Marco found himself straddling Lucca's bike, right behind Anya, a facefull of hair in his mouth. He glanced behind himself as he heard gunshots, only to see the soldiers coming out of an APC. "Why's an APC after us?!" He asked, hoping desperately they knew more than he did. He wrapped an arm around Anya tight, holding out his left arm. With a *FHOOMP*, a cloud of smoke erupted around the soldiers. Another five, and the whole street behind them was filled with billowing clouds of smoke in flourescent colors. Cars honked behind them, and Marco winced as he heard a loud crash.

"Okay who are you and how do you know where we're headed?!" He asked through gritted teeth, jacket billowing behind him.

An APC? You have got to be kidding. Lucca was grateful he decided to wear his leather jacket today-it would make it easier for his female passenger to hold onto him as he took sharp corners, shortcuts, and occaisonally raising the hovering part of the bike higher to avoid injuring the samller races that drove in equally small vehicles.

Lucca cursed again, yelling "No shit, lass," at the direction to not go straight. "You fecking think I'm new to this?" he yelled over the wind of their passage. "I've been doin this fer seven years!"

The bridge came up pretty soon and Lucca yelled over his shoulder at Marco.

"I hope ye have another vehicle stashed somewhere! My bike can't hold any more passengers."

Anya doesn't reply to Lucca, instead she just rolls her eyes. "Where all looking for the girl on TV. Duh." she replies to Marco.
Next she decides to see how her friend on the other side was doing.

"Signal! I'm comin in fast, can you raise that bridge!?...

God dammit! Leave it to me, just keep trying ok, I'll sort out the mechanical issue, you take care of any override sensors. Oh and don't be standing on the city side when it goes up."

Anya prepared herself as they quickly approached the double-leaf bascule type bridge. Only moments ago she had been firing down upon it. She was sure the bodies would still be there.
Anya shuffled in her tight spot on the bike, kneeing Lucca in the back and nearly pushing Marco off. Then she brought herself to her feet. Now standing it took all her balance to stay on. Holding onto Lucca's shoulders she whispers in his ear as they line up to cross the bridge.
"Change of plans, keep it straight, very straight, exactly where it is."

Without looking at him, with her arse in his face, Anya swings her suitcase into Marco's lap.
"Hold this and keep the cover coming. They haven't given up yet!"

With a flick of her arm a blade appears in her hand. A sharp squeeze of it sees her hand fill with blood. As the bike tore across the bridge Anya noticed all sorts of people sprawled across it. There were bodies, moving and still. Sigint was alive and taking cover near the ledge.

It was then a stray bullet grazed Anya's shoulder. The impact nearly sent her off the bike. Twisting, she reached out for stability finding a handful of someone's hair.
Regaining her balance they had nearly crossed the bridge when she suddenly leapt off the speeding vehicle.

The blade shot from her hand, a trailing of rope following behind it. Anya jerked in the air as her momentum was suddenly diverted by the rope and dart, stuck in an upright. It put a heavy strain on both of Anya's tired arms as she swung sideways almost vertically. At the end of her swing she let go and hit the ground hard with a clumsy roll. She didn't have time for anything else. The AV was still surely still behind them. But she was at her target.

She couldn't un-gum up the motor, not in time, but she could free it from the burden of the chain. Thinking fast and moving even faster, Anya jams a small explosive into the links, she detonates it before she was even clear and is sent sprawling to the floor from the concussive force.

But it worked, the chain snapped and fell apart. With no tension it just fell off, freeing up all the other gears. They spun freely going nowhere, not on this side anyway. Now that the motors were spinning on this side they also spun on the other side. The bridge began to lift.

"Whoa!!" SIGINT covered her face with her hands as the drone got absolutely doggified. "Holy shit, I'm so glad I didn't try to run from that little guy..." Her armor could stop ballistic projectiles, but kevlar did almost nothing against constant-acceleration kinetics, and the sheer-thickening fluid treatment only responded to sudden shocks. That dog's teeth would have torn through her suit like...well, like it was a military attack drone, more than likely.

The girl took Colin's hand, but with her other arm, was attempting to drag the damaged attack drone along with her. "Hey, help me pick this thing up!" She pleaded, "Heh, spilled it's guts out all nice and perfect-like! If I can dig into it, and find the transponder...!"

Also, she just wanted to study it for her own robotics, but better to let them think that wasn't the primary reason.

"S█gnal! ███ comin in fas██ can you ra█se that bridg█!?..."

"What...? Oh shit, you got real close real fast...!" SIGINT replied to...seemingly no one, from the perspective of Colin and Giggles. "This drawbridge is fuckin' grilled cheese, there's no way—"

'There's no way to raise it', is what she was about to say, about two and a half seconds before Anya raised it with some good old fashioned percussive maintenance, not to mention a heaping helping of gymnastics on the side. Hot damn, she had picked out a hell of a guardian angel.

"Well. Shit." Was all she could really say, still grabbing onto the husk of the destroyed drone as the ground underneath her rapidly became an incline. But it would take more than literally filling the air around her with lethal ballistic projectiles to convince her to let go of Melvin. That's the drone's name now. The drone is named Melvin.

Engines thundered and Giggles decided that whoever was lurking in the coat wasn't worth it. He sent them a friendly bullet or two as if to say, 'nice to meet you, but kindly fuck off.' When he spun to the sound of the drone, regretting the loss of his eyes, he found that not to be a problem either. "Good boy," he snarled, grinning under his mask.

Giggles didn't think too hard about where Marco had picked up the bike or the babe. He was third-wheeling with a second-wave goth and a first-rate knife fighter, anyway, so it was probably just some lucky accident.

The woman with the harpoon caught his attention with more than just looks, though. Not many people carried explosives in their pockets and the type that did correlated quite well with rooftop sniping, and even better with blowing themselves up. Giggles yelled to the bike as it skidded with the force of Anya's departure but didn't wait for the crash.

"Look for a ship!"

Y'know, just in case he forgot.

The woman with the knife found Giggles's hands under her shoulders before she stopped skidding, and took a lift back to her feet. "We have the girl. Let's go!"

Diana would appreciate a knight in shining armour any day, three even more so, but she'd rather they didn't bring so many less honorable knights with them. Her skin was strong enough to stop most of the bullets, but it wouldn't be unlikely for one of them to get lucky and catch her in one of her biological eyes. There were certainly enough shots coming at her.

She decided to return the favour. She closed her eyes to protect them, relying only on her mechanical one to see. The depth perception was poor but without better firepower it would be difficult for the soldiers to hurt her, though some bruising would occur from the impacts. She fired at the enemy vehicle, aiming to force the soldiers into cover and stop them from firing, rather than to injure or kill. Though she didn't recognise most of the people present, it was clear enough already that the soldiers were against her. Enemy of my enemy and all that.

Anyway, Diana did her best to ensure the safety of the others present as the vehicle approached. She acknowledged Giggles' command with a nod, though it was not directed at her, and began to retreat backwards towards the bridge, moving behind the abandoned car once used by the squad the sniper had killed.

Once it was between her and the gunmen, she punched out a window and climbed in, checked for the keys. Finally, some luck. She hit the ignition and unlocked the doors, driving towards the remainder of the group.

"Get in, now. I get it, most of you don't know me, but it's me out the people shooting at you. Those aren't stub rounds, either.

quisque faber suae fortunae

Marco held onto the bike for dear life, just barely catching Anya's suitcase. He didn't have time to worry about whether he'd live or die, or what the soft object pressing against his head was. With a flick of his wrist, the metal tube that held his bombs fell to the road racing by below. He had another one in his mouth, and jammed it into his gauntlet.

"Brace yourselves!" He called out, and fired the grenade launcher under his wrist. These ones were not smoke bombs.

KABOOM

These were high explosives, and though Marco missed the first one due to having a suitcase land in his crotch, the second one had just flipped one of their pursuer's cars into another one, blocking off that part of the road.

"There they are!" He said to Lucca, trying to get him to stop. He stepped off the hoverbike. He was smiling. He was glad to be alive. In fact, he felt more alive than he had in a long time.

"Collin. Did you see th..." He paused when he saw Ana. She looked like she'd just been fished out of an underwater S&M Club.

"Mate if you're going to go to that sort of party, take me along." Marco said, jogging over. She was carrying a drone. More like dragging it. If she was this desperate to hold onto it, he could only assume it was of critical importance. That, and he thought it looked cool.

"I'll get it." He said, picking the drone up off the ground, holding it over his left shoulder. He turned to face Collin. "So I got a bike, but I dunno if it can hold all of u-" He was interrupted by a car speeding towards them. And in the driver's seat was a familiar face.

"Well. I know a bloody miracle when I see it. Wanna help me get this in back?" Marco asked. He turned to Giggles. "Who are these people? I was gone for, like. Ten minutes." He said, as the fuel tank of one of the cars he had totalled exploded behind them.

@Dark Light@HeroicSociopath
Lucca was impressed by the bombs that Marco threw and and stopped when Marco pointed out his friends. He stayed on his bike, however, not seeing any need for him in the fray just yet. Looks like the girl was dragging a heavy-ass drone, though for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why. Sure, it looked high tech and way badass, but really? Did she really need it?

After seeing what she'd already done to her foes, Lucca doubted it. He whistled in apreciation when the cars behind them blew up, grinning at the giant plume of smoke they made. He shook his head, and would have joined them in beating things and people up, but they looked like they had it all under control. He figured he'd just stay here until shit went sideways and they all had to make a run for their lives.

"Ohey, thanks dude!" SIGINT never minded more people not shooting at her — if there was ever a time to not be picky about making friends, it was now. With blondie's help, she was able to get into the back of the car along with the doggified drone corpse. "Not sure what's going to happen after this, to be honest, I'm just glad to not be dead. Stuff like this is magnetic, I guess. One person pulls out a gun in an intersection, and you suddenly find out everyone's packing heat. Or...wrist-mounted grenade launchers."

Well, that certainly didn't not count as heat.

"Now, then..." With the destroyed drone in her lap, SIGINT ran a finger across its sleek surface with a maniacal grin, just a bit of drool coming from the corner of her mouth. Her focus on Marco was gone, completely tunneled onto the device that she now shared the back seat of a car with. "This is your fault, you know, Melvin...you didn't wanna talk to me. See what happens when you ignore a girl's texts...?"


She could signal any device with her neural implant, but whether or not the device responded was another matter. Most civilian devices had ports open for diagnostics and maintenance, or were already part of known botnets. Something like a military drone, though, was a different matter. An autonomous device made for such a purpose would be inaccessible through such obvious channels. And if the machine didn't talk back, there wasn't much that SIGINT could do in terms of hacking.

But, what if she was the drone? Once she had a 'trusted' signature on her signal, it was a different story. In order to obtain the ability to interfere with this kind of device, she had to access the gun-toting machine physically, not wirelessly.

On her own, it would be impossible. But with Colin and Marco's combined help, that insurmountable condition had come well within her reach.


Fingering around where the skin of the drone had been peeled back, she eventually found the small transponder, still in workable condition, but lacking a power source. Licking her lips at the machine's insides, SIGINT reached to the back of her neck, and from under her hair, with a small click, pulled out a snake-like wire with a universal plug on the end. "Are you ready, Melvin?" Her glasses were tilted slightly, as she twirled the wire about with her fingers, before sliding it underneath the drone's covering. With little resistance, the plug entered the transponder's jack smoothly.

Once she was plugged into the drone, she gently ran a hand over it, lowering her head and resting her cheek on its aluminum-alloy surface. "Come on, Melvin...talk to me...you can't ignore me when we're like this, can you?" She cooed and pleaded to the disabled machine, "Teach me the language you use...I want to use it to talk to all of your friends, you know...?"

---

One by one, the rest of the drones began to fall. One careened into a wall. Another took a sharp nosedive into the water. And after that, the remaining machines flying in the air simply fell down to the ground, tumbling across the concrete or making splashes in the canal.

After just a few seconds, drone support was gone.

They found themselves in a valley of concrete and burning steel. What once was a measure to stop SIGNET's retreat was now another lane for the mercs to mow them down. Yet, now due to to a blur of blue hair and a lithe female form, Colin was never happier to see his work undone. The bridge quickly and violently inclined, creating the first barrier. The second, Colin was happy to see, was created by Marco. The APC's that were stampeding their way now lay in a mangled heap. Great as temporary barriers go, it wouldn't be long before the the mercs found their way around.

Colin whirled around when a roaring engine slid into their small convergence. He was ready to raise the Rilke, till he saw who was driving. It was the silver woman who had gotten the drop on the Sykrott, who had saved him and Hound from whatever that monster had planned. Once again this woman had saved his life. Colin slammed both his hands on the hood of the car, his face wide-eyed at the regal captain's three " You beautiful silver goddess! Thank the Saints for your timely arrivals!" Colin would pour more of due compliments on her later.Now he needed to take stock of their fleet.

Marco was helping SIGNET and her new toy that Hound caught her into the back of The Silver Goddesses commandeered car. Leaving room for Marco and one other. The hoverbike was piloted by another newcomer, a brooding pretty boy. Though they somehow managed to arrive here with three passengers, Colin had modded plenty of those bikes before and was sure that kind of weight would wear down the bikes thrusters, and he wasn't sure how far they would need to go safety. With the record store employee taking another passenger, it would still require room for himself and Hound. " I hope you have a big trunk, " Colin said as he went to the back of the car pulling his forced entry tool out of his rucksack, " cuz I'm gonna put my dog in it."

Colin slammed the crowbar portion into the trunk like a pro golfer and wrenched the hood open, with quick adjustments he had stripped the car of it's trunk hood. Colin and Hound quickly jumped inside like farm hands in a pickup bed and slapped the back window, " Let's get this bloody convoy rolling, before more of our friends arrive." Like summoning the devil a flock of drones rose above the raised bridge wall, more poured in from above the surrounding buildings. Colin wrapped his arms around Hound shielding him from the impending gunfire.

One by one the drones fell, the life sucked right out of them. Colin looked through the back window to see SIGNET cradling Hound's kill. She had found a way into their closed network. The whirling birds fell from the sky like hail, splashing into the water and splashing into small explosions.

It was strangely beautiful.

Anya had never been hit by her own explosive before, it kinda hurt.
She almost felt a shred of sympathy for those who in the past, by her own doing, had experienced the full close-quater impact of such a blast. Almost.
For the second time today she had tumbled and for the second time again she found herself in someone's arms.

A bit dazed, Anya remained speechless. Eyes darting around frantically trying to analyse the situation and all these extra people. Distant gun shots and crashes filled the air with a sense of urgency. All around her people were bustling about making their move.

In the end listening to the man holding her up seemed the right, safest and easiest thing to do. So with a nod of acknowledgement Anya quickly scurried to the car throwing herself in. It was an awkward landing that reminded her of her earlier bruises and injuries. Sigint, while a stranger was still a welcoming sight as she was a piece of familiarity amongst all the madness. She was a strange girl though, cradling some scrap like a child might a stuffed teddy.
"Signal, you didn't tell me you had so many friends." Anya says calmly as she reaches for her concealed pistol. Having just recently grown cautiously aware of her situation. There were many strange people surrounding her and Sigint. The man and his hound. That strange fellow that helped her. The robotic skinned driver. She was surrounded and out numbered. Despite their somewhat questionable appearance these guys definitly were not part of what ever organisation was trying to kill the girl. So it would do for now.

Noticing the men from the hover bike Anya quickly waves them to the car, motioning for them to hurry and join her.

"Pleasantries later. GO GO! LETS JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! Anya screams at the whole car in a rushed panic.

"Alright, lass!" Lucca says as he turns his bike towards the car. "Follow me, aye? I've a feeling I can see the path for you."

There was a strange sort of beauty in watching all of those drones fall out of the sky. It reminded him of this movie he had watched once, an apocalyptic sort of one, and there had been flaming rocks that fell down in slow motion in one of the scenes, and it had been beautiful in a devastating way.

And as bullets whizzed past them, Lucca grimaced as one caught him in the ribs. Unfortunately, it didn't come out of the other side, and he took a moment to take off his shirt and dig it out with his claws, flinging the bullet to the pavement. He snarled a gaelic curse and wiped his blood on his black jeans. If he got shot again, it wouldn't matter as long as they didn't hit anything vital and he could find someplace where he could heal for an hour or two.

He'd go back to the hotel for his body armor, later. Right now, though, he twisted the throttle on his bike and began to speed off, hoping that the car full of people would follow. He zigged and zagged in order to be a harder target to shoot at.

But fuck he just got shot again, the bullet catching his ear and part of his cheek, but thankfully it didn't get lodged in his face. He shook his head, and his longish black hair got stuck in the blood. He raced down the bridge.

---

@Dark Light @Antarctic Termite @LPRKN @JaceBeleren @HeroicSociopath @SIGINT
(Sorry it's so short.)

"We're not fucking friends you sexy piece of shit!" yelled Giggles in Anya's wake. "Marco, move!"

A gunsmith, a nerd, a captain, some prep with bullet holes, his badass girlfriend, a mechanic and his dog. All in all, that was pretty good networking.

Giggles flipped himself onto the car with one hand, wedged his heels up against the rear crossbar and his machete against the fore. "Go! Move! There's more comin'!"

He was more right than he knew.

A shadow passed over the sun.

---

Two pilots whitened their knuckles on controls. Plasma burst at the edge of the screen and they swerved blind, working as one.

One pair of eyes widened. "Canal sector twelve! They've lost AA-2C drone support on canal sec-"

Rachida didn't wait. The ship swung, pitching its crew hard against their seatbelts. On it, she thought grimly, pushing down the nose of her craft.

She wasn't planning to come back to it anyway.

---

Seong cracked open an eye. It wasn't the first time he'd woken up in a puddle of blood, but he was happy to see a comrade at his side.

"Hey, Shan," he mumbled with broken lips. Shan worked rapidly at his helmet, trying to take off the visor before it cut any deeper. Too fast. Too hasty. "Wha-"

"We have to go." The mercenary picked up her teammate bridal style, eyes flicking skywards. "We have company. Something they did pulled down smugglers. They're heav-"

The air turned to fire. Shan started running. The last image in Seong's drooping eyes was the door of the APC, burning as it flew off into the river.

---

Giggles watched flames plume up on the other side of the river as the ship howled above them and crashed into the dense buildings with a sound that split the heavens.

That's our ride.

---

"There's a confrontation. Heavy cavalry on west side, possibly hostile-"

"Got it," said Rachida, obliterating the armoured car in an instant of pulsed laser fire. No risks. "Landing."

The smuggler's frigate was more than capable of flying backwards and could afford the loss of a rear wing. Rachida ploughed into a biosynthesis warehouse, leaving great sheets of torn metal and pools of thick brown fluid to show for the impact. With the engines still running she undid her bindings and leapt out of the cockpit.

Chunky lifter-bots worked mindlessly in the hold, unloading huge crates of illegal tech; Rachida ducked around them. The security gang was already gone, setting their turrets and firing nests without a blink, the crash nothing but a momentary blip in their operation. True professionals.

Rachida had nothing in common with them. She kicked open the secret hatch in the prow and leapt out alone.

Private security and the police state overlapped on Frixion Prime. Whatever had brought down the flock of corporate drones had done the same to the government's. Only now were the Mogul's airships starting to converge on the frigate, opening fire on gang shields with light-gas and SWAT team rifles.

The pilot switched on her heel motors and skidded out of the back of the fight without a care.

Diana grinned at the various comments thrown her way by her allies, but didn't say anything, instead remaining focused on getting them out. She hit the accelerator and followed Lucca across the bridge, trying to put the better armoured military vehicle between the gunmen and him, and block any more bullets that might come his way. He was already bleeding, but didn't seem too worried about it. Could no one caught up in this mess just be ordinary? Diana supposed she wasn't in a position to judge, and recognised that this wasn't a great time for questions anyway.

A shadow passed overhead and a ship hit a nearby building. Not a pretty sight before or after the crash, definitely nothing special, but it'd do for now. The sooner they could stop being shot at, the better, so Diana drove straight for it.

"Who's up for getting off-planet right now? Then you guys can explain to me why I nearly got myself killed for you. Just be ready to disembark fast, and please try not to get shot for the time being. Looks like we've got the whole corporate bag of scum and its government buddies to deal with on the side."

Diana commented on the gunfight taking place at the biosynthesis warehouse, slamming on the brakes and making a sharp, 180-degree turn to stop the vehicle in a flanking position. She kicked open the door and brought her gun to bear on the soldiers and drones.

"Like it? Custom made. She's got-" If she got him talking about his work, he'd go on for hours. Or at least until a bullet whizzed past the car. As the blue-haired beauty got into the car, he agreed with her sentiment. Introductions were for when they weren't getting shot at.

"Right. I'll cover us. Marco said, rolling down the window. He twisted his body, readying his gauntlet to rain hellfire down on any pursuers. He heard someone talking next to him, and at first, he thought that the bespectacled girl next to him was calling him Melvin.

"Is this the time?" He asked her, glancing over his shoulder. She was turning on the drone. Or, if the drool was anything to go by, the drone was turning her on. He looked away, not wanting to break his concentration.

"Alright babe, you've got this." He whispered, softly kissing the knuckle of his gauntlet before firing another round. And another, and another. Dust clouded the streets as he laid waste to his pursuers. At the same time, the drones that had been pursuing them fell from the sky. And then they were followed by a ship.

"Did...Did you do that? That was incredible." He asked SIGINT. They were speeding right towards the site. His face cracked into a wicked grin. They screeched to a halt in front of the warehouse.

"You're speaking my language." He said to Diane, slotting a new magazine into his launcher. He unbuckled his seatbelt, before scrambling into the driver's seat. The police and the smugglers were going to war, and they were sandwiched in the middle. But nothing has changed. For all of his life, there had only been one way out. The only way out was up.

"Gigs, hold on tight." He said, turning the ignition and flooring it. "'Cause I don't know how to drive." A mercenary collided with the car, body rolling over the windshield as Marco stuck his arm out the window. An explosion tore through the warehouse door, and he plowed through it, metal screeching as the car ripped through the rubble, the ship in view. Marco opened the door, feet hitting the concrete floor beneath them.

"...I don't suppose any of us is a pilot?" He asked, before launching a smoke grenade through the door, obscuring the only way inside. He grabbed a handful of high explosives from his pocket and threw them near the door. They didn't explode, though. His finger hovering over the button on his gauntlet, as soon as they're pursuers came through they'd be in for a nasty surprise.

SIGINT blinked as she looked up, caught unawares by the sound of Marco's voice. She had been focused enough on the drone that she hadn't actually been paying attention to her surroundings, to the point of not noticing the explosions all around them, let alone the mercenary that had collided with their windshield. She was in the middle of leaving a highly unsanitary trail of saliva along the drone's aluminum surface when she suddenly cleared her throat, wiped her mouth, and adjusted her glasses. "Uh. Sorry, distracted. What did I— Oh. Oh. Uh, no. No, that was...that was not me."

A ship. A fucking ship! What the hell!? "Damn, okay, this kitchen is getting a liiittle hot for me." SIGINT admitted, looking around nervously. Government had gotten involved, there were other groups closing in, and everyone seemed to be shooting at each other. "I mean, I'm all for causing trouble, but come the fuck on."

The girl began making her way out of the back of the car — still lugging Melvin around, which slowed her down immensely — taking stock of the situation with shifty eyes. "Piloting...? Probably wouldn't be any better at it than you..." She admitted, "Don't these things come with autopilot or something? I've never seen a ship this close before..." SIGINT was starting to drool a bit more, thinking about what could be inside it. What kind of technology was required for a marvel of that size? She could understand it all in theory, of course, but seeing each individual part was something else entirely. She'd never had the chance in her life to study that kind of tech.

---

A lone soldier trodded throughout the seemingly abandoned security complex. He made his way through an assortment of tables and dismantled corpses, belonging both to the staff and the escapees. The floor was littered with the disturbing red of blood, and an eerie silence filled the facility. His colleagues had apparently assigned him to hunt down a target of "valuable worth" which was found to be located within the complex. They said that the target was an "anomaly" and had possessed "unnatural abilities". Whoever it was, Ray wasn't pleased at all.

>any info?

>nobody located so far, area clear, no signs of hostility

Ray continued to walk around the facility. He had already arrived at a portion of the building which had less corpses and bloodshed. His surroundings were mostly quiet, except for a soft, monotonous sound coming from one of the rooms containing the amenities. As Ray lessened the distance between him and the supposed source of noise, the sound became louder and eerier. At last, he had located the source of the sound. Without hesitation, Ray kicked open the door of the room, creating a loud thud. The door toppled over, revealing the figure of a nondescript man sitting on a metal chair. The source of the noise had been this man's game of table tennis with the wall. He wore a grey prison uniform, and his expression revealed nothing, as his mind seemed to be present somewhere entirely different.

>supposed target located, moving in for interrogation

The inmate seemed not to be disturbed by Ray's presence. He did not even move a muscle, nor say a word. Noticing the inmate's disposition, Ray closed in on the subject.

"Well hello, sir. I operate in the name of the Collective, and I have been tasked with collecting information about your so-called "unnatural abilities". Would you mind giving yourself a proper.....introduction?"

The inmate did not budge, but it would be discerned from Ray's point of view that the inmate was contemplating something. He then began to speak:

"As far as I'm concerned, the people who brought me here seemed to have the same purpose. Unfortunately for them, they screwed up. Anyways, I go by many different names, depending on where I happen to be. Call me Rudolph."

"The red-nosed reindeer?"

"Never mind, call me Ray."

"Hey, that's MY name."

"All right, I'll just go with Rudolph. Now go collect your salary and scurry away or something."

"Too bad I've got a job to do. Would you like to get out of here?"

"Definitely."

Unknown to Ray, the inmate hadn't revealed his true name. The target stopped the miniature ball's repetitive movement by catching the ball in the same hand he had been using to hold the paddle. He placed both items down on the table he had been sitting in front of. He proceeded to stand up. Ray walked towards him, reaching for his belt. The other man eyed Ray's belt, and he began walking towards Ray as well.

>will restrain target immediately

As quickly as he could, Ray opened a pouch on his belt, grasping one of his his handy tools. As soon as the inmate spotted Ray doing this, he slowed down his pace, threatening to halt at any moment. Ray then unsheathed his trusty taser and rushed to aim it at the man. Unfortunately for him, the man had already brought down his feet to the ground, and Ray felt an excessive pang of pain on his feet. He was sent flying off the ground, and an electrical impulse intended to hit his target flew right for the one of the room's walls.

Ray landed right on his belly. He was about to whip out his trusty handgun when he caught the inmate's glare, which was something that he hadn't seen before from any of his human friends. The inmate's eyes began to glow a despicable shade of light blue. Instead of resorting to force, Ray grabbed his phone from another pouch of his and mashed a couple of buttons in desperation. He brought the phone to his ear and began to shout. @JaceBeleren

"DAMMIT CAPTAIN THE SUBJECT NEEDS-"

Before the soldier could finish the sentence, the inmate's foot had swooped right towards the hand holding the phone. He had kicked it upwards, and as soon as the phone hit air, he grabbed it quickly. He then brought the phone up to his mouth.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pizza Hut delivery hotline. Would you like to order anything? You may save 20 percent on our world-famous Hawaiian pizza."

The inmate proceeded to drop the phone on the ground. The sound of the cellphone crashing onto the ground was not certainly loud, but for Ray, it seemed to be even louder than a direct blow from a rocket launcher. His entire body shivered in fear, and he began to sweat thoroughly. He had served his role as a soldier for years. He had seen many wars and skirmishes, but none of them proved to be scarier than this terrible moment.

Would it all end here?

A cold smile crept over the inmate's face.

"Speaking of that, who even enjoys pineapples on their pizza?"

It was all over for Ray. He managed to utter some words of his own:

"I hope..."

"...you..."

"...DON'T."

Several times Colin and Hound were almost bounced out of the back of the car. He clung to the durable stain proof interior with all his might, praying that the gunfire would stop. For a brief moment it did as all the combatants witnessed a frigate pass by over head. She was unmarked, and crashing through a biosynth warehouse. As the convoy rolled on Diana and Marco directed their traffic toward the frigate. Colin could see the crew of the frigate setting up positions and firing on the mercs and police that were following them. Colin yelled, " Thermo-Fucking-Dynamics, lets take the heat off us by putting it on them." With luck, the team could put these 3 forces against each other while they slipped away in the frigate.

Thrilled with his shot at finally getting on a ship, Colin almost didn't see the chunks of metal that flew past him as the car rammed through the warehouse doors. He tried to duck under the cars roof but the rough terrain finally bucked him loose. As the car screeched to a halt inside the warehouse, Colin bounced and rolled along the hard concrete floor. For a moment he laid groaning, wind knocked from his lungs, dizzy and disoriented from his turbulent roll. The bitter taste of copper filling his mouth. Without hesitation, Hound was out of the trunk and at his side. Titanium teeth gripped the back of Colin's jacket, as Hound dragged him back to the cover of the bullet riddled vehicle. Once there, Hound gave a quick sniff over for blood. Colin shooed him away " I'm fine, I'm fine, quit your doting. That's a good lad Hound. Now go." Hound took off at top speed, running all over the warehouse looking for threats.

"...I don't suppose any of us is a pilot?"

Coughing, Colin pulled himself up onto the car door. He wiped blood from his mouth and eyed the frigate. She was unmarked, no allegiance to any corp or faction. The door to the hold was wide open as squat lifter bots unloaded the ships, no doubt, illegal cargo. The ships engine still purred as it idled a foot or so off the ground, dust and loose papers swirled under her thrusters. " Aye, She's taking some damage but I can get us out of here no problem. Just get your arses in there and buckled in."

Fire was exchanged as the crew made their way to the frigate. With bruised ribs Colin lurched to the trunk to grab his rucksack and what few tools he had on him. Sparks singed his whiskers as a stray shot bounced off the vehicle. Like a deer and headlights, Colin turned to one of the smugglers as he ran down a staircase, handgun drawn on Colin. He was yelling something in a broken combination of English and Trystian. Colin saw Hound rounding the corner of the vehicle, coming back from strafing the bots. Colin turned full on the smuggler, " Watch, were your aiming that bloody thing you wank ass gobshite." He just had to hold the mans attention so he wouldn't notices Hounds silent charge. The man pulled the trigger as Hound's titanium teeth tore threw his outstretched forearm, pushing the shot wide. Colin heard every last bit of the bullet as it whizzed past his head. Smuggler and dog tumbled to the floor, Hound still firmly clamped on his his forearm. More shots rang out as Hound, ripped and shredded his gun arm. Colin ran in and brought the Forced Entry tool to bear, sledge-wise upside the prone mans head. He now lay still, save for Hounds continued thrashing." Release." barked Colin and Hound relented, looking up with a happy bloody maw. " You're a mess sweet boyo. Come on lets get you cleaned up. To ship."

Together they crouch-ran to the ship, following the others. Working their way through the hold to the controls.

Marco ran someone over and Giggles aimed reflexively, relaxed his trigger finger when he saw the rolling body's outfit. Not a cop. Not worth shooting.

But Marco very nearly was. Something exploded and Giggles banged his head against the car roof as he braced.

fuck- was all that managed to pass through his head as shrapnel and boiling spatters peppered his jacket and hair. They drove over the fallen roller door at speed, knocking Giggles's skull against the car as its suspension bore the worst of the reckless maneouvre.

Giggles leapt into the smokescreen with clenched teeth and dragged his fist across his face, taking a sticky globule of hot liquid with it. "Never again," he hissed in the direction of Marco's voice, bitterly regretting the loss of his ophan.

He couldn't see through the smoke the way Diana could, but he could hear skirmish and heavy lifting. The back cross-bar had come loose with his weight, and without thinking too hard, Giggles tore it off with a grunt. He had a plan for this car that involved never seeing it again.

The nerd was struggling. Giggles stepped through the smoke to yank her down by an ankle. They'd come this far and he wasn't about to lose her to shell-shock, or whatever was wrong with her. When SIGINT was clear of the car Giggles leaned into the front, turned the key, and quickly jammed the crossbar between the driver's seat and the accelerator.

It veered off into the smoke and out towards the firefight.

"Okay let's go," he said in SIGINT's direction but not exactly to her, pulling her up by a wrist. Colin had found a way into the hold other than the ramp and he didn't want to miss that chance even if it meant dragging her along the cement. "Move it, go, c'mon, go, go, move! Trauma counselling later."

"Hey, what gives!?" SIGINT complained loudly as her wrist was grabbed, unable to see through the smoke. For a moment, she did a double take as the car they were just in took off, before realizing that no one was inside. "Trauma my ass, I've been through worse than this...ugh..."

She said that, but she was still coughing profusely from the smoke. It was true that she had been through worse, but that didn't make it all go away. If anything, the gunfire from all sides, the lack of vision, reminded her all too well.


"You idiot!! They followed you here!!"

"I...no— I— I was sure that—"


"Ugh...!" Being yanked around with one hand, and trying to drag Melvin across the cement with the other, was getting to be just a bit more trouble than it was worth. Reluctantly, she dropped the drone's corpse, picking up her pace to match that of Giggles. "That guy said he can run the ship, right!?" She shouted over the noise, "I am all out of witty quips right now. I've hit my quota for the day. I just want to be off this fucking planet."