Sweeps raised a finger, mouth open ready to offer a typically Sweeps response when the vehicle was hit. Sweeps bounces around the back finally slamming into something when the van stops.
Sweeps opened his eyes slowly. He checked everything was still attached as it should be.
<<Oh man, my fucking head! Yeah Sweeps is still here!>>
Sweeps looks around to see who is where and noticed he was about the only one not to jump out. He crawls from the van and looks around, both guns still drawn, but kept low and concealed in case the cops were coming. And runs for the nearest cover.

You see Sybercat pull the pin on an IRsmoke grenade which she tosses out the window. As smoke begins to envelope the van she shouts "I'm pretty messed up. I'm going to stay here, deal with the Star. We need to get to Ice's shop though."

Before the van is completely shrouded you see the two Lonestar officers maybe twenty feet down the street using their bikes as cover and trading fire with a number of gangers at the far end of the block. The distinctive bark of their Thunderbolt pistols can be heard over the chatter of the SMG's wielded by the gangers. Most of the fire seems to be focused on the van, particularly after Sybercat opens the drivers side door and lets out a long burst from her AK towards them.

You also see Padre running towards a parked car on the side of the road.

initiative:

I am heading for Icelady's shop. Sybercat, if you can at least keep the Star talking to you, I' would like that.
Mack will then move along the building, verying hsi speed but not getting too fast. (A running Troll is just too attractive.)
Takashi, if you have any other suggestions, I am all ears.

Looks like we all survived. I'll stay with Cat, and help deal with Lonestar. I'm pretty badly injured anyway, so it's best if I don't go into direct combat.
Loki moves along the alleys and stays close to buildings until he gets to the van, which he gets in.

Mack, I think you are right. The situation here seems stable enough for the moment, and your employer may still be in need of our assistance. I would be happy to watch your back. Since I am not familiar with the layout of this Icelady's shop, that is all that I am able to offer you for now.

Takashi was still worried about the shooters on the rooftop, but he quickly set out after Mack after a short glance around. He was still moving a little slowly after the blast, but he was still able to shadow the troll easily enough - Mack had to work much harder to remain inconspicuous. As he followed Mack between buildings, he kept most of his attention up and to the sides, trusting Mack to deal with threats to the front.

Sweeps looked around and grinned.

They can't even blow us up with a fucking rocket

When he saw Takashi and Mack running off he turned to the others:
You guys be ok here? urm.. these cops... well they ain't no firends with old Sweeps if ya know what I mean. If your all ok to stay here, I'll head over to the shop to help Tak and Mack.

Group Ice
12:45 4th January 2070 -- Ice's Shop, Downtown Seattle --

The sound of the gunfight fades into the distance as you race through the crowded alleys and sidestreets of downtown. This is an old neighborhood, and it's been years since the money's been here. Graffiti and piles of trash slow your progress, and any time you pass in the open people scatter for cover. Your bodies ache in pain. That stinging sensation in your chest is probably a cracked rib. Gritting your teeth you push through the pain and you focus on the job at hand. The streetdoc will come later.

Rounding the final bend, your GPS system chimes cheerfully and tells you that you've arrived. It's a little redundant. You see a large black sedan with a suited man standing at the door. A second stands at the entrance to the shop. Four gangers, dressed in the colours of the Crimson Flames are keeping a careful eye on both the street and the orc who is dragging Ice Lady out of the shop. Ice is obviously still alive, and it appears largely unharmed. She's putting up a good fight but it's obvious she's spent most her energy.

Takashi: You recognize the gangers, at least by reputation. They're a street gang, but pretty high on the food chain. Lots of Japanese members, and it serves as an important source of Recruits for the Yakuza. You're not sure but you think they are maintained by and largely supported by Onisan Amakura. One thing's for sure though, they're not Usaka-San's men. They will almost certainly be better equipped than your average street scum. Don't have a clue who the suited man is though.

Mack and Sweeps: Your eyes nearly pop out of your head when you see the man standing by the drivers door. You're not 100% positive, but that sure looks like Edward Crull.

The street is largely deserted. What few curious onlookers there were quickly vanish at the sight of more people with guns showing up. A smash and grab, is pretty routine. All out gunbattles on the other hand... The gangers notice you and begin shouting warnings to each other in Japanese and bring their sub machine guns to bare on the group as they scatter towards bits of cover. The Ork angles Icelady so he's using her as a shield. Meanwhile the suited man at the shop door turns around and you see a katana held at his side. He snaps it up and levels a pistol towards you as he begins moving among piles of junk towards you keeping low so he's partially covered. Crull ducks into his car and slams the door shut.

Initiative

Sweeps eyes widen for a second at the sight of Crull

NO FUCKING WAY!

At the sight of the of the Katana man, Sweeps runs for cover and fires off two shots:

As you level your pistol at the Katana wielding man and squeeze off a pair of shots he flinches out of the way, almost too fast too see. Your first round grazes the fabric of his jacket, tearing a hole in the shoulder but it doesn't look like it penetrated while the second shot missed entirely... In fact it scarcely seems as though he was hit at all. You know your shots were good... He's just damn fast.

Rounding the corner, Takashi takes a moment to take in the scene, and in the corner of his vision sees Sweeps take two shots at the swordsman.

Figuring that the situation is rapidly going to become unpleasant for everyone outside, he trusts in his aim and fires his Predator at the ork holding the captive, hoping that even if the ork doesn't go down, he'll be distracted enough to let her escape back inside - if she has enough fight left in her to make it, that is.


Even as his finger pulls the trigger, Takashi looks towards the man with the katana. Seeing how smoothly he stayed out of the line of Sweeps' fire, Takashi figures that Sweeps was right about the swordsman being the most dangerous threat, and so he brings his pistol in line and fires again


Having been in an exposed position for too long, he moves back to the corner that the team just came around and takes cover.

The Ork sees you level the pistol at him and tries to interpose Ice's body between you.


Fortunatly he moves just a hair too slowly and your bullet strikes him in the side. Even though it looks like it penetrated between the plates of his jacket he keeps on running towards the car with Ice kept under control with a choke hold.

The swordsman hasn't recovered from dodging Sweeps' shot yet and the preadator round strikes him directly in the chest. It looks like it struck a plate in his jacket however as he doesn't even slow down as he continues to charge towards Mack.

Team Ice:

The swordsman's eyes remain fixated on Mack, or more specifically Mack's machine gun as he charges across the street. With a loud shout he brings his blade down towards Mack.



In the mean time the gangers begin firing their Ingram Smartguns at Sweeps and Takashi trying to force them to keep their heads down. The whine of bullets whistle past your ears. It looks like they're trying to keep you pinned down while Crull and the Ork make their escape.



The second pair of gangers begin firing at Sweeps

Mack sees the swordsman coming towards him This is going to hurt.
Mack tries to sidestep a little bit while bringing the LMG into line to return the favor.


Mack then unleashes a pair of wide bursts (long then short) to see if he can make this guy regret his choice.

Team Van:

It's almost impossible to believe but it looks like the bloody Star are actually doing their job. Even crazier, they're actually on your side.

The first cop fires off a short burst from his pistol before turning and running towards the van.


The rounds exit the thunderbolt too fast for you to tell them apart.



One of the gangers screams in pain and falls to his knees beside a parked car.

While the first officer runs across the street towards the van his partner covers him with a shotgun that he pulled from a holster on the side of his bike.



The loud rapport of the shotgun cuts through the chatter of the gangers machineguns like a thundercrack. The ganger who had already been hit by the pistol is now lying unmoving on the sidewalk. Another ganger was caught in the shot and is lying beside him, trying feebly to drag himself into cover crying for help from his comrades. The remaining three gang members apparently decide that he's not worth stepping in front of that cops shotgun again and begin running down the street, fleeing the scene.

"Hey, it's the fucking Star doing their job. What a fucking shock." Loki says to no one in particular. He tries to stay behind the van, where the gangers can't really shoot at him - or the pigs.

"Hey Sybercat, you okay? That was a pretty rough crash."

As the swordsman moved to engage Mack, a lot of lead started coming Takashi's way. One ganger was actually firing controlled bursts at him, but Takashi was quick enough to duck back behind the corner and avoid his shots when he saw the ganger tense in preparation for the recoil. The other was just spraying fire around almost randomly, making it much harder for Takashi to predict when he should break cover and take his shot.

It's always the imprecise and the amateurs who cause trouble.

He'd just have to take his chances and hope his armor held against any stray shots.

Sweeps spends just a little too long looking at the speed of the Katana guy

Shots slam into the rubble around him and into his body armour! He feels like his whole world is sliding sideways and he goes down into blackness!

Team Ice

Takashi and Mack: Sweeps goes down into a pile of trash. He's alive, but hurt, possibly in shock groggily trying to pull himself upright and patting frantically at his chest. It's hard not to wince. It looks like his armour absorbed most of the punishment but still. You've taken rounds like that before and it hurts like a son of a bitch. One of the gangers lets out a bit of a cheer. The sentiments are not shared by the Katana Wielder as his eyes go wide, staring down the barrel of Mack's gun.


Team Van

Sybercat lets off a brief burst before tucking down beside you. <<Ok... we're gonna need to come up with an explanation as to why a bunch of gangers tried to kill us in public with a fucking rocket. I've got a virtual shell corp set up, mostly to help launder money, it's how I got my start in the biz. Just in case I ever needed the cover, I set it up as a private security agency. Congratulations, you're now paid contractors of Nighthawk Security Services. Assuming they don't look too deep, it'll look like Ice hired us as perfectly legitimate private investigators. I'm no good at dealing with the cops though, think you can do most the talking?>>

As she talks you see the lonestar officer running closer towards you. Tough to say through the riding leathers, but it looks like it might be a woman. A few of the surviving gangers are running for cover and have trained their guns on her since she's wide in the open, her partner shouts out a warning to her. You also hear more sirens in the distance.

<<Got it, ma'am, sir, ma'am. I can deal with the cops. We were hired to look into someone in this area - can you scan for a name? Doesn't matter who. Provides a good cover.>> Loki sends to Sybercat. He gets out of the van and waits for the cop to get here, with no weapons drawn.

Padre shakes his head to clear the ringing left over from the explosion. Spotting the officer about to be shot, he quickly whips his arm forward, triggering the hidden arm slide and slipping his gun into his hand. He squeezes off a round of stick and shock each at two of the gangers aiming at her.

The ganger is so distracted trying to run for cover and get a bead on the Star officer he doesn't even notice Padre point the pistol at him.

The bullet strikes him in the temple and he collapses into a heap convulsing as the current is pumped directly into his brain. He continues twitching on the ground for several seconds after hitting the ground before lying still.

The second ganger, sees his comrade drop and ducks to avoid any more incoming fire. Unfortunatly he was just a hair too slow and Padres round takes him on the side.

His face contorts in pain but he keeps running for cover his gun is still pointed at the Star officer.

The Jazz seething through Sweeps mind finally gives way to the pain his body and mind are feeling.

"Help!" he says in a small voice and passes out.

Team Ice

The ork carrying Icelady doesn't allow a few bullets to deter him as he charges full tilt towards the car. The back door opens automatically and he almost leaps over the last few feet, cramming Icelady into the car ahead of him. Her head strikes the door frame on the way by and she goes completely limp.



Mack brings his gun to bear on the katana wielder, who's eyes go wide as he stares down the barrel. There's an odd expression on his face, a strange combination of surprise and a realization of how much pain he's about to be in... or his own mortality... the line between the two is probably pretty fuzzy. He frantically twists to one side trying to throw himself out of the line of fire.



The swordsman manages to twist his body out of the way as the bullets rip through the air around him. He rolls frantically across the pavement as small explosions all around him cover his body with chips of asphalt. Several rounds slam into his back as he does so but it looks like he's still standing.

In the mean time, Crull slams his foot on the gas, and in a squeal of burning rubber the car begins accelerating down the street. By the time you get your bearings on it, it's at the end of the block.

Team Van
The surviving gangers all manage to make it behind the shelter of a cube van. The lone uninjured one lets off a burst towards the officer, then one at Padre.



The cop gets his head behind the saddlebags on his bike just in time for the rounds to slam into them. He takes a moment to look over his shoulder and make sure his partner made it ok. You think he might have given a little nod when he noticed Padre covering her with his pistol.

Seeing the swordsman still standing, Takashi broke cover and began to bring his Predator into line.


A stray shot hit his shoulder, but was mostly blocked by his armor. He'd have a bruise there later, though. As this thought was going through his head, he finished bringing his pistol up, firing two rounds center-mass at his target before ducking back against the corner once again.

Loki takes cover from the bullets, and tries to make sure he stays uninjured. Knowing how bad he is at shooting, he stays out of the fighting - he'd only get himself hurt. <<Shit father, you okay? Sorry for the language...>> he sends to Padre's com.

Padre jerks to the side as the ganger's fire narrowly misses him. Lord, continue protecting your own...



<<A little shaken, but I'm fine. Worry about yourself. The Lord protects me this day.>>

Team Ice

Takashi: The Katana wielder continues rolling across the pavement as you take aim and fire.


The first round slams into the back of his jacket. He continues rolling towards the other gangers however and manages disappear out of sight behind a dumpster.

Team Van

The source of the sirens finally comes into view as a pair of RotoDrones festooned with Lone Star markings comes around the corner.

They begin hovering around the car that the gangers are using as cover. You hear a voice come over a loudspeaker.

"THIS IS LONE-STAR! WE HAVE AUTHORIZATION TO USE LETHAL FORCE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND LIE DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET! YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS TO COMPLY!"

It looks like the message has gotten through. The two gangers who are still mobile quietly drop their weapons and lie down while the drones cover them from above.

In the mean time the officer reaches the cover of the van and kneels down beside you. She gives Padre a small nod

"Thanks for the cover sir. Are you folks ok? Do you need me to notify Doc-Wagon?

Padre smiles and nods back. "I'm just glad you're safe, Officer." He nods his head towards the drones. "Do you want us to follow those directions too?"

He then makes a show of patting himself down and giving himself a once over. "It looks like I'm ok, but I'm not sure how the rest of my friends are. One moment, please." With that, he walks a short distance away and sends a comm call to the team.

<Gents, the lovely female officer over here wants to know if we're ok, and has kindly offered to call DocWagon for us. Anyone need DocWagon? How bout Ice? Is she ok?>

After getting replies from the others, Padre moves back to the Officer and relays the nonsensitive information he was given.

<<I'm fine, and Ice seems to be uninjured as well. Better not to take risks, anyway.>> Loki sends back to Padre and walks over to the officer. "Hello, ma'am. Locyr Cahara, private contractor for Nighthawk Security Services. My employer is in the van, and I'm not sure of her capability of getting out of it. I was hired to guard this area, reason withheld. We were about to park, and a rocket of some sort hit the van we were in. Luckily, there were no deaths or serious injuries, but we would like to track down our attackers. I believe those gangers may be associated with them - but of course, that is your job. I don't know who could have targeted us, but I'm sure Lone Star can figure that out. Thank you for the fire cover, and the protection, ma'am."

Team Ice
One of those weird lulls in the fighting seems to come over everyone as the events of the last few seconds become clear. Sweeps is lying in a heap on the ground, Mack is still standing in the middle of the street as the gangers bring their SMG's to bare on him. His hand is flying towards his belt, grabbing at a cylindrical grenade looped around it. The swordsman has disappeared behind a parked car and no one can get a bead on him. As all this is going on Sybercat's voice suddenly cuts over the team com.

<<Hey guys. I called Elfin-Face. He's on his way to pick you up. There's a condemned apartment complex a few blocks to your east. Think you can make it there? He'll call with his ETA once he gets out. Hey, why don't you try and take one of those bastards alive. Even a goon in Kat's pay might be a faster way to get to her than trying to find Crull. Takashi, do you think you could get in touch with your boss? Figure out what the hells going on? This officially just went above our pay grade. Fucking easy run Tinman said... Fuck! Anyhow, good luck guys. Go easy on the Jazz Sweeps!>> The last bit sounds like it was forced cheerfulness. You wince a little inside as it hits you how attached a lot of wheelmen are to their cars. The van was a heap of crap in a lot of ways but she had obviously spent time working on it. It had that massive bench seat that was perfectly sized for Mack, and the hidden compartment under it where he kept his LMG. There were those weird bits of electronics and half assembled drones in the back that never seemed to get worked on, and that super charged engine came in handy too when you ran Hack and Slash down. You think the group might have suffered two casualties in this fight.

Sweeps half opens one eye.

In a small sad little voice he say's, "Van go boom. Oooooh"

and passes out again.

Mack shrugs to himself,
steps out hoping the bullets won't hurt:


Mack then pulls and throws two flash-bangs. Aiming at the wall about 8 meters from the gangers, and 12 meters from us (if such a spot exists.) Having stepped out, this is not blind fire, only -2 for damage:

Mack then moves back into cover before KatanMan can pop up and shoot him.

The car fishtails as Crull speeds around the corner.



The rear bumper of the car smashes into a lamp post as Crull almost spins out, but the car hardly even slows down as it speeds out of sight.

As Takashi heard the comm traffic from Sybercat, in one corner of his mind he began to consider who he might contact in order to track down both this Dark Angel, and now, apparently, the 'runner team's employer, and what - if any - information he might be able to offer in exchange. But first things first. Sweeps had been solidly hit. While he had not taken any obvious external wounds, they needed to attend to him and possibly get him medical aid soon. Takashi slid to the corner, another shot from the ganger glancing off the concrete and then off his thigh.


Well, he supposed that settled the decision of who to target. If he could take out the ganger saturating his area with fire, he would be able to give Mack more aid in taking down the rest of them. Then they'd get Sweeps to the extraction point. Concentrating on the task at hand, he fired two shots at the troublesome ganger, before sliding back around the corner again.

Team Ice
Ignoring the masonry exploding around his face Takashi aims his pistol at the ganger who's spraying lead uncontrollably at Sweeps. The first round strikes his torso, but it must have hit a plate because he doesn't even stagger. Gritting his teeth Takashi fires a second round, adjusting his aim just slightly.


The round strikes the ganger right in the temple. Blood and viscera splatter his neighbor as he drops to the ground, twitching slightly.

Team Ice

The Katana wielder emerges from behind cover, running towards the corner of a building. He's obviously in pain, having left his Katana behind and is limping a bit, with his hand clutching his pistol held over his ribs. He drops a smoke grenade by his feet and a small cloud of blue green smoke begins billowing around him.

Team Van

As the drones cover the surviving gangers a Citymaster with FRT unit markings barrels around the corner it's engine growling menacingly and its unique siren blaring. The cop leans forward and says.

"Listen carefully! You're going to need to go lie down on the pavement. Tinheads don't ask many questions when they're called to an officer in distress. They'll take you in but I'll put in a good word. At least get them to look the other way when it comes to those guns."

Sybercat nods abruptly and pulls the clip out of her AK tossing it to the ground. She moves to the pavement and lies down on her stomach. Her voice floats faintly over the com signal, as bursts of static puncture the signal. Still though your comlink manages to unscramble it.

<<Fucking hell... I don't suppose you have any lawyer friends? I know a good one, deals with a lot of runners. He knows every precinct in this sprawl so he'll probably figure out where we're going before we know, get there before we do, and we'll be out in time for a late lunch. Catch is, the guy is anything but cheap.

Oh, I'm gonna have to cut the com once they get here. I have it stealthed now but FRT's have real hacker support and they don't like witnesses talking to each other and getting their stories straight. Got anything to say, say it now.>>

Padre... You know a lawyer who works for the ministry sometimes... She's a nice lady, and you suppose a pretty good lawyer. She's an ork who takes on the occasional of civil case for your parishioners, even offers some free legal advice seminars. You'd have to call your secretary to get her number though. That might raise some uncomfortable questions...

Team Ice

Macks flashbangs go off with a sharp crack.



One of the gangers has both grenades land almost at his feet. He collapses into a heap. The other two are staggered but still standing.

Takashi watched the swordsman run down the street. He wanted to take a shot at him, as he most likely was the team's best lead to track down their abducted employer, but he figured that anything less than a solid shot wouldn't keep him from running away, and a solid shot with his current ammunition would make him impossible to question. Plus, Mack had an ugly gash from the swordsman's initial charge, and it would probably be best if he was not the target of any SMG fire. If Takashi could take down the remaining gangers quickly enough, then he might still have a chance to catch his quarry.

Both gangers were still stunned from the flashbangs' reports, and so Takashi figured they'd be easy targets. He fired at the slightly more alert of the two, then shifted to fire at the other.

Taking a deep breath and focusing your attention, it almost feels like time slows down as the bullet exits. It strikes the ganger in the neck and hurls him to the ground. He writhes for a moment, clawing at his throat in a pool of blood before lying still.



Your gun tracks to the second ganger and it barks again. The round strikes him in the shoulder and he spins to the ground violently cracking his head against the pavement. He drops his gun and begins dragging himself away from you with his good arm, trying to pull himself to his feet sobbing.

Now that your brain has had a couple seconds to catch up with what's being going on. It occurs to you that these punks, are members of the Red-Ronin. You know for sure now that they're Kats men. If they're anything like Usaka-San's pets, the Flying Dragons they'll know how to find her, and probably at least have an idea of where Angel is being kept... and given the actions of that last ganger you figure he's probably seriously contemplating the value of his life vs. his loyalty to Kat right about now.

Mack steps out and aims at KatanaMan, and then holds his action.
He says "Drop the pistol and you get to keep running Swordsman."
If the pistol drops, I refrain from shooting. If it does not drop, I use my held action to put a long wide burst into KatanaMan.

Subvocally, to Takashi (we did as I recall exchange com codes) Can you collect some of the dropped weapons, to help cover the cost of this debacle? And do what you want with the crawling guy.