma." He moves to exit the bar giving you hand a squeeze.

The Dons are both gathering their guards to them and moving toward the stage where they'll be able to see anything coming through the doors at them.

Akuma quickly sprints across the street, knowing how hard it is to hit a moving target. He heads directly to Rowan side, bring his katana up, ready to attack the elf.

@Akuma, Lex, Rowan
With a battle cry, Akuma rushes towards Rowan and the whip-weilding elf. "Rowan, look out!" he yells before taking a shot. The round takes the elf in the thigh and he cries out, stumbling for a moment but he rights himself and lashes out at Rowan. The elf's whips strick out at Rowan giving slashing her across the forehead and down the cheek. Blood seeps from the wounds faster than maybe they should; head wounds always bleed more.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the lot, the human shooter takes a step back from the concealment of the vehicle as Bob steps up and begins to walk across the the front of the car. The shooter squeezes off one shot before Bob hops down on the other side, now finally in range of his opponent. Once again, the round hits Bob in the chest but he doesn't really seem to mind. It's good to be a Troll --- sometimes. Speaking to somone that the three of you cannot see, yet, the shooter yells, "IV, you coud help us you know." He says the name like eye-vee, not the number four.

With a grunt and and a heave, a large Ork stands up behind the vehicle from which the elf leapt to engage Rowan. Wielding a large and heavy looking machine gun, the grin on the Ork's face lets you know that he's been waiting for this. Glancing quickly at his gun you can see the stabalization gyromount begin to spin up as he prepares to fire. Seeing Akuma running toward the elf and Rowan, he fires two short bursts in his direction. Either he's compensating for something with the size of his gun, or he wasn't ready yet, because the bursts bracket the Demon and fly past him knocking chips of brick off of the side of the old church and bar.

Seeing an opportunity as the Ork stands up, Lex aims and takes a shot at the human shooter soon to be engaged with an angry troll. Too focused on the Troll to notice Lex, the shot takes him in the side of the torso. From his cry of pain and the way he grabs at his side, you can tell that the shot penetrated whatever armor he may have had on.

Suddenly, Rowan, the light show that had been distracting you seems to fade away. You don't think you did anything, so the mage must have dropped the spell. Backing away from the whip-weilding elf, you fire once before retreating towards the bar and the safety of your teammates. Your shot hits the elf in the chest and he stumbles, coughs up some blood, and falls, the whips dropping from his hands.

Bob finally catches up with the human shooter and begins to bash him hard about the head and shoulders with his sap. The shooter fends off some of the hits wth his gun, using it almost as a club, but more than a few sneak through his defenses as the enraged Troll begins to work out a little stress from the previous work week.

Akuma, seeing the elf you were charging fall to Rowan's parting shot, you pull up short and spend a moment searching for the best target. The obvious choice of the ork presents itself, but you also know there's probably a mage out here. Bob seems to have the human shooter dealt with, but that shotgun could become a problem eventually. In the second or so it takes your eyes to compile this information you feel a tingling against your skin just before it feels like someone hits you in the chest with a very large, very heavy hammer. As you stagger backwards, you can feel your ribs shifting in ways that they shouldn't. Catching a bit of motion out of the corner of your eye next to the ork, you see the image of a frighteningly beautiful woman with long, black hair. The fire in her eyes gives you pause for a moment. From all the information you've gathered, you think it's a safe bet that this is probably Medea Caroletto herself, "Wecould use a little spell defense out here," you say into the comms as you prepare to deal with these new threats.

@Mojo
Over the comms, you hear Akuma's plea for spell defense.

:: Sophia looks wildly at Gio. ::

"You most certainly will NOT! That's been Medea's plan from the beginning, to kill you. You will not make a target of yourself. These people were hired for a reason and I have every confidence that they can handle the situation at hand."

:: Her eyes widen with fright and panic. ::

"You wouldn't really go out there and leave me here alone would you? You're the only person I truly trust right now. I NEED you here with me."

Akuma may be good in a fight, but he isn't stupid either. His run quickly makes a turn as he high-tails it back towards the bushes and dives to the rear of them, setting himself between the bushes and the outside wall of the bar. Panting and trying not to vomit blood, he ejects the clip of Gel rounds and replaces it with a clip of EX-EX.

Making a spit second desision, Rowan makes for Bob, hoping to use the car for cover, thus giving her some time to pull out her SMG. She runs forward and dives behind the car, attempting to roll past Bob and bring herself up into a crouch, ready to fire on his attacker.

Akuma, Lex, and Rowan
With a quick reverse in direction, Akuma runs back toward the bushes at almost the same moment that the human shooter takes another shot at Bob. Bob smacks him in the side of the head with his sap and the shot goes wild.

"Cover me!" you hear a voice yell and a small dwarf runs quickly between the two vehicles heading for the vehicle behind which the Ork and Medea currently hide, apparently leaving the human shooter to fend for himself. With a quick glance, you see the dwarf armed with a shotgun.

And cover does, indeed come his way. The ork begins to spray lead all throughout the killing zone in front of Our Lady of the Bottle. Chips of brick fly off the walls where the bullets impact with the building, and others slam into the street. Rowan just makes it to safety at the front edge of the car over which Bob walked and Akuma ducks behind the bushes laying flat to avoid the automatic fire.

Seeing an opportunity as the Ork swings his field of fire from the front of Our Lady of the Bottle over towards the car behind which Rowan now hidses, Lex rises and takes aim on our machine gun wielding tusker. Pulling the trigger, Lex immediately fires again, hoping that he can land both shots. The first rips into the Ork finding a weak spot where the neck of his armored jacket doesn't quite cover. From the spray of blood, the bullet must have gone straight through, exiting out the Ork's back. His automatic fire cuts out as he bellows in pain and rage, his eyes searching for the person who just shot him.

@Sophia
"I at least have to watch and see if they need help," Gio replies trying to find some middle ground. Not waiting for your response, he moves over toward the doors to the bar and peaks out into the street.

Your father puts a hand on your shoulder and speaks to his adept, "Alyssa. Cover him." The female adept moves over to stand behind Gio, also behind the door and looks ready to pull him out of harms way.

Don Rosseli looks startled at the other Don's willingness to protect his son. Squinting his eyes at the other Don, Rosseli turns to one of his guards. "You cover her," he says while watching Don Caroletto to see what his reaction to this show of good faith will be.

Mojo, reacting to something he must have heard over comms, suddenly jumps into motion heading for the door, obviously moving to get outside as quickly as possible.

over the comm

"Mojo, if you are coming out, make sure to dodge to the left outside the door and take cover with me in the bushes, we are under heavy fire."

Akuma then squeezes two shots off at the Ork.

@Akuma, Lex, Rowan, Mojo
As Akuma calls to Mojo over the comms, he pulls off one more shot on the Ork after switching clips from Gel rounds to Ex-Ex. Maybe it was Akuma's wound, or maybe the Ork saw it coming, but the machine gunner dodged back behind the car and the shot missed.

The human shooter dancing with Bob pulls off one more shot before he ejects the clip and works madly to slam a new one home while trying to back away from the Troll.

At about the same moment, Mojo comes out of the door and does a cliche, but someone well executed, "comando-roll." It would have been perfect if he hadn't smacked into the bushes at the end.

Staying nearly prone to the ground, Akuma focuses and brings his pistol up, taking aim on the Ork's head.

Steady... got to make this one count...

@Akuma, Lex, Rowan, Mojo
As the fight rages on, things are starting to get tense. Akuma, Lex, and Mojo are pinned down by the automatic fire of the ork. Trying to steady his breathing and ignore the ache in his ribs, Akuma lies prone and takes a bead on the ork's head.

The dwarf that was running from one vehicle to the other reaches his destination and hides behind the vehicle that the ork is firing from and behind which Medea waits to drop another of her spells on an unsuspecting target. At about the same time the dwarf reaches cover, the human shooter backs away from the troll bringing his gun up and pulls two more shots on our intreped bouncer. Both shots, fired point blank, take Bob in the center of mass and he grunts in pain as they strike home.

The ork once again brings his gun to bear on the bushes. He must have noticed Lex shooting him because he bellows in pain and rage as he squeezes his trigger. Bullets rip through the bushes narrowly missing Akuma and Mojo but striking Lex as he moves to drop out of sight. His armor looks to have taken most of the power away from the shots, however, as he doesn't seem too injured.

"This hand isn't over yet," he mumbles as he rises slightly, bringing the ork into his sights. As the bullets fly around him, in a moment of true greatness, he shoots twice. The first round takes the ork in the neck throwing his head back in a spray of blood. The second shot, quick on the heels of the first, enters the underside of the ork's chin and exits the top of his head adding grey matter to the mess spreading across the parking lot.

As the ork spends his final moments, Rowan and Bob go to work on the human. A wild look as come into his eyes after he sees Bob shrug off his last two rounds to the chest and he turns to run. As he does, Bob cracks him across the head and shoulders. As the shooter stumbles, Rowan's burst rips into his back and he falls to the ground spewing blood from his mouth.

The fight seems to stall for a moment as no targets present themselves to anyone. Then, suddenly, there is a sharp thud and you hear a woman grunt. Shortly after that, an unarmbed dwarf -- the same one who dashed from one car to the other -- walks out from behind the western vehicle dragging the unconcious form of the mage who is probably Medea Caroletto, "I hope you guys are with Sophia," he says. "'Cause if you're not, I just voided my paycheck."

@Sophia
Watching from the doorway, Gio pulls back for a second and faces you. "Looks like the shootings finished up, but there's a dwarf out here who mentioned you by name, hun. You know him?"

Akuma gives Lex a nod, "Nice shot", then doubles over and vomits blood.

:: Sophia breaks into a smile and looks at her father. ::

"It's Duster! Medea's been using him until I paid him a little visit and told him that he was NOT working for you at all and that Medea needed to be stopped. Looks like he came through."

:: Turning to Gio. ::

"That's Duster, and he's definately with us. Did they get Medea?"

Lex's eyes go wide for a second before his poker face comes back on. "Thanks. We'd better get you inside. I'm sure the mages can do something for you, if not, I'll take care of it." Helping Akuma up, Lex takes Akuma under the arm and looks at the dwarf. "This had better not be a trick." Helping Akuma back inside, he looks over to Sophia, "Some dwarf's outside looking for you. He's got a woman with him, unconscious. That Medea?"

Akuma's eyes swim a bit, but he manages to get his feet under him. "I sure as hell hope so."

:: Sophia rises from her crouch and moves to the doorway as Duster drags Medea towards the bar. ::

"Blindfold her and tie up her arms and legs. That should keep her from casting anything directly at us."

:: As Akuma stumbles in the door, Sophia moves quickly in his direction and peers outside. ::

"Are all the hostiles taken care of? I don't want to drop these spells until I know it's safe."

Akuma nods, the blood dripping from his nose and down his chin wiggling as he does so.

:: The sight of blood doesn't seem to bother Sophia in the least. Perhaps the bloody nature of her father's business has lead to a lifetime of injuries brought to her for attention. ::

"Come here Akuma...sit down and I'll do what I can for you."

:: Leading him to a seat at the nearest table, she pulls a chair around next to the one he's occupying. She takes his hands in her own and bows her head slightly as she closes her eyes. ::

Rowan begins looking Bob over, making sure he is okay. Then tries her best to help him inside.

"I think we've had enough excitement for the night, how 'bout you?"

With the weight of Akuma off him, Lex goes back to their Van to pick up his Alpha.

Looks like I didn't need it anyway, but just incase...

@Those who get a good look at Medea
Medea has a huge spreading bruise over the right side of her face. It also looks like her cheakbone might be broken, as her face has a slightly off-center, mushy look to it. She's very, very unconscious at the moment and Duster is rubbing his left had a little with his right.

<<OOC: Just going to narrate a section here. This is at pretty much everyone until Lex goes back outside. I'll put that information down at the bottom of the post >>

As the fight ends both families seem to rush into a flurry of activity. Don Rosseli is looking more confused than his Caroletto counterpart, but that's probably only becasue Don Caroletto had more warning than his Rosseli rival. Duster's entrence while dragging Medea makes a stir and Sophia and her father can both confirm her identy. The Don looks a little sad at her fate, but the grim look in his eyes tells everyone that he wants some answers. After Duster ties up Medea, the Don instructs him to repeat his job on the the elven mage the touched off the firefight in the bar.

Both Dons gather some of their people together and begin to tell them to head back outside and start cleaning up. Chances are that the authorities won't bother to come out this far away from the Allentown-Bethlehem city limits, but any evidence of Medea's betrayal might get stolen as the local looters start to do their work. Lex leaves with members of both families saying that he's going to go check on the van and confirm what everyone suspects about Alice. Three of the Rosseli guards leave with him, including the mage who says he's going outside to work on cleaning the Astral and making it look like it's just been a normal night. The Caroletto adept, Alyssa, stays with the Don, but the uninjured guard on the that side heads out with the others to lend a hand. Shoulders are a little tense, and eyes take sideways glances at the unusual bedfellows, but the Dons seem to be testing the waters between them so the men are willing to do the same. Otherwise, you end up with a good case of dead.

The bartender and the other two humans, who have been hiding in the kitchen, begin to come out of their hidey-holes. The bartender pulls a well-stocked medkit out from under the bar and explains sheepishly that he's had to patch up a patron or two in his day. He gets to work on the injured Caroletto guard looking like he's had a little more training in first aid than his humble explaination would warrant.

Caroletto's Major Domo comes out from the stage, after righting the table tipped earlier by Akuma. He straightens his jacked and doesn't look at all embarased about hiding under a table for the last few minutes. When he reaches the Don's side, the Don turns to Alyssa and whispers something to her. She nods and turns to the Rosseli Don, apparently relaying a message. He, too, agrees and the Dons retreat to the stage and begin talking quietly, ironically in the same booth that Sophia, her father, and Gio spoke earlier. Alyssa blocks anyone's way onto the stage, obviously acting to protect the Dons' privacy.

Shortly after they left, the Caroletto guard comes back in dragging an elf -- the one with the whips that Rowan dropped with gel rounds -- and drops him next to the unconscious Medea and elven mage.

The drunk dwarf sleeps on -- he didn't even seem to move during the entire firefight. In the barroom, his snores rumble like the sound of a thunderstorm moving away into the distance ....

@Sophia
As the fighting stops Gio moves over and gives you a hug quickly as your fathers begin to speak and work together to clean up the mess. It strikes you as ironic that both men seem to be all-business when it comes to cleaning up bodies and controlling a situation, but seem a little unsure of what to do when it comes to interacting between them, something that comes more natuarally to "normal" people. Giving you a quick kiss, he moves away to tend to Akuma. Turning to the bartender, he says, "Can I borrow that," indicating the medkit. The bartender kicks it across the floor to him. Rumaging around for a moment, he pulls out what he needs and begins to bind Akuma's ribs to keep them from doing any more damage inside. After Gio does what he can, some of the color returns to Akuma's face and you move over, take his hand and cast your heal spell. As you sustain the spell and your contact with Akuma, who can almost hear popping sounds as your magic tries to re-mend his mangled ribcage. His cyberware causes some problem, and you can't do as much as you'd like, but it's something.

@Lex
As you move out with the 2 Rosseli guards, the Rosseli mage, and 1 Caroletto guard, you feel a little like the only one at a table without an Ace up his sleave. The Rosselis keep trying to glance at the Caroletto, watching where he's moving his hands, and the Caroletto seems to be trying not to notice while glancing back at the Rosselis. They move apart and begin to look over the bodies of Medea's mercenaries. "We've got a live one over here!" the Caroletto calls out, refering to the whip weilding elf who lies unconscious on sidewalk by the lot.

As the guards bind the elf with his own whips, you move toward your van. The inside's a mess. It looks like the Rosselis were getting rid of anything that might have stabbed them in the back before they entered the bar. Alice's corpse is still in the front seat of the car, half slumped over the steering wheel. The single bullet wound to her temple shows you that it was quick, at least. Opening the back door, you reach in for your Alpha, grab it and turn back towards the bar, to see the Caroletto man pulling the elf into the bar, and the three Rosselis beginnign to clean up the ork and the human shooter than Rowan and Bob finished off.

@Rowan
Bob smiles at you when you talk to him, and pulls out a hanky handing it to you to wipe the blood off your face, "Bah! I've taken worse in the bar," he says stoicly, but it might be the truth. He doesn't look too badly harmed, though his armored jacket looks a bit shredded in the front from absorbing so many rounds. He takes a deep breath, and grimaces a moment, putting a hand to his solar plexus. "Gonna have a few bruises later tonight, but Dave, the bartender, gives me a bonus if I get hurt. I'll take you up on that drink, now, if you want one?" he says with a wink as you enter the barroom.

@Akuma
After Gio binds your wounds and Sophia's spell begins to take effect, you start to feel almost like your old self again. Using a bar napkin to wipe some of the blood from your lips, you strain your ears, but you can't quite hear what the Dons are saying to each other.

:: Sophia spends the time following Gio as he uses the medkit first on each of the wounded and the she follows it up by laying healing hands on each. They move from the most serious wounds to the lightest wounds regardless of which side the injured were on, except for Medea and her cohorts. ::

:: During a brief break in their activity, Sophia glances to her father and father-in-law and then to her husband before smiling softly. ::

"At least they are talking."