[Señor T]

As Cal leaps towards cover on the same side of the street as the building with the shooter, he sets his matrix broadcast to the secure team channel. >>Shot fired. Shooter in the building opposite. In pursuit. Kumiho, take cover now. Tanya, Early Bird, get your hoops over here pronto! Report status on interior. Continuing to pursue until I hear otherwise. I suspect a lone sniper.<<

Everything flowed around him, and it felt right. He knew there'd be at least two targets, likely. Two of his team members or two detectives, and judging from the lack of simultaneous attacks like at the temple, there was only one sniper here. He just hoped they hadn't taken out John or Calico.

Remaining under cover as much as possible on his way, he heads toward the nearest door to the building where the shooter is.

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya hears the message and mentally calculates the time it would take to reset the harness before shaking her head.  >>Earlybird, get down here so I can unhook the rope.  There is not enough time to get me hooked back up.  I need to remove the drop rope so you do not snag it on anything.  I can make my way out there on my own.<<  She considers an option then adds, >>OK, call me crazy.  What if I fashion a foot loop in the rope and you sort of tow me there?  You would have to be high enough to carry me over any obstacles.  Would that hurt your maneuverability too much?  Completely your call as I do not know squat about flying.<<

[Poindexter]

>>Shot fired. Shooter in the building opposite. In pursuit. Kumiho, take cover now. Tanya, Early Bird, get your hoops over here pronto! Report status on interior. Continuing to pursue until I hear otherwise. I suspect a lone sniper.<<

Tanya's feet have just touched the landing pad light as a feather when the message comes in. A split second later,

>>Earlybird, get down here so I can unhook the rope.  There is not enough time to get me hooked back up.  I need to remove the drop rope so you do not snag it on anything.  I can make my way out there on my own. OK, call me crazy.  What if I fashion a foot loop in the rope and you sort of tow me there?  You would have to be high enough to carry me over any obstacles.  Would that hurt your maneuverability too much?  Completely your call as I do not know squat about flying.<<

<<@Tanya [Earlybird] Wiz. Hold on tight, ma'am. I'm gonna be flying real high, hoping to avoid any undue attention, so holler if the air starts getting too thin.>>

<<@Team [Earlybird] Acknowledged. ETA: 4 minutes. Try and mark a good drop spot for Tanya before I get there. Also, if anyone's got a camfeed they can send me, I'd be much obliged.>>

ETA subject to change by GM, as I actually have no clue. I just wanted to put a figure. Once I'm corrected, I'll change the message and erase this spoiler.

A moment later, he's pushed the throttle all the way down and is whipping over the city at far higher than recommended speeds. Since the very first time he ever jumped into a chopper, he'd been utterly in love with the sensation. Sure, your traditional rigger talks all day long about the feeling of the asphalt under their rubber and all, but for Eugene's money, he'd always believed those poor bastards were missing the forest for the trees. Nothing compares to the feeling of flapping your four metal arms in a circle and frakking flying. NOTHING. The sensation of the air whooshing through his gyros, and the sight of the city laid out below his super HD eyes... He simply feels like a superhero when he's jumped into a bird. And of all the birds he's flown, this little refurb former secforce Wasp he's in right now is the quickest, most maneuverable, and overall zippiest bird of them all. It damn near feels like a part of his body when he's not even jumped in sometimes.

Eugene doesn't really imagine he'll arrive in time to help with the engagement, but hopefully by the time he does, there won't be too many bullet holes to patch up.

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya hollered all right.  >>Wait a fragging few seconds so I can get a couple of loops set.<<  Even as she is talking, she quickly fashions a foot and hand loop and steps on while putting her arm through the higher loop before calling up to Earlybird to take off.  The sensation of riding tucked under the helicopter had been exhilarating, but was nothing compared to that of dangling almost 200 feet below the machine.  At first, she twisted quite a bit, but after some experimentation with putting an arm and leg out to the side, she was able to exert a bit of control.  The thought went through her mind that this was as close to flying as any person was likely to get without using a spell.  She resolved to look into that sky diving school that had been advertising on the trid lately. 

[Stoneglobe]

As the sound of breaking glass and the thump of what I can only assume is a body hitting the floor fills the air my reflexes take over. Bursting towards the door marked Hodge's I shout "Get to the side. Don't open that door." at the pretty secretary.

[Jayde Moon]

Cal opens the door to the car, scanning.  A few other pedestrians on the street heard the shot as well (as it were) and scurry out of the way.  Looking up, Cal can see the end of a barrel in the second story of the building across the street.  It's approximately 25 meters to the door of the building.

Calico rushes to the door and unleashes a blast of energy, smashing the door open and showing a surprised deaf, he looks up at Calico and reaches into his desk drawer.

John shoves the pretty secretary to the side as he pulls out his gun and runs into Hodges office, seeing the work laying on the ground, a small pool of blood rapidly spreading.

[trv123]

Time freezes for Calico.  *He is reaching for a gun, he thinks I'm the enemy!* she realizes with dread. In a fraction of a second, a multitude of options are examined and rejected.  Put her hands up in surrender, and mouthe the words "get down, there's a sniper"?  He'd be dead before she got two words out, assuming he could even read lips. Tackle him? Yeah, right.  Knock him out with a spell? Too risky, she might not drop him in one.  And then she had it.

Ducking behind the safety of the door frame, she ethereally reaches out, touching his mind and implanting a thought there, one she hopes will save his life. ~Oh shit, this young woman is trying to tell me there's a sniper trying to kill me.  I should hit the floor now!~

As she peers around the door frame and waits with bated breath to see whether Benson will drop to the floor, she wonders idly if she's ever used that particular spell to tell the truth like that. She doubts it.

F5 Influence: 14d6t5 4
Drain: 15d6t5 3

[Señor T]

Cal smirks as he notices the barrel. He quickly spots the door to the building and runs for it. As he moves, while his eyes flick back and forth between his path and the window where the weapon was, he opens a channel to Kumiho. >>@Kumiho [black_thorn] Kumiho, get me as much recon on this building as you can. I'd love to have a floor plan or any camera feeds you can find.<< He sure hoped there wasn't a back way out of the building. Second floor... a jump out a window wasn't out of the question either.

Upon reaching the door, he throws his back against the wall next to it, hand hovering over a flash bang waiting a couple ticks for Kumiho's reply. It feels like an eternity, but he reminds himself that it's just the spell.

[Jayde Moon]

@ Calico

The dwarf's eyes widen and he looks out the window before the glass shatters and he takes a bullet in the shoulder, spinning him around.

"Graagh!!! he shouts out as he tumbles to the ground.  From her position peeking around the door frame, she can see that the dwarf is very much alive and probably still in danger of being shot.


@ John Chance

John rushes in and up to the window, peering out while taking cover.  He sees another flash of light and hears glass breaking in the next room, as well as a cry of pain.


@ Cal

<Team [Kumiho] Yes, moment!>

Cal rushes across the street quickly sprinting and slamming into the door and through.  The glass actually breaks as the mercenary leans against the wall.  There is a stairwell going up as well as down.  Half a flight down, the stairs end in a metal door.  Half a flight is the first landing with doors to either side.

[skulldixon]

Pighting!

switching into running silent, Kumiho beings to mentally access the host of the building that Thorn ran into. First he scopes out what he can see of the building before taking the plunge and hacking his way into it. Though once inside he will seek out the Layout first and then the buildings cameras.


Matrix Perception: 8d6h5 4

Hacking on the Fly: access: 14d6h5 4


I'm also going to have my Agent keep scanning the area for Hidden ICONs. Do you want me to roll for that?

[Jayde Moon]

Cal pushes himself up the stairs, reaching the door he suspects that the shooter is behind.

Meanwhile, Kumiho quickly places a mark onto the buildings host.

[Stoneglobe]

Slamming against the wall by the window I can feel the weight of the Colt in my left hand. Damn. Bring a pistol to a sniper fight why don't you John. Seeing the flash at least gives me some idea where the sniper is. The rapidly spreading pool of blood definitely indicates that Hodges is beyond my ability to save. Calico better be having more luck with Benson.

[Jayde Moon]

As Cal reaches the door, he readies his flashing as he tries the handle.  He notes it's unlocked and consider his next move... open and toss?

Meanwhile, Kumiho manages to place a mark on the host of the building.  Seems it's a general host for the security of the tenants.  His next step will be to find the blueprints... or maybe determine what hidden icons are around.

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya has figured out how to gain a measure of control over her orientation and is nearly mesmerized by the view of the sprawl from her vantage point.  She has never seen anything so wonderful.  She intuitively knows that one wrong maneuver by Earlybird could slam her into a building or mimic a chees cutter and slice her in two by allowing her to run across a power wire, but that is part of the thrill of what she is doing.  Part of her mind is listening to the chatter channel on her cybered commlink and she is concerned for the safety of the rest of her team, mentally urging the Wasp to arrive in time to be of assistance, but very aware that the fight will be long over by the time she and Earlybird arrive.

[Jayde Moon]

Cal opens up the door and tosses in the flash-bang.  Flash out he mutters over the subvocal, tot he rest of the team.