[obidancer]

The Frenchman felt nauseous. Enough to know he'd much rather feel the effect if the toxins he got hit with down in the underground, than witness the death of those he cared for.
And when the security guard started waving a gun at Al and himself, he was close to simply put a bullet in the man's  forehead. But instead he placed himself between the guard and Al, his arm spread, offering his body to shoot at, and in the meantime making sure Al was fully covered.

We're on your side dickhead, point that weapon somewhere else and do your job - go help Ether, while we help you live another day.

He looked at the young human form, eTher. She wasn't in good shape but compared to those inside the limo, she was alive. Lady, tell your dog boys to stand down we have more trouble coming!

[pistolgrip]

[Jackhammer - Bad Handoff - Revenge {2/3} - Current condition 0 damage - full body armor] As the door went clattering across pavement, leaving Jackhammer holding part of the frame, he saw something he didn't understand; one of them, perhaps the boy, was surrounded by some kind of aura. It looked like he was stuck in the middle of hell, but untouched by the shrapnel and inferno. Jackhammer did the only thing he knew to do: hit the panic button on his comm to activate his chem seal, then jump in after him. He grabbed the figure in a bear hug and leaped back out the door-hole.
[spoiler]Fire Damage Resistance 12 [36d6t5=5, 1, 6, 6, 1, 1, 5, 5, 2, 3, 1, 1, 5, 6, 6, 3, 6, 3, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 3, 3, 6, 2, 2, 6, 2, 6, 4, 2, 3, 2, 3]
54 posts[/spoiler]

[Aria]

[Thursday June 18th, 2076, ~13:45, Motorway Services, M40]

Strength to strength…Isaint’s shrugged off the grenade blast like it was so much hot air and proceeded to calmly dispense justice on the drone forces spewed from the incoming Roadmaster…one of the drones even crashes into the drivers cab causing the vehicle to swerve recklessly, bouncing off some of the stationery cars on the approach road… and then something prickles down the length of his spine, a premonition of something and wise words once heard ‘if you are a sniper don’t shoot from the same location too many times…’ the shots are silenced but it is hard to suppress the crack of a bullet going at near supersonic speeds… the angle is too high for anything other than an aerial shot…more bloody drones?

***

Bloody spooks waving their guns around, did they really think the group looked intimidated, blustering away like that?

“Security Services, DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”

The spirit came out of the car wrapped around William, and then apparently deciding that it’s job was done once he was free of the flaming wreck disappeared back to wherever it is such creatures go to…

***

The Roadmaster, after losing its drone cover, clearly decided that its chances were better with ‘feet on the ground’ and the troops began a rapid combat deployment, fanning out into the traffic jam, making maximum use of the civilian ‘cover’ …fragging hell, the group can see at least three more of the milspec armoured troops, and the others are wearing high grade security armour…how many more of these fraggers can there be?!?

***
_#76

[adamu]

Al was constantly having to up his estimate of what a badass Jackhammer was - the ork dove straight through the flames and emerged with the boy - spirit and all!

"Shitbricks fer breakfast, son," was all he could exclaim to the ork before hustling the boy back towards his van. It was shot to hell, but it afforded better speed and protection than anything else they had on tap...and he didn't plan to rely on it for long.

Twinkle Dragon's boys from the lead car were finally responding. Hopefully they'd do something to slow the oncoming horde of dismounted sec goons. "Yo Princess, ya stay with yer boys or come with us - choose now!"

Stepping toward the van, the guys with popguns were being held back by Frenchie, but still shouting cop orders at them. Once William was up in the van, Al shouted back at them over the cacophony of gunfire and exploding drones, nodding toward the armored men up on the highway, "Tell ya what, hep cats, we'll stand down when they do, ya dig?"

[Jack_Spade]

In quick succession, two shots rung out of the sky. Isaint hadn't really seen the shooter, but his combat sense had alerted him at the last second. The last one would have gotten him, but again he felt the steadying presence that just nudged his head a bit to the side. He felt and heard the scraping noise of the bullet passing by.

The reinforcements made him realize that he was now very exposed.
<<Team from Isaint: We have more enemies incoming. Collect who you can and get out. This is going to get worse before it gets better.>>

With this he took his own advice and scrambled down the hill, his new poncho making him a literal blur.
He uttered another mental command: <<Susi, evac protocol, reboot, full defense>>
He relied on the agent to communicate with his bike to meet up with him, while he ran full speed downhill toward his team mates.

#208

[spoiler]
Sprinting: 7d6t5 1
Moving 22m towards the street, to meet up with the bike.

[/spoiler]

[adamu]

Wheeling the van in a tight arc to face back towards the service area, Al looked at eTher in his side mirror. He couldn't tell what she was going to do. He reckoned he'd give her about a second and a half to decide.

In the meantime, he couldn't even wait that long to let the team know his plan. Switching his throat mic to his microtransceiver and routing it through the encryption on his Fairlight, he spoke fast: <<Reckon I'm gon' punch this crate clean through that there food court, an' when we's outta sight inna kitchens, you yahoos bail with the protectees. I keep goin' an' lead 'em off while y'all jack a new ride an' git some distance all quiet-like.>>

He glanced at William, sparing a moment to try to read the traumatized kid's face. Where was Twinkle Dragon's mage-minder? Why had they protected the boy, and not the Doc? And who exactly were the charred bodies he'd seen? He hadn't even been able to see how many there were.

What the hell had happened in that limo when the missile had hit?

[obidancer]

You've been warned.
 The Frenchman had mentioned the Spook they were on the same side. Enemies of my enemies are my friends after all, and he really hope the armored troops were everyboby's enemies. Nevertheless, the Spook kept his gun aimed at Al and Himself. At least he didn't want them dead just yet. he could only reciprocate the gesture.

He waited the moment the spooks' aim was pointed toward Al as the latter moved the William to the van. In a lightning fast reflex he bore his own gun down and shot at the MI5 guy... well more precisely at the guy's weapon. The Frenchman was all about precision.

[spoiler]
Blast out of Hand on the Spooks gun: 18d6t5 7
Using Reflexes instead of Agility for Speed shooting.[/spoiler]

The Frenchman was just done shooting that he turned toward the other Agent and advanced toward eTher. Time to get out of here. You either work with us on this one or you handle the militia coming up our asses. Last chance. he said to the Agent.
Milady, can you walk?

<<copy that, bringing eTher.>> he mentally sent to Al.

[Jack_Spade]

Isaint noticed as his wireless gear shut down and rebooted. Only three seconds without the support of his electronic gadgets, but that was a long time in combat.
Another crack of gunfire sounded from the sky and Isaint was dimly aware that one of the cars just had gotten a shot through the engine block.
He had to do something event though his smartlink was offline.

For the moment he seemed to have left the line of sight of his attackers. While he concentrated on the sky to find the attacker he prayed for strength and felt as the saints once again listened. "Vade Satana"

[spoiler]
Round 3

Ini 31
SImple action: Attribute Boost BOD: 7d6t5 4 [7d6t5=6, 4, 5, 6, 5, 2, 1]
Simple action: Observe in Detail (Visual) (Find Drone): 16d6t5 6[16d6t5=1, 2, 3, 6, 5, 1, 6, 5, 5, 5, 2, 3, 1, 3, 4, 4]
Free action: Adept Centering to cancel negative modifiers on that action for a total possible penalty of -9

Interrupt: -10 Ini, Full Defense

Ini 11
Complex Action: Stealth: Stealth Check: 14d6t5 5 [14d6t5=6, 2, 4, 1, 2, 6, 6, 3, 2, 3, 3, 6, 2, 6]
(-3 to visual perception checks to find Isaint)
Move 10 m to break line of sight again

Ini 1
Simple action: Aim
Free action: Adept Centering
Simple action: Shoot Sniper Drone 1:
8 AGI + 8 Skill +1 Aim (Hawk Eye reduces Extreme Range to Long, Adept Centering compensates Long Range modifiers)
Shoot Sniper Drone 1: 17d6t5 7 [17d6t5=6, 2, 5, 6, 1, 6, 6, 4, 1, 6, 4, 6, 3, 4, 3, 2, 4]
12 P AP 7 + Successes


[/spoiler]

Ready to dodge any incoming attacks, Isaint scanned the sky. There, barely visible against the gray of the sky he could make out a shape - some kind of blimp with a high powered rifle all with adaptive camouflage.
Isaint took a moment to make sure he was again unobserved.

He aimed carefully at the object. "Vade Satana". He fired.

[adamu]

Al hit the gas the moment eTher was on board, making the Frenchman run and jump to catch his ride. There was too much lead and high explosive flying around, not to mention too many panicked pedestrians, to drive through the lot. He punched it straight over the lawn, making a beeline for the big glass front of the building. It was a bouncy enough ride, but he added a juke here and there just to be safe. Didn't stop something very high velocity from slamming downward into his engine, but it must not have hit anything vital, because no indicators came on and the van didn't miss a beat as it charged across the grass.

[pistolgrip]

Jackhammer was on the pavement after diving out of the limo with somebody who might have been William. He saw Al and the Frenchman make a quick escape with the unkillable ladyfriend of theirs and was pretty sure Isaint was off somewhere taking pretty good care of himself, and probably some milspec guys too. But here were some government goons and corpsec grunts getting blown to bits by the serious mooks in the milspec, and Jackhammer found himself in an awkward place. "Drek."

He stood up and made for the building that Al seemed to be driving towards, leaving a smoke grenade to cover his tracks.

[Aria]

[Thursday June 18th, 2076, ~13:45, Motorway Services, M40]
 
With the marauding troopers exchanging fire with what is left of eTher’s sec detail the spooks clearly decided that discretion was the better part and all that…giving the group a dirty look they retreated from the brawl with the clear subvocalisations of those desperately calling for backup…and then the sec detail disappear under a barrage of explosive force from two of the troopers wielding Alphas, and it seems unlikely that they will surface again…
 
Al’s van is grinding now as the damage done to it begins to take its toll…if only it will reach the comparative safety of the services main buildings…but then Al sees the minor flaw in his plan…anti ram barriers in the form of concrete planters along the face of the building…still, the frightened rabbit faces of the customers in the café windows might also give him a moments pause…
 
And then armour penetrators once more riddle the chassis of the van…
 
***
 
Isaint lined up his shot on the drone with calm confidence and sent it spiralling down to its doom…only to draw down the wrath of the other sniper drone, and then, somewhat unexpectedly the damn shotgun wielding manic he’d killed moments before…tough fragger had crawled away from the car covered in his blood and been waiting for Isaint to reveal himself again…
 
***
_#77
 
 
 
 

[Jack_Spade]

Two shots aimed at Isaint zoomed past him as he got his head down. Right. That Soldier had had it's chance. Isaint prefered destroying drones to shooting people, but that didn't mean he wouldn't do it.
Still, that other sniper drone was a grave danger to him and his teammates even if they were behind cover - as he himself had demonstrated only seconds before.

A little icon blinked in the upper left corner of his vision. 'Took you long enough Susi.'
Even while he raised his rifle to take down the last drone he formulated a mental command:
<<Susi, Agent Cluster: Find 5+ seater car and owner commlink in the immediate vincinity, execute car jacking protocol, alert team when ready.>>
When he said "Vade Satana!" it was with a lot of feeling while the shot cracked across the lot.

'You are next, shotgun boy.'

[spoiler]Round 4:
Ini 33
Free Action Adrenalin boost
Ini 35
Simple Action: Command Agent Cluster
Free Action: Adept Centering (Ignore Long Range penalties)
Simple Action: Shoot Sniper Drone 2 (Short Burst)
AGI 8 + Skill 8 + Smartlink 1
Shoot Sniper Drone 2: 17d6t5 8 [17d6t5=3, 4, 6, 2, 6, 3, 3, 1, 6, 6, 1, 6, 6, 5, 1, 4, 5]
12 P AP 7 Dodge -2 + Successes

Interrupt -10 Ini: Full Defense

Ini 15
Simple Action: Aim
Free Action: Adept Centering
Free Action: Called Shot
Simple Action: Bullseye Burst
AGI 8 + Skill 8 + Smartlink 1 + Aim 1 - Called Shot 1 (Adept Centering)
Shoot Milspec Shotgun Man: 17d6t5 7 [17d6t5=3, 5, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 6, 5, 6, 2, 5, 4, 1, 2, 5, 5]
12 P AP 13 + Successes

Ini 5
Complex Action: Hide and change position Stealth: 14d6t5 5 [14d6t5=4, 3, 3, 6, 6, 2, 1, 2, 6, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3] - 3 to enemy visual perception (Ruthenium Polymer Poncho)

Ammo: 8/40 remaining

Ok, now comes some icky matrix stuff.
Isaint orders his Agent to find a van slaved to a single commlink, both within 100m on the parking lot. (That's three bits of information, so I need at least 3 successes)
Next action is a Teamwork check of the Nixdorf Secretaries Agents to my main Agent Susi (Rating 6) for a Hack on the Fly against the owners commlink (They'll reboot if unsuccessful)
With this MARK, Susi will spoof command the car to start up, open door, grant manual control and go wireless offline.
Also the team should receive a message where their new ride is.

Easy, right 

[spoiler= Icky Matrix Stuff]
At start round 4 gear has rebooted:
Agent Susi: Ini Agent Susi: 13+4d6 24
Agent Cluster
Agent 1: 9+4d6 18
Agent 2: 9+4d6 25
Agent 3: 9+4d6 19
Agent 4: 9+4d6 20

Ini 24
Simple Action: Agent Susi changes mode to running silent for all gear, Smoke and Mirrors loaded with 5 Noise and 5 to Sleaze, Jammer 6 active w/ wireless on (11 Noise for all tracking tests), 7 Noise Compensation through Fresnel Fabric w/ wireless on

Simple Action: Matrix Perception: Looking for suitable sized car in the parking lot (100m radius)
Agent Susi (Matrix Perception): 10d6t5 6
If necessary: Interrupt -10 Ini: Goes on Full Matrix Defense

Ini 18
Agent Cluster prepares Teamwork check: Hack on the Fly:
Agent 1 (HotF): 6d6t5 5 [6d6t5=5, 6, 6, 5, 5, 2] Limit 1
Agent 2 (HotF): 6d6t5 3 [6d6t5=3, 6, 5, 2, 5, 2] Limit 1
Agent 3 (HotF): 6d6t5 3 [6d6t5=6, 6, 4, 4, 1, 5] Limit 1
Agent 4 (HotF): 6d6t5 1 [6d6t5=3, 3, 4, 1, 4, 6] Limit 1

Total: +4 dice and +4 to Sleaze Limit

Ini 14: Agent Susi (HotF)
Attribute 6 + Skill 6 - Running Silent 2 + Teamwork 4 vs. Inuition + Firewall
Agent Susi (HotF): 14d6t5 7[14d6t5=5, 6, 4, 4, 5, 2, 6, 6, 2, 2, 5, 1, 3, 5]
Limit 1 + 5 (SaM)+4=10, all 7 successes count

Ini 4:
Agent Susi (Spoof Command) vs. Logic (Owner/Pilot) + Firewall (Car or Commlink)
Agent Susi (Spoof Command): 10d6t5 5 [10d6t5=2, 5, 3, 6, 4, 5, 6, 4, 2, 5]
Limit 6, all 5 successes count
[/spoiler][/spoiler]

#210

[adamu]

"Dagnabbit, I just bought this thing," moaned Al as more bullets shrieked through the van, passing dangerously close to him and his passengers, but missing anything vital in the undercarriage. He didn't even know for sure who was shooting anymore, though it was probably those sons of bitches stranded up on the M20. Well, he'd leave their sorry asses behind soon en..."Oh fer Pete's sake," he spat, spotting the concrete planters where he'd wanted to go in.

Well, there was more than one way to skin a cat, he thought as he shifted course without taking his foot off the gas...

[obidancer]

The Frenchman had jumped in the back of the van hauling eTher with him. Bullets were flying in and all he could do was giving the Drake a warm smile. He saw Jackhammer running after the van and realized quickly  the Ork ouldl have no issue catching up with it.
They were almost being tossed left and right as Al took the most direct route and the Frenchman tried to brace William and eTher, hoping no bullet would pierce the armor for a bit longer.

He explained to them. On my mark you get out and as discreetly as possible make your way to the vehicle I will point to you. Do you get that? 
He gave Al a stern look. Ready when you are, my friend.

[adamu]

"Roger that, amigo," Al replied through grit teeth - up on the motorway about a hundred yards away he spotted another soldier leveling her weapon at them, and he jerked the wheel the right, then back again to stay on his new course - "Jist tryin' ta git us somewhere's we ain't completely under a damned microscope. Plan ain't shit if'n we's standin' out like a possum's butt in a beauty pageant."