Fink pulls over behind Kyle, "Whats up?"

Kyle rummaged around in his trunk for a few seconds, emerging with a small briefcase. He cracked it open, revealing several tranceivers. "Here, take this. We'd talked about it back... um... back by the restaurant... we should stay in radio contact." He handed one to Fink.

Fink grins, "Excelent. Thanks man!"

He takes the radio and hooks it behind his ear, "Testing, 1, 2, 3, Testing."

After a block or two, the sounds of gunfire fade away, though the snap back, closer, after a few seconds of silence.

After distributing the radios to all who would take them, Kyle closed the case and returned it to his truck. He then got back into his car and resumed following the others.

Fink continues on, leading the group towards the hotel he knows about.

Skooter fiddles absently with the transceiver he got from Kyle, pondering its significance; more and more, this feels like a gang - or a team. Guess it's good to have folks to watch his back, but that's more bodies to worry about, too. With things getting bad like they are, though, there's definitely safety in numbers. He smiles absently. A few of them seem to be alright guys, too.

The sound of gunfire brings him out of his semi-reverie. Out of the frying pan, into the fire, it seems...

While phenominal luck sees the group to the old hotel, there the luck ends. The building is little more than a burned out shell, along with half of the block around it. Only the rain which has been sweeping through every few days has kept the whole of downtown from going up, it seems.

Though, come to think of it, the inherently inflamable nature of many buildings has also helped.

Finks pulls over and his shoulders slump. "What are we suppossed to do? ... Why don't we just find the closest building that is still in tact and claim it?"

"I am at a loss guys, everything we try to do it seems turns up bad. Any suggestions?"

"Sounds good."

Kyle's voice sounded slightly strange over the radio, subtly but unmistakeably different from his voice in person.

"Ok, lets start scouting to see what we can find. Once we find something that looks good, I'll go in astrally to check it out."

Fink starts scouting around, looking for a building that is still standing.

Virtually any type of building in any state of repair can be found in the downtown area now that the area has been cleared by plague and force. Most of the readily inhabitable places (those with electricity particularly) have been staked out by small gangs of metahumans as their digs. Some of the gangs are simply warry of outsiders, others outright hostile. Somehow, the small band of teens manages to steer clear of any serious misshap as they search the imediate area.

Fink is just slipping out of an old apartment building which appears to have repairable electrical taps (though they currently provide only enough power to run the emergency systems) when a sound makes him pause. The rest of the team is nearby, watching the outside of the building.

Fink, just inside the building, hears a muttered curse from one of the sealed doors (maglocks are functional, though most are not engaged) he had passed during his initial investigation. Two voices, one female and one male, raised in excitement or panic.

"I've got 'em!" the female voice says.

"About time..." the male voice, says, almost hatefully.

"Shut up, it's not like you're so slick." The voice falls silent for a few seconds then a girlish screech is heard. "They're right on top of us!"

The male voice curses. "How did they find us again? Jam them or something and let's get the drek out of here!"

The door whisks open and two kids, barely teenagers come stumbling out in half a panic. They don't immediately notice Fink.

Outside, the rest of the crew hears the soft thrumming noise that can only be an approaching rotorcraft.

"Get under cover!" Azaezel shouts at the first sign of the approaching aircraft. He leaps up the steps into the building and crashes through the door. A rotorcraft meant one thing: LoneStar.

Fink steps inside the building once more, following Azaezel. As he does so, he calls the buildings spirit to his side and commands it to Conceal him and his friends.

Wrapped in the hearth spirit's magic like a mythical cloak of invisibility, Fink goes unnoticed as the kids go running down a flight of stairs and into the street. As they zoom past, Fink can tell that neither has had a bath in days, and they are both wearing the tattered remains of drab green flats (disposable clothing). Dirt and grime covers both of them, and the smell is less than flowery.

The two make the street and the boy casts about before the girl grabs his arm and drags him off to the east. The boy yells above the steadily rising sound of rotor blades, "I thought you were jamming them!"

"Trying, not working!" the girl yells back as they move. The pair gets ten meters or so from the building when the chopper comes into view, moving ten meters or so over the skyline. The vehicle is the drab green of government issue, with lettering on the tail. A sniper is clearly visible through the half open door on the left side of the vehicle, and the copter so that the left side is facing the kids below.

With no escape route open, the boy turns and creases his forehead in concentration. The rotor sways a bit from side to side, as sweat beads on the boy's forehead, but it isn't enough to keep the sniper from firing. Almost in slow motion, the dart zooms through the air and catches the boy in the left shoulder. He twists and falls, though it is clear that the projectile was a dart round and not a bullet.

The copter lurches one more time before righting itself and comes to bear on the girl, who is still trying to pull the boy into an alleyway some ten meters ahead.

Fink yells at the kids from the door, not caring that they can't see him, "Kids, get back inside here!"

Without missing a beat Azaezel shoulder rolls out the door and comes up holding his Colt Manhunter in both hands. The big pistol roars as he fires twice at the sniper. "Inside," he yells over his shoulder as he does so.

Kyle slid his car into a nearby alley if available, getting behind cover. He got out, sliding his way towards the trunk, his hand on his Ultra-Power.

Skooter scowls as the chopper descends. He's never liked those things, always associating them with nasty police or military types. Since the sniper was foolish enough to expose himself in his zeal, Skooter zaps him with a stun bolt.

Fink's eyes narrow as he unleashes deadly force towards the pilot.

The sniper tumbles backwards into the helicopter as magic and bullets fly at him. The helicopter seems to hesitate for a brief moment before retreating back away from the action.

The girl casts a panic glance in the direction of the shooting and shouting, but is too preocuppied with trying to get her companion to safety to do much else.

Fink grins a bit and steps outside, letting his Hearth spirit go free. He starts to chant softly under his breath and unleashes a powerful Wind Spirit upon the helicopter!

The helicopter vanishes out of sight just as a massive wind picks up and forms itself into a spirit. The spirit takes it orders, nods, and rockets off after the helicopter.

Several seconds pass, but nothing else can be immediately determined.

Azaezel hoilsters his pistol and walks carefully over to the girl and the injured boy, "hi," he says cautiously. "We can probably help if you let us."

The girl looks paniced and retreats from the boy as Az approaches. The shinny steel coating on his hands as well as the casual way he was blasting at the copter seem to only add to the horror of the situation.

"Stay back!" the girl warns, though she doesn't appear to be armed, she continues with, "I don't want to have to hurt you..."

"Listen, it's okay," he says in as calming a voice he can muster. "Were all a little scared here, with all the weird things that have been happening. We don't want to hurt you, just offer our help."

Fink looks at the girl and concentrates. I can read peoples emotions, maybe I can influance them too...

He concentrates on sending her feelings of calm and trust.

"Come on, its ok, we're not the enemy. Lets get inside to safety and I'll see what I can do to help heal your friend there."

Fink does his best to "project" an emotion at the girl, but it doesn't seem to do anything. As her situation does not seem to have an obvious way out, however, she does start to listen to the soothing words being sent her way.

Eventually, she seems to deflate a little. "Help my brother and then I'll go with you..."

"Az, get him in here so I can have a look at him. We gotta be about this quick before reinforcments arrive."

Azaezel hefts the boy in a firemans carry and charges back into the building, "we can't stay here, they will know where to look for us."

Fink takes the boy and lays down down and pulls out the dart that hit him. He then reaches down and checks the boys vitals.

As Az approaches the boy, it's pretty obvious that he wasn't hit with a bullet. A vial approximately a centimeter across and thrice that long with a brightly colored set of rubber fins on the back end is protruding from his shoulder. The vial is a clear plastic of some sort, and it still has about a tenth of its length filled with a clear yellow liquid.

The boy is still breathing, but that's about all you call tell from an immediate examination.

Kyle huddled behind the car, waiting for something to happen. He flips on the radio.
"Hello? Are you guys still there?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to fix this boy up the best I can. Get ready to move out, we're gunna have to bail from this location real fast. You got room for the two kids? I don't want to leave em out here to fend for themselves."

The kids both look to between ten and twelve. Their clothing is grimy and ragged, and both look underfed and scraped up.

"I've got room, and I'm good at patching people up... need help?"

Skooter eases up slowly to the kids - he doesn't want them to feel surrounded and start panicking again. "Well, looks like my medical skills would be redundant right now. I'd offer some magical healing, but my spells are basic stitch-em-ups; nothing that helps against drugs. I think he'll be all right, though. My gut tells me those goons wanted these kids alive for some reason."

He grins reassuringly at the girl. "Don't worry, they won't get ahold of you now. We're a crew of survivors, we are. Hiding out and ditchin' the man is what we're all about. And we look out for each other."

"Sure, come on in. I've got a good medkit, but no real skill of my own."

Kyle popped the trunk and withdrew an ordinary medkit. He then slammed the trunk, locked the car, and walked towards the others, staying alert for any movement.

In the sixty seconds or so which have elapsed since the helicopter retreated. The streets are eerily quiet, at least for now.

Kyle meets the others without incident. After a little fiddling with the kit, Kyle manages to get some of the remaining toxin into the analyzer. It churns away for a few seconds and pops up the name of a high grade tranquilizer. The dosage is hard to tell, but it'll probably have the boy under for at least a few hours.

The girl keeps casting worried glances to the sky. "Come on, if you're going to help us, let's get going... whatever that thing you sent out after the choper was didn't work. They're returning to base, but they're sending another one..."

"Shes right. We're not gunna be able to wake this kid up for now. Lets get the frag out."

"Take the kids in the car with you, I can't hold anyone on my bike."

Fink heads outside and scans the skies one more time before throwing his leg over his hog and starting it up.

Az picks up the boy and carries him to the car gingerly placing him in the rear seat. He turns to the girl, "well come on get in?"

The girl hesitates for a moment but looks in the direction of the retreating helicopter. "Yeah." She turns back and hops in the vehicle without another prompting. "Let's get the frag outta here."

Skooter purses his lips thoughtfully as he starts up his Dodge Skoot, wishing he were in the car. He has a number of questions to ask those kids. Maybe it's better - let them relax and recover from all of the shocks they've been through before giving them the third degree. He still isn't sure where everyone is going - heading away from the docks and into a hitherto-unexplored part of the sprawl, he supposes. He'll just follow along. And he still has that radio if he has any questions.

The small convoy rumbles through downtown again, looking for any safe oasis. The boy is out like a light, but the girl is awake and aware. She keeps looking worriedly toward the direction where the choper vanished, even tall buildings make it difficult to be sure which direction is which. She mumbles to herself now and then, but it's mostly just cursing and nonsense.

After ten minutes of movement, the roads begin to get difficult again and Fink uses his watcher scout to a few buildings that look likely. Few are occupied and one in particular looks promising. The group does some basic scouting with spirits and stealth and discovers that there is a private basement parking area where they can stow their cars. They drive down the ramp and "convince" the robotic arm to allow them through (in a rather final way, since it is without power).

The building itself is a six story apartment building, which looks fairly nondescript from the outside. The watcher spirit indicated it was "nice" inside, though what a watcher knows about niceties is a question which may never be answered. A stair access leads up to the apartment building and finally to the building's flat roof. The building is without power, though the water taps produce liquid. The building is deserted, just as the watcher indicated, and each of the thirty six appartments is spacious and well furnished. Some have been ransacked, and there is little food to be found, but the front door is secure and the only easily accessable entrance appears to be from the basement.

The girl doesn't look much calmer while this is all going on, as she continues muttering to herself and looking at the walls (always in a particular direction). "Ten minutes," she mumbles to herself.

Fink frowns, trying to figure out what she means, then gives up and asks.

"Ten minutes till what? What is over that way?", he says, indicating the direction she keeps looking towards.

Once more, he tries to reach out to her and see if he can get a sense of her emotions. Damn, I wish I could figure out what exactly it is that I can do...

The girl blinks, as though she's coming back into focus. "The second helicopter is estimating an ETA of ten minutes to the incident site." The words seem unfamiliar to her, as she stumbles over them. "I guess they're taking the scenic route of something."

As Fink tries to read the girl, can feel she is anxious and worried about something.

"How do you know that?"

Fink shakes his head, Why on earth would I question anyone having strange abilities at this point?

"Do you think they'll be able to track us down to here?"