(OOC: Sorry guys I should have posted sooner - been kinda waiting on Rhaef and Wei getting to Larry so that I can get Lei out of there before you guys arrive.)

The officer tailing Geoff frowns as Geoff steps on the gas and begins swerving even more wrecklessly.  "Goddamn hot shots." the man mutters and presses down on the accelerator as well, pulling out his radio for back-up.  He might have been able to forgive a slight venture over the speed limit but now the car was a danger to the rest of the citizens on the road - not too mention he was obviously running away.

He swerved tightly to the right and placed himself almost on Geoff's bumper, his sirens still blaring.

Geoff noticed that the cop was definitly not giving up - 'course, neither was he.  Where would be the fun in that?  The trick now was to lose him - and at the same time keep heading in the general direction of where they last knew of Lei.  Lei came first of course, he had to find Lei.  So he stepped on the gas, and noticed that the fancy cars were made for more then just looking pretty.

After about five minutes of a good hard chase Geoff managed to lose the cop by making a sharp right into an alley way.  The cop hadn't expected it and had sailed right on past.  Forced to make a U-turn Geoff now had a few mintues on his hands to get him and Charlie out of the car and away on foot.  Luckily they were very near Old Town Osiris now.

((OOC: Sorry, sorry! I was being lazy, I admit it. So very sorry, won't happen again. Uh, probably. Heh.))

Geoff had been trained to drive during high speed chases so it wasn't that hard at all for him to lose the cop behind him. In fact, he had reveled in doing it. It had been too long since he'd had a good old fashioned police chase to contend with. Far too long since he'd had action of a sort that reminded him of the old days. It was a strangely nostalgic thing and it caused a wistful smile to come onto his face. A strange expression to have during a high speed chase, but Geoff was a strange guy.

As he turned into the alley and saw the cop shoot past the alley without stopping, he gave a triumphant laugh and looked to Charlie with a grin. "Holy hell, what a rush!! I love that part o' things!", he exlaimed and then looked about where they were before nodding and opening the door,"All right now. We gotta get outta this car and go on on foot. They'll be lookin' fer us in this car and we're close enough ta be walkin' ta where we need ta go. Ya ready, Charlie?"

[OOC:  Shame on you, Geoff.  Happens again, no cookies...]

Charlie laid her head back in the headrest as the car stopped, eyes squeezed shut and breathing hard.  The exhiliration had really caused her pulse to race, and she had broken out a bit of a cold sweat on her forehead.  "Yeah, i'm...mmm...yeah, i'm ready."  She unbuckled herself from the seat, opening the door and placing both feet on the ground.  There was a second before she decided that her feet would support her, and then she was up, leaving the door ajar as she walked around the vehicle.

"Let's just...y'know..."  It was obvious she was a little light-headed, trying to focus through it as best she could.  "C'mon, Lei's prolly waitin' for us 'round some corner'r somethin'.  I've been luckier n'all..."

Geoff had nodded a bit, though he looked to her a bit worriedly, when she said she was ready and left the car. He moved to get out of the car too and moved around the car to join Charlie. "Yeah, I bet she's just right around here. We'll find her...hey, Charlie? You okay? Ya ain't lookin' all that steady.", he said with a concerned glance towards Charlie and then another worried glance towards the end of the alley. He didn't want to rush Charlie if she was feeling all wobbly, but he also didn't want to hang around here too long and run the risk of getting caught.

The sound of sirens is coming closer again, they don't have a lot of time before the cop will be down the alley after them.  The alley is rather long, Geoff had only driven the stolen car a few yards in, but the exit on the other side is almost a block away, they'll have to run.  Or alternatively there is a fire escape ladder hanging down where Geoff and Charlie could easily climb atop the car and reach it.

"I said I'm fine, 'kay?  Don'cha be worrying 'bout me.  We need t'get outta here, might fast if we can, y'know?"  Charlie looked around, keeping a hand on the hood of the car, doing her best to not make it obvious that it's the only thing holding her up while her heart rate slows down.  She scanned in both directions again, biting her lip as she looked around.  Had the cop seen them?  Could they be tagged from a view through the rear windshield?  No sense in risking it.

Charlie's gaze fell upward, seeing the fire escape and pointing to it.  "There.  We're gonna be makin' our way up, tha's th'fastest way."  She stepped up onto the hood of the car, biting her lower lip hard as she focused on her shaky legs, doing her best to keep them from buckling as she grabbed the rungs of the ladder.  Thankfully, she still had strong arms that had never buckled under worse times...and came through when it counted.  This was one of those times.  She pulled herself up on the rungs, not even chancing a look down as she climbed.

Geoff gave Charlie an appraising glance before sighing and shrugging. Even if she wasn't okay, there wasn't much he could do about it. They had to move and move fast. So he nodded as Charlie pointed to the fire escape ladder and climbed up onto the hood of the car to grab onto the rungs and climb. She climbed steadily enough so Geoff decided that she must be okay enough for them to get the hell out of here. He climbed onto the hood of the car also and climbed up right after her, moving as fast as he could manage. He looked up as he climbed to make sure Charlie was all right and then chanced a look towards the entrance to the alleyway, still wondering if the cops were as close as he feared.

Charlie finally reached the top of the ladder, pulling herself up and over to the roof, sliding back down onto her feet and kneeling down.  She placed a hand on the ground, steadying herself as she took a few deep breaths.  She had fought the dizziness the entire way up, and it was finally beginning to pass...all it took was a second for the roof to stop moving in her vision.

Charlie stood up as Geoff came over the top, looking over the edge.  "Y'think we gotta keep runnin'?  I mean...that's not enough, y'think?"

Geoff climbed up quickly and pulled himself up and over onto the roof. He stood up and looked down in the alley quickly before looking to Charlie and gesturing for her to get away from the edge. "We should be fine fer awhile, but we'll hafta move in a bit. Just don't let 'em see ya though. Get away from the ledge or they'll see us.", he said and walked slowly away from the ledge to look about the roof for an entrance into the building or a way to the next building.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:20, Thu 16 Mar 2006.

Charlie stepped back from the ledge, brushing her hair back from her face as she looked at Geoff.  Her face was a bit pale, but she looked like she was on steady legs and wasn't short of breath at all.  "Right, we'll...did ya hafta drive so fast?  We just got off th'hook, y'know?  Kyoko's not gonna bust's out again."  She asked Geoff, but it was obvious that she was joking...on some level, at least.

Geoff continued to look around, but turned to Charlie with a grin when she spoke to him. "Heh. Well, look at it this way, Charlie. If'n I had stopped and let the cop talk ta us an' such, he'd be seein' a rough lookin' fella like me with guns at his sides and, after checkin' it out, in a car that didn't rightly belong ta him. Maybe that wouldn't a meant nothin', seein' as how he coulda cleared it with Kyoko, but it woulda been wastin' a hell o' a lot o' time. I wasn't gonna be doin' that.", he remarked and then smiled in an amused manner,"'Sides, she woulda gotten us out again. Well, she woulda gotten ya out anyway. She likes ya. Me? I don't think she's all that fond o' me so I'd probably end up havin' ta bust myself out. Wouldn't be the first time..."

"Right, right."  Charlie sighed, looking at the datapad in her hands.  "We need t'be gettin' on foot here.  Th'chase took us ina  bit'f th'wrong way.  We're not, y'know, seriously humped'r nothin', but it's prolly in th'best interest if'n we get t'movin..."  She stood up, pointing off to the side of the roof.  "Tha's th'way th'signal's got us goin'."

In the alleyway below Geoff and Charlie can hear the sirens of the cop car.  They need to move again, most likely the cop will just give up looking for them but just in case ...

There is a door that to a stairwell that leads into the building whose roof they are now atop.  They also can walk to the roof of the next building which is just a small drop below this one and right alongside it.  From there they can probably find another fire escape ladder leading back down into an alleyway.

Geoff nodded to Charlie and spotted the door on the rooftop with a slight smile. "Right then, Charlie. Let's get movin', like ya say.", he said as he heard the sirens from the cop cars in the alley,"Yeah an' we should prolly make that fast. That door right there looks like a good bet." With that, he headed to the door and, hoping it wasn't locked or that it didn't lead them into more trouble than they already had heaped onto their plate.

Charlie followed Geoff, holding tightly onto the datapad as they went.  Running from the cops wasn't really helping them find Lei at all, but there was no need to say that...it would be stupid to think that Geoff didn't realize it.  She had no clue whether the girl could even hold her own, being as they originally found her in a locked box.  "We need t'get back t'tha ground level, we're gonna find her.  If this leads to a stairwell'r somethin', let's just be goin' t'tha ground level, first'n fore."

The door is not unlocked and it does lead to a service stairwell leading down four flights and to another door which looks like it emerges into the building however.

Geoff shrugged to Charlie as he opened the door and looked down the stairwell. "Sure enough, Charlie. Down ta the ground and back ta lokkin' fer Lei. Ya know it.", he said in a serious tone as he headed down the stairwell. He truly hadn't wanted to get so off track from their goal, but he couldn't fight his instincts when they had told him to make a getaway when the cop had tailed them. It had probably not been all that smart to do though, in retrospect.

He laughed slightly to himself and shook his head at that as he headed down the stairs. He walked down the four flights of stairs as quick as he could and then cursed quietly as he realized they wouldn't be getting straight out onto the streets from here. They'd have to go into the building from here and that may not sit well with whoever currently resides inside. Taking that into account, he moves a hand down to grip one of his holstered pistols and looks to Charlie with a shrug. "Looks like we gotta go in, Charlie. Dunno how that's gonna go over so....just be ready fer anythin'. Never know how people are gonna react ta a coupla people just up and breakin' inta their building uninvited, after all.", he said in a low tone.

"I do, y'know?"  Charlie smirked as she followed Geoff down.  Until they needed to fix or rig something, she was pretty out of her loop.  There was a moment inside her head, a moment of "how did I get here" that popped up.  It wasn't a real question, as she was aware...but it still seemed awkward.  Part of her couldn't help but to think that she should have slid under the engine turbine when they boarded the ship, hid until the soldiers left, and then stayed there.  The only thing that kept her going was the hope that she would prove to be of some help.

Her thoughts shot back to where they were as Geoff spoke, seeing his hand rest on one of his pistols.  "Jus'...you go first, an' I'll follow ya.  Don'go shootin' anyone until you're sure they're tryin' ta shoot you'r me, kay?"

Geoff looked over his shoulder to Charlie with a wry grin on his face. "Well, of course, Charlie. I won't be shootin' nobody 'lessin they're lookin' ta be shootin' us. I mean, whaddaya think I am? The sorta fella that jus' goes inta places with guns a-blazin' and yellin' out battle crys?", he said in an amused tone as he looked back to the door and opened it,"That's only when I'm drunk...or bored."

Geoff cautiously opens the door ... looks like they're in a lobby of some sort.  He glances briefly both ways and then grabs Charlie's arm to pull her through the doorway with him.  The two of them look perpostrously out of place among the quiet, neatly dressed businessmen and women wandering about.  Geoff's boots clang loudly on the marble floors no matter how lightly he tried to step.

The two of them kept their eyes on the doors leading out onto the street but before they reached them a security guard shouted out.

"Hey!  You there!  What are ya -" Geoff and Charlie didn't hear the rest as they sprinted out the door, dropping all pretense of attempting to blend in.  The man followed them a few feet out the door and then let them go.

The two of them ran a few more blocks before Charlie stopped Geoff,

"Wait, here we'are." she said, placing her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath ... and also to let the pain in her chest subside.  Permenant damage. flashed in her mind for a moment but she shook it off and pointed down a dark street the no cars seemed to be going in or out of ... except for one taxi.  The two of them watched the tail lights fade away into the dusk.  The sun was almost completely down now, in a few minutes it'd be night.  And night in a black out zone probably wasn't too safe.

-----------> To Old Town Osiris

Wei-Li shivered as she tried to deal with everything she'd seen and heard.  She gave Rhaef a smile of thanks, but it was a haunted smile at best.  She forced herself to concentrate on the cars they were following without being too intense.

She didn't want to spook the cabbie.

Rhaef sat quietly in the backseat as well, mentally reviewing all that had happened since the shootout with Kyron. He cursed himself for allowing much of it to happen, and for having to endanger one of ship's passengers in the process. He should have tried to escape without her, or at least split off, and sent her to Kyoko. Wei-li should not have had to see his past, and who he was. He hated himself for allowing having to become that again, and he could only imagine what she and the others would think of him in the future. He fully expected Kale to leave him behind, and Rhaef could not blame him, he was more trouble than he was worth these days.

Wei-Li bit her lip.  Looking over at Rhaef, she could sense that it had effected him as well.  She reached out and gently placed her hand on his.  A simple reminder that he was not alone.

Her Uncle Seamus' words came back to her.  "It is a role you play-- it is not who you are..."

Rhaef looked up and with heartfelt gratitude, Wei-Li's gesture had touched him deeply. "Thank you, I needed to hear that. I wish I could that was not the man I was either, but that would be a lie. I wish I had sent you to Kyoko's and kept you out of this, but I didn't. But I also thank you for standing by me, not sure how many people would have." He sat up straighter, this was not the time for whallowing in self-pity, Lei was in trouble and he and Wei-Li might be the only people able to save her.