Malakaus followed Crimson to the Tower of Stars. They were shortly separated as Crimson received a message and needed to see someone, leaving Malakaus to his lonesome. He suppose it wasn't a big deal though; as a knight Malakaus had access to some of the facilities here at the tower, including the gun range. Malakaus had left his rifle here in the event he should ever need to be called for a job, as well as having a free place to practice his shooting. So with only a little bit of guidance Malakaus went to the fire range to do some target shooting.

Though not really a sniper, Malakaus was still a decent sharpshooter with his shotgun. Many would dismiss his weapon as too robust and lacking in precision, and it would be they who get a bullet at a hundred yards away from his rifle. With a slug and a scope, Malakaus’s rifle could function at nearly any range that isn't extreme. This was most telling as his targets at the gun range were fairly long distance between the ranges of sixty to a hundred yards. While he did miss a few, the fact Malakaus was hitting any at all was a testimony to his skills and his weapon. That being said he was hitting body sized paper targets with no cover; Malakaus was aware that in a real fight, he wouldn't bother shooting from such a long range due to the likelihood his opponents are taking cover and actively dodging him, drastically reducing his accuracy. Less of an issue if he was closer.

Malakaus had just finish one set of targets when he received a desperate message. Stygian Blades had infiltrated the Tower, whoever they were. Malakaus was too privy to the Tower’s enemies. Regardless they were here and so was Malakaus. ”Time to have some fun.” Loading his gun with Magic Missiles and grabbing a few more clips of ammo Malakaus rushed to the South Hall. He actually knew where that was, so getting there was just a matter of making the foot trail. While he was still at the range he would use this opportunity to provide himself buffs: first he began to cast Mage Armor, which would only take him about ten seconds, and then Stone Skin which activated immediately. His skin’s pallor took on a hint of grey as his flesh was rendered hard as rock, so anything that could bypass his invisible force field would chip against his body of stone. He also castes Night Eyes on himself: he imagined anyone who called themselves the Stygian Blades may employ darkness to their advantage. Malakaus wouldn't allow them that.

Rushing down the halls Malakaus eventually met up with two others, armed and running. He recognized one as Mistress of Shadows, as Malakaus made sure to be familiar with all of the Tower’s top dogs. The other he didn't recognized but Malakaus assumed he was a knight as well. Covered head to toe in power armor Malakaus couldn't help but whistle with impress. Something like that would cost at least five years of rent. ”Knight Malakaus reporting for battle. Nice to meet ya. Do we have any info about the enemy's numbers, kit, or why they're here?”

@Rtron@Themerlinhawk

After the Knight Captain’s appearance they had loaded up quickly and the jaunt on board the troop transport had been largely uneventful. The narrows had rushed up to meet them as they drew near. There was a dramatic shift in the type of buildings and the level of urban decay. Built on the very edge of Angel’s landing in a segment of the city which had never been demolished and rebuilt, many of the buildings were at least a century old and crumbling with the march of ages. The age of the Narrows did nothing to ease the doubts tugging at the back of Megelis mind. This whole place felt like a death trap to him, the walls of the buildings were a mix of concrete and other less durable substances which hadn’t been employed in up to code building construction for the better part of a century. Officially constructed buildings now required a certain grade of materials which had not been employed until quite recently. Following the Stygian War it had been decided that with the advent of increasingly potent weaponry and the general access to building materials that were superior to those prior to the War meant the city could afford to rebuild better than ever before.

The Narrows however where what happened when the city never finished its plans. Above them in the night the city lights of Angel’s Landing rose bright and beautiful. It was his city, a gleam that had build on the blood, sweat, bones and dust of thousands of souls. With this in mind Megelis turned back to watching the street. Crow was down in the alley that the body had been found in and no doubt relatively quickly he would have the spirit they were after. It dawned on him that the real issue here was that they were in the open and had literally no cover. With the the new weapons they were packing it was a miracle that the Narrows had survived this long without becoming a no man's land war zone. It was probably because the gangs here had less potent weapons, but it was also Stygian territory. The Stygians had a steady supply of potent and top of the line weaponry as well as a seemingly limitless supply of weapons and equipment from that appeared to be Stygian War era. Some even as from the first war. Those were the items that had always scared the hell out of Megelis, artifacts. The sort of things that Shard stored in the basement of the Tower, under heavy lock and key.

Tapping the side of the Mercury Autogun Megelis shifted his position on the roof letting the armor he was wearing do most of the work as he moved. It was strange being in the armor again. It was strange every time. It felt like a second skin but it also felt like a tomb. A resting place for all the ghosts, all the blood, everything from his past. Hefting the gun he brought the stock to his shoulder. It was a large two hundred round drum fed autogun which could cut down an entire field of enemies. It was meant to be mounted but he’d had the Artificers refit it for use with his armor in the field. The stock had built in absorbers and a new grip to make it easier for the armor to hold on to. Rolling his fingers along the grip again he triggered the scanners in his helmet. Still nothing.

Pressing his fingers to the side of the helmet and triggered the audio channel. There were two. One was a full group broadcast, the second was Kirane alone. It was not that he had anything in particular against the others in the group or even that he was necessarily hiding anything. It was just better to be able to speak with his partner privately should the need arise. Or if he was bored and on edge.

“Got anything good for me?” It was mostly a mild distraction, for both of them. Crow was still working on his part of the mission, Megelis could feel the tug of the magic rubbing across his spine. It had was an irritating part of his own magic, the ability to feel sense and counter act magic. It was part of why he had run with the Korvan rangers for so long, it was a rather unique magic. The kind that the Council of the Blackened Throne prized for hunting Stygian mages...and...others..

---

Crow crouched in the street, the skull sat on the ground beside him as he ran his fingers along the wet paving stones. The rain…

Once upon a time it would have been at the beck and call of the Lord of Storms himself. Crow had seen him run the clouds themselves across the sky over and over in a single day. This time it was all on its own, which made things difficult. This was going to be harder to pull the veil back, with the rain scouring many of the things magic and death left behind. Things he needed to make this easier. Now he would have to use different techniques to get the soul back. Ayala had been called away just before the mission, and now he would have to do it himself. Picking a piece of chalk from his belt Crow began to etch on the ground with it. Vulture fluttered from his perch on Crows shoulder to a perch on the top of the alley way.

“This is going to take some time. Apologies for the delay but I will need to the cross the veil...possibly call for a boatman or a Reaper. Be careful, I’m going to peel back the Veil.”

@Rtron@CollectorOfMyst@ChickenTeriyaki@Wind Wild

Kirane was leaning against a wall and pretending she wasn’t part of what seemed to be a rather conspicuous group of people – despite the mostly civil attire they stood out, especially considering that Crow and Markus worked close to each other and were clearly up to no good. Miriam was close to them and sure to react to anything that came too close but chances of people walking down the street between the Knights seemed slim. The individuals who crossed, or worse yet – lived in – the Narrows were attuned to trouble. They could sense something was off even without knowing what said something was. A survival mechanism, really, as the Stygians were even less likely than the official authorities to hand anything down to the most disadvantaged in this area.

Luckily the street they were on wasn’t the busiest one – with a bit of luck the few passer-by would assume that the Knights were just another gang tinkering with the CCTV for their own purposes. It was almost true, she reckoned.

She twisted her umbrella and looked up – Megelis stood out in his armour and heavy weaponry but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Let the dogs know not to come too close. Kirane was, really, a second line of defence should he – for whatever reason – be unable to dispose of any immediate threats. She stood a bit further away from the Knights – just far enough to seem like a woman waiting for someone. As Megelis contacted her she cocked her head to the side and glanced up at him again: “Got anything good for me?”

He was on edge, she could tell, although he was good at hiding it. She would be too if she allowed herself to think about everything that could go wrong. But they both recognised that being alert and being jumpy were different things. Their nerves had to be steady.

“The title of a good movie I saw recently.” She smiled, trying to convey the gesture through the microphone. “It’s called ‘Benny and me’. I’m not sure if it’s your sort of thing but it’s about a stray dog and its owner who was struggling with drugs when he encountered the mutt. It’s based on a true story.” The man hummed with casual interest that Kirane suspected may have been faked. Her eyes went back to Markus and Crow, both busy with their own stuff, and beyond them to scan the people walking along the pavement opposite.

She had to admit, she had never appreciated Crow better than today. Last time they’d met, she had been naked and wheezing for air, a nude man beside her on the damp grass of her clinic. For obvious reasons, they had not talked since and today, when he saw her, he not only refrained from any remarks but treat her with his signature ignorance too. She hadn’t stopped blushing for a long while after but she had felt a real weight lift off her shoulders. Hm. Though… when she thought about it, Crow had probably seen more people naked than all the masters and mistresses in the tower combined. Still, his professionalism was very much appreciated.

So was Miriam’s for not kicking her out of the team as soon as Kirane confessed about her condition. She had done so away from the rest of the group and hopefully that meant that herself, Miriam and Crow were the only people aware of her condition. Markus…. Well, one could never be sure how much he knew. Mainly because of his constant confusion about what he was supposed to know and what he actually knew.

“What sort of movies do you enjoy watching?” She continued. Chatting calmed them both – a tried and tested coping mechanism, even if nobody really gave a shit about movies. Better pretend that this is a routine operation. The alternative was far grimmer.

“I like romances.” Megelis said, causing her to almost bite her tongue. “Pfft, wha--?” She tried not to laugh, caught her impoliteness and apologized. “That is surprising. You have to recommend something to me.” She hadn’t seen a romantic movie – of any kind – in years. And listening to old romantic jazz and swing songs was a secret.

Nevertheless, her eyes were keen on everyone around. Kirane had a good visual memory which was only made better through her work. So was her perceptiveness.

A woman, middle-aged and dressed all in black, was walking down the street towards them and on their side of the road. Shortly before reaching them she paused, then suddenly turned left and disappeared into the nearby alley. It struck Kirane as odd and her back came off the wall “Rat, 4 o’clock. Engaging.” She warned, making her way to the alley. She didn’t pause before she entered, momentarily assessing the situation – they were alone, hidden from the street; the woman had her phone out and was dialling someone. It was a perfect setting for an assault. Brutal, yes, because chances were she was innocent – but under these circumstances Kirane wasn’t about to gamble with anybody’s life. She saw the woman’s eyes widen as she spotted the paladin, just as she was lifting the phone to her ear. The umbrella flew off Kirane’s grip and with a lightning-fast motion her right hand landed on the woman’s torso, her glove releasing 220 volts into it. The woman’s body went rigid and the phone slipped off her fingers – landing comfortably in Kirane’s palm. The person on the other side of the line still hadn’t picked up which was perfect as far as she was concerned. Hanging up, Kirane put the phone in her pocket and kneeled next to the woman. A quick search produced a gun – for self-defence? – but it wasn’t what Kirane was after. She found the woman’s wallet which she stuffed in her other pocket but what she was really hoping for were handcuffs. Why hadn’t she brought any handcuffs? Or at least some rope? Sloppy. She still had so much to learn….

The only string she had was the shimenawa she was using to tie back her hair – which was just long enough to bind the woman’s hands behind her back. It struck her as perverse to use what she considered a sacred item for such a purpose, but there you go…. Her bandana was hastily stuffed into the woman’s mouth which would have to do for now.

“Neutralised.” Kirane reported to Megelis as she picked her umbrella back up. “Megelis, look for anyone staring at or taking pictures or videos of our team. Also note any cars and jets driving too slowly as if they’re looking for something, anyone peeking from their window without pulling the curtains after or anybody who otherwise seems too intrigued by us. It’s probably false alarm.”

With that she quickly dialled the Tower and instructed Archive to run a check on the last number dialled by the misfortunate woman’s phone. “If you can’t find anything, please ask an Artisan to check for any connections this number may have to anyone operating in the Narrows.” Kirane flexed her hands and walked out of the alley, reclaiming her position by the wall. The unpleasant chill in her spine indicated that Crow had started his process. If they were lucky, whoever had failed to receive that call was unrelated to the Tower in any way and the woman in the alleyway would go about her life twice as cautious when entering small alleyways. In the worst case…. Well, let’s not worry about that for now.

@Rtron@CollectorOfMyst@ChickenTeriyaki@Themerlinhawk

Markus crouched down in a corner, careful to stay a little ways from where Crow's 'vulture' perched. He... didn't like being underneath birds. Who knew when those tail feathers would lift up...

Shaking his head as though to dislodge the thought, he brought up one of his holographic screens. On it, a program was running codes attaching themselves to every wireless connection he could get a handle on.

Such as that old audio scanner that was crackling with age, and that phone booth that was feebly clinging to its last dregs of life. There were cameras that were still transmitting, and about halfway down the street, a power box that was giving off a signal. Each of them was slowly threaded into his network. It kinda helped that they didn't exactly have much protection.

Leaning back against the graffiti-coated wall, Markus cracked his knuckles and sighed. Markus glanced towards Captain Lanthan, before covering up his mouth and switching on the communications channel. "Now, I know you asked for everything I could get, but is there a particular time frame you're wanting for or what?"

Miriam glanced over, standing a safe distance away from Crow as she made ready to get a birds eye view of the situation. "Time of death. We need to know what we're going after." Her eyes clouded over and her head began scanning lightly, as if she was looking over something.

"Alright, gotcha. It could stand to be a little more difficult, you know."

Miriam allowed herself a small smirk, though it was gone as quickly as it appeared. "Alright, I want the exact frames where they died, and where the killer started first appearing. If they've been destroyed, repair them."

Nodding briefly, Markus began to scroll through the frame Miriam had told him, covering as many views as possible. Though at first glance all of them were about as normal as things came, a burst of static made him cringe. In the same moment, he saw several of the camera screens fizz out - only a few of which regained power.

He leaned forward. In a matter of a few seconds, the street he was watching had changed from empty to a full-level street fight. While he couldn't identify who the majority of the fighters were, he recognised a few of them to be members of the Stygian Blade... which meant... what?

Speeding forward a few minutes, he was unsure of what exactly he was looking at as the fight went on. Until the first fatal blow fell. From somewhere off screen, a lightning bolt arced towards one of the Stygians... Markus closed his eyes and looked away as the scene played out. He didn't really have much of a stomach for death. But, at the very least, he had what they were looking for.

"Saving the clip," he informed the others.

Miriam leaned against the wall, armor and sword hidden by an illusion of civilian clothes, keeping an eye on the streets around them with her magic, staring down from a considerable height. She had already sent Vulture and Arson to cover the entrance to the alley, with Megelis on the roof, while Dragon and Crow each worked on their respective tasks. She idly twitched her head to follow Arson as she went after the rat. "Acknowledged." She said, watching as the hybrid made her way over to rat. She wanted to be ready in case Kirane needed help. While not at her full strength, she was still a considerable asset, one that Miriam wasn't about to get rid of simply because she had a condition to deal with. They'd plan accordingly around it.

She nodded in Crow's direction, taking a few steps in the other direction as he informed them that he was about to open the Veil. Leaving her bird's eye view, she returned to her body and gave the video clip Markus had saved. Her eyes narrowed as she saw that there were members of the Blades there. Odd. They didn't normally involve themselves in gang matters, not unless the gang was becoming strong enough to be a threat. Which was doubtful of ever happening here, not without the Tower having informed them already of it. Still, it couldn't hurt to check. "Dragon, see if there's been a reported increase in Gang violence around this area and the biggest gangs in it."

She started moving towards where Kirane was, occasionally glancing back to keep an eye on Crow. "What do you think the odds are she wasn't here by accident?"

@Wind Wild@CollectorOfMyst@ChickenTeriyaki@Themerlinhawk

Megelis watched as Kirane dove for someone who had been rather furtive with just about everything she was doing. It wasn’t exactly unusual in the Narrows given that your chances of getting shot here were quite high. As Crow broadcasted that he was going to need to cross the Veil, Megelis frowned behind his mask. Miriam broadcast across the open channel to keep eyes open, something about this whole thing felt off to Megelis. It wasn’t just the Narrows, he had been on the receiving end of far too many ambushes to not know that there was something headed their way. Kirane’s run of the phone number popped up in his heads up display. It wasn’t exactly conclusive since the number she’d dial was some sort of land line in the Narrows. The registered owners were at best questionable since they had gang affiliations but there was no way to tell if they were the ones actually living in the residence.

Adjusting his position on the rooftop the soldier scanned the side streets. It was then that it dawned on him what was off. There were far fewer people on the streets than he’d expected. Sure this was a terrible part of town but there were people who lived here, it wasn’t a ghost town it was just dangerous place to live at the best of times. The people on the streets moved quickly and didn’t talk. It was like they could smell a storm, which was a bad sign. Megelis wondered if perhaps someone had seen the drop ship. If that was the case there was a strong possibility that they weren’t specifically being tracked but someone was probably looking for them.

“Captain, I think we’re being tracked. There are too few people out here. It feels like something is really off but I can’t put my finger on it-” Megelis cut off the sentence and dropped to one knee on the roof bringing up the gun’s scope as he knelt. Tracking the movement of someone else coming down the street. This time the person was on their phone and clearly looking for someone.

“Okay have someone Captain, they are on their phone and they are looking for someone.” As if on cue the person on the street made it to the end of the alley where Kirane had taken down the other woman and looked at his phone before looking around as though he expected someone else to be here. Ducking below the edge of the roof Megelis cursed softly. The guy in the street was as average as could be, five eight, one fifty in weight, close cut brown hair the whole bit. In addition to all of the average Megelis had caught sight of something he didn’t like in the slightest. On the man's collar and part of the way up his neck he’d seen an ink black brand. Too many years spent killing people with that brand made it all too easy for him to recognize. It was a Stygian dissenter who had been converted. The brand made them an outcast in both social circles because it marked them as having opposed the Stygian Empire but also as someone who had converted to following the Empire. They had been particularly hated in Korvan and carrying the brand had been a death sentence. So much so that the Council of the Blackened Throne had issued an edict to their soldiers that anyone with the mark was to summarily executed. The result had been the Stygian’s branding random people in order to get the Korvan military to kill innocents. One act of hate begot another and the cycle had continued without end.

“Captain, there is some in the street with a Stygian dissenter brand. They are looking for the woman I think.” Switching channels Megelis directed his next message at Kirane. “I need you to do something for me. Check that woman for a brand. It might be on her up chest or neck. If it's not there it's going to be on her upper thigh or lower back.” Megelis could have been wrong but he strongly suspected the woman would have one. The Narrows was the perfect climate for the Stygian Blade to employ the Brand again.

--

In the back of his mind Crow realized that they were in imminent danger. With that in mind he finished peeling back the Veil. With a heavy sigh the Veil Walker stepped across to the other side. The world beyond was a pale reflection of the world he lived in. The underworld was for the most part consistent with its mortal counterpart though it was often darker or twisted in some way. The Narrows had seen more than their fair share of death and as a result they were particularly warped. Looking left and right Crow grumbled, the spirit was not present which meant that it needed fetched.

Closing his eyes Crow pulled out his bell and shook it twice. The ripples spread out around him as he opened his eyes to the flow of life sitting on the surface of the Veil. Ignoring them he looked for the spirits on this side of the Veil. The bell had called them to him but he was looking for one in particular. Conjuring spirit fire in his hand Crow lifted it to peer at the faces around him, he was looking for someone with electrical burns. Unfortunately there was more than a few spirits here and many of them were older. “Adtende mihi et alietum” Vulture fluttered from his perch on the building above him and alighted on Crow’s arm. “There are far too many here, allow me.” With a flick of its dark wings Vulture scattered the ancient shades leaving behind the cowering forms of the newly dead.

Peering at the faces Crow still didn’t see who he was looking for. It would be easier with a name or some sort of connection to the spirit. Of course the bastards face had been seared right off- “There.” Crow snapped his head around to look at the spirit that Vulture was indicating. Sure enough there was a spirit which appeared to be completely charred as though it had been standing off to the side of a powerful transformer and wearing a lot of metal. “You!” Crow reached out and seized the spirit. It tried to flee but he held on tight and hefted dragging the soul in close to study it. The magic smelled correct but there was only way to tell, he would have to compel it to tell him what had happened. As he was looking at the spirit he suddenly looked down and turned backward tracking the movement he’d seen. It was a soul in the mortal realm but it was below him. “Son of a bitch-” Crow crammed the spirit of the dead man into the skull hanging from his belt. It screamed as it was mashed into the skull without any sort of ceremony. Running for the entrance of the Veil Crow came flying through it into the mortal realm. “Captain they are below the street. I have the spirit but I need to close the Veil.”

At that exact moment the ground near the street ruptured from an explosive and disgorged a dozen Stygian blade members onto the street as they climbed out of the whole that had been blown in the street. “Shit. Crow whirled and started the process of closing the Veil with his magic.

@Rtron@CollectorOfMyst@ChickenTeriyaki@Wind Wild

Abbadon sat in his room on the phone, talking to Eve about whatever he could until her heard something outside. "I gotta go," he began saying, "we're under attack."

-----

Ulrich sat at the table, immediately jumping at the first loud noise. "Let them in so I can kill them!" he called, drawing his swords.

-----

Abbadon flew down the hall, high enough to not knock anyone in the head but low enough not to hit the ceiling, racing to catch up to Ulrich. He landed beside the half-dwarf with bolas in one hand and a crossbow in the other. "Stygian Blade?" he asked, to which Ulrich nodded.

Markus felt the blast more than heard it. The ground beneath his feet shook, and every bone in his body with it. Disoriented, he began to look around for his colleagues - and his eyes were drawn to the Blades jumping out of a newly-made hole. He heard Crow let out a curse - and promptly tuned it out. Expletives weren't his style. But this... well, he wasn't about to just cower in a corner. Even if he was currently flattening himself against the shadow of a doorway.

Patching himself into Kirane and Megelis' private channel, he whispered into his comm, hoping they'd hear it over the present commotion. "Well...presuming you've got one in place or in motion, what's the plan here? It's just I think we should deal with these moles before they get their eyesight back. And I do have something shocking I could use, but I'd need everyone to get away from anything wireless or it'll get them as well."

Kirane glanced at Miriam, wondering briefly why she’d broken formation “About sixty percent, assuming I’m not being para--” Kirane started but cut off as Megelis’ voice whispered into her year. “Gotcha.” She said briefly, apologised to Miriam and headed back to the alley where the suspicious woman lay.

But just like that, in the blink of an eye, it all went to shit.

Kirane had turned her back to the street when the ground behind her literally imploded. Clenching her jaw with a click she pulled out her fan and without even having the time to look, swung it at the newcomers causing a gust strong enough to topple half of them over. It did make her catch her breath but hopefully it delayed the imminent rain of bullets by a few seconds. For better or worse she couldn’t see Crow or Marcus but the hope was that they would be safe, at least for now. Marcus’ voice came as a reassuring surprise. “Away from anything wireless?” She asked with a huff as she completed her circle and, dropped the fan in its hoister and pulled out her Smith & Wesson SD9 and her stiletto. “You do realise that means losing communication, right?” Kirane aimed at one of the fallen men and shot him in the chest. She estimated they had about three seconds before the first of the remaining men and women reached the alleyway where Crow and Marcus worked – not enough time to aim and pick out all the other fallen ones. She also didn’t have the time to switch channels so she spoke as she lowered her body and prepared herself for a dash. “Megelis, Miriam, rushing in in two. Cover me.”

With Malakaus and Calder, Ralrisk nodded and turned towards the doors of the elevator. “Sentinel, disable the elevator and open the exterior doors.” The doors slammed open “Two dozen Stygian regulars a hald dozen Death-Feeders with Stygian Steel and possibly a higher up. I don’t know” With that Ralrisk sheathed her sword before leaping into the elevator. The descent was fast as the mag rails that moved the elevators up and down the interior of the Tower were simple to interface her bracers with. Extending her left hand The Mistress of Shadows dug the heel of her left boot into the magnetic resistance and gripped it with her left hand. Sliding down the interior of the shaft Ris contemplated the fact that she had mere seconds before she would have to handle almost two dozen of one of the few enemies the Tower had ever struggled with. No pressure.

Yelling back up the shaft Ralrisk hoped the other two could follow, it was too dangerous to call the elevator. They needed the Stygian’s trapped or at least slowed if something happened to them. “We need to clear the lower floor and we need more fire power. Put out an all call we have to stop them!” What could they possibly be after in the lower levels of the Tower. This was not good. As Ralrisk reached the open door of the lower level she disengaged her grip on the mag levs before leaping through the open door. Two of them... with a twitch of her finger Ralrisk open fired on the the hallway. There were two of them and they were both wearing ballistic armor from the neck down. The first half of her clip hit them both in the chest and waist. Altering her aim Ralrisk sprayed them both in the face. One of the went down in a spray of blood, the second one managed to get his arm up and move to the side. Rolling through the doorway Ralrisk stitched shadows from the left side of the hall into the remaining member of the Stygian blade in the hallway. It punctured the armor and pinned him the wall by his right leg, groin and left shoulder. Without withdrawing the shadows Ralrisk sprayed the last of the clip into his head and it exploded in a shower of gore. “Clear!” She yelled as two more of the blade ran into the end of the hallway and open fired. Grabbing shadow from the floor Ralrisk raised it in a solid wall to protect herself as she ejected the magazine from her autopistol. Where were the other two?And would the three of them be enough?

@Tracyarmav@Lucius Cypher@Howler@Rtron

Markus winced... yeah, he hadn't thought of that... but just then, an alert began pinging in the corner of his eye. Switching to it, he realised it was an alert from Zoe.

ᴜɴᴋɴᴏᴡɴs ɪɴғɪʟᴛʀᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴏᴡᴇʀ.
sᴜsᴘᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ sᴛʏɢɪᴀɴs, ᴀɴᴅ ʟɪᴋᴇʟʏ ʜᴏsᴛɪʟᴇs.
sᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇʟ ʜᴀs ɴᴏᴛ ʀᴇᴄᴏɢɴɪsᴇᴅ ᴀs ᴏᴜᴛsɪᴅᴇʀs.

"You guys might want to know about this..." he said in the main channel. "Some friends of ours have gotten into the tower... and they aren't friendly. We might want to wrap this up quickly."

Glancing out at the main group, Markus made a quick scan, counting fifteen other people in the area - with the process of elimination, given that all four of the others were still alive, the dead man had to be Stygian. His thoughts flying, he came across a small idea that might, might just work. Tuning back into Kirane and Megelis' channel

"Look, Crow and I are here in the alley, and they've hopefully not noticed us yet. But Crow's occupied right now closing his veil-thing, and it's mentioned in my profile that I'm not exactly the best in a fight, providing you've read it. That leaves you two and Miriam. Against eleven Stygians, maybe more. I don't like those odds. So you can either take out your comm, turn it off, or become collateral, which I really don't advise. Of course, it all depends if there are other Stygians nearby. I'm going to reroute everything I've got into what can be described as a larger scale reenactment of what we came here to find. As in lots and lots of electric. You can clean up anyone that doesn't get fried by the initial shock, but you really want to get rid of your comms first."

Lugen

Lugen stared after Ralrisk as she jumped down the hole. That was a long way down. It'd probably hurt like hell too. He shrugged, then grinned. "See you at the bottom!" There is a 100% chance that a fall from this height will break your legs. "Worth it!" Lugen let out a wild cry as he jumped straight down the shaft, following Calder and Ralrisk. He landed a second after the troll, both his legs snapping upon impact. "Hold on! Gimme a bit, and I'll be there to punch them in their fucking mouths!" He called, baring his teeth as his legs began to repair themselves. By the time his legs were healed, the troll had dealt with the remaining enemy, "Ah, well. Next two shitheads are mine." He rolled his shoulders, walking forward to take the lead of their little expedition. Simple plan, yeah? I go in, take all the shit they throw at me, you two focus on killing them while they're trying to murderize me." A magical shield spread over his body, covering his armor from head to toe. "Sound good?

Miriam

Miriam cursed as the ground exploded, spewing Stygians out like a burst pipe. Her blade was up in a second, catching the first strike on her own. "You'll do. Raising her free hand, she threw a fire ball behind her current opponent, crashing into the ground in front of his allies and forcing them back. She took upon the trait of earth, slamming her now rock hard head into the Stygian's face. He crumpled instantly, and she threw him backwards towards Marcus. Giving a quick order as she turned to face the other Stygians. "Keep him alive. We'll need answers later."

A spectral banner appeared in her hand, and she slammed it on the ground. Everyone within thirty feet immediately began to feel it's effects, respective for allies and enemies, even as an aura of fear began to radiate off of her and target her enemies. She contacted Kirane, readying herself. "Go Kirane. I'll make sure you're covered." More fire appeared in her palm, and she waited for the hybrid to make her move.

Instructions were ringing in Kirane’s ear and she didn’t have the time to consider where they were coming from or who else knew. Two things were sure. One, her back would be covered once she entered the melee and two, she couldn’t stay there long without getting shocked by whatever Markus was planning. A distant part of her worried what might happen to the nanobots in her system should she receive an electric shock strong enough to mess with their commands while another wondered how good Miriam’s aim was when there was an ally weaving in and out of her range of fire. The field the captain activated made the hairs on her neck stand up-- But they were a team. She had to trust them. Like a dougong. Don’t falter; don’t make them fail. Time to dance on the razor's edge.

“Roger to both.” She uttered as she went around Miriam’s firewall and reached the Stygian line. The first man was naively thinking he was quicker to aim than she was to attack and he received a quick debilitating gash along his hand that should stall him for a while. “Disconnecting, retreating in ten.” She informed while she evaded the military knife of the second Stygian and turned her communication off. Sure, some of the Stygians would have heard her but she’d make those ten seconds count. She grabbed the arm of her second attacker and ran her stiletto under his armpit. A stab deep enough to damage the tendons but shallow enough to allow her to quickly pull out her dagger and sidestep another attacker.

It was an old strategy she had practiced and executed with Megelis on a few missions in the past. Make yourself the decoy and allow the man to pick out the enemy. When defences were weak, attack was the best defence and having someone to concentrate their efforts on kept the enemy occupied enough for the weaker parties to pull out safely. Kirane wasn’t the best fighter as her stamina and armour were nowhere near impregnable…

But she had a few good tricks up her sleeve. For one, her light magic could be activated just enough to make her movements look fuzzy and her image to blur. It was a huge disadvantage for anyone trying to stab her accurately but wouldn’t really impact an ally used to predicting her movements. As such, it allowed ranged attacks to still be executed even if Kirane herself was in the line of fire.

And of course, there was also a little defence in place. Air magic was pushed in a constant stream around her forming a tight invisible wall around her moving body. It did little for strong physical attacks but the torrent was strong enough to deflect bullets which, with some luck, may even hit the enemy.

Falling easily into the old routine Kirane started wreaking havoc in the enemy ranks. Naturally, the shock at the unnatural and unfamiliar situation made their initial attempts to hurt her clumsy and inefficient. As guns proved useless a few of the Stygians tried to hit her with the magazines only to miss or land a blow to their comrades. As they started realising it wouldn’t work, they switched to punches or drew their knives. They weren’t weak… but they were unprepared for such a suicidal battle strategy. Their armour was something akin to police vests and luckily it didn’t cover their lower abdomen.

Keeping her stance low, in the first few seconds alone Kirane had managed to slash the guts of four men and women open and stab another three across the legs or hands. She wasn’t bothered about dealing fatal blows, merely land as many as quickly as possible. She worked methodically, trying to keep her trajectory relatively straight and without spinning around to cover her back, putting the trust for her protection in the hands of her teammates. A couple of blows reached her but she received them with her shoulders or arms and they did little more than prevent her from killing another. The air was deafening with shouts and screams and the ground was getting slippery with blood and gut contents of the misfortunate. It messed with her footing and threatened to make her slip…. But regardless, she only had four more seconds left and she would have to pull out. She hoped the time she had given Markus was enough because they hadn’t had the time to discuss it. So far, she was alive and breathing which was a good sign. Another woman fell at her feet, her neck sliced open as she tried to catch the rolling thunder that was Kirane. Her blood gushed out in a spray that splashed over the paladin. Three more seconds…

“Disconnecting, retreating in ten.”

...Right. With that, Markus began frantically checking all the lists he could think of, to make sure nothing was awry. Once he was sure of that, he initiated his system shut down. And as the last light blinked out, he remembered one little detail...

Miriam had a communicator. Not a neural implant, like the last few djinni he'd worked with. Admittedly, the last djinn he'd worked with had been a criminal, but... well, he was past that now. He needed to think of something, fast.

And, as his limited electronics knowledge flew through his head in a fraction of a second, he figured it out. He still needed a conduit - something any of the possibly more powerful electrical discharges would arc towards.

Deploying his skates, he pushed himself off the wall with one arm, kicking the dazed Stygian Miriam had tossed back at them in the head as he passed. He was aware of a few shots of gunfire ricocheting off the walls around him, but none were close enough for him to be concerned about.

"Ma'am." he said hurriedly, skidding to a halt. "I've initiated a wireless electrical overcharge. I don't think you should be wearing your communicator for much longer, if you catch my meaning. Just - throw it as close to the Stygians as you can and the lightning will do the rest."