Ok, Agent 1 rolls -1 and misses Burn anyway.
More incoming fire. A Hit on Barbarossa, for another 6.
One on Ares, for another eight, leaving him double wounded.
Agent 3 has arrived. Another dozen assault rifle armed SWAT just came down the tunnel entrance
-----
STATE OF PLAY AT: Tenth Round, Fourth action
Underground Car Park
Burn: 6/29/1
Barbarossa: 8/12/1
Ares: 7/31/-1
San: 7/18/2
2 SWAT armed with shotguns 0/0
17 SWAT armed with assault rifles 0/0
2 likewise 2/1
1 likewise (disarmed) 7/0
Agent 1: ?/0/0
Agent 2: ?/0/0
Agent 3: ?/0/0
CURRENTLY OWED ACTIONS: None
----
Now might be a good time to listen to Dallas.
I knew those explosives were there for a reason...so I guess we're going to have to set them off and blow up as much as we can. Yippee. So I'll once again change what I'm going to do for my action and instead start rigging up the explosives to blow up the armory...and since I'm pretty sure all those SWAT guys won't be too happy with that I'll use Shell of the Turtle for defense.
Well seeing as were all about to go out in a giant fire ball of death/doom I figure Hell make Barb a martyr Sooooooo "LETS TAKE DOWN AS MANY OF THESE ASSHOLES AS WE CAN!!!" screams bar as he Fires 3 bursts each at the two Shotgunners. Willow step as defense (kinda pointless nah?)
Oh and ush did I tell you how much I'm haten you right now?
WOAH I just realized how perfect the Quote in my sig is for the matrix/the situation were in right now!
You may have mentioned something...
Oh, what the hell, I can move things on, technically I have to make rolls to see if you make it but I can skip them!
As the Agents and the SWAT teams move in, San works frantically on the explosives, as Barb yells out and opens fire on his attackers. He rolls a -3, but then a +7 kills one of them as they charge you down!
He is still screaming when San is successful and, as she dives backwards, the explosives go off. In this confined environment, the sound is tremendous. It is like a titan has brushed his arm through the room, as each of you are plucked up into the air and sent flying backwards. The lights go out almost at once, and it is pitch black. You are so deafened now that you cannot hear the explosions, still less the shouts and screams, and you can only hear the crumbling around you as the supports and foundations give way and the entire portion of the building slips into a crumbling, fiery ruin...
... and everything is black.
Five minutes later, on the Shehazarard
Dallas speaks to Rade.
"Tell Fire he is in command now. I'm sorry Rade. Mors and the others didn't make it," says Dallas, into the headset. His right hand shoots out, and clamps over Ariadne's mouth, who was about to speak.
"They didn't have a chance," says Dallas. "At the end there they were up against half the SWAT force and all 3 Agents. We can count ourselves lucky that the Agents weren't interested in prisoners.
"I know you must be feeling... unhappy but we have to stay professional about this whilst the mission is on. Shut down the links between your phones and theirs- the Agents have them now and they will try to locate you through them."
He finishes his glum conversation with his men soon afterwards, and hangs up the connection, letting his hand go as he does so.
"What the HELL was that?" asks Ariadne.
"What was what?" asked Dallas, trying to feign innocence. Araidne can barely control herself. She walks across the room and over to where the crew of the Shez are plugged into the Matrix. She goes to Mors, and points aggressively at his vital signs still beating.
"They're not dead! Look! They're fine!"
"So they are," says Dallas. Ariadne comes running back to the screens.
"AND the ones from the Percy are fine as well. Look, see, they are all trapped in the basement, but they're fine!"
"I know that, I'm not blind," says Dallas.
"But... I mean... why... GAH! Why in the name of ALL that is sane did you just tell Fire and the others they are all dead!"
"You're a big girl now, Ariadne," says Dallas. "People lie sometimes, get used to it."
"But... WHY?"
Dallas sits down on a metal swivel chair and sighs.
"You don't like me sometimes, do you?" he asks.
"I'm not feeling too hot on you right now, no!"
"You don't want to win?"
"Win?" asked Ariadne, perplexed.
"Listen, Ariadne," says Dallas, leaning forwards. "It may have escaped your notice, but we're getting our ASSES kicked in there."
"It was hard not to notice..."
"Yeah, and how long do you want us to go on like that? We're playing someone else's game, just going from A to B to C to meet the next guy who tries to wipe us out on HIS terms, and I'll tell you for nothing, Ariadne, I am getting pretty damn sick of it! And I doubt those poor bastards in there feel any better either."
"And this helps how?"
"I'll tell you how it helps. For a start, I don't trust that treacherous b itch Medea. And now when she goes back to Jericho and tells him that half my crew is dead, he'll believe her, because she believes them, because THEY believe me. And likewise, when they go to see Melitus and blame him for organising it all, he'll believe them as well. It's THEIR game we've been playing, Ariadne. Jericho and Melitus. They think they're so smart. Well, now they are going to play MY game. And in my game, they don't know that Mors and the others are still alive. And that gives US an Ace in the Hole. Let me tell you, Ariadne... Jericho and Melitus are going to get a VERY nasty surprise. Soon."
Dallas sits back on his chair, adjusting his hat slightly, and turning a monitor to face him. He continues to keep watch on the monitors, and for a moment as he watches you can see, in his eyes, something that perhaps have not noticed before; behind all the bluster and his careless manner, lies a keen and quick intelligence- of a Captain who has never failed to complete his orders.
"Hey there Ares," says Dallas (juat what IS Ariadne doing, to not be on the phone?).
"Pretty damn good plan of mine, that was! Got you guys out of trouble. No need to fear with Dallas covering your back!"
("That was blind luck!" yells out Ariadne in the background.
"Hey, what did I tell you about not getting distracted from work?" says Dallas, before getting back to the phone)
"Sorry about that. Well... you seem to be trapped under the rubble there in a sub-basement... a good portion of that area of the CCC building collapsed, though luckily the tower itself remained up. Problem is, you guys gotta remain unseen. The Agents haven't found bodies and until they do they won't stop looking for you. There are rescue teams moving in now- we really have to make sure they DON'T find you..."
Ares picks up his shotgun and does his best to hide it in his tatter trench coat.
"Your plan, eh? Your plan nearly got us killed, but it did the job," Ares says, ripping off some pieces of his shirt and cleaning his wounds. "I bet those guys up there are a bit skeptic of how the Agents survived, but I'm sure not. Damned body-snatchers..."
"Well, got way for us to get out of here?"