E. Smoky Run, Aurora Warrens, 3:20 AM July 31st, 2075

Just south of the park, the 400GT whispers up to the curb, disturbing very little.

"It's really creepy with the headlights out, Grease." Overkill comments, squinting in the dim light to see.

<<@Team[Grease]: I can see just fine.>>

Quickly turning the car around, the team save for Grease pile out of the car, with the trunk silently popping open to allow Jack to pull the Doberman drone out. Jack's eyes begin to shake, and his muscles convulse, then become silky smooth. He seems to be taking in the surroundings quickly, while maintaining the same snake-smooth economy of motion. He swiftly lifts and sets the drone on it's tracks down next to the car.

RHex looks up at Jack, and cocks it's head.

<<@Team[Grease] Bow-wow. Let's go.>>

South edge of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:25 AM July 31st, 2075

The night was warm, a welcome respite to the oppressive heat of the day. One advantage of the city's legendary position a mile above sea-level was the low humidity. A stillness and quiet filled the air, not uncommon for this time of night, even in the sprawl. With the team assembled, Jack silently motioned for the group to follow him as he entered the treeline to the west.

His heavy helmet rested comfortably on his head, the built in trode-net providing a direct-neural interface to the rest of his gear. He mentally composed a text message to the rest of the team as they made their way quietly through the underbrush.

<<@Team [JustJack] Alright amigos, in and out with no surprises. We should be good for the next 50 meters or so. If you check the map on your image links, you'll see AROs for the three sleeping squads and the lookouts at the fire pit.>>

After a short while, Jack held up his fist, signaling for the team to halt. The treeline ended abruptly, their target destination lay inside a copse of trees on the other side of an open area directly across from the fire pit about 150 meters away. Turning to look at the rest of the team, the ork sent another text message.

<<@Team [JustJack] Alright, time for excitement. We have to clear this open terrain to get to the grave site. We're going to be in full view of the Yaks across the way so we need to be sneaky and quiet. Hopefully, between the lighting and distance, they're going to have a tough time seeing us, but you never know. Order across is going to be Rhex, Overkill, and Amy. I'll take trail, keep 10 meters between yourself and the person in front of you.>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:30 AM July 31st, 2075

Amy whispered, "Hold up, the spirit can aid us." Opening her mind to the telepathic connection she maintained with her spirit, she asked it for a favor. "Great spirit, please hide us from those who may try to seek us out." Silently nodding, the spirit materializes next to RHex and bows its head, a brief shimmer surrounding each of the team members in turn.

One by one, the team crossed the open terrain. RHex went first, the control rig providing an extremely smooth interface between Grease and the drone. Slowly trundling along the ground, the drone silently rotated its assault rifle to keep the small group of men sitting around the extinguished campfire in its sight. Ten meters behind the drone, Overkill moved smoothly across the shadowed grounds. His time in Berlin equipped him with the skills necessary to move unnoticed in any environment, helpful for when Corp-sponsored kill teams were gunning for you. Amy followed behind Overkill, a little further than the 10 meters Jack had suggested, but it didn't really matter as none of them could see her. Clearly out of her element, the young woman tried to mimic Overkill's movements but just didn't have the background to effectively hide. Sighing at her inability, she simply walked normally, trusting in her invisibility spell and spirit to keep her hidden.

Jack counted watched his chronometer, guessing when Amy would have cleared the expanse. Once the three had cleared the open terrain, Jack made his way across the gap. Keeping his eyes focused on the watchmen, he failed to notice a branch in his path and stepped on it. The snap sounded like a gunshot in his ears. He squatted down and froze, sweat beading up and having nothing to do with the warmth of the night. Taking four long, deep breaths, he strained his senses towards the trio around the fire pit but did not notice any change in activity or alertness. Convinced they had failed to notice him, the ork continued on and reached the tree line hiding the grave site.

He spotted the team already set-up in defensive positions, with Overkill and RHex setup to cover the west and north flanks respectively. Nodding approvingly, Jack composed another text message.

<<@Team [JustJack] Good work, I think we made it without them noticing. Alright Amy, time to get to work.>>

Jack takes cover behind a tree a few meters away from RHex, figuring if they had an immediate threat, it would come from the north.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:30 AM July 31st, 2075

With her newly acquired AR contact lenses, Amy sees Jack's message appear in the corner of her field of vision. Turning back to him, she nods even though he may not be able to see her, before performing the summoning of a new spirit. First, she crouches and makes sure everyone is well behind cover before she dismisses the spirit of man. "We are grateful for your help tonight, you may return to the spiritual planes as you see fit."

She then concentrates and reaches out to search in those same planes for another being, one more suited for the task at hand. Finding several attuned to the earth, she engages in negotiation with one of sufficient force and with the ability to conceal them like the previous one had done. "Oh great spirit of times eternal, thank you for heeding my call." An astral being seemingly made of the same fabric as trees are made appears in front of her. "I am here to serve, instruct me and I will obey until dawn is upon us." "Thank you, old one, I call for your help in keeping all of us here, including yourself, concealed from others. I want especially yourself to remain hidden from view as much as you can help it while performing the task I have for you."

A treeman appears among the group as the spirit manifests and exerts his power to conceal them. With a deep voice the spirit says "It is done, master, what more can I do tonight?" "Evil-doing metahumans have been buried on this site. We wish to recover their commlinks, it is a small artifact with some moving parts, built mostly from metal and glass. Without making too much noise, please dig in this area until you find their bodies and their commlinks, and hand me over those commlinks when you have found them."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:40 AM July 31st, 2075

The spirit nods, and slides into the dirt at their feet, disappearing from view. The group watches nervously, Jack taking aim on the leftmost of the three men, while sharing his target with the others. Amy looks around in the Astral and physical worlds, looking for anyone who might take notice of them.

Time slowly crawls by, and the team remains still, sweating not just from the heat. The voices of the three men across the park carry across the open ground clearly, and although the team cannot understand the language, they hear laughter in the voices. After a particularly long exchange, one leans back looking up at the sky, while the other two begin walking to the west. They seem to be following the perimeter of the park. One puts his SMG up on his shoulder, pointing it up in the air, while the other has his pointed down at the ground at his side.

The spirit has been gone for about 10 minutes, and now the men are moving south down the western side of the park. They are not moving quickly, but will be on the group in a matter of minutes.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:40 AM July 31st, 2075

Seeing the pending threat of the guard patrol heading their way, Jack composes and sends a text to the group.

<<@Team [JustJack] Alright folks, look alive. That patrol is going to be on our position in a few minutes. Let's see if we can wait them out, they don't look particularly engaged. If you've got wireless devices on that aren't slaved to Overkill's deck, even running silently, I'd suggest shutting them down. If the drek hits the fan, we have to take all three of them down at once, quietly.>>

Jack proceeds to disable the matrix connection to his devices, leaving his skilljack connected through Overkill's deck.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:40 AM July 31st, 2075

Amy subvocalizes to the team. <<@Team [Amy] Understood. My contacts and subvocal mic are wireless though, and when I turn them off, I can't communicate with you unless we whisper to each other. I'm still just next to you by the way. If the two of them seem to be coming too close to us, I'll try to have them go around us with an illusion. Get ready to take a shot if it fizzles. Soka?>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:40 AM July 31st, 2075

Grease sends a text in response to Amy, which lights up the AR displays of the team.

<<@Team [Grease]: Copy. Targeting the two heading towards us; will light them up as necessary.>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:40 AM July 31st, 2075

Reading Grease's text, Jack sends a quick reply to him.

<<@Grease [JustJack] RHex is probably the only one who has range on the joker by the fire pit. Make sure he's your secondary target.>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:40 AM July 31st, 2075

<<@Team [Amy] Ok good. I'm turning off all communication equipment now.>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:41 AM July 31st, 2075

The two men are advancing down the path, coming closer and closer to the group hidden in the trees. Amy reaches down within herself, and causes the image of a homeless man to appear, on his knees, slightly out of sight of the approaching patrol.

As the patrol moves down the path, they see him stand up, and start speaking in gibberish to himself. They look confused at first, and then the man starts gesticulating wildly, pointing at the two men and shouting.

The two guards look at one another and sigh, and then start moving toward the man, who begins to back away from them. The man moves slowly at first, but as the guards move nearer to him, he starts to accelerate, dodging this way and that, always too fast for them to catch him. The third man at the fire pit, seeing the commotion, is doubled over laughing at the inability of the two men to catch him.

This goes on for a full minute and the guards are not shouting at the man to stop.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:41 AM July 31st, 2075

One of the guards, seemingly fed up with chasing the homeless man through the park, raises his gun and barks an order.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:42 AM July 31st, 2075

Watching one fo the Yaks draw down on Amy's illusion, Jack composes a message to the crew.

<<@Team [JustJack] This looks like it's about to get unpleasant. If the spirit is digging in the dirt, is there any reason we need to stick around? The Yaks look like they're distracted right now. Seems like a good time to scram. We can cut through the houses behind us to keep the trees between us and the Yaks and Grease can meet us in the BMW on the street behind us. Am I missing something here?>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:42 AM July 31st, 2075

As the one guard holds his gun pointed at the illusory homeless man, the other approaches him. The homeless man moves away again, and the original man aims at the phantasm's legs, and fires a burst. The bullets pass harmlessly through the man and strike the ground. Stunned, the shooter blinks, and as the phantasm continues to move away, fires again. Meanwhile, the sounds of gunfire have an immediate effect on the dozens of sleeping forms around the park. They quickly stand up, grab whatever meager possessions that are laying next to them, and they begin to bolt.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:42 AM July 31st, 2075

Jack looks around at the others and send a quick text message.

<<@Team [JustJack] I think the jig's up. Next move? >>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:42 AM July 31st, 2075


Examining the situation, Drave responds;

<<@Team [Overkill]: "We could try to slip out along with the rest of the vagrants booking out of here. One extra group of figures running out of the park like everyone else would likely draw little added attention.">>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:42 AM July 31st, 2075

Grease responds quickly.

<<@Team [Grease]: Stay frosty out there. We came here for those commlinks, and I haven't seen anything to suggest we shouldn't get them. We outnumber them 4 to 3. We hold position until we get the commlinks, then leave as a team. If we need to we can take these suckers. We're on the clock now, the cops will show up eventually.>>

You start to think that's an easy position to take, given that you're all out here, and Grease is safe alone in his car half a mile away.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:42 AM July 31st, 2075

<<@Team [JustJack] Cops? Are you serious? There aren't going to be any cops out here. Exactly how long are we waiting for this spirit to finish? Did it happen to provide an itinerary? Those guards probably figured out magic's involved now, so their response is going to escalate. I imagine they're calling up the primo Yak assets including their mages and scrambling them out here pretty damn quick.>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:43 AM July 31st, 2075

After Grease and Jack have their brief conversation, they do not waste time getting down to business. Grease engages the Doberman's sensors, using the ultrasound and motion sensor to lock onto the goon moving closer to Amy's illusion, while zooming in for a closer shot. Jack, mutters to himself, I've got a bad feeling about this..., but engages his helmet's vision mag to bring the goon who just took the shot into clear focus. Inhaling full, exhaling half, he prepares to take the shot if necessary.

Amy, meanwhile, realizing that they will see through her illusion without some help, attempts to reach into the mind of one of the men, trying to to subtlety twist his thoughts to her own advantage. However, the strain of sustaining the illusion is too much, and although she is not fatigued by the spell, she is unable to enter the man's brain.

Overkill, his vision split between the real world and the Matrix, scans the signals being sent out in the vicinity of their position. After a few seconds, he is able to pierce the jamming around the guards' locating the icon for the SMGs for both of the men in the field - although he is unable to find the icon for the man still at the firepit.

The guards themselves, unaware of the leashed violence in the small copse of trees a mere 50 meters away, start shouting back and forth in their own tongue. The two in the field then start to run back toward their comrade at the firepit, while he seems to be talking as well.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:43 AM July 31st, 2075

Grease and Jack continue to train their weapons on the two men running back toward the firepit.

Amy reaches out to the spirit, "Are you close to finding what we are looking for?"

While she is waiting for a response, Overkill watches as the man at the pit continues to speak in Japanese, while hurling a stream of 0's and 1s at the guard's submachinegun. They coil around the icon and burn an image into its electronic image.

The response comes back from the spirit, "It will take a little while longer mistress, I am still looking."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:43 AM July 31st, 2075

Amy isn't sure what is going on, but it looks like their gig might be up very soon. "Well try to hurry, I'm worried we'll need to leave this place real soon." she tells her spirit.

She whispers to her companions. "Let me know if and when you want to engage, I'm still by your side and ready."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:43 AM July 31st, 2075

Jack remains silent, focusing on his aim and breathing. If we were going to take these guys, probably should have done it before they squeezed off a few shots and started calling for backup...

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:43 AM July 31st, 2075

Sensing the tension in the team, Grease sends out a quick message as the two scouts run back to the fire pit.

<<@Team[Grease]: Last chance for an unfair fight. I suggest we hold until they come looking, and defend ourselves if need be. If we were going to take care of this ahead of time that moment is passing rapidly. I can use suppressive fire to keep them all pinned down once they cluster by the fire pit.>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:44 AM July 31st, 2075

As the group sits and waits for the spirit to finish its work, there is a commotion at the door to the apartment complex. The door bangs open, and 5 more goons in track suits come out of the doors, each brandishing machine pistols or SMGs. They move into the treeline on your left, and hide behind trees, as if waiting for some signal. The three goons at the fire pit have also taken cover.

After a few seconds of tense silence, Amy sees a pair of astral forms streak across the sky, and stop above the middle of the park. One form is the glowing image of a female metahuman, and the other a brilliantly glowing ball of fire.

They hover over the park for a moment, before seeing the auras of the group in the trees. Amy, who has been waiting for something to happen, is the first to react.

Overkill, South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:43 AM July 31st, 2075


Drave smiled as he placed the 3rd MARK on the last goon by the firepit, now confident he could reduce their weapon's to sparking heaps of fused metal and smoldering composite materials should this come to a firefight; only not much fire will be coming from their side. But Drave much preferred the idea of getting out of the park without an exchange of bullets. They had made enough enemies the past two days as it is.

He sent an update to the team;

<<@Team: I have all of their weapon's MARKed and can take them out schnell, should the need arise.>>

He then switched his comm to speak only to Jack.

<<@JustJack: Its your call Jack, this may be our last chance to get out of here without a fight. Their backup is going to be here soon. Either way, Mein Genosse, I have your back.">>

Overkill, South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:44 AM July 31st, 2075


Scanning the situation, Drave added;

<<@JustJack: Nevermind, there here.>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:44 AM July 31st, 2075

Jack was about to respond to Overkill when the drek hit the fan. Seeing the opposing numbers double in the span of a few heartbeats didn't bode particularly well. Seeing all of them taking cover was even worse. Assuming the Yaks hadn't already spotted the team, it was likely they had some kind of surveillance assets or a better armored team moving in to start sweeping the park. The ork discarded the first thought, these bobos didn't seem all that well trained and would have probably started shooting if they already knew where the team was.

Overkill, South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:44 AM July 31st, 2075

Amy immediately notices two forms that approach rapidly in the astral sky above them. One is a mage of lower power than her, the other is probably a fire spirit friend of his. Damn them hermetics.

The shaman leaves astral space to avoid immediate detection and possible attacks. She whispers to Jack and Overkill "Another mage in the astral, weaker than me, but I have to interrupt the digging if I want to fight him. Tell me what to do, Jack." She realized in that instant that an amnesiac was becoming the de facto leader of the team.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:44 AM July 31st, 2075

Jack closed his eyes when he heard Amy's whisper. Outnumbered by grunts and with magical assets on the field, the ork didn't really see a clean way out of the situation. The tables had clearly been turned and living to fight another day was a sight better than getting geeked by a bunch of Yaks in the Warrens. Jack composed a quick text to the team:

<<@Team [JustJack] We're done. Outnumbered, more probably on the way. Fall back through the houses to the south, Overkill, take point, Amy follow him. Rhex and I will provide suppression if they spot us, I'll take the new crew; Rhex the firepit crew. Grease, meet us in the car on the street. Amy, if you can tell your spirit to bring you the 'links when it's done, do it. If we have to come back, we will. Salir!>>

Jack mentally switches his SMG to Full Auto fire and switches targets to the new crew opposite him.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:44 AM July 31st, 2075

<<@Team[Grease]: Roger.>>

Audible only to the team members directly next to it, RHex throws his motor in reverse and starts slowly creeping away from the two groups, his gun stilled trained on the three by the fire pit. It's going about half it's normal speed, you can tell it's able to go much quicker but is keeping a slow pace so as to not outrun you.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:44 AM July 31st, 2075

Jack catches the movement out of the corner of his eye as Rhex starts to back up. I thought I said that we would stay and...nevermind. He switches skillsofts so that he is ready to run if need be, and begins backing away from the treeline.

Overkill, Amy, and Rhex are all moving as well, with Overkill the closest one to the house. His eyes catch a glimmer of light as a ghostly image appears over the heads of the two groups of goons, points to the runner team, and speaks in Japanese. A sudden "Oh shit!" from behind him makes him look back as Overkill lurches back from a ball of fire that is materializing in the clearing between them and the house.

The goons, in response to the the message from the mage, surge forward. Rhex immediately opens fire at the group near the fire pit, causing them to fall to the ground immediately, as 7.62mm rounds rocket downrange...

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:44 AM July 31st, 2075

Amy reaches out and attempts to wrest control of the spirit away from its summoner. Back and forth the contest of will rages, with neither side able to gain an advantage.

Overkill, meanwhile, in a desperate attempt to keep his young friend safe, taunts the spirit, drawing it to him. The Fire spirit lunges at him, and he dives into a somersault to escape, coming up in a forward roll just inches away from a 6 foot swath of grass that is now in flames. As he gains his footing, his Crusader hammers away as he spits out a burst at the creature, the electricity jolting the spirit and causing it obvious pain. It roars as a response, and its brightness intensifies.

Jack and Rhex, meanwhile, continue to spray lead at their respective targets, shell casings falling like rain at their feet. The men opposite Jack squeeze off a few rounds, but these pass harmlessly overhead, as they are far more concerned with keeping their head down than hitting a target.

To see her friend attacked by the fire spirit renewed Amy's determination to put an end to this threat. Thanks to a better understanding of how summoner was imposing its will upon the destructive entity, Amy is able to untie the strings that were binding it to this plane of existence. With its renewed freedom, the burning essence immediately leaves both the physical and astral planes as it finds its way back to the metaplanes. "I got your back Overkill, don't worry about me."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:44 AM July 31st, 2075

A fraggin spirit? That would have been good to know about... Jack thought to himself as everything went to drek. No sooner had he mentally written his last will and testament, that Amy stepped forward, basically stared the thing down, and it vanished from sight. With their escape opened up, Jack mentally composed a quick message.

<<@Team [JustJack] Good job, Amy! Shake your hoops folks and get to the car before another one shows up!>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:44 AM July 31st, 2075

Drave was amazed as he saw the Fire Spirit disappear from in front of him. That was close, he thought to himself and then looked at the burnt ground from when the spirit tried to immolate him, almost too close.

He flashed an approving smile towards Amy, and seeing she was with him he continued running, knowing he was responsible for taking point and checking to see if the team's escape route to the street was clear of anymore surprises.

Wanting to assure that the car would be there, Drave sent a message to Grease:

<<@Grease [Overkill]: Make sure you are in position, we will be hitting the street shortly.>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:45 AM July 31st, 2075

Not sure if they were reacting to his message or just common sense, Jack watched Amy and Overkill dart through the singed grass formerly occupied by the spirit of fire and head toward the cover provided by the houses. Close behind, the ork slammed his back into the rear wall of the house, aiming his SMG toward the park while Rhex sped along, pausing every once in a while with a burst of suppressed fire from his AK-97. Clearing the back of the house, the ork saw that Amy and Overkill had reached the BMW.

As Jack and Rhex approached the vehicle, the trunk popped open and the drone wheeled around to the rear. Hearing shouts of anger coming from the park, Jack knew the Yaks were likely heading their way without any opposing fire to keep them pinned in. Jack yanked the drone off the ground, track still spinning, and tossed it in the back of the BMW. "Good boy," he said, slamming the trunk down and heading for the opened passenger side door. Amy was still outside the vehicle as Jack dashed for the front door. "Hold up, Jack," she said, "That mage may still be around spying on us."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:45 AM July 31st, 2075

After warning Jack, Amy stops and looks around, altering her vision to try and see the enemy mage. The area around her is gray and lifeless, until she looks directly up.

There, hovering above her, the female shape hangs in the air, throws its arm forward and a sizzling bolt of energy hurtles towards Amy.

She barely has time to put her defenses up, crossing her arms protectively in front of her face, and the magical bolt shatters against a blue energy barrier inches from her body.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:45 AM July 31st, 2075

That hermy bitch!! Amy closes her third eye as fast as she had opened it and comes inside the car with the others. "We should be smart about where we go, we're being followed astrally by that frackin' mage. My best bet to get her off our trail would be to send a spirit after her, but for now the one I've summoned is busy digging for the commlinks. We shouldn't go farther than a few hundred meters from it, so that it can alert me if it's detected and under attack."

She then also makes sure that her spirit's aware of what is going on, using their telepathic link. "I'm not leaving you behind, my sturdy friend. Just let me know if you are attacked."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:45 AM July 31st, 2075

"Well, I guess that's to be expected. We're not the only ones with magical assets. I think it goes without saying that we probably shouldn't head anywhere near any of our homes for now." Jack said, checking his gear and himself to make sure that he had no new holes.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:45 AM July 31st, 2075

Gripping the wheel anxiously, Grease leans over the seat to look back.

"Let's go let's go let's go! I can lose that mage; it'll have trouble tracking us since this car is made out of metal and other non-living drek. We can't just do a circle of the park, this place is crawling with them and they'll be here in less than a minute."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:45 AM July 31st, 2075

"I don't think we've got the option to stick around. You're our wheels, Grease. Do whatever you think you can." Jack said aloud.

While speaking aloud, he silently sent a message to the rigger.

<<@Grease [JustJack] The links may be important, but not more important than our skins. Get us out of here. If you can lose the mage and find somewhere to lay low near enough that Amy can hear her spirit, do it. But that's not top priority.>>

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:46 AM July 31st, 2075

Once everyone is in the car, Grease yells out "Hold on!" and floors it. He rockets down S. Evanston, turning on to E. Layton before the Yaks even manage to make it out of the park.

Grease feels a burning sensation in his extremities as he turns on to Chambers and heads north, molten rubber trailing behind them. Grimacing against the pain, he shoots up the main drag, the streets quiet and empty at this time of night. Doesn't make it easy to shake someone when there's no traffic to hide in...

Overkill and Amy are thrown against each other in the turn, and, a little embarrassed, Amy extricates herself from Overkill and sits back up, strapping herself in to the APPS. "Please stay safe underground. I will come back and tell you when to come out and meet us."

Crossing Smoky Run with a sigh, Grease glances at the side mirror, and says "We're out of their territory, no physical pursuit at least." and then hangs a hard right onto Quincy, and then another one into a parking garage. He smoothly goes up the ramp, climbing through the garage to the top floor.

Pulling up to the edge of the garage, he throws the car in park. "I picked this garage because it gives a great view of Chambers - we should be able to see anyone coming after us. Well, anybody not in the astral plane, anyway. Now what?"

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:55 AM July 31st, 2075

"We still in range of your spirit, Amy?" Jack asked. He looked out the front windshield and over the ruins of the Warrens. They were actually lucky that no one seemed to currently lay claim to this parking garage. Given how close it was to the Fronts-Yak border, he could imagine why.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:46 AM July 31st, 2075

Amy sighs, "No." She looks as though she regrets not being able to have done better.

"We'll need to get back within about half a kilometers of where he is for me to instruct him. He'll come back to us then, but he might be spotted either in the astral or the physical world."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:55 AM July 31st, 2075

Jack pondered their situation; the lack of a decent night's sleep dragging on him. "I guess we should probably assume the mage is still around. It can't hear us on the astral plane can it?" Jack caught Amy's quick shake of the head in the rearview mirror and continued. "We came here to do a job and I think we should finish it. At the same time, we need to do it without casualties." Jack had a 'knack' for stating the obvious, but it seemed to be something of a centering technique to focus his thoughts.

"How fast can that spirit move? If we head back and you get in touch with it, how long would we have to wait until it showed up? I figure we have two options: we take the car with everyone in it and try to meet up with the spirit near the park or we can drop off a two-man team within range of the spirit to meet it while the other two cause a distraction."

Jack gets a bit of a sparkle in his eye. "Overkill, were you able to hack any of their gear? If so, what can you do with it?"

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:55 AM July 31st, 2075

"Earth spirits are slow, but they can dig pretty fast. He should be able to travel towards us by going through the ground until near the edge of the park and then walk up to me. That's what I assume he'll do. In any case, he'll be concealing himself like before, which should keep him out of view. If I try to call it farther away from the park, he'll be seen in the open on the way to us."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:55 AM July 31st, 2075

Jack tugged on one of his tusks, a sign that he was thinking. "He..." Jack paused, feeling kind of odd calling a spirit by a gender-based pronoun. What the Hell... "Between his hiding power and using some of those houses on the north side as cover, he probably would have a decent chance of getting out without taking any fire... Hell, can he just dig north a few 100 meters and pop up? The park is probably a little hot for all of us at the moment."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:55 AM July 31st, 2075

"When I tell him to, he'll find his way to me however he sees fit, but probably in a very direct path. If I'm at the north end of the park, that's where he'll go."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:55 AM July 31st, 2075

"Grease, you still have that map?" Jack asked, a plan forming in his mind. As the elf shared a MARK so that the rest of the team could see his mapsoft, an AR map of the Warrens popped up with Sagebrush Park highlighted. Jack unloaded his 'Usain Bolt' Pro Runner skillsoft and replaced it with his New Magellan Navigator skillsoft. Pouring over the map, he said, "OK, how about this? We head over to Smokey Hill and see if Amy can regain contact with her spirit. If not, it gets a bit trickier but our course of action stays the same. We turn onto South Fraser Court, the map looks like it basically makes a curve and heads out back toward Chambers." As the ork spoke, a street lit up on the map. "In the middle of the curve, it hits the very eastern corner of the park. If the spirit is done, it meets up with us there, we recover the 'links, and then get the frag out. Amy can summon another spirit to hopefully take care of the mage. The most dangerous part is that the mage is going to be close enough where she can probably notify the other Yaks in the park that we're there, so it's going to have to be fast."

"Thoughts?" Jack asked, looking for input.

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:55 AM July 31st, 2075

Amy agrees, "Good thinking, Jack. I think this should work."

South side of Sagebrush Park, Aurora Warrens, 3:55 AM July 31st, 2075

Grease rubs his chin. "It should work. Man, what I would give for a rotodrone..."

He looks at the team before he continues. "That said, if we gotta bug out, I'm going to make the call. It ain't worth us starting something with the Yaks just for a clue, no matter how good. We could always come back in a few days when the heat has died down. I want to get this done tonight; we'd probably have to take the other car if we came back, and that one isn't nearly as fast."