You hear an explosion that nearly shatters your eardrums, and rubble flies everywhere.  The soldier's grenade has gone off.  "We've lost Xan!" X roars over your speakers.  "He's flatlined out."

Back in the office:
Just as Twitch is about to fire, Binary urges Jade and Lazarus, "Go!  They don't want to kill me."

Then gunfire erupts, drowning out his words.  Agent Mulder seems to move in speeds unfathonable and unmeasurable by the human eye.

Lazarus and Jade make their way outside, noting for a brief second before they close the door that the Agent is completely unharmed.

Down the hall the voice of the Sargeant can be heard.  "Forget about the intruders!  Plant your demolitions and help me save our marines.  The explosion will take care of the enemy.  Just watch your backs.  They shoot without warning."

As Lazarus and Jade make their way to the corner (to the west of Binary's room), X's voice breaks out over the earphones.  "Jade and Lazarus, you need to get to a computer to upload the information.  Then you can come through the hardline.  You'll need to take the elevator in the southwest corner.  It's about a 7 minute ride to the top, so timing is critical."

He pauses.  "The demolitions teams are moving to the far corners of the building, one team to the northwest and one to the northeast.  I estimate about 2 or 3 minutes until they set the 10 minute timers.  Looks like you've only got about 5 minutes to get on that elevator."

Meanwhile, back at the rubble in the southwest, Grid finishes bandaging Mitose and picks him up, heading to the elevator which is just a few meters away.

Viper heads through the door to the room and then reappears at the south end.  The soldier with the wounded leg has fallen unconscious now, his M-16 still gripped tightly in one hand.

You hear the voice of one of the demolitions men distantly in the earphones.  "What are you doing here?  This place is going to blow in under 15 minutes."

X quickly pipes up.  "That strange reading in the office with Binary...that 'Agent.'  I've isolated his readings, so we shouldn't be surprised by one of them anymore.  But that's who they're talking to down the hall.  Another one, I mean.  Another Agent.  Guess who turned on the lights?  Jade and Lazarus, I'll try to guide you safely south.  Head down the hall the soldiers were just on and go straight south.  Looks like you've got a clear run for it if you hurry.  The second Agent is still standing by the circuit breaker."

Viper mutters a curse under his breath when Xan bites the wrong pineapple.

When he finds the marine, pauses to throw the soldier's weapon over his shoulder, relying on the massive shock to keep him unconcious. He then relieves the soldier of his frag grenades and radio, and heads to join Grid and Mitose, getting directions from X as needed, hoping there's still time for the hypo he's carrying to be effective.

Laz follows X's directions, intent on doing what he has to do so that no one's death will be in vain.

Jade follows Laz, her machine gun ready.  "I sure hope Twitch and Binary make it out of there alright," she mutters.

Jade and Laz make a break to the south, running at full speed.

The gunfire in the office suddenly stops.

X's frantic voice breaks out over your headphones.  "We've lost Twitch!  He's flatlining."

Grid makes it to the elevators while Viper is disarming the soldier, now carrying his grenades, the half loaded M-16, his fully loaded AK-47, and his other weapons.

Looking up with Mitose over his shoulder, Grid sees that above the elevators there are two lights, one marked "U" and one marked "L" with arrows in between them.  Both elevators are currently marked at being at the "U" (upper) level.  He hurriedly pushes both buttons to call the elevator.

X says, "Oh, no.  I didn't realize the elevators were at the top floor.  That adds another seven minutes or so for them to get down from the surface.  Hang in there.  I'll let you know if anyone approaches."

Jade and Lazarus make it safely to the south corridor.

Jade, Lazarus, Viper, Grid and Mitose are all now in the southwest rubble area.  Mitose is unconscious.  The others are no more the worse for wear.

"Twitch is gone," X says softly.  "We can't bring him back.  Binary's still got a strong signal though."

Laz yells as he hears the news about Twitch, "It wasn't suppose to be like this," he says over and over again.

"Dammit," Viper mutters, as he gestures Grid to lay Mitose down and pulls the hypo from it's place at his belt. "This was supposed to be a simple in and out! We've got to get Binary out of there!"

He takes a deep breath and prepares to give Mitose the shot.

With his headphones on, Binary can hear every word.  He says into his microphone, "Don't worry about me.  Get those disks and find the others that escaped.  I--"

He is suddenly cut off.

X says, "Maintain radio silence!  That Agent has Binary's--"

"Yes," a voice says slowly, "I do."

Viper gives Mitose the shot.  Mitose begins to get a stronger hearbeat and he moves slowly, but he is still only half-conscious and unable to move or speak.  His wounds, despite the binding, still bleed from the numerous bullet holes.

The light on the elevator moves to the arrows pointing toward the "L" after Grid pushes the button.

Viper has two more shots at his disposal.

The big man pointedly switches off his radio mike so tha tthe Agent cannot hear what he's about to say. Deep brown eyes turn to regard his three companions,

"That Agent will be down our throats now he knows we have the disks.  I think we need to try a red herring to buy us some time.  Stay put, don't move."

He swtiches his radio back on.

"X.  Forgive the break in protocol, but we haven't got time for the elevators before the bombs go off.  The four of us are splitting and heading to take out the demolitions team.  We'll need you to guide us.  Agent guys or not, this is our only hope."

The lie rolls off Grid's tongue easily, like a used car salesman duping some shmuck from his hard earned cash.

Viper shrugs and makes sure his AK is ready to fire. No telling, it might work. More importantly, maybe the Agent will leave Binary, and the man can escape.


(OOC: I'm leaving on a camping trip this weekend. I'll be back sometime Monday.)

Jade props her Thompson on some rubble and aims back and forth toward the hallways, ready to shoot at anything that appears while they wait for the elevators.

"The Agent is going back to Binary's office," X says.

"Yes, he is," Agent 'Mulder' says into the microphone.

"Binary's life signs are still strong," X says, ignoring the outburst.

The slow and methodical voice responds, "And why would we want to kill him when there are so many other...productive...things we can do with him?"

Still ignoring the taunt, X says, "The demolitions teams are moving to the east and west walls.  They are setting up explosives now."

Lazarus looks at the others, fright the clearest emotiom on his face.

A minute of relative silence passes.  You hear muffled sounds from the left as the soldiers are setting up.  You hear the hum of electricity around you and the occasional groan from an injured soldier.

X breaks out over the radio.  "Binary is on the move.  One of those Agents is taking up the stairwell to the northwest.  The other Agent is still there.  If you're going to take out the demolitions crews, you better do it fast.  But I wouldn't advise it.  They're covering every angle with their weapons.  The remaining Agent is leaving the room..."  He pauses.  "And there are four soldiers creeping down the hallway in front of you and to the right."  (The same hallway Laz and Jade just ran down.)  "Looks like they're coming back for their squad."

Looking down, you see the injured form of the one-armed marine and the unconscious marine down the hall to your right, and the two dead ones.

Just under six minutes until the elevators arrive.

Viper scowls and looks at his fellows. Whispering fiercely, "We've got to get Binary. We can't just let those bastards take him! Even if he wasn't one of us, he knows everything about Zion!"

Viper hefts the two grenades and peeks down the hall the soldiers are in. "X," he says into cellphone mic, "range to the 4 soldiers?"

X answers, "85 feet north up the westernmost corridor.  Group 2 is at the east central area.  Um, just so you recall, they've got very powerful explosives.  Be careful."

Grid looks down on Viper, his own expression turning fierce, "You are mistaken. Binary WAS one of us.  He was leader of this mission and his instructions where to get those disks out of the Matrix no matter the cost." His expression softens for a moment as do his words, "We all new the risks when we went on this mission."

Despite his words, you get the distinct impression from his body language, that Grid would like nothing more than to chase down Binary and take out the soldiers and agents holding him.

"Binary said the disks are more important," Jade says with a quick look at Lazarus.  "That's why we left him to begin with."

She points her gun to the hall on the right where X indicated the marines were coming.  "Besides," she says,  "I think we have more urgent problems."

Jade calls out, "Take your men and leave!  We don't want anymore trouble.  We won't harm you if you just take them and leave us alone."  She hopes that her feminine voice will help them believe her.

Lazarus' gaze shifts to Jade, "You are joking right, we should make a run for it and that is that. Grid is right, the mission is of paramount right now, not Binary and the only way to do this is to run not negotiate."

"Yes," Jade says.  "I agree.  But we're backed in a corner with marines about to open fire on us.  Maybe they'll take their wounded and believe that we'll die in the explosion instead of hunting us down.  Then we can go up the elevator.  I don't think we can save Binary now."

"I hope you are right," Grid says to Jade, "I would prefer not to have to kill anymore people."

He checks his newly acquired M-16 making sure it's right to go, "But let's be wary all the same."

He takes a few steps to the corridor corner and crouches down, looking up the way the soldiers are approaching, he readies his weapon.

You hear a voice say, "We have a situation here.  Requesting orders."  You hear hushed whispers in a radio handset, and a response.  There are a few tense moments as you wait.  Then you hear the sergeant say, "Affirmative.  Over and out."

An M-16 hangs around the corner by its cord.  It drops to the ground.  With both hands raised, the sergeant steps around the corner.

"We're going to take our marines back."  His left hand has been bandaged, but it is bleeding through.  He nods, and another marine steps forward with hands raised.

Behind them, two marines crouch on the ground with their M-16's pointed directly at you.

The sergeant and other marine creep slowly toward you and the three marines on the ground nearby, one killed by Xan, one by Mitose, and the one-armed marine.  Only the latter is still alive, and he is not in good shape.

The party stands with guns pointed back at the marines.  You are in a standoff.  The sergeant pauses to see if you will let him by.

Jade keeps her machine gun trained on the marines toting their guns in the hall, but she takes a step or two back to let the sergeant through.

Viper plainly isn't happy about throwing Binary away, but keeps his peace as the situation with the Marines unfolds. In particular, he moves across the hall from the others before the Sergeant comes around the corner, widening the field of fire to improve the group's chances of survival if it goes south.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:45, Sat 05 June 2004.

Grid doesn't move.

"You can get your marines, but we want our companion that is with the Agent returned to us unharmed."

"We don't have any connection to the agency," the sergeant replies.  "I won't make a promise to you that I can't keep, but I'm sure he will be treated humanely according to his crimes."

He and the other marine begin dragging the marines through the rubble and back to the hall.  You can tell it will take a couple of minutes.

X pipes up in your ear, "I've lost...and the other agent."  There is a lot of static.  X is breaking off.  "Don't...where he is. ...disappeared."

Lazarus looks up at the counter to see how much time they have left; his left hand slips into his jacket wrapping around his beretta.

Just as Lazarus looks around and the marines are pulling back the first three bodies nearest you, a voice crackles over their radio (and the radio taken by Viper).  "Demolitions are set and activated.  You have 10 minutes to evacuate."

The sergeant looks up at you in anticipation, knowing his cover's just been blown, since of course he didn't know you already knew about the explosives.  He nods to the marine assisting him, and they continue dragging the bodies.

9:58, 9:57...

The clock is now ticking.

Grid looks back over his shoulder at the lifts, "X! How long until the lifts arrive?  Do we have more hope of running out using the stairwell?"

"Four minutes, twenty-two seconds," X answers.

The ominous voice of the Agent says into your earphones, "Plenty of time."

X continues, "The stairwell would take you a long time considering the hundreds of meters down you are.  I thought you were taking out the demolitions teams?  They're starting to head for the northern elevators now."

[Note: X was also apparently deceived by Grid's attempt to trick the Agent.]


Reminder:  It takes 7 minutes, 12 seconds for these elevators (the service elevators) to make a one way trip down to or out of the underground facility because they are slow and because you are so far down.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:26, Wed 09 June 2004.