@ Mirage,

The first man nod to the bartender and drops a large stack of bills on the bar. He then looks back to his fried who nods. They both move to the rear door very quickly. The bartender looks up at you, smiles, and then sinks behind the bar. Mirage knows he knew she was there, but he didn't seem to say anything. The two guys frame the door. They reach inside their suits and pull out heavy pistols, looks like a German knock off, of Preds.

@ Leowulf,

You move closer and you begin to make out some details about the guards and the dog. The guards look like they have some basic cyber installed, eyes, ears. The dog however is like a black pit. Huge tracks of dark criss cross his body where he has been cybered up.

Danny stealthily moves through the Astral towards the residential buildings, careful to keep an eye on the loitering Watcher Spirit. Once there he proceeds to check the layer of Bio-fiber for signs of any weaknesses or holes that might be used to gain entrance.

Ghost Dragon's eyes narrow as he realizes what he seeing. The dog...

It's not even alive anymore. Could it be.. a zombie? Either way, this isn't good. I should have asked for more money.

Ghost Dragon slowly and methodically walks back the way he came, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that he isn't followed and holding up his invisibility spell the entire time.

This is bad.

Ghost Dragon climbs onto his bike and starts it up. He drives carefully back to the bar.

Edit

"Tanks Lava, I'll be over later for da strips." Sink replies. He hangs up the phone and begins his drive back to the bar where they had met earlier.

At the warning from the patrolling Watcher, Danny casually turns and makes his way out of the compound's Astral space. At the same time, he keeps his eyes open for any sign of other active Astral presences.

Warpath listens to his craclking comm as the alert comes and wastes no time. He assesses Danny's situation rapidly and tips the table over, rolling it in front of the mage's huddled form to provide some cover and keep it out of view. That done, he gets ready to perforate anyone coming through the door.

Mirage is describing the actions of the two men to Warpath until they pull out their pistols, she sends a word of warning to him as she whips her gold plated pistol out of its holster. Her arm travels in a smooth arc as she fires a single shot at each of the two men. The muffled thump from the custom gun's suppressed barrel makes less noise than the impact of the explosive tipped bullets.

As soon as the second shot leaves the barrel she ducks under the table, and activates her coat's ruthenium camouflage, pulling the hood over her head.

@ Warpath,

You easily topple the heavy wooden table, it lands with a crash in front of Danny. You figure it should provide some protection from bullets.

@ Mirage,

your rounds fly true slamming into the men and blasting them agains the wall. A spray of crimson outlines them. Though wounded, they act like trained professionals, dropping to a knee and immediately returning fire.

Their weapons cough death and are just as quiet. Two rounds impact with your armored body, rocking you on your heels. A scream and a gurgle of blood tells you one of the customers has been shot in the throat. Panic spreads in the blink of an eye that the breakfast goers have to react.

As the door doesn't immediately blow inward, Warpath pulls the ties on his cloak as well and pulls up the hood and vanishes from view. He checks the display of his smartlink to make sure the double-x rounds are loaded and ghosts to another part of the room to set up an ambush. Through his transducer and radio he asks Mirage, "What the drek is going on out there? Need some help?"

[edit]As he passes the duffel bag he carried in earlier, he scoops up a respirator and a couple of smoke grenades, intent o making a grand entrance if the calvary is needed.[/edit]

Jessie turns to Arden with eyes wide, "Drek! A couple of goons showed up at the bar. Mirage, Warpath, and Danny are in trouble, round everyone up and lets get back there!"

Over the TacComm to Warpath, "yes, urgently."

Mirage tries to ignore the impact of the two bullets, hoping that her body armour will prevent serious damage.

She swings her pistol round to aim for the closest of the two targets and fires two shots in rapid succession.

over the phone to Mirage

"Hang in there girl and try to take one of them alive if possible, I want to know who sent them."

Both bullets slam into the man on your right, he jerks wildly as the explosive enrgy is released against his body. Staggering he falls against the bar, using his left arm to support him, and his right to aim. Blood can be seen clearly soaking his suit.

[ Arden ]

Arden snaps back to 'reality' from his signal surfing at the note of concern in his passengers voice.

"Wha?... Right. Buckle up, this might get a little unsettling."

Sliding back to the truck, Arden immedietly makes his way from where he was slowly crusing and back to the quickest route back to the bar.

Hot damn I love all weather tires he thinks to himself as the powerful engine forces the tires to bite deep into the slushy drek covering the streets and send the vehicle zipping down the roads.

Ohanzee doesn't even react visibly when he hears the unexpected news about the fight at the bar. He pretends to check his watch (hoping that nobody observes him closely enough to notice that he's not wearing one) and turns, walking briskly towards his bike. He get's up on it and picks the quickest route to the bar from his orientation system. He's pushing the speed limit as far as he think he can while staying safe on the road and from the Star.
Fully knowing he won't be there in time he'll still try to lend a hand in the aftermath.

Warpath moves to the side of the door and pauses for a brief instant to call over the comm: What's your position? I'm going to smoke it, get to the door and I'll handle the rest. With that, he opens the door before flipping in a smoke grenade. After giving them a heartbeat to work, he slips into the room under cover of the smoke his ultrasonic and thermal vision throwing the room into an inky green relief with blobs of heat here and there.

As he moves, he puts away his handgun and clenches his hands in an "eagle talon" type pose which causes ten razor sharp blades to project, one from each fingertip. The blade on the index finger of each hand is slightly glossly with the chemicals the sac in his first joint feed into it.

Ghost Dragon continues to drive back to the bar by the quickest route, attempting to stay on the road in the thick snow.

@ Grimshear,

The bison handles like a water sled even with the all weather tires. The crunch of snow and ice echoes in your ears. Seemingly in response to your urgent flight the snow begins to fall harder, inch after inch pilling up on your truck.

@ Ghost Dragon,

Your bike handles poorly as you plow through the side roads in an effort to get back to the freeway. Finally you reach the fairly well kept road and turn south to get back to Mirage and Warpath.

@ Ohanzee,

Once, back in a different life, you were on a corporate outing at a lake in Southern Washington. There you learned the fine art of Jet-Skiing. Your glad you did, because riding a bike in three feet of snow is a lot like skiing.

@ Warpath,

The smoke grenade unleashes it's concealing cloud with a loud "bang!" Almost instantly the farside of the bar where Mirage is hiding vanishes in a cloud of phosphorus smoke. Coughing and screaming fill the room almost as fast as the smoke.

Silenced gunfire splits the air around you. Your enhanced perception picks up on the target one meter to your right. The large picture window that makes up the far wall explodes as a stray bullet grazes your ear then shatters the window. Three more rounds impact you in the chest, and in the back.

In the smokey haze, Warpath takes one around as he whizzes into the firefight. He feels it slug against his body armor, and a sharp pinching sensation lets him know it found flesh, though only barely. He has no time to assess the damage as he prepares for what's next.

Finally reaching the smoother road to the bar, Ghost Dragon speeds up a little bit to end the drive. Riding his Harley-Davidson Electroglide in the cold weather has left his rather chilly, and he looks forward to getting back indoors. Ghost Dragon drives up to the parking lot of the bar and parks his bike.

As he begins to dismount, he sees people running from the bar screaming. He stops one of them and shouts over their screams, "What is going on? What kind of trouble?"

To Warpath "Thanks."

Mirage switches to the other enemy, and fires two more silenced shots.

The first bullet takes the assailant dead center in the chest. It knocks him back against the wall with an audible "thud". The second round blast through the plaster of the wall next to his head, sending fragments spinning. A small line of blood dots his face where wood impacted with it.

@ Ghost Dragon,

The bike nearly skids out of control sending you into on coming traffic, luckily you are able to keep it on the ground. You arrive at the bar to find Lonestar has quardened the area off. Black and white cruiser are parked in a "V" in front of it. The usual reporters and crowd watcher are their behind the yellow lines, despite the thick snow.

The meat wagon is also there. Three bodies in thick black bags are being carted out by drones.

Ghost Dragon is thankful for his luck as he doesn't skid off of his bike.

My anscestors are watching, he thinks to himself.

When he sees the bodies being carried into the ambulance, he stops and observes what's going on.

While investigating the area Danny notices in the last few seconds the team has bugged out...

Over the TacComm, "I'll cover you."

Mirage gets ready to put another two bullets into anyone who threatens Warpath.

Spinning to his left, Warpath locks his fingers together, making a knife edge with the blades. The man blocks the first blow, by crossing his arms to absorb the impact. Without missing a beat the big Samurai slides his blades under, and into the mans throat. Coughing and spitting blood the man collapses, unconscious or dead.

The double cough of Mirage's Colt splits the air behind him. The first misses her target. The second, slams into his face at 1400 feet per second. The explosion of bone and sinew covers the now bullet ridden wall with a chunky salsa of human tissue.

The wind blows through the shattered bay window, the breeze brings with it the sound of distant sirens.

Warpath spins into the attackers, his fingers each ending in a deadly claw. The index finger of each hand glistens wetly with stunning chemicals as he moves in well trained patterns, attempting to kill or subdue his opposition. Over the com, his transducer altered voice answers Mirage, "I think I heard a rifle report, there may be someone outside giving them cover."

As first one and then a second foe goes down, he hurries back toward the back room once more. "Let's get the drek outta here, the back way!" Inside, he snatches up the mage's body (providing it isn't snatching itself up by now) and pauses by the back door just long enough to make sure Mirage is with him. "If there was another one, he's either gone or waiting for us to go out the back. Either way, let's not take any chances. Ideas?"

Over the link to Jesse, "We need Danny back here now,any chance of sending Ghost to get him. Sorry looks like both bad guys are dead."

While Warpath is getting Danny's body, Mirage checks the two Germans' bodies for anything that might identify them, such as credsticks or pocket secretaries.

Over the TacComm, "We'll wait for Danny to get back, I've sent word to Jessie. He can scan round on the Astral before we go outside."

Danny notes the hasty and unexpected departure of the rest of the team. Realizing that something must have happened to compromise them in some way, he decides the best thing to do would be regroup.

Before he has a chance to start back towards his meat body, he is surprised to see what looks like one of the Watcher Spirits he left on guard speeding through the ether. Spotting it's master, it veers towards the shaman, excitedly babbling non-sensically about something moving bodies about.

Not wasting time trying to puzzle out the incoherent Watcher's intent, Danny immediately begins to make his way to the bar, knowing he should be well and truly back before the others even make it half way.

Arriving at the location Danny see's the last assailant to fall from Mirages bullet barrage. Warpath quickly scans the back room and then grabs the wayward shamans body.

Taking in the strange sight, Danny directs his Watchers to circulate the area and warn him immediately of any unknown Astral presence. The shaman then reunites his Astral self with his body, which is currently being hauled around by Warpath. Warily, Danny slightly opens one eye, looking up at the big warrior and taking in the situation.

"Y'all seem t'have everythin' well in hand."

Warpath, completely unphased, grunts. "Well sort of. I could swear I heard a third weapon discharge when I went running through that room... and we've only got two slots down, so they'res probably another one around somewhere."

Mirage uses her pocket secretary's video camera to record the face of the one German that still has a head, and the labels of their clothes, as she can't find anything else to identify them by.

She speaks to Danny, "Any chance you could scout round outside? Then we can get out of here."

To Warpath over the link, "You ok to dirve in this? I am, I think, but my car only holds two."

"Null sweat, ma'am. If'n y'all don' mind watchin' mah body a little while longer, Ah'll be right back."

Danny once again lets his body slump in Warpath's grasp, freeing his Astral form to fly through the wall and survey the exterior of the bar for signs of anything unusual.

Over the comm, the synthetic voice answers, "Yeah, I can drive. GSW doing to make those bumps interesting, though."

Danny does a complete circuit of the building, and checks the parking lot and adjacent areas for signs of anything out of the ordinary, whether that be an unidentified Astral presence or a person lingering suspiciously long in one spot. The latter is especially appropriate on a day like today, where anyone sensible would be seeking some kind of shelter.

With that thought in mind, the shaman turns back from heading inside to perform a sweep through the interiors of the cars in the parking lot.

Finding no trace of anything suspicious, Danny heads back to the bar and unites his Astral form once again with his meat body. As always, he feels a slight regret as he does so, as if he's giving up what seems to be a somewhat freer part of himself in the process.

Opening his eyes to the sight of the big warrior standing over him, a grin splits Danny's face.

"Seems t'be all clear. Ah done checked out the parking lot as well as doin' a complete perimeter sweep 'n' di'n't see anythin' or anyone strange. Seems t'me y'all, that this'n be a damn good time to beat feet."

Mirage, Warpath and Danny make a mad run through the snow. The two Samurai ride on an adrenaline high as they make there way to Warpaths brumby. The snow has gotten worse in the short time they were inside, piling almost six inches on the 4x4. The three easily fit inside and it doesn't take long before they are motoring down the street. Two blocks later, Lonestar patrol cars with studded tires and chains speed by them with red and green flashing lights.

@ Ghost Dragon,

One of the gurneys get's stuck in the snow, spilling it's contents. A women in her late twenties with black hair fall out. Her business casual clothes are covered in blood from the gaping wound in her neck. It is not Mirage.

The afternoon snow painted a pretty picture of the town through Werners large window. Despite the corner location of his room, and the fact he was on the top floor of the German embassy, he was not in favor with SK. The tall elf rocked slowly in his chair as he pondered his fate. He knew this was his chance to get away from this hell hole. To leave Seattle and the UCAS behind and start working on great things again for SK. But others would not have it. He held in his hand the feed from the morning shoot out. The french wench, he chuckled at the thought, had handled herself exceedingly well, as did the Samurai. The two agents Von Braun had sent failed miserably and publicly. Fate, it seemed, was finally smiling on him.

It was too bad really, too bad for Von Braun. Werner chuckled again. Soon he would have his victory, and the higher ups could not be fooled any longer. Werner would return to his job as a section chief, his past mistakes forgotten. And Von Braun would wind up dead with one of the french whores he so often frequented.

Danny removes his hat and, leaning back against the wall of the Brumby, runs a hand through his close-cropped black hair. Eying his two companions, he looks for any signs of injury.

"Either of y'all hurt? Ah'm much obliged for all your assistance back there. What in the hell happened anyways?"

Warpath concentrates on driving, not going very fast in the snow even with his four wheel drive. "I got a scratch. As for what happened, don't know, ask Mirage. She was out front when those two slots showed up and started blazing away."

Ghost Dragon frowns at the misfortune that has befallen the dead woman. He turns to leave and pulls out his cell phone, dialing Mirage to ask what has happened.

over the phone to Mirage

"No problem on the bad guys, at least you guys are ok. Whats an update on the situation, I'm still in route with Arden."

Over the phone to Jesse. "Ok, we're exiting now, is there anywhere you'd like to meet up."

Mirage replies to Danny, "I'm just scratched and bruised a bit, shouldn't be hard for you to heal."

She turns to Warpath, "Thanks, that smoke grenade saved my hoop, who do you think the Germans were working for, it doesn't seem likely that Monsieur Johnson would double cross us before we complete the run."

Jessie turns to Arden and asks, "Ok, bad guys are down. Where should we meet up with them?"

[ Arden ]

"Uhh... last time I checked there was a nice, private parking lot around 19th Avenue and East Fir Street. No connection to anybody really, and it ain't even metered."

Warpath nods to Mirage. "I wouldn't put it past any Johnson to try'n frag the team, but even this one didn't seem stupid enough to try it before the run." He shrugs. "If they were really German, it's not a good sign, but it could be worse. At least this way it doesn't sound like our mark's company was behind it. That'd be really bad."