His senses fully absorbing the situation, Shimrod follows Forge's lead and falls back, his face still expressionless. He will allow his superior to exit first, should she so choose.

   The civilians remain hiding under their tables at first while the lieutenant drinks and Van leaves the bar. One of the men slowly crawls out from hiding, trembling with his hands out in front of him, he slowly makes his way for the exit, waiting to see if Drano will kill him too (at which point he would dive for the floor).

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   The driver responds to McCloud "We don't want MORE dead bodies... your people took first blood. Now get in the fucking truck and we will finish this. But don't think for a second we won't blaze you both down if you try to fight, run or call for help. I am sorry it has to come to this..."

The mother and her toddler walk away quickly and disappear into one of the homes.

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   Forge and Shimrod both leave the establishment, with the leader turning to glare at them just as they leave. They can see the small gathering at the intersection with the vehicles and the audience. Dyvalis and Squad Two are just on the east side of the intersection. The troops bash out windows, and some climb up onto the roof. They don't open fire but they do take aim.

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   Their are no visible leaders or officers among the armoured troops at the intersection. One of them is indeed a Cyborg (German Man Hunter), all are armed but no weapons are aimed until Silvermasque approaches. 'Masque suddenly has several rifles and energy cannons pointed at him as he walks up to a group of five on street-level. One of them yells out "Stop right there asshole!"

"Hey!" McCloud replies hotly, "We ain't killed anybody!  We just got here, for christ's sake!  And we ain't going anywhere.  You seriously don't know who you're messing with, sir." There's no hint of threat in McCloud's voice, just simple explanation.  Thinking quickly, he hits the chin stud in his helmet that activates the radio so the rest of the unit can hear this.  "We're not some group of bandits from out in the wilderness and most of the guys I'm with have only one response to aggression: overwhelmingly inappropriate return of violence.  This ain't a threat, it's a warning.  Get out of our way, let us do what we came here to do and nobody else needs to get hurt."

 Two more strides follow the threat - not enough to actually bring 'Masque up to the group, but enough to make it clear that he's responding to 'good manners' rather than naked threat without pressing too close to the five-man fireteam. Once again he then spends a few moments pointedly not responding as he taps ash from his cigar and examines its progress... and only then addresses the group directly.

 "Boys and girls. You are having very many guns - is being enough guns to be turning me into greasy smear, I am sure. Now I am having less guns - but they are being very big indeed." - he doesn't really need to indicate the Glitterboy hunkered down in cover at the end of the street or the massive grenade launcher he's toting like an assault rifle to refine his point, and so he doesn't - "So let us be pretending that I am all scared and you are all intimidated and we can move on to important question. How is it that you are seeing this going?"

 In other words gentlemen... what is it that you want out of this stand-off, and perhaps - just perhaps - how can I help you get it?

Amy looks equally confused as McCloud at the man's words, but lets her companion speak for them both.  Instead she glances nervously around for a good way out and watches the men.  Deciding right then that if they go for guns instead of their shock batons she's getting herself and McCloud out of there.

OOC:

So the guys out of the truck have shock batons, are there any guys on McCloud and myself who already have rifles out?


Response to McClouds below,

I thought the undisclosed number of guys were back at the vehicle park area.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:35, Sun 06 Sept 2009.

Four guys with neural maces out front ready to stun you both. The passenger and a second guy got out of the cab with rifles. Not aimed AT you, but could be in a moment. They are also just a few feet away. The driver got out on top of the truck, who also has a rifle. You are both facing the side of the truck, it is facing north, towards the intersection.

Hope this helps...

"Seriously," McCloud says.  "We're going to leave now.  You go your way, protect your townsfolk, I understand, really.  Just stay out of our way and we'll try to keep things civil.  If you've got any complaints about the behavior of members of our unit, you take it up with the officers."

He takes a step back away from the group, showing his intention to move off.

Shimrod moves up in support, holding his staff. Human reactions were still ab it of a mystery to him, what with all the posturing and hidden intentions. His military experience in the past has not allowed the enemy the luxury of negotiation.

Van spots McCloud and Amy. Despite not thinking it terribly professional to broadcast non-direct transmissions, he gets the point, and they are going to need the big guns. He approaches from behind, taking aim. From the trajectory of his descent McCloud should be able to see him, in time to get out of the way as a volley of grenades flood the cabin of the truck, positioned beautifully to disable the vehicle and cause a good distraction for his comrades to flee. (Natural 20!)

McCloud hears Van's message and the sound of a volley of grenades coming in from behind and knows his transmission did its job.  "Run!" he shouts at Amy then takes off back in the direction the team parked their vehicles.

With a rather undignified yelp Amy is off.  Her first two steps moving to scoop up McCloud, grateful for servo assisted strength and then she is off.  While terrain hopper armor is well known for being able to sustain speeds of around 120 mph while soaring through the air it is quite a sight to see it reach that  while still on the ground before the first jet assisted dodge she takes.

OOC:

Actions
1 - Pick up McCloud
2 - 5 Run jump and dodge towards the area with the Glitter boy suits.

00:04, Today: Amy Weyland-Yutani rolled 69 using 4d20+7 with rolls of 18,18,8,18. 4 rolls to dodge while moving. (the roll is actually 1d20+25 to dodge for each one, so my modified rolls are as below)
43, 43, 33, 43.  (it's good to be a speed demon and run away!)

One of the riflemen in front of Silvermasque, slightly shorter than the others replies "Us? you fucks came in here and started attacking people! We are defending ourselves! Just get the fuck out of here, you are just as bad as the Coalition!"

and then there is the explosion to the south...

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Van's surprise assault works perfectly, and the truck is blown apart by a volle of grenades. The driver who was on top is thrown to the ground several feet away, and the others duck for cover. Amy and McCloud use this moment to flee the scene and make their way towards the vehicles (north to the intersection).

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Forge and Shimrod are still with the members of squad two standing outside the bar...
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:44, Fri 18 Sept 2009.

"Umm, thanks for the, oof, save, ow..." McCloud grunts as Amy leaps and bounds away from the explosions with him slung in a decidedly undignified manner over her shoulder.

"But I, whuff, think I can, urgh, make it from here..."

 Politely - though with a slight rumble at the 'you fucks' line just to make it clear that he doesn't like it but isn't going to argue it just now, 'Masque replies "So far I have not been attacking anyone, but is being whole lot of confusion just now. I am thinking best thing is to be talking to whomev..."

 Boom. Boomboomboom. Ba-da-boom.

 The rippling series of explosions draw an almost instantaneous reaction from 'Masque, the oversized cyborg dropping into a low riflemans crouch and part-turns towards the direction of the blast, his grenade launcher coming up to a 'ready' but not aimed position tucked into his shoulder, the hands on his other side raised palms-flat towards the mercenary fireteam as he engages a fair portion of the power of his augmented voicebox to call out "Hold fire, hold fire!" to all and sundry, both directed at his own side and, presumably the jittery mercenaries.

Despite the situation Comartin feels pretty good. He is afterall snug inside his Chromium Guardsmen and he know that these fools must realize how seriously outgunned they are. Then the explosions register somewhere behind his position not too far away and Masque drops into a combat stance. Had his pylons not been engaged and his auto targeting not been locked on to the gunmen standing on the roof of the building across the way then he definitely would not have fired. The instinctive trigger pull happened almost too automatically to be called a complete accident. A sonic boom thunders across the town, the windows in nearby stores explode, Comartin swears inside his helmet but no one can hear him. As another flechette round chambers itself he adjusts aim slightly and prepares to fire, he holds just in case, though he knows it is likely too late for explanations.

Peering out the window Drano looked over to the man trying to crawl out of the bar. “I’d go out the back door if I were....” His sentence is cut off in mid sentence as the window explodes. A direct result of Comartin firing his boom gun. Getting up Drano looks to the man on the floor and says a few more words before finally responding to Major Karno on private comm. channel. “I told you, now get out the back door this place is about to become a fuckin’ war zone.”

Amy skidding to a halt beside McClouds glitterboy does just as he asked setting him down, glad for the privacy of helmet and fur to hide her blush.  "Her you are sir." She murmurs glancing around nervously to see if anyone here is getting ready to start a fight as well.

"Thanks," McCloud mutters, recombobulating himself.  "Get to your machine, Private," he says, punching in the unlock code on his GB and waiting for the hatch to open.  "I think we're going to have to shoot our way out of here whether we like it or not..."

As if to punctuate his words, the thunderous sonic explosions of nearby boom gun fire split the air.

He climbs into his armor and seals the hatch, enclosing himself in the comfortable familiarity of his old war monger.

Shimrod listens intently to the radio chatter, and awaits orders from Forge.

Van's small but loud carpet bombing of the truck may have saved Amy and McCloud from potential abduction, but it has started a chain reaction of unfortunate events. Comartin lets loose a shot at one of the gathering troops on the roof tops by the vehicles. The poor man is blown apart, and his chunks shower down on Mephisto, McCloud, Amy and Hopper among the vehicles.

The grunts in front of Silvermasque hesitate for a moment, before the entire squad opens fire on the tiger borg. Likewise from the surrounding rooftops, the shooters rain down laser fire on the four, blood-stained Tolkeen soldiers mentioned above, while finding cover to avoid another shot from the glitter boy.

The squad that had been blown off their feet by Van, has since regained themselves and are trying to blow the young techno wizard out of the sky with a spray of plasma blasts and rail gun rounds.

And to follow suit, the bar full of these Desire soldiers, opens fire like a firing squad on Forge, Shimrod and Dyvalis' squad. Na-Wa finds himself the target of several roof top soldiers...

The other squads have not yet arrived to the center of town, this could get a whole lot worse before it gets better.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:51, Fri 02 Oct 2009.

"Comartin, you crazy dumbass sonofa--!" McCloud shouts as he clambers into his armor and buttons himself up in the cockpit.  Switching on the suit's systems, he stomps out into the street alongside the other GB and lays down suppressing fire with his boom gun, strafing the surrounding rooftops (and probably removing pretty much anything the grunts could use for cover).

OOC: I'm just blasting away at the surrounding rooflines.  Do I need to roll 6 separate attacks?

Comartin winces inside his armored suit... for all of about 1/2 of a second. Flipping on the TW Noise supression he fires on the next target he had already tracked after his first shot. Then the missile pod mounted on his opposite shoulder pops open and beleches fire as six plasma mini-missiles come corkscrewing out. Immediately after the first a second volley of four this time comes blasting forth. Volley one goes high up into the air and then rockets down at the assembled rooftop troops firing down onto McCloud and the others. The second volley comes in at more or less the same troops at a different trajectory just in case they are able to intercept or live through the first blast. Of course even if they do the building they are standing on likely will not even though Comartin wasn't thinking that far ahead. In fact he is only thinkng of creating more distance before he brings any more heat on himself so he uses a jet assisted leap backwards to locate a new firing position.

 Some days it just doesn't pay to chew through the leather straps in the morning.

 With most of the squad scattered to hell and gone it's all soldiers for themselves for the first few seconds of the firefight as the opening volley of laser and plasma fire from the soldiers in front of him spends itself in a rippling storm of explosive lighting smeared across a hemispherical barrier of invisible force between the big 'borg and themselves, hammering into the force-field but not quite slamming it flat before 'Masque quite simply extends his arms to either side and lunges forwards, making every effort to dash the gunmen clean off their feet like so many very-much-lighter-than-he-is skittles.

 In the ticking fractions of a second between inspiration and execution, his mind races along electronically stimulated paths and orders start snapping out... "'Masque to Third Squad, fall back on southern intersection! McCloud and Amy, exit west, Drano and Van, exit south, Forge and Shimrod, fall in with us and provide covering fire!"

When the shit started to fly Drano exited the building he was in and made a beeline to his Chromium Guardsmen. Either he would make it, or be cut down in the process.