[ Welcome back, true believers! When we last left our heroes... well, let's face it, this story probably doesn't have heroes. But when we last left our viewpoint characters, they were in Twilight City's outskirts, facing down an extremely colorfully-patterned sleythin baker and, oh yeah, BEING SHOT AT. ] ((It's an important detail.)) [ Zak was surprisingly gallant! Xavier was expectedly panicky! Rochelle... didn't seem to care but it's Rochelle. And Kat is left standing next to a large lizard who is indeed moving for cover. Well, a combo of scuttling for cover and snapping photos because: tourist. There hasn't been another shot in the past few seconds, but who knows where this is going to lead! Or if there's more! ] [ HEAVEN OR HELL? LET'S ROCK! ] * Rochelle hit the deck because hitting the deck was so totally the thing to do. A few seconds passed, though, which gives her enough time to glance up and try to pinpoint if the shot is coming from anywhere beyond "up". (And push her powers in an attempt to figure out what's going to happen next so she- er, THEY can make it through this safely.) [ Xavier, for his part, is wriggling under a combo of Zak's weight and Zak's hand being palm-down on his face. He really does not want to be where he is, but all you get out of him is a series of "mph!"s WHICH ARE PROBABLY TOO UPSCALE FOR MIKE OR SOMETHING. ] * Zak is yes, basically on top of Xavier. It's not exactly that he's trying to act as a bullet shield, but instead trying to suppress unwanted highly visible running motions from the resident Escort NPC. "KAT", he yells. "WHAT THE FRAK?" (I bet he pronounces them with a lilt.) (I hope you burn.) (Bwaha. So do I roll this? :D) (Spontaneously so it's a surprise.) (Why not! Someone get dicey in here.) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rochelle (2d6-2) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 5. (I made! Awesome!) (By two.) * Katherine is off like a bullet (at 1/5 speed) towards the soft targets. She then crouches down next to Zak and X, saying through speakers, "Why don't you have headsets," as she provides physical cover. She also wraps an arm around each of them. Excuse me for not trotting down to Mercs-B-We and thumbing my year's allotment of drinking money. [ In a brief show of strength, X rips his face out from under Zak's hand and hisses, "Get the hell off me!" ] * Rochelle 's eyes glaze over briefly, and she says, "It's gonna keep firing at us, y'know." She looks at X. "Hey, he saved your life." Don't be a jerk. * Katherine looks over to figure out where the best cover to drag them to is and growls back, "That's your problem. You're not getting other people to buy you drinks. Hold on." She firms up her grip on the two of them, in preperation for a grab and run. "I know, shut up, find cover Roch." * Rochelle nods from her comfy spot on the ground. "I'll take X with." * Zak looks like he's about to spout off to X, but is distracted by the immanence of his transformation into a parcel. "Oh fuck. I hate this part." * Katherine half-grins behind her mask. "What, you want me to throw him at you?" Guess that's one way to pick up guys. [ True to prediction, there's a few more shots. They hit the dirt a few meters away. Whoever's shooting at you has lousy aim. ] [ "I SAY," Marly'com yells, because he is stealthy like ninja. "WHAT EXACTLY IS GOING ON?" ] (Can I put together position from that?) (The extra shots I'm actually paying attention to.) * Rochelle grabs X's arm and starts dragging him out of firing range and for the nearest cover. "Think it's a machine or something," she comments to the Sleythin calmly as she leaves. (Rooftops farther up the hill, probably.) [ Xavier struggles, giving Rochelle a *look* at the suggestion he should be nice to Zak. WHY. :| He doesn't stop walking, however, by virtue of Rochelle's superior momentum. ] * Katherine releases X to Roch, then, with a smirk to herself. Then she hauls Zak up to her shoulder and bursts over to a nearby building. "'Course, this is the other." (Since when did *I* have- oh well. :D) Oooooooh shiiiiiiiiit (You were already walking. He was not. You win.) (Are the rooftops around here generally close enough to roofjump at 100 kph?) (Because if so, I'm going up!) (Woot! Time to flip out and kill him when nobody is looking.) (Fission mailed: You left the guy with Roch! Really! How dumb are you!) [ A handful of shuriken fly into this pos*SH-THNKTHNKTHNKTHNK* ] (^_^_v) (To roofjump question?) (I AM WORKING ON IT GOD.) (sry) [ And off Kat goes! With Zak as her breeding partner, the human race is doomed. This low in the city the buildings are not especially tall, maybe only 3-5 stories. If Kat is planning to be a decoy, she succeeds beyond measure. Why? Because the higher and closer she gets the more accurate the fire gets. In fact, she should make a ranged defense to make sure she and her passenger are not shot! ] 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katherine (2d6-3) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 5. (Make by 4.) [ Kat expertly weaves between bullets. I am sure this pleases non-suit-wearing Zak immensely. ] * Zak is trying hard to make his voice heard over wind and gunfire and machine noises, so his uttered sentence winds up sounding something like "kat is there any parTICular reason WE had to swing THIS DANCE as a duet" [ Roch, meanwhile, is presented with a series of gaps between buildings that put even the brief TC daylight in shadow, most of them being San Fran-style sets of shallow stairs leading up. Expectedly, she and X aren't being shot at! Xavier yanks his hand out of hers but keeps stumbling along behind her, mumbling in annoyance in a sort of cartoony way. ] * Katherine says, as she weaves, "At least they're not running. Guess a machine wouldn't." She gets to a building of cover and lets Zak down. "Because if it was gonna run, I needed someone to come up the stairs as backup, and you're not completely worthless." (Pause a sec, I think that's my pizza.) * Zak shouts over a particularly loud landing. "THANKS, I THINK" (That's okay, I was about to ask how far away we were so I knew if I could go up, have Zak come up from behind, and start actually taking the guy down or not.) * Rochelle glances back at Xavier, rolls her eyes, and hides in the alleys. It is so very the thing to do. (Aaaaaand 'no broccoli' became 'broccoli' *sigh*) (Aw.) (That's completely wrong!) (But I haven't eaten all goddamned day so I had to take it.) (Booleanly so.) [ There is nothing but an A/C unit on the roof where Kat and Zak are. They, however, should make visual perception if they're looking to other rooftops! ] 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katherine (2d6) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 4. (Make by 3!) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Zak (2d6) and gets a natural 5 for a result of 5. (Whiff, assuming Mind is the target) (Zak r smrt) [ Zak sees nothing except... a largely familiar city! He's been here before! Kat, however, sees -- in the direction Roch and Xavier are in no less -- a faint metallic glint on an otherwise bare roof. ] (Am I piggybacked on Kat? Or like a sack of potatoes?) (Sack, although if you want to rearrange, there's no better time.) (Because I'm about to take off again.) [ Unexpectedly, it's Xavier's turn to grip Roch's sleeve, trying to pull her to a stop. He looks nervous, but also... curious? "Hey, hold up. Can't you hear that?" ] * Zak drops off Kat's shoulder over her back. "Space fucking Jesus." He grabs on again, koala-like. "I'm getting a little grey in the tooth for this, Wolf." * Rochelle stops, since this is pretty much the first time Xavier's sounded kind of sane, and listens, cocking her head. * Katherine frowns and mutters, "What the hell?" She pulls out her big gun and replies, "You and me both," before she heads off in that direction. "Think I found Roch's 'machine or something'." As soon as she draws a bead, she starts the return fire. Hear what? * Rochelle looks to Xavier. (Ranged attack roll, Kat. Skill applyeth not.) (But I have lots of skill. ;_;) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katherine (2d6) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 7. (Make by 1.) (28 damage, for what it's worth.) [ There is a shot! Then a *PWANG*, and the bullet hits the roof. Apparently hitting nothing? But there was a noise before it hit the roof. Consequently, by the way, a series of *PAF PAF PAF* noises are bullets hitting the roof Kat and Zak are on. ] [ Xavier shuts his eyes, tilting his head like he's straining to hear something... then his eyelids start trembling and his eyes open like a SHOT. He grabs Rochelle's arm and makes to keep moving considerably faster than she was. "Bleedin' purples! Comin'!" ] * Katherine continues towards the thing, trying to cut back and forth across its line of vision. "You see it yet, Zak?" (Not unless I get a reroll! :D) * Rochelle is dragged this time and says, "Wait, what?" before she regains her feet and dashes along with Xavier. [ "Purples!" he gasps, breathlessly. "Didn't think they'd be this far out!" ] ( You can both reroll if you like, if you're looking at the same roof. ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Zak (2d6) and gets 2, a CRITICAL SUCCESS!!! "Fight! For everlasting love and peace!" (WOO) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katherine (2d6) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 4. (I can still see!) The purples are gone! They can't- (Oho, this should be fun.) * Rochelle grimaces and tries to extend her precog, honing in on this 'purple' thing and likely giving herself a blistering headache. [ Kat notices, interestingly, that a 4 x 4' section of the roof is... odd. Like heat shimmer. Zak, oddly perceptively, notices that said area is shifted to the right by a half a foot. Looking at the edges of the space makes ones' eyes ache. ] ('Is shifted to the right by a half a foot'?) * Rochelle rubs at her forehead and sidesteps a trashbag without paying any attention. "What are you talking about?" (With respect to what, or... is it distorting things a half a foot?) (Imagine a poorly photoshopped roof.) (Someone re-tiled it.) (Okay.) * Zak peers. "Kat, somethin' unschway goin' down... trippy shield, or invisibility cloak..." 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Todd (2d6) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 8. [ Shaking his head, he keeps right on running until he finds a crossways alley and ducks into it, slamming his back against the wall as if he were trying to push himself THROUGH it. "Gon... gon find us..." he pants, breathless. "Gotta hide..." ] * Katherine replies to him, "Yeah, I saw it too. Heat shimmer." She stops behind an air conditioner a moment and adds, "Explains why I missed, but I'm not packing heavy rifles." [ The A/C kicks on, in defiance of convention. ] (Damn tricksy A/C.) * Rochelle ducks along and watches X to see if he actually does push himself through the wall, 'cause some people can do that. "'kay," she replies, gasping for breath herself. "We're... hiding." [ Xavier's specific density remains constant. ] [ Specific sanity, not so sure. ] * Katherine puts her empty claw hand to her suit's forehead while she waits for Zak to explain more, muttering, "Shouldn't have left the bag behind. Getting a damn headache." (Kat, ranged defense, -4 penalty) 2d8+1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katherine (2d8+1) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 8. (Make by 1.) (Your CV is insane, sir.) (wtf.) (The suit gives her two extra DCV.) (No extra ACV.) [ There is a *PWANG!* as a bullet embeds itself in the A/C unit about 4 inches from Kat's right arm. The bullet did not come from the suspicious roof. ] So what was... .... how many mercs they got out to kill this luckless schlub? * Rochelle takes a moment to swallow, still regaining her breath. "What were you talkin' about?" (tiramisuuuuuuuuuuuu) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Todd (2d6-2) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 8. * Zak scrunches up his eyes, then leans around the condenser and fires a bolt of ice out of his hand at the Mysterious Spot. (Roll, uh... whatever the hell we decided was ranged attack for you using your powers.) * Katherine dodged! And then she stays stable a moment as Zak fires, replying, "Fuck, get off my shoulders if you're gonna take a shot!" 2d6-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Zak (2d6-4) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 6. [ 'Planet X' has wild eyes as he looks at Rochelle. "They... on the street! Gon... gonna eat..." There's a pause, and then his face scrunches up like he's suppressing a headache. When he recovers, he glances at Rochelle blankly. "Right? Out there..." He doesn't sound so sure right now. ] (Miss by one.) Are you fucking nuts? And give up the wall of shiny techarmor between me and the guns? * Rochelle shakes her head slowly. "It's cool. I mean, Zak and Kat are gettin' shot at an' stuff, but no purples." She reaches over and checks Xavier's temperature. [ There's a dramatic splash of frost as the icebolt shatters on the roof! It doesn't quite hit the spot, but for a brief moment there is a falling spray of ice in the air that lands on top of something the shape of a large sniper rifle on a tripod. However, apparently what it settled on was really, really warm, because the ice melts basically immediately. ] * Katherine rolls her eyes. "Fucking space jesus. Did you kill it?" 2d6-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Todd (2d6-4) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 5. * Zak frowns. "Negatory, space ranger." He climbs down off Kat's back. "Keep an eye out." When you see it, take the shot. * Zak leans out and just tries to lay down as thick a cover of ice as he can. [ "Kat's..." His temperature is... well, higher because he was just running, but not feverish. His breathing's starting to come back, at least, though it's still a little shallow and coming from his mouth. "They... what the sheol..." He grits his teeth. "Right... right. Twilight. No more purples. Right." ] * Katherine mutters, "Right," and grabs him by the arm with her free hand as she peeks around as well, waiting for her shot. * Rochelle nods and waits for Xavier to relax (relatively). [ On cue, the rooftop is blanketed with wintry mix, as the Weather Channel calls it. Since it's ongoing, indeed... a gun placement is suddenly visible. Naturally, it swivels toward the roof where Kat and Zak is, but slowly thanks to the ice, meaning Kat gets a free shot! ] (Ranged attack, your skill does apply this time.) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katherine (2d6-2) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 5. (Make by 3.) [ With an impressive shot, Kat cores the gun right down its own barrel. In an explosion muted by the ice, it nonetheless goes up in flames. Whatever was making it invisible stops working; from a distance, it really does just look like a sniper rifle on a tripod, with a cable attached to a black box underneath the center. ] * Katherine peers at it, then grabs Zak and swings him up on her shoulders again. "TSM control or some remote shit. C'mon, we've got to find the other one." * Zak grunts, but manages to keep a piggyback grip this time. "Just keep the fuckin' thing between you and me, grok? (... wow.) (You know what, that's not even worth trying to save.) (?) (Haha. So it can't decide who tos hoot!) (I CAN'T GET BOTH OF THEM and then it explodes from indecisiveness.) (Devious.) (Yeah, you know Zak. Just all up with those devious plans.) (Actually, visual checks, both of you, before you jump off.) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katherine (2d6) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 4. [ Roch has a bit to wait. When he finally does seem to calm down and look at Rochelle, he seems very, very groggy. "Gh... what's goin' on." ] (Make by 3.) * Rochelle blinks. "We're goin' to the capital 'cause your boss said you had to." Do you haveta sit down? (s/the capital/city hall.) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Zak (2d6) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 8. (That one was worth saving. ;P) (HA HA I SEE SHOES) (Nyquil's kickin' in. This is gonna be a great session wooooo) (Woooo!) (Oh yeah, Zak has almost my exact stat line. Awesome.) (It's okay. Kat's fucking busted.) [ That sinks in, and Xavier finally says: "...not m'boss. Works f'Ferrion." He pushes off the wall, sways a bit, and then steadies. "Think I can go." Meanwhile up on the roof, Kat notices that the black box under the gun has a blinking red light on it, still. LED MADNESS. Zak... sees birds. And this is Mars, so what does that tell you. ] * Rochelle nods and stays where she is. "Can wait a little longer. 's safe." Pause. "Who's Ferrion?" * Katherine mutters, "Grok," and then frowns a bit before saying, "Changed mind." She heads around the AC and puts it at her back, so that it's covering Zak as she heads towards the other black box. (Hahaha, Zak makes everyone else use TC speak, too!) (Kat's recovering TC! It makes sense.) (Also, it means he slipped and fell into a pile of white powder.) (Oh shit, Clarity) [ Surprisingly, no gunfire as Kat leaps to the other roof! The box does not explode if she tries to pick it up. The red LED keeps blinking. Down below, Xavier pushes out of the alley, rubbing his temples. "Heads th' lab," he adds. "Big boss guy. I work for Howe though." ] Oh. * Rochelle tags along at first, then goes back to leaving Xavier through the alleys. "Different guy?" * Katherine only picks it up a little as she puts those ranks in mechanical and electronics to work to see if she can use it to her advantage in the next ten seconds, or if it's just evidence. "Sweet fucking shot, am I right?" (Make your roll, smartaleck.) (I wasn't being a smartaleck! Both are good outcomes!) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katherine (2d6-2) and gets a natural 5 for a result of 3. * Zak smirks, not that Kat can see it. "Enh. About your average, I'd say." (Make by 4.) [ X trudges along and nods. "Little boss guy," he says. Apparently whatever happened shook him up so bad he's running off at the mouth. "Workin' on a new TSM interface. I'm his help." ] (QUICK ROCH PUMP HIM FOR INFO) (GO ROCH GO) (USe your potatocat skills) (She can play hard to tell. 'I don't wanna know.' 'I'm gonna tell you anyway!') (It works so well for her.) (I'm working on it! Had to get some Dayquil.) [ A little examination of the black box shows no ports or anything like that, except the cable that was hooked into the gun... a standard data cable. Why the LED is blinking isn't clear. It's giving off the ATCverse version of an RFID signal but the data doesn't say anything other than "I AM BOX HERE HI". ] (Wot's it do? DUNNO.) Oh, cool. (It says it's a box.) * Rochelle decides to keep talking to X, because really, nothing better to do. Plus, she's kinda curious. "What's new with the interface?" (Whether you believe it or not is up to you.) (Ha ha.) * Katherine disconnects it from the now disabled sniper rifle. "Thanks for the compliment. Thinking this thing's fully automated." Which makes it pretty damn high rent for killing some nobody. [ "Probably shouldn't say," Xavier responds, slowing his walk a bit. Roch is easy to talk to, in her own insane way. "Trade secrets n' stuff. Where's the scary girl and the guy with awful grammar?" he finally asks, coming to a stop and turning to look at Roch. ] (Hey, Zak speak good and stuff!) (It's his vocabulary that's awful.) (My grammars am perfecting.) (YOU ARE BOTH HEADED TO THE SALT MINES FYI) Still shootin' at whatever was shootin' us, I guess. (Hey, given the options, Rochelle is *easily* the least scary of the bunch.) [ There has been a conspicuous lack of gunfire the past few minutes, for the record. ] (It is conspicuous.) (Plus, she is pretty easy to talk to. She doesn't say much and she's fairly nonjudgmental. Until she has to kill you, that is.) We gonna stand here makin' a target, or are we gonna vamoose? * Katherine shakes her head, mutters, "Sorry, lost myself. Let's do a once-around to check things for being clear, and then head back to get my mission and your sister." Knowin' sis, she's got him under control. [ Xavier is lying in an alley, riddled with shuriken. ] [ Okay not really. ] (Yup, all under control!) * Katherine runs and replies, "Yeah, that's Roch. Wicked temptress." Good to hear she's gettin' out of her shell. * Rochelle looks around. "Think they're done. C'mon." She heads to somewhere Kat and Zak will be able to find them. (To your friend, the friendly sleythin!) (Yeah, I'm going to calmly take his camera and dispose of it.) [ There's a pause, then a nod as Xavier trundles behind Roch. They eventually emerge from an alley onto the main road! Nobody starts shooting at them! ] (So, yeah, trying to get shot at/find the other sniper or, alternately, burn a few minutes looking for them as I roofjump and then head back.) (I have to pick up my luggage. It keeps me sane, you know.) [ You do not get shot at. It's possible the other gun missed you because it was REALLY far away; even a detailed look at nearby roofs doesn't show even a hint like the one from the other roof. ] (Alternately, a really good ricochet shot!) * Katherine does the giving up, then. She grabs the busted rifle along the way, and lets Zak off her shoulders so they can return on the ground level. (*gets the hammer*) (NOT IN THE FACE!) * Zak follows Kay. He looks like he's thinking about something. You can almost see the steam. [ Everyone is reunited! They look a bit flushed for having just walked around a bit. Xavier, however, glances at Kat, furrows his brow, and then reaches over to grab the black box right out of her hands if she doesn't try to stop him. ] * Rochelle nods as the brute squad returns. "Hey. What's that?" she asks of the box, since Xavier brought it to everyone's attention. * Zak speaks without looking at Roch. "It's a box." (You hide under it, it takes you to the Plot Building.) Duh. I meant, why carry it around an' stuff. (Sweet!) (Kat first.) (I love that the box gets the attention, not the giant rifle.) (Well, why carry a giant rifle around is all pretty obvious, y'know?) * Katherine holds it up above her head as she peers at Xavier. "Yes, it's a box. Why're you reaching?" [ Rather matter of factly, he responds: "Because it's crying. Give it over." ] (KAt's only 5'11", so this is not completely comedic.) (And Xavier is tall and lanky. You, however, are IN AN EXO, YOU JERKASS.) * Katherine 's head tilts just slightly, and then she hands it to him. "Sure, okay, technopath." * Katherine gives him a moment with the Sad!Box as she inspects the rifle for anything obvious other than 'It got shot.' [ With a frown, Xavier takes and holds onto it, just staring at it. The LED starts blinking intermittently and unpredictably, after a few seconds of that. The rifle is 1.) totally unusable now and 2.) has no trigger. It'd be useless in a human being's hands even if it weren't halfway blown up. ] (I was thinking more from a 'Does it look like I could get it traced' angle.) (Because yeah, it's so unsalvagable.) [ After a few seconds of manhandling, it also crumbles to a kind of grey dust. Really. ] (... the box or the rifle?) [ There's a squawk of surprise from Xavier a few seconds later, as the box does the same. He ends up giving the Spock Eyebrow to a handful of dust. ] * Katherine frowns as it all turns to dust, and then she shakes her head and heads over to get her bag. "You seen this tech before?" * Rochelle blinks at the dust. [ Planet X shrugs as he opens his fingers and the dust sprinkles onto the ground. It... doesn't explode or reform or anything. It's just dust. "Nope. The box wasn't anything special. All it did was tell its friends where it was. Then it didn't have any friends so it got lonely." He pauses. "It, uh... crumbled in mid-sentence." ] * Zak blinks, and emits an audible "ding!" as he finishes thinking. Okay, not really. But he does look at Kat and say, "So, Kat the Wolf. Give odds on how many friends this gun's got on rooftops." * Katherine slings her bag. "Too fucking many, Zak. But he might have been the core of it." * Katherine turns to face all of them. "Or he was the router." Hopefully that means the net is down, but you might want to have your people start making a sweep. [ Xavier is left looking at the dust for a second, before he catches that and frowns, looking between Kat and Zak. "...'your people'?" He sounds suspicious. BECAUSE HE IS. ] (Also we're gonna wrap up shortly, so.) Oh, they'll love that. Fun games for bored gangers. * Katherine chuckles. "Pretty much." [ There's a twitch at the word 'gangers'. The ex-Krazor seems excited at this prospect. ] Oh, they're not gangers anymore. Like you. * Katherine glances around for the Sleythin for a moment. So chill; it's cool. [ You are now several blocks from Prospect Park. Marly'com is nowhere to be seen, heard, or felt. ] "We've got to stop in the concert hall before we get wherever else it is we're going, then." * Katherine then shakes her head and murmurs, "It's all too damn familiar." She then speaks up louder, asking Zak, "What, you can't just call?" [ Your escortee does not look convinced, but he also looks really, really tired... far too much so to argue. ] I gotta make sure the place isn't actively on fire. (But passively's pretty normal.) * Katherine groans, does the mental calculus, and then asks, "You think that can wait?" (Decide what direction you're heading in, and pose that out, we'll call it a day.) * Zak shakes his head. "Professor X here needs a lie-down, and I ought to lift my exo out of coldfreeze." He pauses. "Just in case." * Katherine makes a noise of frustration, muffled by her suit. "Let's move, then." * Zak follows. * Rochelle gets her moving on! [ And so, laden down with more questions than answers but at least, for the moment, alive and well, Kat's Moving and Storage heads toward Zak's HQ to rest before tackling the rest of the climb. What will happen to them there? Find out... next time! ] [ END CREDITS ]