05:21:33 Tuesday 08 June 2064 - Outside Galyan's Sporting Goods

Ana's gut clenches with a deep sense of wrong. The Rover's engine revs as the wheels grit in the gravel of the lane behind Galyan's. Alarm fills her thoughts as the dumpsters reveal a most unwelcome sight. What... her eyes glance reflexively into the rearview mirror. Eric! She slows Mike's car awkwardly from the passenger seat and swivels around. He is bleeding and his hands look burnt. He is as still as death, but for a little breathing. As she watches the burns worsen and the trickle of blood flowing down his cheek gets heavier. That's gonna stain.

Teliq's bloodied face stares up at her. She freezes, as she did back then. A heartbeat. She gasps a shuddering breath. Grabbing the keys from the ignition she slithers out the passenger side door and whips open the door so she can get to Eric. She grunts as she twists his body in the seat to turn him more properly on his side and sees the fight. It moved past the dumpsters. Nick, Mike and the others are firing back at the building. A big man fights like a devil against... What the frag is that!? In a split thousandth of a second Ana is looking more closely at these frenzied orcs than she might wish. Gah... ugh. Why did I get so much mag?

Eric coughs and sits upright. Ana shuts her slack jaw with a click and helps him up. Blisters on the back of his hand split and leak fluid down his wrist as he raises it toward the bugs. Her hair stands on end as Eric's power gathers.

"Drek!" Her eyes are riveted in the direction Eric's hand reaches. "Drekking drek." She slips the harness on her cloak and stuffs it past Eric into the back of the Rover. Dammit. Dammitdammit. Gotta get my hoop over there. She vaults in a neat slide over the hood of the car landing in a crouch and springing to her feet to cover the distance between herself and the others. Drek. Fragging drek. At a flat run her world becomes a series of handholds, springboards, barriers, hurdles, swings. She begins to pick out a likely target, long legs eating the ground between her and the fray. A smooth hand pulls the mini-flare launcher from her bag as she closes...



Five meters. Faster than she can register one of The Cops is rushing in, a blur of armor and metal. Four meters. A chill shivers down Ana's spine. Freaking creepy mages. Three meters. She aims and fires into the face of one of orcs. Two meters. She begins a leaping half-twist flip that should take her easily over the orc's head. One meter...

05:21:36 Tuesday 08 June 2064 - Outside Galyan's Sporting Goods

Mishka spins away from his opponent, who crumples slowly to the ground, internal organs crushed and bleeding from the powerful brows of the big man. He casts a quick glance back at where his sister was still hiding, then quickly returns his attention to the other orc-bugs seemingly held back by a strange glowing wall.

The blond human had seen something similar to these wall things a couple of times, and they had always meant trouble. He knew he could eventually force his way through, but it seemed that at the rate the maddened orc-bugs were tearing at the barrier, it wouldn't last long anyway.

Mishka squares his large shoulders and readies himself for the next wave of battle.

*JAM*, and not at a worse time. Mike's gun holds locked up, as a bullet slips into the chamber wrongly. The bugs, noticing the lack of firing, take this chance to charge at the rest of you. John reacts quickly, dropping his piece and extracting his spurs, killing 2 of the 6 before they even land back on the ground. Joe and Gnat succumb to fear as the strange creatures leap towards them, forgetting to fire their weapons, at the sight of incoming death. Just as their lives are ending, the bugs, for lack of a better name, turn and run, disappearing into the darkness. Those outside attempt to break free, and through the door, but are again locked out by an unseen barrier. Ana charges in, in an acrobatic display that would make a olympic gymnast impressed, wastes one of the bugs herself, a flare jammed down its throat, bursting into flame. Apparently they're not nearly as immune to fire as gunfire. Mishka quickly finishes off 2 more, stepping into the barrier tactically in positions that prevent the others from striking at him. Ana is standing between the 3 remaining, and they look ready to pounce, except for the one that is floating 2 meters off the ground.

The 4 bugs that ran ran into the store, and not towards an exit. They could be going to regroup with more, or perhaps there's some sort of nest of these things under the store.

Locke pounces on the two around Ana, his blades slicing and dicing any bug flesh they meet. He will then turn and skewer one of the bugs in the astral barrier, if he has time.

"Bloody Hell!" Mike snarls as the rifle jams up. He let's it swing to his side, as he smoothly draws his pistol, never taking his eyes off of the remaining bugs as they scamper away. "Piece of Ares crap..." he mutters as he takes aim with his other gun... an Ares Predator.

He doesn't fire after the fleeing bugs, in this light and at that speed, it would be a waster of ammo, but he is cautious just incase the suddenly turn and attack again.

"Guys!" He yells at Gnat and Joe, "Keep it together damn it! Fall back! Fall Back!"

He stays with them until they respond and begin moving again towards the exit door, his attention shifting between the sounds of violence outside and the need to protect the rear flank.

05:21:39 Tuesday 08 June 2064 - Outside Galyan's Sporting Goods


Eric lifted the orc-bug until it was at the outer edge of his vision before dropping the spell. He pointed to a spot amid the group and said "Watch out guys, it's raining orcs and roaches."

Looking around, he said to Mike "Do we stay and take what we came for? We certtainly paid for it. If we are, once the trucks are loaded, I can lift another hundred or two kilos to take with us. If we wrap them in a tarp or something. I'd like to take one of these things back for study if that's possible" Eric looked beat. "I'll be over here if you need me..."

05:21:42Tuesday 08 June 2064 - Outside Galyan's Sporting Goods

Ana hits the ground lightly, her momentum caught and dissipated in a flourish of crouching legs and flaring arms. She can see the backlit glow around the orc's head as he claws at his face, gurgling and stinking something fierce. Three others menace her, but all she can see and hear are the tortured screams of the burning man in front of her. Her breath stills to tiny gasps in time to her heartbeat. What... I... he... She closes her eyes to clear her head and opens them.

Two orcs menace her. Oh... what did I just do...? The danger of her situation registers and she rolls away from the two threats as Locke advances, bloodied spurs extended. She cowers down away from Locke and the orc creatures. THUD. She screams as a misshapen orc hits the ground right in front of her face. She surges to her feet firing flares at the sorry thing until it stops moving.

She is panting, wild-eyed, flaregun trained on the burning orc in front of her. A hand clamps down on her shoulder and she gives in to the weight, rolling away and training her flaregun on a startled, but not all that surprised, Locke. She lowers the gun and covers her face with one fine-boned hand.

Eric calls out from the Rover, "Do we stay and take what we came for?"

Ana closes her eyes tightly and eventually stands. It hadn't really registered before, because she spent a lot of time sitting or slinking, but Ana is fully as tall as the blond behemoth that stands... Ana swings her flaregun at the stranger. "Hands up - who the frag are you?"

05:21:54 Tuesday 08 June 2064 - Outside Galyan's Sporting Goods

As another opponent falls in front of him, Mishka takes no chances and lashes out with his right foot, shattering the creature's jaw. As he straightens in readiness for another attack, he looks around in anticipation for the next enemy, and is strangely disappointed when none is forthcoming. The assorted bunch of metahumans seemed to have dealt with the remainder of the threat.

Eyeing the strangers suspiciously, the big blond curses and launches another kick at the unmoving orc-bug at his feet before turning back to where Tash still crouches next to the upset trash can. As Mishka takes a step towards his sister, he is pulled up abruptly by a very tall woman menacingly brandishing a big gun in his direction.

Mishka's gloved hands curl into rock hard fists as his body tenses in preparation for yet another battle. Snarling in frustration, the big warrior turns to appraise this new threat.

Locke withdraws his spurs, and flicks his arms to try and flick the blood off of the chemically-sealled slits on his armor. When he sees Nine threatening the stranger, Locke intervenes.

"Hold on, Nine. Let's not try anything hasty, okay? The guy's magically active, and he looks like an adept the way he was tearing through those bugs. Let's give him a chance to explain himself first, okay?"

He then turns to the man.

"So, what is your name, and why were you being attacked by these bugmen?"

Suspiciously, the big blond's eyes move to assess the armored man, then quickly return to watch those of the woman with the big gun. Mishka's pale blue eyes betray the confusion he feels as he tries to get a grip on the situation.

A slight rustling comes from near the wall behind Mishka, and out steps a small girl. Her brown hair is pulled up into two pigtails that reach to touch each shoulder, and both her face and knee-length green and yellow dress are streaked with dirt. A small grey satchel looks oddly huge on her as it hangs from one shoulder to drag on the street.

"He's Mikhail. She pauses as she steps up and stands next to her brother, her arm clinging to his leg, her head barely reaching above his knee. "And my name is Natasha."

The big man's hand slowly unclenches as he reaches down to pat the little girl's head. "Shhh, Tash."

"But Mishka ..."

"Shhh, Tash. Don't tell them everything. We have to be careful."

The blond looks up again at Ana and Locke, the confusion even more evident on his face.

To Mike's words, Joe snaps out of his lack of self-control, wondering how it happened in the first place. He does as Mike has asked retreating while quickly filling his rifle with more bullets.

Eric collapses onto the Rover, tears a strip off of his shirt to bind the wound on his arm. If we are staying I should probably take another look around. Eric struggled to calm his spirit before stepping out ot the astral. He manifested and drifted over to Mike. "Hey Mike, if were going to stay and gather supplies I should do a once around the place... again. I can do it much faster besides. It's pretty close quarters in there as well and they're not likely to be able to pen me in in the astral."

Ana sees the confusion in the man's eyes and gasps when the girl steps forward. She puts down her flaregun, ashamed of herself. Though, it doesn't take long for her to get over it as she glances around at the bodies of the twisted orcs.

She nods at Locke, and the tall, elven woman relaxes into her more characteristic coiled slouch. She smiles warmly at the girl and crouches, glancing up at Mike as he rounds up the rest of the crew. "Say, Mike. These flares... they... uh. They're pretty effective. We should grab some."

She turns her eyes and attention back to the girl, with a flicker up at Mishka, "Natasha and Mikhail," she smiles again, "Those are Russian names."

She continues in Russian, "Do you speak?"

Mike nods to the ghostly form, "Alright, but be damn careful."

He turns his attention to the man and child that the team has just rescued and after seeing that the pose no harm he goes about clearing the jam in his rifle, just incase the creatures come back.

"Ok, people." He says, "We'll take two to rest and recover. After that we should get back to doing what we came here for. I want to get back to the pub ASAP. If just one of these damn things get's in there while we are gone..." He doesn't have to finish that sentence, and he see's that the others agree.

"Right, well it looks like fire harms these guys so just in case they come back or we find more of them I think we should do like Ana says. Grab a lot of flares, or any other fire source we can get a hold of. Sound good? Eric is just doing astral recon right now. We wait for him to give us an all clear sign before we re-enter."

With that he sits down to finish working on his gun and to catch his breath.

The look of confusion on Mishka's face is quickly replaced by one of suspicion as the elf starts speaking to him in Russian.

"Da, a little. But we're not going back."

His left hand guides the little girl to shelter behind his legs as he grits his teeth and once again squares his shoulders in preparation for battle.

"You're not taking her again. You'll just have to kill me first."

Joe is on the ready. He watches carefully their surroundings, looking out for other threats potentially coming their way. He's still feeling like in the middle of a fight and hasn't calmed back down yet. Nervously, he paces about looking behind corners of building, always looking for lines of sight, and listening carefully for incoming danger.

He did not suspect to encounter these weird bug-like creatures and now he's ready for anything, hoping that nothing bad might be happening back at Mike's place. He longs to see his wife and daughter again and would like to make sure they're safe. He swears to himself that he won't abandon them again while the city is in quarantine.

Tired, hurting, feeling like he had just gone ten rounds with Haggler, Eric entered the building. Again the taint washed over him like a great wave, pounding against his senses, threatening to sweep him away in a tide of anger and animal instinct. Eric staggered along the right wall and began a systematic search of the building. At one point, he leaned against the wall and nearly fell through. Keep it together Graves. You can sleep when you're dead. Eric could still hear sergeant Grigsby barking at him. He steeled himself against the stream and continued his search...

Locke reloads then securely harnesses his rifle to his chest with his sling, then proceeds to pick up the pieces of his gyroharness and puts them away into the pouches on his harness.

The bugs dispatched, you have only about 30 minutes to forage for supplies before the streets become active. Foraging isn't going to be easy though, and chances are good that some of what you want is already gone. You scurry around the piles of goods which lay scattered and thrown across the floor, and notice, again, the Hummer sitting near the entrance. You'd guess from the scratches, you're not the first to think about riding off in this beaut, but the security system seems to be pretty good.

After getting the "All clear" from Eric, Mike cautiously heads back into the store to get what they came, and almost died, for.

His first goal is Medkits and medical supplies. After gathering as many as he can salvage he then goes looking for home improvement supplies. Hammers, nails, chains, rope, bolts, etc... Anything that can be used to help fortify the pub. Metal rods, wooden supports, anything.

Locke turns to Nine. "Nine, open the Hummer, while the rest of us get equipment."

He then goes off to look for Pocket Secretaries, paintball guns to convert into smart sentry guns, motors, ammunition, and enhanced sights.

Eric returned to his aching body after giving Mike the all clear. He then joined in the search for supplies, doing his best no to look at the remains of the previous group to have the same idea...

05:25:03 Tuesday 08 June 2064 - Inside Galyan's Sporting Goods

Ana stands up, backing a few careful steps away from the big man bristling with protective anger. Eyes flickering reflexively through various modes she sees a gathering of heat in the man's face and fists. Not a good sign. She glances at the girl peeking from behind Mikhail's leg and shakes her head, fine wisps of dark hair blowing in the light breeze. Ugh, those flares reek. "No one's making anyone go anywhere..." She glances down at the little girl and her stomach twists again. In her vision a mute beacon blinks quietly, nagging her to find it. She smiles her most disarming smile and is about to speak when Locke draws her aside.

Her brows crease and her clear gray eyes stay fixed on the big man and the little girl. She's about the same age as my... Her eyes flicker to Locke, only half listening. ...boy. A word catches her attention and her cold hawk's gaze rivets itself fully on Locke. "Humvee you say? Show me."

After the team makes sure there aren't any more nasty surprises, Ana settles down to crack open the shiny hummer. She puts on a pair of insulated gloves and scavenges a skateboard to use as a dolly to slide around under the belly of the vehicle, where her contented humming and occasional choice, not-so-contented expletives come muffled to the ears of the other folks.

Her head pops out from under the hummer, smudged attractively with grease, she tosses her bangs out her eyes as she calls brightly, "Hey, Mike, there's a big old loading bay thing under here that caught my eye. Might as Eric to take look." She vanishes under the vehicle as quickly as she appeared.

She works for a while... disengage this. Clip the green wire with the gray stripe, bridge this here and...

Mishka is taken by surprise by the elven woman's withdrawal, and even more confused when she flashes a brief smile at his sister and then runs off into the large building. As the other metahumans follow the elf, the big man's shoulders slump, and he flops down on the curb. The little girl throws her arms around her brother's neck, and he wraps his left arm around her tenderly. Tears are just beginning to carve streaks in Mishka's grimy cheeks as he turns to face the five-year old.

"I just don't know what to do now Tash. We can't go back! I mean, we have to go somewhere, but I just don't know where, or who we can trust, or even what we should or shouldn't do next."

Joe starts looking for ammunition as a priority. He wants to stock up as much of it as possible. When he can't find any more, he'll look for any kind of power generating devices, from regular batteries to actual generators (solar, fuel-consumming, who knows?).

Eric lowered the first load of scroungings to the HUMVEE. The hundred kilo pallet made a WHUFF shound as it hit the floor. Ana muttered under the vehicle as she worked to open the mobile monstrosity. "Nine" he said loudly enough to reach her and not echo. "what's the deal with the two kids? Anybody get them squared away?"

Ana's hair flutters in the breeze raised by the dropped palette. "Thanks for the AC Eric." She pauses, peering up into the guts of the hummer and purses her lips again. Stretching her neck first one way and then the other she calls out to Eric.

"Don't know. That big guy," she snips another cord and reaches for a cap, "He's pretty tough." Satisfied that she can drop what she's doing for a moment she slithers out to speak directly to Eric.

"If you mean 'sorted' like they're coming with us, that's a question for Mike." She shrugs and slips back under the chassis.

Mike spends time combing the store with John, Joe and Eric while the rest of the team work to get the Hummer working. Nine has almost no trouble at all, and within 10 minutes the purring of the Hummer catches everyones ears. Before long the Hummer and SUV are being filled with gear that can be found, although to the annoyance of many, the best ammo that can be found is arrows for bows. Mishka remains in the alley with his sister, almost forgotten about, and unsure where he belongs in this whole scenario.

Locke will grab the damaged ones anyway. He can fix them later.

Mishka slowly shakes off his funk, and looks through teary eyes at the body-strewn alleyway. He looks down to see Tash still clinging to his neck, her eyes drooping closed in exhaustion after the long night.

As he stands, he gently slides her arm from the bag and throws it over his shoulder, wincing a little as he aggravates the orc-bug bite. The small girl's eyes close as she leans her head against his broad chest and nestles firmly in his left arm. Mishka takes a long hard look in each direction, as if searching for some kind of sign as to where he should go next. After a moment though, he just shakes his head and moves off around the outside of the large building into which the others had run.

Eric continued working but his mind kept drifting back to the young man and the little girl. He had assumed they would fall in and return with them to Mike's. But after twenty minutes neither of them were to be found. He picked up a pair of ration bars and started walking to the rear of the building. He stopped, remembering the size of the young man and went back for two more. He also scooped up a stuffed bear that had a large round hat and a plush shovel for the girl. Eric trotted back to the area where he had found Mishka and his sister, hoping they hadn't left yet.

He kicked himself for not making sure they were taken care of. I was kind of pre-occupied, cut me some slack. No, no excuse, you fragged up. just fix it. Outside there were only bodies. No behemoth and his shadow. Eric concentrated for a moment and conjured a watcher construct. While rather stupid they were efficient at finding things, especially thing Eric had assensed before. Eric's favorite form for his watchers was a small dog, usually a Jack Russel Terrier. The construct took shape and waited, wagging its tail for instructions. Eric concentrated on Mishka's astral image and spoke slowly to his watcher. "Remain manifested. Find this man and then come to me and lead me to him." The dog barked and ran off in search of Mishka.

While he waited, Eric examined the orc creature in detail. Nearly forgotten, Eric was startled when the dog came skittering around the corner. The small canine slid to a halt, quivering with excitement, saying "Master, Master, I finded him! I finded him! This way, this way!" Eric had to run to keep up with the watcher. It lead him around the building and just up the street where the young man carried the little girl on his back.

Unsure how to proceed, Eric remembered how Mishka had made short work of the orcs, he jogged to within 5 meters of the pair and spoke out. "Hey!" Eric held up his hands, displaying the ration bars and the stuffed toy bear. " I'm Eric. Do you two live around here? Do you have a place to stay? It isn't safe around here lately, as you have seen. It's a good time to have friends..."

The voice from behind stops Mishka in his tracks. The little girl raises her head from his shoulder and peers sleepily back at the man calling to them.

"He ... he has a Teddy Bear, Mishka."

The big blond's shoulders slump, and he slowly turns to face Eric. The small creature at the man's side catches his eye, it's Astral form somehow different from the dog shape it outwardly showed. Obviously another product of one of his 'visions', Mishka tries to ignore it, instead looking directly at the man. As Natasha twists in his arms to keep the man in sight, he lowers his voice to a whisper.

"We have to trust someone, Tash. I just don't know what to do now." Mishka takes a few steps towards the unknown man and his strange pet before continuing. "Stay close to me and be careful what you say, Little One." He comes to a halt a couple of feet from Eric and nods in greeting.

"We have no friends. And no place to stay. We are, um ...". He casts a quick glance at the small girl while he searches for an appropriate word. "... Lost."

Seeing the young man relax, Eric covers the remaining distance between them and offers his hand. "I'm Eric" he says, then offers the bear to Natasha. "Let's get back to the rest of the group and I'll make introductions." Eric says. The watcher trotted along side Eric and they were nearly at Gaylans before he remembered. "You may go now." He said and the small terrier trotted off toward the store, fading as it went, until it was gone. Eric struggled with the questions racing through his mind. Where are their parents? How did they get here? And why were they being attacked by those things? Many more came and went and Eric rejected them. I don't think he will open up until we know each other better.

When they reach the HUMVEE, Eric squats down next to the vehicle. With a satisfying roar the monster came to life. He stood and walked around to the driver's window where Ana sat with a smugly satisfied look on her face. The look and several streaks of who knew what. "Nine, this is Mishka and Natasha, they're going to be staying with us. Assuming, of course, Mike has no objections to another pair of mouths to feed. If not we'll make other arrangements. He smiled reassuringly at the two, knowing Mike to be far too decent to just turn them out.

He turned to the pair and said "Mishka, we could use some help gathering supplies and pretty much anything of use to take back home. So, if you're comfortable enough, you can put Natasha in the truck and help me with the gear. If not, wait here with Nine and start loading the truck. The others will be along soon enough." With a wink to Natasha, Eric turned to gather more material for the bar.

Fixing up the hummer nearly drives the image of an orc-bug creature choking down a mouthful of blazing red from Ana's mind. She peers at herself critically in the shiny paint of the new, quietly rumbling vehicle. Hmm... a few sweeps of her hands and the random dashes of dirt and grease and a fearsome mask assymetrical war paint emerges. She turns her head this way and that admiring the effect and goes back to the more important business of getting the hell back to the pub. Maybe then we can go for my family. And Nick's. She glances around for the orc. Huh. Where'd he get to?

Eric is talking to the big guy and the girl. The bruiser is cautiously eating an energy bar and eyeing another that Eric holds, uneaten while the girl is hugging a teddy-bear ... archaeologist?... to her chest. Guess they're coming back with us.

"Come on folks. Let's get our get on. City's gonna be waking up soon and I for one don't want to be here when the manager comes to open up shop."

She smiles and holds the door open of the driver's seat, calling out, "Anybody want to drive this thing? All the one way streets down here just make me nuts."

Joe gets things moving as much as he can, helping others to find what they're looking for and packing. He's glad he found a power generator for their base, it will be very useful since it's solar powered, but for now he wants to see his wife safe in his arms again as soon as possible and he's worried. He helps to pasck all the stuff in the hummer and the other vehicle, trying to be helpful and keeping an eye for other threats.

Mishka warily follows Eric as he heads towards the door leading into the large building. He pauses in his tracks, somewhat startled when the dog-thing fades from view right before his eyes, but then just shakes his head in denial and trails after the man.

As they get to the Hummer, Eric introduces the woman that spoke to him earlier in Russian as Nine. Mishka is a little hesitant at first, but after seeing that she poses no immediate threat, he decides that for the moment it would be best just to keep a wary eye on her. And her friends as well.

Famished from the long night on the run, the big man makes short work of the first ration bar, and after sitting Tash on the hood of the car, and making sure that she is eating hers, he digs into a second. The little girl tucks the last bar into a pocket of the small satchel that Mishka places beside her, all the while whispering excitedly to her new stuffed friend.

Looking around the huge building, Mishka feels a little overwhelmed, and more than a little confused. He wasn't sure what was going on, or why these people were gathering all this stuff, or even where they were going next. Thinking about what Eric said, he decides that the last thing he is going to do is leave his sister alone in the car, especially with that Russian woman around, so he starts to load anything that the others bring into the vehicle.

Getting everyone into the 2 vehicles, most in Mike's since the Hummer seems to be overfilling with gear, the team with it's newest member head back towards Mikes place. 5 minutes later, rounding a curve, they come up to the street Mike's house is sitting on. Oddly enough, there are a few black limo looking cars sitting out front, and a few body-guard look alikes standing guard outside the house. They are all toting military looking fully automatic weapons, and looking in your direction, gathering together behind what must be an armour plated limo, preparing a defensive. Looks like Mike's place has been taken over, and there's no sign on whether your loved ones are inside or not.

This is not happening. Eric thought to himself. He takes an assessment of the situation, using every spare neuron to see the details. Details mark the difference between success and failure. He then shifted his perception to the astral and gave the scene a second inspection...

Ana's brow furrows. "Fragging hell." Her mind whirls into action and she guages the distance between her vehicle and the barricade. We could make it... Right there... She points at a gap between the vehicles assembled. "We could ram through right there. Ready?""Here we go," she shoves the pedal to the floor, aiming the vehicle for the best gap she can see. This is great... fragging great. I'm going from killing self-defense to vehicular manslaughter. All in one day. Just fragging great.

"Of fragging course."

Locke puts his helmet back on, and picks up his HVAR, instructing it to reattach to his gyroharness, which begins revving up, as he runs a standard diagnostic test on it.

He will then hold it on his lap. They might not be hostile, though if he recognizes them as Yamatetsu or they begin firing he will wind down his window and begin firing.

Mike watches the Hummer speed up and charage towards the cars. "What the F%#k are they doing?" He exclaims, as he in turn hits the breaks and pulls his jeep into a skid. He brings it to a stop 30 odd meters away from the unexpected visitors.

He keeps a hand on his gun, while he looks over the scene. Hoping that Ana and the others in the Hummer haven't just killed all of their families and friends inside by foolishly attacking these strangers.

Slamming on the Gas, Ana sparks into action with the Hummer, peeling past Mike. Approaching the entrance, she swings the car in, slamming into the 2 cars that were acting as a gate to the place. They skitter a bit, but look less damaged than the Hummer from the affair. The Hummer is pelted with gunfire, and you're pleasantly happy to see that you're quite bulletproof.... for now. John rolls down the window and begins firing at the men on his side. Of course, from a sitting position, the GyroStablization unit provides no help at all, even hindering him since he's more confined than with out this massive contraption.

Mike watches as the men open fire on the Hummer, then notices 1 is turning around to fire at his SUV.

Eric sees...

Joe's experience and instincts kick in. As a former sniper his first priority would be to find cover and perhaps a hidden spot. In this case, he feels that what's best to do is to get rid of the biggest threat: the man with the rocket launcher. He quickly gets out of the car on the side opposite to the Italian men, and immediately fires a shot at the man's firing shoulder (likely the right shoulder) from behind the car.

Oh my God..., Steph. Eric watches in horror as the hummer streaks toward the limos. Time stretches and twists along with his innards as the massive truck smashes into two of them. Nine, what have you done!? Time speeds up again and weapons are being drawn and fired, people are running and shouting, then there is the rocket launcher.

Eric gathers power around him and reaches out to the suit with the rocket launcher. Eric drops his hand, palm out, fingers pointed to the ground and grips the suit with his magic. Father, protect my family while I do what I must. With a swift motion he lifts his hand and attempts to hoist the suit holding the rocket launcher into the air.

Mike slips out of the jeep, which is now between him and the goons. He pulls out his rifle and brings it to bare on the attackers.

"Son of a bitch." He mutters, cursing just about everything and everyone that put him into this situation.

He let's off a surpressing burst, trying to make the goons duck for cover, or maybe even run away if he gets really lucky.

Crammed into the back seat of the Hummer, Mishka mostly ignored the strangers, instead spending the ride talking to his little sister, who was riding on his lap. As they near their destination, he doesn't notice anything wrong until Nine slams her foot on the gas and smashes into the other vehicles.

Pushing Tash down against the floorboards, he covers her with his body as the first wave of bullets impact against the Hummer. As he realizes that the body of the car was protecting them from the gunfire, he pokes his head up and peeks out the window. Of course, John picked that time to roll down his own window and begin to return fire.

Knowing that they were sitting ducks staying where they were, Mishka quickly decides on a plan of action. Or at least the beginnings of one. 'Just like Quikdraw McVie in Mercenary Beach 4'. He pulls off his sweat shirt, revealing a thick black leather vest and matching bracers on both forearms, both etched with ornate scrollwork, and quickly drapes the garment over the little girl.

"Stay down there Tash. Don't come out until I get you."

Reaching for the handle, Mishka flings open the rear door of the Hummer, diving out as he slams the door behind him. Recovering quickly from his controlled roll, he draws a pair of knives from among several sheathed at his waist.

OOC: Only Eric saw the Rocket Launcher (hence the Spoiler with Eric's name).

Joe quickly draws his pistol, aiming at the shoulder of one of the men with a machine gun. Effortlessly, the shoulder is penetrated and the arm falls to the side as the man grabs at his shoulder with the other hand and dives for cover with the rest of the men, who are trying to avoid the suppressive fire being laid down by Mike. Mishka takes this oppurtunity to dive out of the car, crouched like a panther with blades in each hand. You almost don't notice the man screaming like a girl as he hangs in the air over the doorway with what appears to be a rocket launcher in his hand. You hear someone counting loudly on the other side of the cars, "1.... 2......"

"OW!" Eric spits as follows Mike out of the jeep, banging his shin on the dwarf-sized chair, hobbles around to the rear of the vehicle. He scans for the largest group and throws Mr. RL into them.

The men open fire on the vehicle, apparently having changed clips in the preceeding seconds. Suddenly the car is looking like Swiss cheese, the sound of metal ripping through flesh creates a sickening moist thud as you notice that a couple of team mates are not looking so healthy. Nick Hagvas clutches at his neck where a bullet went straight through, blood gushes out heavily as he tries to hold it in. Gnat seems to have taken a major hit as well, and seems out for the count, his eyes open, but empty. The firing stops as a screaming man falls out of the sky in the direction of the attackers, Eric's maneuver giving a few seconds to retaliate in kind.

"MEDIC!!!"

Joe yells at the sight of two of his teammates falling to the ground. He puts a knee down, his rifle next to him, and tries to pull the closest of Gnat or Nick behind the car, even though the cover it seemed to offer might have been weaker then he had thought. He does his best to keep the bleeding minimal, not daring to do anything major for lack of knowledge and equipment.

"Does anyone have a medkit?"