Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1804, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

The guy in the suit with the pink shirt and floral tie came into the kitchen. "Well, your maid smells pretty good." He sniffs again. "It's even stronger in here. Sure you didn't take a few liberties?" he asked with a lecherous grin.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1805, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex


Tanaka turns from preparing the gyoza and shrugs his shoulders. "She was pretty and married. It amused me to use another man's wife in such a way, especially the wife of a round eye. She was pleased and said she would come in once a week to clean. I left that open in her mind and sent her on her way."

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1804, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Spriggan waited for her heart to stop thumping quite so loud before she stole a quick glance out of her hiding spot, relying on the magical concealment only so far… Well this was a pretty kettle of fish, Lady T was off impersonating one of the sec team and she was stuck in a cupboard. Their targets were somewhere above them but there was a pack of obnoxious Yaks between them and the prize. So pure stealth or distraction seemed to be the best of the dwindling options…she didn’t know the Yaks well enough to go for a subtle mental manipulation, that left something brash like a police raid to draw them away…she felt Mab chuckle in the back of her mind…surely there had to be something a bit trickier she could pull, she was supposed to excel at tricky!

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1805, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

The lead yak turned to pink-shirt and rattled off a fast string of instructions about finding Ando and in any case keeping the man's post covered until he was found. He also told the man to get the assets on the job to help find the missing man. Obviously holding himself on high alert for trouble, he was clearly concerned about the absence.

Tanya realized she had managed the translation download for her ear just in time, because she otherwise would never have kept u with the rapid-fire orders.

Pink-shirt left, and though clearly wary of his situation, the leader attempted to maintain an air of calm. "So besides banging the help, anything to report since taking up your post?"

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex



Tanaka/Tanya uses the cover of cutting some vegetables to whisper to Spriggan. "I am about to get the dance rolling. They are still looking for the other man and it is only a matter of time before they look closer at your hiding place. I will be changing my appearance to the second man and will not need your illusion here. On my note, please drop it and be ready to do anything you can to confuse people. I am thinking that loud noises of yelling from outside might help. Of course, I am open to your suggestions"

After sending the quick message, Tanaka continues to cut things with the knife and develops her plan in her mind. Adrenaline rushes through her body as she prepares to begin the very risky option she has selected. She delays a few seconds as she waits to see if her partner has anything to say. She chuckles and shakes her head in response to the gangster's question. Knowing that her command of Japanese is not as strong as it might need to be, she keeps the answer short and simple, relying on her vocal implants and impersonation skill to help carry her. "No, not much. Stupid cat outside. People near the lake."

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

"Quieter the better," grunted the older guy. "A lot of things have been going very wrong, but the guys at the top didn't get where they are by abandoning deals at the first sign of trouble. So it's on us to be triple cautious...huh? Right." He refocused his gaze on Tanya/Tanaka. "The geeks have a fix on Ando's implants. They say he's in that study that fucking idiot Ishisone just came out of. I'll check it out - you keep cooking - my gut's rumbling."

Tanya sends a quick call to Spriggan. "Drop my illusion in ten seconds and see if you can create one outside for us. Starting the dance now." She turns to the boss as he rises. "At least try one of these gyoza I just finished. Nice and hot." She is easily holding the wok in her right hand and spears one of the sizzling treats with the knife in her left, holding it out to him.

Spriggan quietly subvocalized “Ok, not sure if this is what you had in mind but here goes, hold on to your hat!”

And stretching out her senses she projected first the sound of muffled shouts coming from outside and then the window to this room shattered and a gas grenade plunked to a stop before spewing white mist into the space, which incidentally served to nicely highlight the green laser sights projected from outside. Whilst giving the Yaks a few moments to react to the uproar she then followed with the phut of silenced fire and a lithe black clad figure vaulted through the window and did a combat roll behind cover…”

Tanya cries out "Damn!" and waves the knife with the gyoza on the end as if she has burned herself, dropping it to the floor. In her mind, the plan has taken advantage of human nature and will proceed as she has imagined............................As the boss does the human thing and his eyes follow the falling knife, she thrusts the wok directly at his face, coating it in very hot oil. The man screams and reflexively puts his hands to his rapidly dissolving eyes and Tanya swings the wok at the side of his head. The additional damage is enough to knock the man out and he falls to the floor. Tanya commands her face and hair to change to that of the missing Ando even as she kneels at the man's side, picks up the fallen knife, and rams it through his eye into what passes for a brain......................The reality of what happens is what sends adrenaline rushing through her body.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

The yakuza leader's screams are silenced only by the blade splipping into his brain pan, and are replaced by footsteps running through the dining area into the kitchen, towards Tanya, along with suppressed weapons fire coming from where she'd left Spriggan.

Her earbud was alive with chatter. "What's happening down there?" "Intruders!" "Where?!?!"

Peeking out of the study to be able to extend her illusion into the wardrobe area, Spriggan saw her illusory ninja confronted by two armed men.

Tanya has studied human nature for a long time and is keenly aware that most people fall for illusory magic and sleight of hand stage acts is that they are quite willing to believe what they see as long as it does not seem too outlandish and fits with their preconceived notions. Right now, what was supposed to be a quiet protection detail is falling into drek. The detail leader is down, the man in charge of the house security is missing, and there are the sounds of a supposed attack on the house. Given that these people have experienced an earlier attack by witches, they should be willing to believe almost anything, especially if they do not have time to think things over and come to a different conclusion. The trick is to keep things moving and keep them believable enough that no real questions are asked until it is too late.

Tanya, now wearing the face of Ando, sees two men running into the kitchen, weapons drawn and at the ready. One is dressed in the fancy suit of the group of professional Yaks and the other is one of the cheap thugs. From her position kneeling on the floor next to the still twitching body, she raises her left hand as she commands the whip to unspool from her right in an invisible strand of deadly monowire. She knows that if human nature is still on her side that the attention of the man will be divided between the body and her moving hand, not on the wire that is hidden by her leg where she kneels. She puts a lot of excitement in her voice. "Tanaka. It was Tanaka. That way. Betrayal." She adds a terrible epithet that applies to betrayers and motions off to where the shooting is coming from. The men nod and step past Ando and Tanya acts. One of the real advantages of her weapon is that it is just as effective from her kneeling position as when she is standing. Selecting the better trained of the two gunmen is a bit risky, but she quickly reasons that if she can disable or kill the professional, the other will panic and run. She flings out her arm as the man passes her, sending the deadly strand of her monowhip at the man's legs and tugging hard as it wraps around him.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

The two men entering the wardrobe began unloading their weapons at Spriggan's fake ninja, with lots of stray lead heading in the direction of the doorway she was peeking out of. And even over the gunfire she could hear footsteps approaching from the north.

Meanwhile, the two men Tanya had spoken to gave quick, guttural responses and foolishly turned their backs on her, moving away.

There is a reason the monowhip is so feared. Well, actually there are several reasons, but chief among them is that it cuts through cloth, flesh, and bone almost as if they did not exist. The second is that the incredibly thin filament is nearly invisible. Even if one of the men were to be looking at her, it would appear that she is merely waving her hand and the attention of these men is drawn to the noise from another part of the house. Tanya rises from her kneeling position as she flicks her whip toward the legs of the suited Yakuza soldier. The strand wraps about both legs together and the gunman has time to feel a slight tug against his trousers before his legs are sliced apart at the thighs. Although Tanya cannot see it, the man must have a look of surprise on his face as his torso falls forward into a rapidly expanding pool of his own blood as both femoral arteries continue to pump blood. The shock is such that the man only gives a strangled croak as he falls face forward to the floor.

Tanya does have an opportunity to clearly see the expression on the face of the second gunman as he turns to look down at what a second earlier had been his superior, however she is already continuing her movements in what is like a choreographed dance. Her left hand is pointing to the opening to the family room, in the direction of the shooting. "There. He attacked from there." Knowing that she cannot stop the dance now, her right hand is still in motion, even as she hopes the man will either remain too shocked to move or look in the direction she is pointing. In less than the second it takes to think about it, the nearly invisible monofilament is arcing towards the second man. Some sort of latent sense might have warned the man, or perhaps it is just fortune, but he manages to throw up an arm in an entirely futile effort to block what is coming for him. The whip wraps about his neck and upraised arm, shearing through both like.............well, much like a monowhip through a neck and arm. The shocked expression he has from looking down at his dead companion never has a chance to leave his face as his head flies off his body to bounce a couple of times on the floor before the body follows it.

Tanya is still listening to the wild chatter that is coming through Tanaka's earbud as she scoops up one of the fallen handguns in her left hand and uses her radar to scan for the locations of the other gunmen. She uses her throat mic to send a quick message to her partner. >>Three down here. Moving your way. Are you alright?<< She can feel the adrenaline flowing through her system in a wave, keeping her on the edge. Her movements are catlike and graceful as she moves to the edge of the opening into the family room and waits for her sensors to give her up to date information.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Squatting in the gore behind the kitchen counter, Tanya quickly widened her radar scan. As she did so her earpiece was full of rapid-fire gutter Japanese chatter - no radio discipline here! - but all that was getting translated so far were urgent requests for information, or for someone called Matsuki-san to respond.

But all the chatter didn't drown out the sounds of submachine gun and shotgun fire from where she'd left Spriggan.

Her radar confirmed there were now four men converging on the wardrobe outside the study where her companion was holed up. Above her, there were more than a dozen figures scattered around the second floor, mostly in the back bedroom.

And she needed no radar to be aware of two men rushing in from the patio. "Nanja korya!? Matsuki-san!"

Tanya remains where she is, temporarily hidden from the two new arrivals and quickly thinks through her options. She comes to a grim realization that her chances of survival are a bit less than that of a snowball in hell, but only just a bit. She comes up with a plan that is bold but might give her an advantage in the next few seconds, and that could mean the difference between life and death. She carefully puts the gun down on the floor in front of her so as to give the impression that she is unarmed and puts her right hand just a bit behind her to conceal the whip. She has a shocked expression on her face, which is not all that hard, given that she is looking into the wide open eyes of a very dead Yak thug. The blood and body parts are enough to give most people the willies and she reasons that shack alone would give her a reason to have a delayed reaction to what is said as the software translates the words for her. She gives a low moan that is loud enough to get the attention of the men.

Her plan is to draw them in to her and react to what they do. She expects that they will be alert, but they should also be shocked by the display of blood and body parts in the kitchen, which might give her the chance she needs to try to take out two more of the gunmen.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Hearing Tanya's faux groan over the mounting cacophony of gunfire from a couple of rooms over, a young Japanese guy with no shirt but a ballistic vest on came around the bar counter, gurgled, and promptly lost his lunch all over Tanya/Ando. The other man took just long enough to say into the comm net that Matsuki was dead - Tanya could understand that much without her toy - and then was looking at the kitchen scene as well. He stood a bit off, careful not to get blood or vomit on his polished Italian leather shoes, and spat at the two on the floor. "Bakagetana koshinuke, iikagen ni shiro!"

The man's disgusted tone rendered his exact words irrelevant. Tanya was more interested in the feed from her earpiece. A strident <<Everyone shut the fuck up!>> was met largely with silence, followed by the <<Matsuki's dead!>> she already knew was coming. Then someone shouted <<Something's wrong, there's no one out here!>>

Tanya is almost glad to be covered in vomit. Almost. As disgusting as it is, the effect is to give her a reason to stand up and move away from the thug putting his last meal on the floor. She walks along the counter, using her left hand to support herself in a manner that would indicate to most people that she is using the counter to stay on her feet. It is very convenient that the well-dressed thug has already dismissed her as incompetent and unimportant. At the moment, he seems to be giving his attention to the news over the com and sparing almost nothing on her.

The other thug is still bent over the bodies and heaving as Tanya swings her right arm forward, sending her whip snaking forward to wrap around part of the well-dressed Yak's body. There is almost no way the bent over gunman will even see the attack on his comrade. With some luck on her side, neither man will even know something is wrong until it is too late.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

The older man, still listening to news over his earpiece, was indeed very aware something was wrong. He saw the attack coming and started to duck - as a result, the whip sliced through his neck a couple of centimeters higher than Tanya had intended.

The thug on the floor kept on puking, oblivious.

And over the earpiece she heard: <<Ando da! Chikusho. Hakayu, daidokoro e! Ando da!>>

In one precious second, her implant would translate. But she knew the name of the guy she was impersonating. She knew the word for kitchen. And the shocked, urgent tone was unmistakeable.

Tanya smiles grimly as she notes the locations of the protagonists. The four shooting into the room are apparently still acting on the illusion that Spriggan is maintaining. The four on the stairs will not make it in time to save the man still puking his lunch up all over the floor. She turns to the man and swings her arm forward................

While Spriggan tried her level best to stay out of the way of flying lead she danced her ninja between the two groups of shooters in the vain hope that they were careless enough to shoot each other in the confusion...as that didn't seem likely to be a long term solution she reached her mind out along the tenuous link to the sylph she had summoned

~Please sister will you aid me now? Can you render unconscious any person that is brandishing a weapon within this building other than myself and my companion Lady T?~ as she pictured Tanya's aura in her mind's eye...

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Spriggan's ninja, oblivious to the lead flying around and through it, danced its way directly between the two pairs of shooters crowding into the doorways. They recoiled involuntarily as it leveled its silenced pistol at them from point blank range. One thug fired his sawed-off shotgun in panic throught the swirling smoke and managed to decapitate one of the men in the opposite doorway. Blood exploded everywhere as Spriggan quietly addressed her Spirit. Though its features were indistinct, she could have sworn it smirked as it willed itself corporeal and arrogantly whispered, None of these here can harm me.

At that very moment in the kitchen, Tanya had neatly dispatched the foe that was on his knees when two men came barrelling in through the butlery and two more through the family room. One of the latter pair was firing his short-barrelled Defiance T-250 has fast as he could pull the trigger, but was obviously unaccustomed to the weapon's kick and the hailstorm of pellets flew harmlessly into the ceiling. As plaster dust rained down amid the roar of the weapon, Tanya spotted the red dot from the butlery guy's Uzi IV on her chest as he fired a controlled burst.

In her earpiece, the same voice that had reported Ando as the threat, as well as his location in the kitchen, was still chattering in Japanese: <<Ieiri, chichai benkyobeya. Majo ga iru zo!>>

Tanya's brain cycles through the information flowing in even as the dance continues. The men on the stairs have moved faster than she had thought they would, forcing her to change her plan on the fly, but she is used to the truth that no plan really survives first contact with enemy and is already working on plan B. The adrenaline pulses through her system, keeping her on her toes and bringing an ecstasy that those who never take dangerous chances will never feel. A part of her mind notices the red dot on her chest, but she is already moving away from the pair in the butlery and arcing toward the pair coming in from the family room. As the rounds from the Uzi IV pass through the space she just vacated, two of them tugging vainly at the suit jacket she is wearing, a crazy thought crosses her mind and she acts on it. Whipping her arm about, she tries to send the deadly mono-filament of her whip winging past the thug with the shotgun to coil around both men then pulls it against them. Even if the whip does not cut through both, it might pull the second one into the first, drenching him with blood and entrails and throwing him off balance mentally and literally, thus taking out two men at once.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Tanya found out that if one body offered very little resistance to the monofilament line, a second offered only a very little more. Within a split second, both men had joined their fellows on the gore-slick floor in pieces.

In her ears, the chatter of the other guy's Uzi competed with the translation in her ear: "Ieiri, the small study. There's a witch in there."

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya watches as her whip succeeds in wrapping itself around the pair of Yaks. A tug and the mono-filament slices through both men, leaving two more corpses to join the others already on the floor. Or, rather, pieces of corpses. It would be gratifying if Tanya were to take the time to consider it, but she is still in the dance and knows that there are two more armed men in the room that are trying to kill her. Her movement is so fluid that the Uzi guy is off target, his rounds stitching a row of holes in the wall behind where Tanya had been.

She sends a quick call to her companion as she is turning to attack the remaining two men. >>They are onto a witch in the small study. Time for you to leave. Go around and do as much distraction as you can. Seven dead here so far.<<

Tanya's arm slings forward, sending her almost invisible wire at the Uzi-toting Yak thug. She would rather have gone for the suit, but he has stepped back into the room he came from and is now out of her range. There is still a chance that the suit might break morale due to the number of bodies he has seen and the viciousness of the attack.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

The punk with the Uzi fell just as readily as the others as Tanya danced around the stream of bullets. He dropped, revealing the barrel of the senior yak's Cezka Scorpion unwavering in his grip - from three meters it looked alarmingly large as it spat lead at Tanya...

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex


The young tough's face never really registers that death is coming for him as the flash of the mono-filament is too fast for his eye to see. As a result his brain does not recognize that there is nothing connecting his upper torso to his lower torso until both pieces hit the floor, one half spraying blood at Tanya and the other half at the suited Yak who had been using him for cover. The thug's finger tightened on the trigger of the Uzi in his hand, sending a stream of bullets into the ceiling. The suit had been waiting for the opportunity to fire his fancy machine pistol and did so as the body of his minion fell away. Perhaps he was slightly distracted by the arterial spray that splattered his fine Italian suit and shoes, perhaps it was the visage of the smiling demon from hell that was twirling in front of him in some macabre dance of death, or perhaps it was just that he could not train his weapon effectively on the moving target. Whatever the reason, his first shots went wild, punching more holes in the already damaged wall leading to the Family Room.

And the dance continues...........

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Keeping as low as possible to avoid the flying lead that was ricocheting around her Spriggan watched with delight as her illusory ally dodged the bullets with ease, his own silenced weapon sending out fire that narrowly missed the enemy…that left her sylph free…drifting somewhere near the ceiling she blew out a cloud of heavily scented honeysuckle flowers which settled in drifts around the Yaks in the doorway nearest the main space, the cloyingly sweet smell filled the small room…

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

The two men reacted to the spirit's breath as if they'd been hit with a sack of cement, dropping straight to the floor as vertigo overpowered them, eyes rolling back in their heads to the point of near-unconsciousness. Weaving on his feet himself, the last main standing turned to flee through the bathroom but before he could go two steps the spirit was on the other side of him exhaling into his face. He, too, was incapacitated with waves of nausea.

Spriggan heard Tanya's warning, and outside saw two men rushing for the study's outside door. Within the wardrobe, she couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she tried to venture through the lingering clouds of intoxicating fumes.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex


With all the adrenaline flowing through her body, it is hard to stop the dance at this point, perhaps even impossible. Tanya finishes her turn and her arm moves almost lazily in an arc, sending the almost invisible whip at the remaining gunman. She is already plotting out her next steps if the man is still standing after the attack. Her ear is listening for the translation of the words she had last heard. It is still mere seconds after she had killed Matsuki and the dance has claimed seven, now maybe eight additional victims in that time. She will have to remember this particular version of it.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

...and another man dismembered before he could flee half a step, another flashy suit ruined.

The barrage of gunshots she'd survived ringing fresh in her ears, Tanya could now hear only violent retching sounds from the direction Spriggan was in. Tense Japanese continued in her earpiece before abruptly cutting out. <<Mahotekina...>> Rather than the usual monotone interpretation, a pleasant female voice intoned <<Last syntactically incomplete: Magical, prenomial adjectival form, unable to extrapolate.>>

Turning her attention to her radar, Tanya at first saw only Spriggan on the ground floor, along with a moving area of confusing interference. Then she noticed a number of forms moving erratically at floor level. Upstairs, there were ten figures, none standing. About half were scattered about roughly above her, in what the plans from her wiccan allies listed as the game room. The other half were all in what was labelled Bedroom 4.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Through the polarized windows, Spriggan watched the two suited yaks run towards the room she was in. As they got closer they dropped to crouches below the window' sightlines, and soon she saw a face quick-peek up, face close enough to block ambient light and get a look through the window. Still, she wasn't exactly standing in the middle of the room waving a flag, and the spirit was barely visible even standing next to it, so she wasn't sure if the guy had spotted her.

A moment later, the door opened, but she couldn't see who was opening it, and another guy did a combat roll into the room and came up scanning with his weapon....

Tanya moves quickly to the gas stove, stripping Tanaka's jacket off as she moves and places it against the wall behind the stove. She takes the bottle of cooking oil she had been using earlier and empties it onto the material and the wall then places a soaked jacket sleeve over the already lit burner she had been using to cook the gyoza, sending flames racing along the jacket and up the wall. She is placing a call to 911 even as she reaches up to remove the batteries from the kitchen smoke alarm. She sets her voice to that of a young Caucasian girl's and talks low giving the responder the address of the villa then adds, >>Please. There are five of us. All fifteen and fourteen. Men took us from the mall and forced us here for sex. They argued and are now shooting each other. Quick, please. They are coming for us. Oh drek, I smell smoke! The fragging house is on fire and we are in a locked room at the back of the second floor! Please help!<< Cutting the connection, she sends a quick sub-vocal message. >>Hey, partner. Time to leave. Can you grab my clothes? The lights should be going out quite soon.<<

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

>>You're the boss! Just let me deal with the two idiots coming in the back!<< and Spriggan watched as her spirit gleefully breathed on combat roller as he rose up to ready his weapon...

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Indeed, the man failed even to level his weapon before the breath of the spirit put him on his face in the same distress as his fellows. Then the window shattered and bullets sprayed into the room...

Meanwhile, the kitchen was ablaze, fixtures and foods igniting readily. The walls were a different matter, blackening but not catching, but if the burning flammables built up enough heat, even the fire resistant structure of most upscale houses might succumb. The cooking area filled rapidly with smoke, which was already spreading into the adjoining areas of the house.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Spriggan kept low to the floor as shards of glass, exploding plasterboard and shredded garments as well as lethal fire wailed above her head...

"I think there are more of these fools above us, please could you express your displeasure on them? Be wary of the fire though, whilst their bullets are pitiful against your grace, the elemental forces of a house fire may do you harm!"

And with that her spirit was gone, seeking her prey elsewhere, leaving Spriggan to wonder just when her attacker would dare to show his face...

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

From the kitchen, Tanya identified Spriggan's attacker outside the exterior door to the small study. She could also perceive movement upstairs. Her own eyes, however, were growing irritated and visibility was going fast. The kitchen was getting hot. And then it got hotter as bullets started raining down on her through the ceiling...

Mentally linked to her sylph, Spriggan watched its ascent up the stairs as plaster and glass rained down on her as bullets chewed up the room. In the large game room at the top of the stairs, the spirit found men standing ready for it, and others doing something in the middle. The two at the top of the stairs fired, but with no effect whatsoever as the spirit exhaled intoxication on them, sending them to the floor just like its other victims. Then, just as Spriggan's meat ears heard the guy outside drop his empty clip, she also perceived two brightly glowing, immaterial forms descend through the game room ceiling and rush her spirit at incredible speed...

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex



Tanya pauses for a second or two to survey her handiwork and is a bit disappointed. She had not factored into her plan that the house would be built of fire-resistant materials and the flames were making slower progress than she had anticipated. The result of this somewhat remarkable construction is that there is plenty of smoke but not much in the way of actual fire yet. Yet. She is waiting for the rush of men for the stairs down to the garage and is caught unawares by a fusillade of bullets punching through the ceiling from the room above. She is anticipating a different threat, but the adrenaline coursing through her lets her react to the first shots by moving away from the stove, even as the nub of another risky plan forms in her mind. She quickly surmises that the men above her are tracking her by the comlink she is using and quickly removes it, dropping the device onto the counter very near the stove as she moves away from it. At the same time, she sends her whip arcing at the stove in an attempt to sever one of the smaller gas lines leading to a burner. She is trying to create a gas leak that will help fuel the fire while giving her time to leave the room and the building before an explosion rips through the kitchen and that part of the floor above it. She is also hoping that the men above her will continue to fire down at the 'link and thus contribute to their own demise as they help set off the coming explosion by creating additional breaches in the gas lines.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Tanya's plan half worked - the kitchen was now a proper conflagration - only a matter of time before things got much much worse fire-wise.

But dozens of armor-piercing rounds from the ceiing tracked her right out of the kitchen, nipping at her heels as she fled the flames....

Tanya has a double incentive for staying on the move; first, the guys upstairs are quite apparently tracking her independently of the comlink she has discarded and second, it is only a matter of time before the blaze in the kitchen becomes something much more destructive and it would not do well to stick around and be there when it happens. Skipping ahead of the bullets, she quickly travels the short distance to the door out to the patio and leaves the building. As she moves, she uses the throat mic to contact her new friend. "Hey there. I am leaving the rear of the building onto the patio. I can come around the side of the house to give you an assist if you need it.<<

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Even here the heat was beginning to increase from Lady T's impromptu blaze, but Spriggan was more concerned for the wellbeing of her spirit as she sensed the other immaterial attackers bearing down on her

~Fight if you can but flee if you feel that you are close to disruption, draw them away from this place, and if you exceed a thousand meters from this place then I release you!~

In response to the message blinking in her field of view she sent a hurried response

>>It would be appreciated. I'd hoped to have spiritual support but they have brought in the cavalry, will try and draw them off. If we can time it right we can pincer this guy outside but I'm in no rush to get shot<<

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

As Spriggan held tight waiting for the man outside either to expose himself or for Tanya to show up to force the guy's hand, she simultaneously witnessed a sharp battle upstairs through the eyes of her spirit. It was hit hard by the two oncoming foes - hard enough it (and thus Spriggan) had a hard time making them out. But lashing out fiercely, the spirit destroyed one, only to bit hit hard again by a spell from the second, brighter force. Following its directions, it fled, and, per plan, was pursued...

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya runs to the corner of the patio near the northeast corner of the villa and takes a short respite, hoping that the gunmen upstairs are not able to effectively follow her progress. She takes the time to get a good feed from both her radar and ultrasound sensors as she sends a quick message to her friend. >>I am at the corner and coming to help you. It sounds like he is making enough noise that I might be able to get closer to him and help you out. If you cannot get out, then hunker down as best you can. I think it is only a matter of time before part of the house explodes.<<

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Pausing safely around the last corner from Spriggan's attacker, Tanya checked her sensor read. There were still six men up in the back bedroom, but four were heading down, two on each stairwell. Her earpiece was still dead. Around the corner she could hear the chattering of small-caliber full-auto fire...

Spriggan's spirit was still being pursued, pelted painfully with spells as it went. She felt its hurt, and when she lost contact she was unsure if it had departed as instructed or been disrupted before it could escape...

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya takes advantage of the target firing his gun on automatic and bursts around the corner of the villa, charging up to the suited gunman. As she gets close, she flicks her whip forward, taking advantage of the momentum she has built up.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

And another dismembered yakuza lay at her dancing feet.

For Spriggan, the unrelenting chatter of the machine pistol ceased abruptly, as did the cascade of falling plaster, wood, plastic, dust and glass. From further in the house she could hear men shouting and cursing in Japanese. And coughing. The smoke filling the house had made it to the study now, stinging her eyes.

Outside, a blood-drenched Tanya could see a glow through the windows, but still distant, the fire apparently still mainly in the kitchen. Outside the house, the grounds lay dark and serene in contrast, the faintest backwash of illumination from the lights that lined the drive to the front.

Tanya is so high on adrenaline and danger that she cries out in an almost sensual pleasure as the man outside the small study collapses with a large chunk of his body separated from the rest of it. She is a bit out of breath from her run up to the attack and tries to catch her breath. It is hard to believe that it has only been seconds since the dance began with the killing of Matsuki in the kitchen. She sends a quick call to Spriggan as she scans the area for enemies. >>All clear for now, partner, so please grab my clothes and come to the door we came in at. The smoke is from a fire I started and it might get a lot bigger really fast. Can you do another invisibility spell or bring some sort of spirit in to help us?<<

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1806, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Spriggan scooped up Lady T's abandoned clothes under one arm and ducked back out through the study, only blanching a little at the blood soaked apparition before her... reaching out with her senses she caught a wisp of wind hovering in the rising thermals over the house

~Will you assist me? Please conceal myself and this woman from prying eyes~

As she felt the spirit's power settle over to them she whispered to Lady T

"Ok, let's back off from the house a bit and see what happens...we don't want to be here when the police turn up, but we don't want any of their hackers to slip through the net either, right?"

Tanya nods and smiles. "Yes, just give me a couple of seconds to catch my breath. I would hate to have done as well as we have and still not succeed in disrupting their trix wizards. That part might happen soon enough, though. I started a fire in the kitchen and cut a couple of the smaller gas lines there. By this point, it should be hard for the four yaks in the kitchen to put that out and it may get a lot louder if the kitchen explodes. Still, we cannot assume it will work and we might have to go back in. My sensors count ten dead and nine incapacitated, to include the leader and several of his key lieutenants, so I think we have made a good dent in the security here. We make a good team."

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1807, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Under the concealment of the spirit's power, the two women left through the study door and made their way out to a good vantage point. The windows were backlit by a flickering glow at first, but after a very short time it was gone, leaving the house completely black. With no residences within half a kilometer, the only remaining lights were from the stars and the evening glow of Bellevue from across the lake.

Friday, 22 November, 2075, 1807, Target Villa, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex


From their vantage point at the front of the house, Tanya frowns, a bit disappointed that her ploy with the fire seems to have failed. She would not have thought that the four Yaks would have been able to put the fire out so fast. She cycles through the vision capabilities of her eyes and then her radar and ultrasound sensors to see if she can determine what is happening. She touches Spriggan on the arm and whispers, "The fraggers must have put the fire out. I want to see if I can disable the cars there. Do you have another of those spirits you can summon to go inside and see what is going on?"

She begins to move stealthily towards the cars in the drive.