Knights of New Syracuse IC

On the ground several meters from the fence, there came the unmistakable sound of a bullet embedding itself in concrete.

Then there was another. Further away this time. To the left. They hadn't heard the shots being fired.
Sunlight glinted off metal in the hands of one of their pursuers.

The leading officer had a gun. A gun with a silencer.

As Ben and Charlie saw the officer with the gun, they copied Steph's stance on the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, Charlie watched as the bullets hit the concrete just inches away from where Ellen and Tobias twitching on the other side of the fence.

Tobias and Ellen, now completely and utterly immobile, dropped to the ground in pain. They heard the bullets hit the ground next to them; and were absolutely terrified. They had no way of escape.

The next bullet hit Stephanie.

It was a glancing blow. A flesh wound to the left shoulder. But it would still sting.

Two more bullets hit the concrete, in front of Ben and Charles. Something wasn't right here.

((All tags restored for all characters after end of previous fight. Stephanie tags/frags: 4/3))

Stephanie shrieked as the bullet hit her shoulder, scrambling backwards out of her semi-fetal position. She grabbed her shoulder and clenched her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut as the next two shots let loose. Ben screamed and hid behind the thin man that had been taken aside with them.

"Hey, I saw what you did on the plane, with the guns! You need to do that again, NOW!"

Charlie got up as well, and turned around to find an old boat oar. He pounced on it, grabbed it, and spun around to face the attacker.

((I'd just like to establish now that Ben has 3 tags, 1 frag. He'll tag along for as long as I feel he's useful; I think it'll be interesting to see how a completely normal person reacts to many of adventures I'm foreseeing for the future. Steph 4/3))

Eric ran for the fence. However, his focus were constantly on the flying bullets, which he redirected around him.
He reached the fence and began crawling over it.
He would not let the government take him in!
(5 Tags 3 Frags)

Ben was startled as his cover bolted for the fence, and instead took shelter behind a barrel. Steph looked over and saw the thin man attempting to hop the fence as Tobias and Ellen had moments previously, so she copied what she had done to them. Eric would either be stuck halfway up the fence, unable to move his legs, or he would vault over the side and be stuck in the same place as Tobias and Ellen were.

She switched her attention to the officer that had fired at her. She extended the had that had been clutching her shoulder, and felt her way into his eyes. Once there, she planted small clouds of particles that would make it very difficult for him to see anything clearly. She watched the effect as she held onto her shoulder again and began scrambling backwards even further.

Charlie saw the result of what Stephanie had done, and quickly rolled to his side and out of the direct range of the gun-carrying officer. He then extended the oar as far as it would reach and made a large arc, hitting the man in the ankles and knocking him straight onto his back.

((Delta, would you care to introduce tags and frags for the officer? Charlie: 5/3 Steph: 4/3 Ben: 3/1 ))

((These guys don't need tags, unless you particularly want me to add some. ))

The officer leading stumbled as his vision began to blur and dim, letting off one more shot before falling completely — it went wide, possibly to kill an innocent bird somewhere high above, that would then hit the ground nearby in a comical fashion. No-one was paying it any real attention.

He sprawled on the ground, gun clattering off to the right, but spent no more than two seconds on his back before getting up onto his knees and grasping around for his lost firearm, vision now little more than a dark blur.


There were more where he came from, however: four more officers followed behind him, and they were closing in fast.

Ellen saw someone bolt out from the gunfire, and seemed to bend the bullets around him. He began climbing the fence, and she saw another girl wave her hands, and the man immediately fell with what seemed to be a major cramp in his legs. Ellen, wanting payback, concentrated, (which wasn't very easy considering her nose was broken) and attempted to make the lady drunk. Tobias, who was flailing about hilariously over near her, immediately shouted: "OH GOSH WHAT THE HELL!" as a bird with a bullet hole in it landed on him.

Charlie leaped for the gun and grabbed it from the ground, simultaneously launching the oar like a spear towards the first officer, and then turning around to face the incoming officers. He held the gun at arm's length and shouted at them,

"If even one of you fires a shot at me, I can and will take all four of you out before you can make a second shot!"

Steph watched the scene and suddenly began to feel a bit woozy in her head. She attempted to shake it off, but that didn't see results. Instead, she manipulated a few calming chemicals into her head, and the feeling went away momentarily.

((Darth Steph is immune to being drunk, Game Over, insert another coin to continue. ))

Ellen was feeling rather angry at the lady. She seemed to be immune. Either she could overload her with drunkness, or find some other way to escape. Ellen suddenly had an idea. She used some of her party inducement powers to start break-dancing spontaneously.
It worked, but only for about 5 seconds. Making people break-dance took more out of her mind than making people drunk. When Ellen did started the break-dancing, Tobias caught on quickly and beatbox'd something that sounded rather like this.

The four remaining men stood their ground, but none made a move for their weapons.

"Better put it down kid, might 'urt yeself."

The one who had spoken had a tattoo. A snake, its head peeking up from beneath his shirt to encircle his neck. The gun at his waist — a silenced pistol like the one Charlie held — was wedged in his belt. There was no holster. So it was with his three companions, who glared menacingly through beady eyes.

There appeared to be some commotion off towards the docks: more people, civilians and medics, were pointing in their direction and causing a commotion. No police officers had appeared, at least not yet.

_________________________________________


Jess, Hunter, Seraph and The Storyteller had indeed emerged outside the city — from their new vantage point they could see out across the bay: the downed plane and emergency vehicles on the dockside were little more than toys, the people scurrying around between them barely discernible. From nearby came the sound of cars passing by: one of the main roads leading out of the city lay just over the hill behind them.

Rain was starting to fall; a few drops now, but the dark clouds overhead promised a true downpour to come. The group would have to decide what to do next.

While Steph was watching the situation in front of her, she looked over to see the two figures that she had first crippled were now doing some sort of odd dance. The woman was certainly leading it, and then it occurred to her; they were still trying to get away. Her response was a second wave of chemical attacks, this time aimed for their emotions. Once Stephanie had retracted her arm, Tobias and Ellen would no longer feel the need to get away, but rather feel perfectly content exactly where they were. They would also get steadily more drowsy as time went on.


Charlie kept the firearm level; he wasn't intimidated by the thugs. He had noticed the details, the tattoo, the lack of holsters.

"I'll lower my gun once you tell me what is going on," he yelled back. "You aren't police, I can tell that much. Why did that last guy attack us?"

The one with the tattoo, obviously the most senior, grinned at Charlie.

"Ahh, smart kid. 'S real simple. According t'ole cranky-clogs here," he nudged the unconscious body of Inspector Bayley with one foot, "Y'all were causin' some ruckus up onna plane when it came down. We don't take kindly to people messin' in our affairs, so 'ere we are. Spur o' the moment. Ain't it sweet?"

One of the others glanced back towards the docks and cut in: "Baz, better wrap this up. Comp'ny soon."

"'S alright though, I reckon we can come to an arrangement..." He motioned towards Eric, Tobias and Ellen, who lay in a sorry pile of limbs by the fence.

"I'll settle for three outta five: we let you, the broad and the spare go, we take those three losers and all's square. No-one shoots nobody eh?"
He grinned, posture slightly more relaxed.

((The 'broad and the spare' are Stephanie and Ben respectively.))

Charlie lowered the gun to his waist, and responded with a question.

"What do you want with them and not with us?"

Eric lay there, and as he realised that the men weren't government he couldn't help but to laugh.
He rose his hands while still laughing and twice this day coughed up blood which splashed down on the ground.
This made the suited russian stop his laughing spree.
With his broken english, he asked the tattooed man: "Do you know what I can do?"
His chest had now got used to the pain, which had been reduced to a background annoyance.

"That don't matter, now, do it? Jus' step off and we'll be goin', time's ticki— What the bloody 'ell 're you laughin' at, ruskie?" The man with the tattoo stepped towards where Eric lay, face a rictus of annoyance, barely listening to the man lying on the ground had to say.

"I've been on the run from nations you don't even know about."
Eric said.
"Your guns doesn't scare me. Nor does your ugly face."

The man snarled wordlessly, whipped the gun from his belt and pulled the trigger.

The gun refused to fire, with Eric watching calmly while whiping blood from his chin.
"See?" Eric saidfrom his prone position before punching the man in the solar plexus.

The man grunted in pain, taking two steps back from the hit.

"Get 'em!" he wheezed. The other three men rushed forwards, drawing their weapons and advancing on Eric, Ellen and Tobias.

As the men advanced past Charlie, and towards the three that appeared to be their targets, Charlie made up his mind. He turned, waited a few seconds until their attention was completely off him, and fired six shots.

One and two hit a thug in both knees, shattering his kneecaps and rendering him unable to walk.

Three punctured a lung and fractured two ribs on the leftmost brute.

Four hit the third man in his shoulder, causing his right arm to go limp.

Five and six hit the leader, one shattering his femur and the other hitting him in the elbow.

The men fell to the ground, by varying degrees yelling, clasping at fresh wounds and pointing jammed guns at Charlie, the weapons clicking fruitlessly.

Behind them, back towards the docks, panic was starting to take hold as the civilians aiding in the recovery effort saw what was happening. It was making things difficult for the police attempting to get on the scene, but slowly more blue-suited officials were making their way towards the edge of the docks. At this distance it was impossible to say whether or not these men were the genuine article, but either way it was unlikely their reaction to seeing five wounded people in police uniforms would be good.

"Good shooting. Now can you help me up, you идиот!"
Eric yelled towards Charlie.

Edgar was not one to intervene with other people's problems. As he walked along the streets, he heard a ruckus coming from the docks. It must've been some people arguing, nothing to worry about.
He then heard the sound of yelling in agony, which alerted him that something must be wrong.
He thought to himself "Darn, what the hell could those people be doing over there? I better go check up and see what all that noise is coming from.."

As he began to walk closer to the source of the sound, he saw a squad of police officers running to the source too.
Believing that something serious was happening, he chose to take the stealthier plan, and turned into a gust of wind carrying along rose petals to watch the predicament unfold.