Geoff nodded, as he slid another clip into his pistol and gave Wei-Li's calf a tug to get her moving.

He supplied cover fire staying between Wei-Li and their attackers, shielding her with his own body, and backup up once she was in place.

Wei-Li could hear her pulse racing, but everything else had been lost in a dull roar from the gun fire.  She moved back as soon as she realized what Geoff was trying to get her to do, moving as quickly as she could she slipped out onto the fire escape and checked for any sign of trouble while she waited for the others.

Kale followed after Wei-Li and Geoff, allowing Rhaef and Connor to cover the three of them since he was still gritting his teeth from the pain in his shoulder - although the morphine was setting in now.  He fired off one or two shots but wasn't really taking aim.

"Down!" he said as he climbed through the window to Geoff and Wei-Li, then he waited for Rhaef and Connor to head towards the window to provide them cover.

Connor wasn't going to wait any longer. He fired a few shots to make sure the hostiles stayed where they were, then rushed over to Rhaef.
"I can get rid of these guys, but we have to get out of here first!" Connor held up his button mechanism to Rhaef, then hid it again. He swung one leg out of the window and fired a few more rounds. Then, he swung the other leg out, though still facing the inside of the apartment, covering Rahef so he could exit as well. "We gotta go!"

Rhaef shook his head at Connor and snarled, "No, Connor, you know who I was when I came in, and so do they, you go out the window, and blow the room in 60 seconds regardless, I'm, going out the front door. This is personal."

With that Rhaef slide fresh rounds into each gun, and went deep into his dark place, steeling himself, he dove through the open doorway and blasted the man sheltered behind it. He knew the Hand, they'd have someone down stairs, and if he did not get there first the others would be sitting ducks coming through the alley. He jumped down the firest flight of stairs and walked into a firefight in the lobby.

Connor looked at Rahef, stunned, then angrily.
"Godammit! We don't have the time for heroics!..." It was too late. Rahef was gone. Connor fired off the last rounds in his gun and reloaded, turning out the window and looking to the rest of thethem, shaking his head. "He's gone...let's go..." Connor waited for the rest to make their way down the alleyway before reaching into his jacket to thumb the button mechanism...Rhaef knew what he was doing...

Geoff started firing on the signal, but when Rhaef moved foward instead of back he was halfway through the window before he realized what he was doing... and the fact that Wei-Li and Kale were on the escape.

He knew he needed to stay with them and hoped that Rhaef knew what he was doing.

"Lets get off this thing," he urged the others as he climbed back out.

"What?!" Kale grunted as Connor returned alone, for a moment he thought the man meant Rhaef was dead and his heart sunk but when he glanced back into the apartment he saw Rhaef crashing through the door.  Well, if he wasn't dead yet, he would be soon.  What the hell was he doing?

"Alright, lets move." Kale said and the group of them began climbing quickly down the fire escape.

Rhaef, by what seemed to be sheer luck managed to take out the two guys on his way out the door, and he had been right, there were three more men downstairs.  They weren't expecting Rhaef to come barging into the lobby however with guns blazing.  Others milling about the lobby screamed and scattered, but the three men raised their guns and began firing at Rhaef.

Rhaef bobbed and weaved, and got lucky in guessing what the hand was doing, they had left the inexperienced men in the lobby, where they hoped odds would when the day. Against a trained killer though these men were no match. Rhaef was completely inside himself now. His fury unleashed, the only thing he cared about was the others got back to ship and that the crew...well at least one member of the crew...got away unharmed. He blasted left and right, blazing the targets presented by the raised gunmen.

Connor made sure he let the others go down first. Then, as he hit the ground from the fire escape...he pulled out the button mechanism and pressed it. Immediately it whirred and a red light in the button began blinking...Connor looked up.
"We have exactly one minute to get the hell out of here...I'd suggest running, now..." Connor checked to make sure his bags were in place, then readied himself to run, waiting for the others to signal to him they were ready...

Wei-Li froze, staring at Connor.  "What about the others in the building?" She demanded.

While she didn't like the idea of being shot, or caught by the law, she did not want to see innocents hurt in the name of escaping.

Connor looked at her.
"I duty-rigged a fire alarm to go off ten seconds after pressing the button..." Sure enough, a shrill alarm began blaring from the building. " I can do nothing else...we have to go! Come on!" With that, Connor began walking out towards the street, hoping the others would follow him...

Everything was happening so quickly - Kale should have expected everything to go to hell ... it always did.   "Go." he said to Wei-Li and Geoff, "Get the hell outta here." he made no motion to leave however as he peered into the lobby where Rhaef he assumed would be emerging.  The gorram, headstrong fool.  He had a serious problem with takin' orders.  Now he was gonna go try an' play hero - figgered'

Kale moved forward and spotted Rhaef and began trying to provide cover fire for him to get out of the building, the sound of the fire alarm ringing in his ears and people pushing past him to get out of the building.

The men would have gone down with a fair amount of ease if it weren't for all the gorram hiding places in the lobby and the other people running about like chickens with their heads chopped off, it was pretty apparent that most of the other occupants of the building were on some sort of drug.

One man fell to Rhaef's shot and he pressed forward,  Kale managed to take out another before he was pushed up in a crowd of people and forced back.  Leaving Rhaef alone to get out.

"Ruttin' hell!" Kale shouted, trying to push his way through the mass of bodies pressing to get out of the apartment building but he couldn't get through.  Rhaef was making his suicide attempt alone in there - and he didn't have much time before whatever it was Connor had rigged up went off.

Rhaef spun toward the door, when shots began fired, "Gorram it, Kale, you need to get the others out of here, and you too. I'm a monster, don't save me." He mumbled to himself, yet he was grateful for the cover fire, and fired one more well-placed shot at the leg of the last Hand man in the crowd. It would not kill him, but stun him, Rhaef could only hope that the man did not recognize him.

The blast fired, Rhaef slipped through the crowds like a fish going up stream, grabbed Kale, and moved toward the outside.   "Gorram Kale, I was making sure you all could get out okay, and you came rushin' back. Why? After all I said, I ain't nothing but trouble."

"You're part 'o my crew.  End of questionin'" Kale growled, still not at all happy with him for taking off like that.

The two men rushed away from the building just as the upstairs apartment that they had just come from exploded, shards of glass and debris falling from the sky as they caught up with Connor, Geoff, and Wei-Li.

Rhaef nodded, "Fair enough, Kale." Yet, the Captain's response had confirmed what Rhaef had feared most.

Kale and Rhaef caught up with the others, Kale was still obviously in pain despite Connor's morphine, "We make for Destiny, let's go." he said and led the way.

[To Destiny: Cargo Bay]

Wei-Li kept pace with the others.  This was not what she had been expecting.  She wasn't usually one for shooting, but she had.  She remained focused on what they were doing and was gratefull when they reached the ship.

----> TO Destiny: Cargo Bay

Geoff stayed back from the others where he could keep an eye on them, and anyone who might try and hurt them.  He gave one last sweep as the others boarded destiny.

With Geoff taking the rear, Rhaef took the point, his eyes scanning for the typical Hand traps as they made their way back to the ship. Even as they did a plan was forming in his mind, who's urgency was multiplied by the fact that they might have been followed back to Destiny.

Connor sighed and followed the rest...the professor owed him for this one...
(OOC: Connor to Destiny: Cargo Bay))