The group slowly makes its way into the tunnel, Shadow's keen eyes keep a sharp lookout. Up ahead she spots something...

Next to a pipe that is radiating a good ammount of heat, he catches a form hiding behind it. It looks to be the shape of a very large devil rat. The thing is smart using a hot pipe to hide behind, as it almost completely concealed its heat signature. Shifting to low-light, you can't catch sight of it though, then a flicker of motion, it looked like a pair of huge pincers snapping shut, then opening back up again.

Warpath speaks up, "Umm... guys. Be careful. Some of these pipes are gas lines and we could get ourselves into a real ugly spot if any of them break..."

Ayo chuckles softly into the mic on his comms.

"Just don't miss..."

"Great," Shadow utters, "what the hell are we supposed to use man? Harsh language?"

Shadow sighs and slings his SMG. Not wanting to risk the full auto fire he draws his Colt manhunter. Griping the large pistol tightly in his gloved hands, he points the weapon 'down range'.

As Shadow lifts his pistol, the Rat moves, but as it does a burst of steam shoots from one of the overhead pipes, clouding the area for a few seconds, but there is the sound of clicking and its getting closer...

The mist clears and Shadow gets a look at the foe before him. The demon rat is even larger than a devil rat. There are huge pincers growing from the corners of its mouth that snap at the air. Its eyes are huge and prismed, as if they belonged on a huge fly. It hisses at you and leaps to attack.

At the same instant, Onna hears a thump behind her.

Onna and Ayo both turn around at the noise, only to see a second infected demon rat barring down on them.

Ayo takes a quick half step in front of Onna, silenced pistol snapping up and coughing death in quick succession.

Shadow fires off two rounds, one catching the lead rat center mass, the other is quickly dodged by the beast.

Ayo puts a round into the rear rats neck, blood and gore spray the far wall. His second round knocks it over and the twitches a few times before lying still.

The Rat rushes on Shadow, eyes flashing in the dark. Shadow quickly tries to lead to the side, but the confines on the small tunnel make it hard. The rats pinchers find meat and dig deep into Shadow's thigh.

Warpath quickly responds by bringing his Alpha to bare and unloads into the side of this sick beast. Intrails splatter as it is torn asunder by full-auto Explosive ammo.

"Good work. Now the fun begins."

Four timers line the upper view of Grendel's virtual display: Pacific Standard Time, Universal Coordinated Time, Elapsed Mission Time, and Time On-Station Remaining. To his left was the comm interface panel, each team member's icon listed with signal strength and frequency he or she was transmitting on. Below the double row of icons were his own comm frequencies, flux settings, encryption algorithms, interference sectors, and back-up channels.

On his right was the electronic warfare interface: a skeletonized overhead view of the Bison with details on all of his emitters, as well as bearing lines, pulse train signatures, encryption, and decryption percentages from all of the emitters he was receiving. Listed along the left sidebar of the display were the various threat level postures pre-programmed into the system. Highlighted, but not implemented, is Set 1-A, his full combat setting.

The BattleTac interface dominated the main display, the facility indexed and annotated with pre-programmed targets and ordinance loads. Doorways and gates are highlighted, as are the light poles, camera mounts, antenna farms, and the parked vehicles.

The Bison itself was shifted to full combat footing: weapon mounts deployed, missile hatches open, and safeties disengaged. If the team called for it, ordinance could be on target within seconds. Grendel waited, watching as the timers spun down towards zero.

BLAM BLAM!

Shadow falls to his side, pain written in his eyes. The full auto roar of Warpath's assault rifle fills the confined space. The rat vaporizes under the supersonic lead bombardment.

"Ouch. Medic."

A wry grin spreads over the face of the laconic elf. "Damn, right through my armor."

Ayo glances down at the splattered remains of the creature at his feet.

"I'd say they know we're here know. Best to move quickly, before they can set an ambush on our entrance point." He glances up to the group, eyes shining in the dim lighting.

As Ayo looks back up at the group, Onna springs into action, surprising everyone. There is a flash of steel and the rat at Ayo's feat looses its head. As the head flops to the group, it becomes clear that the wounds that Ayo caused as quickly healed and closed up.

Shadow smiles as the mage shows a supriing amount of speed and grace.

"Nice one," he says bewteen grunts. Out of his pocket he produces a pressure bandage that he applies to his wound. There is a audible hissing noise as the device seals itselft to his wound.

"Let's move out." He waves his gun in the direction down the tunnel. With a limp he starts heading down the sewer.

Ayo growls softly, kicking the loose head back down the tunnel and turning back to move on with the group. Watching Shadow do nothing for the wound but the band aid, he moves forward to lay a hand on Shadow's shoulder, silently dropping to a knee and flipping open the flat case of a rather extensive medkit. He applys the small diagnostic device, checking the display as the computer within softly beeps and spits out a recomended treatment.

The medkit seems to do the trick, as Shadow's wound gets patched up.

"I will help." Onna wipes her blades and resheathes them. She moves to stand beside Shadow. She touches the wound and chants softly.

"Please lead on." Onna slides back to her original position.

"Excellent, thanks guys, my medic skills leave a lot to be desired."

Shadow nodded to the team and continued down, keeping an eye out for traps and sensors.

At the end of the long corridor, the tunnel comes to an end. There is a ladder going up to the manhole above.

Holstering his pistol Shadow gingerly grabs the first rung.

"Watch my back," he shoots over his head as he starts to climb up.

As Shadow makes his way up the ladder, he stop almost instantly and examines the rung above him. Something just doesn't look right about it...

"Trickey bastards... Alright everyone, skip every other rung. Only step on the rungs I step on and you'll be ok. The others are wired up and I can't see where it all leads."

Shadow continues on up the ladder where there is a small sensor waiting for the manhole cover to move.

Out of his right cargo pocket he produces a microtronics tool kit and goes to work on the alarm. While he does so he hums a little didy.

"..and really bad eggs." He says aloud while he finishes it.

The red LED turns green, giving the team the 'All Clear" signal.

Shadow drops the tool into his pocket and gives the rest of the team the big thumbs up.

He then slowly, ever so slowly lifst the manhole.

Shadow's radio begins to crackle in Grendel's ear as he nears the surface. The night is a dark one and this part of the facility is poorly lit, but its enough for Shadow's eyes to make due with. There are no guards in sight, only a tracker truck parked about 10 feet away.

With a swift, almost unconscious, gesture Grendel boosts the gain from Shadow's transmissions, filtering out the static and clearing the tactical push for immediate use again. He watched with a critical eye as the team emerged from the tunnels beneath the facility, alert for any change in the security system's posture.

Shadow moved up and through the manhole in a flash. Once out he shoulder rolled over to the Taracter and disapeared into the shadow of it's wheels.

"Base, this is One, I'm out, team is proceeding."

He switched his vision over to lowlight with a thermal overlay. His pistol rested in his hand, the weight felt reassuring.

"One, Base, visual. You are clear to proceed. No change in security posture detected.

For the thousandth time, he wished the team were equipped with BattleTac interfaces. Or, better yet, Snake Eyes. Information should flow seamlessly amongst them: indexed, annotated, executed. He watched the surveillance displays with a critical eye, waiting.

Onna takes up a guard position at the bottom of the ladder leading to the surface. She motions for the others to begin going up.

Shadow:

Off to the west you can see a guard walking a dog on a leash. He is moving away from you however and about to turn south, out of sight. There is a floodlight above the delivery door on the east side of the building, giving off enough light to make out the surrounding area. The only thing you could use for cover at the moment is the truck parked at the side of the building, so you quickly take up a hiding spot inside the big wheel well.

Grendel:

Your drones give you a clear veiw of the team as they exit from the manhole. There are currently three guards outside. One to the north-west corner of the area, about to turn south. One on the roof, currently facing the main enterance of the complexe. And one more at the front door to the building.

"One, Base, targets as follows: foot patrol bearing 270, range 70 meters, about to alter course southbound, stationary patrol bearing 220, range 50 meters, elevation 12 meters, FOV southbound, stationary patrol bearing 197, range 63 meters, FOV southbound."

"Base, One, notify if they return or get with in viewing distance."

Shadow let the tactical problem of the moment blossom in his mind. He could see the jack that Father needed to get to, he could also see in his minds eye what would happen if the guards spotted them. A plan emerged fully formed into his head.

"Team, One, heres the plan. Two, get up here and disappear. Seven, make Five vanish as best you can and send him up here after Two. Once he is in place and ready to proceed come up yourself and vanish. Four, go astral and keep a low profile, make sure where not bing setup. Six, watch Four. Keep her alive. Three be prepared to come up and support us at a seconds notice. All right, lets move like we got a purpose."

Warpath replies with a "Roger" over the comms. He is currently taking up a spot under the trailer, where he reaches into his backpack and pulls out his Ruthenium cloak. He throws it over himself and disappears. A moment later his voice comes over the comms, "In possition, go Five."

Immortal moves up next to Silk and gives her a wink. "I got yer back sweatcheeks."

"I understand." Onna puts her blade away and come to stand in front of Father.

"Honored Elder." She bows deeply. Raising her hands up she begins to chant soflty. Her hands move through a series of complicated positions as she gathers the mana from around her. It flows forward and begins to coccoon Father. He slowly fades from sight completely as she claps her hands once and concludes her prayer.

"It is done."

Onna quietly clears her throat. "To all the numbers, this place is......not well. Magic is harder but I will do what is needed...............Thank you." Her ackward speech comes to an abrupt end.

Ayo moves at the trailing end of the group, crouched propped between the wall of the sewer entrance and a safe rung, pistols drawn and ready should the need arise for him to pop up and provide cover.

"Base, if things go wrong, do you have enough firepower to level this base?"

The guard to the east turns south out of sight.

Onna carefully climbs the ladder, avoiding the rungs indicated. Once clear of the manhole she quietly crept to cover under the truck.

"I am ready." Her voice is barely a whisper over the comms.

"Three, Base, affirmitive.

"All numbers, Five. I'm heading up." Father says as he carefully climbs the ladder out of the muck of the sewers. Holding his deck in his left hand, climbing with only his right is somewhat difficult but he manages in short order. When he gets to the surface he looks around for a moment and begins to move toward the door trying to remain out of the camera's line of sight.

With his pistol cradled in both his hands Shadow watched from the side of the truck. Listening carefully for any sounds that might act as a warning.

It only takes a few moments for Father to crack the casing of the access panel and attach his dataline tap. He double checks his work and then gives himself a nod, satisfied that he can safely log in from here.

"All numbers, Five. Jackpoint ready. Going to need cover while I deck. If necessary, yank the cord but only if necessary -- tends to give me a headache," he finishes with a smirk. With a deep breath, Father sets his Ingram at his side within easy reach and sets leans his deck against the wall upright protecting it with his body. He extracts the datacable from the deck and slots it into the chrome jack in the fleshy spot behind his right ear and goes limp against the wall as the compounds matrix system takes over his field of vision.

As Father's eye close, they open in the Security Network. Bits of data flow all around you. Picking a few out, just to take a peak, you realize that are video feeds from the various cameras in the building.

Father's icon appears on the security network as an aging Catholic priest. Armed in his left hand with a copy of the Bible and his right with a large sword, he steps forward to do his dirty work.

Holding the Bible out in front of him, he bows his head and the book opens, pages flying right to left faster than anyone could read them. Suddenly the stop. The image on the pages is not the chapter/verse structure so comforting to many in the Sixth World but rather lines of computer code and a highlighted slave address for the door locking mechanisms. Brandishing his blade at the ready, the priest icon moves forward following the instructions written not by the hand of god but rather by his browse utility.

In a few moments, Father stands before an input/output port for the door. With careful actions, he manipulates the controls to unlock the door. Moving bits of information from one register to the next, he's able to unlock the door. With a quick look around, Father moves to log off the system and alert the rest of his team. With a quick pause to analyze the system, he lets out a virtual whistle and a bead of sweat appears on his brow -- virtual and otherwise.

Standing and cutting a vertical and horizontal slash in the architecture of the host, he steps through the resulting flaps and they seal behind him leaving no trace of his existence in the host -- or so he hopes.

In the real world, his eyes open, "All numbers, Five. Door open, proceed with sneakiness. Query: necessary to control camera or will said sneakiness keep you all from getting seen?"

The light next to the door turns green, giving everyone the all clear. Warpath is the first to open the door and move in, over the comms you hear him catch his breath. "Holy... guys, get a load of this drek..."

As the team filters into the warehouse, you are all able to make out the layout. Most of it is shelves lined with various items. Your sight follows along the north wall, where you spot a large bio-chamber. It looks like something right out of a sci-fi flick. Small bubbles climb their way up the strange green liquid of the large glass housing. Currently, you can't make out any lifeforms inside it however, so the coast may be clear.