Shadowrun: The Wages of Sin

[B4UTRUST]

Chase's mental projection winced inside the machine as he felt the thing claw at his insides. It burned for a second before he turned down the sensors. He 'looked' forward and realize he was on a nose dive towards the ground. He fought his physical instinct to throw his hands in front of his face and let go but since he had neither a face nor hands at this point it was rather redundent to do so.

Instead the CMC activated taking control away from Chase to save itself and the crew. It turned the helo back over, straighting it up and pulling up as hard and fast as it could, throttling back, raising its flaps to full and pulling the rudder hard right, spinning it in a tight arc, dropping speed and getting the nose up.

[Cynical Cat]

As Chase wrestled his baby away from a most unpleasant crash, an insect spirit leapt forward and smashed Polynome to the ground with his claws.

[B4UTRUST]

The CMC deactivated as it assertained that it was safe to do so. Or rather, safe from close intimate brushes with the ground, with whom it had once had a trist with and never bother to returned its call, and for this it was all the happier.

The controls came back to life in Chase's mind and he took them back with glee. Now that Big, Tall and Deadly was out of him he turned his attention back to the matter, or matters rather, at hand. He targeted the three bug spirits that weren't currently assaulting Poly and fired off a careful burst at them with the MMGs.

With another thought he called up his suscriber list of drones and started up the Strato-9 and the two MCT Roto-drones. He knew they would take a few minutes to full come online and launch out.

"Gil, we've got bugs. Hit the nitros and come in blazing."

[Josh]

Gil's meatbody trembled involuntarily.

Fragging bugs.

He engaged the nitros.

"Forty-five seconds. Weapons hot."

[Cynical Cat]

Bullets tore apart one insect spirit. The others were too swift and dodged out of the way. The one that he had unceremoniously dislodged from his helo had not forgotten about him. It leapt up and pulled itself up by the land gear, its claws tearing the armoured skin of the helo.

[Agent Fisher]

Wraith dashed over to Poly and delivered a hard kick to the insect spirit to get it off of Poly, while unhosltering his pistol and firing into the creature.

[Cynical Cat]

The creature staggered back as Wraith put slugs into its torso. Fluid oozed from the holes in its chitin. The other two closed, reaching for him with claws and mandables.

[Agent Fisher]

Wraith grabbed poly, hoisted him onto his shoulder and took off running. He somehow managed to reload his pistol with a guy on his shoulder, and fired at the spirit on the chopper's landing gear.

[Cynical Cat]

That was Wraith's intent. In actuality, ignoring lunging insect spirits to pick up a comrade was reckless. He managed to pick up the mage and turn before the spirits seized him. One seized his left arm and leg, the other his right arm. There was a snick as mandables sheered off his right hand, dropping it and the gun to the ground.

[Agent Fisher]

Wraith screamed as he felt a sudden loss of weight and pain on his right arm. He turned his head and saw that he wasnt going anywhere soon. Well, fuck.

[B4UTRUST]

Chase felt the helo dip slightly more to the side as something heavy attached itself to the skin. He felt the tug at the landing gear and then a sensation of pain as claws ripped into the armor plating. Whatever the hell it was it was tough.

He had been watching the IDS system watching Wraith and Poly and hadn't been paying attention to the rest of his surroundings. Stupid! The internal speakers emmited a monophonic growl of annoyance and anger. Chase was getting really pissed off now.

He closed the landing gear, bypassing the hydraulic safeties, snapping them shut with a slam and a crunch of carpace. It was about then the drones launched of the rear and came online.

[Josh]

And the SUV came into view, flying across the tarmac.

Gil's video pickups assessed the situation in a flash. Poly down, Wraith being grabbed by bugs and apparently torn to shreds.

He leveled the onboard weaponry, setting it above Poly's height, and prepared to fire.

[Cynical Cat]

The wounded spirit dropped as Chase disgorged his drones. It was far faster to react than the mechanical devices. It lunged and clawed the first one from the air, crippling it. The next one blasted it with a hail of gunfire and it fell.

Blood, visceria, and bone flew as Gil carved through the insect spirits with the SUV's guns. The remnants of Wraith and the soldier ants fell to the ground.

[Josh]

The SUV pivoted and skidded to a stop a scant meter short of Poly.

Not quite rigger-precise driving, but not bad. Unjacking, Gil flew through the passenger door, grabbed the mage and dragged him inside, then replugged the jack, fighting down a wave of nausea at the rapid-fire transitions.

[Comrade Tortoise]

(You know, had I not been sleeping, I would have put up a spirit barrier or something...)

The door was still open, Polynome was tired, to say the least. he had put up an apparantly useless firewall, run from insect spiritsand been knockedon his ass. His composure remained however, and Wraith had saved hislife. he summoned his inner strength again, and raised his hand up he telekinetically plucked Wraith and his missing bits off the floor and set him in the SUV. Then used his hand to shut the door.



After that, Polynome asessed him to see whether he would be able to heal him, or whether a Stabilization spell, which at this rate would probably cause him to pass out or have a ose-bleed, one of the two, would be required. He took adeep breath, as sweat poured from him in great droplets.

[Agent Fisher]

Wraith felt only numbness as the bullets tore into him, from the SUV. He watched as it skidded to a halt and he saw Gil grap Poly and yank him inside. Just go, you idiots, I'm boned, get going. Wraith just felt like he was floating and figured he was dieing. Wraith began to pray in his mind. Oh Lord, I have sinned. I have murdered, destroyed and robbed. Please, Lord, have pity on a poor sinner like me. With that, Wraith passed into the darkness of unconsciousness.

[Cynical Cat]

Wraith was gone.

[B4UTRUST]

Chase whipped the helo around for another pass and saw Gil in the SUV.
'About drekin time!' he thought to himself. He watced Gil throw Poly into the SUV and wraith's mangled corpse. Not pretty. He sent a mental command to the drones, sending them to right a tight patrol around the helo as he moved to set it down near the SUV. If Poly was hurt he could get some medical treatment in the helo at least.

[Josh]

"He's gone," Gil said over the internal speakers, observing Poly's action.

"I couldn't let them take him alive."

Better dead than hollowed out for a fragging bug. Or torn to shreds.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"fuck"

Polynome performed last rites. Making the sign of the cross over him, closing his eyes, and praying that the gates of heaven open for him swiftly.

[Josh]

He registered that Chase had taken control of the drones and was covering the perimeter. He disconnected from the SUV and blinked, looking over at Poly.

"You wounded?"

[B4UTRUST]

Chase reverted into captain's chair mode and added the helo as a drone to the subscriber list. He readied himself for a most peculier sensation. He 'woke up' inside of himself, unstrapped himself from himself and jumped out of himself with his gun drawn.

He had put everything into a drone setup and routed the data to go through his router to his cranial remote deck and his encephelon to do constant data analysis so he could actually function in the meat world. At the back of the mind he recieved constant updates. The entire mess was encrypted with the RCEM module and his cybereyes allowed him to switch display data from the drones overlayed on his vision. He wouldn't want to try to do a running gunfight like this but he could at least walk and talk a bit.

It always took him a minute for his flesh mind to wrap around separating himself from himself, stopping the sensation of moving through himself, watching himself and standing beside himself. He hated that.

As he got out of the helo he turned towards Gil and Poly.
"Hey, you made it. Poly you hurt? I don't think we should stay here to long."

[Comrade Tortoise]

He registered that Chase had taken control of the drones and was covering the perimeter. He disconnected from the SUV and blinked, looking over at Poly.

"You wounded?"

"I got knocked on the head when they tackled me, but I am OK, had it not been for wraith I would have been toast. Hold on.. I need to make sure we dont have any more of those things"

He called forth the formula for a detection spell, and traced the symbols and figuresfor it in the air before him, and muttered something, again, incomprehensible.

[Agent Fisher]

Miles away from the airfield, a man walked to his door. He opened the door and carried in his groceries. He walked over to his answering machine and hit play. One message from his parents, whining about how he never called, one from Linda, or was it Jayne, about how he never called. He finished the messages and logged onto the matrix under his handle of Deacon. Time to try and find some work.

[Cynical Cat]

His spell spread out sweeping through the abandoned field and then fell apart. Something shredded in astral space.