Contract #5: Marcus Bell: Enemy of the State!

[John]

(( Is Pandora completely out of it? Can she talk? Or did Val at any point get a schematic of the facility? ))

[GM Nick]

Having finished dispatching another Legion squad, Six moves on to towards the entrance to the facility. Confident that it's safe (for the time being) to leave the armory, Tyros returns to his body.

(( Pandora is stable but incapacitated. ))

[John]

Max continues to refine his plan, and suggests,

"How about we set the canisters all along the corridor leading to this room. We rig them with small explosives to be triggered by a detonator. We stay in here with the door open, and make some noise to get the thing's attention. As soon as he see it, we close the door and detonate the canisters."

[Elliott]

Tyros' eyes flutter open as Max finishes his last few sentences.

"I followed Six until it left the armory. I'm not sure simple fire will do the trick as that thing is almost completely metal. There is so little organic matter left to it I had a hard time following it on the astral plane. What about making a run for the gunship while it is distracted and trying to use those cannons to blast the beast to pieces? At least it doesn't fly!"

[John]

Max responds to the first half of Tyros's suggestion with, "Fire may not affect metal armor much, but extreme heat still melts wiring and circuit boards." The elf lights a cigarette as satisfaction dances on his face, and continues, "And besides , do we know how to get to the gunship? I don't want to just make a run for it with that thing on our asses without any real idea of what we're doing."

[Elliott]

Tyros shrugs, "You know machines better than I, but I can't imagine the thing will even feel the heat long as fast as it moves. Unless we trap it in the flames, it will be gone out of the fire in half a second. Anyway, I can find the gunship from astral space."

With that, Tyros closes his eyes again and slips free of his body once more - spirit form sweeping out of the cave and onto the airstrip in an instant to scan for the gunship's dark, unliving outline on the field. Tyros notes its location relative to the cave entrance, before returning in another half breath to his body.

[John]

As Tyros's eyes glaze over, Max looks at the others and says,

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not just gonna make a run for it. We make a stand now, or there won't be anybody left to make it to the gunship."

[GM Nick]

Val stands and slings the FN HAR over his shoulder.

"Seconded."

[Elliott]

((Haha, the GM has spoken! I guess we make a stand.))

[GM Nick]

Val moves to the front of the armory and sidles up alongside the door frame. He thumbs the door controls and risks a quick, sidelong glance down the junction as it whirs open.

"How are we planning to divvy up these canisters?"

[John]

Max dares a glance back to Val, but returns his attention quickly to the corridor beyond the armory's threshold, and says,

"Seems like zig-zagging them up the corridor might be the way to go. We're going to need to find someplace else, though-- this T-intersection isn't going to work for us."

[GM Nick]

No sooner has Max finished his sentence, then a violent wrenching noise rakes across the team's eardrums. A maintenance grating falls from the armory ceiling and clatters on the floor below.

[John]

Max's body moves on its own. The new shotgun falls dead on its sling and rolls to the elf's side as his left hand begins ushering all bodies he can find out of the room. With his right hand, Overstreet reaches immediately for one of the grenades stowed in his easily accessible pack and extracts the explosive, holding it tensely in a cocked arm and ready to throw it toward the stack of canisters.

[GM Nick]

The grating groans and contorts as something follows it down, the kinetic energy of it's impact disfiguring the steel. Six stands slowly from a crouch; his plastic, artificial skin impossibly taut over lean, vat-grown muscle tissue. His lower jaw clicks in terrible, perfunctory mimicry of human speech. Had it vocal cords, the cyber-zombie would be growling. The dead, cybernetic eyes seem to sweep across it's prospective prey, no doubt picking out the weakest link.

A sinking feeling hits Max as Six's gaze falls on the inert Pandora, whom he he's tugging backwards--his arms hooked underneath her armpits.

"Save yourself," mumbles Pandora, almost inaudibly. Her eyes are bleary slits, and a creak emanates from her vinyl, gloved hand as she squeezes the hilt of the wakizashi that's pinned awkwardly between her back and Max's knee.

[John]

Max glares down at her for a brief moment, and says,

"Frag yourself, Pandora."

Hefting the physad more fully under her arm and grunting aggressively, Max tugs with all his might to get his ally clear of the threshold of the armory. The team outside the room, Max releases the trigger on the grenade and slams his palm down on the mechanism to trigger the door to shut.

[Elliott]

Backpeddling out the door, Tyros thrusts one hand forward (centering) and throws a leash of kinetic energy around Six, trying to hoist it into the air and hold it still (levitate, f6) while the door closes.

[GM Nick]

The moment the grenade is flourished, Six charges. The cyber-predator seems to simply materialize in front of Pandora, his movements so quick. A stray hand razor catches the light as it raises to finish off the incapacitated adept. Summoning what can only be the sole strength she has left, Pandora arches her back and plants both feet on Six's chest. She stretches out taut, using Six's momentum to propel herself and Max in the opposite direction.

The pair land in a painful heap, albeit on the opposite side of the threshold. The armory's door slides closed and a muffled explosion follows.

[GM Nick]

Levitate (6) (Tyros)

[Spellcasting (6) + LOG (6 ) + Power Focus (2) = 2]
2 1 2 5 3 3 4 4 3 3 2 6 3 2
[BOD (10) + STR (9) = 7]
5 4 1 1 4 2 4 3 1 1 6 5 3 6 5 1 2 6 5

Try as he might, Tyros is unable to control the aerial movements of Six. Fortunately, his comrades tumble out of the doorway in the nick of time.

[John]

Max remains supine with the adept on top of him for a moment before he realizes that his left arm is still clutching at her feverishly. He relaxes his grip as his alertness returns to him. The elf eases Pandora from atop him and rests her gently on the floor, propping her up against the wall underneath the control panel that operates the door. Reloading his weapon speedily, Max looks around at his teammates and is unable to read the expressions on their faces; all he sees is wear and tear. A full load returned to his weapon, he shuffles up to the door and leans in tentatively, placing his right shoulder and ear against its sturdy metal heft and leaning in to try to hear anything moving on the other side.

[Conway]

Blinking, Sinjin clears his head of the pandemonium. The ambush had gone terribly wrong, ending not in the hoped-for capture of Legion intel or - better yet, a critical piece of Bell's arsenal- but instead with the accidental release of a very lethal and autonomous weapon of war- Six. Granted, things had gone measurably worse for Legion. Chalk one up for the good guys. Even so, events seemed to be outpacing them- firefights, casualties, and a frenzy of hot pursuits had kept them fast on the run and faster on the trigger.

"What's the plan- We gotta get to evac, now. I don't trust for a minute that's the last we've seen of that..thing. The Legion presence here is gone- or as good as dead."

He nods a chin toward Pandora, continuing, "And we're not far behind."

Looking to Max, and then Doc, Sinjin asks in a serious tone, "To the gunship? Or to the Rover?"

[GM Nick]

A charred razor penetrates the reinforced steel of the armory door, exiting a puncture disturbingly close to Max's ear.

[Elliott]

"Frag this, that thing is unstoppable! I'm going for the gunship!"

Tyros hefts Pandora easily over one invisible shoulder and runs off down the cooridor towards the exit, Pandora's body jingling oddly in midair with each step.

[Drew Buddy]

Adams gives the rest of the team a startled look.

"Isn't that thing still, um, flying around with a pilot in it?" He asks, almost timidly.

He glances down the hallway at Pandora's floating and bobbing form, then at the new hole in the armory door. His gaze returns to Max, Val, and Sinjin.

"Goddammit," he mutters, turning on his heel and running after the troll.

[Conway]

"Good enough for me. Let's move!"

Sinjin sprints after the invisible Mage, a bitter smile offering him strength as he dashes down the corridor, following the bouncing and seemingly suspended Pandora, who leads the way like a marionette version of herself- a guide despite her incapacity.

[John]

Max grimaces after the initial surprise wears off, backing up several steps. The rest of the team departing down the hallway, the elf looks now to Val, holds his gaze for a brief moment, blinks, and voicelessly mouths "frag" to his compatriot before turning to follow the group. Max would kill to be able to drop a few mines with proximity triggers around the door through which Six will come rampaging any minute now-- anything to slow the fraggin' thing down-- but he is woefully ill equipped for any such course of action. Overstreet's heavy footfalls pound through the corridors, adding to the ever diminishing symphonic din of combat sounds that they've all come to know well. "God dammit, I hope somebody knows where we're going," he grumbles to himself as he runs.

[GM Nick]

The hand razor slips downward through the metal with a shrieking cry, and then sideways as Six makes himself an exit. A shower of sparks illuminate the hallway in pulsing flashes.

"Roof access," wheezes Pandora. "...comm tower."

[Elliott]

Between huffing breaths, Tyros' face wrinkles in confusion as he runs down the corridor.

"What? Why would we want to trap ourselves on the roof, Pandora?"

[GM Nick]

(( The gunship is hovering above the complex. ))

Six bursts through the smoking hole in the armory door. The nigh-invincible cyber-zombie is now an effigy of charred flesh and exposed cyberware. He sets off on the team at a dead sprint.

[GM Nick]

(( The facility can be exited any way you guys want, there's no linear progression or intended outcome here. ))

The team rounds the corner and finds themselves facing a dead end where the tunnel has collapsed, probably due to the failed missile launch. The cyber-zombie Six now lies between Firestarter and any avenue of escape.

[John]

Max's eyes search the corridor frantically for anything that may be of use in the situation-- a diversion, something environmental that might be useful to damage Six-- anything.

[GM Nick]

Six shambles down the hallway, for all intents and purposes a cybernetic skeleton. The mechanical irises contract as he focuses on his prey. Max backpedals, shotgun ineffectually raised towards the nightmare that advances on him. The team stops abruptly, backs up against the wall of rubble that blocks the tunnel.

The venomous hand-razors lift into the air as Six prepares to strike. Then, there's hesitation. The cyber-zombie seems frozen in place. Micro-actuators begin to whir violently within the cybernetic skeletal structure. Six jerks, convulses, and falls forward. After a few moments of spasms, he is still.

[John]

Max has seen enough horror movies, and is taking no chances. In the anxiety of the moment, he steadies the barrel of the new weapon and lines up his sights with the back of Six's head and begins firing with every intention of emptying the magazine.

[GM Nick]

Max cocks the Arms Riot Guard, expending an empty shell. He lowers the barrel to the back of the burnt, cyber-skull. The elf is certainly not an expert on cyber-zombies, but he has a vague idea what happened to the creature. It must have been created with some sort of half-life, a fail-safe for scenarios just like this one. A biological or chemical agent is winding its way through Six's metabolic structure, shutting down the technological innards that give the predator life.

A few minutes earlier and... Max shivers involuntarily and squeezes the trigger, spreading vat-grown gray matter all over the floor.

[John]

Max gently kicks at the corpse after the shotgun runs dry of its munitions. He has no reason to suspect that it might rise once more to try shed further blood, but times like these tend to make the elf a bit jumpy and even faintly superstitious. Content that Six is finally down, Max turns a harried countenance to his teammates and surveys the damage and morale. Pandora still floats, unconscious, over the invisible shoulder of the massive troll. With Six and most of the Legion presence dead the facility seems to have plunged back into its eerie silence, and Max can hear the shuffling and labored, raspy breaths of the group. After a moment that feels much longer than it really is, the elf says,

"Alright, if we're gonna get to this gunship and bring it to the ground, we need to find a way around this."

Max gestures to the debris blocking the hallway, and looks back over his shoulder at the empty corridor marred by the violent marks of Six's final approach. Claw marks stand as deep gouges in the concrete all over the walls, floor, and ceiling. He looks back at the team's blocked path, and says,

"Or we can try to go through."

Overstreet walks to the rubble and attempts to move a larger piece of it out of the way, trying to get a sense of just how much digging the team is in for if there turns out to be no other route to the comm tower.

[John]

Try as he might, Max can't seem to make any significant headway in rifling through the rubble. The pieces of broken building materials are simply too heavy and too numerous to reasonably expect to be able to dig through them-- certainly not if the team has any hope of catching the gunship. Turning around from the pile with sweat beading on his cheeks, Max says,

"No good here. We're going to have to find an alternate way. If worse comes to worse, Tyros can always fly us up there if we get outside."

The elf starts moving down the hallway in search of an alternate route to the comm tower, keeping a keen eye out for wayfinding signs that so often pepper the corridors of facilities such as these.