"Well thank you for noticing," Junebug replied with a tight grin. The seat backs above them puffed and sprayed foam and splintters into the air. The boom of gunfire and the screams of crowd were magnified many times over by the excellent acoustics and the thrum of sound was unpleasant at the level of bone marrow. Sayeeda wiggled off the protesting Aiden who had given up on the jammed communicator. The prince wasn't paniced but the situation was clearly well beyond his frames of reference.

"We should get of here," Aiden declared glancing towards the paniced crowd. A fresh burst of gunfire ripped overhead.

"I see four, maybe five problems with that," Junebug remarked dryly. She lifted her head to peer over the seat and ducked again as a pair of plasma bolts flew over her head with a sizzling shimmer of heat. 

"And if I had to guess I'd say problem six and seven are probably covering the upper and lower exits with automatics, at least they would be if I were in charge." In Sayeeda's experience you rarely went wrong assuming your enemies were as competent as you were. 

"Well what are we going to do?" Aiden demanded glancing toward one of the sprawled body guards who lay lifelessly atop the landing. Junebug hiked her skirt up revealing the body stocking beneath her gown. Aiden looked at her in shocked amazement. A thin garter belt encircled her upper thigh. 

"What are you..."

Sayeeda pulled a small four barreled pistol that she wore tucked into the belt and snapped the action back with a metallic click. The pistol was a tiny plamsa weapon which traded everything for reduced size. The barrels were single use tubes which would be deformed by the shots they fired.

"Am I the only one without a gun?" Aiden asked a little plaintively. Sayeeda snickered despite the gravity of the situation.

"Taya's still young its hard to know how far along she is," Neil commented with a chuckle.

"What are we going to do?" Aiden demanded, unmoved by the banter.

"We are going to wait," Sayeeda said before touching her mastoid inplant. The unit was shut off due to the jamming. SHe would have to trust Taya to move when the option presented itself.

"Are you crazy? Wait for wha..." the prince began. The fire alarms began to wail as the burning insulation blocked the infrared sensors. A moment latter the sprinkler system fluttered to life dousing the room in a shower of icy water that cut visibility to almost nothing. The lights died and the emergency lights flicked on in the space of a heartbeat. Sayeeda stood up and fired the first of her four barrels into the assassin at the top right corner of the stairs. The rain shower attenuated the plasma bolt into a ball of super heated steam which struck the unfortunate killer in the neck. Grabbing Aiden by the hand she pulled him to his feet and took three quick strides towards the right exit. With deliberate aim she put the remaining three rounds into the point between to sprinkler heads. Plaster flamed and then the water delivery pipe beneath burst like a bomb transforming the stairs into a waterfall. Neil, Sayeeda, Aiden and a moment later Taya dived through the concealing cascade of water and into the stair well, soaked but alive.

"I thought you said they would have someone covering the exit?" Aiden asked, the prince took an odd looking device from his belt and held it before him.

"Yeah well, one problem at a time," Sayeeda replied casting aside her useless derringer

[@POOHEAD189].