Clusterfrag

After feeling a nanosecond of elation at the red mist which issues from the terrorist, Val comes to his senses dives behind a riser.

Terrorist #5 lifts his weapon weakly and fires on Val's position.
(( 1P DAMAGE! ))

Val winces as a bullet slams into his torso, but his new armor absorbs nearly all of the impact.

(( Sinjin's up. ))

Hiding himself protectively behind one of the many titanium risers, Sinjin's body transforms as he manifests the lethal powers of an Adept. His custom tailored Phalanx G-9 armored suit shifts and expands around his growing musculature. His smile is unnerving, bordering sadistic, as he tests the armor's wicked looking battle spines, watching them deploy and retract in response to his muscular inputs. His grin broaden's malevolently. Come and get it...

((Taking cover, Attribute Boost))

The world seems to slow as Val feels a trickle of warm liquid run down his torso underneath his armor. With the adrenaline coursing through his system, the bullet striking him as he dove for cover felt like nothing more serious than a stiff breeze. He reaches down, plucks the slug from the indentation it made in the armored weave just above his heart, and allows himself the luxury of drawing a single ragged breath. He casts it aside with a careless flick of his wrist. The significance of his being capable of such a dismissive gesture at the present moment is lost on Val as he peers around the riser and looks for another target.

(( +3 STR for 3 combat phases. ))

The General's gravely voice echoes out across the roof-top.

"The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy!"

A thundering barrage of automatic gunfire follows.

(( Full burst. ))
(( 13P DAMAGE! ))

The eco-terrorist mage is riddled with bullets and falls back, bleeding out on the ferrocrete.

(( Tyros' turn. ))

Tyros remains hiding behind the chopper door. Due to his astral journey, his normal bevy of augmenting spells are not present and the immediate counter-assult by the terrorists has caught Tyros a bit by surprise. Needless to say, the big troll thinks it wiser not to go charging through machine gun fire at this particular juncture.

Tyros sends out his will to direct the flows of mana running across the rooftop (free action: counterspelling to protect the whole team) as his eyes focused on the remaining mage (terrorist #2), Tyros peers through the bulletproof glass of the passenger door and reaches out one hand, fingers pinching at the mage, as if he were an ant, (centering) and flicking him off the roof into empty space and a long fall (levitate, f4, sending the terrorist #2 diagonaly up and off the roof and then releasing him at the end of the trajectory so that he falls however many stories to the desert rocks below).

Terrorist #4 grabs on to the edge of the ferrocrete hood and refuses to be plied into the air.
(( 1S DAMAGE! ))

Max pops up from his cover and fires at the last remaining Mage on the roof, shouting over the din of battle, "COUNTERSPELL THIS!"

(( 13P DAMAGE! ))

The mage's head explodes under the barrage of burst-fire 12-gauge slugs.

(( Terrorists 1 and 5 are alive, although 5 has 10P. ))

Max swings Marlowe around to the uninjured Terrorist firing volleys of lead at the team and squeezes the trigger. Nothing happens! Looking down at his gun, Max sees the flashing ammunition indicator on the side reading out insufficient rounds. Switching from burst fire to semi-auto with the flicker of a synapse, Max corrects the problem and fires again. It works this time.

Max swears under his breath as his smart-link computer flashes a warning that he doesn't have enough ammo for a burst. He sends a quick mental command to switch to semi-automatic and takes his shot. A cloud of ferrocrete dust drifts away from the hood as the shot is wide.

(( Val's up. ))

Max curses the eco-terrorist's lucky last minute tuck away from harm.

Peering down the sights of his rifle, Val catches a shower of sparks fly from the cover of Max's target. He centers his smartlink reticule six inches out from the edge of the ferrocrete pillar, where dust still fills the air. As the terrorist's shape peeks around the corner again, he quickly fine tunes his aim and pulls the trigger.

(( Narrow burst. ))

Val's first burst skitters along the side of the hood.
His second burst is nearly a hit, but fails to wound the target.

(( Sinjin's up. ))

Locked in a game of cat and mouse with two shooters, the eco-terrorist is unaware of Sinjin's stealthy flanking. A look of horror and panic dominate his features as a gleaming metal spike emerges from his throat. Gurgling and mewling, he shudders violently and thrashes like a gaffed fish. Behind him, Sinjin laughs.


((I dont expect an Unseen modifier or anything, just wanted to narrate this way. I'll rewrite if I roll like Elliot...))

(( 13P DAMAGE! ))

(( Doc's up. ))

Adams reels from the pain of the attack. It had felt like something had pressed against his mind, his soul, and burst out of his skin in a swirl of burning energy. Every part of him hurts. The grip of the rifle feels like a clump of broken glass in his burnt hand, as he lines up the shaking sights on the last remaining terrorist.

The recoil of the rifle feels like being hit in the shoulder with a meat tenderizer.

Doc's burst punches a hole through the eco-terrorist's torso, killing him instantly.

(( Combat's over. ))

Adams lets his rifle fall to his side while he reaches for a medkit in his pack. He starts with the kit's non-narcotic painkillers, before setting to work patching his wounds.

(( 6P healed! ))

Doc uses insta-graft patches from the med-kit to treat his burned skin. The injection of painkiller does its job without inhibiting his senses.

Val emerges from behind the riser with a muffled grunt of discomfort and pads toward Doc, sweeping the rooftop with his rifle to be sure that all is clear.

"Hey Doc, you got a Band-Aid in that bag 'o tricks? Damn tango gave me a boo-boo. Should've just put him down when I had the chance, but hey, old habits die hard."

Val's face flushes slightly as he sees the more painful looking burns that Doc has suffered.

Damn, I'm good, Adams thinks to himself, admiring the near-perfect field repair on his skin.

"Yeah, let me take a look," he responds to Val. He salvages some gauze and a local vasoconstrictor from the remnants of the medkit, and sets to work on Val.

(( Do I need to actually use a whole medkit for this test? I only need to make one hit ))

Max drops the sights of his shotgun and admires the carnage before reloading passively. He glances about his teammates and concludes that everybody is fine. "Let's get moving," the elf proclaims.

Tyros steps out of the chopper and surveys the scene. So much for subtlety, brute force it is. Firestarter is good at that at least.

Making a small, somewhat annoyed motion with his left hand (centering), Tyros calls up his battle magic (invis, f4; improved reflexes, f4; deflection, f4), and fades from view. Drawing his claymore, Tyros looks around for an entrance to the facility before walking over to where the team is huddled around Doc and Val.

"Everything all right here? We should get moving and take the fight to the terrorists before they have time to prepare defenses."

Val glances up from where Doc is taking inventory of his medical supplies.

"Aye, 'mano. I'm going to take a quick peek at what we can expect behind that door. Comm me if the drek hits the fan. Doc can do his thing while I'm under."

Val sits down in a cross-legged squat like a monk about to begin meditation. Val's chin drifts down to make contact with his chest as he drops into VR and calls up the facility's 3D schematic. His avatar flits through the rooftop access door and explores the facility immediately beyond. He tries to come up with something useful to relay to the team regarding their destination and the possible paths to embark upon from this point.

Val navigates the empty, ghostly corridors of the VR floorplan.

The ramp to the roof is a straight shot to the third floor, which looks to be a large maze of workstation partitions and meeting spaces. There is an elevator and fire stairway at the center of the facility, though the team will have to zig-zag to get there.

Doc uses the last few pieces from his med-kit to address Val's minor injury.

(( 1P healed! ))

Adams wraps up his tools, and walks back over to the helicopter.

Goddamn interference, he thinks, as he flips open the access panel on the Steel Lynx. Using the small screen and basic controls on the drone's terminal, he sets it to standard engagement rules. (( Follow the team, don't shoot anyone unarmed, do shoot at anyone attacking the Lynx or the team ))

He engages the drone's verbal command input before closing the panel, and says, "Come on, let's go."

Val rolls his left shoulder in its socket, testing his mobility with the dressing under his already snug armor. His movement is unrestricted, and he barely feels a thing.

"Thanks, Doc. So, I guess from here we head... down." Val chuckles. "Got some offices and whatnot at the bottom of this ramp. Then it's the elevator or the stairway." Val thinks back to the team's latest episode involving an elevator. "I suppose we can take a look when we get there, but I vote we take the stairs. I know I could use the exercise. I might suggest looking for the security control office as our first order of business -- aside from slagging the roof to oblivion, I mean. The earlier we get automated defenses taken care of, the better off we'll be."

As Val pads toward the door, he opens an AR window and pulls up the 2D blueprint of the building. Having scouted the VR construct in the chopper on the way over, he now just needs to remind himself where the security control room is located.