Clusterfrag

Val successfully penetrates the node and registers a regular account, but the system has seen through his stealth program. He feels, rather than sees, the black IC coming for him...

(( Level 1 system alert. ))

[ Omega = 52 ]
[ Alpha = 44 ]
[ Tyros = 32 ]
[ Sinjin = 27 ]

Omega steadies himself and delivers an open-handed attack to Sinjin.
The nimble ork drives the attack away by plying his elbow upward into it.

Alpha delivers a quick combo of jabs to Omega, who deftly blocks each one.

Tyros can feel the dance coming to an end. And yet, it is still too early to say which of the combatants will be the first to fall.

With a deft spin away from one of Omega's trailing kicks, Tyros halts his momentum, perfectly balanced, and moves one foot forward, bringing his claymore down in an overhead diagonal slash across the android's chest.

Max is not used to being fifth wheel. As far as this team's functionality goes, it's pretty rare that Max experiences a moment where he feels useless on all fronts, but here he is. His brief efforts at breaking into the canister were useless, and while it's possible that he could be of some use in the fight against Omega, his fear of the cyclone of limbs he saw earlier is getting the better of him at present. So Max stands-- semi-frozen in the moment because the moment won't thaw for him. He feels the pull toward battle because he wants to further stack the odds against Omega, but keeps hesitating. He thinks of his daughter and how she needs him. He thinks of his teammates and how they need him. He thinks of his teammates and how he needs them. He needs them. All of them.

"Ah, frag it," the elf grumbles to himself.

Turning over his shoulder, Max looks at Doc next to Val's limp form and says, "I gotta go help them! Watch after him!" Without waiting for a response, Max takes off running toward the group of physical combatants hoping that an additional body will help tip the scales in their favor.

The claymore comes within a hair's breadth of the impossibly quick android.

Max rounds a canister and is suddenly on top of the fight. The coordination of those combative parties is incredible, but nine stun the elf more than Omega. Its limbs are a nearly untraceable blur of movement and it bends deftly backward at the midsection-- folding its body nearly in half as it avoids a sweeping kick from Alpha. The elf has little to no time to process any of this visual stimulus as his feet carry him headlong into the fracas. He submits to his momentum; he's committed. Max's ably agile body issues forward with his arms out. The shock glove crackles on his right hand as his fingers tense and stretch for their zenith. With any luck, his arms will be stretched wide enough for him to take the killing machine to the floor and subdue it.

Suddenly, Omega is somewhere else. Max stumbles forward through the melee, swiping at empty air.

Sinjin winces as Max hits the floor like a sack of bricks. In two quick steps, he is off the ground and sailing through the air above the prostrate elf, hurtling toward Omega with a flying knee.

((Critical and Counterstike))

Max slides sloppily to the ground and rolls shoulder first into one of the canisters, which issues a dull ring for it's hydrogen contents. Holy drek it's fast! Max bangs his fist on the ground in frustration and scrambles to his feet. Getting into a low stance, his arms extend outward and he remains light on his feet. Max may not be as fast as the android, but he's pretty fraggin' fast in his own rite. The violent ballet continues on and Max throws himself into it where applicable, boxing Omega in with another body where it's not.

Sinjin strikes and returns to his fighter's coil. The blood on the ork's balled fist tells Max that one of the adept's blows has been true, which bolsters the elf's confidence. Tyros, while still invisible, can be felt radiating power and anger to the elf's right. The slew of grunts weaves together with inarticulate profanities, the whizzings of cut air, and the meaty collisions of thunderous blows hitting home.

(( Elliott-- if you cast invis on the whole team, we'll all get that fancy -6 modifier on Omega's rolls, which should turn the tide in our favor straight away. ))

(( 6P DAMAGE! ))

Sinjin's movements are hard to follow with the naked eye. The ork lands lightly opposite Omega, his knee colored bright blue.

The malevolent android stares at him--totally devoid of any feeling--with his lower jaw dislocated and oozing.

Adams continues to scan the room for exit points.

He looks at Val's unmoving form and considers asking him how much progress he's made, before realizing that the Decker probably won't be able to hear him.

Val compiles furiously. He could swear his persona icon is sweating...

[ Alpha = 52 ]
[ Max = 50 ]
[ Omega = 43 ]
[ Sinjin = 28 ]
[ Tyros = 28 ]

Alpha wastes no time. He hunkers down, leg muscles tightening as his core coils like a spring and then launches himself forward to deal a tackling blow.
Omega spins away from the attack.

Takahara bangs madly and soundlessly on the canister's viewing pane. Its clear from his ragged breathing that he's running out of oxygen.

((Dude, I'm not stopping combat to cast invis on you. It's not a group spell. I roll more dice than anyone else and if I cast invis I'll take a -2 modifier on everything I do, not to mention miss a round of attacking. I've gotten unlucky so far, but I'll connect soon. Take your swing.))

Following Omega's most recent feint, Max lunges forward again. As he whisks through the air, the elf considers the scene from an outside perspective. Body after body lunges toward Omega only to be bounced away. Slow it to two-thirds speed so the audience can see what's happening. Black and white. Set it to yakety sax.

Omega grabs Max's wrist as he spins away from Alpha and pushes the elf forward so that he nearly collides with the android.

Omega plants a heel to stop his momentum and then lunges forward in the blink of an eye, directing a chop at Max's unprotected back.
(( 4S DAMAGE! ))

Max anticipates the attack and tucks in, but not before the stone-hard hand connects and bruises several of his ribs.

(( Sinjin's turn. ))

Sinjin begins moving just as Omega strikes Max, rotating to deliver a double handed blow.
He's a moment too late as the android shifts back, seeming to react almost instantaneously.

The battle is getting crowded. In the tight quarters, the advantage of numbers is diminished, almost causing the team to stumble over each other as they go after the android. Only the supreme skill of the participants allows them to flow around each other as they weave in and out of striking distance.

Trying to take advantage of the android's focus on Max and Sinjin, Tyros squeezes between the two and levels another overhand chop at Omega's neck.

(( 12P DAMAGE! ))

Max and Sinjin feel the heavy foot-steps. They hear the grunt of exertion, the singing wail of the blade cutting through the air and the blood-curdling battle cry. And suddenly there is blue speckled on the ground, spattering in a broad arc. A spark denotes the location where the claymore meets plasteel at the end of its descent.

Omega's eyes are locked on the team, a blank--perhaps even angelic expression on his face.

His head hits the floor.

...and his body follows.

At nearly the same moment that Omega's headless body flops to the ground, Val finishes the script and forces it into the processor queue. A burst of atmosphere temporarily shrouds Doc and Val's limp form. Takahara lunges out as the hatch opens, gasping for air.

Adams steps forward to catch the scientist.

"Doctor Takahara? We received your message. Can you walk? Even better, can you run?"

Taking a moment to look down, he nudges Val with his toe.

"Time to jack out, cowboy."

Max's pointy ears are ringing. The blow from Omega hurt like hell and the world is fuzzier for it. Seeing the android's head spill to the ground is a shock in his fresh daze, and that there's no visual indication of what happened is indication enough. There's nothing like being decapitated by an eight foot tall invisible troll to really queer your weekend plans.

Takahara steadies himself, one frail hand clamped on either of Doc's arms. He stares distrustfully at him before craning his neck to survey the room. Spying the carcass of his latest creation, he gasps.

"You were able to kill him? Fascinating. Yes, we must hurry. Isn't much time..."

Max runs over to Takahara and asks,

"What's the quickest way out of here?? Should we go back through the labs??"

Takahara stands over the corpse of Omega, staring at the carnage. His expression is regret mingling with relief.

"We can take the sky-bridge to the commercial quarter. Traverse the offices to the employee car park. You must have a decker with you, yes? Otherwise I'd still be in that claustrophobic death trap... Yes--your decker will need to bypass the vehicle security. After we commandeer a vehicle."

He turns to Alpha.

"You were fighting with Omega. How did you manage to defeat the Asmiov crown?"

Max frowns doubtfully and says,

"That doesn't sound easier than doubling back through the bloody swath that we cut to get in here. How about we just head directly back down the elevator shaft?"

Alpha wipes a dribble of blue from his mouth and examines it blankly.

"I used the original schematics for the device to reverse-engineer a bypass method, by utilizing the neutrino-coupler network."

Takahara looks astonished.

"Amazing! The skill required to accomplish that... but, Alpha! This means that you're--"

"Dying. Yes."

An uneasy silence falls over the room.

Max breaks the silence by saying,

"Several of us-- most importantly Dr. Takahara-- aren't going to be able to run easily. Can you levitate us, Tyros?we'll move faster that way."

Tyros leans heavily on this claymore, it's tip biting sharply into the plasteel floor to support his weight. His breaths come in ragged and fast. Staring down at the decapitated android, the troll can't help but feel an immense amount of satisfaction that he and his team were able to defeat such a perfect monster.

Catching a breath, Tyros stands slowly. First examining the significant new notch in his blade from where the android to its last revenge on it killer, and then to Takahara, the man that created these abominations and who the team is here to save.

"I agree, back the way we can seems the better plan. I can fly us down the elevator shaft, but probably best to run there in case we encounter resistance along the way. Your own feet will do better for you in that instance than floating behind me. Also, I cannot levitate the android, it's too heavy."

Looking at Takahara even though the good doctor can't return his stare, "Have you left behind sufficient data that Mitsuhama can recreate these machines? Or are they going to try and hunt you down to bring you back and finish the job?"

To the team, subvocally, <"I have heavy misgivings about letting this technology see the light of day. These human looking machines pose a pretty obvious threat if they were manufactured in any numbers. Hell, one even bypassed its own failsafe system. Any have a little bomb we can leave in here with the androids to evaporate their remains? The explosion will also provide a nice distraction.">