Rydell

Crosshairs

Crosshairs:
Taku:
Rydell:
Zelda:
Tempty:

As everybody is going about their business, the faux-samurai grabs something off the closest shelf and moves over to the cash register.
Putting the item on the counter, he begans to chat with her, flirtatiously. Then it happens.
Everyone can hear Wanda's (the cashier) blood curdling scream, and those of you within sight can see that SlicerDicer (the faux-samurai) has pulled a katana out of his sack and has it at her throat.
In the blink of an eye, the front door crashes open and three people rush in, all screaming at the top of their lungs. One of them, a human who looks like he'd weigh 46kg if 40kg of cement were attached to him, stops screaming and unloads his shotgun at the display behind the counter that contains the camera monitors. An electric buzz filters through the shocked silence in the store(even the obese woman, Mrs. Needles, stops yelling at her kid for a second-at least until she starts screaming). Catcher (the shotgun wielding ganger) shouts out "I am the King of the Sprawl and its time to collect taxes! Gimme everything you got, you drek-eating slime! And maybe I'll leave you with your pathetic lives."
All around the Stuffer Shack, other activity catches the attention of different runners in the team.
Tempty and Zelda see the woman (Zany) hop off the counter and pull out an HK 227 from behind her. In an instant, she changes from looking like a sex kitten to looking like a homicidal maniac.
Taku, who had just been passing the appliance aisle, sees the crazy guy pull a shotgun from under his coat and point it at him.
Surprising to all, the two real customers quickest to react are also the biggest. Rydell sees Mrs. Needles, screaming her head off and dragging her chubby kid along, push her cart down the aisle with speed and ferocity normally only seen in professional Urban Brawl players.
The other real customer to react first is the big Troll in the back. Tempty, Zelda, and even the ganger chic Zany, are shocked by the troll's squeal as he drops all the groceries he had so laboriously gathered up and rushes through the swinging doors into the stock area. Not the least oddity of this being that he seemed to be pulling down his pants as he went.

Taku:
edit: Tempty:
edit: All:
Zelda:

Seeing the shocking sight of the would-be Troll superhero threatening his Zany, Wiley shouts out "You're not going to touch a hair on Zany's lovely head." With great ceremony he closes his eyes and it is quite evident that he is putting forth great effort into something....
And suddenly, all who could see him notice the bulging leather pouch hanging from his belt. His disreputable, twig infested hair, could have just been poor grooming, but that bag with intricately carved wooden objects jutting out from beneath the flap, could mean only one thing.
This was one of the Awakened.
Looks like DarHar was in for some trouble. Just how much trouble is uncertain for now, but it becomes apparent very shortly. As Wiley opens his eyes with an evil grin on his face, a misty form fades into existence before him.
Wiley points to DarHar and says in a commanding voice "Kill the pink freak!"
With a distinctly wolfen edge to it, the mist begins to solidify into a ghastly beast.

When DarHar first stepped out of the stock area, SlicerDicer seemed well pleased, but as he could see Wiley concentrating, his smile slacken. "Dammit, I wanted that one. Now where am i to find a challenge."
Turning away from the terrified Wanda, SlicerDicer steps forward deftly wielding his katana about him in a show of his prowess. As he spots Rydell down the aisle to his right, he shouts "Kaia!!!"
Approaching Rydell he issues a challenge. "You there. Be you a coward or champion?"

The youngest of the confirmed gang members, Spike doesn't seem all that interested in the troll, Wiley's beast, or SlicerDicer's antics. Instead he turns his attention to the arcade area. With a smirk, he calls out to the girl "So who's got the high scores?" And he strolls over there out of anybody's sight.

Crosshairs

As SlicerDicer approaches Rydell, she is already formulating a clever plan to deal with the situation. To dissuade SlicerDicer from slicing into her with his katana, she begins to offer him the pack of cigarrettes she had so recently picked up.
Be it from her stance, the look on her face, or something else, she didn't even finish saying "Actually, I'm ambi...." before SlicerDicer decided she was coward and not up to a challenge.
In frustration, he slices through the offered pack of Lucky Strikes and on into a display filled with Zap-Corn and other snacks to go with the vids on this same asile.
Both SlicerDicer and Rydell are struck by flying kernels of uncooked popcorn. A minor irritant, but the abundance of kernels spell upon the floor may prove more troublesome.

Meanwhile, Tempty had remembered the old addage 'Geek the mage before any other.' Consequently, she was moving to a better position to shoot at Wiley.
As she steps down an aisle to get a bit of cover, she smoothly draws her weapon and fires at Wiley in a single fluid motion.
In a spray of brilliantly red blood, the bullet passes through his kneck. If it had just been a little bit to the right, she might just have dealt Wiley a deadly blow. Even as it was, Wiley was in a great deal of pain and losing much blood.
Tempty quickly followed with a second shot in Wiley's direction, but this time luck was on his side, as he was already in motion reacting to the first shot and it just so happened that the second bullet was aimed almost identically to the that one.
This time the bullet only nicked his earlobe, taking a small piece of it along the way.
Slightly dazed from the the wounds, Wiley was already looking around for a place to hide.

Too bad for Tempty, Zany actually does feel something for infatuated ganger friend. She had been moving to blow away the foolish looking troll that was oh so close to her, but, seeing Tempty wounding Wiley so grievously, she turned her smg towards Tempty's back.
A smile gleamed in her eyes as she saw the dwarf crouching in the same aisle as Tempty. With thoughts of something like Killing two birds with a shot she opens fire on both Tempty and Mr. Nick, the stores manager.

Catcher, the gang's leader, decides that he needs some protection from all the gunplay going on. Stepping forward a few feet, he places one hand on the countertop and vaults over it with at least some indication of skill.
He then grabs the terrified elf girl putting the muzzle of his shotgun to the base of her chin.
He shouts out "All of you mother-f@#$ers, drop your s$%# now. Or the B$#%& gets it in the head."

Zany's bullets fly towards Tempty and Mr. Nick.
Tempty's training and experience in the shadows served her well this day. Sensing the impending doom, Tempty silently prayed to Lady Luck to grace her with aid this eventful morning and the capricious Lady saw fit to give her that aid (though,with a bit of fun on the side).
Tempty dodged deeper into the aisle to use the shelves and their contents for a little bit of extra protection. And that is where the Lady Luck had her fun. The bullets tore through the flimsy shelves and the even less dense baked goods. The pastries Tempty was now standing next to exploded in a sugary spray of confections. The syrupy liquid filling an assortment of these previously delectable treats flew out covering Tempty's face and torse with a multicolored mess.

Mr. Nick was not so lucky. He was caught completely unawares by the bullets to his back. He was now bleeding profusely from greivous wounds and was having trouble breathing. In his limited experience, he absolutely knew he was dieing. His thoughts now turned away from protecting his store to simply taking out as many of these fraggers as he could. Now, if only I could get to my office before they finish me off. he thinks to himself.

Zany's gunfire demonstrated to Rydell that is was time to put her plan into action, in hopes of limiting the collateral damage.
Rydell drew her pistol and level it at SlicerDicer while shouting, "Freeze! Lone Star P.D. I've already commed for backup, so let the girl go and put down your weapons or you're all a bunch a dead motherfraggers. Do it, now!"
The force of her words was so great that SlicerDicer couldn't help but take half a step back. Then he remembered something that gave him confidence enough to remain there, something that there was no way for this woman to know.
The steely-eyed stare Rydell made him doubt even thought, however. SlicerDicer glanced to his leader Catcher for guidance. Although Catcher didn't even say a word, SlicerDicer could see strong confidence on Catcher's face, along with a look that said he better not back down from Rydell or he would be in trouble.
SlicerDicer knew he would now have to kill this Lone Star officer to avoid retribution from Catcher. Too bad, she is kind of cute. he thought as he prepared to slice into her.

The gunfire had also knocked DarHar out of his shock of seeing the spirit beast manifest itself before him. He didn't know much about such creatures, but if even half of the stories were true, he didn't have much of a chance to harm it.
Unwilling to simply withdraw in the face of such a horror, Darhar snapped to action. He quickly drew his favored Slivergun and fired of two shots.
The first shot simply bounced off the creatures shoulder without any effect whatsoever.
Seeing the strength of this creature, Darhar didn't have much hope of the second shot being effective, but it was all he could do now. Somehow, he pulled from deep within himself the power to succeed with against such an adversary. The second volley of slivers to issue forth from his pistol crossed the empty space between the muzzle and the spirit in an instant. Tearing into the spirit's newly materialzied form. With a bit of luck and a well aimed shot, the slivers had found its vulnerable eyes.
As the spirit's face and eyes were being assualted by the attacking, it let loose a ferocious roar of pain and anger. A bloody red haze of rage filled its eyes, tunnelling its vision to the point where it could only see the rediculous troll who had caused it such pain.
Suspecting that he could not stand against the enraged beast toe-to-toe, DarHar took cover in the food kiosk, using the excuse of out flanking the gun toating Zany to justify it to himself.

Meanwhile, the terrified Mrs. Needles was reacting to Crosshairs. In her current state, she couldn't understand a word he said. All she could tell was that he was a stranger and then he pulled out two pistols in front of her.
Thinking that he was yet another ganger wanting to kill her, she shoved her cart with all her strength, letting go of her son's hand to better channel her weight and energy into sending the shopping cart like a massive missile in Crosshairs' direction.
Fortunately for Crosshairs, he had already moved on and dived to behind another aisle's endcap. The shopping cart violently crashed into the glass doors of the refrigerated section had been standing in from of.
Shards of glass flew out in all directions narrowly missing bot Crosshairs and Mrs. Needles. Aluminum cans and bottles of the various cold beverages contained within spilled from a broken shelf on to the floor. Not a few of them bursting open and spinning crazily across the floor as they sprayed their sticky contents everywhere.
Seeing the devastation she had just caused and fearing the unknown man with two guns, Mrs. Needles couldn't bring herself to continue in that direction. As the turned around to once again grap her son, the spirits roared issued forth and she could no longer cope with the situation. Her legs gave out from under her and she crumpled to the floor sobbing.

For Louis Needles, the whole situation had the exact opposite effect on him. As so many young kids are in the '70s, he was fascinated by the shadows and those who ran within them. He had watched many of the trids and sims dealing with shadowrunners and now it was like he was living in one. He couldn't contain his excitement.
Suspecting that Crosshairs was a shadowrunner that would foil the gangs nefarious goals, he ignored his mother's terrified form as he followed Crosshairs around the corner.
As soon as he stepped around the corner and saw Crosshairs he turned into the Spanish Inquisition in child form. "Hey, are you a Shadowrunner?...You're a shadowrunner right?....Come on, you've gotta be?...You ever kill anybody before?....You ever met a dragon?....How about a ghoul?...Ewww, how about a vampire?...You ever met one of those?........." The questions were nonstop and just kept coming, even while Louis was slipping and sliding on the floor with all of the busted cans.

Johnny can't believe what is going on. There is no fragging way minimum wage is worth this drek. I really really need to go back to school. I just can't handle this. After he had used his very limited mental capacity analyzing the situation, he decided that the best corse of action would be to play dead and he promptly dropped to the floor and stayed as still as possible.

Badly bleeding, Mr. Nick gets up from the floor after he had been knocked there by Zany's hail of bullets to his back. Thinking only of getting revenge, he makes a mad dash for his office and the shotgun he keeps there, using his diminutive size to keep to cover. Narrowly avoiding the pool of piss forming around the prone elf, he just barely makes it into his office thinking These fraggers are going to pay before I die.

Despite seeing the girl of his dreams grabbed up by the gang's leader, Timmy just couldn't find the courage to do anything. As he fell to the floor with hopes of going unnoticed or at least avoiding the bullets flying everywhichway, he was thinking I am such a coward, such a fragging coward. This could be it, my chance to do something for her. I could be her knight in shining armor like in all of those old flat-vids. But oh no, all I can do is just cower here in my own....oh no not that! How....how could I be this scared. Now there is no way I can get up or everybody would see. She would see just what kind of elf I am......
As he is thinking these things, a small pool of yellow liquid was spreading out from his midsection.

Wanda feebly tried to escape Catchers grip on her, but even she realized that he could kill her at any moment, with only the slightest effort. So she didn't tried to hard and failed to do anything more than piss him off some more.

That was when a scream could be heard throughout the store. "NOOOOOOOO!!! My friends, my precious friends! Who could do this? It was you wasn't it you bitch?"
The crazed, object loving, Static had just stepped around the corner of an aisle to discover the devastation surrounding Tempty following Zany's crazed barrage of submachinegun fire.
He levels his shotgun at her and pumps a new round into the chamber, forgetting that there was already one in there.

Seeing his comrade in danger, Taku takes a beed on Statics right arm in hopes of damaging it to the point of being unuseable.
Taking his time to aim the shot, he fires a single shot from his Predator IV pistols. While, the shot did only minimal damage to Static's forearm, it did alot more damage to the surrounding area. The bullet ricocheted off the metal of the Mossberg shotgun, obliterating several boxes of MaxiBlast Sugar Bombs cereal before it bounced off the shelving unit and into the light fixture above. As the fixture fell to the floor sparks and shards from the flourescent tubes caressed Static face painfully, partially blinding him.
With screams of outrage (more from the distruction of the cereal boxes than anything else) Static turned and fired on Taku.

With nobody paying any attention to his demand for them to give up, Catcher pushes Wanda down to the floor and tosses a credstick down to her. "Put some nuyen on this credstick. Max it out. You hear?"
He then begins to scan the area for anybody stupid enough to poke their head out. Not even looking at Wanda he says "I'm watching you. So don't try anything stupid."
Where are these fraggers that are messing with my drekking plan? For some reason he fails to see Tempty among all of the destroyed baked goods.

Crosshairs

Taku defty avoided Static's shot, but he was able to avoid the acillary damage. Missing Taku the bullet obliterated two shelves behind him, getting egg on his face,well AlmostEgg, along with BacoSoy and assundry other breakfast products.
The breakfast foods now covered most of his face and torso. Trying to wipe it from his eyes, he realized that he was just making it worse. His thoughts turned to finding something to wipe it. Well....the towels are all the way up front. Hey, wait. Are those clothes I see behind the crazy guy? Yeah, those should do the trick.

Meanwhile, Louis Needles barely paused in his litany of questions as Crosshairs pulled him to some cover. He was already beginning to get up. His questions were already taking on new urgency as he took Crosshairs words and actions as confirmation that yes this man was a Shadowrunner.

As Crosshairs peaks around the corner and spots Spike over in the gaming room. Not knowing what Spike's intentions toward the young girl that had previously been playing a game, Crosshairs fires off a shot.
While Spike was able to dodge the bullet, the Arcology Raider game was not so lucky. It was completely obliterated splashing Spike and the surrounding area in sparks and shards of glass.

Following Wiley's orders the spirit rushed forward, gliding to above the island countertop.
As it rushed forward, it reached out with its sharp claws to rend through DarHar's flesh. But DarHar was just too good for it. He was able block the blow with his left arm.
Roaring in frustration, it's thoughts turned toward other tactics.

Meanwhile, Tempty was busy once more following the old addage, "Geek the mage before any other."
She was ready to keep on shooting until the punk died, but in the end, all it took was just one more bullet. As Wiley was moving, preparing to dash towards some cover, his coat opened up just a bit. Tempty's sharp eyes caught it and she took advantage of it. The bullet hit him in the chest puncturing the lung.
As he fell to the ground bleeding profusely, his labored breathing filling the air with a sickly wheezing sound.

Crosshairs

As his head it the ground, one last thought crossed Wiley's mind. He called out to the Wolf for the strength to strike out at his assassin.
Somewhere deep within him, he found the strength to lift the pistol in his right hand. Shakily, he raised it in his assailant's general direction and pulled the trigger just as his vision was blurring into nothingness, never to know the result of his final act.
In a way that was fortunate, for even with his Mentor Spirts lended strength, Tempty had been able to deftly avoid the the bullet.
Whether it be another attempt by Wolf to answer Wiley's call or not, the additional damage done to the store's shelves and products did not phase Tempty one bit. She merely shrugged off the debris as a shelve was knocked down, into her shoulder.
Seeing Wiley go down in a heap, Tempty turned her attention towards the gun toating Zany. Firing off yet another shot.
The site of her lover falling to the ground bleeding to death gave Zany a boost of rage that aided her in defying Tempty's best effort. She was miraculously able to dodge the shot.
Thinking The b#%$& must pay,, Zany was already reading her submachine gun to end Tempty's life.

Knowing that he is far more skilled with unarmed combat, Taku mentally prepared himself for close combat.
Being careful not to slip on the chaotic mess that now covered the Stuffer Shack's floor, Taku strode forward and engaged Static.
Quite surprising, the shotgun toting crazy man was almost as skilled as the martial art adept, Taku.
After a short exchange of punches and kicks, Static proved too much for Taku, at least for now.

Meanwhile, DarHar was doing his best to injure the Wiley's summoned spirit.
DarHar had been planning to switch to he Ares Predator because of its greater affect versus armor, but DarHar's rush toward him demonstrated that there just wasn't enough time for that.
Darhar injured it once. Me can injure it again. With that thought, DarHar fired off two more shots.
Unfortunately for him, the creatures armor proved to much for the tiny slivers sent its way by the Ares Viper. The merely bounced of its hardened flesh, still with enough force behind them that both the Synthmeat "Hot Dog" dispenser and the Soy Patty Yummy Burger Grill-O-Matic were destroyed. Faux-meat products spilled forth and the surrounding area turned into a treacherous obstacle course.

In the virtual world of the Matrix, the digital form of Zelda had just hacked her way into the Stuffer Shacks host system. With her trusty bow at the ready she looked around at the various nodes connection to the main host.
Immediately apparent to the digital Hyrulean Princess, there was a bank of monitors most likely denoting the node containing the security cameras. Oddly, they monitors were completely blank and were showing no traffic at all between themselves and the host system.
Another system that seemed to be completely inactive had an icon designed to look like a claxon bell. The princess deduced that this was the node containing the alarm.
Seeing this, she thought to herself Good, doesn't look like we'll have to worry about the 'Star for a while. Especially since the storm will probably cover up the sound of gunfire......I wonder what could be causing this though.

In the real world, SlicerDicer was preparing to cut into Rydell with his katana.
Probably won't be much of a challenge. But I'll catch hell from Catcher if I let her intimidate me. I'd probably disserve it too. What kind of man withdraws in the face of a weakling woman. Even if she is with the 'Star. Just one more reason to kill her quick.
With that, brought back his katana and swung at Rydell.

Almost immediately following the conclusion of SlicerDicer's assault on Rydell, every light in the building suddenly shut off, flooding the store with the deep shadows of complete darkness.
While some reflexively looked up to the ceiling to locate the cause of it, others immediately switched to their cybernetic thermographic vision or simply blinked as their natural abilities took over.

Cursing under his breadth "Stupid b$&#%! I'll deal with her later," Catcher blindly fired his shotgun in the direction of Wiley's killer.
Amazingly he was actually able to hit her, even through the darkness.
Luckily for Tempty it was not a very solid hit. Her armor was able to greatly reduce the shotshell's power, and what little was transferred into her small frame was absorbed by her athletic body. Damn....that'll leave a bruise. I need to take care of that guy before he does anything more serious., she thought to herself.
Even the shelves that were knocked down by the shell as it continued passed her didn't phase her one bit.
Catcher's next shot didn't even do that much. In the darkness, he just couldn't see her well enough to actually land a solid hit.

Also in the darkness, Crosshairs rushed forward to get closer to the ganger near the girl. I need to take that guy out before he does something to the little girl....come to thing of it though...its a bit odd that she hasn't started screaming. Hell, she didn't even turn from her game when I shot that guy. That is either one drek-hot game or she is completely addicted to it.

In the darkness, Rydell plotted her next move. SlicerDicer's attack was well executed, but she had dodge the brunt of it. All he had been able to give her was a slash to her forearm. It stunk, but not enough to cause her any problems.
Her problem now was that, in the darkness, she couldn't see his movements.
At this range, I'd be just as likely to hit air as hit him with him moving around so much.
While Rydell was trying to come up with a plan of action, the rest of the store had not paused. All around her, the various customers and weirdos were moving.

Cowering in his own bodily fluids, Timmy tried to rustle up enough courage to help Wanda. If anybody could see he they would be surprised that it actually work. No more so than Timmy himself though.
He raised himself on hands and knees and began to crawl over to Wanda, planning to guide her away from Catcher.

In the darkness, Wanda felt somebody grab her hand. Her terrified scream did not help her at all. First off, it alerted Catcher to the presence of an enterloper. And second, it signaled the end of Timmy's limited courage. He was already turning to crawl away in renewed fear.

Encensed with rage at the loss of Wiley, Zany ignored the darkness and fired off two wide bursts in the direction of Tempty, before moving to a less vulnerable position. At least that was her intention.
Luck wasn't on her side. As she pull the trigger for the first burst, the expect cacophony was stopped short as the third bullet jammed in the gun.
Despite the jam, her aim was true.
While Tempty tried to resist the brunt of the damage, Zany rushed away from the troll that had been moving up behind her.
Hopefully Wiley's creature can deal with the trog, she thought as she tried to unjam the smg she was holding.
Her stiletto heels annouced to all around that Zany was on the move, but in the dark it was hard to tell where to.

As had been the case with Timmy, the darkness brought Mrs. Needles out of her frozen stupor.
Hearing her son Louis still harrassing Crosshairs she struggled to her feet and walking in the direction of his voice. All the while calling out his name.
Unfortunately, her large size and clumsiness in the darkness conspired against her. Walking among the spilled drinks proved too difficult for her. She slipped and hit her head on a shard of broken glass, making the ground even stickier with her spilled blood.

Back in the store's office, the bloody Mr. Nick was searching for his shotgun.
Just as he was about to give up, his hand touched the cold steel of the shotgun's barrel.
Now those fraggers are going to get theirs. Whatever they were thinking by turning out the lights, it won't work.

Heating the approach of Crosshairs, Spike was weighing his options. On the one hand, there's some guy rushing towards me with a gun. The darkness is my only protection for now. On the other hand, Catcher will kill me if I just abandoned him. And on the third hand, can even Catcher survive this drek?
Knowing that he didn't have much chance on his own, Spike tried to quietly move closer to the others.

Wanting to deal with the threat Taku presented in kind, Static brought out his prefered weapon. With a tiny sound of scraping metal, a set of cyber-spurs extended from within his hands.
He instantly put them to use in an attack against Taku, though it was quite a bit awkward still holding the shotgun.

Louis Needles was a bit troubled when he heard his mother calling his name from behind. The lure of a live Shadowrunner was too strong, and when he stopped hearing her call his name he didn't realize that it could have any connection to the loud thud he had just heard. He was already following Crosshairs with still more questions.
Stumbling into shelves along the way, he followed the path Crosshairs had taken only moments ago.

Rydell decided it was just too dangerous to remain in close combat with the pyschotic SlicerDicer.
In the darkness, it was a bit dicey trying to avoid further injury from the gangers sword, especially with all the drek on the floor. But in the end, she handled it with ease.
After moving a few meters away she fired off two quick shots back in SlicerDicer's direction, though they were a bit too wild. Other than a scattering of more drek on the floor, the shots were completely ineffectual.

At the rear of the Stuffer Shack, the spirit was implementing its new strategy. Concentrating intently on the outrageously dressed troll, the spirit sent a wave of fear cascading over DarHar's mind.
Almost instantaneously, DarHar let out an incoherent scream and began turning towards the stockroom doors.

Knowing the limitations of thermographic vision when it comes to inanimate objects, Tempty connects the StufferShacks host and pulls an overlay of the stores map in her vision. Along with the map comes a few pop-ups for the specials this week, but nothing too annoying.
Still having problems with all of the drek that has gotten splashed on her, she reaches out and grabs the closest piece of clothing off the rack in front of her. As she moves further down the aisle the does her best to clean herself. While it would be an impossibility to get it all off, he does a fairly good job of it, clearing the goop from her face and hands at least.
Finished, she drops the now thuroughly soiled garment to the floor and starts concentrating on her environment once more.

Taku decides to step back from Static for a moment to catch his breath. Who would have thought that guy would be almost as good as me? I probably could have taken him easily if not for this fragging darkness.
Thinking quickly, he sends Zelda a text message to try to get the lights back on.

Meanwhile, DarHar was making a break for the stock room. The sharp eared spirit could sense his attempted escape with precision. It tried to take advantage of the situation by attacking the troll.
Using his superior reach of his arms to hinder the spirits assault, DarHar was able to get away from the creature without even a scratch.
He rushed back to the supposed safety of the stockroom, slamming his way through the swinging doors.
As he entered the back room, he spotted the rear exit and was making his way towards it.

As Crosshairs makes his blind (literally) dash for Spike, he hears something. The clattering of feet. Moving slowly, like he's trying to make hardly a footfall at all.

Unfortunately, the acoustics of the store (not to mention that SODDING BRAT THAT WON'T SHUT UP!) mess with the gunslinger's hearing, and all he hears is the slow "tap" of feet hitting the ground.

Blast. How the bloody hell am I gonna find him in this mess?

Trying to remain calm, Crosshairs stops where he is, closes his eyes, and listens, hoping for a sound that might tip him off as to where the punk is.

...and still no luck.

Dammit.

From the area in the backroom near the manager's office, a faint noise can be heard. The multiple walls and have muffled it quite a bit, to the point where it is indecipherable. From tone alone, it would be a safe guess that it was a curse of some sort, shouted with great vehemence.
The distorted curse was quickly followed by some banging noise and then the distinct sound of a door being shoved open and crashing into the wall.

In the virtual reality of the Matrix, Zelda tried Analyzing the Stuffer Shacks host to discover what or who was causing the various nodes to shut down. Despite her careful analysis of the system, she was unable to find the invisible lurker.
Rather than giving it another try, she decided to do what she could for the team's situation and worry about herself afterward. She used her hacked admin access to start rebooting the lighting system.

Back in the real world, SlicerDicer charged through the darkness to where Rydell had just fired at him from. Blindly, he swings his sword and guts deep into Rydell's leg.
With a scream of pain, Rydell decides that it is time to make a tactical withdrawal as quietly as possible.

Outraged that somebody was trying to sneak up on him, Catcher fired a round into the floor where he suspected the culprit to be.
Just for a change, Lady Luck chose to aid the cowardly Timmy. Something had gotten stuck in the barrel after the last round. As Catcher pulled the trigger. the new round rushed through the barrel. As it connected with the obstruction, its progressed was abruptly halted. And with no way to expel the power of the ignited gunpowder, the shotgun exploded in Catcher's hands.
His armored jacket was able to protect him from the blast, but there was no way he would be able to use that weapon to harm the innocent ever again.

Thanks to the continued harassment from Louis Needles, Crosshairs could not locate the ganger, Spike, despite halting his forward movement to concentrate on the environment more closely.

Without even knowing it, Rydell was taking a page from Spikes playbook as she tried to withdrawal from the faux-samurai and his vicious blade, attempting to stay as silent as possible.

Closer to the back of the store, Zany had heard movement from behind her. Quickly spinning around, she took a moment to home in on the sound of movement. Using her best guess as to where her new adversary was, she fired off a burst of automatic fire, just barely missing the silent Zelda who was also crouching in the same aisle.
The spray of bullets found Taku in the darkness. but his armor was able to protect him from most of the ballistic force and he took only minimal damage.

In an attempt to give aid to Taku, Tempty moved down the aisle she was on to a point just behind the crazy man, Static. Partially shielding herself from retaliation with the shelving unit's corner, she fired off two rounds into Statics unsuspecting back.
Unable to dodge that which he doesn't know is coming, Static is forced to rely on only his armored jacket and the whim of Lady Luck. Despite an excellent effort from both, the shots were just too well aimed. He was unable to resist the damage.
He was now bleeding profusely from a pair of wounds in his back. In agony, his limited mental capacity was being pushed beyond its natural bounds. Even with the obvious danger to himself, he did not turn towards his new attacker. With the bullets lodged in his back, his precious 'friends' had been protected. His thoughts remained on Taku, the killer of his 'friends'.

From just outside the manager's office, a wrathful voice shouted "Who's the Jackass that turned off the lights while I was taking a sh!#?"

Even further towards the rear of the store, all the way in the rear stockroom, DarHar rushed toward the back door. Finding it locked, he looked franticly around for another exit.
Seeing the hallway towards the manager's office as the path of least resistance, DarHar turned back to the front of the store and fled in that direction.

In the sculpted world of the Stuffer Shack's host, Zelda brought up her Analyze program to once more try and find whatever it was bringing down the system's nodes.
The analysis was made all the easier as the lurker stepped out of the shadows. As the enemy hacker stopped in front of Zelda, she pulled back her white cloak. Out jumped a miniature assailant that swung his sword at Zelda.
Using her own pre-loaded Stealth program, Zelda was able to blur her exact location within the false reality and thus foiled the hacker's attack.
Taking a moment to Analyze the hacker's method of attack as it returned to beneath the cloak, she was able to determine that it had only been a highly unusual coding of an Attack program. At least she doesn't have to worry about taking real-world damage.

Still following the orders of the now dead Wiley, the spirit set off in pursuit of the mauve enshrouded troll. Without erring, it tracked him through the pitch black stock room and made to attacked him from behind.
Luckily, the panicked DarHar had been scanning the area all around him for a way to escape and caught the heat signature of the oncoming spirit. He quickly turned to fight off the ferocious attack. Despite his best efforts, the spirits claws still raked across his chest.
However, thanks to his natural mass and the armored jacket he wore, the claws failed to phase DarHar.

Back in the main shopping area, things were not looking good for the inanimate object obsessed Static. Still focused on the killer of his 'friends', Taku, Static failed to do anything at all to protect himself against his newest assailant, Tempty.
Taking advantage of this, Tempty fired off two more rounds into his back, taking time with the first one to aim for a vulnerable spot. Quite surprisingly, the crazed Static survived the first bullet which took a large chunk of his throat with it as it journey through him and into the shelves he had been facing.
Hearing the screams of his 'friends' as the first shot demolished an assortment of boxed goods, Static began to turn to face this new object killer. Yet his revenge was not to be had. The second bullet hit him high on the shoulder with a spray of blood as it penetrated his coat's armor, along with his flesh.
It certainly not a severe wound, but with everything that had already happened to him, it was just too much blood loss. Falling to the ground, he lay there with his blood mixing with the 'life essence' of the only things he ever found to be friendly, the inanimate objects that lined the store's shelves.

Hearing the death rattle of his fellow ganger, SlicerDicer attacked the air in front of him with new vigor. Unfortunately, he had failed to realize that Rydell had already vacated his vicinity. So his deadly blade flashed through the empty darkness without effect.
In frustration, SlicerDicer shouted aloud "Coward! Where are you 'Star? You were all tough when you had a gun to my head, but when you take a little scratch you just run away? Ha! I'm going to enjoy disemboweling you."

Bruce had no clue what was really going on, with the sudden black out while he was in the bathroom and some guy shouting about stars. What he could be certain was that, somebody had just been shot to death and guns were something that he despised.
Under his breath, he says "So that's the way its going to be? You bastards aren't going to get away with this drek."
Angling to spot the source of gunfire, Bruce was able to spot Tempty with the still warm pistol in her hands. Focused on finding the culprit, he must have made more noise than usual, because Tempty turned at the sound of his approach. As he pulled several shuriken from beneath his coat, she chose to go on the defensive against this new enemy.
Even in the lightless store, Bruce threw his shuriken with deadly precision. Only with great effort was Tempty able to dodge the brunt of the damage. Still, the shuriken struck with such force that it embedded itself in her left breast. Her coat and natural cushioning there had prevented most of the damage, but it was certainly a very diconcerting attack.

Meanwhile, in the virtual reality of the Stuffer Shack's host computer, Zelda was yet again being attacked by the miniature Link that leaped from beneath Maddie's robes. The miniature sword struck hard against the shimmering aura representing Zelda's Armor program, barely making it though.

In retaliation, Zelda used her own Attack program. Her icon raised its bow and fired a single arrow towards the princess icon representing Maddie. Once more the miniature Link leaped from beneath the icon's robes, but this time it lead the way with its shield.
The arrow proved mightier than the shield though. It was able to penetrated the representative armor and strike Maddie's icon in the shoulder with obviously more effect than had been done to Zelda.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Zany and Taku were exchanging gun fire in the darkness.
Despite her superior firepower, it appeared that Zany was simply outclassed by Taku. Only the second of her two volleys actually hit him directly (though the first volley struck him indirectly by bringing some shelves down on top of him), while both of Taku's bullets hit her.
Taku easily shrugged off the falling shelves and only took a grazing hit to his right leg from the second burst.
Zany was not so lucky. The first bullet passed through her left hand doing minimal damage, but the second bullet struck her exposed midriff and buried itself in the previously unmarred flesh of her abdomen.

In the stock room, DarHar, still under the influence of the spirit's Fear, franticly tried to escape its presence. This time however, the spirit was tired of chasing its prey. It was ready to return to its natural plain.
But DarHar's reaction proved too much for the spirit. As DarHar tried to move away, the spirit attacked his legs. Just in the nick of time, DarHar's mauve cape swished away to reveal the spirits claw trying to rake his leg.
As the spirit's claws slashed through the troll's cape, he was able to move his leg just enough for the claws to miss.
In frustration the beast howled as the troll fled him yet again.

Still uncertain of where the ganger Spike moved to, Crosshairs slowly moved forward. As he reached the end of the aisle closest to the checkout counter, he paused to concentrate on the sounds flowing around him.
Unfortunately, there were just too many conflicting sounds for him to discern where Spike was.
Choosing to forget Spike for the time being, Crosshairs instead took a shot at the gangs leader that was making enough noise to easily pinpoint. Not being able to see the target certainly hindered him quite a bit, but he was able to hit him in the lower back despite the challenge.
A startled cry of pain escaped Catcher's mouth. With a bit of luck, his armor had stopped the brunt of the damage, but it was still an unexpected attack from behind. He was already wheeling around to the hidden foe.

Scared beyond anything else he had ever experienced by the explosive discharge that had ushered in the destruction of Catcher's shotgun, Timmy scrambled to his feet to make a mad dash in pursuit of some refuge.
Without realizing it, he made his way into the stock room area. Just as he was noticing that fact, he finally recovered his senses enough to recognize the sounds of a struggle ahead of him.
Hearing the ferocious sounds of the conflict between the beast spirit and the heroic troll, he quickly doubled back without thinking. Feeling the wall of the bathroom in the dark, he took it as a means of protecting himself from whatever it was in the darkness at the back of the store.

As Timmy was cowering against the bathroom's wall, things were still happening in the rest of the store. Rydell had decided to try to reconnect with her fellow runners. She was simply ill equipped to handle SlicerDicer on her own. So she sought the safety of numbers.

Ascertaining from Catcher's cry of pain that he was distracted, Wanda slowly began to crawl away from the cash register and into the openness of the general store.

Not paying attention to Wanda any longer, Catcher drop his ruined shotgun and whipped out his revolver. It only took him a moment to determine that the shot had come from somebody hiding in the darkness of the first aisle.
His vision may have been blocked by the darkness, but he was still able successfully judge the position of his target and hit it.
The brutal force of his revolver's cartridge proved too much for Crosshairs armor. The shell caught him in the left bicep, narrowly missing the bone.
As Crosshairs was turned by the force of the impact, he reached out with his right hand and steadied himself against one of the shelves. In the process of doing so, several Detoxy products were spilled onto the floor.

Behind the checkout area, in the manager's office, the blood crazed dwarf was finally ready to exact his revenge on all the fraggers invading his store. As he stepped out of his office he spots the heat of an unknown body relatively near him.
Thinking to himself, You fraggers aren't satisfied with terrorizing the shopping area? You have to come back here too? Well...I'll show you.
Without any further consideration and without the thought of this interloper being a customer seeking refuge, Mr. Nick pulled the trigger of his shotgun.
In his crazed state, he didn't even notice that nothing happened. He only saw that the person was still alive. He had forgotten to chamber a round when he picked up the shotgun, but that was soon solved as he pumped a round into it and pulled the trigger a second time.
This time, he was pleasantly satisfied with explosive sound emitted by his weapon. A hail of buckshot tore into the unprotected flesh of Timmy Thinners. The young elf, who's only sin was loitering around in hopes of attracting Wanda's affection, was instantly transformed into a screaming mass of mutilated flesh.
As his eyes glazed over in death, his thoughts were still obsessed with the beautiful, if dimwitted, Wanda.

Meanwhile, Spike was all to aware that his boss had just been shot by whoever it was following him. Knowing that he would catch hell from Catcher if he continued to flee from the shooter, Spike turned and joined in with Catcher's attack.
Saying a silent prayer to Lady Luck, he fired off a single bullet knowing that it was a long shot at best.
Either the Lady really like him or it really just hated Crosshairs, because the bullet miraculously found its way through the darkness and into Crosshairs left leg. Tearing through the meat of his quadricepts, the bullet caused nearly as much damage as Catcher's revolver.
As Crosshairs' leg partially buckled beneath him, his right shoulder slammed into the shelves and crushed several packets of an antipollution gel of some sort. As his upper torso was sprayed with the compressed gel, some it made its way into his eyes stinging immensely.
Good thing he didn't need them in this darkness.

At least one thing was going better for Crosshairs, the inquisitive and highly annoying fat kid that had been following him around the store had finally given up on him. He had caught the flash of Tempty's gunfire along with the death cry of Static.
Without fear, he dashed down the middle of the aisles to find this obviously superior 'runner. Blindly, he careened back and forth off of several aisle end-caps eventually making his was to the vicinity of Static's bloody body, all the while calling out questions to Tempty. "Did you just kill that guy?....That's freaking awesome....You've gotta be a Shadowrunner!...You are, aren't you?.....Come on you tell me about dragons!....No, tell me about Vampires!....No, tell me about SHEDIM!!!!...Tell me, Tell meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee............."
He said the last, just as he was slipping in the blood and detritus surrounding Static's dieing form. Falling to his knees in the drek, he caught himself from falling forward by unknowingly grabbing Static. As his hands found the sticky bullet wounds, his litany of questions paused for an oh so brief and oh so satisfying moment as he deduced that, for the first time in his life, he was touching somebody that had really been shot.

After Louis had passed the aisle he was on, Jack whispered something to his companion and began to stealthily move out to the open area between aisles, soon to be followed by Angie.
Rydell distinctly heard movement from behind her. Unsure of whether it was SlicerDicer following her, some new opponent, or just a sprawl rat, she was more than a little concerned for her safety.

Hearing all of the gunfire somewhat close to his location, along with the scream that accompanied Static's death, Johnny was beginning to rethink his strategy of playing dead. Maybe I can make out the back. It doesn't sound like anybody is between me and the stockroom......
He made to get up and head towards the backdoor, but his muscles just wouldn't obey his commands. They felt like wet noodles from the strain of fear and he just could not force them to operate correctly. Fuck, fuck, fuck...come one....I can do this....It's the only way I'm going to make it out of here alive....Believe it!

Unbeknownst to Johnny, there was somebody between him and the store's exit, two somebodies in fact. DarHar and the spirit were still locked in battle in within the stockroom. Their struggles just couldn't be heard all that well through the walls separating the shopping area and stockroom.

Coming out of a serious of defensive maneuvers that had helped her avoid most of Bruce's attack, Tempty decided to make a tactical withdrawal to the safety of her comrades, Taku and Zelda. Leaving Rydell, who had just reached her, to follow suit.

Back towards the front of the store, SlicerDicer had heard some movement at the end of the aisle. Incorrectly believing it was the supposed Lone Star officer, Rydell, he sprinted down the aisle and ended is movement with a vicious slice of his sword.
As the katana cut deeply into the fleshy Mrs.Needles who had only been struggling to stand, she screamed louder than ever before. Thus demonstrating to SlicerDicer that he had just attacked the wrong person.
To Mrs. Needles, he said, "Shut up, bitch! Or I'll cut your bloody head clean off!"
Addressing the store at large, he shouted "I guess you really are just a cowardly c&$#! Come out and face your doom like a good little girl, or I might just have to have some rougher fun with your body after I cut your up. Hahahahahahaha." He laugh maniacally at that, already visualizing the fun he would have.

Shortly following the end of SlicerDicer's laughter, Crosshairs heard a grunt coming from the vicinity of Catcher. That sounded like he was injured, but what could've hit him? Crosshairs could tell that all of his comrades were towards the back of the store, so he just could not figure out what just happened to Catcher.

In the sculpted world of the Stuffer Shack's host, the digital struggle between Maddie and Zelda continued.
Maddie launch another attack using her favored miniature Link, but Zelda was able to dodge it.
Zelda's retaliatory arrow flaunted her superiority in this contest as it once more punctured through Maddie's Armor program, as represented by the minature Link's shield, and into Maddie's digital form.
The damage to her icon was becoming quite obvious. Despite her childish mind, Maddie knew she had to come up with a different strategy.

Very close to Zelda's unmoving body in the real world, Taku and Zany were mirroring each others movements. As Zany sought some cover, Taku fired a shot and sought cover of his own.
His bullet caught her in the right buttocks, but not before cutting through a shelf housing an assortment of soycaf and herbal tea mixes. As the floor was covered in yet another spilled product, Zany began to limp from the superficial wound.
As she made it to her own cover, she returned fire and caught Taku with a narrow burst shortly before he was able to make it to the safety of cover.
For the most part though, her bullets only served to demolish a few bottles of elven wine and some organic foods from the NAN. She had only been able to give Taku a grazing wound across his right forearm.
Seeing her remaining ammo displayed in her smartlinked vision, Zany quickly ejected the clip and slid in another.
Hearing the sound of the clip hitting the ground, Taku decided to do the same without even bothering to check the ammo counter displayed in his contact lenses.

While the DarHar was able to fend off the spirits raking attack, he was stil unable to shake off the Fear the spirit infected him with. The troll had no choice but to flee from the spirit once more.
As he made to rush past the store's manager, the dwarf unexpectedly tried to strike him with the butt of shotgun, failing miserably. The troll's long arms proved too much for the dwarf.

Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, the seriously injured Crosshairs decided to my a tactical retreat. He stealthily moved away from the two gangers intent on killing him.

Rydell, who had adopted a similar strategy after her encounter with SlicerDicer, was facing a difficult decision. She had just made it to Tempty's side a moment ago, but then Tempty walked off without saying a word. On top of that, she was now hearing furtive sounds of movement from behind her.
Not knowing who that could be, she ducked down the closest aisle, rather than continuing the direction she had been going.

The gangs leader, Catcher, was not happy with the situation. Not at all. His gang was dwindling quickly and whoever these drekheads that were messing with his fun were, they weren't going away.
Speaking to Spike, he says "Take care of that other bastard, the one that shot me in the fragging back. I'll deal with this."
The runners could hear him fire off a shot, but none of them could tell just what he was aiming at in the darkness.

Meanwhile, Tempty had reached Taku's side. From the massive amounts of debris in the area, she easily recognized the difficulty he had been having with the female ganger.
Stepping up to the plate, she peered around the corner of the shelves and fired off two shots at Zany.
Zany's new attacker proved too good for her present condition. Even relying on a bit of luck, she could not survive even the first of the two shots. She had already lost too much blood for that. And the second shot was just tearing through lifeless flesh.

In the Matrix, Maddie was doing something rather mystifying to her opponent, Zelda. She icon reached beneath its cloak and did something unseen for a moment and then turned to face Zelda with a wicked grin on her face.

Despite the lack of an attack from Maddie, Zelda was not about to let up though. However, her curiousity about Maddie's actions must have distracted her a bit, because with a graceful side step, Maddie avoided the digital arrow without even having to call out her miniature Link.

Back in the real world, DarHar was finally able to snap out of the Fear. Perhaps it had been the fact that an 'innocent' was now at his side needing protection, or being attacked by another opponent, or something else entirely that had been the trigger for this change.
Whatever the case, he spoke loudly and clearly to the dwarf, "Fear not little man. I is here. DarHar shall protect Innocence!"
Striking a heroic pose for the dwarf's benefit, he was a bit frustrated when his uncooperative mauve cape didn't flap heroicly in the nonexistant wind.
Deciding to let his actions speak louder than words, he took two potshots at the oncoming spirit. However, he was disappointed again by the lack of heroic effect.
The first shot mearly ricochetted off the spirits flesh. While the second one had been able to penetrate the touch exterior, it was quite evident that it did only a minimum of damage.

With the appearance of the caped crusading troll behind the checkout counter, Bruce needed some time to think. In the deep darkness of the store, he was already difficult to see, but now he become one with the night and not even thermographic vision could detect him.

With his attention still focused on the spirit, DarHar paid no attention at all to the disappearing Bruce.
As he shot the spirit twice more, he said to the dwarf "No shoot me - shoot da t'ing!!"
As DarHar's first shot ricocheted off the spirits hardened shoulder, the spirit stood there for a moment in concentration.
DarHar tried to think of what could it be that the creature was doing now, but he found his limited mental capacity difficult to focus, Extraneous thoughts just kept confusing his thought process.
His befuddlement was even causing problems with his actions. The second shot came a bit late, as the spirit rushed towards him, and failed to do any damage at all.

Frustrated with not knowing the whereabouts of Rydell and extremely annoyed with the screams of pain and fear from Mrs. Needles, SlicerDicer found a way to vent some of his anger.
To Mrs. Needles, he said "Oh just shut up already!"
Intending to chop of her head, he aimed for the sound of her voice, but his aim was a bit off.
Instead of slicing off the head, his katana cut deep into the woman's skull. Demolishing the right side of her face and crushing the jawbone. That much bone had prevented a clean cut, but the result was still the same.
Mrs. Needles screams died down to a gurgling mumble as massive amounts of blood filled her throat, choking out any last words she might have had.

Meanwhile, Tempty had successfully cleared the threat in the rear of the store. She now began to sneak her way towards the front of store.
Thinking that a concerted effort by the group was in order, she messaged through her commlink to the rest of the team: We need to take the group by the register, or were by the register. If anyone runs into trouble, call it out.

In VR, Maddie was demonstrating just what she had been doing a moment ago. She again went on the attack. When the miniature Link leaped from beneath her icon's cloak this time, however, he was wielding a black boomerang.
Thoughts of Black IC and programs instantly leaped into Zelda's mind as she saw the bladed weapon flying towards her. Trusting in her luck, she made to avoid the attack, but Lady Luck must have been on her opponents side.
As the boomerang bit into her icon's shoulder, Zelda felt an overwhelming surge in her sim-senses. Using her willpower alone she tried to resist this aggravated biofeedback.

Maddie's new attack proved too much for Zelda's unprotected psyche. Her senses were overwhelmed as a multitude of sensory input was transfered through the hot sim rig she was running into her physical body.
As her meat body convulsed and even fell to the floor in the real world, she desperately loaded up a program to help filter out the biofeedback from these Black IC type attacks. The situation had just become a matter of life and death, and Zelda wasn't going to go down quietly.


Having read the message from Tempty, Taku began to follow her towards the front of the store, staying alert for any attackers that might suddenly show up.
Sidestepping the annoying child, Louis, he was able to match Tempty's movement.

At the location the two of them were heading towards, Catcher glanced about for a split second trying to spot the fragger he had last shot at. Only seeing the caped troll, he said "Was that you, trog? You're going to pay for that drek."
He then, took his time in aiming at a vunerable part of DarHar's anatomy. As he fired the shot, DarHar was suddenly aware of gunfire from behind him, but it was too late for him to do anything about it.
The trolls massive mass and armor where able to soak up the brunt of the projectiles force. However, Catcher had aim for a particaluarly sensitive point and DarHar was unable to resist the blow completely. The bullet penetrated his armor jacket and burried itself in his kidney. Lucky for the troll, his armor had been able to alter the trajectory enough for it not to hit his spine.

Hearing the troll's screams of pain, but having his own problems at the moment, Crosshairs kept his mind focused on his own situation. He quickly read Tempty's message, and then sent his own response to the team: I took two nasty hits from the register area. Making my way to the center aisle.
As he did just that, he made it to the end of the aisle. He had been planning to wait in ambush for Spike, but as he moved into a position of cover he looked up the middle aisle. Even in the flickering light of the overhead flourescent bulbs, Crosshairs was able to make out the approach of somebody that was definitely not on his team, somebody that was even now raising a pistol in his direction.
Thinking quickly, Crosshairs fired from his hip, targeting the man's pistol. His shot was well aimed and did just what he wanted. In fact, it did even better. As the pistol flew out of Jack's hand, the bullet had recochetted into a display of canned dog food. Several of the cans were punctured and sprayed their liquid contents onto Jack as they fell to the floor.

Ignoring the message from Tempty suggesting that everybody head towards the group by the register, Rydell continued moving towards the opposite side of the store. From the sound of SlicerDicer's voice, he was obviously in that direction and she was intent on paying him back for the injuries he gave her.

The flickering lights had now revealed the fact that Crosshairs had moved away from the corner of the first aisle to Spike. Even with his deficient mental capacity, Spike was able to guess that the recent gunfire from further down that aisle probably came from the man Catcher wanted him to take care of.
With trepidation in his heart, he cautiously moved to peer around the corner. Unfortunately, he accidentally kicked some of the debris which alerted Crosshairs to his approach. He fired a single shot towards Crosshairs, but the adept proved too adept at dodging the attack as he was able to twist to avoid a direct hit and his armor was able to deflect the damage.

Meanwhile the noncombatant employees of the Stuffer Shack were making their way towards the perceived safety of the rear stock area. Wanda was continuing to crawl along the floor, but Johnny had actually stood up into a low crouch as he rushed down the aisle.

Seeing his only protection go flying into the air and landing several feet in front of him, the wannabe rockstar, Jack, decides that if he's going to die he's going to die like a star....with style.
He attempts a maneuver he once saw in a movie. Despite the slippery terrain, he executes an amazingly accurate leap through the air and tumble across the ground, grabbing up his pistol as he rolled. Not only that, but ending his forward roll, he was able to spin himself into the nearby aisle for protection, with the white fringe of his leather vest flailing dramatically through the air.
The whole maneuver looked more complex than many seen on the trid, but he seemed to have performed it effortlessly. All too glad that nobody could see the utter shock and amazement clearly etched on his face at pulling it off, Jack was thinking 'Holy shit. Did I actually just do that? That was freaking awesome.'
Glancing around he continues 'Damn, doesn't look like any of the camera's caught that. I would love to have a recording of that drek to show people!'

Trying not to be left behind, Angie stepped into the aisle and fired a shot at the man who had attacked Jack, Crosshairs. Who, Despite having been distracted by the approach and attack on him made by Spike, was able to avoid her feeble attempt at shooting him.
None too surprised by her lack of success, Angie continued to follow in Jack's footsteps as she crowded her way into the aisle with him.

Distracted from the sticky death of Static by Taku stepping past him, Louis made a lunge for Taku's leg with the desire of trying to force the obvious shadowrunner to answer his questions.
Just how he thought a chubby kid such as himself would have any chance at all at even grabbing Taku's leg, let alone forcing the 'runner to do anything, didn't even cross his childish mind.
While Taku was a bit surprised by the audacity of this fat little nuisance, he didn't let that deter him from easily avoiding the clumsy lunge. The useless attack only served as a minor distraction from the other threats within the store.

Frightened beyond belief by his blood loss, the large troll looming over him, and the sight of the spirit, Mr. Nick just starts blasting away. He fires fires a shot at the obnoxiously clad troll and then another at the fearsome spirit beast.
While the large troll was able to avoid the first shot despite the close proximity, the spirit didn't even have to worry about avoiding an attack as the second shell jammed within the shotgun.

Following closely on the sound of Mr. Nick's failed shots, some shadows suddenly move near the checkout counter and out stepped Bruce. His heat signature was still hazy within darhar's vision, but the others in the area could see his quick movement towards the store's crazed manager.
Saying "There'll be no more of that, dwarf!" He struck Mr. Nick's right arm with his open palm. The surprisingly forceful blow impacted with great strength.
With the sound of cracking bone, the dwarf dropped his only weapon to the tiled floor. Not that it would be of any more use to him for the moment. For the blow had also been so fierce that he was sent crashing to the floor with a loud thud as his thick skull hit the floor.
As he slipped into unconsciousness he could only think 'Nooooooooooo........those fraggers can't get away with this drek.....'

Mumbling "I smells trouble..." to himself, DarHar sidesteps the spirit and fires two shots at the gang's leader, Catcher. Too bad for him, the spirit was simultaneously attacking him. The troll was able to resist the damage posed by the beast's raking claws, but it proved too much of a distraction as Catcher was able to avoid both shots.

Elsewhere in the store, SlicerDicer had just finished off Mrs. Needles and had spotted Jack's theatrics and Angie's shot towards the front of the store. Running into the middle aisle, he sees Crosshairs with pistols in hand.
Forgetting about the 'cowardly' Rydell, he charges into a melee with this new opponent in the hope of finding a challenge.
And it looked as if he had found just that, as Crosshairs, who had already focused all of his attention on defense, was able to avoid the bloody katana.

Having noticed the change in lighting, Tempty mentally switched her cybereyes to using their low-light capability. Now seeing her ally being assaulted by the wannabe samurai more clearly, she continued forward and fired two shots at the gangers moving back.
In the middle of spinning around as he sliced at Crosshairs, SlicerDicer saw her movement however and was able to put up at least a miniscule attempt at defense.
Failing to avoid much of either shot, SlicerDicer called out to Lady Luck to aid him in resisting the damage. While the Lady certainly was watching, her aid proved unequal to the skill of Tempty's shots. SlicerDicer was able to avoid certain doom for the moment, but only by taking on some pretty hefty damage.

Back in virtual reality, the struggle between digital princesses continued unabated. Maddie once more brought out the boomerang wielding Link. This time, with the aid of her Biofeedback filter, Zelda was able to resist the physically damaging effect of sensory overload brought on as the black boomerang struck her.

Zelda's retaliatory bow shot did little more to Maddie's icon, but it at least had some minor effect, whereas Maddie's had done nothing at all.

In the real world, there was much rejoicing from the team of shadowrunners as the lights had finally returned to their full brightness.

Tired of the annoying kid that keeps harassing him, Taku rushes towards the combat at the front of the store. Avoiding the debris as best he can, Taku closed to close proximity with the faux samurai, SlicerDicer, firing off two quick shots.
Having just defended himself against Tempty, it looked like SlicerDicer was not long for this world. Sliding to the right, he did his best to avoid the first shot, but that proved to be of little use. As the bullet tore through his bushi tunic in the left shoulder, SlicerDicer's armored jacket was able to to resist much of the force of the hit, but a spray of blood was proof that it wasn't completely sufficient.
The second bullet hit him high on the back, not far from the first. It too was able to penetrate the armored jacket, but at least it reduced it ballistic force quite a bit.

Meanwhile, Crosshairs was busy bobbing and weaving to avoid any further attacks that might be coming his way.

With his gang shrinking fast and nothing between himself and the decided pink garbed troll, Catcher decided to was to get the frag out of there. Turning away from the fight between the Spirit and DarHar, he tumbled over the countertop and crouched on the other side.
He quickly sent a message across the gang's commlinks with instructions.

Hearing the screams of pain from SlicerDicer, Rydell began to fear the others would take him out without her. With a fierce determination to get some revenge upon SlicerDicer for the wounds he gave her, Rydell ran full speed to the middle aisle.
Skipping to a stop as she got into full view of SlicerDicer, she spotted the slightly dazed from bloodloss SlicerDicer.
With a wicked smile on her face as she took exacted her revenge, Rydell fired twice at the wannabe samurai. The first shot hit him in the back of his knee. His leg buckling under the pressure, SlicerDicer was already falling to the ground as the second bullet plunged into his bloody back.
At this point, the bloodloss from his various wounds was just too much for him. He could no longer find the strength to steady himself, let alone remain standing.
As he bled to death on the ground, he thought Cowards, could you not face me in single combat? No. You had to gang up against me. You may have defeated me, but my honor is intact.

Looking at the struggle between the spirit and DarHar, Bruce says "That's under control."
Looking away he spots Tempty, still wielding her gun. Hasn't she learned her lesson yet?
Bypassing the wouldbe superhero and his opponent, Bruce dashed straight for Tempty. For an instant it looked like he was about to run headlong into the checkout counter, but at the last moment he did a front handspring, easily clearing the cluttered countertop. Without skipping a beat he landed completely balanced and continued running towards Tempty.

Seeing Bruces rush out of the area, DarHar steps away from the spirit, narrowly avoiding a raking attack from the spirit, to glances over his shoulder to see where Bruce was going. Seeing Tempty's back turned towards the approaching Bruce, his feeble mind clicks in place.
He shouts out "No hurt dem! Dem good...Hurt dose guyz!", while using his left hand to point towards the partially hidden Catcher and his fellow ganger, Spike.
Simultaneously, he used his right hand to let loose another salvo from his slivergun at the spirit.
Unfortunately, the spirit's reaction proved to fast for him as it was able to easily avoid the first shot and DarHar's second shot hadn't even come close to it.

Seeing the charging acrobatic fighter coming towards her, Tempty shouts out to the store in general "Geek the Gangers, only hurt the customers if they come at you! Stay down and don't get in the way, you'll just catch a case of the deads," before heading around to the other side of that aisle.

In the Stuffer Shack's host, there was some new and somewhat odd activity. An unfurled scroll appeared before Maddie's digital form. Even as the digital princess read the scroll, she once more pulled back her cloak to once more launch the boomerang wielding Link.
As the unsuccessful program returned from whence it came, the digital scroll disappeared from view and Maddie pulled out an ocarina and played a short tune.
Both the scroll and the tune seemed quite odd to Zelda, but she would guess that the scroll was a text message received and the tune was a message Maddie was sending.

Still wondering just what message could have been conveyed, Zelda launched her own attack program at Maddie.
It took a little luck, but Maddie was able to avoid Zelda's attack.

Seeing Tempty round the corner, Bruce's charge towards her slowed to a stop.
He glanced back at the troll that had warned her of his approach with an unrecognizable expression on his face. Turning back to look at where Tempty went around the corner, Bruce decided to seek higher ground to better assess the situation.
He quickly clambered to the top of the shelves on his right and moved along the top of them towards the middle aisle, the origin of several gunshots in the last few seconds.
As he moved along the top of the shelves several items fell to the ground ensuring that Tempty knew quite well that he was up there (as if she really needed any help in noticing that.)

Taking Bruce's actions as a threat to herself, Tempty raised her pistol and fired off two shots at this interloper.
With the first shot, she concentrated on hitting him in the head, but the nimble Bruce reacted with the speed of lightning, easily avoiding the attack.
The second shot faired no better as Bruce's luck aided him in also avoiding it completely.

With thoughts of the protecting the 'nice lady' who helped him find something on his grocery list earlier, DarHar once more moved away from the spirit to get in a better position to shoot at Bruce.
Although Bruce had previously showed supremely successful at dodging bullets, it seemed his luck was running out. Or at the very least, it was running low.
DarHar's first shot came very close to injuring Bruce, as the slivers tore several ragged holes in the reed hat he wore.
The first shot must have startled him off balance, because he was hardly able to move away from the second shot's path and he already appeared to be falling over the edge as the sliver struck him square in the chest.
To the close observer, the lack of blood and the torn oriental clothing now revealed some sort of armor beneath the black man's oriental clothing, which seemed to have resisted the sliver's impact.
Despite the effectiveness of his armor to resist the force of the slivers, there was nothing Bruce could do to prevent his backward motion off the top of the shelves. However, with an exception feat of acrobatics, he is able to twist in midair to land on his feet facing away from the shelves.

Meanwhile, DarHar was facing his own assailant. Without hesitation, the spirit once more charged towards the troll Wiley had ordered him to take care of.
Tired of being forced to remain on this plane, especially considering Wiley had already fallen, the creature called on what luck it had remain struck out at DarHar's vulnerable neck with its sharp claws.
With a fierceness unprecedent in their struggle so far, the spirit's claws tore through the armored jacket into the troll's massive collarbone, also shredding whatever DarHar had been holding his cape on with.
A troll's tough body combined with good armor may be able to soak up alot of damage, but this attack was just too much for it. The gushing blood indicated that this indeed was a grievous wound. A lesser being surely would have been sliced in half by the spirit's attack, but the troll was still standing and ready to fight on.
In fact, a new rage came over him as he realized his mauve cape no longer hung around his neck.

Hearing the troll's panicked screams of pain and rage, Taku decided against attacking the acrobatic Bruce. Instead, he did is best to avoid attacks from any source as he rushed towards the sounds of the horrendous battle.
DarHar may not be a member of the team, but the troll had proved himself an enemy of the gangers. And he was now in need of some aid.

Unaware of the life and death struggles happening in the real world, Zelda launch another attack at her digital opponent. However, it proved ineffectual yet again.
With no sign of this fight ending any time soon, she was already preparing the program to attack Maddie once more.

Apparently Maddie had other plans, however. Giving Zelda a wink, she pulls a scroll from beneath her robes and tosses it to Zelda's icon.
As Zelda momentarily concentrated on the scroll thinking it may be a new form of attack, Maddie's icon faded from view.
With the scroll hanging in mid-'air' before her, Zelda looked at the disappearing form of Maddie in consternation, not knowing the reason for the disappearance, but guessing she had either logged off or left this node for another.

Not wanting to be caught by any stray bullets from the fierce battle between Good and Evil (a.k.a Spirit vs. Troll), Rydell stepped out behind one of the shelves while she contemplated her next move.

Meanwhile, Louis' beady little eyes had been caught by the strangely dressed black man's acrobatics. With a half heard exclamation of "Awesome!!!", Louis clambered to his feet only to fall right back down in his rush to near his new idol.

Perhaps due to the delirium of bloodloss, or maybe it was bravery....nah, lets call it what it was....just plain shortsighted, Crosshairs stepped out from what cover the shelves had been giving him to strike at the ganger that had caused him so much pain, Spike.
At least he was getting his revenge while endangering himself out in the open like that. While his first shot only did somewhat minor physical damage to Spike's armor, its really damage came in the way of setting Spike off balance.
As spike tried to avoid the second bullet, he foot slipped in the debris and he was already falling to the ground as the second shot hit him solidly in his chest.
There must have been a defect in his armored jacket, because it did little to resist the force of the shot. Even if Spike hadn't already been on shaky footing, he would likely have fallen to the ground from this impact, it merely hurried him along.
The now seriously wounded Spike was already planning to flee the scene whatever Catcher's orders might be.

As it turned out, the similar thoughts were already passing through the gang leader's mind. With splatters of Spike's blood on his face, Catcher looked left and right at what remained of his gang.
Seeing the situation as hopeless, he says "Screw this drek. You two are on your own."
He then made a mad dash for the door. As he was crossing the open area between the doors and the first aisle, he couldn't help but notice the vulnerable Crosshairs. For a moment he forgot about just what he was doing and focused all his attention on getting one last shot off at the fraggers that had fucked up his plan.
Seeing this, Crosshairs was momentarily paralyzed as a vision of his bloody death crossed before his eyes. 'This is it this is how I'm going to die, gunned down by a punk over freaking groceries!!!'
He was almost completely resigned to his inevitable death, but something deep inside of him surged to the fore and refused to give up. With a stroke of luck he would not have previously believed he had, Crosshairs was able to do a cartwheel out of the path of the bullet.
As he looked towards the expected gunshot wound in his chest, he saw the bullet miraculously pass through a fold of his shirt and past him into the shelves where he had just been standing.
Even as the bullet impacted with whatever had been stacked on the shelves, spraying him with some sticky substance, he simply could not shake the thought that he should be dead.
While, Lady Luck had graced Crosshairs' actions, it would seem she had completely abandoned Catcher. Having been distracted by his attempt to kill Crosshairs, Catcher failed to recognize the fact that the automated doors were not opening as quickly as he was running towards them.
Thus he ran full tilt into one, suffering greatly from lacerations as he fell among the shattering glass.

At the same time the gangers were suffering so much pain at the front of the store, the stores two remaining employees were making a mad rush for the back of the store.
With the proximity of the terrible spirit beast and troll, Wanda had abandoned the idea of crawling to safety in favor of fleeing in terror.
Johnny had already been making his way for the back room and seeing Wanda's terrified face only served to spur him on.
Of course, the two of them didn't have enough brainpower between them to light a lightbulb. So they failed to see the problem of them both attempting to enter the stockroom at the same time. As they simultaneously hit the stockroom doorway, they collided with each other and Wanda fell to the ground.
It is a credit to his name that Johnny did in fact pause there, rather than simply continuing on to safety, but conflicting thoughts of whether to help her or not only served to distract him from the fact that he was holding the door open and exposing them both to possible attack.

Closer to the gunfire, Jack and Angie made their way down the aisle and away from where they last saw their assailant, Crosshairs. Doing their best to move with stealth, the attempt was completely foiled by Angie's insistent questioning of Jack on just how he pulled off his earlier maneuver of recovering his fallen pistol.
While Jack couldn't be happier that she was so impressed, he at least saw that they were still in danger and was trying to shush her as he peaked around the corner of the aisle.

Seeing Catcher's horrible accident as a way to both flee the scene and stay in his leader's good graces, Spike moved to help Catcher up from the pavement outside the store, firing off two shots in Crosshairs' general direction.
Neither of which succeeded in hitting anything, but all the gunfire coming his direction was certainly giving Crosshairs second thoughts about being out in the open.

An angered Bruce doffed his reed hat that had been ruined by DarHar's attack. Looking at the ragged holes left there by slivers, a very distinct look crossed his face, a look that promised retribution.
Tossing the demolished hat to the side, Bruce raised his eyes to glare at his closest enemy. They verily glowed with animosity towards Tempty.
Bruce was well aware of just who had destroyed his favored headgear, but the previous actions of both DarHar and Tempty had set in his mind that they were confederates.
With quiet determination, he stepped forward and launched into melee combat with gusto.
Seeing the speed and complexity of Bruce's attack, Tempty abandoned all thought of retaliating. Instead she put forth all her effort to hold back the onslaught.
While she was successful in holding back the martial arts guru's strikes, she was also successful in angering him further.
Bruce thought to himself Was the master's teachings all for naught? Can I not even handle a sprawler chick? This cannot be!
Seeing the light of even more anger in Bruce's eyes and knowing she could not defend against him forever, Tempty sent out a plea to her fellow runners across their commlink network: I have some martial art junkie all over me, need a hand in Aisle 3 not realizing that she was actually on Aisle 5. However, her friends knew what she meant and Rydell was already moving to assist her.

Continuing their struggle, the spirit once more attempted to strike down DarHar. Unfortunately for it, the last attack must have taken to much out of it and it barely scratch at the troll, too weak an attack to even penetrate the trolls armored jacket let alone actually injure him.
In attempting to dodge the raking attack, DarHar noticed two things: 1)He noticed a figure coming up from behind him; and 2)He realized the spirit's previous attack had ripped his mauve cape from his shoulders.
A rage filled him and momentarily wiped away the pain and confusion that had been troubling him. In that brief instant, he remembered seeing the man currently approaching from behind with the nice lady who had helped him with his list earlier.
Now seeing aid in this man's approach, he devised a cunning little plan (in his experience it seems more like divine inspiration than his own idea) to get the spirit to turn its back on Taku.
The little fact that the spirit had already seen Taku and probably wouldn't be turning its back on him was swept aside as the pain and magical confusion once more impeded the troll's mental capacities.
Sidestepping away from the spirit, avoiding another attack in the process, DarHar moved to a position roughly opposite that of Taku's approach.
He then fired off two shots at the spirit, more to distract him from Taku than to actually injure the creature. And that was the most the shots could do, as both were avoided by the spirit.
In just a moment, it would be seen if the distraction had been successful.

One benefit DarHar hadn't thought of when concocting his strategy was that by moving out of Taku's way he allowed Taku to charge right into the fray.
Instantly recognizing the advantage of doing so, Taku did just that. And apparently the troll's shots had distracted the spirit just enough to allow Taku to land a single blow.
With his innate magical abilities backing up that one punch, it was all Taku needed to send the creature back to it's native plane. The magical aura surrounding his fists had weakened the creatures hardened skin to the point that it was no more effective than mundane armor and with the force of a critical strike enhancing his attack, the beast could do little to resist the damage.
It instantly began to fade away as it returned from whence it came.

All alone in the virtual world, and not knowing exactly where her oppenent had fled to, Zelda set her commlink to analyze the Stuffer Shack's system. Her icon raised it's hand to block out the 'glair' to better see, but failed to detect any other presence in the host's system.
Remembering the difficulty with which she had earlier in finding Maddie, Zelda gave the program another attempt at analysis. Once more she could find neither hide nor hair of the hacker that so closely mirrored her own persona. She did however notice something odd about the 'scroll' floating before her.
At first she had thought it a simple text message from Maddie, but her Analyze program just reported its size and it was far too large for just that.
With a strong feeling that Maddie had logged off the Stuffer Shack's host, Zelda turned her attention towards the possible threat posed by this 'scroll'.

Meanwhile, Rydell was coming to Tempty's aid in the real world. Avoiding the troublesome Louis who still struggled in the debris on the floor as best she could, Rydell approach the end of the aisle Tempty and Bruce were on.
Peering around the corner, she saw Bruce's back was turned to her. With a bit too much enthusiasm considering her wounds, she raised her gun to fire on him while he was unaware of her presence.
Unfortunately, her enthusiasm brought on a twinge of pain in one of her wounds and she let out a slight gasp for air that was just loud enough for Bruce to hear.
The surprise foiled she could think of nothing more she could do than to fire at Bruce anyhow. With little time to react, he still proved to fast for her.
The first shot ended up still helping Tempty though. It passed by Bruce's head harmlessly, but tore right through the limit protection the store's product's called packaging and splattered him with some sort of chemical that stuck to his face and hands.
However, the second shot nearly did Tempty harm. As Bruce dodged out of its path, Tempty found herself in its flight path. Fortunately, she narrowly avoided it and it flew past, only doing harm to the countertop beneath the register.

Back at the front of the store, Catcher shoved away the offered help of his lackey and stood up on his own. Mumbling and...was that giggling?....the gang's leader limped out into the stormy morning.
Moments later a low rumbling could be heard while the lightning continued to flash. At first everyone thought it only more thunder, but as it remained steady, they realized that it was the sound of a motorcycle starting up.

Bruce ignored the sound as it didn't concern him. He quickly decided that it was too much of a danger to have Rydell at his back. So he circled around to the other side of Tempty before renewing his assault on her.
Once more Tempty proved herself lucky, if not skilled, as she was able to bob and weave away from Bruce's kicks and punches.
However, she seemed to have forgotten about the piece of metal still stuck in her left breast. As she feverishly moved around to avoid the hits, her arm accidentally brushed up against the shuriken Bruce had thrown at her earlier.
It was torn from her flesh starting a new flow of blood down her shirt as it reopened the wound and tore it wider. As the small missile clattered to the floor with a metallic ring, she was filled with anger much akin to what Bruce had felt over the loss of his hat.

She immediately threw away any thoughts of simply defending herself against him. She immediately retaliated with two more shots at this evil man that had done her such an injury. While the first shot was only successful in striking more of the products Stuffer Shack had to offer (thus splashing them both with some sort of chemical), Bruce was unable to complete dodge the second shot because the newest splash of chemicals was having an adverse reaction to those already covering him. A gas thin gas was coming off of him where the two chemicals mixed and he was slightly choking from it.
Despite this, he only suffered a slight wound to his midsection as his concealed armor resisted much of the bullet's force.

With the creature that had given him so much difficulty finally gone and its magical Confusion lifted from his mind, DarHar was ready to do some more good.
With a silly little grin on his huge face, he mumbles "Danks" to Taku and bursts into a run towards the front of the store and the escaping gangers.
As he passed Aisle 5, he saw the ongoing conflict between Bruce and the 'runners.
Not even pausing his forward rush, he fired off two quick shots at Bruce. With a bit of luck, Bruce was able to dodge even these shots.
How much longer could he keep relying on Lady Luck to keep him in this fight? Only time would tell, but he was beginning to look a bit worried.

Meanwhile, Zelda logged herself off the Stuffer Shack's host so that she could concentrate her attention on the file Maddie had sent to her commlink without having to worry about any distractions.

With bullets coming at him from every direction he turns, Bruce decides to cede victory to his assailants for the time being. In this place and time, their numbers gave them too much of an advantage against his lone one.
Disgust for the forced withdrawal plain on his face, he looked at Tempty and spits out "You're victory is but a fleeting moment. Your actions this day will not be forgotten."
His threat levied, Bruce proceeded with yet another display of acrobatic prowess (and balance considering the state of the flooring) doing a series of back handsprings towards the register.

Her ganger roots showing a bit, Tempty is outraged at this fool's gall to threaten her and then flee. She fires off two more shots as Bruce flipped his way from her.
The first bullet graze his arm as it was holding him up, causing it to buckle. His handspring faltered a bit as he started towards the side, but his momentum carried him through it and he landed on his feet once more balanced perfectly.
So perfectly in fact that he avoided Tempty's second shot as if it were choreographed.
As Bruce was finishing up his withdrawal with a spinning flip that took him over the checkout counter to land in a crouch on the other side, Tempty was a bit frustrated to note that she hadn't been paying attention to her ammo and now she would have to reload before trying to give Bruce his just desserts.

Ignoring the sound of quick movement and gunshots behind him, DarHar shouts out "Me hero-Not baddie!" in hopes of discouraging any attacks that may come his way.
Continuing his charge towards the fleeing gangers, the large troll brushes Spike to the side so that he could get through the broken doorway.
Spike didn't much like the idea of having a troll between him and escaped so he did what little he could do against such an opponent...He stuck out his foot and hoped the troll would trip over it. Apparently, Spike had forgotten to take into account just what he was trying to trip. Even on his best day (which this certainly wasn't) he didn't stand much of a chance of knocking down DarHar. The troll's leg did connect with Spike's outstretched foot, but it didn't phase him one bit. It really didn't even slow his step much.
Now outside despite Spike's efforts, DarHar could see Catcher on one of the motorcycles out front. Seeing this, DarHar was already preparing to shoot him.

Unsure of just who this flipping idiot was or what kind of threat he posed, Taku decided to take the cautious route by attempting to subdue Bruce. Rushing around the counter, he charged right into Bruce with a tackling move seen all too often in professional football.
Bruce was having none of that though. He was able to spin to the side without giving Taku a chance to grapple with him.

Maddie, who had only moments before opened her eyes to look around, closed them once more after seeing DarHar at the store's entrance. If anybody in the store could actually see her do this, they might have simply thought she was closing them to shut out the fearful sights. The only person that might know the significance of her actions, was both out of sight and too preoccupied with other things to take note and give her friends a warning.

With the giggling and mumbling all too indicative of lunacy, Catcher revs up his bike's engine and takes off down the rain soaked street, quickly disappearing into the downpour except for the bike's lights.

Meanwhile in the store, Angie looked back behind her and to either side of the aisle she and Jack were on to assess the situation. Pointing towards the troll, she whispers something to Jack and then aimed her pistol towards the cash-register where Bruce and Taku were fighting.

At the back of the store, Wanda was dumbfounded to find herself sprawled on the floor. Somehow she failed to connect Johnny's presence with being knocked down. It would seem the hold-up had rattled her already deficient brain. Looking up she saw Johnny standing there and instantly became upset that he hadn't offered to help her up yet. Ignoring or having completely forgotten the fighting still going on, Wanda simply lays there and demands that Johnny help her up.

It was a different story where two of the runners met up. Moving away from the still floundering Louis, Rydell stepped over to Tempty to check on her health. "You ok? That bastard is fast."

Not liking taking orders from a woman, Jack tried arguing with Angie in a harsh whisper. But, in the end, he had to agree that she was right. So he did what she told him to and pointed his pistol at DarHar's back.

Johnny worriedly looked back to where the fighting was still going on and then to the prone and demanding Wanda. He quickly pulled her to her feet and starts pulling her further into the stock area. A little startled by his roughness, Wanda follows him compliantly despite his lack of social graces.

After having narrowly missed death from Spikes last bit of gun fire, Crosshairs decided to get Spike before Spike got another chance at getting him. Protecting himself as best he could with the corner of the shelves, Crosshairs fired off a pair of shots at Spike.
It would seem he was a bit too concerned with his own protection, however, as Spike was able to avoid the poorly aimed shots.

In the middle of the store, Louis finally succeeded in thrashing his way to his feet. He stumbles his way to his feet to round the corner in hopes of seeing Bruce in action. Finding only Tempty and Rydell with no sign of Bruce, the unpleasant kid started lambasting the two of them with questions about Bruce, and where'd he go, and what did they do to him, and did they see how cool he was, and how they had no chance against him in a fair fight, and....drek-cetera, drek-cetera.

With a troll in front of him and somebody shooting at him from behind, Spike was very intent on fleeing the scene. Luckily for him, DarHar was more concerned with the gang's leader and left him enough room to get through the doorway. DarHar smacked him as he went by, but Spike's armor seemed to absorb the force of the blow.
As Spike started up his engine, he looked back worriedly at DarHar concerned about whether or not he'd be able to make his get away with the troll being right there.

Already on his way towards safety, Bruce doesn't let the addition of another assailant deter him from it. Ignoring Taku he darts towards the stockroom. As he goes, he pulls out a handful of shuriken from beneath his torn garment.

Having just reloaded her pistol, Tempty steps up to the corner and fires at Bruce just as he is tossing one of those shuriken into Taku. Neither his attack nor hers were effective thanks to Bruce dashing into the back room and Taku concentrating on defense rather than offense for the time being.
Of course, he for one wasn't necessarily trying to injure his target. It was more important that he give Taku pause in regards to pursuit.

Outside, DarHar was not about to let the villainous Spike escape justice. He raised us gun towards the ganger and blew him away with a volley of slivers from his pistol. The very dead Spike slumped forward on the motorcycle and then slid to the side, unbalancing the bike. As his bloody body hit the pavement, the still running bike fell on top of him. A small sizzling noise could be heard as the heated metal of the engine connected with the rain soaked body. It wasn't much, but it wouldn't take long before the engine heated up quite a bit.
That taken care of, DarHar fired at the barely visible Catcher, failing to hit anything in such adverse conditions.

Suddenly, DarHar catches 'movement' out of the corner of his eye where there had been nothing only a moment ago. As he quickly turns to look at this new activity, there is a moment of it (whatever it was) moving at the same pace as he turned his head. Failing to notice this oddity, DarHar continues to turn to catch sight of it and then suddenly it is in the middle of his vision. Shockingly, it appeared to be a beautiful (and very naked) female troll 'running' towards him from a short distance. As he is trying to figure out where the hell she came from and what he should do in this situation, DarHar hears the screeching of tires and Catcher's headlight seems to be pointed in his direction.
Thinking of protecting the obviously distressed female (why else would she be out here in the rain with no clothes on), DarHar moves toward her and puts himself between her and Catcher's bike.
Again, there is the odd lag between his actions and an appropriate response in the image. While DarHar noticed it this time he muddled mind doesn't seem to connect it with anything.

Inside the store, Crosshairs gave up on chasing after the gangers, not wanting to cross the rather exposed area between the doors and the first aisle. Instead, he moved to the other side of the shelves and gave another go at disarming Jack. Without a clear view of the pistol though, he was unsuccessful this time.

Before heading deeper into the stockroom, the ninja-escque Bruce, reached over to the wall and flipped the switch, shrouding the stock area in darkness.
As the darkness descended on Johnny and Wanda who were also in the stockroom, Wanda let out a frightened scream. The darkness had just reminded her addled brain of what was going on in the store and she just couldn't handle it. She crumpled to the floor fainting from shear terror.

With the sound of gunfire so close to her, Tempty decided to forget about Bruce for the moment. She wheels around the shelves and spots the two wannabe rockstars, Jack and Angie. Spotting their flashy and faux-expensive clothing, she couldn't imagine that they were part of this crappy gang. Leveling her pistol at them, she tells Jack "Get your girl there and just stay out of our way until we take care of the gang and things calm down."
Jack didn't respond vocally, but he points his visibly damaged hold-out pistol in Tempty's general direction, though a bit down.
Angie however, took a bit of offense at the implication that she needs protection from any man, even if he is her husband. She quickly switches from pointing her pistol in Taku's direction to pointing it more directly at this woman who would give her orders.
Both Jack and Angie seem out of their element here, but Tempty can tell there is a strength in them (one they're possibly unaware of) that is keeping them from showing fear. Despite the guns leveled at her, she doesn't think they'll fire on her though.

Outside, DarHar finally realizes something is very wrong here, but only because the cape he just offered to the damsel fell straight through her. That certainly made it obvious to him that she wasn't there, but then what the hell could she be?

Under the cover of darkness, Bruce stealthily moves through the stockroom.
Not a single sound could be heard by the runners to give them any clues as to his activities.

Frustrated by the continued presence of this naked troll constantly in front of him, DarHar cries out "You go away now! I knows you fake!" But the unthinking image did not do as ordered and no matter how much DarHar shook his head it just stayed right in the middle of his field of vision.
Wanting to check on the innocents and the 'nice lady', DarHar tried to ignore the image and headed back towards the store's entrance. As he went, he meticulously went through the process of reloading his Viper and changing his Predator to explosive ammo.
Suddenly, he realized that Catcher must have turned the bike around, as the headlight was getting brighter.

Meanwhile in the store, the shadowrunner team was regrouping. Trying to verify the all-clear, Tempty messages the team "Anyone have a target or are we clear to get out of here?"
To the wannabe rockers crouched before her, she says aloud "Stay down for a few more ticks and the gangers will be gone. I suggest you vanish too, before the Star shows up."

Taku moves around the checkout counter to Tempty's side.
Haltingly and with a bit of stumbling, Maddie suddenly leaps into action.
With her attention divided between VR and the meat-world, she nearly trips over her own feet a few times, but he doesn't fall. As she ran through the doorway, her feet slid on some of the debris there and she slammed into what remained of the door Catcher broke.
With a small squeal of pain and obvious blood loss, she continued to run outside, quickly to be lost in the stormy night.
At the sound of Maddie's squeal and glass ripping through cloth, DarHar briefly turned his attention away from the approaching ganger, but the damn naked troll just wouldn't cooperate and he failed to see her at all.

In the sculpted landscape of her own commlink, Zelda was finally nearing the end of her investigation of the file Maddie had sent her.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the conclusion she was hoping for as the data bomb she had detected had just been activated by her last attempt to disarm it.
As the scroll icon burned away to ash, Zelda was treated to another message though.

Back in the real world, Jack nodded his head at Tempty after a startled glance towards the door when he heard Maddie's exit.

Rydell replied to Tempty via group message "I'm clear." Then she walks over to where the group seemed to be gathering next to
Tempty, leaving the blubbering Louis behind.

Angie glared at Tempty, but didn't make any other threatening move.

While Crosshairs held his position, because he didn't want to startled Jack or Angie from behind, he could hear the distinct sound of a motorcycle roaring towards the front of the store.

The bike's roar was even more obvious to its intended target, DarHar, who stood between it and the Stuffer Shack's entrance.
With a mad cackle of glee, Catcher rammed the troll head on with the motorbike.
Amazingly, the troll seemed to deflect the force of the speeding bike without any greater effect than a tire track across his chest.
Catcher was not so lucky. He had completely lost control of the bike (and his mind if the freakish giggling was any indication). With a sound louder than anything else that had happened so far, the bikes from end collided with the wall immediately to the right of the doorway. Pivoting on the crumpled front wheel, the bike tossed Catcher back into the Stuffer Shack.
With the crunch of breaking bone, the flying human clipped the countertop across from Jack and Angie to land in a bloody heap at Tempty's feet. After all of that, the bastard still seemed to be alive and still laughing maniacally.

While Tempty took the briefest of moments to decide just what she was going to do to this pitiful ganger, Louis was crying out and calling for his mommy. He loudly tattled out that the 'runners were picking on him, but his voice fell on deaf ears, as his unfortunate mother had already left this world and he was now just another orphan in the sprawl.
In the chaos of chasing one runner after another for the sake of curiosity, Louis had forgotten just where he'd last seen her. But he soon noticed her bloody corpse at the end of the aisle. Rushing over there, he started crying in earnest. Pleading with here to wake up, he vigorously shook her already noticing the similarity between his mother and the ganger corpse he had probed only moments ago.

Finishing up his reload, DarHar steps into the store once more, just in time to hear Catcher's laughter finally end as Tempty raised her pistol to his forehead and squeezed the trigger one last time for the night. In a spray of blood and brains, the ChillerThrillers gang was end quite violently with the death of its leader.

As Catcher's body slumped to the floor, the runners and DarHar notice the tell-tale flashing blue lights of an approaching Lone Star Drone approaching the scene. The gunfire had not been enough to attract its attention, but Catcher's spectacularly stupid crash had been just enough for the passing drone to register over the thunder.

DarHar quickly thanked the runners. Addressing the 'nice lady' Tempty, he says "You do good today. DarHar always do good. You
need more good doing - DarHar be there." He then dashed into the back room to once more resume the identity of his alter ego Darryl.
Gathering his groceries he squeezes through the troll-unfriendly back door and heads down the alley, simultaneously calling his friend in the 'Star to report yet another evil plot disrupted.

The group of runners regrouped and followed the wouldbe superhero out the back of the store, leaving the bawling Louis to fend for himself and the wannabe rockers to do whatever idiots like them want to do.
As they pass through the stockroom, cautiously at first as they were uncertain of Bruce's whereabouts, they found the beautiful Wanda passed out on the floor with no sign of her fellow worker, Johnny.
Passing through the back alley and out into the safety of the shadowy night, they spotted a bloody troll ahead of them. Even in this light it was quite obvious that it was the unmasked DarHar, but they pretended not to notice his true identity.
A bit out of breath as he had just been running back after remembering that he hadn't given them a way to get in touch with them, DarHar told them how to contact him.
Before they could respond, he noticed that the rain was falling directly on his face and he wasn't wearing his mask. Clasping his face with his large hands trying to hide features the runners had already seen, he turns and runs into the night.
Laughing a bit at the troll's antics, the runners continue their own escape from the 'Star.
At least a few of them wondered if they would ever encounter Bruce again and whatever happened to their buddy who had gotten a call just before the rest of them entered the store.

Once the team were safely away from the excitement around the Stuffer Shack, they went their separate ways wishing each other less exciting journey home.

Meanwhile, two people particularly concerned for at least one member of this team, the missing mystic adept Wang Chi, were in a late night talismonger shop trying to figure out what was to happen next.

Seattle, Messy Cheapo Appartment, midday


Mark looked himself over at the mirror. A large but hazy image of years' lack of polishing stared back at his quizical look. He tried another number. The female voice sounded tired so he dived right into the subject. "Hoi! 'eard you guys'ad some fun yesterday. If ah knew ah'd'ave stayed."

"Yea, Hammer, it was a heck of a fight, some gogangers thought that they'd open up shop at the Shak, they weren't really good at it though, maybe if they weren't up against runners it might have gone better for them." Tempty's laugh came over her headware line. "There was some dumb troll who thought he was a super hero or something, with a pink cape and everything. Pretty tough though, he went head to head with a spirit and stood his ground after I geeked the shaman."

Mark couldn't stiffle a deep-throated laugh. "Chummers like dat give us Trolls a bad name you know...So Wang Chi got hurt dat bad? Tried calling him and I can't even get to'ees voicemail...'e didn't try to go 'ocus pokus on da Caped Crusader did'ee?"

"No," Tempty replied, her sounding puzzled at the question. "Wang Chi got a call before we wnt into the Shak and he never actually made it inside with us. He probably just jumped out of there when that dipshit crashed his bike into the store. I wouldn't worry about him just yet, I mean everyone needs some space after a run, you know how it is." she told Hammer, with a mental shrug.

"If your worried, come by Garland's Club we can talk about it tonight, or whenever, I'm there most nights. Now, me, I just want to veg for a couple of days before I even think of another job." she tells him, not sounding worried.