If you weren't sure before tonight, you are definitely sure that you chummers are going to make a great team. It's been a late night of booze and fun, spending much of your last missions payout. But with a team like this, the money should start rolling in. The group of you seem to click so well together.

Like when you were leaving that last club, you stomach started growly and before you could even make the suggestion, one of the others spoke up about how he was suddenly craving some stuffers, exactly what would hit the spot for those late night hunger pangs. Regardless of those lame-o ads from the Nutrition Council, you all know exact the place for the good chow... Stuffer Shack (who can stand that bland nutrisoy and krill-friller drek the Council says you should eat?).

It doesn't take long to get to the closest one. Regardless of what you think of Aztech, you have to admit they know how to blanket the 6th world in convenience. There's practically a StufferShack on every other street corner any place that's big enough to be a place.

Great tracts of neon and fluorescent lights that leach away color to make everything a uniform, dull gray indicate that you have arrived at the home of synth-alcohol, soykaf, porno-simchips, Holohayo 3D greeting cards, pneumatic fluid for your bike, cheap fetish trinkets for magical wannabes, soygrits, and a full line of stuffers with no redeeming nutritional or social value. Yep, the good ol' Stuffer Shack, home to a smell you can't recognize (and probably don't want to) and thousands of nuyen worth of stomach-rotting chow. As an added benefit, it's open 24-7-365.

It's pretty busy for this time of night, especially since torrential rain like you just ran through usually keeps normal metas at home. The ork girl behind the counter gives each of you an indignant look for having the temerity to shop in her store when she's trying play the latest Gothic Sailor Force (5 Sushi Tournament of Doom) on her commlink. Glancing over at her supervisor, a old human who looks like he's had a hard life, she annoyedly puts on a fake smile. "Welcome to Stuffer Shack, home of the CHOCO-PUNCH bars." She doesn't even finish the greeting before she turns back to her commlink.

Her supervisor sighs audibly. He takes a break from stocking an end-cap with the new NutraSoy Energy Cakes (Brazilian Flavored), to call out with forced cheer "Can I help you chummers find anything?"

You notice a couple young street punks messing around in a dusty corner by the front where some ancient 3d printer seems to be in some fashion of working order. They glance over as you enter, but don't do anything other than giggle at each other as one makes a comment under his breath.

Somewhere in the store you can hear a baby crying out in time with the banging of a shopping cart and the occaisonal tired pleas of "Won't you shut up already?" and "This is all your fault you know?"

Swims-With-Sharks brushed off the supervisor's offer of assistance with a shrug and a smile and proceeded to comb the aisles for survival rations. His stomach was growling, and he was mildly interested in that Choco-punch that's being advertised. Or maybe that dispenser in the back might be worth a look, it had been forever since he'd splurged on a Shmoozy or a Snorkel. But mentally, he wasn't there yet. His food-hoarding instinct still hadn't left him able to enter a place where food is sold without heading straight for the non-perishables. He'd gotten hold of a grimy plastic basket and had already filled it with ramen products and dried seaweed strips (self-cooking packets included).

After the hand-held basket was reassuringly heavy with dried foodstuffs, Swims-With-Sharks gave an audible sigh of relief and looked again towards the dispenser in the back. Yes, a FantastaBerry Shmoozy would be just the thing...

The new formed team soon disperses around the StufferShack, seeking out their favorite stuffers. There do seem to be a number of people shopping at this late hour, but it's the sprawl. That kind of thing is kind of the norm around here. Nothing in particular strikes them as out of the ordinary. They are about as relaxed as a shadowrunner ever gets out in public.

The sound of torrential rain gets louder for a moment as the front doors slide open to let a new shopper in. Without even looking up the cashier starts rattling off her greeting, "Welcome to Stuffer Shack, home of...." but it's cut off with a muted squeel. "Ewww, what are you? We don't do charity. Get out of here."

Flowers glances around the corner of the aisle he's on to look up to the front. He can see a particularly ugly looking human with what look like tumors or misformed growths on his heavily tattooed skin. The man is dressed in overly baggy clothes that look like they are for somebody at least twice his size and are little better than disposable clothes sold just a couple aisles over.

The new arrival mumbles something, but makes no move to leave and its not clear if he was even addressing the cashier's outburst.

The store supervisor looks and sees somebody that has had an even harder life than himself. "Oh leave the fellow alone, Shelly. He's probably just getting out of the rain." Addressing the disfigured man, "Feel free to dry off, buddy. Just stay out of the way of the paying customers will ya?"

Disgusted, but not willing to argue with her boss, the cashier continues to give the man an ugly look and quietly says "Shoo, shoo," while waving her hands to try to move him along away from where she is.

After a moment, the figure stumbles way in the direction she waves towards the right side of the store.

Angel has no problems hearing the gaffaws of the two punks that were in that direction. And they seem to be getting louder as if they are moving towards the new arrival.

Takako

Still shaking droplets of rain from his clothing, Takako shakes the remnants of the night's revelry from his brain as he hunts down a package of Double Dark Chocolate Doughnut Bites™ and then turns his attention to finding a container of Milk-Like® Pints. Despite the slight haze of one too many alcoholic drinks, his warrior instincts, coupled with formative years in the Barrens refused to allow him to get so caught up in the joy of the night as to lose his senses. He notes the staff, the punks, the baby crying followed by the woman berating someone, as well as the new arrival; for the moment, none of them are a concern to him. He heads through isle 12 towards the coolers on the east wall.

Angel

Angel is glad about the roof over her head, considering the heavy rainfall outside. As she moves through the shop, she remembers that there have been some rats sighted near her appartment just recently, so she heads off towards the appropriate aisle to find something that might help in her battle against the nasty rodents.

Slightly overwhelmed by the enormous amount of choice, she looks through the various sprays and whatnot to figure out what might be an appropriate buy for her.

All the while she is listening to a song that only she can hear. The vast majority of mankind will never understand how it feels to be in tune with the Matrix. Feeling the Resonance, and using your will to shape it. And like with all things that people do not understand, they fear it. Or they want to study it. No thanks! Therefore, only very few know about her talent, that she is one of the mystic Technomancers. Her team knows it, of course. They are usually glad to have her around, considering that she can do all sorts of neat stuff to help them.

Swims-With-Sharks

The noisy family causes Swims to look up in surprise from his purchasing reverie, startling him out of a deep mental debate over whether the InstaYum ramen noodles will be better (i.e. have a longer shelf life) than the Ohno!-Sendai ones. A sharp glance from the ork wife, combined with what can only be described as a grunt, has the intended effect as Swims quickly looks away, his eyes sweeping and focusing on anything BUT the raucous family. He momentarily has a twinge of pity for Sledge, who seems to be stuck in the vortex of disturbance. However, greater callings take control of Swims attention. That FantastaBerry Schmoozy isn't going to just make itself...at least, it won't because Swims doesn't have the tech wiz to crack the dispensers security protocols. Angel might be able to help with that, but then again, the machine is just right over there. With a small smile of anticipation for cold, refreshing almost-berry-like™ goodness, he starts to make his way towards that area.

Sledge

Lost in thought, Sledge carefully examined the multilevel hot dog roller searching for the freshest dog. With so many delicious flavors, this was the only way to choose.

There! He spotted a several dogs that were not yet darkened and wrinkled on the back of the bottom rack. Using the grease spotted tongs that hung by a rubber cord, he reached inside the plastic door and seized one of those supple processed tubular meat products. He grabbed a second hot dog, and dropped it in a soy-bread bun, like he had the first.

Scanning the aisle for the condiment bar, he spotted Swims-With-Sharks giving him a look he couldn't quite read. It was probably disappointment. Yeah, definitely disappointment. Probably something to do to Sledge's midnight snack choices.

Sledge gave Swims a "what?" look, complete with a shrug, but it looked like he had already focused his attention elsewhere.

A the front of the store, the disfigured man managed to stumble his way to aisle two before he was stop.

"Aw frag.....this dude's face is FUUUUUGGLY!"

"Ain't that the truth chill. What's wrong with you man? How'd ya got so drek shit ugly?"

The two young punks that had been messing with the aged 3d printer have now found something more interesting to mess with.

"Oy. You in there?" The tougher looking of the two boys smacked the man on the head with a long rubbery item that left a smear of liquid polymer to run down the mans face. "Ah dude. I told you that old machine wouldn't work for crap. It's already breaking down. Now what am I going to tell Slider? She's going to think I was too chicken to buy her one.?"

"Hahaha. That's because you are Spaz. That was the whole reason we were trying to print thingy."

"Aw shut, Whiskers."

Ignoring the smear on his face and the punks on either side of him. the man started pushing past the two. But was quickly stopped as a hand shoved him back hard against the aisle, knocking over a few cans of oil.

"Hey now. Where do you think you're going? Actually it was probably your ugly face that caused this thing to goo up. It was all set and good before it touched you. Now you gonna buy me one."

"Dude. Look at him. He ain't buying nobody drek."

"Frag that noise. I ain't hearing that. Everybody gots something. And I'm going to get his for sure." Another rough shove against the shelve shakes a few soaps and pads off the other side of the aisle. "You got that man?"

The disfigured man's only response was a strained, pained filled, "_{Heelllllp meeeee...."} barely more than a whisper.

Flowers

Well before he'd gotten to the store he'd authorized the payoff to Sleaze to get Matties favorite guitar out of hock. Which normally wouldn't be so bad except it just had to have been a 90 year old original Seattle grunge rocker piece. As beat up as it was, it still had a hefty price tag. Flowers smiled at the small child and tried to engage it, anything to distract it from crying right now, but the young tusker woman snapped at him, "What the frag you looking at, chum-scum?".

"The competition." he peevishly replied staring at her pointedly and following up with a devastating slow up and down take at her over worn over painted flats. Dismissing her and the child he turned away from her and let a brilliant smile explode from his face and he broadly winked at the man with her. "I'll be your huckleberry anytime," he cooed as he gently pulled the box of super fizzy raspy Raspberry sucker bombs from the man's guilty hands.

Flowers disengaged from the couple, knowing the other side of shelf contained iradiated fruit, or at least that's what the ARO claimed. A small tray of dates might make for a good tid bit to share with his Genitope team.

In mid turn, as his attention swept through the store, everything abruptly paused as a jolt of alarm passed through him. Something was happening.

Takako

One carton of Milk-Like® Pints in hand, Takako listens to the growing noise coming from isle 2. Any thought of intervening is quickly quashed. Bad things happen to good people everyday. Not for me to get involved. Instead, his attention is on the new flavor Mocha Double-Fudge Expresso. A murmur of "Yum!" escapes his lips.

Angel

Angel instinctively backs away from the growing confrontation at the other side. She was no fighter, never been and probably never will be. Her strength was elsewhere. Firmly grabbing the can of Rat-A-Gone Ultra Supreme spray, she heads out to the other side of aisle 3, turning to the right, deeper into the store, where the others would likely hang out to figure out what snacks to get.

Swims-With-Sharks

The taste...oh gods! Swims felt the flavors explode in his brain like a thin slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick. It was intense, the advertising hadn't lied about that. The machine had been tricky to work at first, the AR interface that even a 5 year-old could work giving the elf trouble. But in the end, the lusciously cold syrupy goodness was his. He took another pull of the Fantasaberry Schmoozy as he walked to the cashier, giving a head nod to each team mate as he passed them in the aisles.

Sledge

Unaware of the happenings by Aisle 2, Sledge continued to squeeze mustard from small white packets onto his two hot dogs. He looked around, and nobody appeared to be watching him, so he slipped a handful of mustard packets into his jacket pocket. He added a handful of napkins as well, leaving those halfway exposed.

His hot dogs now fully prepared, completely hidden between the stale bread and below a clumpy yellow mountain of mustard and dried onions, Sledge turned to look at the freezer section. Beer would definitely complete this meal, he decided. And not any of that soy drek.

Flowers

Keep moving he thought to himself. Changes in motion draw attention. Other activity might not get noticed. Flowers found the icon with Angel's mark and flashed the team, as he ducked his head down as if looking at something on a lower shelf.

<<Team:: Time to walk.... speak up if you feel different.>>

Flowers stretched his arm out towards a shelf, and pushed it in past a couple packets. He slammed in the magazine straight into the port that opened in his arm. Not that was much point as he only had 2 flechette rounds left. He looked carefully over his shoulder at the scene in the aisle and thought to himself that he would now see what the team is made of. He angled the open gun port and carefully framed the scene in the aisle and fed it to Angel to rebroadcast to the team. With his other hand he picked up the nearest bag and used it as cover for his arm.

<<Team:Video: The crying child, previously ignored by the passive aggressive couple, is now the center of their attention. The attention they aren't giving to the scene developing elsewhere.>>

Swims-With-Sharks

The message flashing for his attention was momentarily forgotten as Swims paid for his purchases, accessing the shop's ARO payment window taking all of his attention. As he finished the transaction he stayed motionless a few moments longer, accessing the vid feed from Flowers and assessing the situation. This drew the ire of the lazy cashier, informing him in an annoyed voice that if he was finished he should move so that other customers could pay.

<<Team~~~At the cashier now>>

Sledge

"Where the frag is the beer," Sledge muttered to himself. It was probably back where he had started. Sometimes he walked right passed the things he was looking for, even though they were in plain sight.

Breaking his concentration, his comlink vibrated, alerting him to a new message. He had mind to ignore it, but it must be important to be sent this time of night.

He read the two texts, then clicked on the video, somewhat confused about what the issue was. "This better not be another cat video," he sighed as he opened the video file. "Even worse, a kid video." He exited out of the video, prematurely, then looking up, he realized that the floor in the video was the floor in this store. In fact, he had walked passed that little whiny bastard on the way in. He quickly scanned the store and spotted Swims by the door, as he stated in his message.

Something was up, but Sledge was unsure of what. Did he miss something in the video? He typed quickly, but carefully, trying to avoid dunking his Sony Emperor in his mustard mountain.

[SLEDGE>>>REPLY ALL]Whats the biz? I got time to pay for my food, right?

The two punks ruffing up the vagrant? to get some money out of him quickly escalates.

"Ain't nobody going to lift a finger for ya freak. So just hand over all ya got now, or else."

The cashier is leaning over her counter to watch the scene, with a bit of glee in her eye, her AR game abandoned for some more raw and exciting (as long as the punks are just harassing that disgusting figure).

Her supervisor glanced over in the direction of the sounds, but he's obviously too afraid to do anything about it. He's just praying that it will blow over. He'd just been trying to let the guy get out of the rain and now look what's happening to him. No good deed ever goes unpunished in this world. He thought he had learned that lesson years ago, but no. There was still too much kindness in his heart despite the world trying to beat it out of him. A tear welled up in his eyes as he heard the meety splat of a fist hitting bare flesh.

Horrid laughter could be heard over the 20 year old music playing softly over the stores sound system. "Hahahahahaha....take that you dumb fragger."

"Hit em again. Hit em again. That was music to my ears Spaz."

"Don't....hit....me....you....don't....understand...." With each word the disfigured man's voice was getting louder. "You're....going... to... be... SORRY."

Whiskers began backing away from the man, something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Was his skin moving? Bubbling up? Getting bigger? "Hey...eh.. Spaz...maybe..."

Spaz couldn't be bothered to listen to his partner in crime, nor to notice the changes happening to the man.....changes that looked very much like the descriptions Whiskers had heard of goblinization... "Sorry my ass, bitch. You're gonna regret those words."

Spaz tried to slam his little fist into the guys face... and it suddenly felt like he'd just hit a plasteel wall as his little mind finally caught up with the shifts in perspective to show that the face had doubled in size with a couple of the "tumorish" bumps becoming horns jutting out of the skull of a troll. With screams of pain and rage the man's body was shifting, returning to that of his natural troll self.... and shifting still more to something even more than he ever was before.

The change happened in a matter of seconds...and ended with a massive hand grabbing the 14 year old Spaz and tossing him like a rag doll. The young body smashed against the corner of the freezer section with a wet splash of blood.

Sledge

Sledge let out a good belly laugh after he realized what happened. Seems to him, the young punk got what was coming to him. Then he realized that the newly formed troll may go on an uncontrolled rampage.

While Sledge could shoot a firearm with precision, combat was not his forte, especially face to face confrontations. He preferred to avoid combat at all costs, using stealth and deception to reach his goals. When things went south, as they usually did, and guns were drawn, as they usually were, Sledge still preferred to use stealth and deception as his means of assault, and he was not opposed to actions that could be deemed as immoral by Takako's "Code of Honor."

Takako

His taste for Mocha Double-Fudge Expresso had already started to diminish as Eagle's song begun to reverberate in the back of his head.

"Ain't nobody going to lift a finger for ya freak. So just hand over all ya got now, or else."

His feet began to move, walking towards the altercation. The sounds got louder. Eagle's song now began to compete with the punk's. He nearly reached the end of the isle when it all changed... "You're....going... to... be... SORRY."

The body flew out of the isle, right past Takako, smashing into the wall less than a meter from him. Eagle's song is now a hum in the back of his head. The magic in his body made him feel as if his whole body had an electrical charge applied to it. Looking around the corner, he realized the scene had changed...

The chaos continues to escalated at the front of the store. The newly_formed? troll continued to bulk up as his flesh literally begins to tear in places. Protrusions from his spine split the shirt he was wearing to jut out in an inhuman way. With blind rage he lifts up the store shelves closest to him. Automotive gear of all shapes and sizes begin falling to the ground, a few crashing open to spill slick goo all over the surrounding area.

Takako only needs a glimpse into those eyes to realize this meta has completely lost control of his mind. Rage and Pain are all that exist there now.

Angel

As shelves and content begin flying, Angel scurries away from the fight even faster.

<< @Team [Angel] Looks like that big guy is part of the Rusted Stilettos. Doesn't look familiar, though. >>

Takako

... seeing the inhuman rage currently in the troll's eyes and the immediate threat to the innocent people in the store, the street smart young adept takes off running right at the troll, then a step before hitting the oil throws his momentum to the right, his right foot touching the edge of the shelf as he shifts to the troll's left. His hand, tight in a fist, balls out to the side of the troll's head as he hopes his momentum will carry him past the troll towards the front door.

Takako lands a solid hit against the massive jaw of the troll who hardly seems to phased by it. Landing just on the other side of the troll, just outside of the spreading spill of liquid, Takako starts planning his next move.

Near where Takako was but a moment ago, the man looking at the medical supplies peaked around round corner and then shouted "Amy, Run. Run now!" He then proceeded to dash down the line of freezer doors to grab the hand of his confused companion and run towards the back of the store, the girls red hair whipping around as the look back and forth between him and whatever was happening at the front of the store.

"Not again," she wailed more with tiredness than fear. Even still, she did not hesitate to follow his lead.

Swims-With-Sharks

Things were definitely not sounding peaceful as the roaring and smashing reached Swims ears. Seeing bodies flying all over the place and Angel scurrying away from what seemed to be the source of the disturbance made up his mind. He felt the cool calm of the sea, lapping at his mind as he prepared his spell. A quick whistle escaped his lips as the mana formed around him, embracing him in warm comfort like a mother's embrace. The mana took form as a hazy and shimmery blur where Angel had been standing. Maintaining spells was one thing Swims had trained his mind for, and the effort to do so cost him nothing as he backed away from the action, walking backwards slowly and with caution.

Swims-With-Sharks

<<Team~~~Angel, I've made you invisible. Get to safety, I'm covering you>>

Sledge

Sneaking through the doors marked EMPLOYEES ONLY, Sledge scanned the area over the the sights of his Ares Predator V.

[SLEDGE>>>TEAM]I got the back room covered. Should I clear us a way out, or secure our rear?

He darted across the open space and ensured the back door was locked. No need for any surprises.

Takako

Takako has no more landed on the other side of the berserk behemoth than Eagle's song changes. He slides towards the wall in response to the song just as the maniac grabs the shelf in an attempt to pull it down on them. Takako's hand snakes out and back so fast that the flying jar appears to simply materialize in his hand, before it begins hurling through the air at the troll. The hap-hazard throw misses as the troll turns his rage fully focused on the lithe elf.

<<@Team [Takako] Beasty out the front, mundanes the back.>>

<<Team~~~Make sure people make it out the back safely>>

Sledge

Sledge continues toward the EMPLOYEES ONLY door, trying to look like a fleeing civilian, rather than a repositioning combatant.

Angel

Once she feels reasonably secure, as much as it is possible with all the violence erupting nearby, anyways, Angel concentrates on the noise that likely only she could hear, and turns her senses to the augmented reality, not feeling safe enough to fully dive into the virtual.

<< @Team [Angel] Something is disturbing the Resonance, I will investigate. >>

Takako

Things go horribly wrong for the elf in the blink of an eye. The troll rushes him through the muck, slamming into Takako, sending him flying backwards, grunting from the raw force of the impact and wincing from the pain...

Takako

Rolling back to his feet, the elf realizes that getting trapped in a corner with the increasing out of control hulk would leave him a splotch to mopped up and sent down the drain. He makes a mad dash for the door, trying unsuccessfully to skirt around the tone of anger and muscle now focused on him. One lumbering tree trunk of an arm swings in a classic haymaker, right on target for Takako's face. At the last moment, the adept executes a forearm block, redirecting the troll's momentum towards the isle, ending in a crash that sends white powder into the air like a Colorado snowstorm in January. Finally, his eyes stinging from said powder, Takako stumbles into the doorway.

Takako

There are days you are convinced that you should have just stayed in bed; today is becoming one of those days.

The behemoth continues his impression of the incredible hulk by launching a shelf at the already wounded elf. Takako does his best Neo impression, twisting under the deadly shelf while yelling, "Godzilla!"

Swims-With-Sharks

After making sure that the others had gotten to safely, Swims returned to the fray. He knew he wouldn't last a nanopulse against that monster, so he dove for cover behind the counter. He'd always wanted to see what was back here, at the moment it was a little crowded with the clerk cowering behind the counter with him. Poking his head over the top, he saw the rampaging troll getting ready to swing at Takako. That wouldn't do. The troll's hide looked like Swim's usual spells wouldn't make a dent. Maybe a different approach was in order.

Drawing on the energy that surrounded him constantly, he felt the wave of mana surge against his consciousness. So much power! With this much power lifting the troll into the air was as simple as if the troll had been buoyed up with seawater.

He's going out the door as soon as I'm able!

Angel

Being out of sight now in the food preparation area, Angel sits down and leans her back against the counter, before her mind slips from her body, diving into the virtual world and feeling right at home.

There, she looks like her namesake. An Angel with long blonde hair and white feathery wings.

<< @Team [Angel] Gone virtual. I'm in the food prep area. If anything nasty is heading there, please let me know. >>

Then she directs her virtual self closer towards the noise...

A sound from behind made Swims glance away from troll a moment....and all he could see was the barrel of the shotgun. Shelly's renewed scream of terror was the last straw. It had boosted her supervisor's courage just enough for him to return from the office with his saw-off Defiance T-250 shotgun.

One look told him all he needed to know. There was a fragging dandlion-eater behind his registers moving in on the innocent Shelly!?! And Bob had just the thing to take care of that. Without a second thought (or even a first one really) he leveled the gun at the stranger and fired.

"Don't you dare touch her slag!"

Flowers

It was like the old time flush toilets they still used from last century out on some of the out of the way border postings. You pushed the lever, there was a low rumble, and things started swirling really slowly. And then all of a sudden the bottom dropped out and everything just flushed down the hole in a blink.

One jazzed up perp was turning into a major firefight.

Flowers started moving towards the registers and focused his attention on the civilian.

"Sir, let my strike team handle this!"

<<Angel - medkit, Sledge Smoke or Bangs Front>>

Angel

<< @Flowers [Angel] Medkit? Err... sure, I can take a look around to see if they have a list somewhere that details where they store the medical supplies. >>

<< @Team [Angel] Something more serious is going on here, I think someone on the parking area has activated some sort of jamming device. >>

Angel figures, that she could use some backup and spends the time to make use of the Resonance and compile a sprite to help her.

Sledge

[SLEDGE>>>REPLY ALL]Bangs otw

Sledge moved along the wall, trying to keep out of sight of the civilian turned combatant. As he approached, he tossed a flash bang into the register area and prayed his unorthodox throwing style paid dividends, this time.

"Bang out!" he yelled out, eyes closed, flash-bang in flight, while praying to the grenade gods.

Swims-With-Sharks

The blinding flash of light was only slightly more intense than the sonic burst and the accompanying shockwave that knocked Swims off of his feet and headfirst into the lower area of the cashier's counter. His plan HAD been to jump over the counter and secure some cover from the shotgun-wielding supervisor, but now...now all he saw was white, all he heard was a high-pitched whistling, all he felt was a great, heavy wind blasting him up against the plasticrete construction, making breathing hard (don't even talk about complex thoughts) as his head crashed into something way more solid than his skull.

Retaining concentration on a spell keeping a 200+ kilo troll...thing...levitated in the air was the last thing Swims' abused body was interested in at the moment. The spell faded, mana evaporating as the will keeping it whole was occupied with other, more important issues (such as staying conscious). With a large thud the troll crashed to the floor, spilling merchandise in every direction.

Trying to maintain some notion of current events, Swims realized his group could be in trouble. His eyes finally managed to focus on the small scene in front of him, although the effort almost finished him. He was able to make out the supervisor, blood running freely from his ears as he lay on his stomach with the shotgun next to him. The shotgun. In his slightly dazed state, Swims decided he needed to get control of that weapon. His body's natural defenses kicked in where his conscious mind could not, and the mana flowed into his being, bathing his limbs and granting him more natural ability than he normally had with things in the physical realm. With this jump-start his nervous system shifted into gear and Swims scuttled across the floor to the weapon, securing it before sending a warning message to his team.

<<Team ~~~ I lost the spell, the troll is loose again>>

Angel

Feeling more brave now, with the shiny sprite at her side, Angel heads forward towards the store's main node to figure out what is going on.

<< [Angel] There is more going on here. Someone just turned off the cameras! I will move closer and see what I can find out. >>

Obviously, she doesn't move at all, lying "unconscious" behind the food counter, but the virtual space sometimes feels more real to her than the meatspace.

Takako

Sliding out the door, the distinctive flash of the SMG's muzzle sent Takako ducking to the left out the doorway, then forward in a beeline before this new attacker could correct his aim for a second shot. Mana flowing white hot in his veins, the elf pumps his legs, pulling forth all his speed set on a crash course. A nano second before crashing into this new threat, the adept thrusts both fists forward into a double punch while planting his back foot.

The resulting strike sends the gun wielding thug flying backwards to the ground. Wincing from the burning in his eyes and bruised, possibly cracked ribs - thanks to the troll, Takako executes an uri-ashi with a othoshi empi-uchi. The resulting effect looks like him gliding forward before dropping to one knee, bringing his full weight through his elbow, into the solar plexus of his attacker with a, "Heeeeeaaaaaaahh!"

Sledge

"Frag. That did not go as planned," Sledge muttered to himself, as he pulled himself up onto one knee, using the wall for support. He rubs his forehead with his left and, attempting to rub the headache away. His right hand pulls his Ares Predator V, but he has nothing to aim at, as his world has gone dark.

"Oh, drek. I fraggin' blinded myself..."

Takako

A child of the Barrens, long ago the young elf had become desensitized to combat. The flash & boom of the flash-bang inside the stuffer shack drew his attention sharply back as the lights went out. More gunfire, nearby, probably behind the stuffer shack drew his focus. The team is there; surely with the beast in the front, they will make an exit out the back.

The stinging in his eyes distracting him. His aching ribs screaming for him to stop. Takako rises from the form of the now unconscious shooter, grabbing the gun with one hand, wiping his eyes with the other as he moves stealthily around the building. No sense in getting shot again...

<<@Team [Takako] Gunner in front down. Is everyone up?>>

Angel

Having noticed that something is attacking her (though not very successfully), Angel takes a moment to assess the situation and searches for other icons in the node.

Sledge

Sledge stands, using the wall along his left side for balance as the hallway is still spinning. He inches his way forward, toward the cashier's area.

Takako

At the corner of the building Takako can cut towards the alley as the next building is several meters over. Turning on his chameleon suit, he moves quietly, but rapidly, towards screaming where he just heard a shot. More shots go off inside the stuff shack. I really hope I don't have to look for a new team when this is over...

Sledge

Sledge peeks around the corner into the cashier's area, discovering it has been remodeled by the large troll and decorated with unconscious bodies. I really hope that wasn't my fault.

He suddenly has another idea, either genius or retarded. He begins setting explosives, angled to blast through the hallway toward the rear door.

<< [Sledge >>> Team] Bring that troll fragger down this back hallway. I'm getting something set up for him.>>

Takako

There are days I feel like a damn puppet on a string, dancing to the tune of an unseen puppet-master who really doesn't have a plan... Today is one of those days. The additional guns shots out front register in Takako's mind and his thoughts of a clear front evaporate like acid rain as he turns on his heel and sprints back towards the front. The burning of his heavily bruised ribs reinforces that he should have just stayed home.

<<@Team [Takako] Headed back to the front to deal with the new threat. There is an armed, unhappy local inside the back of the stuffer shack as well.>>