[adamu]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

"Jonah inna whale, sumbitch is mounted," Al called to his companions.

Well, this would be easier than any other type of spirit - he wouldn't have to get his hands dirty.

"Alrighty then, CHUD-Buddy, let's see which of us the damned voodoo gods like best." And the little man resumed his muttering with a vengeance as he aimed and fired at the thing's head while Spike charged its legs.

[gradivus]

Not to be left out the action,  Ichirō stand and charges the enemy.
He hopes he doesn't get in the way of the dwarf's bullets.
But then again, the dwarf seems to know what he's doing most of the time.

[Aria]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

The graveyard chuckle that rasped around the room was drowned by Spike’s roar and the equally inarticulate bark of Al’s shotgun.  Ichirō’s advance by contrast is all but silent…

The shotgun pellets pass through where the ghoul had been moments before and splash across the far wall of the chamber as the creature phases out of view…damn magic!  Spike stops short and whines in confusion and the chuckle comes again, this time reverberating around the room in a way that makes it impossible to pinpoint its source…

[adamu]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

Al grabbed Spike by the collar and pulled his nose down to where the abomination had been standing, the message clear. "Go git 'im, boy," the little man said in Tuareg, followed by some words of encouragement in English: "Tree that undead freak an' we'll show 'im what's what."

[ScytheKnight]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

Snow Crash swivels around, his focus lost, he snarls and spits shooting Al a venomous glare. Where moments before the orc was relatively calm and composed, you can visibly see his hands shaking on his weapon, muttering to himself in a mixture of English and Or'Zet eyes an head swiveling around wildly, his chest heaving a bit.

[adamu]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

As Spike cast about for the scent, Al noticed the albino ork's distress.

"Take a deep breath, there, kemo sabe. End o' the day, it's jist another feral with delusions o' grandeur. Whyn't you jist keep an eye on the doors while we flush 'im out?"

New guy was packing way too much ordnance to be allowed to lose his cool...

[ScytheKnight]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

The orc visibly shudders, hands still shaking, growling in English.

"Fragging spirits.. can't trust them.. can't see them... here but not.. then they get into you... change you... make you something else..."

He resumes muttering to himself in Or'Zet, head rapidly casting around.

[Aria]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

@Al

Spike puts nose to ground and begins to cast about for your prey…then he looks up…and up…

You are not surprised, barely, some movement in the air tells you that there is someone too close to you, a whiff of carrion breath, something that allows you to duck below the swipe from the materialising ghoul… the voice sounds tortured, like it is being dragged through vocal cords disused for far too long, the mangled Creole is almost in your ear…well, above your ear…

“Da Voodoo Gods luv ‘im best!  Chien!”

@Icharo

Damn that thing looks bigger than you thought it would looming over Al, ok the dwarf is short but that fragger is big even for an orc…maybe it’s just the top hat…as the creature’s spell fades you realise it has done more than just conceal itself from view, there’s a momentary pause from the three ghouls that have snuck in from the route you came from, crouching feral creatures sniffing their way forwards…

@Snow Crash

Fragging spirits, fragging spirits…well the ugly one can deal with it…turning your attention outwards it’s almost a surprise, almost, when two ghouls materialise almost on top of you…how can these fraggers be so quiet…?

[adamu]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

The instant the thing's claws swished by his face, Al shouldered, aimed and fired upward in one smooth motion, pausing only to congratulate himself on his keen senses and lightning reflexes.

"Flattery''ll getcha nowhere, chere," he retorted in gutter French, side-stepping out from under the huge thing. He sensed more ghouls closing in, but he kept his focus on this one, trusting Spike and his companions to have his back.

[ScytheKnight]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

Snow Crash looks back at the door just in time to see the ghouls ready to lunge. He quickly spin and backpedals, a mental command swapping the Ares Alpha to full automatic as he braces the weapon. The assault rifle roars into life, the gas venting system desperately trying to control the recoil of the spraying lead but making the gun even louder as the albino orc swing it in an arc across the two ghouls as he screams in English over the sound of the riffle.

"Fragging ghouls! Fragging spirits! I survive the god damned bugs! You undead freaks aren't going to take me!"

[adamu]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

Al was once again glad for his damper as the roar of the white ork's assault rifle combined with the crash of his shotgun, and then it all came bouncing back at them in almost the same moment, reverbing off the stone walls in an eery cascade of noise.

That was what bothered Al. The dim light was offset by his ware, lending everything a green-tinted science fiction hue that spoke of a rational world. But the noises - against the rasping wheezes and shrieks of enraged and dying undead, against the unearthly voice of the possessed uber-ghoul, the thundering chatter of their weapons sounded almost desperate.

And Snow Crash's panic was threatening to be contagious.

They'd handled the first wave handily enough. But it had cost them one of their drones and their spirit, and here they were coming again. He counted back in his mind - four left in the current clip….

[Aria]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

@Al:

Fraggit, bloody ghoul moves faster than a greased weasel…the shot that should have been so satisfyingly on its centre mass is shoved aside by a strength you wouldn’t care to be on the receiving end of.  You can feel its fetid breath on your skin and it is only your preternatural gods' given grace that is keeping it at bay…you need to get some distance on it, fighting this close is going to wind up badly, and from the sounds behind you distance is also something you are running out of…

@Snow Crash:

The gun bucks and roars and one of the ghouls takes an impromptu bath in the hydroponics vats from which it is unlikely to surface…the other barely winces as the bullets stitch a bloody track across its hide…the feral's eyes, though milky white, look hungry despite the fact that the outreaching claws have clearly already been used to ill effect this night…

***
₃₇

[ScytheKnight]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

Baring fangs in triumph Snow Crash ducks and twists, desperately trying to keep his armored jacket between the ghouls claws and his own flesh, seeing a momentary gap he breaks into a run, putting several meters between himself and his attacker, shouldering the bulky assault rifle over his shoulder on the sling as he does.

Having momentarily given himself some breathing room the albino orc suddenly spins, dreadlocks flailing behind him in a spray of mucky water as a hand dives under his jacket, reappearing a moment later with an Ares Crusader II machine pistol in hand, drawing aiming and firing in one smooth motion while still keeping on the move, the grace and co-ordination of this complex maneuver almost impossible to pull off without expensive muscle and reflex enhancement 'ware.

The triple bark of the gas vented machine pistol is nothing compared to the roaring assault rifle moments early but still adding to the cacophony filling the room and making the orcs unprotected ears ring. The din, confusion and adrenalin once again pushing the orc into bellowing obscenities in Or'Zet at his target.

[adamu]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

Al backpedaled in what, as best as he could tell in the dark and confusion, was the only direction without any other ghouls in it. But the voodoo freak, monkeying along the ceiling hanging from the pipes that fed the tanks, stayed right on him. Every time he tried to take a shot it batted his barrel aside, and still somehow found a free hand to take a vicious swipe at him. When Al tried to back up faster, he nearly lost his footing on the muck-covered floor.

Beside him, black coat almost invisible in the gloom, Spike whined in frustration at being unable to reach their foe.

Frantically ducking another blow, Al saw a flash of familiar white out of the corner of his eye. It was another dog, huge as Spike, but this one fluffy and white. The Akita barked, then turned and ran around behind a big tank, one of the only ones still intact after the albino's grenade blast. Without even thinking, Al turned and followed, risking a rear attack in favor of speed.

It worked, he left the mounted ghoul behind, but when he got to the other side of the vat the big Akita was gone. He turned to see the undead creature almost upon him, having gone the short way across and over the huge tank. And in that moment, Al knew why he'd been led here - he raised his weapon and fired, just as the thing was preparing to launch itself at him in a terrible leap. But his narrrow-choked stream of buckshot zipped past the thing's ear and straight into the rusting supporting strut bearing the abomination's weight, and it plunged headlong into the brackish surface of the water, disappearing.

For the moment.

"Snow - pop one in that there tank!"

[Aria]

[Sunday September 15, 2075; Under the Mechanical's Compound, Puyallup, Seattle]

@Snow:

Fragging ghoul had come close to snagging you...you can still feel the tug of its claws in your jacket...fragger didn't like being shot though and as your rounds wing it the bloody thing dives down onto all fours like an ape and leaps behind the dubious cover of one of the vacated tanks...now Al is yelling at you...

@Al:

Hadn't been expecting that had it?  Now if Snow can just end it you can concentrate on helping out the Oni who seems to be holding his own against the three that sloped in behind you...holding his own but not making much headway as the fraggers are crawling all over him.  The sparking wreck of the second drone reveals why you haven't been hearing that particular noise of late...

The voodoo freak thing rises from the turgid waters like something on a bad horror trid...you can feel the hate and the fear emanating from it...frag, you can really feel it...