Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075


With a mental command, Overkill detonated the flash-bang. The resulting explosion in the near full darkness of the lakeside seemed like a small sun, and the concussive force sent both cultists near the cross flying, dropping them to the ground, while the girl screamed once and then fell unconscious, only the restraints keeping her from falling to the ground. Truck, however, was not so easily swayed, although a keen-eyed observer could detect a thin trickle of blood leaking from his ears as he shook his head to clear it.

He had little respite, however, since Jack popped up out of his spider-hole, selecting full-auto on his Colt and sending a hail of bullets downrange. Several of these found their mark as Truck was unable to avoid the attack altogether, and blood sprayed from a puncture wound in the big troll's arm.

As these events took place, Thraha materialized in the air over Truck, and Amy summoned her mystical energy in an attempt to confuse those nearest the girl. Her strength failed her, however, and although she was able to withstand the astral feedback, her spell had no effect on her enemies.

Three of the cultists were completely taken off guard by the attack, and remained frozen in place - two of them still on the ground with their hands over their ears from the flash-bang. The one with the long blonde hair, however, kept his wits about him, sprinting through the trees and out of view of Amy, Jack, and Overkill towards the parked vehicles. Truck, on the other hand, yelling mutely in defiance, moved behind the victim, putting her body in between himself and the incoming fire. His huge hand reached inside his vest, and pulled out what for the troll was a throwing knife, but looked like a small sword to the ambushers.

His sensors picking up the fleeing cultist, Grease closed his eyes and put himself into the body of his latest acquisition. He grimaced as he felt pain shoot through his legs, the damage to the drone sending an unpleasant neural feedback through the connection.

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075


Ignoring the pain, Grease launched himself into the sky, the rotodrone's propellers sending the night air flying past his skin. Far below, the figure of the cultist sprinted for the cars, and Grease was quick to pursue. He could feel his forward momentum come to a stop for the briefest of seconds as the AK spat a stream of bullets toward the man below. The burst kicked up the dirt near the man's feet as he dove into a forward roll and kept running.

As Grease brought the rotodrone around to make another pass, the night was split again by the sounds of automatic weapons fire near the sacrifice site. As Amy cast another spell, crushing a few carefully prepared leaves to increase the spell's potency, Overkill cursed Truck as the heartless troll put the girl between himself and the runners. Amy's spell shot across the gap between them, and this time was able to cause one of the cultists to grasp his head in pain. Not wanting to inadvertently put the girl in any more danger than necessary, he shifted his aim slightly and found the cultist Amy had affected with her spell. A mental command, Feuer , and the AK discharged, the 7.62mm rounds ripping fist-sized-holes in the man's back as they exited. The man dropped instantly, and Overkill moved his aim to the next cultist.

Thraha was not as concerned as Overkill about the girl. He flew over toward Truck, and released a lightning bolt at the troll. Unable to avoid it, the bolt sizzled as it impacted the big metahuman, causing him to open his mouth in a soundless ululation of pain, but stood his ground. Jack, wanting to make sure that the primary target went down, continued pouring fire at Truck. This time his burst struck him in the thigh, staggering him backward. I can't believe this guy isn't down yet.


Thraha once again reared up, moving slightly to get a better angle, and again electricity flashed from spirit to troll with the brilliance of an arc-welder's torch. This time even the mighty troll could not withstand the magical strike, and he fell heavily to the ground, his body convulsing as blue sparks cascaded around him.

With Truck hitting the ground, Amy looked around for another target, and spotted the summoner of the Water Spirit, who had vanished after it completed its service. Attempting to prevent him from summoning another spirit to his aid, Amy focused her will into a physical strike, clipping the cultist on the chin and staggering him, but failing to knock him out.

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075


With Amy engaging the summoner with her magic, Thraha turned its attention to the next target, and the breeze of his passing sent the waters of the lake rippling out in all directions. Another blast of lightning, and the cultist who had originally bee knocked flat by the flash-bang was lifted off of the ground by the force of strike, and then was deposited heavily on the ground again. Groaning in pain, the cultist feebly tried to crawl a little ways toward cover, barely able to move due to his injuries.

Amy lashed out again with her magic, and this time the strike left the summoner with a bloody nose as his head snapped back from the impact. The strain of channeling this much power was starting to show, however, as the spell left her with a sudden searing pain in her forehead.

Overkill, having dropped his previous target, shifted his AK incrementally to the right, acquiring and then dispatching the summoner in one smooth motion, the cultist's cries drowned out by the sound of the weapons fire.

Seeing his chance with the enemies down, Jack vaulted up out of his spider hole, and began running across the beach and into the water. The murky lake water filled his boots instantly, and sloshed around mid-calf height, slowing his progress, but it was faster than following the shoreline, whose path meandered far out to the east. Jack didn't like being exposed, but the situation seemed to be well in hand. Now, if only Grease can tag the last one before he gets to the car...

At that moment, Grease had banked to his right, reaching out with the drone's sensors to gain a better aim on the fleeing target. Despite the man's jinking left and right, Grease could feel the sensors locking on tight, and felt confident that his next burst would put him down. Using the drone's speakers, a grating, robotic voice boomed out above the man, "Freeze or it'll be the last thing you do!"

This seemed to cause the cultist to redouble his efforts, as his legs pumped even faster, hurtling himself across the open to the waiting Americar. As if it were conscious, the engine roared to life, and the door opened, giving him the glimpse of freedom, if he could only avoid the drone's weapons...

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075


Grease's rotodrone quickly spun around, ratcheting up the hail of lead being spewed in the cultists direction. The assault rifle put a burst right between the cultist's shoulder blades as he ran away, the ballistic lining of his suit the only thing that kept him standing and stumbling toward the car.

Things did not look good for him, however, as Thraha delivered another titanic blast of energy into the last remaining cultist at the sacrifice site, his eyes literally cooking and exploding out of his head from the heat. At Amy's mental command, "Quick! Stop the one running away! And try to keep that one alive.", the spirit began to fly through the air, gaining rapidly on the fleeing human below it.

With no remaining targets, Overkill clicked the safety back into place on his AK, and opened an AR window, sending out his consciousness through the Matrix, his winged form swooping over toward the cars until he found what he was looking for, the icon for the Americar parked on the road.

Jack, climbing out of the water, his breathing quicker and his heart rate elevated, emerging onto the sacrifice site and heading toward the girl on the cross. She was dressed in a plain white robe, her long blonde hair loose around her shoulders. Apart from some singed hair and some blood leaking from nose and ears from the flash-bang, she appeared unharmed.

Meanwhile, the spirit chased down the hapless cultist, and fell upon him, the man disappearing inside the swirling winds. When the spirit rose again a second later, the cultist collapsed to the earth, unmoving.

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075

When the spirit lets Amy know that the combat is over, she immediately gives him another command. "I need you to fly around and look for other people or machines coming our way. I trust you to determine whether they are likely to see us and whether they would be a threat. If you think so, alert me and give me all the details about the situation. Do your best to remain unseen."

She started jogging towards the crosses and the rest of the group, all the while erasing the few magical signatures from the spells she had cast. Panting a little, she messages the team. <<@Team [Amy's voice] I'm coming over right now. Is anybody hurt?>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075

His boots squelching as he stepped onto firm ground, Jack took in the devastation around him. Me encanta cuando un plan viene junto, he thought to himself as he slung his SMG across his back. Reaching into one of the cargo pockets on his pants, the ork pulled out his medkit and started to check on the supine and prone forms of the cultists around him.

The ork briefly wondered about his small skill in first aid. Outside of his inexplicable business knowledge, it was one of the few skills he possessed that wasn't delivered to him via chip. Setting up a quick triage, the ork quickly ignored a few of the men who had met their end at the wrong end of a bolt of lightning. One of the guys even had his eyes melted out of his face, like in that trid remake of the old Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. After checking over the bodies, the ork sent a message to the team, partially in response to Amy's question, as he moved over to the girl.

<<@Team [JustJack] These guys are... Looks like they're all KIA over here or, if not, they're going to be DOA pretty soon. I'm going to check on the girl now. We need to move quickly, there are probably things out here that might be attracted to the sounds of gunfire>>

He followed that up with a quick individual message to Amy
<<@Amy [JustJack] Hey, can you grab my Assault Rifle from my hole on your way over here? I'd appreciate it, chica. Good work with your spirit, it made all the difference>>

Reaching the girl, Jack glanced around and positioned himself so that the front of his body was out of view from his comrades and popped the handblade from his left hand. None of them had ever seen it and he didn't really feel like answering questions to which even he didn't know the answer. Working quickly, he severed the bonds, re-sheathed his handblade, and laid the girl out on the ground before getting to work reviving her.

He sent a final message to Overkill.
<<@Overkill [JustJack] Good work amigo! Can you deactivate the other grenade so we can recover it?>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075

<<@Jack [Amy] Sure thing, chico.>> Amy makes a detour as instructed, to get Jack's things.

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075

The cram he dropped just a few minutes starting to kick in, Grease whoops loudly, climbing out of his spiderhole.

An ambush that worked!

He taps out a few commands to his drones as he hustles over to the cultist he was shooting at.

<<@Fly-Spy: Keep patrolling, keep an eye out for any creatures or vehicles approaching us.>>
<<@Bumble: Fly up to 50 meters and circle around us. Coordinate with the Fly-Spy to determine if there any hostiles nearby. Alert me if you see anything.>>

Getting to the Cultist he shot, Grease grimaces. His body was lying unnaturally, with several bullet holes clearly marked on the back of his clothing, revealing the life-saving armor he wore underneath.

Better you than me..

Flipping it over, he gets a look at his face for the first time up close.

It'd be a mercy to end it now.

<<@Jack [Grease subvocal]: Can you come check on this guy when you get a moment? I want to be able to talk to one of them, and this guy seems like our winner. Also, If you wanted to put a stake in Truck's heart I wouldn't think less of you.>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack responded quickly while he worked.

<<@Grease [JustJack] Yeah, I'll head over there once I get done checking out the girl. Truck's still alive at the moment, but I don't think that situation is going to last much longer. Hombre took more punishment than a tank...>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

After a quick jog, Amy reaches the site and drops Jack's assault rifle on the ground. She sees that the girl is still alive and well, probably just concussed from the grenade blast. "This ambush was a great success. Good plan, Jack." The ork only nods back at her, concentrated on examining the girl.

Having nothing better to do, Amy knew what had to be done. Someone's gotta do it. She crouched over the dead men and started going through their pockets. They were clearly dead and she could see first hand what her own spirit had accomplished. Thraha really was good at combat. The bodies were not cold yet, but it was still a bit upsetting to search dead bodies. After some time she managed to recover commlinks, which she dumped into a pile, reagents of a kind she wasn't accustomed to but she figured she could still use them, and the sacrificial knife which glowed in the astral.

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Content with his diagnosis that the girl was going to survive the experience with a hell of a headache from the FlashBang, Jack picked the unconscious girl up and walked over to the nearest tree. Propping her up, he removed his armored jacket, wrapped the girl in it, and rested her against a tree. He took off his biomonitor and attached it to her arm, syncing the device to his AR feed so that he knew if there were any changes in her condition while he helped the others with examining the scene.

Seeing Overkill nearly finished wading through the lake, Jack said to Amy, "I'm going to go meet up with Grease and check out the last of them to see if he's still alive. As far as those bodies, I think we should ask a spirit to make them disappear, like what that shaman did to those Yaks in the park we went and dug up." Pointing to Truck and the summoner, the ork continued, "Keep an eye on those two. They've still got pulses and I've seen way too many horror trids to know not to count the bad guys out until they're dead. The girl will be okay. I've got a biomonitor attached to her and it should give me an idea if she starts waking up. Last thing we need to do is chase her through the woods. When she comes around, it might be best if you spoke to her first, given the situation."

"...and good work. Very professional." Jack said to both of them as he picked up his rifle and left the clearing headed in Grease's direction.

Garrett "Overkill" Dramen
Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075


Drave surveyed the carnage of the scene, the bodies of the cultists lying bloody and burnt on the shoreline in stark contrast to the otherwise tranquil setting. He grimaced as the smell of charred human flesh assaulted his senses, and reminded him of the incendiary bombings conducted on Berlin during the Siege. At least none of our people got hurt, Drave thought to himself as he headed up to Amy and Jack on the shore.

Hearing Jack's request, Drave pulled up his AR display and disarmed it with a mental command.

<<@Team[Overkill]: Gut Gemacht Mein Kameraden, now lets gather some intel and the survivors.>>

Right as he was sending the message to the team, he saw Amy had beat him to the punch and was already gathering the commlinks off the cultists bodies. Kluges Mädchen he thought to himself with a grin, then went to check on the girl they rescued. Seeing that Jack had things well in hand, he then went over to Truck's dying form. With the extent of his wounds, it was questionable whether they would even be able save his life if they wanted to. One thing was for sure, they couldn't just leave him here like this.

Drave then looked back at Jack with the rescued victim, giving him a grim look. They both knew what had to be done. "Jack, why don't you take the girl and go check out that man Grease is with? Patch him up as best you can; he is no good to us dead. Amy and I will finish checking out the bodies here."

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Even though the fight was over, Amy didn't feel safe out there. "I'm not sure I want to call off Thraha just yet. He's doing surveillance around our position and that makes me feel a lot safer about taking our time to clean things out around here. But what I could do is summon another spirit to bury them at the bottom of the lake as we're leaving."

"Overkill, you might want to check the commlinks real quick to make sure they're not transmitting anything."

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

As Grease knelt down over still form of the cultist, patting him down, finding a cheap commlink tucked in his pocket. as he continued his pat down, the recumbent figure sprang up, fangs bared, lunging for Grease's throat.

Grease yelled and fell over backwards, batting ineffectually at the vampire's outstretched arms, the hideous strength hidden beneath the layers of his expensive custom suit.

Unable to hold off his attacker, his eyes widened in horror as the vampire's mouth reached inexorably for his throat...

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Scrambling back on his ass scooting by his feet at an impressive rate, Grease finally managed to clear his Ingram X and start unloading into the monster as it menaced over him, it's unnatural limbs stretched outwards. His eyes go wider as the bullets pass harmlessly through the form, still walking towards him without blinking. The creature is completely silent, the only sound in the woods is now the steady "THMP THMP THMP" of his machinegun firing with a suppressor on.

No frakking way! I told them!!

Sending a mental command to his drone, Grease called out, "Help! Christ, help!"

<<@Bumble: ENGAGE!!>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy reacts with great speed, running as fast as she can towards Grease. I need to protect him.

<<@Team [Amy's subvocal] What's going on Grease? What are you shooting at?>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

His gun clicking empty with no perceived effect, Grease manages to flip over onto all fours and scramble like a feral creature back towards his spider hole. Furtive glances back as he trips, scrambles, and rolls forward show the creature still advancing, a menacing grin starting to form.

Eventually reaching the hole, Grease gets in and pulls the top down.

This is my home. my home. my home.

"You can't come in! You can't come in!"

His heart beat nearly bursting through his ears, he finally manages to reply to Amy.

<<@Team [Grease's subvocal]: The FRAKKING VAMPIRE!! He's not down; he got right back up!!>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Vampire?!? Drek... Jack thought to himself as he received Grease's report. Bringing the Colt up to his shoulder and sighting down the iron sights, the ork moved toward the rigger's last known position and mentally accessed the AR feed showing the camera view from Grease's drone. The ork paused.

<<@Team [JustJack] Uh, amigo? Is this a new threat? I'm looking at the camera feed and the hombre who was running for the car is still on the ground...>>

He knew that life and death situations could sometimes cause hallucinations and, given Grease's apparent history with drugs, the ork wouldn't be surprised if it were a contributing factor.

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy is taken aback by the scene, not sure what to make of it. She's on high alert, looking around for threats, in the physical and astral. But there's just nothing. What the heck?

<<@Team [Amy's voice] I can't see anything either. What is it Grease? Are you okay?>>

Garrett "Overkill" Dramen
Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:03 PM, August 1st, 2075

Hearing the panic in Grease's voice and the sound of his suppressed submachine gun rapidly emptying its magazine, Drave pulled his AK back up to his shoulder and checked the feeds from the drones on overwatch. Sure enough, the cultist that bolted for the cars was still on the ground, just as Jack said. Knowing firsthand the vast array of psychological trauma that being in combat could inflict, Drave knew he had to calm him down.

<<@Grease[Overkill]: Don't worry, Mein Freund, Jack and Amy are on there way to your position. For now, I need you to calm down, take a breath, and assess your situation. We do not have a visual of the hostile from the drones on overwatch, can you give us its position?>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:03 PM, August 1st, 2075

Where?! Are they blind?!

Barely mustering the courage to poke his head out, his eyes darting furtively, Grease replies, <<@Team [Grease's subvocal]: It's right... Where did it go?>>

All Grease can see is the body of the cultist his drone took down, apparently unconscious. Both his Fly-Spy and Rotodrone remain in their holding patterns, picking up nothing unusual. In FACT, his Rotodrone would have fired, had there been something; he had given it the order. His mind racing, it comes to the only logical conclusion: someone was messing with him.

Crawling out of his hole and dusting off the seat of his pants, Grease walks causually back to the group.

"Ha-Ha Amy, very funny. Your little light show scared the drek out of me. In the future, I'd appreciate if you kept your little antics to yourself."

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:03 PM, August 1st, 2075

While Jack was pretty sure Grease was hallucinating, he didn't lower his weapon as he arrived in the area near the vehicle. Approaching the body of the cultist, he leaned down and poked it with the end of his Colt M23. Once he was confident the man wasn't going to jump and sink fangs in his throat, the ork set his AR down and pulled out his medkit to diagnose the man's condition.

<<@Team [JustJack] Checking this guy out. Let's figure out what we're going to do with this guy, Truck, the summoner, the girl, the body on the cross, and these vehicles. We need to be gone in 5-10 minutes.>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:03 PM, August 1st, 2075

Regaining his composure somewhat, Grease addressed the group as if he hadn't just ran with his tail between his legs from an imagined nightmare.

<<@Team [Grease's subvocal]: Truck has no value to us, let's make sure he's down. If that guy you're checking out is still alive we should take him with us. The girl too, obviously. Overkill, let's see if we can hot-wire one of their cars and drive it out of here; I think that one is running.>>

Grease paused, thinking over his next comment carefully.

<<@Team [Grease's subvocal]: I don't like to say it, but as for the other body it would do us a lot of good to leave things as they are. We just created a bunch of bodies and it's not likely anyone is going to come out here looking for them. If we wanted we could try to recover what we could, but then we're still transporting a body through the free zone, which is never good. That said, I'll do what you guys want; I'm not going to claim any moral high ground here.>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:05 PM, August 1st, 2075

As Jack finally managed to draw a pulse from the prone form, he responded to Grease's last comment.

<<@Team [JustJack] I agree. I don't think we can cart the woman's body around. With that said, if Amy could ask for her spirit to get rid of the bodies, we could possibly ask it to bury her somewhere and mark the grave so it could be relocated if needed. Either way, we should probably try to secure a tissue sample for Mr. J so he can inform any next of kin>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:05 PM, August 1st, 2075

The crisis that their team's rigger went through was just one more weirdness to add to the list from Grease. He had used drugs before, had shown paranoia, which isn't all that bad but can be excessive at times, and now seemingly had hallucinations on top of it all. Amy didn't feel like it was important to address his mild insanity right away and just let it go when he blamed her for what he did. I'm not sure I want to be on another job with this guy.

Moving on, Amy double checked that she wasn't leaving any signature behind, just in case. Having nothing better to do she came over to Jack and tried to assist him.

<<@Team [Amy] I can ask a spirit to bury all of them, but that would mean that I release Thraha for the night. He's currently doing surveillance for us and he'll be a huge help in case there's more fighting to come. I'm all for giving people a decent final resting place, but not at the cost of our security. I agree with Grease, I think we can leave the bodies behind and nature will take care of them.>>

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:05 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack frowned at the decidedly non-covert approach the team seemed to be suggesting concerning the scene of the assault.

<<@Team [JustJack] I'll lodge my complaint about leaving all this drek as is. There are a ton of bad things that can happen to a person out here. Leaving the bodies so there is no question that at least a few were ambushed with guns would get rid of about 75% of those things. I'd prefer to keep our opponents in the dark as much as possible. Either way, I ain't leaving that girl on the cross...>

Shedding his firearms, Jack walked over to the mutilated and decomposing form on the cross. Even though he tried to keep himself from gagging, he did it anyway. He gently untied the bindings keeping the body in place and gathered the remains up in his arms as best he could. Approaching the shore of the lake, the ork walked out until he was about waist deep. Discreetly popping his handblade, he cut off a hunk of the woman's hair as well as cutting off one of her index fingers and stowed the identifying biological material in his jacket. Next, he slit open the cadaver's stomach to release any gasses that might have built up. Nearly choking at the release, he pushed the body down into the water, letting the lake fill up the newly opened void and take the body below.

"Reposar En Paz," Jack said as he headed back to shore. Given the depth of the water, he was able to swim a bit and did his best to wash the decaying matter from his clothes.

Garrett "Overkill" Dramen
Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:05 PM, August 1st, 2075


<<@Team[Overkill]: Jack is right, Mein Kameraden, we need to clean this place up and leave as little for our enemies to pick up on as possible. Grease, check the feed from the chiphouse, Amy, hold off on dismissing Thraha until he see if our other target has made an appearance tonight. We can sink the bodies into the lake. I will take care of Truck and the other cultist.">>

Drave approached the forms of Truck and the summoner, seeing that they were both obviously near death, he knew what had to be done. Even if they could be helped, men willing to murder innocent girls bound to crosses were never going to change. He pulled his Crusader, checked the suppressor, took aim, and with an unflinching expression of determination, finished both off in rapid succession.

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:10 PM, August 1st, 2075

"I got the bodies. Give me five minutes," Jack said.

The ork gathered the bodies and carried them out of sight of his companions to the edge of the lake. Even with his augmented muscles, Truck was a bit too heavy, so he grabbed the troll's legs and drug him, doing his best to drag the body along hard packed dirt rather than through the soft lake shore silt. Once he had gathered all of the bodies, Jack took a look around to make sure his companions were otherwise engaged. Satisfied, he popped his handblade.

Simply based on the imagined wounds it could produce, the wicked length of steel was enough to turn a person's stomach, Emerging parallel to his left pinky finger, the blade extended about a foot. Double sided, the outside edge was a sharp curved blade while the inside was largely dull but featured a hook halfway down the length. Fashioned, after a sort, similar to a gutting knife, Jack had to wonder what purpose the blade served and why he would have had it implanted inside his body. The wounds it caused tended to be horrible, albeit he couldn't complain about it in this case, disemboweling was exactly what he needed. In a methodical fashion, the ork walked each body out into a slightly different area of the lake and proceeded to gut each in turn, pulling out their vitals enough to create a cavity that could fill with lake water. Before pushing them under, he severed the right index finger from each body and shoved them into one of the cargo pockets on his pants. For good measure, the ork dug up a few handfuls of soil and shoved it inside to help anchor the body to the bottom.

Once finished, the ork did his best to use clean lake water to sluice off the blood and excrement that came from performing such a task. I'm gonna need a shower something fierce... he thought to himself.

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:10 PM, August 1st, 2075

Watching the feed from his Fly-Spy, Jack's dispatch of their recent adversaries does nothing to quell Grease's uneasy stomach.

That is one guy I am going to have to keep an eye out for.. Not sure where you learn something like that.

Investigating the van a little closer, Grease pokes his head around the windows, peeking in.

<<@Team [Grease's subvocal]: This van bare a striking resemblance to anyone else to the one they were driving in that shoot out? We should take try to take it with us, and see if there's any trace evidence inside.>>

Not to mention I wouldn't mind someplace to stash my drones; the beemer is a little tight for the 4 of us and some heavy firepower. I could paint the side, maybe a Denver Power & Water symbol; those things are parked on the street for days and no one notices...

Grease's mind wanders a bit more, darting from one topic to the next. He glances back over at the unconscious prisoner, and nods at Overkill.

<<@Overkill [Grease's subvocal]: Help me pop the doors on this van; it's going to be easier to transport that guy at gunpoint in the back of a van than it is a passenger car. I'd prefer we kept a gun on him rather than give him the chance to slip out of the restraints in the trunk of a car.>>

Plus he may still be a vampire..

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:10 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy offers to help Jack with the bodies, but trying to lift Truck's feet she could immediately see that a weak female elf wasn't going to be much help to a strong ork like Jack, and let him do this by himself.

Turning back she went towards the Grease and Overkill, who were considering ways to get into the van's system. Having nothing better to do she inspected the other vehicle, which was still running. The Americar didn't seem in too bad a shape, but she wondered if anything inside might be valuable to the team, either monetarily or information-wise. After her inspection of the truck, glove box and other compartments, she came back to sit down and wait for the tech guys to do their thing. Meanwhile she took a look at the one person that they had left alive through it all, the victim. Looking into the astral, she takes a closer look at her aura and recognizes the special glow of the Awakened. Not sure if she is adept or magician, aware or not of her condition, the shaman still takes a mental note of it.

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:10 PM, August 1st, 2075

His greedy eyes looking over the van, recognition begins to dawn.

Drone racks.. Van large enough for Truck to fit in.. This has to be the van from the drive by.

Frowning, Grease messages the team.

<<@Team [Grease's subvocal]: This has to be their rigger's truck. Overkill; ignore that last request; I don't want to drive a crime scene on wheels out of here. I say we take the Americar and get the heck out of here. Throw the v.. bad guy in the trunk, the victim can ride in the back with two of you.>>

Taking one last admiring look at the van, Grease pops the hood and starts pulling small but important components out of the engine. Once he had an assortment, some of which he wouldn't think to check half the time he tossed the majority into the water; the others he scattered around the site in hard to see nooks and crannies.

Lord only knows what other crimes this van has been involved in; it doesn't do me any good to take a van if it's got 5-6 bodies on it already. Shame to lose a fine vehicle.

Having sabotaged it to the best of his ability in the short time he allotted himself, Grease opened up the back of the van to see if there was anything worth taking that wasn't nailed down.

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:10 PM, August 1st, 2075


After hearing Grease's warning about the van, Overkill quickly pulled up a window to the Matrix, and inspected the van.

Sure enough, there was a steady stream of information shooting through the Matrix, a pulsing energy line flashing out from the dark heart of the Arsenal back toward the city proper. Lifting off from the ground, his winged avatar launched itself through the air, following the stream of data. As the data stream leads him further and further away, he can feel the virtual surroundings shaking with buildup of extraneous signals.


Back in his meat body, Overkill moves to put himself next to the Americar, and sits down, propping himself up against the front passenger tire. "Give me a minute, Freunde."

Closing his eyes, his body slumped a little as he entered the Matrix fully, the noise now causing him a sharp ache in his temples. However, the closer connection allowed him to cut through the noise a little easier, and he flew off again, redoubling his speed. Within moments he reached his destination, as the stream of concentrated data simply disappeared. He stops, hovering about the area, and then opens his hands. Small insects composed of light form, and as each completes its assembly, it flies away, zipping here and there in the virtual landscape. After the fifth one, Overkill strikes paydirt, as an icon appears where none had been a moment before, the insects stinger lodged it its side.

Swooping down, he lays his hand on the gray cube, and it glows brilliantly green for a moment, and then the light fades, leaving a faint phosphorescence as his Mark is left on the icon. He thinks for a moment about trying to trace the physical location of the icon, but then decides the Noise is too strong, comes back to his body.

Overkill opens his eyes and stands up, not bothering to wide the dirt from his trousers, as they are simply a new patch of stains on his already mud covered clothing. Fighting back a sneeze, he says "I was able to find the icon that is receiving the data, but it is far away. I could try and hack it now, but I think it would be better if we got somewhere closer and with more of a connection that these woods, nicht war? If that is the case, we need to hurry, as the longer I am connected, the more likely the authorities will track me down."

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:10 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack took one last good look around the scene and figured it probably was a confusing enough mess to make life difficult for anyone else to figure out exactly what the frag had happened.

"Alright amigos, let's get out of here." Jack grabbed the bag with the SMG and clips of ammunition. He didn't really care much about the firearm, but thought the bag was nice. "Any bets this weapon was used in one of the murders? I've got 100 nuyen on Newton and Taylor..."

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:10 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy nods to Jack. "Yeah, it could be evidence. About time to finally leave this awful place, the astral space here stinks."

Northern side of Upper Derby Lake, 11:13 PM, August 1st, 2075

After dumping the cultist in the trunk unceremoniously, Jack lifted the unconscious girl into the back seat, while Amy got in on the other side. Overkill rode up front with Grease, who swore softly at having to control the vehicle manually.

Making a U-turn, Grease got the vehicle back onto the road, and started to backtrack along the path the cultists arrived. Skirting the northern edge of the lake, the runner's kept a sharp lookout while the spirit and drones flew overwatch.

As the car trundled along the road Thraha spoke loudly in Amy's mind. "Mistress, a large pack of dual natured dog-like creatures is approaching from the north through the woods. If you maintain this current speed, you will run right into them."

Northern side of Upper Derby Lake, 11:13 PM, August 1st, 2075

"Good job, Thraha."

"Hey Grease, turn around! There are dangerous beasts in front of us that way, Thraha told me. We might as well try the road block instead, right? He still owes me one more service tonight, I'll keep that in reserve in case we need the firepower later. We have to rely on the drones for surveillance from now on."

Northern side of Upper Derby Lake, 11:13 PM, August 1st, 2075

Spinning the wheel on reflex and pulling the handbrake, Grease executes a textbook J-turn before stopping to think about what Amy said.

Who the frak is Thraha?

Not wanting to rock the boat and presuming the magic user saw something his drones didn't, Grease nodded to Amy in the back seat and proceeded along the new route at speed.

<<@Drones [Grease]: Keep alert up there, and scout the new route I'm laying in.>>

Northern side of Upper Derby Lake, 11:13 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack leaned into the seat when Grease threw the car into a bootleg. Holding the girl as steady as possible, he frowned in the rearview mirror. At least the fragger in the trunk is likely getting bounced around... he thought. The ork checked his image link to make sure their captives vitals hadn't changed.

"We can't outrun them in the car?" Jack didn't really like changing the route. He felt there was a good reason why they were going this way, namely they were pretty sure the exit could actually be accessed.

Northern side of Upper Derby Lake, 11:13 PM, August 1st, 2075

Drek, I should watch it when I tell Grease to turn around!

"There's a pack of awakened hellish wolves north of us, and they may be coming towards us. I sure hope we can outrun them, but we can't do that going towards them.

Northern side of Upper Derby Lake, 11:13 PM, August 1st, 2075

Shrugging, Jack muttered, "We were driving west..." Checking on his patient, he unlimbered his SMG just in case.

Peoria Street, the Arsenal 11:23 PM, August 1st, 2075

Grease made the quick turn onto Peoria, heading south toward the old military complex. His Fly Spy leading the way, the Americar moved down the windy, pitch black road through the woods, bouncing the occupants around as it maneuvered over pavement that had not been maintained for decades.

The team looked around nervously, Amy's warning about paranormal animals putting them on edge. About 10 minutes into their trip, the Fly Spy, flying above the treetops was able to see the old military complex clearly. The buildings stood dark and quiet, windows either missing completely or with holes in them. Debris littered the ground around the buildings, and Grease could see through the drone's AR feed the roadblock. The complex had been updated after the old World Trade Center bombings, when bases around the country had put in barriers designed to avoid truck bombers from being able to drive straight through to the base. Although the entrance to the base from the northern side was clear, a low wall of concrete pylons surrounded the entrance to the south, with a solid metal barricade over the road itself. The barricade would be lowered after the vehicle had proved that it belonged on the base.

The guard tower next to the barricade was empty now, but the barricade was in the raised position. Grease looked back toward the others as the car approached the complex, "Now what gang?"

Peoria Street, the Arsenal 11:23 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack frowned at the current situation and said "I doubt the maquinaria has been maintained or that there is any power to run it. I guess our best option is for Grease to call the taxi over and we ditch this car here."

Peoria Street, the Arsenal 11:13 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy was glad to soon get out of the arsenal in one piece. After all, they could have all blown up on a land mine by now, if you believe half of what people say about this place. The confirmed presence of dangerous critters had already been worrisome. "I agree, let's do what's easiest. Should we crash this one or even try to burn it down though? It could maybe help to blur our trail and what we did tonight."

Peoria Street, the Arsenal 11:23 PM, August 1st, 2075

As Grease maneuvered his car into the parking area of the base, Overkill said to Jack, "There may be a manual override for the barrier, although I'm not sure if it is still working after this amount of time."

The decker moved his AR feed around, looking for anything that might resemble a device they could use to raise the barrier, but the Matrix was almost silent here, only the team's own icons glowing in his vision.

Peoria Street, the Arsenal 11:23 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack nodded at Overkill's advice. "Well, no reason to sit here on our culos. I'm going to see if I can find the override while we wait for the taxi. I'd rather be waiting on that side of the fence than this one. Someone cover me..." Jack exited the vehicle, but kept his SMG handy. Hoping the darkness provided him reasonable concealment, he slipped over to the barricade and searched for an access panel either on the barricade itself or its housing in the ground. He wasn't entirely sure about heading into the guard tower and hoped his initial search was successful.

Peoria Street, the Arsenal 11:23 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy takes a step and puts one foot out of the van, looking around in astral and physical space for any kind of possible threats to Jack, and staying ready to provide support if necessary.

Abandoned military complex, the Arsenal 11:24 PM, August 1st, 2075

As Jack searches along the housing, Grease sends a message to his taxi to meet the group at the barricade. Despite the lack of signal strength, the RCC is able to make a smooth connection with his vehicle, and the engine roars to life as it pulls out onto E. 56th street.

Jack's searched around the barricade, but was unable to find any type of housing. Looking up, he debated on climbing to the guard tower to see if something was up there. As he debated climbing up to the top however, he heard a low clang, like metal on metal, and a rhythmic pounding. He glanced over at the car, and he could see that Amy had heard it too. Glancing around, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound, they couldn't seem to figure out where it was coming from.

It was Grease who recognized it first, as his drones helped him triangulate the source of the sound. "Guys, its from below us." The team looked down in worry as they could tell that the pounding was coming closer...

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:24 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jumping up to his feet, the ork shouted, "Frag it, ditch the car and let's get on the other side of the barricade. Grease, can you tell the car to drive away once we empty it? Maybe whatever is coming will chase it..."

Ignoring any sense of safety, the ork darted back to the car and pulled the still unconscious girl out of the backseat.

"Someone grab the rest of the gear and Blondie out of the trunk!"

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:24 PM, August 1st, 2075

What the frag is it??

"On it." At Jack's command, Amy grabs all the gear that's lying in the van, including the ork's firearm, and moves away. "Overkill, can you drag the human out of there?"

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:24 PM, August 1st, 2075

Grease pops the trunk manually, and gets out of the car, taking a moment to wipe down the steering wheel and handle, and heads to the back of the car.

Overkill has already gotten out of the passenger side, and with a quick, "Liebschen, heads up!" tosses his AK to the young girl from the Warrens, who catches it adroitly with her left hand. Carrying both Overkill's and Jack's rifles, she hurries over to the barricade.

Overkill and Grease get to the back of the car, and with some grunting and short oaths, manage to get the human out of the trunk, his legs hitting the ground with a thud as they lose control of his body for a second.

I was worried about getting shot, never thought I'd get a hernia on this job, Grease was grunting with the effort as he and Overkill hoisted the body over the barricade. As the team made their way down the trail toward the main road, the taxi still a a minute away, the door to one of the buildings about 100 meters to the north burst open, and a stream of figures began pouring through the door.

The figures seemed a mix of metahumanity, although it was difficult to tell gender and race as their faces were covered by large, frightening, almost tribal looking masks or face paint. There were several dozen at least, brandishing a mixture of weapons, mostly melee, although there were a few with firearms.

To Amy's astral vision, she could see two spirits, each a giant bear-shape, come straight through the walls of the building and roar a challenge as they started running 2 meters off the ground after the group.