Clusterfrag

Max moves cautiously around the object which Tyros is recklessly investigating just as before as he suggests,

"Doc is right. We need to get the frag out of here and fast. However, how much can you levitate, Tyros? If we gather everything into a big pile, could you just float it down the tunnel and into Doc's rover?"

Tyros removes the sheet, pausing to examine it. The liner is lead. He steps back and examines the object and nearly doubles over from the blinding astral light that assaults his awakened eyes.

To Max, the statue is little more than a 7 foot sculpture, resembling an androgynous human in a neutral pose. It catches the light in strange ways as he peers at it through low-light.

Doc blinks.

"What the hell is something like that doing in an armory?" He muses to no one in particular.

He glances at the liner, and a knot suddenly twists in his stomach. Digging through his pack again, he pulls out the scientific toolkit, and retrieves a geiger counter. He holds the device up to the sculpture.

Curiously, the geiger counter--which normally detects some level of background radiation anywhere in the Barrens--registers absolutely nothing. The needle lies perfectly still on the far left delta.

Max depreciates the statue,

"It'd look great in our lobby. Let's take it with us and get the frag outta' here."

Doc looks down at the device, double checks that the switch is on, slaps it a couple of times, and then finally sets it back down.

"Okay, that ain't right..."

Ignoring Max's comment, ignoring the primal urge to get the frag out of this place, and ignoring mangled bodies at his feet, He takes a closer look, hoping to discern what it is that he's looking at.

Sinjin glances briefly at the odd figure exposed by Tyros, and finding it rather uninteresting, proceeds to examine the rest of the vault. Prying lids off crates and unlatching boxes, he hums softly to himself as he assesses the inventory, looking specifically for detonation charges and explosive devices.

Doc reaches a hand out, fingertips splayed as he probes gingerly at the statue. As his fingers make contact, the statue wobbles on its base! Despite the enormous size, the curious artifact seems to be extremely light... almost impossibly so. Despite nearly knocking it over, Doc observes no negative results from his interaction.

Max is getting antsy,

"We don't know who or what might be coming our way at this moment, boys. We need to get in and get out before we have a chance to be detected. Doc-- quit screwing around with that thing and wire this place to fraggin' blow!"

Doc shakes himself out of his reverie.

"Right, right."

He studies the room, looking for what appear to be the most load-bearing features. Decision made, he walks over to an ammo crate, opens it up, and dumps an entire container of explosive foam into it. He keeps the button on the aerosol can depressed until the last few puffs of white foam sputter out, and the can empties with a hiss. The crate is left looking like a giant death sundae, to which he adds the cherry to the top: A radio controlled blasting cap.

Max grabs a stack of two crates that appear to contain useful munitions and asks the team,

"Are we ready to bug out?"

Doc casts another glance around the room. "Just a sec."

He repeats the process with another crate on the opposite side of the room, and sets the blasting cap to the same radio frequency as the first one. Making sure that both crates are pushed up firmly against the bulk of the munitions stores, he nods back at Max.

"I think this should do it. Always pays to to do a little overkill."

The draw of a strange, anomalous, and improbable item is too much for Doc to resist. After checking underneath the statue for pressure plates or other traps, he grabs it and wraps the bulky -- yet light -- object under his arm.

The demo job set, Max makes for the door with his swag in hand. Despite the armful of toys, Max remains at the ready to drop the crates at a moment's notice and take on any comers. Pausing before he exits the room, Max asks,

"Kato, grab some fraggin' guns, will ya'?"

(( 3P healed, apologize for the delay. ))

Max is feeling particularly light on his feet after the pain-killers that Doc (reluctantly) gave him; in lieu of the three battlefield sutures now decorating his chest.

Val abandons his examination of the various crates. He shoots an amused glance at Kato and the impossibly large load the small Japanese man is trying to shoulder. Rather than taking a box himself, he jerks his head to the door and hefts his SMG to ready-low as he stalks out into the darkened cavern.

"Alright sherpas, the silk road's a-callin'."

He peers around the vault door, checking to make sure that the recent commotion hasn't attracted any unanticipated company before waving the team out into the open tunnel.

Responding to what he hears coming from down the hallway, Max perks up whispers hurriedly,

"We've got incoming down the tunnel! Sounds like gangers-- maybe trogs-- definitely not yaks. Defensive positions! Doc! Any chance of getting those old turrets online in a hurry??"

Max drops the crates, reloads a full stock of armor piercing slugs into Marlowe, and takes up defensive position behind a support strut at the end of the tunnel. His lowlight eyes may not see as much as infrared would, but they see enough. Ultrasonic vision helps too.

Doc stares dubiously at Max for a moment. On one hand, Max's senses haven't been 100% reliable lately. On the other, the elf is equipped with more sensitive audio equipment than anyone else on the team.

"Frag it," He says, setting the statue down.

"I can try. How far away do you think they are?" He asks, already running toward the turrets.

Max supposes, but isn't 100 percent on it,

"End of the tunnel. Thirty seconds, maybe? Forty?"

A voice carries down the tunnel, within the hearing frequency of the rest of the team.

"Watch yo' ass, Gundo. They might still be here."

Kato sighs and gingerly sets down a full compliment of assault rifles.

"I tell them... so many time. Hideout in the middle of Halloweener territory--bad idea!"

That said, the eccentric ex-gangster kneels behind Max.

Doc steps lightly as he approaches the turrets.

He immediately sets to working on reactivating them.

Doc unrolls his tool-kit and sets to work reconnecting the firing computer.

Doc starts to get tunnel vision as he frantically reconnects the components in the turret. Time is running short, so he has to resort to plugging a few things in blindly, hoping that the designers followed the "if it fits, it's supposed to be plugged in there" principal.

Almost there.

Max also suggests,

"Hey Doc-- what about those handy drones of yours? Any chance they could deploy as support from the rover and surprise these fraggers from behind should we need some extra fire power?"

An LED flashlight beam swings across the tunnel from the end opposite the runners.

"Turn 'dat drek off, fragface."

Images are visible in infrared now--five bodies incoming, three orcs and two humans.

Doc shakes his head as he digs around the guts of the turret.

"I don't think so. The Lynx isn't too stair-friendly, and might just end up tumbling down the stairway on its way here. The ones I've got in my pocket are pretty much for surveillance and infiltration only," he whispers.

Max holds steady as he peers down the sights of the shotgun. He wants to hear the all-clear for Doc before he betrays his friend's position and work with a hail of gunfire.

Doc slides the last connector into place and the tiny monitor on the back of the sentry gun springs to life.

PROGRAM TARGETS? ( Y/N )

(( You can stay in the open to designate targets, or retreat to cover with the caveat that the gun will fire with impunity. ))

Val's own heartbeat is clearly audible to him as he waits behind a pillar for a decent shot. He grits his teeth and unleashes a burst at the closest splash of thermographic color.

Doc winces at the burst of fire from Val's SMG. He'll just have to hope that the noise distracts the trolls long enough for him to finish his task.

operator$ Y

He starts designating the five targets as foes.

Val's burst peppers the concrete columns, but fails to hit a target.

(( 1 simple action left. ))

A low growl emerges from Val's throat as he fires another burst.