<div></div><br> <br>When last we left our intrepid heroes (?), several of them were gathered in the lobby, with Angus liberating Astara from what seemed to be a glue grenade of sorts. Firecracker had taken down one of the mental mice who appeared to be controlling the guards, which had turned on the team and shot Astara, the only one to have been injured in the battle (except for the now-unconscious mouse). While Astara, Parthenia, and Angus dealt with the scenario in the lobby, a team composed of Zophah, Mal, and ? found their way to a sniper tower where an agent reported an absence of communication from command, and Phosphorus had gone off on her own to discover another post which was sadly missing its previous occupant. All three teams were getting ready to converge on the Zephyr building once more, which is where our scene resumes. Of the team, only Zophah has broken off to join the brawl, leaving Mal and Arris to join up with the others.<br> <br>Angus tears the last of the restraining substances from Astara, making sure she wasn&#39;t going to fall on him before he finishes off helping the rest of the guards. &quot;There, now that we&#39;ve taken care of that sticky situation lets see who else we can find eh?&quot; He asks no one in particular, drawing the revolver at his hip and putting it to half cock as he heads towards the stairs, not really waiting for an answer.<br> <br>Astara is just about trembling with anger, and she casts a glance with narrowed eyes towards Angus... before she just sighs, hanging her head. &quot;Does anyone have some rope? I want to make sure that fucking bitch isn&#39;t going anywhere when she wakes up.&quot;<br> <br>Mal runs along after Arris, following the Gator into the building, with a grimace on his face and his M1911 ready. The human blinks and looks around, sniffing. &quot;What the shit...&quot; he mutters, shaking his head as he looks at the other agents. &quot;Anyone know what&#39;s going on?&quot; he asks, adding, &quot;And...maybe what that smell is?&quot;<br> <br>Parthenia was on her way to go check out the choppa pilot but... Something change her mind. Instead she decided to share a piece of mind with Astara. &quot;Wouldn&#39;t be much of a point in going bondage on her ass if she can just will someone to free her again. I say, blow her head off and be done with it?&quot; Her attention turns to Firepony. &quot;I suppose I could go with you... Safety is in numbers after all.&quot;<br> <br>Arris hurriedly leads Mal back into the Zephyr building. Upon reentering the lobby, sie immediately catches a whiff of the glue bomb that went off earlier, looking over to the glue blob. &quot;God, what happened here? Actually, don&#39;t answer that.&quot; Sie turns to Parthenia. &quot;Zophah, Mal, and I have found out that communications with Zephyr HQ have went down. We should go upstairs and see what&#39;s going on.&quot;<br> <br>Firecracker blinks in surprise as her links are cut off.  &quot;What the heck?  That&#39;s not normal...&quot; she says to herself as she turns midair to look back at the others flooding into the room.  &quot;Well whatever, up we go!&quot; she announces as Angus heads up the stairs and Parthenia expresses her willingness to follow.  She ascends straight upwards as she looks around for anything out of the ordinary, shouting over to the ones entering the building.  &quot;Yeah, the coyote over there blew his load all over the guards.  Quite the sticky situation,&quot; she says with a grin and a shrug, slowly shaking her head back and forth.<br> <br>As Angus and Firecracker begin to make their way up the stairs, they&#39;ll find that they&#39;re being peppered by a hail of bullets from the third floor; someone is waiting for them! Judging by the uniforms, another squad of guards was alerted by the firefight and has come to offer backup, not even bothering to ask questions before opening fire on both members of the team that have gone on ahead. The good news is that Firecracker is both small enough and agile enough to evade the hail of bullets. The bad news is that Angus isn&#39;t quite so lucky, with one of the bullets managing to strike an unarmored area and actually inflict some damage. Cover fire is laid in the lobby in short order, though they&#39;re careful to avoid hitting the gooped guards who are still stuck to the floor; it&#39;s simply going to be difficult to get up those stairs without getting shot!<br> <br>Angus clutches his shoulder as he takes the ground, grunting and hitting the deck as the fire starts. Which is to say he turns around, and books it to the first floor as quickly as possible to find a good place to take cover and check the wound. &quot;I swear, every time, EVERY fucking time some shit happens in this place I get shot.&quot;<br> <br>Astara shakes her head in response to Parth. &quot;I&#39;m not much for killing people unneccisarily. Can just gag her and bind her eyes, shouldn&#39;t be able to do much then. More importantly, she might yet be useful to us in the future... somehow. Even if it&#39;s just for me to be able to execute some personal payback on her.&quot; The venom is practically dripping off of her words towards the end.

The succubus doesn&#39;t have long to stay salty, however, with the scene now re-escalating. Using her wings to help give her some extra velocity, she darts for cover in the alcove of the Coffee Shop.<br> <br>Mal backs up as shots are fired, lifting his gun to aim at the source. &quot;What the shit!&quot; he calls out, trying to pinpoint where the shooters are, and what&#39;s going on. Seriously, this is out of his pay range...<br> <br>&quot;Hey! Why are the guards shooting at us!?&quot; Arris sees the guards opening fire into the lobby, firing off a few shots at them with hir railgun before running behind the central elevator for cover and shooting at the guards from there. Sie ducks behind the column again before pushing the &quot;call elevator&quot; button, reloading hir railgun and shooting again.<br> <br>Parthenia says, &quot;Of wow, really?!&quot; Perked up the human woman. She seemed way too excited to hear those news! If someone was smart, or tough enough to get to HQ, it could be either really good, or really bad! Either way, she simply had to go check out what is going on, find out who is behind it and most importantly, why?! To hope for the best was fooling of course, but she still did! &quot;C&#39;mon what are we waiting for? Let get going!&quot; She exclaimed heading for the elevator. Maybe she should take stairs? Bah, it&#39;ll be fine! And then comes the fire. The stink-dog gets shot, the small horse is dodging like mad and Parthenia extends her finger to push the button responsible for the elevator summoning. She tries to stay out of the sight of aggressors, with her shotgun at the ready for when the doors opens for her, ready to blow whoever might be inside all over the elevator walls. Seems like no one is asking any questions. She isn&#39;t going to kind enough to do so either. The kind demon who didn&#39;t want to put a few new fuckable holes in the mouse just got a roll of human&#39;s eyes.&quot;<br> <br>Firecracker grins as she weaves through the hail of lead, looking up towards the presumed source of the showers.  &quot;Looks like the fun&#39;s not over yet!&quot; she shouts out as she darts towards the columns to get some cover as she continues to ascend.  With her speed and weaving around, she hopes to lose at least a few of the guards&#39; attention as she ascends towards the roof to get a better view from above.<br> <br>The first floor of the Zephyr building offers ample sources of cover, but the gunfire isn&#39;t done. Cover fire is laid down with surprising precision; they seem to know exactly where to aim to ensure that the occupants of the lobby aren&#39;t going everywhere. For the moment, there&#39;s a lot of shouting going on, both from the guards downstairs and from whoever is up there, and between that and the constant usage of firearms? Good luck trying to hear anything. Angus and Astara will wind up in approximately the same area, safe from enemy fire, with Mal close enough to grab if needs be. Arris and Parthenia have a somewhat less tenable position by the elevator, but successfully hitting one of them is a lot more difficult...and will become even moreso if they duck into the elevator, the door opening with its ever-present quiet &#39;ding!&#39; sounds. Firecracker will discover that it is indeed a secondary team of guards opening fire on those below, along with a second mouse, this one hale and hearty and smart enough to keep the guards between hir and the petite pony.<br> <br>Angus sighs as the gunfire continues, digging a finger into an ear. &quot;You know after that shit outside I think after this I&#39;m going to have to take a vacation.&quot; He mutters to no one in particular. Reaching out he grabs Mal, pulling him into cover and past him as he steps out with gun in hand, sights aimed for where the gunfire originated before firing three times to see if he can&#39;t get anyones attention.<br> <br>Astara is dismayed to see there&#39;s a casualty already, noticing Angus&#39; shoulder. &quot;Fuck, I really wish I knew some first-aid right now... how bad is it, Angus?&quot; And now with Mal there, she looks to him, sighing again. &quot;What now? I&#39;m afraid I&#39;m not much use for long distance, and while I can fly... I&#39;m a pretty big target.&quot;<br> <br>&quot;What,&quot; is the only thing out of Mal&#39;s mouth as the Coyote grips his arm and tugs him behind cover. The human blinks and watches Angus in confusion before poking his head out from behind the makeshift defenses, holstering the pistol in favor of the Remington 700. &quot;God dammit...&quot;<br> <br>Parthenia pulls the barrels of her shotgun up and steps in to the soon to be moving box. Not a second later hits the button F3. She didn&#39;t want to get shot at any more. Well.. At least not while firing back! Arris obviously following her in before the door close. &quot;So... I see you got some range on that thing.&quot; She nods towards the rail gun. &quot;I&#39;m going to take out anyone close to us, you, aim far.&quot; She reaches down to touch her belt. &quot;I&#39;ll step out first, Got nanite buffer to take a few shots of anyone is on us.&quot; She lifts her gun again getting ready for the door to open. &quot;Oh. And if you see a mouse. Shoot the bitch and ignore the guards.&quot; Pausing for a moment she looked up, her lips forming a cute little &#39;o&#39;. &quot;I suppose if our floor is clear, take a dash to the railing and take down the assholes on the second floor.&quot; Ass soon as the door opens the nearest individual gets a slug from her gun.<br> <br>Arris stays behind the column, barely able to hear the sound of the elevator opening through the gunfire. Sie steps inside the elevator, pushing the &quot;Floor 2&quot; button. &quot;Yup. Uh, yeah, so basically you run ahead, get shot instead of me, and I shoot you with my healing gun.&quot; Sie holds up hir Heal Pistol with hir left hand. &quot;I kinda want to go to the second floor. It&#39;s safer since we&#39;re more close to the rest of the team, going to the third floor immediately may bring surprise, but it&#39;s also very risky.&quot; Sie pushes the F2 button.<br> <br>Firecracker shouts down to the guards and mouse as they fire their guns down at her allies and up at her, cape flapping behind her and shades glinting dangerously in the light.  &quot;Hey!  I&#39;d duck if I were you!&quot;  Right in the middle of the group of guards, in front of the mouse&#39;s face, a bright pink orb of light shines into existence as the air becomes dangerously hot, threatening to explode in just moments.  Several other orbs of pink light come into existence in the air around the guards as well.  They really should duck.  And when they do, Firecracker will take the opportunity to charge at the mouse.<br> <br>Zophah comes running into the lobby, out of breath. She had left her drones, summons and her daughter to deal with the riots, and finally got back to Zephyr. She comms to the rest of the group &quot;Does anyone know where the end goal is?&quot; She tracks the crew she had &#39;marked&#39; with Biomonitoring Sight nanomagic, looking around their locations with Biodetection nanomagic as well. She then calls appon her phoenix dedication to shift into the iconic bird of fire, flying up the middle to try and head up the third floor. &quot;Firecracker would be jealous.&quot; She says to herself.<br> <br>Getting past that cover fire quickly proves to be significantly easier than it had been, what with Zophah making a very dramatic appearance and a fireball momentarily dazzling the mouse, along with several lights to make it difficult for the guards to see and distract them to no end. None of the guards actually heed Firecracker&#39;s advice, though, and while only three of them are still firing in the wake of the fireball, one is still focused enough to keep fire down on the ground while the other two aim at Zophah - easily the larger of the targets! Mercifully, every guard still aiming forward is drawn by the much larger target, the intently focusing Firecracker briefly going unassaulted...and Zophah will narrowly dodge both bullets, though it&#39;s immediately obvious that staying out in the open isn&#39;t tenable for long. In the meantime, ding - the elevator opens on Floor 2, revealing no great scuffle of any kind. The sounds of conflict can clearly be heard above, though!<br> <br>Angus scowls a little as bullets still riddle the lobby, he rolls his shoulder a bit to test it before answering Astara&#39;s question. &quot;Not the first time I&#39;ve been shot, I&#39;ll be fine. Just hurts.&quot; He answers before turning his attention back to the third floor. Cocking the hammer back he closes one eye and takes aim before commenting to Mal with a bit of a smile. &quot;Hey, bet you I can hit him before you do.&quot; <br> <br>Astara resummons her forest wisp companion, and it blazes back with renewed vigor right besides her! &quot;...well, they seem distracted enough.&quot; Her wings flap again in preparation for a use and she steps out of the alcove tenatively, laser pistol in hand. The succubus casts a look to Mal and Angus, the tiniest of smirks on her face; &quot;Think you two can keep the covering fire down long enough for me to get up there?&quot; <br> <br>&quot;We can try?&quot; Mal responds, aiming down the sights of his rifle. &quot;Ya think Zephyr would send me a bill if I shot one of &#39;em?&quot; he asks, eyeing one of the guards. &quot;I don&#39;t think I can afford to pay for someone&#39;s medical...&quot; he adds, grinning. Hah, insurance jokes. Classic.<br> <br>Parthenia turns and peers at her companion. &quot;Are you... Fucking... Shitting me!?&quot; Hisses the woman through her teeth. &quot;You going to play games here or do as I say, bitch?&quot; Armored finger snaps agaist the F3 one more time. &quot;I&#39;m honestly astonished by your inability to follow simple orders. Just hope you are a more capable shooter.&quot; She turns away starting at the door again. &quot;If you are to have any more -bright- ideas, do consult me /first/!&quot; Her gun is once again aimed at the door. The nearest Guard gets it. Unless of course the poor little mouse is so preoccupied with all the Fiery flames and is so helplessly in the open... In the case the shot gun goes... BLAMF! BLARGBF!<br> <br>Arris can&#39;t do much else than nod with a flustered face as Parthenia rages at hir, somewhat afraid that sie will have to deal with her and not the guards. Sie is about to move to push the button to floor 3, but Parthenia is already on it. The gator instead readies hirself again to shoot once the doors outside the elevator open.<br> <br>Firecracker rolls her eyes and shakes her head with a disappointed &quot;Tsk&quot; as none of the guards seem to care about a fireball going off right above them.  &quot;Guess this is my chance anyway,&quot; she says to herself as none of the guards seem to be focused on her.  She lights up in a pink aura of flames as she charges towards the group, aiming to tackle the dazzled mouse off the walkway and down to the second floor, following it down as they go.  A ten-foot drop onto its back shouldn&#39;t hurt it TOO badly.<br> <br>Zophah turns invisible with her Vanishing nanomagic while creating three duplicates of herself with Illusion nanomagic, splitting off to distract the gunmen while she goes to the mouse. Once close up she tries to force the mouse to stand down, using her Kitsunetsuki power to try and dominate the mouse&#39;s mind. She even puts some heroic effort into getting the mouse to submit.<br> <br>Firecracker rolls her eyes and shakes her head with a disappointed &quot;Tsk&quot; as none of the guards seem to care about a fireball going off right above them.  &quot;Guess this is my chance anyway,&quot; she says to herself as none of the guards seem to be focused on her.  She lights up in a pink aura of flames as she charges towards the group.  She dashes past them to hit the wall, kicking off it quickly to slam into the dazzled mouse and knock it off the walkway to the second floor, following it down as they go.  A ten-foot drop onto its back shouldn&#39;t hurt it TOO badly.<br> <br>The cover fire provided by Mal and Angus proves to be enough to get Astara up to the third floor unassaulted, though the two guards that were dazzled by the light show are quick enough to recover - these guys are smart and disciplined. It&#39;s no wonder Zephyr relies on them in case things go down! Zophah&#39;s attempt to dominate the mouse will meet with some resistance, though that resistance is dampened by Firecracker&#39;s assault and the distracting shouting from the second floor. Soon enough, the elevator rises, and makes its way to the third floor just in time for the next round of battle. Ding! One of the guards peels away to provide support fire against the pair in the elevator, and there&#39;s a moment where they regroup and fall back just slightly...but even then, they only seem to tighten their defenses. There&#39;s a bit of a sour patch, though: even at high velocity, being kicked by a six-inch pony isn&#39;t really enough to topple the mouse, who reacts to being kicked by turning around and grabbing Firecracker in both hands. With a savage grin, the mouse starts to twist - the pony will want to get out of there in a hurry!<br> <br>Angus takes the opportunity caused by the chaos to take the stairs, not really in a hurry due to how crowded it is already. As he does he snaps the loading gate open, ejecting spent casings as he goes before loading the empty cylinders with fresh ones, spinning the cylinder and gently resting the hammer forward as he continues on his climb to third level, party town central.<br> <br>Mal blinks as the Coyote takes off, but within seconds is running after him, shrugging the rifle over a shoulder as he chases after Angus. The Human eyes Angus&#39; revolver and hmmphs, &quot;I need to get one of those...&quot; he mutters, drawing his M1911 as he goes.<br> <br>Astara arrived at a good time, it seems, based on Firecracker&#39;s predicament; she casts her hand outwards towards the rodent, and her forest wisp immidiately goes towards it. The succubus, much more obvious and shoot-able than an ethereal ball of fire, focuses on the guards, casting a marsh wisp over them as she flies at one. She&#39;s certainly an imposing figure.<br> <br>Parthenia knew perfectly well where the fight is. With all she shooting going down, the flames, the lights. The doors open and there isn&#39;t a soul right in front of them. She gets ready to stop out. &quot;Remember. If you don&#39;t see a mouse, shoot the guards. If you do. Right in the head.&quot; She taps her armored finger agaist the visor of her helmet, probably pointing between the eyes. With that she steps out falling to her knee, weapon raised and aimed at the guard who was so willing and ready to hold off the elevator assault. BLAMRF!<br> <br>Arris waits for Parthenia to leave the elevator, following closely behind her. Spotting the Mental Mouse doing... something, crushing something in her hands, sie quickly aims at her head and fires. Loading a fresh round, sie starts shooting the Zephyr guards in the knees.<br> <br>Firecracker grins as the mouse holds her and starts to crush and twist.  That means it has nothing to protect its face from the near point-blank solar breath that shoots out of the little fireball&#39;s mouth as she wrests her way out of its grip to follow up his a vicious headbutt.  That mouse is going over the railing whether it wants to or not.<br> <br>Zophah quickly pulls a hypodermic needle from a pocket of her lab coat, stabbing the mouse with Paralytic Venom on a main artery to pump her full of sedative. She then becomes visible as she tries to pull firecracker away from the mouse and other&#39;s attacks aimed at the mouse as well, ready to use her medical expertise if need be.<br> <br>With the team of five guards having their attention split three different ways - two aiming at Angus and Mal, two at Zophah and Astara, and one at Parthenia and Arris - their actual ability to provide cover fire is severely curtailed. Of course, it&#39;s five until Parthenia and Arris open fire...and then it&#39;s four, one of the guards shuddering as he&#39;s splattered with the brains of his nearby comrade, the killshot proving quite effective. In the meantime, clutching her scorched face, the mouse drops Firecracker and makes a run for it down the hall. Instantly, the four remaining guards huddle close together to guard the mouse&#39;s escape, needle still hanging out of hir arm; this position is becoming indefensible, and shi&#39;s hoping to put some distance between hirself and the fight before the venom kicks in!<br> <br>Angus smirks a little at Mal. &quot;You know where Narwen&#39;s shop is? I supply his gear, come around there tomorrow and ask him about a custom order, I&#39;ll make you one.&quot; He answers, humming to himself just a bit as he inspects the hole in his coat, man that&#39;s going to suck to repair. As they get closer to the third floor he very quietly puts an arm out to slow Mal down, cocking his head at the door. &quot;LEtsss not go bursting through, who knows if someone with an itchy trigger finger will take pot shots right.&quot; He comments, holding his gun with the barrel pointing towards the cieling before he tries the door.<br> <br>Astara curses under her breath as the wounded mouse makes an escape. &quot;I&#39;m going to try to pursue!&quot; Having wings is rather helpful, and she just recorrects her trajectory to try and fly after the mouse by soaring over the heads of the re-assembling guards. Maybe giving one of them a foot or knee to the head if opportune.<br> <br>&quot;Eh, I don&#39;t think I have any plans tomorrow...&quot; Mal says, smirking as he slows down, pistol at the ready. &quot;Agreed,&quot; he replies to the Coyote, ready to back him up with gunfire!<br> <br>Arris watches as the mouse begins running out, cursing. Sie runs over to the dead guard, pulling him behind cover. &quot;Zophah! I&#39;ll take care of that mouse! Come here and revive this guard!&quot; Hir rifle pokes out from between the railings as sie tries to get a bodyshot on one of the guards.<br> <br>Already behind the wall of guards, Firecracker launches herself after the mouse as it flees.  As she gets closer, she calls out to hir, yelling &quot;Hey!  Just give up already!  There&#39;s nobody here to protect you anymore, and if you don&#39;t one of those guys with a gun&#39;ll be in here any second.  Just lie down and you&#39;ll save yourself a lot of pain.&quot;  And if the talking doesn&#39;t work, well, fire usually does the trick.  It worked the last time anyway, and it&#39;s a simple matter to make another fireball appear in front of the mouse&#39;s face as shi flees.<br> <br>Zophah yells back to Arris &quot;I&#39;ll get him on the way back.&quot; She then uses her Illusionary Equilibrioception nanomagic on the mouse and the guards, combo with a visual illusion to make them feel like the entire world flipped upside-down. She then focuses a Mirage, appearing in front of the fleeing mouse as the real Zophah becomes invisible again, maintaining pursuit.<br> <br>Zophah yells back to Arris &quot;I&#39;ll get him on the way back.&quot; She then uses her Illusionary Equilibrioception nanomagic on the mouse to make her feel like the entire world flipped upside-down. The combos it with a visual illusion on the guards, centering a black cloud on each of their heads. She then focuses a Mirage back on the mouse, appearing in front of her as the real Zophah becomes invisible again, maintaining pursuit.<br> <br>Well, on the upside, the guards are now thoroughly distracted. The downside is that they&#39;re distracted on two fronts, and both in rather bad ways: two of them open fire on Astara as she passes very close, both of them landing multiple hits. The other two go after Arris, one of them firing at her while the other tries to smack her in the head with the butt of his gun, her close proximity in attempting to reach the dead guard giving them a very good chance to hit. Both agents are quickly felled with non-fatal wounds, but will definitely require some medical attention before they&#39;re ready to continue onward. Firecracker and Zophah will meet with more success, but possibly not for the reason they intended: all of that running causes the venom to circulate through the mouse&#39;s bloodstream that much faster, and shi soon stumbles and goes quite still, unable to continue. Between the four of them, the guards begin to look at one another in confusion, still holding their guns but obviously uncertain...or at least, as obvious as it can be with black clouds concealing their expressions.<br> <br>Angus gives Mal a nod, opening the door to see....a lot of chaos. His ears perk as it seems the guards seem to act more confused then deadly, gingerly walking out onto the floor while holstering the gun, clearing his throat. &quot;Uhh, is this a bad time? We can always come back later.&quot; He mutters, his gaze shifting between the few guards still upright and making sure they aren&#39;t going to fire as he goes over to Arris to see how badly wounded they are.<br> <br>And then the scene was paused because the system is shutting down in 5 minutes.<br> <br>Astara&#39;s crash landing isn&#39;t elegant, or pretty, or all that controlled. Even if her wings didn&#39;t sustain much damage, the damage to her core certainly IS a problem. She&#39;s still barreling towards the guards as she loses altitude, leaking blood. She at least tries to not land on her wounded side.<br> <br>Mal slowly blinks at the scene unfolding before him. &quot;I don&#39;t get paid enough for this,&quot; he mutters with a sigh, quickly checking his pistol, ready to fire off shots if need be. &quot;Sooo...how do you want to do this, Angus?&quot; the RSX Operative asks the Coyote, eyeing the chaos with apprehension.<br> <br>&quot;Idiot...&quot; Growls the human. She stayed by the elevator reloading her and the lizard friend of hers instead of going out of her way to put down the mouse as she requested was going out of the way to... Get shot. This is why she doesn&#39;t like mutant companions. The mouse seem to have went down. Disabling her nanite buffer she walks casually by the dead guard and the other four. &quot;Care to assist us with securing HQ?&quot; Situation awareness was something she usually tried to keep in mind of course. Seeing the demon about to crash land uncomfortably close to her persona she steps back and stares blankly in front of her... Expecting... The guard and the demon to turning in to one big ball of merry making...<br> <br>Arris ducks behind the railing again as the bullets pass by hir. Unfortunately, this is ineffective against being hit on the head with the butt of a rifle, knocking hir out next to the dead guard.<br> <br>&quot;Glad you see it my way,&quot;  Firecracker says as she flies over to the mouse lying still on the floor... a little too still.  The pegasus flies down to hir to give her a couple pokes to see if shi reacts when she spots the needle still stuck in hir arm.  &quot;Well, that takes care of that then.&quot;  With the immediate threat taken care of, she folds her forelegs behind her head and leans up against the mouse&#39;s body as she waits for the others to catch up, starting to move her jaw up and down as she chews a little bit of bubblegum.<br> <br>Zophah reaches the mouse, taking measured breaths to stay focused and alert. Her biomonitoring sight pinged her for Arris falling unconsious, but Zophah can fix that later, just like everything else. She holds back Firecracker so she doesn&#39;t make Zophah&#39;s job any harder, then tries again to push the mouse&#39;s mind with kitsunetsuki and hypnotisim, urging her to reveal the plan. &quot;I need to know how to fix this. Tell me your plan and how to undo the damage your group has caused.&quot;<br> <br>As Angus and Mal hold their position, Arris and Astara continue to bleed out...but at least they&#39;re not getting shot. The fact that the guards step out of those black clouds and look around in confusion is a fairly solid cue as to their current state, and they holster their guns. One of them notes a dead companion, and his shout of horror can be heard throughout the lobby proper and down the hallway - that&#39;s a fatality, no doubt about it. The mouse does indeed prove to be unconscious, the trauma of being set ablaze and poisoned (and stumbling and hitting hir head) having done quite a number on hir; no amount of psychic probing or convincing will get any information out of this one, and hypnotism is right out. The guards appear to be a great deal more concerned about their fallen comrade than about anything Parthenia is saying at the moment.<br> <br>Angus takes a look at Arris, making note of the bullet wounds. &quot;Nah miss, now that dust settled I thought we could all sit down have a tea party right? You look a fine upstart woman who loves her tea.&quot; He answers Parthenia&#39;s comment, giving Arris a few taps on the face with his fingers, not full on slapping her yet while pulling a bottle of strong alcohol out of his pack. &quot;Think you could come around for a minute there so we know you aren&#39;t brain dead huh?&quot; He looks back at Mal as he asks questions. &quot;Well we got wounded, we got confused as hell guards, and a mouse who&#39;s probably downed somewhere. Pick your choices, but pick em quick. We only got two, so I&#39;m expecting a third blind mouse here.&quot; He quips, making a vague reference to some kids fairy tale or something.<br> <br>Astara left a long smear of blood across the floor as she skidded to a halt. It&#39;s ten or twenty seconds until she manages to roll over onto her back, groaning in pain. The felled succubus runs a hand over her wounds, sizing them up as best she can, before getting to use her edible nanomagic to help herself out the best she can. It&#39;s about all she can muster.<br> <br>Mal holsters his own gun, looking to the Coyote and nodding. &quot;Right,&quot; he says, looking around the room, face paling slightly at the sight of the wounded and fallen. &quot;Lemme...go find that mouse,&quot; he mumbles, heading off to find that Mental Mouse. &quot;Citizen&#39;s arrest! Er, Agent&#39;s arrest...maybe just an arrest...&quot; he says, trailing off.<br> <br>Parthenia rolls her eyes. &quot;Figures...&quot; She says with a rolled of her eyes and a dismissive wave of her hand towards the guards before turning to Angus. Not getting where this tea offer has come from she just crinkles her nose. Coyote associate with nothing but bad smell. &quot;I will pass.&quot; The demon seem to have left a nasty blood train on the floor which she carefully stepped over. Passing the guards and wounded Parthenia stops by Zophaha and Firecracker. &quot;No dice huh? Seems like the only way to find out what is happening is to get to HQ. Let us not delay it any longer.&quot;<br> <br>Arris groans, eyes still closed stirring a little as hir face is slapped. &quot;Ugh, yes, tea, please. Two spoons sugar...&quot; Sie takes the flask and begins sucking from it before hir eyes jolt open and sie spits the whiskey onto the floor. &quot;THIS ISN&#39;T TEA!!&quot;<br> <br>&quot;Well this is boring.&quot;  Firecracker says as she resumes her leaning against the knocked-out mouse and chewing her bubblegum.  Looking over to the others rounding the corner, she gives a lazy salute as she nonchalantly blows a little bubble.  &quot;Just point the way and I&#39;m ready!&quot; she says with a cocky grin.  &quot;I came to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I&#39;ve got plenty of bubblegum!&quot;<br> <br>Unable to get into the mouse&#39;s mind, Zophah rushes back past Parthenia to the group to heal some damage. She spreads her Fiery Feathers to regenerate wounds, noting proper triage to use Medical nanomagic on the guard that has a hole in his head first. She shows her years of medical experience in maticulously reconstructing the fatality, pulling medical supplies out of her pack for Arris and Astara&#39;s regenerating wounds once she is done with the first man. She shows the kind of resolve of an ER doctor, giving as much heroic effort as needed to last till the end of such a long, dangerous day.<br> <br>After getting the necessary patching up done, the four remaining guards agree to join the team. The cleansing of the building continues apace, with the team slowly gathering more and more guards the more mice they fell, gaining a greater and greater combat advantage every time they take out a ringleader. Once the mice controlling the snipers within the building are routed, the riot outside the building begins to disperse, the necessary firepower proving more than adequate to the cause. Eleven mice in total are rooted out from the innards of the building, a conspicuous omission of one being explained by the fact that the mouse holed up on the top floor with the executives is using a radio to stay in touch with...someone. Anyone with a reasonable Comprehension can figure out that these ferals weren&#39;t organized enough to pull off a coordinated attack on their own; someone is actively working against Zephyr, setting local ferals against them, but who? The team is called in and congratulated by the chief of operations for their efforts and asked to give their reports, but Parthenia in particular is asked to remain afterward for a quick conversation. The bull speaking to the team bears a very even, inscrutable expression.<br> <br>The bull continues, pacing back and forth. &quot;You have been a great asset to this company, Parthenia. Your help both before and during the assault has been very valuable.&quot; With that, he rests a hand upon one of her shoulders. &quot;You are also guilty of almost a dozen counts of murder, including the guard you killed (even if they were later brought back through no effort of your own) and nearly a dozen agents you vaporized with weaponry that you could not have possibly requisitioned. Further, your casual disregard for the fatalities you caused makes you ill-suited to further service.&quot; His grip tightens, and he looks the woman in the eyes. &quot;Normally, you would spend the rest of your life in prison. However...in light of your service to Zephyr, we have opted to commute your sentence.&quot; The big bovine returns to his desk and offers Parthenia a sheet of paper and a pen. &quot;Sign this at your leisure, but before you leave this office.&quot; The form lists Parthenia&#39;s offenses - murder, misuse of internal resources, property damage, and more - and appears to be a termination notice. Parthenia is being fired.<br> <br>&quot;We&#39;ll also need that weaponry back. All of it.&quot;[[Category:RPLogs]]