"Just to confirm, what are those anyway?"

"Sounds like some magical mumbo-jumbo to me," Lynx says as she double checks her gun to make sure it's loaded.

checking the ammo in his rifle and the charge on his sword Slash looks up at Icarus "Knight errent? Great, not what we needed to have on this run, oh well, their fists won't stand up to cold, well lukewarm anyway, hard steel." people near him can hear him mutter, "the traitors."

He would enjoy ending the life of traitors to any cause.

@All

As you watch the crowd you notice that it starts to thin out as people move into the gymnasium, find their seats, and gets some snacks in preperation for a good night of semi-legal boxing. The guards at the doors haven't turned away too many, but you've seen them search a few and one or two were ejected from the gym already, though for what reason you couldn't tell from outside and down the street. By about 7:30pm, the line has been reduced from a mob of people into a somewhat orderly queue leading up the street next the the gym on the far side of the doors from your current position.

"I think we should hang tight for an hour or so and then around 9pm move into the public gym on the third floor and get the party the started," Lynx says, "That gives the most time for all the bets to come in and for us to get more money."

She's getting a little antsy and hopes the team doesn't notice. 'If we hang around too long the someone might see us and get suspicious,' she worries to herself.

Slash nods his head, "that sounds like a good plan, just be sure to try and not become to obvious for the time being."

I checked my chrono, the green light flashed 21:30 hours. Something in my stomach told me to be extra careful this time around, so I was.

"Come to me my friend," I spoke aloud. I switched my senses over to the astral, drinking in the smell of it. There in front of me, burning eternally was one one of the elementals I had summoned in Seattle.

"Stay with us, unless we go through a barrier. If anyone attacks us, manifest and burn them."

I blinked twice and the astral washed away.

"Ok guys lets go. Top of the hill and in through the public entrance. Lynx: you got point."

As we moved out I slipped my black leather gloves and my ski mask. I didn't pull it down. Yet.

@All 9:30-9:40pm, Fight Night

As you approach the gym, you are forced, initiatilly, to approach the front doors. The doors are closed, but even through the wood and concrete of the building, you can hear the roar of the crowd as Round One begins. Two blocks south of the gym you are able to make a left onto a side street and begin walking up the hill that will take you to the third floor's public gym.

As you move up the hill, you take a gander at the area around you. It's mostly commercial properties, closed for the night, but there could be apartments on the top floors for rent. Some lights are on, but the neighborhood would be more likely to shut off the lights and close the drapes if they here a disturbance than to try and figure out what's going on. You loose sight of the bottom floor of the Gym building but can see some of the windows on the west side. Windows on the second floor are open and you can still clearly hear the sounds of the crowd as you make your climb.

It takes approximately ten minutes to get to the public door to the gym. The lights are off inside, though you can see some small, colored illumination coming off of the expensive looking exercise equipment in the room. From the outside, the floor plan looks pretty simple: there is one large central room with the exercise equipment in it categorized by weight lifting, treadmills, bikes, steppers, etc. There is an office are on the east side of the building (to your left -- you're facing south attempting to break into the north side of the building). There are locker rooms on the west side, one male, one female.

The lock on the door seems to be a card-key maglock. Time to get to work .........

Corbin plays it cool, as best he can. The numerous weapons concealed about his person providing encumberance but also solace. As the group gets near to the doors, he shifts the heavy backpack he has slung over one shoulder and looks around for cameras. His own skills with a maglock are chip-based, so he decides to let someone else handle it, unless there is no other option.

Sliding in behind those who know how to deal with Maglocks and other security Slash keeps his eyes pealed for more metahuman security. Adjusting his grip on his weapon he clicks on the trigger for his wired reflexes, suppressing his urge to sigh as the world slows it's self to his eyes. He slides the trigger back into a safe pocket.

Quietly to the others,
"Don't look at me, I'm on the wrong side of the system to open that."

"I got it," Lynx says, stepping to the front of the group and pulling the knapsack off her back. After rummaging through it for a moment she finds her passkey and her electronics tool kit, in case things have to get more hands on. She does a once over of the mechanism and the surroundings, both inside and out to make sure there is nothing suspicious. Then she holds her breath and swipes the key.

@All

Nothing happens for a few seconds and then, click!, the door opens. Lynx quickly stashes her passkey where she can get it again quickly and pulls the door open slightly to keep it from locking again.

"Ok," Lynx whispers, "Once inside no talking without necessity and even then in a whisper. Try to disarm and incapacitate opposition. I like to work with as little unnecessary bloodshed as possible. After you, gentlemen," she says as she holds the door open just wide enough for people to get through.

@ All
As you slide into the building, your eyes begin to adjust to the slightly lower light. The are no lights on in the main room -- the one with the exercise equipment in it -- but there are some colored LEDs on the equipment shedding a weird orange/green mixture of color over the space. Once inside, peering through the gloom, you can just make out a door on the far wall marked "No Admittance -- NOT an Exit" in red letters. Judging from your information about the layout of the building, that's the door that leads down to the first floor.

@ All but Corbin
You hear the sound of music coming from somewhere in the room. Looking around for a moment, you realize where it's coming from: the offices on the west side of the building. It sounds like a small personal music device of some kind and the volume isn't too loud.

Corbin's eyes have no trouble with the darkness as a green wireframe map of the area begins constructing itself in a small window in his vision. He ghosts into the room, his urban camoflague doing much to blur his outline in the darkness. He spots the target door and begins to make a slow progression toward it, concentrating a good amount of effort on covering the rest of the team.

Lynx brings up the rear of the party and closes the door very carefully behind her so that it doesn't slam. As soon as she hears the music Lynx holds up her fist for everyone to stop. She puts a finger to her lips to signal silence.

When she is sure that they haven't been detected she makes her way across to the next door and examines the lock. She puts down her back pack and pulls the tool kit and a keypad sequencer out.

She motions for everyone to get low to the floor as she kneels in front of the door and starts to work.

@All

The music doesn't falter; it's muffled volume filling the gym with an odd "background" noise that you don't usually hear on a run. Soluna's movement across the room is silent and quick, and her work with the lock is just as professional. She has the case off of the keypad in about 10 seconds, the sequencer hooked up in another 20 and after a few more seconds, a small red light on the keypad turns off and a green one comes on. With a grin, she pulls the door open, holding it with her foot as she disconnects her equipment and then reconnects the casing on the lock.

The door opens into a hallway, with a staircase leading down. The staircase ends two floors below you and at the bottom you can see two guards, faced away from you. Neither seems to have noticed that the door opened, behind them.

@Ikarus
As you move closer to the door, you notice that the magnetic connection that locks the door seems to be wired not only to the keypad, but also to a small electronic box on the inside of the stairwell.

Ikarus holds his small fist up in a sudden jerk. Making the traditional movie 'military' signals of stop, look and points to the box.

Damn. Why can't these things ever just work.

I moved through the door as quickly as I could, hoping everyone else would as well. With any luck the alarm that we just triggered wasn't being monitored. With any luck. Either way I decided to play it safe. Once inside I took a quick peak into the astral, just to make sure we were alone.

@Trace
Other than the two guards at the bottom of the staircase (on the first floor) no one else appears in the astral plane. Both guards are mundane. You can also see the shimmering effect of the astral ward that you saw during your reconnaisance which seems to cut across the stair case at the level of what you estimate would be the second floor.

Lynx curses under her breath and motions everyone to hurry through the door. She pulls up the rear again to close the door gently and quietly behind her.

Once in the stairwell she signals again for silence and points to Trace then raises her brows and shoulders in a questioning way and points to the gaurds at the bottom of the stairs. She hopes he gets what she's trying to say.

Moving quickly in and to the side, Ikarus hopes his luck hold up for the time being.

I was hip to Lynx's plan and went to it. I leaned up against the wall and went full on astral. A quick zoom to the bottom of the stairs and back told me if the guards were on their way.

Once I was back, I gave her a nod. All seemed to be clear.

Corbin followed along, a gel round in the chamber of his pistol and ready to take out the guards when the signal is given.

SLash slid in behind the others, his sense jacked up to the max, easing his blade out of its sheath he drew it but left it off.

Time to move on. Terry would have liked to question the prisoners more, but they can't be sparing the time. He points his gun at the two prisoners, executing them both with a single shot to the head each., Then uses their own spare ammo to restock his clip.

"I think it's time t' go, guys."

@Shadow
On the astral plane, you don't see anyone or anything at the bottom of the staircase other than the two guards. The hallway wraps around the stairs to the left and you can see a door leading out into the rest of the first floor.

I came back with a start. Shook my head and looked at the group.

I held up two fingers and pointed to the bottom of the stairs.

Lynx draws her taser and points to herself and then the guard on the right. Then she points to Corbin and the guard on the left. They're a little far away for her taser to hit accurately, so she motions for him to follow her down the stairs a little ways.

Noting Lynx's choice of a taser, Corbin follows suit and draws his own, sneaking up and going along with Soluna's plan.

With Corbin in position beside her, drawn and ready, she nods at him once and fires.

@All
As Corbin and Lynx move down the stairs, one of the guards leans back in his chair and streches his arms above his head. Leaning back you can just see his face!! A moment of fear grips all of you as you realize that there's no where to hide in this stairwell. But he doesn't seem to notice you... odd, that. He finishes his strech and turns to the other guard, "I had stair duty. How do you think the fight is going?"

"I know. You'd think they could at least set up trid in here so we could watch."

"That would be ....."

Using the cover of their burgeoning conversation, Corbin and Lynx take their shots. The tasers make a small popping noise and the guards have a moment to turn, one reaches for a gun, the other for a radio as they begin to drop to the floor, hoping to use the chairs for cover. But, the taser darts move faster.

Corbins shot hits the left had guard in the neck filling him with enough voltage to drop him to the floor in unconsciousness. The right hand guard also drops to the floor stunned but doesn't look like he's in dreamland yet. But, the good news is that he's in no condition, for the moment, to respond in anyway as his limbs twitch uncontrollably.

Corbin smiles as his target goes down and turns his taser on the other guard as he squeezes off a second shot to bring him down as well.

After Corbin's second shot Lynx motions for silence again to see if she can hear any other voices or movement coming in their direction. When she's satisfied that the coast is clear she motions for the others to follow her and Corbin down the rest of the stairs to the first floor, keeping low.

@all
The noise of the crowd greets you after the soft zapping noise of the tasers. Other than that, all seems to be well. At the bottom of the stairwell, the hallway turns around to the left and moves toward a door. The door has a biometric lock on it with the shape of a hand outlined on its face. Next to the hand outline on the side of the lock is a small slot for a maglock card key. The face of the lock glows slightly blue in the light of the hallway and there is a red LED in the top left hand corner of the device. There are no windows in this door.

Alright, time top get to work. I pulled out a trinket I brought with me from seattle, I wasn't sure I was going to need it, but you know how it goes.

"Lynx, get on that door, Corbin, help me with these bodies, we need to see if they have key cards, when were done we need to secure them."

@Corbin and Shadow
The two guards are well and truly unconcsious. The right hand guard, the one that took two shots to down, looks like he's going to be in a bad way when he wakes up -- physically, that is. The other isn't in such a sorry state and if not for the burn marks where the taser darts fed the voltage into his body, he almost looks asleep -- with an Einstein haircut that is.

Both guards were armed with what look like standard issue Ares Predator weapons. Only one had a radio, however. They both have keycards attached to their belts with a retractable wire.

Ikarus retrieves the microphone and rolls the guard for his mag-card.In a hushed tone, he says "Never know, they might have to check in and we'll need to know their names." He hands the radio and card to Trace.
Ikarus then takes a moment to look around the area in detail.

@Ikarus
Examining the area closely yields little that would help you at this time. There are electricle outlets available near the baseboards of the room but no places for you to sink your virtual teeth into at this point. The radio on the guards was a pretty standard transciever operating on a private band. Little to go on, but at least you know what frequency to if you need to jam their radio communications.

Lynx takes the mag card of one of the guards from Ikarus and motions for someone to help her carry the body of one of them over to the door. After all, why do it the hard way when all the material is right here unconscious and waiting to be taken advantage of. Now she had to decide if the magkey or the biometric should go first. They'd come an awful long way to have her mess it up now.

Slash slides forward and lifts up the body and lifts it up, carrying it over to lynx.

Corbin grabs the radio frequency from the one the guards had and programs it into his radio for monitoring. He then helps move bodies out of the way.

Lynx nods thanks at Slash and takes the gaurd's right hand and places it on the pad making very sure that none of her fingers are in the way. She then takes the mag card and swipes it.

@All
The red LED light on the door look switches from red to orange when the handprint scan goes off and then to green after Lynx swipes "her" card. A metallic click occurs and the door unlocks.

Lynx opens the door a crack and checks to see if the coast is clear.

@Lynx
Through the gap in the door you can see a small enclosed hallway. The noise of the crowd is louder and the hallway is better lit than the stairwell. You can neither see nor hear any guards in it. The size of the room is only about 6x4 meters. From your angle you can see one door at the west end of the hallway with another maglock access point.

Lynx motions for everyone to stay low and follow thru the door as quickly as possible. She makes sure the door closes quietly behind them and then takes stock of her surroundsings, looking for other exits from the hallway and keeping her eyes and ears open.

After moving through and to the side, Ikarus takes in the area.

@All
The hallway you're in is painted a off-white color and looks utilitarian rather than service oriented. There are no chairs, pictures, plants, benches, etc. lining the walls. There are two doors on the east and west ends. The east end door is similar to the one you just came through with a handprint identifier and keycard reader. The west end door simply has a keycard reader.

@Ikarus
As you examine the room you realize something: if those handprint readers are connected to a central database of some kind to verify the biometrics, you might be able to control the door locks from one of them. 'Course, if the units themselves can store the data they you won't be able to do a thing. Only one way to find out .......