Clusterfrag

Doc takes a flying leap, shoulder-first, at the monk, giving him an evil grin.

The monk throws his arms up and deflects the flying Doc.

Max climbs off his victim and lunges for the second cultist's mid section, hoping to take him off guard with his focus placed squarely on Doc.

Max collides with the monk, but fails to knock him over.

Doc makes another pass at the monk, hoping to subdue him.

The monk leaps aside nimbly as Doc goes stumbling past.

Max recovers from his failed takedown and moves to put the monk in a vicious chokehold!

The wily monk slips out of Max's grip yet again!

Shifting his weight, the monk aims a scissor kick at the advancing elf.
Max lifts his knee and deflects the kick.

Irritated beyond all fragging description, Max rushes forward for what will be the successful takedown, goddammit.

The elf's mad rush succeeds and knocks the monk to the ground.

Doc takes the advantage given, and kicks the monk in the head.

Doc's bare foot connects with the man's head with a sickening --crunch--!

The lights of self have all but gone out in Max's eyes; pure aggressive instinct has overcome the elf as he takes the cultist's head in both hands and lifts it into the air, slamming it down over and over again into the ferrocrete floor.

Max's repeated slamming finally takes its toll and the monk loses consciousness.

Max's relatively slight chest is heaving. The elf is trying desperately to catch his breath after the exertion of taking down the two monks. With sweat dripping off his nose, he turns to Doc and asks,

"You alright, pal? Seems like he got you pretty good back there..."

Standing now, Max kneels down beside the body of the first monk and collects the syringe which had fallen out of his mouth during the encounter. Handing it back to Doc, he sets off down the hall a short way to look for the errant tabs of bliss. Holding up a finger to Doc to indicate that he needs a moment, Max's eyes scan the floor for the little pills.

Doc's vision blurs and refocuses a few times, and he blinks.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," He says.

He starts searching the monks for items, weapons, or key cards.

Tyros and Rawhide set off down the corridor in search of the team's equipment. "Alright stunty, I'll be your big invisible friend and lead the way." Glad the magehood is gone, Tyros disappears wih a wave of his hand (centering, invis, f4). Tyros sets off leading the dwarf by about 50 feet.

The pills not immediately visible, Max gets down on his hands and knees and does a close inspection of the floor in an attempt to find the bliss.

The air shimmers as the gigantic troll disappears from sight. Rawhide trots after him, glancing warily at the strange, plated walls.

Doc retrieves a mag-key from one of the unconscious monks. Other than that, the monks appear to have no possessions.

Rawhide edges along the wall, not afforded the same luxury of being invisible as his comrade. He risks a peek around the corner and immediately withdraws his head.

<There are 3 monks walking down the hallway towards us! Any suggestions?>

Doc hold on to the keycard, and turns his attention to Max. He's tired, drugged, and stunned, leaving him a bit irritated.

He walks up behind the elf,
"Drek, Max. Take a look at yourself. Here we are in a fraggin' enemy facility, we have no real idea of how we're going to escape, or even how we got here, and there you are hunched over the floor, looking for goddamn hits of bliss. A thinking person might get the impression that you have a problem."

Max doesn't turn around,

"No, it's not that. It's just that I don't want to waste them. I mean, my idea didn't work out, so maybe they'll come in handy later..."

Doc give Max an incredulous look.

"Reaaally..." He says, drawing out the word.

"How much of the stuff are you using these days?"

For how good Max is with people and how well he can talk himself out of sticky situations, there's a quiver in his voice,

"Not much, man. I need it right now because of the bullets I caught up on the space station."

Doc glances over Max.

"It looks like our hosts took care of those wounds pretty well, Max. Why are you really searching around on your hands and knees, wearing a hospital gown in the middle of an insane AI's lair? I want to hear it from you."

Max stops shuffling about on the floor and goes still for a moment. The voice that rises from him then is distant, but not detached,

"You're right."

The elf rises and moves toward Doc. There's a pang of shame smeared across his face, but for the most part his expression is blank,

"Let's go take care of that uplink for Milly."

Pressing onward, Doc and Max find themselves in a laboratory of sorts. The room is filled with tables covered in canvas sheets. The optical cables continue to wind their way underneath tables and eventually to a wall on the opposite end of the room, adjacent to a door. The lab looks deserted.

Having dragged the unconscious monks in from the hall, Max and Doc stash them somewhere out of the way.

Taking a moment to survey the room, Max studies it hard for anything that looks out of place. The elf is looking for security rigging primarily, but also for any sign of organic life. Activating the comm, Max asks,

<Any idea what we're looking for, Milly?>

Doc listens in on the comm conversation while tracing the cable to the door.

He pauses with his hand on the handle, waiting for Milly's response.