Zenvisk fires a bolt of stunning energy at the head thug, catching him in the breast. He keeps on keepin' on, advancing towards Amaryst as SAM's laser flies harmlessly past.
Rollo steps out from behind cover and fires at the lead thug, but he is too cautious and doesn't leave himself enough swivel room to really target the thug.
As K-Van continues to hide, the two rifle-toting thugs in the back point and fire at Amaryst, who is not in cover. One shot is absorbed harmlessly by her armor while the other hits her in the hand, discharging an electric shock up her arm that leaves it numb momentarily.
Outside the alleyway, the thug advances thirty paces toward Cross, releasing a bolt of energy as he goes. Cross sidesteps the blast.
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"Your surname would not happen to be 'Smith' would it? Maybe 'Garcia' or 'Lee'? I was hoping you lot would look like feds with a car like that. You can at least have a fed's name," Cross said, not even glancing at the thug's weapon.
Emily stood her ground, but didn't dare move any closer. The head thug was the only one close enough for her to focus on, so she glared at him and let her power swell, before unleashing another blast of psychic energy.
Maldor creeps slowly forward to a spot just behind Emily and opens his hands as he thrusts them towards the thugs. A small, spherical, floating wisp made of pure bluish-white light and energy rushes towards the face of the lead thug, temporarily distracting him!
MLE fires another blast of psychic energy at the next thug, but he manages to grit his teeth and resist the worst of the mental scarring. Meanwhile, Jin's shotgun blast is ineffective, failing to penetrate the man's armored blazer. Despite Maldor's burst of light getting in his way and distracting him, the lead thug steps forward right up into Amaryst's face.
"Hah!" he shouts, as he heaves a heavy blow at the lashunta. He connects with her chest, and the big gauntlet he wears lets out a 'bvvvvt', releasing a sonic wave into her. Amaryst can feel her ribs creak under the force.
Adrenaline takes some of the sting out of thug's blow. Amaryst steps back with her right foot, crouches, covers her ribs with her left arm. Her right winds up to pistol whip the thug.
...
But it's her left hand and cestus that drives forward in a short jab to the thug's face. The hand pulls back into a guard position.
"Come on then!"
Amaryst slugs the man in the face, leaving his nose bloody and his frown even deeper. He grunts with pain - he seems to be slowing down a bit.
Extremely confused by the glowing light that was produced by one of Jin's companions, Zenvisk nonetheless continues to target the yellow thug.
They will then send a quick command to SAM to switch targets to one of the rear thugs.
SAM, ordered to switch targets, will turn her laser gun towards the new target.
Zenvisk and SAM open fire on the thugs, both of their shots finding their mark. Their targets stay standing, though.
Growling, Rollo steps out to let loose a spray of fire from his rifle at the thug in combat with Amaryst. His two shots hit the thug in the collarbone and the belly, drawing a spreading bloodstain. The thug leader grunts and falls to the ground, dead.
The two remaining thugs continue to fight, although they're starting to become unsure about their odds of success. One of them shifts forward to get a better look at Zenvisk, returning fire at the shirren with his pulsecaster rifle while the other moves closer to Amaryst, getting on the other side of the same trash bin from some of the party so that they can't easily fire at him. He fires at her with his pulsecaster rifle. Both of the thugs hit their mark, sending a numbing pulse of electricity into Amaryst and Zenvisk's bodies.
Outside, the thug threatening Cross charges at him, though Cross is ready for the thug's attack is easily able to sidestep the big man's clumsy cestus blow.
[ooc]Rollo deals 11 damage to the Yellow thug, KOing him. Amaryst takes 3 damage and Zenvisk takes 5 damage. The Party is up.
Amaryst glances over to Rollo. {Thanks. Next?}
Not again! Amaryst seizes up momentarily from the shock of incoming fire. Then her gun levels at a remaining thug, aiming low at his midriff. As she squeezes the trigger she is pleasantly startled by the thought that if she misses, the thugs' car will backstop her slug.
...
She follows up the shot by dashing forward, intending to draw the thug's attention from her friends, and make firing his weapon cost a price in pain.
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Jin growls slightly under his breath as Amaryst charges into the fray and races after her, levelling his scattergun against the two remaining thugs and unleashing a storm of steel pellets against them.
Now that it was down to the killing, Cross focused in, trying to get a good slash in with his knife.
Emily stayed behind Rollo, as the other two thugs came within range. She knew her psychic buffer was wearing thin, but less than half their foes were down -- now wasn't the time to hold back.
energy As the leader of the thugs falls, Maldor sends the wisp of light and energy flitting towards the thug in the alley (not behind the dumpster), lighting the area up and harrying him.
He also aims his own pulsecaster pistol at the thug and fires off a sonic bolt!
Jin, Amaryst and Maldor open fire on the thugs, scoring two hits. MLE focuses her psychic power on one of the thugs in cover. He is unable to resist her energy and comes down with an immediate aneurysm, falling to the ground with dark blood bubbling out of his nose, ears, eyes and mouth.
Outside, Cross tries to trick the thug into letting his guard down, but the thug capitalizes on Cross' clumsy technique with a cestus blow across Cross' shoulder. The cyborg drives his knife into the thug's midsection but finds resistance in the man's armored blazer.
Carefully aiming at the last remaining thug in the alleyway, Zenvisk fires with his pulsecaster pistol at their central torso..
Zenvisk will then send a quick order to SAM, telling them to shoot at the remaining thug before moving to see if they can help out the person outside the alley who the last thug is targetting.
SAM will continue to target the thug.
She then promptly skitters off towards the end of the alleyway, staying on the top of the building.
Zenvisk hits the thug with a burst of stunning energy, but the thug stays on his feet and starts to stagger towards the entrance of the alleyway and their car. "Hey!" he calls, "They're too strong, Smith! We've gotta get out of here!"
Rollo steps out from cover to try and hit him in the back as he flees, but the man's armored coat protects him, though he staggers from the force of the bullet impact as he flees. The man reaches the end of the alleyway and pulls open the door on the thugs' SUV. He starts to climb in...
Outside, the thug fighting Cross tries his best to knock the cyborg on his ass before needing to flee, but Cross is able to dodge the man's blows, using his superior reflexes and mechanical body to avoid harm.
Seeing the thug turn to flee, Amaryst redoubles her steps and swings her battleglove clad left at the back of his head.
...
"You should be running," Cross noted, darting in with his knife after the man's brutish blow failed to land.
Amaryst hurries after the thug, but her armor slows her so badly that she could never catch him in a footrace. She steps to the side so that she doesn't block her comrades' lines of fire while she pulls the grenade off her belt. Slowing slightly she whips the grenade toward the man and his car.
...
Emily watched the last alley-thug retreat and half-considered joining the chase -- but he was out of range of anything else she could do. She looked towards K-Van and thought it was best not to leave him alone anyway. She jogged back to the boy's side, and held out a hand for him to hold. "They're retreating," she told him. "Amaryst and Jin will get him, and I think Cross has the other one. You okay..?"
Mal joins Emily with K-van, his pistol still in hand. "Are you OK, Em?" His look conveys his concern for her, and not just for her physical well-being.
If she seems to be holding up, he will go to check on the rest of the group and do what he can to heal their wounds.
Knowing that they won't be able to do much from over here, but also not wishing to make themselves a target, Zenvisk will take a pot shot at the thug from their current position.
Mouthparts clacking in frustration at thier miss, they then quickly change SAM's orders, telling them to target the thug's SUV, specifically the tires or engine.
Giving a faint mechanical sigh at the change in orders, SAM will aim her laser pistol at the tires of the SUV.
Amaryst hurls a grenade into the fray as Jin, Zenvisk and SAM continue to fire at the thug. While Zenvisk and SAM's bolts of energy fly off into open air, the combination of the grenade explosion and Jin's last shotgun slug fell the blue thug and cripple his car.
After being stabbed by Cross and watching his ride get crippled, the last thug takes a step back, drops his pulsecaster, and looks Cross in the eyes. "I give up," he says. "Please, please don't kill me. I swear I won't tell no one!"
In the distance, you can hear police sirens headed in your direction. Setting off explosives in the city center must have attracted 911 calls.
Cross picks up the pulsecaster and glances towards the coming sirens as the thug tries to make eye contact with a featureless helmet. They did not have time for a proper interrogation. It was suspiciously good response time for this part of town.
"Who do you work for?"
Grab what you can and get moving, I'll take care of our loose end here.
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Jin runs back down the alley, grabbing the sonic gauntlet and pulsecaster off the fallen leader and then begins to shepherd Zen and the psychics down the alley detour to the other exit ”We need to get out of here now, before the police arrive, I’m really sorry but come on” he says as he grabs the Shirren’s arm and pulls him along.
Jin begins to push the group the rest of the way down the alleyway. With the police incoming to a violent crime and murder, they all know that they don't have long to make themselves scarce and get some distance from the crime scene. What will they do?
Zenvisk will attempt to break into a car in order to escape. Putting their arm against the driver's seat door lock, they extend a thin tool from their wrist into the lock. Clicking the door open, they reach inside and extend a different tool into the ignition.
Popping their head out from the inside of the car, they speak aloud to the group. "Anyone here know how to drive?"
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Jin slides into the driver’s seat and after the others pile in, drives away, making sure to keep a low profile as they slip past the cops and make their way to the docks in the stolen car, slipping through back routes and alleys provided by Cassius to shake any other potential followers.
”Zen, not to sound ungrateful because I truly am and I am sorry about this whole situation but what are you doing here?” he asks exasperatedly to the bug-man.
With their powers combined, Zenvisk and Jin pile everyone into a nondescript Mitsu-Toyota, which Zenvisk can easily hotwire, and rumble away before the cops arrive on-scene.
Cross is able to wait until they get close and then race off on his motorcycle. The cops are busy with other things, and don't give too hard of a chase.
Shifting on their seat, Zenvisk turns their multi-faceted eyes to quickly glance at the other occupants of the hotwired car before replying to Jin's question. "Well, obviously I am looking out for one of my few friends on this miserable husk of a planet."
Turning to look at the two humans in the car, they quickly raise their hands in what they hope is a reassuring gesture. "No offense to either of you, but I have not particularly enjoyed these last 10 years.
As for why I came out to find you," they turn to look back at Jin, "It is all because you missed a game that we had scheduled for two days ago, the day after that raid downtown. You never responded to any of the messages I sent to your home, so I decided to go and check it out myself. So yesterday, I took one of the city buses over towards your place, but once I got there I saw what appeared to be several government looking officials moving about inside. That was when I got really worried about you."
Pulling out a small datapad, they wave it slightly as they continue "Early this morning, I came across a couple of threads talking about a race that was going to occur later that night. Knowing that you often went to them with your other friend, Amaryst, and so I decided to see if I could find either of you there." Glancing in her direction, they query Amaryst "I presume that you are Amaryst? Jin has mentioned you a couple times while we were chatting online. As for the rest of you, I don't think I have caught any of your names."
Emily had turned about in her seat to watch nervously out the back window of their stolen getaway car. She was glad the fight was over and the police had been evaded, but the event had driven home the danger they were in.
"No offense to either of you, but I have not particularly enjoyed these last 10 years.
"Me neither," she mumbled, and slouched into a more comfortable position. "I'm Emily, this is Maldor," she answered Zen's question, but wasn't presumptuous enough to introduce anyone else.
Replicating the sound of a sigh when the thug does not give him an answer, Cross shakes his helmeted head. "You're lucky I'm working for someone with principles," he noted, and shot the thug in the face with the confiscated pulsecaster pistol before mounting up. He chose his moment well, waiting for the first cops to show up before he sped off, leaving them to try and scramble after him and deal with the mess.
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"Sorry about that Zen, i had to run in a hurry and didn't really have time to think about it. Impressive sleuthing though." Jin replies to the shirren "I'm... kind of trying to get off planet. Things aren't safe for me here anymore. If you want to come we could probably take you, but it's your choice ultimately. As for explanation, I'll answer anything you ask man, sorry for the firefight that.. could not have been a worst way to meet up to be frankly honest." the witchwyrd continues to ramble on as he drives towards the docks, three hands on the wheel and one on the gear shifter.
Turning to look back at the two humans who have been introduced, they continue, "Greetings Emily and Maldor. This wonderful individual, by the way, is SAMANTHA." This is said while Zenvisk gently pokes SAM in the side. "You could at least say hello."
Somewhat shyly waving her multi-digited hand, SAM speaks up in Common. "Hello. You can call me SAM if you wish."
After the thug doesn't give up his employer, Cross puts him on the ground with a pulsecaster bolt. Cross easily outpaces the cops on his drive out of the area.
...
Pulling out a small datapad, they wave it slightly as they continue "Early this morning, I came across a couple of threads talking about a race that was going to occur later that night. Knowing that you often went to them with your other friend, Amaryst, and so I decided to see if I could find either of you there." Glancing in her direction, they query Amaryst "I presume that you are Amaryst? Jin has mentioned you a couple times while we were chatting online. As for the rest of you, I don't think I have caught any of your names."
The female lashunta sighs tiredly from her spot in the back corner of the car. "Yeah, I'm Amaryst."
Her head falls backward and her eyes close, but her breathing does not change to the deep slowness of sleep.
Nodding in Amaryst's direction, Zenvisk turns back to Jin and begins speaking quickly. "I won't say no to getting off planet. It's just... What do you mean, things aren't safe for you anymore? Does this have to do with that raid? How are you planning on getting off planet?"
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”Yes it has to do with the raid, those thugs were our first run in but if we stay there will be more. As for getting off-planet, we have a ship.” Jin explains as he passes along a much more in-depth silent telepathic message across the still open link {About 19 Years ago I got mixed up in some government black-site stuff, those kids are the result. Human psychics. And more powerful than anyone could have believed. The raid set them free and I can’t let the SolGov treat them like animals again. So we are getting off planet.}
{Humans with psychic powers? What can they do, wiggle stuff in the air with their minds?} Zenvisk sends a sense of amusement and disbelief across the telepathy with that last statement, but then his antenna stiffen slightly. {Wait... that ball of light that the boy put out... and that... is that what they can do?} The that is sent with a mental image of blood pouring out of the thug's faces.
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Jin winces visibly when faced with the mental image of Emily’s handiwork and he replies {Not the original intention, but yes. I was one of the ones who, for lack of a better word, created Emily. As for the older boy, he must have been a test subject of some kind, since his age predates the earliest MLE’s by quite a while. I haven't been able to run any checkups on the younger one yet.} his mind wanders slightly before reorienting towards the original question {But they weren’t supposed to be like this! Emily’s powers were meant to be for translation! Empathy! Diplomacy! Not this.. this.. fighting!} he continues as Zen can feel Jin’s anger beginning to seep into his words {They could have built bridges, but those bastards tried to turn these children into weapons. It’s despicable.}