It is plainly clear that Lil Homie really doesn't think it is enough, but he also knows he is walking a tightrope without a net so he keeps his peace.

Shortly after you start to hear a major exchange of gunfire taking place over the noise of the old beater. As you continue in the direction of the gunfire Frosty pipes up again.

"The Azzies caught up to Medjay at an intersection overlooked by 5 and 6 story apartment buildings, they were exchanging fire after ramming the okada he had flagged down with thier ride. Then, the Azzies vehicle got shredded by assault rifle fire from several buildings. They are hunkered down and returning fire, but the drone lost Medjay in the chaos. The rigger is doing a search."

You are at least a minute away, best guess.

O'Connor swapped out magazines in his rifle, switching from standard ammunition to APDS. True operators where on the field now. Though it would be best to skirt around this fight, if possible. He commed Frosty, <"Are Medjay's reinforcements just focusing their attack on the Azzies or are they lighting up the whole intersection?"> He turned to Starlet, "Can you try another watcher?"

"They certainly aren't Medjay's, they were originally shooting at both parties. The Celt didn't shoot back at them, so when the Azzies did all of the locals just picked them as their playmates. They are only shooting at the Azzies now which is how the drone lost Medjay."

You are much closer now, close enough that you can see muzzle flashes from at least three differents building and on differing floors. O'Conner knows the sound of AK's very well at this point, because he does he can pick out the opposing gunfire. Heavy pistols, probably Predators. Whenever one of those few pistols barks, a muzzle flash goes dark, but there are a LOT of muzzle flashes.

"Sure, give me a second," Sammy said. She quickly conjured up a watcher and send it out after Medjay to keep track of it, while she tries to keep track of the watcher so she can point the drone once more in that direction.
Then she looked at the firefight.
"We best go around that and let those fight amongst each other," she suggested, "they keep each other occupied and we snatch the price."

OOC: I can buy enough hits to get a watcher for 1 hour and counter the drain, so I'll just do that.

Starlet is just about to start giving search instructions to her summoned watcher when Frosty is on the comms again.

"They got him THEY GOT HIM! He is on foot for the moment, moving NNE of the confict. Probably trying to stay with modern roadways. The zones directly south of the airport are practically an inhabited swamptown, all traffic appraches the airport from the east."

You will have to circle around, as you are approaching the gunfight from the southwest.

Torley is Thrilled by the prospect of cutting through the firefight. " You got this, big guy. Let's cut some time off our chase and blast through the intersection!"

He starts thinking of things he could shout out the window. His Voice is a way better weapon than his gun.

O'Connor had the intrusive thought, but then Torley gave him permission. He slapped the stim patch on. His pupils dilated as the stims took effect, "Frag yeah, let's do this!!!" He laughed psychotically as he gunned it across the intersection.

The jalopy sails through the intersection, avoiding gunfire and the imobile mass of metal that is what is left of the Azzies car and Medjays okada. One of Azzies spares a moment to flip O'Conner the bird from where he is crouched down taking cover, when he sees the manaical gin on the runner's face.

Driving onto side streets and alleys to try and catchup to Medjay, you quickly leave the concrete canyons of apartment buildings and see more residential homes, poor and ramshackle they might be. Unfortunately, leaving the main thoroughfare means residential streets, which can meander and come to dead ends and cul de sacs randomly. After the second such obstacle you are seriously considering risking the bogs and ditches off road, but you aren't entirely sure you are still heading the direction you want to be going.

You suddenly escape the redential maze by entering the factory districts, square blocks with wide streets. Just as you start to thank something or someone for your luck, you are back on a main road, and quickly mired in traffic, watching nimble okadas and street bikes zip through the gridlock and the familiar street peddlers plying their trade to their captured customer base.

Awesome drive by O'Connor, less so the choice of vehicle.

Such is life.

O'Connor flashed the Azzie operative the devil horns gesture as he speed past. He yelled out, "Fortune favors the bold!" He handed Lil' Homie a flash-bang grenade, "Chuck that out behind us!"

Through out the time O'Connor had been teammates with Torley, he had wanted to like the guy. The problem was that Torley was actively cultivating that feeling, and it rang all the wrong bells towards Con's paranoia. That said, they'd made a great good cop/bad cop duo in LA, and they'd leaned on each other outside of work when either needed help. During this run, they'd been forced to rely on each other fully. Plus them being on the same page for this rather risky and ill advised play, sealed the deal. O'Connor let go of his distrust of the Face, and would believe that Torley was only manipulative outside of their team.

The good feels couldn't last as they lost time in the residential zone and hit a dead stop on a main thoroughfare. He turned to Lil' Homie, "Stop some okada, we need mobility." He then asked Starlet, "How long until your spirit tracks him?"

Torley could see it. In O'Connor's body language, in the man's expression, Torley had overcome a barrier. A rare feeling for the Face. Being trusted rather than just believed. Gone along with.

He liked it.

Abandoning the car and finding okada for the four of you eats up precious minutes, the low flying aircraft overhead mark the finish line of this race with some grim certainty. You get notice from Frosty that the Apep Consortium team is somewhere on the road ahead of you, the dronefeed she is piggybacking giving them an excellent view of the target and the ability to ambush Medjay at the perfect time.

"I don't know how long it will take," Sammy said, "watchers aren't all that smart so they are methodical. If we're lucky, fast, if not, never. They can't go through mana barriers for instance. Let me get some other spirit on it. Those are smarter, but more difficult to get. Just a moment."
While the others searched for okada, Sammy quickly summoned a spirit of air. She felt she wouldn't get much use out of it, but she didn't have to. She gave it Medjay's aura signature, last location he had been reported and last known mode of transportation and requested it to find Medjay and report his location to her through their link. Then she let the spirit go.

As Lil' Homie flagged down transportation, O'Connor took off his armored vest and put it on the kid. He felt rather guilty about taking the kid into this without buying him armor.

Once they were on their way, he urged the okada drivers forward, "Extra pay for maximum speed." He called to his team, "We're so close. This is going to come down to the wire. Apep is likely to ambush the target ahead of us, but I can get eyes and weapons on me while you secure the artifact. If I go down, leave me where I fall. Complete the run."

Fortunately, O'Conner's slim frame made adjustments to vest to fit the boy quick and painless, until he made his speech. Then Lil Homie wanted nothing to do with the vest.

"You need it, and who else is going to take down Medjay?"

Torley pipes in. "Kid's brave, and he's got a point. You do seem to draw the most fire."

O'Connor dismissed the concerns, "I draw fire intentionally because I'm the best on the team at avoiding it. And between Starlet's stunbolts and Torley's Voice, I have no doubts about your ability to get the artifact from Medjay. Besides I don't have non-lethal options, and it'd be best not to kill a dragon's pet."

"Alright, then. Let's carry on." Torley will take the seat assigned him.

The seat assigned to him is on the back of one of the okada he helped flag down. ("STOP!", "We are in a hurry, get one of us to the airport and we will triple your rate.")

Lil Homie is not so easily convinced, but it seems his servile nature will not allow more forceful resistance, he gets on an bike as well.

Racing for the airport you witness, from some distance, the Apep folks make their move. Buses on either side of the Go Slow are exploded, and a wall of fire shuts down further travel in either direction. Shortly after the explosion, all manner of gunfire erupts, along with screams and a solid mass of metahumanity trying to escape said gunfire.

If the mass of fleeing humanity starts to block their travel, Torley will try to clear a path with some well placed Commands. Hopefully with better results thatn the last time he tried that.

Hey, he can learn.

There aren't so many folks that if Torley and Starlet stay in the wake of the gunmen...err -males(?) that they will have any trouble making their way.

The scene in front of is pretty bad. Awori have the high ground and numbers, but the Apep guys have good cover and superior firepower, including a frikkin Doberman packing an LMG, plus there is that Apep mage somewhere. Starlet's spirits come back to her reporting that Medjay is down there in the middle of the killzone, hiding under a freight truck.

O'Connor led the team forward until they reached the extreme end of his rifle's range and found a spot to hunker down and plan this out. He grimaced at the wall of flames licking the sky, "Guess I should've saved the Big Damn Hero speech. Ain't nobody surviving that kill zone. So we need to soften up the opposition. Priority targets are the mage, the rigger in that doberman, and the drone Frosty's piggybacking on. Starlet, can you identify their mage? Torley, don't suppose you could tell from body language if someone's more focused on AR than meatspace?"

Con then gave orders to Lil' Homie, "Keep eyes behind us. I doubt the other teams have been sitting around with their thumbs up their hoops." He also commed Frosty, <"What's the drone's viewing angle on the firefight? We need to take it out once we make our move.">

<"Aww, Kevin is going to be very upset about that. He said it was his favorite. The truck it is focused on, the one Medjay is under is in the north bound lane. I can see the driver's side and the door at the back a little, but it is mostly overhead. It isn't the only one he has, just the one he is sending me the feed on, he mentioned another one.">

Bullet Storm's request of Starlet becomes moot as a member of the Apep team on the southbound side launches a Fireball at one of the buildings before ducking buck under cover.

Torley gets right on that task, 'cause it sounds right up his alley!

There are 4 members of the Apep Consortium physically present, none of the them seem to be operating the drone. Obviously it isn't the mage, one of the group just made a run for the ground floor of one of the buildings the Awori are using and the other two are both taking advantage of targets of opportunity presented by the Doberman.

O'Connor tried to spot the drone based on Jane's description. He commed her, <"Once this drone's down, see if you can sweet talk him into giving you access to the other feed. He might be talking about the Doberman, but it'd be good to know if they have more aerial trackers.">

<"I would love to be able to help with that, but I left him at the hotel about ten minutes ago. I have to get face-to-face with Innocent to get us all out of here.'>

With Frosty's help and a little spacial geometry you are able to spot the Lockheed Optic-X, but only just. It is maintaining an altitude well above the conflict and it's stealth nature making it blend into the night.

O'Connor aimed his rifle at the drone. The old addage was "Geek the mage first." However, he doubted he'd get eyes on the drone a second time. He told the team, "Got eyes on the drone. Lining up the shot. Starlet, can you take out the mage from here?"

"If I can see him, I can take him out," Sammy said, "but first I have to find him. Just a moment."
She switches her view to the astral and tries first to look at any awakened signatures and then she will look at those with normal vision if it's not clear who's the mage. Or if someone throws a spell around, she will try to track it to its source.

The Apep Consortium guys are arrayed right in front of the burning buses, and the one on the far left is the one that just cast the fireball. He is presently ducked all the way down behind the car giving him cover.

In the building opposite the one now burning, the Apep thug that rushed in is marked by the noise of the shotgun he weilds as he starts to work his way off the ground floor.

Down in the middle of the area, there is no movement not attributable to gunfire near Medjay's position.

"Got him," Sammy said, putting an arrow on him on the team channel so everybody would know where he was. As soon as she could see him again, she threw a stunbolt in his direction.

O'Connor fired at the drone when Starlet confirmed she had the mage in sight.

Starlet whiffed on the mage, but O'Conner put most of the burst on target, even at this distance. (OOC:-6 to pool for extreme range)

You have alerted the Apep team that someone new is on the field. Now what is the plan?

Things seem too far away for any of Torley's skills to be of much use. He tries to spy out movements and listen for any auditory cues as to what might be passing among the combatants.

Lil Homie grabs Torley by the arm and tugs him away from the others "We need to move sir, we can't fight at this distance like they can."

Alright! A man with a plan, with risks in the can! Torley can't resist such boldness.

<<Li'l Homie and I have a plan. Heading closer. Take out anyone headed our way. >>

"Show me the way. I bet you're good at sneaking through this kind of terrain."

O'Connor informed the team, "Overwatch down." He did not like that Torley was being cagey with the details of a plan involving Lil' Homie. He also didn't like that the face was pulling the kid off rear guard duty. There wasn't time to stop and sort the matter however. He'd just have to hope that if anyone came up behind them, they'd shoot Starlet instead of him first. He adjusted his aim towards the ARO marking the mage's location.

Sammy decided to get another spirit to help out a bit. It was a difficult thing to do in this magic field, but she managed to get a fire spirit.
"There's a mage somewhere behind that van over there," she said, giving the aura she had seen, "kill him."

With that the spirit flew off.

Lil' Homie leads Torley at a half-run, scrambling through muck and garbage BEHIND the buildings lining the left side of the expressway. "We can get close enough to use your voice on the killers and then I will shoot them." Lil Homie seemed excited to help the team.

As Starlet's spirit races off on it's deadly mission, something crosses right in front of hers and O'Conner's vision. As the flashbang goes off, a voice calls out from the darkness. "Next time you hand that kid a grenade, make sure he pulls the pin."

(Both runners are -5 dice to attacks due to intense light, flare comp makes it -3, effect fades at 1 per turn)

Combat Round 1, Initiative Pass 1
The flare compensation in his contact lenses helped mitigate the attack, but O'Connor was still seeing stars. He tried to squint through it and determine where in the fragging hell that flashbang just came from. He regretted only knowing one language, as his mono-linguistic litany of cursing did not properly convey the depth of his feelings on the situation.

Between the spots popping in his eyes and the general darkness, the attacker could be right in front of him and he wouldn't know it.

(OOC: Bullet Storm and Starlet both lost surprise.)

The sound of the flashbang concerns Torley, but not as much as Li'l Homey's attitude towards killing. yeah, life is tough on the streets everywhere, certainly here in Lagos. but he's pretty young.

"OK, Li'l Homey. Let's see what we can do to get rid of this problem." He follows the boy's lead.

With her vision currently full of spots, Starlet dove for cover behind a wreck or some other debris that was always present in Lagos. With her spirit on the hunt, they could take some time, but not too much, to dispose these. She also drew her pistol, just in case magic wouldn't work she had something to shoot with.

As he and the boy progress towards the noise, Torley becomes painfully aware how inadequate his hold out pistol is. Sort of like walking into a gunfight with a peashooter. He considers how best to make his voice carry over the noise. That magic is his best shot.

O'Conner is not sure what is coming at him, but whether by sight, sound or some other sense, he knows he is being physically assaulted.

attacks: 12d6t5 4 DV 5P, AP –1

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Starlet is not engaged at all, but not being able to see much the sounds of the chaos around her are almost deafening.

--------------------------------------------

Behind the apartment buildings, Torley and Lil Homie are making quick progress, although the pungent odor combination of refuse and swamp, plus various things burning, are quite pervasive. The smoke is also making visibility a problem. The distinctive rip of autocannon fire ahead is puntuated by an explosion up ahead somewhere. In the glare of this hazy light a vaguely man-shaped object leaps or is thrown from the elevated roadway into a ditch or culvert that you won't reach the edge of for a couple of actions' movement.

Torley points to where the shape fell. Curiosity and the desire not to leave a potential enemy behind them drives Torley. He whispers to the boy, "Let's check that out." He heads towards it.

Combat Round 1, Initiative Pass 2
O'Connor managed to juke and weave between the assault.

Sammy switched her vision to the astral and cautiously tried to look past the thing she was crouching behind to see if she could 'see' more on the astral, hoping that her astral 'vision' wasn't clouded by the flashbang.