[Bewilderbeast]

Hawkeye

Ensconced in the utter silence of her perch, Hawkeye continued to monitor the squatters. After staring at them long enough, she could see they were all huddled in rows, disassembling electronics assembly-line style. Suddenly the line of squatters began glancing over their shoulders and talking excitedly to one another,  though they're too far away and speak too rapidly for Hawkeye to read any specific words on their lips. They stand and sprint deeper into the bombed-out department store, cutting off her line of sight to them. She can see Robin, however, in the rubble-strewn remnants of a parking lot. Still no sign of Kynos or Fenris.

Kynos and Fenris

Nothing immediately happens, though Fenris can hear loud footsteps echoing  from inside the building before he darts away.

[Jack_Spade]

Kynos hated waiting, so he activated his microtranceiver and for good measure his commlink for Hawkeye's benefit and spoke:
"Ok guys, this isn't doing anything for us. I'll go over to the front entrance and start a little distraction. You two use that to get in by the backdoor or climb up to the roof. I'll circle over to the front so Hawkeye can give me cover fire.
If you have a better idea, speak now, because I've been here all day and those guys just don't leave this fucking building. It's up to us to get the ball rolling."

[Herr Brackhaus]

Fenris shifted ever so slightly to get a better view of the rear entrance as he knelt behind a ruined wall, and activated his micro-transceiver to reply to Kynos. "Hold; we've got potential hostiles coming out the back, Kynos, and I heard heavy footsteps coming my way. Wait until the rest of the team gets here and Hawkeye gets a chance to check her messages, unless our target just happens to walk out into the open."

[Jack_Spade]

"They better hurry up then. We really need to find a better solution for communication with Hawkeye. How hard can it be to find a speech to text adapter for a micro transceiver?"
Kynos exchanged the APDS magazine with the standard ammo and readied his rifle once again.
"We really should get a Matrix specialist of our own."

[Blueclaws]

Robin continued to move along the south side of the tenement building through what appeared to be a rubble strewn parking lot. Moving as quickly as he was able with out making an unnecessary amount of noise. Looking for a covered position he stopped, sending a reply to the team. <<I am moving up along the backside of the tenement building, should only need a few moments.>>

[Bewilderbeast]

OOC: 8 combat turns pass before anything even remotely interesting happens. Let me know if anyone is deeply not okay with their character standing watch (for Fenris or Hawkeye) or just moving to their stated, desired positions (Robin and Kynos) and we'll retcon. But just trying to keep things at a reasonable pace. Since I never specified it before, the department store is about 500 by 300 feet, with the western and eastern sides being the longest. Kynos, please specify how close to the western wall your character is as you move along it.

Fenris
An agonizing period of time passes as Fenris watches the northern doorway for any signs of movement. He was certain he heard someone, but no one emerged from the doorway for nearly thirty seconds. Suddenly, however, Fenris senses movement... a small black shape sails through the evening air, flying from the darkened interior of the department store. Something about the lobbed trajectory of the object unsettles Fenris, though he doesn't feel the need to retreat as it comes nowhere near him. A grenade? Whatever it is, Fenris can hear it plunk softly to the ground near the fallen ork girl.

Fenris doesn't have time to react before the device suddenly erupts in light. A blinding white blink of white-hot light illuminates the north side of the building, then disappears, leaving only an afterimage of the tiny black object sailing through the air buzzing through Fenris' eyes. The moment it seems like Fenris' vision is about to adjust, the light erupts again, dazzling him a second time. And a third, and a fourth...

Hawkeye and Robin
Over the next few moments, Robin and Hawkeye are able to watch a large number of squatters vacate the visible sections of the department store. They appear to be retreating further back into the building instead of coming out into the street.

[Jack_Spade]

Kynos noticed the flash pack - how could he not - but didn't stop moving. His flash compensation and the range from the grenade was enough not to hinder him to much.
"Keep moving boys, the flash pack has only juice for 30 seconds, so if the opposition wants to use its effect, they will have to make an appearance soon. I'll get into position to gas the back entrance."

[Herr Brackhaus]

"Incomi..."

Fenris' whisper was cut off as the blinding light caused him to avert his eyes for a moment. The second and third strobe quickly had him divert his vision from the doorway and focused on his immediate surroundings. "No hostiles spotted; they just threw out a damn flash-pak" he subvocalized to his team.

He grimaced when Kynos mentioned gas. "Dammit, I knew I should have picked up that gas mask. Oh well, live and learn."

[Irn0rchid]

Watching the movements of the squatters in the building, Hawkeye starts to get a bad feeling, "What has Fenris done this time?" Considering her actions carefully, she decides the situation has become ambiguous enough that she needs to take a risk and check in with the team. Making sure her 'link is still set to run silent, she turns wireless back on and immediately receives the prior messages sent by the team. "So much for stealth..." <<I'm getting lots of motion on the south side of the building. Looks like everyone is taking cover deeper in the store. If you're going to enter from the north I wont be much assistance untill you get to the second floor. I can make sure noone interesting leaves this way though, and if you need a distraction, let me know. I'm leaving my commlink on since this seems to be coming to a head.>>

[Jack_Spade]

"About time - yeah, I'll be covering the north side. Between the two of us we should be able to stop any escape attempt - also while those pretty lights are dazzling us on the west side, keep an eye to the east. If it was me, I'd use this distraction to get someone out on that side."
Kynos sent back

[Blueclaws]

Robin sat crouched near a small pile of rubble on the western side of the tenement building seeing the messages that where being relayed back and forth. There was lots of movement inside that building at the moment, no doubt due to what ever trouble Fenris was causing on at the north end. Robin takes a moment to consider his options, there wasn't much he could do from this vantage point. <<I'm going to make for the southern entrance of the building, Hawkeye, keep a look out for me in case I miss something. One more body moving around inside should be easily missed especially if they can't see me.>> A grin spread across Robin's face as he considered what he was about to do. Years of practicing his magic made calling on the aide of his mentor spirits power easy enough. This spell was a little different though, he actually had to bend the physical world around himself to hide in plain site. He could feel the the energy rebound slightly as he cast the spell and the astral energy concealed his physical form. Robin grimaced slightly, he was used to it by now. The sapping of his energy, not always did the power come freely, there was usually a cost. This time it was minimal, but it could quickly add up if he wasn't careful. Concealed from sight Robin slowly makes his way towards the southern entrance, it was still a ways off but he didn't particularly want to be surprised by anyone.

[Bewilderbeast]

Kynos and Fenris

As Kynos rounds the corner, he can easily spot the winking strobe of the flash-pak. Soon after it lands, the hulking form of a dusky troll follows after it, clutching a submachine gun in his left hand. The troll dashes out of the northern exit, then bends down to scoop up the fallen ork girl with his right arm.

He’s exposed, with no real cover beyond the jarring lights of the flash-pak. Kynos almost snaps off a shot out of pure instinct and reaction, but before he has a chance to the sound of a chattering assault rifle erupts from that northern entrance. Bullets pop and ping as they collide with the dusty ground and the remnants of distance buildings. Whoever is firing appears to be doing so from inside the cover of the doorway, providing covering fire to the troll trying to reclaim the paralyzed ork. Liberal quantities of bullets sail over Fenris’ head, but it seems the crumbling pile of bricks he has taken cover behind is holding. Kynos, for his part, is completely out of the line of fire.

[Herr Brackhaus]

"Suppressive fire!" Fenris shouts into the micro-transceiver over the sounds of fully automatic fire aimed in his general direction. He briefly pops his head out to get a better look and smiles as he looks into the hallway behind the troll picking up the downed ork girl.

"The guy firing that assault rifle looks like our troll, crooked horns and all. Kynos, if you read me, gas 'em!" He mentally prepared himself to move as soon as the firing stopped, hoping to circle east under cover of darkness and take his opponents by surprise once Kynos' gas had dissipated.

[Jack_Spade]

"I'm on it"
Actually, Kynos had already pulled the trigger before Fenris had called out. This wasn't his first urban combat scenario. The range finder in his gun had pinpointed the location of the door a while before, but Kynos took the time to carefully aim before he hit the trigger.
In a textbook precise parable arc the grenade flew just inside the open doors and exploded into cloud of white, faintly greenish gas.

At once he slipped to the next cover and changed his aim at the troll, that had come to save the ork lady. What a lovely gesture...

[Bewilderbeast]

Kynos and Fenris
Kynos watches his recently acquired mini-grenade reach its mark, rebounding ever so slightly off the exterior wall before exploding in a beautiful 4th of July-like plume just outside the northern entrance. Between the strobe from the flash-pak and the capsaicin-laced foam everywhere, the north side of the department store had suddenly transformed into the world's shittiest warehouse rave. Pepperpunch shellacked the poor unconscious ork girl and the troll stooping to help her up. A jet of burning chemicals even penetrated into the building, the northern entrance-way channeling the foam like a chimney and spraying it all over the second troll who was shooting at Fenris.

The doorway, and the potential target firing vaguely in Fenris' direction deep within, was now obscured in a haze of burning white mist. Bullets continued to zing and ping all around Fenris, but either the troll firing didn't know exactly where he was, or he was an absolutely terrible shot.

Robin
[OOC Note: Not sure exactly where you are, but this is what you will eventually see provided you continue into the building from the south side.] As he approaches from the street under the veil of his magic, Robin can soon see the interior of the first floor in a little more detail. Lines of commlinks and electric parts crisscross the massive, empty selling floor of the former department store, the various electronic wreckage arranged in piles. It looks like the squatters were sorting, dissembling, or otherwise tinkering with them. With the southern and eastern exterior walls destroyed, the south eastern portion of the first floor is exposed, and seems to have been treated like a porch by the squatters. Robin can see old flowerpots used as ahstrays for synthcigs, some couches that seem to have been exposed to the elements, things like that. The north eastern corner of the interior is largely deserted, consisting of an expansive selling floor peppered with a half dozen support columns keeping the second story aloft. Faint LED track lights and cheap Christmas lights are strung up along the ceiling of this northeastern quarter of the building, but it seems devoid of any metahumans.

Along the largely intact western interior walls, Robin can see rows and rows of scattered and rusted metal shelves. With the sun rapidly setting outside, it is quite dark here on the ruined first floor, and it's tough to see the northwestern portions of the store, shadowed as they are by the second floor still hanging precariously overhead.