Katsina, sporting her new look as Ivana, sits in the back of the Eurovan while Doc programs it to rendezvous with the Bulldog. She's already enjoying the lack of blood splashed around liberally, which - however appetizing - was not suitable for an extended journey, especially if they were to encounter SecForce at some point.
Ivana watches the Bulldog drive off and wonders if it's a major strategic blunder to leave Sam alone with the obelisk. The destruction of the obelisk would be... catastrophic, as best she could tell. Not that there's a lot of precedent for destroying Fourth World artifacts, but she doesn't want to be a trailblazer in the arena.
What if Sam attaches his bomb? Spellcasting is dicey: her Influence spell only lasts a few minutes. Would that be enough time for the troll to remove the device, or is disarming it an extended process? Chopping off his hands would be counterproductive, and that's only if she could get through that titanium bone lacing. She'd have to convince the dwarf and maybe the ork... She inhales sharply, hoping it doesn't come to that.
Ivana finishes her last preparation and goes to put it in her pocket. As she does, she feels a lump in her coat. Pulling it out, she sees that it is APB's commlink. She tuts and passes it to Doc for further examination. Doc switches it on and cracks the Firewall in about three seconds. He rifles through the commlink's contents, which are pretty meager. Technomancers only need them for external hard drives, and there's nothing indicating that APB was actively using the current device before yesterday's run. Doc does find some video files that look interesting though...
20:22
The footage is from a security camera. There are heavy stone walls, much like the ones that Chino kicked through. Sure enough, the wall explodes a moment later and Chino runs through. He turns, looks to the right, and shouts at someone, "HEY! Over here, drekbrains! Yeah, you, numbnuts! Get over here so I can gouge out your eyeballs and skullfrag you!" Then he kicks the opposite wall and runs through it. A few moments later he is pursued by a squad of four security guards who run in from the right. Their movement is restricted by their milspec battle armor. They lumber after him.
20:25
Another camera with a timestamp a few minutes later. There's a burst of dust and rubble, then Chino runs into frame. He turns around, grabs his groin, then shouts obscenities at someone off-camera. "Rolling thunder, bitch!" It's a catchphrase from a popular simsense franchise, Jack Slade: Totally Jacked Up. Chino's barrage of insults continues: "Too slow, pops! I'm gonna rip over to your house and throw your old lady a hump!" There's scattered automatic fire that pings around him. He spins around, kicks down another wall, and is gone. The same security guards follow, but this time they're joined by a swarm of security drones.
20:27
Another camera. Chino runs onto the scene and collides with Katsina, who was running from another direction with her claymore drawn. Chino, being much larger, is hardly fazed, but Katsina is knocked to the ground and drops her sword. Chino looks unsympathetic. "Ever make idiot wine?" he shouts at her as she rolls to her back, assuming a defensive posture. "Find a gang moving in on your turf and STOMP 'EM!" He then slams his heel into her face, smashing her head into the ground. Looking over his shoulder, he sees the pursuers getting close. He takes off running. Katsina shakes off the kick (which was probably strong enough to blast down a wall), then gets up and starts running in another direction like nothing happened. The guards arrive on the scene. The troopers pursue Chino while the drones go after Katsina.
20:28
Another camera. Katsina is surrounded by drones, some flying, others on the ground. She throws her claymore like a javelin, skewering one of the roto-drones mid-flight. Instead of falling back to Earth, the claymore stays suspended. The light around Katsina flares, and then she swings her arms like she's still holding the claymore. It rips out of the roto-drone and flies through the air in a huge arc that brings it down onto a Steel Lynx combat drone like some sort of goddamn guillotine. Katsina spins, and the claymore turns into a tornado. It flies around, obliterating Ares Duelists and GM-Nissan Dobermen, all under her telekinetic control. Seconds later she has reduced a half dozen combat drones into scraps and kibble. She extends her hand; the claymore flies back to her and she sheathes it in one smooth motion. She runs off.
20:30
The same footage you saw previously from the Knight-Errant HTR team. Chino kicks down a wall. Ohanzee exits, levitating the crate with the obelisk, while Sam backpedals out of the hole, hosing down things down with liberal applications of suppressive fire. It seems to be working. Previously, the pursuers were always 10-12 seconds behind Chino. This time, Blue Team seems to have built its lead to a full minute. The security guards finally limp through the breach, but are then met with a minigrenade that detonates right at their feet. The armor seems to absorb the worst of the shrapnel, but it knocks them down all the same.