[The group is currently gathered up on the roof, a few floors above the display floor. There's a helipad up here, and one's actually coming in now.] [Dame Eckerd is up here at the moment, she just finished surveying the security precautions.] [The building is a bit of a spiral (map of the floor you're defending is on the briefing), transparent sides and walls on the lower floor. Pretty good architecture, a few plants in the gabs between the outer and inner walls.] [There's also a Russian guy up on the roof, head of the SCSC.] [August 10, 2020. Time 2300 GMT. Weather clear, bit windy up on the roof. You have a nice view too.] [Start!] * Ari stands near the edge of the roof, looking out over London. She seems unbothered by the wind, as evidenced by the fact that her dark blue windbreaker is unzipped, and its hood is down. * Ari is a fairly-average looking woman in her mid-20's, with hair that's not quite brown and not quite blond, and green eyes. In addition to the windbreaker, she's wearing a gray t-shirt, faded jeans, and sneakers - an outfit familiar to those of you who have been on missions with her before. She doesn't appear to have brought any equipment with her. Good show, you're precautions are all certainly in order. But of course, this is the SCSC, we know our job. * Ben is a male in his late 30s, with greying black hair and a weatherbeaten face. He's dressed in a grey suit and tie, with no jacket over it. The cold doesn't seem to bother him either, but he's got a hand up to shield the cigarette in his mouth from the wind. * Miles is sitting on the railing, his feet dangling and kicking from his position. He's a very young Japanese male, maybe about 5'4", and has a very nice head of combed black hair. His eyes are a dark gold and a little large, with a very happy look to them. The rest of his body is well-built, although it's not really from top physical condition. He just looks really good. He's playing with a bright-white ball in his hands at the moment. * Drew is milling about the rooftop. He had been examining the areas near the rooftop accesses, and is now moving out to the middle areas. * Eckerd for the record is an older but dignified looking woman in a professional suit. * Ben is standing near the doorway leading into the building. * Miles is wearing a pair of black pants and a white long-sleve shirt. He smiles and waves at each of you, maintaining decent balance while doing so. "Hi!" * Ari nods politely to him. "Hello, Miles." * Russian is wearing a heavy looking trench coat, seems armored, he's quite thin, grey haired, has an intense if slightly bemused look about him. * Tim stands upwind of Ben with his hands in his pockets, as a concession to the cold he's added a black jacket to his attire. He's yet another asian teen and doesn’t look at all pleased to be there. * Tim does crack a brief smile as he waves back to Miles. * Miles looks very pleased to be here. * Ari smiles at Tim. "And hello again, Tim. It has been a while since I last saw you." * Ben, for the record, is white. * Miles looks over at Ari, then back at Tim. He stage-whispers: "You know him?" * Helicopter actually starts to land now. It’s a fairly large one with two sets of propellers. Oh! Hey...yeah it has...I'm still getting used to the whole organized thing. * Katherine opens the door to the roof and steps out. She looks to be in her early thirties, with distant gray eyes, dark brown hair pulled back in a braid, and an attractive mix of Caucasian and Japanese features. She's wearing an outfit similar to Ari's: jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt that does absolutely nothing to hide the scar across her throat. * Katherine glances around, spots Tim, and grins. * Ari nods. "We were on a mission together a while ago." She glances around the rooftop and recognizes Drew, then sees the unfamiliar man and the new arrival. * Miles is also, as I forgot to mention, very attractive if you gun for that kind of thing. * Tim goes wide-eyed as he sees who stepped out from the stairs... Oh...shit.... * Miles blinks. "Hi lady!" * Ari walks over to where Ben and Katherine are. "I don't believe I have met either of you before. I'm Ari." She then blinks at Tim's reaction. 'Ben. Nice to meet you.' * Ben turns to face Katherine. Ari...meet my Aunt Katherine...Katherine...Ari. * Russian gives Dame Eckerd a hearty if friendly slap on the back and then goes down into the building, passing Katherine with a curt nod. * Katherine smiles pleasantly. "I wanted to see how Tim was doing." She glances at Tim. * Ari holds out her hand for Katherine to shake. * Katherine takes Ari's hand without hesitation, giving it a healthy shake. There we go. * Ari returns it, then walks over to Ben and does the same. I...seem to be doing all right...staying out trouble now... * Ben has become distracted and doesn't notice Ari. He's looking at Dam Eckerd. * Katherine turns to look in Tim's general direction. "Good. They've been treating you well?" * Eckerd waits a minute to let introductions finish up. * Helicopter finishes landing now, gets a bit windier for a while and then calms down. * Ben turns back to the group. If Ari's hand is still out, he takes it and shakes it. Yes they have, this is only the second time they've called me up though...first one was kind of a mess. * Ari shakes Ben's hand, then. * Katherine frowns. "Really?" * Miles looks at everyone else and waves. He hops down and bows, beaming a smile while he says his statement. "Anno... I'm Miles!" 'Been with this outfit long?' Ben asks Ari. * Katherine waves without bothering to look. "Hi Miles." For about a year now. Have you just joined, or has it simply been a while since your last mission? 'I'm new here.' (Tim really has low standards for a messy mission. :P) 'Who's Anno?' (Messy as in disorganized :P) I dunno? * Miles looks around for an 'Anno'. * Drew himself is a tall Caucasian with gray hair swept back into a ponytail. He seems to be in reasonably good shape It's Japanese. Equivalent to "Um" or "Uh" or other such statements of hesitation. Yeah, we got met by this guy who was from the wrong agency...and then he got kidnapped and we had to go chase down this UFO thing and get him back. (I just want to point out that I, the player, knew what anno meant.) Right, so Ms. Andrews here has been so kind as to provide us with some valuable information on the PK group. I'll trust her to brief you on that. Any questions for me before I go? O-kay. Sounds interesting. 'Yes.' * Ari shakes her head. * Miles nods to Ari, then scratches his head as he looks at Eckerd. "Not now." ^^; * Katherine shakes her head at Eckerd. 'Remind me why we don't just take the Crown Jewels to a location that isn't known to the entire planet. Just for tonight.' Don't think so. ( You have a teleporter. Have him snag them and take off, while the main force distracts them. ^_^ ) (Eh, he might keep 'em.) (Shineys! *_*) (And so would he.) (Dood, there's a small box with my name written on it...I've SEEN it >.>) I suppose any questions about this building can be answered by her? * Helicopter pilot is a woman in her thirties in military regalia. There's a temporary label on the side of the copter identifying her call sign as 'Sandpiper'. ( Wrong teleporter to assign the task, too, then. :9 ) (that was to Eckerd) * Eckerd to Ben. "Stupid political reasons." Then looks over to Drew. "Not necessarily, but we'll keep you in radio contact with the SCSC cheif if there for any questions." * Katherine shrugs. "I'm no expert." 'Right. And why don't we take the Jewels somewhere else, just for tonight, and apologize to the politicians tomorrow?' 'cuz they're being silly. I only have so much clout to burn. * Eckerd walks closer to the helicopter as the door opens up. * Tim shrugs, "I'm sure there's some good reason...and if something does happen...they can be moved later." * Tim eyes his aunt as he says this. 'Yeah, I'm sure they'll crucify you in the House if you save the Crown Jewels.' * Miles waves bye to Eckerd. "Bye!" * Ben turns to Tim. 'Right. We can move them after they're stolen. Brilliant.' (to Tim) You never know * Miles smiles. "Well, if they do get stolen, it'll be our job to hunt down who stole them." (to Eckerd) Safe flying. We'll see you after the thieves are caught Hopefully, they won't be stolen in the first place. * Ben chuckles. (To Miles) 'Ah, that's something I can understand.' * Miles nodnods. * Eckerd shrugs and smiles somewhat at Ben. "Maybe you're right, but I've made my call. I'll trust you can keep me from being genuinely crucified if you fail." * Tim looks at Ben, "No...I meant moving them while they were being stolen...or even better, just before." Of course. * Helicopter door opens and Agent Preston steps out, he's got a box with radio headsets, obvious ones. He's followed shortly thereafter by a pretty woman with shoulder length, full, probably dyed dirty blond hair. * Those with good eyesight can see a male in his forties in a high ranking military garb and a chained bald guy, Drake from Island Assault, in chains. * Eckerd glares at the woman as she passes her. 'Okay, why is there a guy in chains in that helicopter.' Why not? It's all the rage! * Ari blinks. "Why have you brought him here?" * Katherine raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, well... maybe they ran out of cell space." Get your guys in chains in helicopters today! 'Wait, don't tell me. The PM insisted the whole team be clapped in irons, just to make tonight extra pointlessly difficult.' I'm sure whatever information he has could have been relayed to us. 'I take it he's a friend of yours?' Nah, they just double booked the helicopters. (Forgot to mention: Katherine has an American Midwestern accent. She really doesn't sound British. ;P) * Ben, for that matter, also has an American accent. They're here to pick me up, he's decided to testify, I'm here to keep an eye on them. ::she glances at both men in the helicopter before getting on:: (Yeah, well, Miles has a thick Japanese accent. Your point? :P) * Ari shakes her head. "Adversary is more like it." * Ari has a British accent! London, to be more specific, although you've probably noticed there's something a bit odd about the way she speaks. Anno, he's a bad guy? Roundabout way of doing it, but however. Probably. * Woman looks over the group. "Wow, an actual SAB crew. My name's Ceilia, pleasure to meet you all." Great * Preston gives an easy going smiling. "Back on the plane Ceilia." * Tim bows, "Hello, ...and goodbye?" * Ari shakes her head. "I would have left him wherever he has been kept." * Ari nods politely to Ceilia. * Miles waves to Ceilia. "Hi!" I'm Miles. ^_^ * Katherine nods to her. "Katherine. Nice to meet you, though I think the gentleman is ushering you back in." * Ceilia bows politely. * Miles bows politely back. * Ben nods. Big Japanese presence. Who'd have thought. * Millie is now known as Jonathon 'Good eye, lady. I wouldn't have picked them out as Japanese. Coulda been Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese...' Anno... Anyways, thanks for not killing Theo, I've duly chastised him for that silliness, but at least he's got his thesis done. Finally. * Miles looks around a little bit, then back to Ceilia. He would have been better off going into another field of research. * Ceilia blinks for a moment, and then gives a very slight smile. "Oh, I do a lot of international work." * Preston coughs. Quite right anyways, I should be going before they remove me by force. ::she then waves and gets back on the helicopter:: 'I wonder what that was all about...' Bye nice lady! * Tim waves to the departing Ceilia and then turns to Ari, "What was that all about?" * Helicopter takes off shortly after that. * Preston then proceeds to hand out headsets to anyone that needs it. 'I've already got something along these lines.' * Ben takes out it out. 'Will this work?' It's a very long story involving a past mission. He hired some mercenaries that used PK technology, so I would imagine that they are getting more information from him... though why they had to bring him *here* is beyond me. * Miles gets a headset, then looks confused as to what to do with it. "Uh..." Ahh. * Ari takes a headset from Preston. * Katherine takes one. Why not. "In any event, I'd better get to the briefing. I'm not used to doing this, so I expect questions." She pauses as she looks over the headset. "Lots of questions." * Preston puts one on and then smiles over at Miles. "Need help with that?" * Drew takes a headset. He has a little trouble getting it on (To Ari) 'I'm sure it's all explained by political reasons.' * Tim follows Ari to the headset line. * Miles looks at the others who put it on. "I think I got it." ^_^; * Ari puts it on easily and looks at Ben. "But of course." She smirks briefly, then turns her attention to Katherine. * Miles puts it on. "I'm super spy!" Apparently she convinced him to give testimony on countries who bank rolled him. Well some of them anyways. We're done with him and are handing him over to the EU for now. So, shall we head down? [Time: 2330] * Miles nods. "Let's go!" That's as good a place to do this as any. Yes, let's. * Tim puts his headset on, "unless somebody wants to stay here and watch the roof." 'Might be a good idea.' * Katherine puts her headsets on. SCSC will have people up covering the other floors. * Ben puts his own headset on, after adjusting it to work with the others. Good enough for me. * Preston leads the lot of you down the stairs, only a few floors, and if you can't take stairs you're going to have bigger problems soon enough. (No, they're not hard to use. Miles just doesn't... get some technology. ^^;) * Katherine does take the stairs, yes. She likes stairs. * Drew has no problem with a few flights of stairs * Tim walks down the stairs because he's bipedal like that. * Miles walks down the stairs, jumping down the flights given the opportunity. * Ari walks calmly down the stairs. * Ben pulls out another cigarette, lights it off the one in his mouth, and throws the old one down onto the stairs. [Everyone gets to the floor in question quickly enough. There's a good deal of lighting, as well as two sets of backup lighting.] * Miles looks at Ben. "Smoking's bad for you." [The maps in the briefing. The room is really quite nicely made up, and there's an incline towards the middle, to allow better viewing of the jewels.] 'So's taking bullets in the chest, kid, and I've done enough of that as well.' [The white spots on the map indicate an absence of floor. There's transparent walls between the floors and the pits.] * Ben stares intently at the Jewels. 'Five bucks says these are decoys and the real Jewels are safely stowed somewhere else.; [The jewels are there, and they are beautiful.] * Jonathon is inspecting the case and looks up as he hears footsteps, reaching in his coat for a second, then smiling as he sees who's coming down and adjusting his jacket. "Hope I didn't miss too many of the pleasantries." * Tim looks up at the lights, and then walks over and looks down the one of the holes. Not taking that bet. * Miles looks at the jewels. *_* * Ari waves to him. "Good evening, Jonathon." * Tim is very pointedly not looking at the jewels. * Katherine blinks and turns to regard Jonathon. She blinks again, then snickers. * Miles waves to Jonathon. "Hi!" 'So, is he on the team, or a mysterious former adversary trotted out for entertainment value?' He's one of ours. * Jonathon finishes the adjustments on his camera and nods to Ari. "Pleasure seeing you again, Ari." He looks over the group and then settles on Katherine. "Well this is interesting." Mhm? * Tim finally looks up at where Jonathon is standing...and then past him at the shinies. [They are really shiney!] * Miles is suddenly right next to the shineys. Shiiiiney. * Ben notices Tim looking at them. * Ari is not distracted by shiny things! Unless they're shiny computers. * Katherine grins. "Just checking on Tim." She indicates him with a tilt of the head. "You're part of SAB?" (Exactly how much avarice is Tim showing on his face?) * Jonathon sighs and steps aside, unzipping his duffle and pulling out what look to be some metal spikes. "Hold on. I've just got a few more things to put in place." (A bit) I'll take that as a yes. (Miles likes the shineys.) (To Tim) 'Don't try it.' (To Miles) 'You either.' * Ari looks at the spikes. "What are those?" * Tim snorts, "It's not like I'd be able to find somebody to sell them to before I got caught again." * Jonathon smiles at Katherine. "I work with them, yes. You might say it's a coalition more than a direct relationship." Aww, it'd be fun! * Ben shrugs. 'That depends how much you asked for.' These? Laser caltrops. He'd be caught in short order, so it's pointless. * Ari nods. * Tim nods. 'Oh yes. Well if these things have no ready market... Oh, wait, wasn't there just a goddam Ebay auction proving how many buyers were out there?' * Jonathon heads over to the elevators and starts setting them in place. * Miles blinks at Ben. "What else would you do with money?" * Katherine nods to Jonathon, then hmms faintly and looks around. "Anyway. PK Weapons Tech. Is this where I ask what you do or don't know about them, or should I start rambling?" [Time: 2340 GMT] Do those caltrops trigger an alarm signal, or do they injure the person? Anno, what's a PK? Player Killer presumably. * Katherine chuckles. From what I know of them, that's a likely possibility. * Jonathon smiles at Drew. "Minor injury, but not deadly force. It'll make it hard to stand, let's say." * Tim makes a note to go around them. * Jonathon shrugs. "I can leave them out if you prefer." * Drew frowns and says "The less we need to use deadly force, the better." It actually stands for Prudence Kinsha, one of the co-founders. They're based in the States, and from what I'd guess, their primary reason for getting the jewels isn't the money, but rather a technology demonstration. I like my explanation better. I do, too. Huh. * Katherine shrugs. * Ari walks over to one of the elevators, making sure not to get in the way of Jonathon's caltrops. She reaches a hand out and touches the elevator, then jerks it back, as if she'd touched something that gave her a shock. (To Ari) 'What?' * Miles has a small belt pouch as well. "Huh?" He looks over at Ari with concern. * Jonathon dusts his hands after he's set them and looks over at Ari. * Ari shakes her head. "It's nothing. Please, go on. I didn't mean to interrupt. * Tim turns to Ari, "Somethi...okay.." * Ben touches the elevator as well. Anno, okay... * Preston has waves off and heads down. ~So, me and SCSC's Mr. Mironov are available via headset if you need us. I'll handle coordination with SAB.~ (~Radio communication~) [Ben doesn't feel anything odd] [Time: 2350] 'We did disconnect the elevators, right?' * Jonathon heads back to the center of the room. You're expecting that sort of logical action from the people who didn't bother to move these somewhere safer? 'Christ. Is there an actual welcome mat in front of this building right now? And a sign saying CROWN JEWELS HERE, OPEN 24 HOURS?' ~We've put in physical restraints and locked them all down for now.~ * Tim points at the jewels. * Tim blinks...."I take that back." * Katherine looks distractedly out the window. "While they do work on guns - thank you - their primary concern is weapon modification. They're also no stranger to supernatural or magical means of handling things; some of their technology's specifically designed to exploit or suppress weaknesses involving them." * Miles smiles and vanishes. No, I think there's a banner and sign that says that. [There actually is a big sign at the ground floor saying. "CROWN JEWELS ON PUBLIC DISPLAY. 8 AM to 8 PM" Not 24 hours, that'd be silly.] * Jonathon puts on the headsets himself, eyeing past Katherine and half listening. * Tim blinks at the vanishing Miles and then gives his aunt a look. * Ari doesn't seem terribly surprised at Miles' disappearance. * Katherine shrugs, even though she isn't looking at Tim. [Time: 2355 GMT] * Jonathon sighs helplessly. "Waiting is always the worst bloody part." * Miles reappears right behind Jonathon. "Aww, it's not that bad." ^_^ Um, maybe we should introduce ourselves before the theft attempt? * Jonathon smiles and speaks over his shoulder. "That's a good way to get yourself shot." They do a good amount of vehicle work, and I've heard that they've been helping the United States along with optic camouflage. I don't *think* they're at the point where they can make someone invisible while moving, but holding still, yes. Nobody's shot me before... ^^; ...That's going to be annoying. * (To Miles) 'The night's young.' He smiles. * Miles waves at Drew. "I'm Miles, but I think you knew that already." ^_^ Optic camouflage. Interesting. * Miles blinks. "Magic's much better at that, though." Ari and Jonathan, I've met. Nice to meet you Miles (to Katherine) 'Define invisible.' I don't believe the counter will work on that though if it's technological. Still, may make things a little difficult. * Katherine nods, looking away from the window and towards the jewels. "It is. And I'm Katherine Andrews, if it hasn't been caught before." * Drew shakes Miles's hand. Drew's hands have long fingernails * Miles blinks. "Do you mind if I call you Katie?" * Miles shakes back and isn't effected at all by the fingernails. (called flavor text ;-p) A little, but you'll probably do it anyway. 'kay Katie. ^_^ ~We've got some odd movement on the rooftops at the edge of the city. Oh, and SAB HQ is asking whether you want that helicopter support.~ * Ari walks around the room. She doesn't seem focused on anything in particular, but just seems to be glancing around. If anyone can see her face, they might notice that her eyes flash a slightly brighter green now and then. * Katherine glances at Ben. "Completely invisible." * Jonathon smiles and checks his gun distractedly, pulling it swiftly out of his shoulder holster. "Jonathon Marlyne here." He snaps it back into place. (To Katherine) 'Okay, but only in the visible spectrum?' * Ari speaks into the headsets. ~In what direction is the odd movement?~ I guess my introduction will have to wait until afterwards. ~Towards you of course.~ 'FROM what direction?' ~I meant where was it coming from.~ * Ari mutters something about the impreciseness of the language. ~North north east. At current speed, about a minute away.~ [Time: 2358 GMT] 'Altitude?' * Ben draws his pistol. * Miles vanishes again. * Ari turns towards that direction. Hmm... ~Jumping, landing on roof tops, going about 10 M to 50 M above them on jumps.~ * Katherine says, distractedly, "Probably. All right." 'It's a mechanical frog?' Wonderful. A bloody acrobat. Ladies and gentlemen, we're protecting the Jewels from Spiderman. * Katherine snickers. Who's Spiderman? ...Joy. Someone who sticks to walls. (Yes, that came from nowhere.) * Tim speaks to Miles in Japanese, 'It's right now that I'm realizing we have no coordination and know little of each other's abilities.' (And Gryph: I had to abuse it. Katie was *way* too important a figure in his backstory for me not to abuse it.) ~We just got a hit on the thirtieth floor, south side. We lost it but I'm assuming it's not a glitch.~ 'No, no, it's a glitch. Let's just ignore it.' (sarcastic) Something is coming this way. (Hey, go for it, have as much fun as you like...although I'mm now tempted to throw in an older Taki) ~Smart ass.~ (to Ari) 'Where are you getting your Intel?' * Drew steps a few feet away from the others and begins to transform (How would you justify that? ;P) Humanoid. Impressive hardware. Top of the line software. She's really smart. ^_^ (Rapid Transport) * Ari turns towards Ben and her eyes flash yellow for a second. "Call it an affinity." ~Ten seconds.~ Expected. Can you shut it down? I can try. It's better not to ask. (To Ari) 'Well, thanks. That makes understanding our team's capabilities so much easier.' * Jonathon slides his pistol where it's easy enough to grab but grasps his camera first. It would take too long to explain here. 'Reader's Digest version?' She's good with computers. * Katherine eyes that camera. "Jonathon, if you take a picture of me, or mention me in anything, you *will* regret it." Hold on a second... * Tim stands and walks over to one of the walls. * Drew finishes his transformation. Ben's question may have just been answered regarding Drew too, as Drew is now a large, bipedal wolf Oh, this isn't for you, believe me. * Katherine grins. "Good." [Init order!] I can't shut it off! Then we take it down the old-fashioned way. * Tim stares at the transformed Drew and then looks away muttering to himself in Japanese. 'Can't shut what... Christ. Next f***ing mission, I want some clue what everyone does!' [Now officially in Init order.] [Glitch, Ari, Roof Jumper, Jonathon, Drew, Katherine, Ben, Miles, Tim] (Ben's annoyance is not my own, just to be clear.) (I think it's kind of fun not knowing, actually) (We know. It's like when Jason goes nuts! I don't *really* want to kill you guys.) (Ari honestly would have given him more information had they the time.) (Miles wouldn't have. :P) (True, but Drew has discovered that can cause some solutions which aren't... optimal) (Except Marcus!) [There's an explosion from the outer wall on the southern side. Inner wall cracks. Nothing that threatens the building's structural integrity.] (Nono, Jason wants to kill Marcus. I just want to dump him in a vat of purple paint.) (Why purple?) (Why not?) [Oh, and sight checks, HA counts, -4 from night vision.] (Why not yellow?) (Do I win?) (You win.) (Curse you!) [Anyone who makes can see from the north that the roof jumper is getting close. There's a few bits of blue and orange light coming from him.] (>_>) (...I hate you milkman dicy) [Ari's turn!] * Katherine spots him and frowns. "Ari, question. Can you tell *what* he's carrying?" He's out of my range. He will have to get closer. * Ari holds action until he does so. 'There's an explosion on the South Side and someone jumping in from the North?' * Mechalink is now known as MLINK_AFK Three to five of them. Me without my bloody binoculars. (To Kat) 'Which side?' * Jumper gets much closer, is leaping at the building itself. And is now in Ari's range.] [Ari's turn again!] * Katherine grins. "You wouldn't want bloody binoculars. It'd get in the way." She glances at Ben. "I don't know, unfortunately. Just that three to five make up the team." (Are we seeing the jumper through a window or what?) (Yeah) (The walls are solid transparent up here.) * Tim waits to hear what he's got...and if any of it seems to be easily removable... 'So, multiple fronts.' (That's smart of them. They might as WELL have a neon glowing sign. :P) ('And a drive through.') (WOOT!) (Hehe!) (Thanks Dicy) He's in range now. Let me see what he has... * Ben stares at Ari, clearly trying to figure out what she's doing exactly. * Ari looks in the direction of the roof jumper and her eyes flicker between green and yellow again. 'Some sort of... computer telepath?' * Tim follows the bouncing mech. 'And incidentally, anyone but me worried about that explosion on the other side of the building?' Ahh, now I have you. 'Anyone? No?' They'll get here soon enough. * Miles giggles. 'The best defense is a good stand around and do nothing for as long as possible.' Let's see... energy shield on the arm, holoprojectors, lots of sensors. [And as Ari scans, the cyborg bursts through the windows, leading with a large, sparkling, electrical shield on his left arm. He gets through without any trouble and lands on his feet. Means of propulsion seems to be a rocket pack on his back.] I'm worried. There's just nothing we can do about it. * Jonathon smiles despite saying that. Holoprojectors... that means what I think IT means, right? (To Jon) 'Well, we could have... oh, don't tell me, you're an explosion telepath, and it's all under control' [He's a hispanic guy, doesn't look all that buff, although he has heavily integrated cybernetic systems. Looks fairly well armoured in those portions, including chest and most of his legs and arms.] It means make sure you know what you're bloody aiming at. No, I'm afraid I'm not that talented. And make sure the jewels are still there * Cyborg grins "Seven people, my, practically got yourself a justice league here." (Considering he's probably in the room with us about now...We're taking this awfully calm.) [Oh, and face is half covered in the armour to, including a green glowing eye- piece.] [Jonathon's turn!] (Aww, he can see me.) (Isn't your illusion still up?) (Eh... Sure. ^_^) (I had it vanish briefly, but why not? :P) * Katherine rolls her eyes. "Cute." * Miles waves at the man. * Tim grumbles under his breath again, this time swearing fluently in both Japanese and English. * Jonathon chuckles slightly at the cyborg. "Justice league we aren't. Mi-5. Now could you smile please?" He aims the camera at the cyborg and lets the flash go off. [And about now, a translucent figure, apparently a holohram, pops into existence. Girl in her mid twenties, looks to have Japanese ancestry, she's wearing shorts and an oversized AC/DC t-shirt that only hints at her figure.] * Cyborg suddenly scoots forward, closely avoiding the flash. He does smile though. [The frame rate drops on the holoprojection for a moment, and then she pops up next to Jonathon.] Oooh.. What's that do. I'm assuming not a normal camera. Drat. You're just making me waste film you know. [Drew!] * Jonathon smiles. "Sorry to disappoint, love." * Holo for further description, is actually quite cute, but old enough that it melds into a bit sexy. Not Saki, but not too shabby. Well at least tell me if you made it. ::looks down for a moment and then back up:: Or does the Deadly Sun provide that sort of equipment? * Tim blinks. [Both the holoprojected girl and the Cyborg are in the room. The female looks like a hologram and is standing near Jonathon. The male is a cyborg and is a bit of about 5 meters away from her.] [Drew charges at the Cyborg, who brings up his shield in time to absorb the attack without blinking. Drew by comparison gets a nasty electrical shock.] [The shock actually does penetrate his skin, though he's feeling a bit more weakened then actually hurt.] * Ben glances at his gun. 'Okay. Doubt this'll do much good then.' 'Anyone here got a strong aversion to being around an exploding grenade?' [The shield is literally a shield, to be clear. About the size of an old school circular sword fighting one.] [It's made out of energy rather than wood though.] (Buckler, Greg ^_^) (Buckler is smaller) (Ah, So a small wood shield) (Anything else from Drew?) [No, this is a big one. 1 M diameter. :P] [Katherine!] (or more accurately is choosing to not get shocked again... for now) * Katherine looks like she's considering something, hands folded behind her back, and then she focuses on the cyborg. "I do." At those words, an extremely strong wind forms around her and rushes towards the cyborg and the window he just broke. (DR1) (There we go. ^^) [Cyborg gets knocked back, not too quickly, apparently he's pretty heavy. He is actually knocked back over the edge and falls briefly.] * Holo girl vanishes and reappears at the edge. "Wow, guess I overdid it on the light alloys, well, he'll be alright." [Only the holo is visible at the moment. Although there's a hole in the outer wall on the south side, and the inner wall is looking pretty weak.] [Ben!] * Ben approaches the edge, leans right through Hologirl and looks down. [Ben sees the Cyborg rapidly ascending from a few floors down, you can attack.] (How close is he? And how close are people behind me?) [The Cyborg is 15 m down. And everyone else is at least 2 m away we'll say.] (*snerks* Yeah. We've got a Katherine and a Ben... and a Katherine and a Ben. ^_~) (Confused yet? I'm not!) [Anyone staring at the south side can make a sight roll. +5 penalty. HA counts. Alternately make a smell roll.] (Heh, no.) (I'm looking at cyborg guy, so I don't think that counts, does it. ;P) (Nope. :P) (So am I. Darn it.) (We're all fixated on your windy prowess.) (...one of these days I'm going to get this right, but for now I fail) (You ask way too many questions. ~_^) (Not that that's a bad thing.) *Ben takes out a grenade and holds it out. He's doing a mental calculation, and will pull the pin but not drop the grenade, timed to explode just before the cyborg reaches him. [Miles and Drew smells someone on the south side.] ([He smells bad.]) (Soul roll to hold your lunch!) (Hey, I thought only I did that!) (Poor Ryan ^_~) (*sniffle*) (What happened to Ryan?) (He needed a soul roll to hold his lunch ;P) * It is a standard concussion grenade. [Tim sees someone on the Southside, wearing a suit that's blending with the background. Not perfect optic camouflage or anything, just black on black] [Miles] (And how close is this mystery smell to the south) [Ben's still holding the grenade.] [On the outerwall you think.] * Ben pulls the pin as soon as he calculates the cyborg is in range. Well, just before. Timed to go off as soon as... And he's not holding closed the handle. Looks like we've got more over here. May have been the explosion * Tim nods, "He's pretty hard to see, give me a sec and I might be able to fix that." (greg: I may be taking longer than my turn here... Tell me when it should explode.) (You are. That's why I've moved on. I'll post you.) (It'll happen after Tim goes) * Miles puts his hands out and a ball of fire appears in it. He hurls it towards the person that's trying to hide but doing a really bad job. Another fireball appears and goes at him from another direction, though... 'Everyone else might want to get back from me!' Duly noted. Got it. * Katherine nods. * Drew nods (Both accurate. ^_^) [Two fireballs fly at a figure that's now outlined by the flames on the wall.] [He's apparently a fairly short person, like less than a meter, and you here a muffled stream of profanity.] ...That works too. [Tim!] [He actually manages to scoot out of the way of the fire fireball, but the second one gets him.] * Miles smiles. * Tim glances briefly at the jewels and then concentrates on separating the new guy from his nifty invisablish clothes. Impressive. I'm guessing that's magic and not a cool toy or anything? Hmm.. think it's time to get backup. * Katherine rolls her eyes. * Ben, presumably, is pulling the pin right about now. The grenade will go off quite shortly. After Tim is done. * Guy manages to resist the theft by force of will. Close though. Bastard. (Oh Ben, give me a demolitions roll. -4 bonus against your mind stat.) (To get the timing right) (That makes it) [Ben times the pulling right, and the cyborg comes up even with him at just the right time. Ben give me description of how he acts right then] * Ben is holding out the grenade in front of him. As mentioned, the pin is out and the handle is released, and it's about to go off. He continues to hold on to it. Just before it goes off, he smiles at the Cyborg. 'Bye.' * Ben, of course, was still standing at the edge. (Aren't we supposed to try and take them alive?) (But it's so difficult!) (Yes? ^^;) (We get more money that way) (That was a mission goal, yes. Ben is deviating from it.) (And they're taking the windows out of our paychecks ¢.¢) * Cyborg gets an "Oh shit look" right about then and brings his shield in front of him, although the blast just goes around it. He's blown back out through the outerwall and looks like he's hurting but still quite alive, armor apparently helps. What you get for careless vandalism. [Ben also gets ripped up, looks like he suffered more and has a rather nasty flesh wound.] 'Screw the windows. I'm going to have to buy a new suit.' * Holo glares at Ben. "You'll pay for that." Yes, well, I thought deadly force was a last resort... * Jonathon scratches his head and shrugs. 'Is he dead? No. Ergo, I did not use deadly force.' * Katherine peers out the window. "I'd hate to break this to you, Jonathon, but that isn't very deadly." I'm not going to argue with the guy with the grenades. I cannot argue that point. * Ben pulls out a cigarette, his old one having been blown away by the explosion. 'Anyone here got a match? Or pyrokinesis?' (Ben needs to meet Jason.) [Right about now, two double bladed hand axes fly in from the outer window and shatter the glass on the inner window. One of them hits the visible Miles straight on and goes through him. The other one misses the origin of the other fireball.] [The figure jumps over to the inner wall, but scurries up a bit, so he’s currently hanging on the inner wall, above your floor, and the ceiling blocks your view of him.] [Ari!] * Ben notices his arm that had been holding the grenade has basically had all the skin removed and is mostly exposed muscle and bone. 'Huh.'' * Katherine glances around. Wah! * Jonathon turns towards the axes and sighs dramatically. "This makes 3. Four if the hologirl counted." ~Five. We just got movement from the Thames. Something big, damn big, three stories tall.~ I'm willing to bet she's Prudence, or at least a likeness of her. Aren't you? Yes. Oh I wasn't doubting that. I thought it went without saying. * Jonathon smiles. "Thus, I didn't say it." (Reply to typo: 'From the Themes? Like, coming of age?') * Katherine grumbles, "She's much too annoying not to be." (HA.) (Ha!) * Tim turns to Katherine, "...My parents aren’t going to show up are they?" Hell no. 'Who the f*** is Prudence? And why the f*** does SAB's briefing policy seem to be 'let them figure it all out on their own while fighting for their lives'?' * Prudence smiles. "Pleasure to meet you, except not really. Should I know you?" * Miles giggles. "This is fun!" * Katherine tries to track the person in the ceiling. "You're stuck with me. And I already explained, if you cared to listen instead of complain, Ben." 'Oh, wait, the P in PK?' * Jonathon sighs a little and glances at Ben. "Certainly. You try gathering all the information you can within a day's time and see how far you get." Less than a day actually. (I didn't really expect Ben to be this grumpy. :) ) * Ari stares in the direction of the cyborg and her eyes flicker once again. 'By the way, just in the interest of practicing what I preach, I should probably note that I'm pretty tough to hurt.' * Holo jumps over to Ari. "You a techno-mage or something? Hector thinks he's warding off an attack right now." Well, that's annoying. No mechanical weak points. Damn straight there aren't! Anyone else getting bloody irritated that we're being analyzed? * Miles frowns. "Yes." * Jonathon glances at the holo, and doesn't look very irritated. He's still smiling but looking at her with cold grey eyes. (Can someone throw her a DR?) (Still failed, but without all that potential messy backlash.) [Ari gets owned.] * Ari ignores the holo-girl. Her eyes flicker from green to yellow to briefly red, and she grits her teeth. (Harr! Hect0r 0wnz j00!) (Heh. Guess what.) * Holo is staring at Ari. "It is you, isn't it. Those are modem eyes! Freaky. And did you really think you could beat him that easily?" [Cyborg hits a different building and jets up to it's roof. He doesn't have time to jump back yet.] [Jonathon!] * Ari eyes the Holo calmly. "Failure isn't usually an option." * Jonathon sighs and points the gun straight at the holo figure. "Would you quit bloody taunting us with information? Better tell your friend to duck." He fires his pistol and the bullet goes through the hologram to hit the other side, bouncing off that wall to the opposite wall. It then bounces off that and heads for the guy who's scurried and hiding behind the ceiling. 'No! Taunt us with information.' (...Nice one) (^_^) (Hell yes.) (Nice.) (Hehe.) * Holo smirks. "Failure an option for for him either. Huh, you can't shoot me, I'm a... oh.. watch out Hobbes!" 'Taunt is with detailed 'explanations.' * Hobbes grunts off screen before he gets warned. Uh, sorry. ~Uh, you guys may want to look out the west windows. If you aren't otherwise occupied~ * Ari looks out the west windows. * Katherine glances. 'Of course we're not occupied. Why would you think we were?' * Jonathon peeks at the west window coolly. His aim is still steady on the holo- figure though. * Drew is going to check that the jewels seem in order, and take a sniff in their direction. * Ben turns to look. (Sight check. -4 bonus from night vision) * Tim doesn't spare an eye from the hard to see guy. * Miles glances in that direction. (Voot!) [Anyone who makes that sees a three story tall green gentlemen, bit bent over, humanoid but not really human looking. He smells strongly of river water.] [He's got something big on his back, looks like a gun.] [Military science (hardware recognition) check if you made the sight check. Also Occult (witchcraft or mythology)] * Ari blinks. "This... could be bad." (Ari is the only one who made that, right?) ( So, you guys wish you had a ninja yet? :P ) (I made it ^_^) ( I want a ninja! Ninja are cool! They flip out and kill people!) 'But you have to wonder, with hands that big, how it can pick up those little jewels.' It doesn't need to if it can smash the bloody case and let someone ELSE pick them up. That gun on its back would be a Howitzer. Very, very capable of blowing through a building. 'Fair enough.' 'But that would destroy the jewels.' * Holo jumps over to Katherine. “Actually I got the idea from Terry Pratchett. Not so big into comics.” Well that...complicates things. * Tim does turn around at that..."..." (Not having paid attention to that threat until the word "Howitzer") Oh... [Current situation: Big green guy coming from the Thames coming closer, Cyborg out of the tower but coming closer, Hobbes is above you and out of sight on the inner wall] [Prudence is hanging in the main area, and still quite a hologram.] [Drew] (To Tim) 'You remember saying that it would be a good idea to get the Jewels to safety when things start falling apart? I think that's happened.' * Drew decides to try to go for the guy who had the axes. Running towards the wall, Drew scrambles up to him with a set of "triangle jumps" and tries to rake him. (Oh, he's still partially cloaked, give me an extra +2, blind fighting helps) (Night vision or whatever?) (I need to stop saying that, he sends me his help file when I do x.x) (don't have blind fighting, but other senses should cut it) (or not matter at all! ^_^) (Night vision doesn't make him instantly visible) (I wasn't sure how your cloaking worked, so wanted to check. ;P) * After clawing with one arm, Drew attempts to pull him down to the floor level where everyone else is * Hobbes manages to rapidly move to the side, avoiding the claw. (penalties to the grapple?) (since he's moved, you don't have the blindfight penalty anymore.) (To Tim) 'So, did you have an actual idea how we'd get the Jewels out of here in the middle of a combat when you told me not to bother beforehand?' * Tim nods, "I've got a way...it's just not going to make some people happy with me." 'Yeah, well, the giant green guy probably wouldn't have loved you anyway...' (eww..... if that's what I think it means ^_^) (...) * Drew almost suddenly connects when Hobbes rapidly drops drops down two floors and catches the wall again. (It wasn't intended as innuendo, honest.) (Two floors, he's below you but still out of sight) * Troll trudges closer, moves fairly slowly, but given the size of his legs he still covers a few blocks in that stretch. SHould easily reach the base of the building next turn if he wants. [Katherine!] * Katherine watches the mess with Hobbes, frowns, and jumps out the hole the boys conveniently made, dropping down a floor. She hovers there, pushing a hand towards Hobbes as another wind picks up, hopefully shoving him into the wall he's clinging to. (So Katherine and Hobbes are outside the building now?) (We're between you guys and the outer windows.) (There's an air gap between the outer wall and the inner wall. The white area on the map) (Oh Right. I see it.) * Hobbes tries to get out of the way, but gets caught just before leaving the area being blasted with wind, seems all that dodging is finally catching up with him. He's now slightly pinned. [Ben!] (How far away from Ben is the Cyborg? Can I shoot him?) (We'll say he's in short range. So yes) (Okay, thanks.) * Ben aims his pistol at the Cyborg, trying to line up a shot around the energy shield. * Prudence walks over to the case and seems to be making a few measurements. "Friendly word of advice, I'd recommend not being between my large green employer and the case." [Ben misses.] * Ben's shot goes wide. [Miles] * Miles vanishes. 'Employer?' * Tim shrugs. * Prudence twirls her hair with one hand as she closes her eyes and thinks for a minute. "Oh, yeah, Hector and I are just here to demonstrate the tech, we're giving our share back to the Brits. We aren't thieves." * Prudence then nods. "That should do it." (To Prudence) 'You might want to check the OED on that.' [Tim's turn coming. Probably immediately. My bad.] [Tim!] * Prudence shrugs. * Tim looks down at his aunt and then rubs his right wrist. (And holds his action untill RDM remembers if he can get it in right after the big greens next turn or not) (Big Green! It's SHOW TIME!) (That was bad, Z. ;p) (Cast in the name of jewels, ye not... um...) (Ye not sparkly?) (Not enough syllables.) (Cast in the name of Jem, ye are guilty) (Give me another ranged attack roll Katie to hold Hobbes. It's opposed.) (to Ari) 'You getting any tech vibes from big 'n' green?' * Hobbes had been pushing against the wall, but he lets up with his left hand and suddenly rolls to the side, escaping the wind, he then immediately kicks off the inner wall and as he jumps to the outerwall, a double bladed axe appears in each hand, and he launches both at Katherine. * Rowyn is now known as Jonathon * Ari looks at Ben and shakes her head. "He's strictly organic and mechanical. No technology at all." 'Mechanical's not technological?' * Katherine blinks and drops her hands, letting the wind drop with it. A gale springs up around her instead as Hobbes tosses those axes. Not electronic, then. Nothing I can work with. * Hobbes lands on the far wall. He glares at Katherine as he fades from view again. [The two axes are picked up in the wind, but they were moving damn fast and were seem strangely sharp. Katherine gets two nasty nicks before the wind pulls them away.] (pretend I said something slightly better here, I'm not all here right now >.>) * Ben looks a bit bemused at Tim's expression of concern, seeing as how Tim's previous attitude towards her was wary at best. * Katherine grimaces and nearly falters out of the air as she grabs at her forehead. "What the hell?" [Ari!] * Jonathon is still looking calmly out at the giant contemplatively. No wonder he's been unseasonably quiet. * Ari looks at the group, then motions towards Hector. "Try not to damage him too much, please?" She then runs towards the hole in the wall that he made when he last exited, growing more and more transparent as she goes. When she reaches the edge, she fades completely. * Tim blinks and shakes his head. * Ben watches Ari run up to him and fade just as she passes him, since he's still standing on that edge. (calling after Ari) 'Hey, if he wants to surrender quietly, fine. Otherwise, no promises.' You're certain he's organic... * Prudence then blinks and stares at Ari, for a moment her image flickers on and off a few times. * Hector stays over on the roof for now. [A moment later, Prudence's hologram resettles at a higher resolution. It's a bit off to the side and smaller now. [Switch to Hector's Head to see what's being broadcast the hologram) [Jonathon!] (Prudence is projecting for thoes of us watching at home) * Tim glances at Prudence's show, but keeps his eyes on mostly on the big guy. * Grysar sets mode: +v Ari * Ben is watching the genuine Hector, not the representation of his inner workings, gun still at the ready. * Jonathon frowns at that. "Anyone good at getting me within close range of that bloody troll?" 'Not me, but I still haven't got a clue what anyone else here is really capable of.' * Tim shakes his head again, "Sorry, you'd need my mom for that." I think I might be able to try something...it'll be tricky though.. [Drew!] (to Jonathon) I probably can (the troll is straight down, correct?) (He's still about three blocks way, but at this angle, that's close to straight down) * Jonathon nods. "I don't know how long it will last. Hopefully long enough for me to attempt to dismantle the howitzer.." In the meantime, we can...um, perhaps try and find a way to capture him? I'm lost on how to go about that but I'm sure a solution shall provide itself." * Drew is going to go over to Jonathon and hoist him, if he Jonathan lets me * Ben pulls out three grenades. 'Consider it provided.' 'Oh, wait. Did you say *capture*?' Well...I was attempting to find a non-lethal method... Though I rather doubt those will be very lethal.. * Jonathon smiles sheepishly. "Our orders WERE to incapacitate rather than destroy, were they not?" 'It depends. If I can get them inside it somehow...' We'll just roll with the punches then, shall we gents? * Tim looks interested, "Now that...That I can do." * Drew picks up the reporter, tells Jonathon to hold on tight, and richochets down the stairwell. 'Our orders say we get paid a bit more if they're alive, but both are acceptable. I say we can spend the money better if *we* are alive.' (To Tim) 'Do tell.' (Body roll drew!) It's a talent. (done) * Drew manages to leap down the stairway pretty damn fast, he's most of the way down now, but since it's slower than leaping out the window, he's not there yet. [Troll!] * Troll takes a shot, a SABOT round flies through the air and into the jewel case, easily through a wall, and hits the case, a green field shimmers for a moment, and then vanishes, and the glass cracks. Still intact for the moment, but certainly can't take another hit of that caliber. The shell falls to the ground. (To Tim) 'Get the jewels out of here NOW.' [Tim!] * Tim shrugs and snaps his fingers, "You know, If I didn't value my continued freedom so much..." (Tele-theft! what're the penelties?) (It's a victimless crime! Except for the victims) (The field might block teleportation...) (+8, and that's only because it has sustained serious damage) (But the field is gone!) (It got broken by the shot) (I think) (Nah. It just got through the FF.) (There's some backup measures, hene +8. Before primary field fell, it was simply impossible) (It's still there, I think.) (To Tim) 'I didn't say I wanted you to keep them!' He aims his gun at Tim. 'Seriously. Don't.' * Miles speaks from the three corners of the room in unison. "Awww, he won't keep'em!" (mhm, the sweet scent of DR) (Ding!) (Bling Bling!) (Hooah!) [Jewels vanish] [Katherine!] [The nature of the wind gust around Katherine seems to change slightly.] (To Tim) 'Good work.' 'Just remember not to get too attached to them.' * Katherine pulls her hand away from her forehead, scowls at the sweat she finds there, and snaps her head up to glare at Hobbes. The axes whirl around her faster, now, and shoot out of orbit... to the poor, not-so-innocent wannabe thief (who isn't Tim). * Tim would bow, but his turn is over. * Hobbes handily dodges them both as he leaps into the central floor. "Not bad, but not good enough lady." [Ben!] * Katherine watches him dodge, trying to ignore the urge to collapse. "We'll see." * Ben hands a grenade to Tim. 'You said something about being able to get one of these inside Big 'n' Green. If you get a chance, take it.' * Tim takes it and nods. * Ben once again tries to line up a shot at Hector. [Hector's defensive systems are apparently still active, although he's not moving otherwise, he brings the shield up, the bullet hits the shield straight on and flies back at Ben, who needs a dodge roll.] * Ben watches in disbelief as the shot is reflected straight back at him. * Ben takes his own shot right in the chest. [Ben takes a bullet in the gut, not pretty, but prettier than that grenade hit.] [Miles!] * Ben's new bullet wound doesn't really stand out from his grenade shrapnel wounds. He doesn't flinch. ... 'Note to self. The gun doesn't f***ing work! Remember that. Right.' * Miles appears in two locations, chanting something. (By the way, the grenade Ben passed Tim was probably covered in blood, since he held it in the hand that had all the skin blown off.) * Tim is holding it at arms length then. * Miles finishes and two portals open near Hobbes, spewing out a huge mess of vines in a small spread, which are attempting to grab Hobbes and hold him down. * Hobbes manages to make a roll and avoid the plants that are reaching for him, close though, he starts running around the room at high speed, like motorcyle speed, not human speed. [Tim!] * Tim pulls the pin out of the grenade with his free hand and then snaps his fingers again. * Ben's attention is caught by the portal of vines. 'What the Hell...?' * Katherine is now known as IdleKatherine * Hobbes gets stuck next time he runs into the plants. "Fucking hippie office buildings with they're girlie plants. Kill 'em all I say." (another DR!) (You teleported a grenade and missed... This will not be good) (It goes boom somewhere outside.) [Grenade blows up near the gun, thankfully people had been running away from the giant troll, so there's no real collateral damage, but apparently close doesn't always count in hand grenades.] * Cyborg keeps standing still. * Ben's attention is elsewhere, so he calls, 'Did you get it?' (*snerks*) [Jonathon!] Damn it he move! 'F***.' [Jonathon has not yet reached ground floor.] * Jonathon keeps his camera in hand and looks at Drew. "I'll get one shot before he does...hopefully it's the shot that counts." (holding until after Drew gets him to the bottom) [Drew!] (Body roll to get out there in time. -2 bonus0 (yay!) [Drew gets out of the building in time, but that's his whole turn, he's down at street level now about one block away from the Troll.] [Jonathon!] * Jonathon smiles. "Good timing." He brings up his camera. "Hey, you. Big, green, and smelly. Smile." He takes a flash shot of the jolly green giant... Jonathon, anything you think I can do to help? * Troll had been moving to put another shell in his howitzer when he suddenly freezes. If this works, get me on top so I can try to dismantle that bloody howitzer. [Katherine, whose turn I'll be taking.] * Jonathon smiles at the troll. "Perfect pose. I like it." * Katherine flies back in the room and loose glass flies around as the winds continue to circle around her, she then sends the gale force winds full force against Hobbes, who, being entangled, doesn't have so much luck with the dodging and his slammed against the outerwall. He looks fairly hurt by that. [Ben!] * Ben casually tosses one grenade, unarmed (!) to Tim. 'If at first you don't succeed...' * Ben then pulls the pin on the other one and hurls it at Hector. 'Try, try again.' 'And, apparently, again and again. F***.' * Tim gives his aunt a sheepish grin and the fumbles to catch the grenade, "Hey, be carefull with these!" 'It's unarmed.' [The grenade lands somewhere in London, not reaching the building where Hector is standing.] [Miles!] (Eh, there's plenty more London where that came from.) (Dood they're taking that out of our paycheck!) (Are you going to make that comment IC? Ben can reply to it.) (No, Tim's to buisy realizing his reflexes might have blown off his hands) (Back!) [The grenade suddenly bounces up as it flies down on the city, it explodes some distance above the town.] (Good) (You're turn. :P) (What's the situation?) 'What the...?' That was too damn close. What the fuck? Could you not rain grenades down on the city! We're not trying to reenact the Blitz here! * Tim eyes the grenade in his hand and decides to go for a different approache. * Miles chants again, holding a small white ball in his hands. Both of them. The same portal and vines appear, attempting to entangle the troll. "Don't go anywhere, okay?" ^_^ (Yay! I made that roll!) (Yay!) (Yay!) [The troll isn't moving, so he's entangled.] [Tim!] * Tim carefully runs over to where he can see the troll from, snaps his fingers again. (la la la I spent too many points on DR) (You need to spend more?) (not that they help >.>) (DR only helps if you don't have +5's ^^;) (Yeah. You're trying some pretty complex stunts...) * Tim grumbles about this being so much easier when things arn't moving. (See, what you SHOULD be doing is teleport into the troll, pull the pin, then teleport out.) (...no) (Eew.) (And...uh, moving? What's moving?) (It's not moving!) (That would require a level of extra attack I don't have) (Troll is twice immobilized ^^;) (leave Tim to his dilusions >.>) (It's not moving. Just grabbing the ammo from this distance requires precision.) (Nope. I entangled it. It is not going anywhere.) (And the vines should make it harder for it to do anything, too. Tangle is your friend. ^_^) [The trolls briefs are removed and appear on a nearby roof. Dang it Tim, nobody needed to see that!] (... Greg! >.>) (._.) (AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! >_<) (Uh, Miles. Troll isn't going to be able to even untangle for a while ^_~) (*dies*) (...) (...if you need me, I'll be over there, scrubbing my mind with steel wool.) (Eh, coolies. ^_^) (I KILL YOU!) (How appropriate.) [Hobbes struggles ineffectively against the wind. He tries to launch a series of three shots at Katherine, but none penetrate.] * Tim facepalms. * Cyborg doesn't move. [Jonathon!] * Jonathon blinks at the lack of briefs, then looks the troll over. "I wonder..." He searches for any crags and such that he can climb to get up to the howitzer. [Sure, with a climb check] (And a Remain Sane Against The Odds check...) (Does he count as a "natural structure"? ^^;) (laughs) (He counts as "troll without briefs".) (hopefully he still has his pants on >.>) (Sure, I'll say natural) (To Hobbes) 'Huh. You can still shoot? And here I'd thought you were out of the picture.' (.....) (Someone DR him?) (Borrow one of mine.) (Jonathon climbs. And falls on his butt. Oww.) (What was Hobbes shooting? A gun? More axes?) (More axes) [Jonathon starts climbing up and then feels his feet slip about halfway up. No problem he's an experienced climber, he just grabs a nearby vine, which grabs him back, leaving him entangled. But he doens't fall! [Drew] Great... * Drew delays (Yeah, but still shooting) [Katherine!] * Jonathon hangs from this, then smiles nervously as he laughs from his hanging. "Well, this is a predicament. I guess Ehioze wins sometimes..A little help would be appreciated." [Hobbes had been in the vines, but now he's against the outer wall, a few of them still cling to him, and he's being pinned by the wind.] Okay! ^_^ (Is anyone standing near Hobbes?) (no, he's on the outerwall now, cause of the wind. He took some of the vines with him) (To Jonathon) Try to get you out or try to get the gun? * Katherine smiles thinly at Hobbes, the axes speeding up again. She's paler than she was before, and sweating rather heavily, but she speaks calmly enough anyway, "Some advice for you: Know when to quit." Two out of the three shoot out of the circle and wing their way to Hobbes. Me. The gun should be simple enough that I should get to it..although... * Jonathon smiles. "I'm not sure if luck is on my side today." [Drew ending his delay] * Ben gives a half-smile. 'I'm impressed.' (This comment occurs immediately after what I presume will be the two axes slamming into Hobbes momentarily.) [Hobbes is now pinned by an axe by on an arm and an axe to the leg. Nasty looking but probably not fatal wounds. "I'll get you soon enough you fucking flatulance flinging freak!"] * Tim winces as they hit. 'That's no way to talk to the lady. I say that not out of any sense of antiquated chivalry, but as sensible advice. She is probably going to kill you, you realize.' * Tim nods. That bitch is no lady! * Katherine rolls her eyes. Maybe I should aim the next one for his face so he'll shut up. * Ben sighes. 'I tried to warn you. Remember that.' He looks at Katherine and adds, 'Do you want me to have a crack at him, or would you prefer the pleasure?' * Drew cuts the vines off Jonathon without any trouble. * Katherine looks over to Ben and smiles pleasantly. "Feel free." * Tim holds up the grenade, "Go for it." Though I don't think he's going anywhere. No need to kill him unnecessarily. Unless he speaks up again. Then do it. * Drew hoists Jonathan up to the gun * Ben considers his gun and grenades. 'I'm really not sure what kind of middle ground I've got here, so far as killing Shorty is concerned...' * Miles giggles. [Ben!] * Ben aims his gun at Hobbes' head. 'You really should have just kept your mouth shut.' [Ben fires but he misses because he fails to compensate for the wind that is helping to hold Hobbes in place.] "And you should learn to shoot asshole." [Miles!] 'That's it. That is f***ing it.' Ben pulls out a grenade. * Miles glances over at what's going on in the robot's head, and quickly entangles the cyborg. "Don't get hurt Ari!.." [Cyborg gets entangled, he's in no position to dodge, although he cuts away some of it with his shield.] [Tim!] * Tim rubs the back of his head, "you'd think one of them would have noticed by now...and as for you..." * Tim points at the man his aunt is holding against the wall with the grenade, "would you give it up already?" [Hobbes can't do much.] [Jonathon!] * Jonathon mutters a bit under his breath. "I really didn't need that.." He goes back to smiling as he takes out a swiss army knife and gets to work on taking apart the howitzer. (mechanics roll (weapondry or whatever) +4) (DR1) (...DR2) (Made. Yay for that ^_^) [Jonathon manages to deactivate the gun.] ~You got it? We can take over from here, so long as he can't whipe out half my force with that damn artillary piece.~ [Meanwhile the cyborg's shield goes down and he hangs limply in place.] ~Yup! They're all held up.~ ^_^ (sight checks anyone) * Jonathon smiles and flips the knife back in his pocket. "Faster than I thought. They just don't make howitzers like they used to." (Nightvision count?) (Yeah!) (o/~) (Poo.) [Everyone who makes notices that the area all around the cyborg is shimmering. And by all around I mean in odd oblong shapes, up to about 30 ms away.] 'Well, that's probably not good.' * Jonathon replies back over the sets to the Russian. "The artillery is taken care of. And I don't know how much longer he is out, but he should be child's play from here." * Ari reappears on the roof next to Hector. She looks curiously at the odd shapes. * Tim looks at the projector. * Ben chucks a grendae at Hobbes. [The grenade bounces down the gap and does a nice bit of additional property damage. At this point SCSC guys starrt appearing on the floor. Enough, we got him.] * Ben is just about to pull a pin on yet another grenade, but stops. * Tim eyes Ben, "That's enough with the grenades." * Miles glares at Ben. Wow. Kid's glaring at you. * Katherine lets the gale drop, along with the axe, and sort of stumbles before she ends up on her knees, clutching her head. "Tell me it's over." * Hector is suddenly lifted about 3 ms into the air, into a one of those shimmery bits. 'I tried the gun. Didn't work...' * Ben mutters, 'Not like this was a covert mission...' * Miles vanishes, appearing next to Ari and looking at the vanishing bot. "Ooooohh. I guess that's not good?" * Jonathon climbs down from the gun and winces, looking up at the blast, speaking back over the sets. "I hate to be a disparager, but was that really necessary?" (DR!) * Tim huries over to his aunt, "The fightings over...but there's still something weird going on." * Ben holsters his gun and puts away the grenade. 'And not all of us have offensive superpowers, you know.' * Miles hugs Ari, probably breaking her concentration. "You won!" * Ari looks at Hector as he goes, eyes flickering rapidly from green to yellow to red. Then she stops and sighs. And is hugged? * Prudence's bike decloaks for a moment and she weakly grins down at Ari. "Look forward to next time. And stay the hell away from my boy." * Prudence then revs the engine. * Miles blinks... You keep him away from us, and we won't have any problems. * Miles chants and attempts to entangle Prudence's bike. ~_^ (Hearing checks! HA doesn't count. HS is a penalty) (... Ow.) (Nope.) (Yes.) (DR1, since this'll hurt, I bet.) (Err, right.) (Yesh) (*snicker* I'll keep it.) (Still didn't make it.) (I'm made it...Dang it Katie's the one who's sposed to get deafened >.>) [Those of you who fail don't manage to cover their ears in time to block out the nice sonic boom. As Prudence speeds away. And, well, she's out of sight.] * Ari looks down at Miles and blinks in surprise, then looks up at where Prudence was. "Next time should be even more interesting, I'd imagine..." * Tim takes his hands off of his ears and looks down at his aunt with a stunned look on his face. * Katherine grimaces and ends up falling the rest of the way to the floor, trying to (belatedly) cover her ears. * Miles looks up at Ari, with a worried look as he can't hear anything right now. "What?" * Ari shakes her head. "It's nothing." * Jonathon takes his hands away and finishes hopping down the troll, slipping his shades over his eyes as he looks up at the speeding bike. "I hate bloody posers..." * Ben didn't bother covering his ears. * Drew is going to have some ear-ringing for a bit. Thankfully, he was 40-odd floors away and probably on the other side of the building [End!]