Adventure! RPG: Heroes of Our Time - episode 2: Air Raid

[Blaine]

Blaine reloads his gun with a clip off his belt as King is securing the door, then his eyes fall on the Tommy gun. His face lights up just a bit as he puts his smoking gun in its holster, apparently unconcerned about the heat. He walks over to the armory and with some reverence takes the thompson off the rack.

"Oh Tommy Boy, Oh Tommy Boy" he croons (not too bad really) in an Irish accent as he opens the chamber, and then goes through the drawers until he finds a drum clip of ammunition, which he slams into place with expert ease.

"Oh Tommy Boy..." he continues singing as he takes another drum clip and places it somewhat awkwardly into his belt. Then he grabs two more clips of regular 9mm ammo for his own gun and puts them in his pocket. He levers the action back on the Thompson with a heavy clikclak! and turns to King and anyone else that remain.

"Let's strike up the band Mr. King, and see how these lousy Krauts dance!"

[Andrew Murphy]

"You are already too late, my friend. They have surprise, superior mobility, and superior numbers. They already have hostages in some of the areas. What we have is interior lines and the quality of our limited personnel. We also have time on our side."

"I'm forced to agree that we are indeed fighting an uphill battle," Jameson replies as Janos reloads his weapon. "Just keep this in mind my friend, my priority is to protect the innocents. Zorbo can take the engine. In the end I'll track him down and make him pay for each and every innocent person he's hurt here today, if we end up taking the engine back at that point, well, all the better impetus."

"Now, lets kill these bastards and get back to work. You have a date tonight, and it wouldn't do to be keep the lady waiting."

"Couldn't agree more, and Kate isn't the only one who may need our help. Besides," he says with a goofy lopsided grin breaking his determined stare, "I hate sauerkraut!"

[Rhiannon Lewis]

Rhiannon grabs ammo for the weapons selected, the light pistols for herself and rushes out. She throws the ammo for King to him, then without waiting to see if he's caught them, rushes down and throws the requisite ammo to the men before loading her light pistols and waiting behind them, weapon at the ready.

[Dr. Mystery]

John glances reproachfully at the guns, although none can easily see this, he places his hand on his chin, his eyebrows arched in a perplexed manner. As the others ready themselves, he finally snaps to a decision, leaving the guns behind and following uncertainly behind Rhiannon, Janos, and Jameson.

[Andrew Murphy]

"Alright people, keep yourselves low and keep and eye out for any employees in need of our help. We have a responsibility here...

"I'm sure Mr. King, ya' know I'm gonna just call you Anthony from now on. Anyway, I'm sure Anthony will agree with me that as important as it is to keep the engine from a lunatic like Zorbo his employees are much more important in the short term than the engine is."

Jameson pauses and looks at everybody, "That said, we should still head straight for the engine. The majority of Zorbo's goons will be looking for it. If we can inflict heavy enough losses on his lackeys he may just run home like a mangy dog."

Jameson tightens his grip on his twin pistols and stands, "Ok let's do this."

[Locky McKenzie]

Locky looks at the weapons remaining, and after a few seconds, grabs the revolver, and inexpertly manages to load it.

"Here's to hoping I don't have to use this thing," he says to himself. He walks over to the small group still in the room.

"Right, let's get the hell outta here."

[Count Janos Rakozi]

After Jameson's little speech, Janos seems to be expecting something else. Shrugging, he says,

"Rhiannon, you should lead the way, being that you are the only one who knows the lay out. If you would, please."

[Andrew Murphy]

Jameson looks at his companions and shrugs. "Last time I try to make a speech," he grumbles under his breath.

[Rhiannon Lewis]

Rhiannon nods, stepping to the front and leading the way to the nearest flight of stairs.

[Alex Craft]

In the lounge, the sounds of periodic bursts of gunfire grow louder as raiders move through the administrative offices, rapidly penetrating the core of the building. For now, only faint noises emanate from within the conference room, but the raiders are probably only waiting to get a solid foothold there before breaking through into the lounge.

Noting the temporary security of the lounge, King reloads his pistol and caches it in his shoulder holster before moving to the weapons locker and taking the remaining Tommy gun. As he loads one of the couple of remaining drum clips, he tells Blaine and Locky (the only remaining team members), "You two go on down. I'll be fine here, and I bet that the situation in the labs is only getting worse."

* * *

Downstairs, Rhiannon leads the men through the sterile halls of the laboratory complex. It seems that the raiders have not breached as deeply on this level - most likely because what they want is right by the skin of the building, in Kate's personal laboratory. The sound of gunfire has died down, so the scientists and lab technicians with Kate must have either all surrendered or all been killed.

John makes good on his earlier offer by scouting a few steps ahead under Rhiannon's guidance. It is through his supernatural stealth that the small group is warned of the raiders' own advance scouts. Five of the raiders have situated themselves around the corner at the end of the hall - not far from Kate's lab. They have arranged themselves for cover and partial concealment, using the corner itself as well as the nearest couple of lab entrances to hide behind.

John turns into the hall and quickly spots the raiders - warning the others away from following him into the line of fire. He himself ducks back out of the hall and explains the situation to the group. Rhiannon explains in turn that it is necessary to get past these entrenched raiders - there may be another route, but it would take time to backtrack (and that route would probably be guarded too).

[Count Janos Rakozi]

"We must hurry. I suggest that Fredrick attempt to get past them and set off a smoke grenade behind them. Then let off a few shots to make it seem as if someone has gotten in behind them. When they move, the rest of us rush out and shoot them. It is risky and dangerous, but do we really have any other options?"

[Andrew Murphy]

"Well I had an idea, may not be a good one but it only puts one person is a little bit of danger.

"I'll lie down on my side here, guns at the ready. Janos you and John slide me past the coner so that I can fire my babies here and they quickly yank me back. I think I should be able to it 3 out of the 4 I aim for, and that'll even up the odds right quick."

Jameson takes his coat jackect off as he says this and lays it on the floor as a "runner".

"What do you think?"

[Count Janos Rakozi]

"It's faster, and Fredrick is already wounded. Let's do it," says Janos and gets ready to implement Jameson's plan

[Blaine]

Blaine nods to King and pats Locky on the shoulder.

"OK Kid, let's go, stay behind me. Use both hands on that piece, palms together. Point the gun in every direction that you're looking, use both eyes, don't close one, that's why God gave you two. When you got your shot, squeeze the trigger, don't pull it. A hog like that is gonna have a kick, so be ready for it. Back me up, OK Kid? You got it?"

Says Blaine as he leads the way down the hall to join the rest of them. He picks up his pace so he can bring them Thompson in to support them.

"Oh Tommy Boy..." he sings quietly.

[Andrew Murphy]

Jameson lays down onto his coat on his side facing the direction in which the hallway turns.

"Rhiannon, do you happen to have a pocket mirror with you?" he asks.

Taking the pocket mirror he extends it just beyond the corner of the hall and takes a look at the positioning of his soon-to-be targets.

"Thank you ma'am," he says as he hands the mirror back to Rhiannon. "Boys, on my word push be forward and count my shots, I'll fire four times. Once you hear the fourth shot, it'll be able 3 or 4 seconds, pull me back. OK?"

Jameson waits for Janos and John to nod to reply afirmative then positions himself to be able to fire both guns with minimal presentation as a target.

"OK ... CHARGE!!!!!"

[Rhiannon Lewis]

Rhiannon tucks away the mirror and purses her lips as Jameson takes control of the group. She readies her pistol as Jameson shoots, remaining crouched.

[Count Janos Rakozi]

The Count nods, pockets his pistol, lays the sword down, and grabs hold of his thigh above and below the knee. On "Charge!!!", he will propel Jameson forward, release his right hand-hold, and picks up the sword.

[Dr. Mystery]

John nods as well, taking hold of Jameson's other leg, readying himself.

"Ready."

[Locky McKenzie]

Locky follows Blaine, and begins quietly trying to strike up a little conversation.

"So, where did you learn to sing like that?"

[Blaine]

Blaine turns his head a bit after checking a corner.

"My Gramma." he says as he takes a second glance and then scurries across the hall to another spot of cover. He waves Locky across quickly.

"She taught me a lot of things y'know? She showed me how to do a good one-two combination, and how to talk with a pretty girl." he takes another quick look down the hall before scurrying down it again. "I didn't know my Grampa too well, he bought it not too long after I was born. He was a Pinkerton, ever heard of them? A detective agency back around the Rail Wars in the Old West. He learned all kinds a things, taught my Gramma and my Pops. He learned to fight from the heavy weight bare-knuckle champ of 1883, and my Gramma taught me those secrets. You ever wanna learn how to fight Kid, lemme know."

"It's the gun though. I don't sing unless I get one of these in my mits. Somethin' about it, I dunno just makes me feel like singing." shots and shouts are heard not too far ahead of them.

"Shit. They started playing without us, let's go Kid!" he shouts. He ignores caution at this point and races down the hall to where the others are.

[Alex Craft]

John and Janos shift their grips, then shove Jameson out into the hall. As he brings his revolvers to bear, Jameson sees all five of the raiders at the end of the hall targeting him immediately - beating out even Jameson's excellent reflexes. As Jameson pops off his first shot, all five open fire - stitching the hall around him with bullets.

More than one of the flying bullets strike Jameson, but he grits his teeth against the pain and returns fire. Three of his four rounds connect, and all three send their targets flying back - slamming against the nearest wall. One of the fallen enemies is only wounded, but the other two seem to be dead or at least incapacitated.

Janos and John frantically pull Jameson back behind cover, praying that he is not too badly hurt. 'Luckily,' he was hit only three times, two of which were glancing blows. The third entered just under his left collarbone and is still lodged somewhere in his shoulder, near the neck. Miraculously, it seems to have missed the lung and any other vitals - he can even use his left arm, though not without intense pain. It seems that he is in more immediate danger from shock and profuse bleeding than anything else.

[3L damage to Jameson; blood loss needs to be stopped to avoid further damage (bashing)]

The sound of exchanged gunfire leads Blaine and Locky directly to the rest of the group - they arrive at a run just as Jameson is pulled back out of the next hall. Gunfire from the raiders ceases when Jameson leaves their sight, and sounds of redeployment may be heard from their end of the hall. It is not immediately possible to tell whether they are approaching, falling back, or just getting the wounded out of harm's way.

[Count Janos Rakozi]

Janos stands up, draws his pistol and looks down at the bleeding Jameson.

"Rhiannon, if we go, we go now. Otherwise, we give them the engine and Kate."

{Janos will wait six seconds.}

[Locky McKenzie]

Locky follows Blaine, easily keeping up with the older Blaine.

"Hope we get there in time - these guys seem to be scaring even Mr. King - and I didn't think he got scared!"

[Andrew Murphy]

Jameson sets his revolvers down and checks his wounds, "OW! HOw the hell did they do that?" he pauses and fingers the holes in his clothes, "Oh, my tailor is going to kill me."

Jameson begins to rip sections of his jacket into strip which he'll tie around the wounds.

"Looks like we need a new plan, I got 3 of the 5 and I think 2 are down for the count. Hmnn," Jameson looks around the hall from his vantage point on the floor, "Anybody see a storage closet for fire gear around here? We could use the door as a shield and or even just turn the water on and wash away our troubles..."

[Blaine]

Blaine arrives at the hallway and sees Bradford's condition, his left eye begins to twitch dangerously, and a low scraping sound comes from his bulldog like jaw. At first you can't tell what it is, and then you realize it's actually the sound of him grinding his teeth.

"How many left?" he finally says, putting his back to the wall and sneaking a peak with the mirror he saw on the floor where Bradford was. "Hmmm. OK. I'll lay down some lead with Tommy boy here." he says to the Count and whoever else is willing. "That should give you some cover, make it to the next spot, I saw an alcove a bit down the hall and I thought I saw a fire hose there. Once you're there lay down some fire for me and the rest of whoever's going to follow up. We gotta keep advancing like that. And we need to hurry or we're gonna end up having to steal that goddamn thing again! You with me?"

[He'll spend an Inspiration point to make sure there's a suitable spot for cover down the hall and he'll spend an extra one if necessary for that idea that Bradford said about the fire hose, and another point for Heroism when he fires a full burst from the Tommy gun to try and nail as many of them as he can]

[Count Janos Rakozi]

To Jameson,

"No time for that."

After Blaine's suggestion, Janos nods grimly, finding little humor in that Blaine assumes that he will charge into the guns, but he says,

"A butcher's bill it is then."

Pistol in one hand, sword in the other, he gets ready to charge.

In Hungarian he mutters,

"I thought I gave up rushing machinegun nests in 1915."

[Locky McKenzie]

"Wait!" says Locky, suddenly.

"Let me try and distract them. I doubt I can do much with this gun, but I can definitely stop them from shooting at you. If I'm lucky, I may even be able to keep them from hitting me..."

[Dr. Mystery]

"Hold on a moment," John interjects when Locky is finished.

"As Janos suggested earlier, I may be able to get by them on my own, and set of a bit of a distraction behind them, giving the rest of you a chance to get some shots at them. That way, there is less likelyhood of more injury."

[Rhiannon Lewis]

Rhiannon swears in Welsh under her breath before pursing her lips. "Janos and I will lead," she says coolly. "Blaine is next. Jameson, go last. But for the next moment, I would advise you cover your ears."

With that she rises from concealment and barks at the gunmen still standing, "Drop your weapons!"

[Alex Craft]

Rhiannon (and anyone else who risks a peek) sees that the raiders are pulling back around the corner. The wounded man is out of sight, and one of the uninjured raiders is moving his fallen comrades while the other uninjured raider covers the hall.

The man standing guard attempts to bring his weapon to bear on Rhiannon, but finds his action cut off by Rhiannon's commanding words. He and his partner both drop their submachine guns - hesitating momentarily in surprise before going for the pistols strapped to their sides.

[Andrew Murphy]

As Jameson continues to bandage the minor cuts and knicks he's picked up he finally moves to the world of pain currently located at his left shoulder.

"What the... ?!? Oh drat, Billy gave me this flask, oh and my bourbon." It seems that his flask caught the bullet high near its top and the warm liquid Jameson initially took for blood was Jim Beam's finest Kentucky bourbon.

"Ah hell, better it than me I guess," Jameson says as he completes his bandaging (if you choose to call is that).

Jameson gives a quizzical look at Rhiannon at her comment that he pull up the rear just as she issues her command to the goons. Jameson begins holster his guns for a moment before he realizes that she wasn't talking to him.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned ... or at least like one who's really damn mad."

Jameson hefts his guns, 'four shots left in each' he thinks, and positions himself to cover thier backs as the other take on the goons...

[Count Janos Rakozi]

With two fists pressed tightly up against his head, Janos follows Rhiannon out into the hallway. Swinging wide until he is running up against the far wall, he lowers his arms and charges.

"Roham!" he screams.

[Blaine]

Blaine blinks his eyes for a moment and almost puts down the gun, then shakes his head quicklys as he sees Janos and Rhiannon running down the hall.

"Like I said when I first met everyone, this is a goddamn Vaudeville act!" he snarls and then charges down the hall after them, holding his fire until he has a clear shot.

[My plan has been passed on by, so for now I'll go ahead and reclaim the Inspiration I said I spent (1 to have the cover and fire hose, 1 for the heroic bonus). Basically I haven't spent them yet if that's OK.]

[Dr. Mystery]

John shrugs at Rhiannon's comment. At her order to the gunmen, John's hands immediately fall to his sides, whereupon he realizes that he has no gun anyway. He keeps his position, waiting around the curve for the gunfire to stop, before rising.

[Rhiannon Lewis]

Rhiannon allows herself a brief satisfied smile before she coolly brings her gun up and fires at the man nearest to her with seeming disregard for her own safety.

[Locky McKenzie]

Locky immediately drops his gun. Locky feels quite weirded out, and decides to look around the corner to see what exactly is going on.

As he looks around to see the two men heading for their back-up weaponry, Locky suddenly realises that Rhiannon is a sitting duck.

A split second after Rhiannon fires, Locky dives towards her, tackling her towards the ground. At the bottom of the tackle, Locky plants his hands on the ground, moving with the momentum of the tackle to continue heading towards the wall, doing an impressive tumble to meet back at his feet.

Just as it would seem that Locky should smack into the wall, he uses his now empty hands to push hard against the wall, sending Locky hurtling in the opposite direction, out of balance and seemingly out of control towards Rhiannon.

As it looks like he's about to fall onto Rhiannon, he kicks his feet up, doing a backflip back to the safety of the connecting hallway, grabbing his gun as he gets back to his feet...

[Alex Craft]

Quickly overcoming their surprise, the two active raiders bring up their handguns to target the two most obvious opponents: Rhiannon and Janos. Before more shots are fired, however, Blaine steps around into sight as well, loosing a spray of cover fire down the corridor.

One of the raiders dives for cover - disappearing around the corner at the end of the hall. The other has a bit more sand, and only flinches as he braves the scattered gunfire long enough to squeeze off a shot at Rhiannon. He and Rhiannon fire almost simultaneously - the barks of their pistols coming together as one sound.

The raider jerks back, wounded, and Rhiannon would surely be likewise injured ... were it not for Locky's assistance. As the young man impacts her, she falls - evading the bullet. Rhiannon recovers her feet quickly and gracefully, but - unfortunately - Locky's display of acrobatics is marred at its resolution. He does make it back to cover, but slips up on his dismount and sprawls gracelessly across the floor of the adjoining hallway. Embarrassment aside, he quickly pops back to his feet, uninjured and out of the line of fire.

The wounded raider (Rhiannon's target) gets no time to recover, as Jameson picks him off before he even regains his balance.

With the raiders otherwise occupied, Janos reaches the end of the hall unharmed and facing little opposition. Of the five raiders, only one is still on his feet - the other four either dead or badly (perhaps mortally) wounded. This last raider is already around the corner and running toward Kate's lab, just seven or eight meters away. (Note that only Janos has a line of sight on this last man.)

[Andrew Murphy]

As soon as Janos safely rounds the corner Jameson will check their rear to make sure that no flunkies are approaching from behind.

"All clear back here, lets keep moving," Jameson says as he begins down the hall at a half run.

When he gets to the next corner he'll put his back to the wall in the corner. His right hand pointing a pistol down the corridor covering Janos and his left pointing down the corridor covering his teammates.

"Rhiannon, how much further is Kate's lab? And how much fortification can we expect within for either ourselves or Zorbo's goons?"

[Count Janos Rakozi]

Janos rounds the corner, sees his fleeing opponent, and hurls the sword at the man's back. Pistol in hand, he will then keep after him.

[Blaine]

Blaine, steps out from his brief cover and heads around the corner, no longer bothering for cover any more. He fires staccato bursts from the Tommy gun, a steely, cold and deadly look in his eyes.

Oh Tommy Boy...oh Tommy Boy,

Your papa he loves ya but

He'll not be home for supper

He's gone an' died for Lincoln...

He croons as he blazes hot lead down the corridor at any that remain and are still moving.