[ismilealot]

@ Arc  The orc on the smaller bike was scrambled unceremoniously to the ground when the shooting began. Unfortunately the wheelie Arc attempted to pop was beyond the simple gyroscope and program to accomplish, but, at least the orc was off. And the rounds combined with the dead engine had the orc on the King Scorp scrambling to get off. For a moment it looked like her bold maneuvers would work. But, then the flyspy caught the rest of the gang moving in with chains to try and coral the bikes.

@ Tusks  Judging by the renewed activities of that curious head her bluff had worked. Now to get us out of here. She used the mirrors to try and gauge a moment when eyes were otherwise occupied. And saw many of the gangers partnered up. But, the frenzy was slowing a bit. And the efforts of the gangers not under Marco's influence to get them to stop and concentrate on the job was bound to start working, especially once the cops show up which can't be to far off. Tuskaloosa thought. Ok, this is as good as it's going to get.

While Arc was busy on the bikes the Munchkins were busy getting hers and Firefly's bodies to safety.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena smiles as it looks like she is in the clear and she hopes that Tuskaloosa gets moving soon.  These gangers will not be at rest for long.  Even as she thinks that, Arc shares the feed from the drones and she sees that her bike is in trouble.  Unfortunately, there is little that she can do from here as she is tied into the van.  Cursing in Russian she sends a quick note to Arc.  >>Arc.  Is Yelena.  Try save bikes or destroy.  Gangers find us through IDs of bikes.  Bikes opposite end bridge from Yelena so cannot help.<<

[SgtBoomCloud]

These are just thugs.  No reason to care about who the owners are.  Just wanted a free score..oh drek...

Spotting the rest of the smallish gang that was starting to advance on the bikes, Arc put a little speed into the smaller Scorpion, simultaneously commanding the King to fire its engines up.  Once there was some distance, Arc then shifted her focus, commanding the Russian's bike to travel at a clip towards the main roads and integrate into traffic...public view is now deemed the better option.  Satisfied she had gotten the smaller bike away, Arc then jumped back into the King, which was idling.  She could see through the drone feed and the bike camera that they were starting to surround the bike, tentatively with some distance.

Huh...gonna have to pull a jelly donut...

"Null sweat, I ain't letting anything slip out.  You do you, Srui, I got this"

Stepping her foot down, Arc deployed both of the mounted AKs and gunned the engine, but kept the front brake on tight.  The back tire squealed as she spun it, forming a bit of smoke as she tilted the bike into a turn.  As the bike donutted, she gave it some more gas as she increased the spin.  Before the gangers could close, she opened up on the guns, sending a hail of fire in all directions.

With any luck, she would have punched a hole in their line, and if so, she'll take the opportunity and punch through to safety...as far as her meat body goes, she's gonna have to trust Marco and the remaining Munchkins to deliver her to safety...

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena smiles.  Arc has the bikes and does not need her to try to toss a couple of nuyen into the plan.  Her job is to get the van away from the bridge and into the hands of the choppers, one of whom has told her that the beacons are disabled and there is no chance to follow her once she gets lost in traffic.  And getting lost in traffic is what she is doing, taking the van into Downtown Seattle then following Chesh's directions.

[Duck N. Cover]

     Although he was practically biting himself to stay quiet, Tuskaloosa could still hear the stiffled giggles as she rolled the van clear of the nearby Citymaster and quielty merged into traffic. It was only after she closed the driver's window and turned off the music that she started to relax.
      “This little piggy cried slather me in barbecue...?”
     He winked.  “All the way home!”
     “...Right.  Speaking of home, you need to give me some directions.”

     However, he was back under a panel in the console.  The dreck--
     “One, two: getting for you” came his muffleled song.  “Three, four: goodies galore.”
     The mounted arsenal.  “Just disable the wireless and direct me to the jack for them—I happen to be able to run and gun.”

     A limb full of wiggling fingers emerged.  She extended her secondary datajack and handed it to him.
     “Who'll kill Cock Robin?" he crowed as he finally emerged.  "You, said the Sparrow--with your bow and your arrow--you'll kill Cock Robin."

    "Personally, I'd rather catch up to Van 1 and call it a night without a firefight...but it never hurts to be prepared," she said as he bounced back into the seat.
    He stood and gave her a deep bow.  "Then...to Market to Market to buy a fat pig!  Home again, home again, jiggidy jig!"
     

[ismilealot]

If the Jade Dragons realized that the vans were getting away they didn't respond in time to stop them. And both vans were headed away from the scene without a single shot fired at them. But, actually getting far enough away was it's own challenge as emergency vehicles were converging on the scene and the traffic that had been light was now choking the roads as drivers pulled over to make way for the first responders and then stayed for the show. Tuskaloosa made it away clean, it had helped being on the far side. But, Yelena was finding herself increasingly bogged down by the traffic, used as she was to the much smaller and more maneuverable bike she soon found herself stuck in traffic.

[ismilealot]

Faced with the fully armed and operational Scorpion the gangers scattered giving Arc the opening she needed to get the bike away.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena laughs as she finds herself squeezed in between a monster dump truck on its rounds on Chesh's side and a stretch limo with tinted windows on the other.  At least the limo has the benefit of a topless girl sticking up through the open sun roof and waving a bottle of something at everyone.  She was getting lots of friendly honks from people admiring her chest and her attitude.  Yelena rolls her window down and adds her own honk and cheer, to which the girl smiles and waves back.  She seems a bit confused when she sees no one driving the van, but must come to the conclusion that someone is doing it on auto pilot and watching her, so she yells and waves anyway.  Yelena turns her head to look at the passenger seat where Chesh is sitting and says, "I think my view is much better than yours.  Looks like we may be here for a bit.  Got any side roads we can take to bypass all this drek?:

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc virtually grinned as she saw the gangers scatter, pulling out of the spin and stowing the weapons as easily as if she were holstering her predator, driving away from the scene to catch up with Yelena's smaller Scorpion.  Letting out her breath with a sigh, she let herself relax a bit once the two bikes were in sync, and back on the roads.  It would only be a few minutes before she'd cut the trajectory and rejoin with the moving party of the Munchkins caring for herself and Firefly and her present task would be done.

"Hoi, all null sweat up in this slitch.  Hotshots wanted the little ladies, but they defended theyselves with great honor.  Bringing them home."

Satisfied with that, Arc kept one eye on the cam feeds and the other on the road, opting to remain jumped in the bigger bike while "escorting" the smaller along their path, remaining incognito with traffic until she arrived.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena watches the girl dancing in the sun roof for a bit, enjoying her expression of freedom.  Realizing that she may be stuck here for a bit, she sends a note out.  >>Team.  Is Yelena.  Stuck in traffic.  Nice view but not move much.  Can drop invisibility maybe?  Think got away.<<

[gilga]

>> Va bene, thanks for letting me know. Texted Marco and removed the spells. Grinning as he finally had some peace of mind.

[ismilealot]

The Munchkins load Arc and Fireflies bodies as neatly as if they were an engine block. Then a very young man approached Marco and said, "We're knocking' tha' chocks. You comin'?" At Marco's assent he points to the front seat of the truck they've got Arc and Firefly loaded in. The rest of the gang load up very quickly. They are clearly anxious to be gone. The sounds of sirens  screaming towards the bridge has clearly had them on edge for the past several minutes and Alyce, the driver of the vehicle Marco's in relaxes a bit as he gets underway. They're at their destination in less than ten minutes. A small garage advertising tires and inspections on a small faded sign. The shop purportedly belongs to Carroll & Sons and the garage at least is well lit and warmer than the outside.

[gilga]

"We're knocking' tha' chocks. You comin'?"

"Certainly", said Marco, " thanks for telling me." Marco seems oddly at peace with the siren sounds and the adrenaline. Perhaps it is his control over his emotions, because he is really nervous like the rest of them. One thought keeps echoing on his head during the drive... "We actually killed people... they were floating lifelessly in the river"
Indeed, Marco was not the one to send the van into the water and perhaps he could not do that himself. Yet, the terrible metaphysical pain of loss of life. The severed connection, the pain, terror and suffering these men must have felt in their last moments. They were all fresh and real to Marco. He was quiet, distant and as the ride progressed so did his thoughts.  It became more evident to Marco that he himself is making some very poor life choices right there. "If you live by the sword  you also die by the sword" thought Marco, "but... at least you LIVE... these people were not exactly righteous... I am almost sure that they were going to shoot at Yelena risking their own mage.... Still - I am not the one to judge - they are now dead and they did not even get to confess before their demise.  Their only crime was being in that van. Was there another way? Could I have save them somehow?  Without getting shot at - that is. 

Perhaps we could do it in another way, but what other way? we were four people against an armed transport and some trigger happy gangers.  We are lucky to be alive.... Still it was MY mojo that enabled this murder.  Without the shape change we needed another plan.  Their blood is on my own hands. " He thought.

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc found herself counting her blessings as she was able to catch the bikes up to the convoy, having them trail behind the truck transporting her meat suit (kept track of using her link) at a steady clip.  She wasn't fully relaxed, however, until they arrived at the munchkins' shop.  Pulling the bikes up to park them out of the way, she killed and locked the engines out of sight and returned to reality.

Groaning a little, the human pulled herself gingerly in a sitting postion, shivering a bit from the chill air on her scarred, bared skin, the rush of her securing the bikes after taping herself leaving her unable to redress yet.  Holding her side, she adjusted her eyes to the lighting and regained her bearings, identifying where Firefly lay and Marco stood, the.latter still holding the cat.

Nodding silently, Arc figured that Tuska and Yelena were still en route.  Sitting back, she groaned a little as she waited, trying to ignore all the hurt she was currently in.

[ismilealot]

@ Marco  They were finally safe. Or, at least as safe as they were going to be for the moment, inside the garage. Arc was sitting up and the small halfers were scrambing to chop the Americar as quickly as they could. They were clearly experts, their chopping of the Americar in the street and they're finishwork here in the garage couldn't have taken more than 12-13 minutes. But, even as Marco is watching the work he gets a comm. >>Marco, please tell me that all of this cloak and dagger is you playing a game. A way for you to stimulate me and add fun into our relationship. Because I think I'm being followed. And I'm sure I'm just being silly. You put this all into my head. Please tell me I'm just being silly and that you are sorry and that no one is in my room when I am gone. Please.<< There is only one person he gave this method of communication. The Lady. There was no need to give it to anyone else.