IC- Signs of the Underground

[Hades]

Do I see this? If so how close is it to me?

And can I get a shot off/lunge in for a strike??

Per+Intuition = 8 5 5 5 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 (4 hits)

Initiative (if I see the action) = 13 12 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 2 (11 + 8 hits = 19) with 2 extra initiative passes.

Let me know if I'm shooting or giving the thing a whack. (or if I'm oblivious!)

[arcanus]

Do I see this? If so how close is it to me?

And can I get a shot off/lunge in for a strike??

Per+Intuition = 8 5 5 5 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 (4 hits)

Initiative (if I see the action) = 13 12 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 2 (11 + 8 hits = 19) with 2 extra initiative passes.

Let me know if I'm shooting or giving the thing a whack. (or if I'm oblivious!)

It is some 42 feet away from you.

[Hades]

“Oh, fuck!” Hades swore aloud.
Forty-two feet, twelve and a bit meters. Easily in range for the shotgun.
His mind switched to Urban Brawl mode, where the sudden appearence of the other team often required quick reactions.

Initiative [11 dice]: 7 7 7 5 5 3 3 3 2 2 (5 hits, therefore ini of 16, with 2 extra initiative passes)

The weapon came up in a flash, left hand pumping the shell into the chamber. His trigger finger squeezed.
Flame erupted from the end of the barrel, spewing hundreds of tiny lead pellets in the creatures direction

Shot [longarms+agility]: 10 5 4 3 3 2 2 (3 hits)

[Hades]

Smoke from the now almost extinguished fires that had raged down Fourth Avenue drifted slowly west on the gentle breeze. The inferno had burned for almost three days, engulfing six blocks and reducing the buildings to so much ash and rubble.
Started as the result of a skirmish between 'Lady' Catherine's forces and a small detachment of UCAS Marines, there had been nobody to fight the fires.

As the skirmish died down, the fires built up but that didn't stop the scavengers coming in to pick up what they could.
The Marines were more diligent, still living by their age old oath never to leave a man on the field, living or dead. When they could they would take their fallen with them, or come back for them later.
Catherine's lot were not so loyal. Yes, they would drag their wounded away but the dead tended to stay where they fell.
From those men weapons and small amounts of ammunition could be recovered, sometimes even food. Boots were another sought after commodity.
If they had the time and the inclination the 'scavengers' would bury or cremate the dead. Too many corpses laying in the streets would finish off the beleaguered populace quicker than the bugs or the warring factions would.

Other than the crack and pop of smouldering wood embers this devastated stretch of Fourth was silent.
Twenty Four hours ago it had been very different...

...Tyrone Beggs raised his scarred hand bringing the group to a halt. The ork glanced around the corner of the building, checking for any signs of the original combatants.
Seeing nothing he indicated for the group to advance.

McLarren Hades led a couple of new guys out wide, flitting from car wreck to car wreck, using the burnt out shells as cover.
The gatherers made swift progress up through the litter and debris strewn street, avoiding contact with anyone or anything.

The scene of the skirmish was already well ablaze, the heat intolerable in places.
As the Signs arrived many of them spread out forming a loose perimeter so that the others could scour the scene.

Beggs hopped up onto the bonnet of an old Americar and Hades joined him as several members of the gang began picking through the debris for anything useful.
"What do you think?" Ty inquired.
Hades shrugged. "Don't know what they were fighting over but from the position of that guy over there the troops came in hard and fast."
"Yeah! That apartment building is absolutely riddled with high-cal scars so I'd guess a gun-ship or maybe aerial combat drone." Beggs agreed adding his own perceptions.

There were eight of Catherine's men here, quite some distance from her secure territory. All but one were dead. From them some tinned food, weapons, ammo and four pairs of good boots were recovered. One of the corpses also had a radio and another a platinum credstick.
Dirty had refused to part with it even though it was useless in the Zone. Dirty, was not the ork's given name but one that had stuck with him pretty much from the day he turned his back on the Blue Boys and crossed over to Signs.
There had been a lot of mistrust at the beginning but Harry Callahan had more than proved his worth since. And of course the name which had been used in derogatory terms was now a very apt term of endearment.
It was ironic that the one time cop was now the one pondering how to break through the security on the potentially loaded credstick.

The wounded man was too far gone for any of them to help.
Beggs ordered everyone away, even though they all knew what was about to happen but somehow it was easier to live with if you didn't see it.
Only Hades refused to go and Beggs knew not to bother arguing because he also knew that it was easier to live with if someone else shared the burden. Hades, Beggs thought retrospectively, had done more of the sharing than everyone else.
The shot rang out loud in the relative silence of the deserted street.


With the bodies stripped of their useful items Beggs had them thrown into one of the burning buildings.

That was when they discovered another body, half buried under the bent and twisted hood of some undisclosed car.
One of the Signs tried to drag the body out - it had a fine set of combat boots on. The UCAS Marine slid out easily, and woke up with a start, bringing his SMG up threateningly despite his dazed condition.
Half a dozen men, surprised by the sudden flurry of activity had done likewise.

Tyrone Beggs, hands out wide and open, stepped between the gang and the soldier and indicated for his men to lower their weapons.
Somewhat reluctantly they did, and the marine seemed a little less on edge.
Beggs spoke to him, and after some tense moments calmed the man down.

Apparently he had been a part of a Marine team that was escorting a negotiator to a meeting with Iron Duke's men. Iron Duke was another of the warlords that had sprung up of late.
The army was doing its best to turn the smaller enclaves into protagonists against the larger ones.

The marine told us that they were ambushed by Catherine's men and the extraction team took their time getting to them. The last thing the marine remembered was a guy with a rocket launcher on the opposite roof.
Beggs in his usual generous manner offered the guy a place with the Signs.

The guy didn't get the chance to prove himself. The stop sign, wielded like some ancient battleaxe struck him without warning, slicing into his back and the sharpened blade bursting out through his rib cage.
In the throws of death the marines recorded reflexes honed in on the nearest target and the smartlink to the Heckler and Koch in his hand loosed a fully automatic attack.

Rough Road, an ork whose real name was Jacob took the majority of the attack. His lifeless form hit the ground at the same time as the marine.

Ty yelled in agony as a couple of stray rounds ripped into his leg, staggering back before collapsing onto the asphalt.

There was no time to assess his injuries however as a twisted screeching howl came from the other side of the street, almost gleeful in the attack.
The Signs turned to face their latest aggressor, but Hades already knew who he'd see there. "Solomon."

[Hades]

Solomon had been gone over a year now.
With the promise of negotiating an alliance, King Vlad had lured a number of the smaller gangs to a meeting. Only he and his group never turned up. Instead some twisted half-man half-insect shaman and his foul minions burst in on the gathered gangers.
The majority of the Signs got clear but the big troll was subdued. No one heard from him again and it was assumed that he had perished in the attack.
After four months Beggs and Tricia Harton the elven school teacher previously known by her Sign name as Ford encountered the troll.
He was not the man he used to be. Somehow he had been amalgamated with a roach to form a grotesque parody of the old Solomon.
Whatever the reasons the half-troll half-bug had taken a disliking to his old gang-mates. His attack was sudden and ferocious.
Beggs and Harton survived the attack which had taken place in the offices of an insurance company. They were there on a scavenging run.
Hades had smelt something coming and although four floor down he had sprinted up in time to see Beggs fending off the creature.
The ex-brawler had quickly diverted the fight so that Beggs could get the injured elf clear. The fight culminated in McLarren throwing himself and the raging Solomon-thing out of the twentieth storey window.
Both bodies were smashed when they hit the floor, but neither were dead. Solomon dragged its hideous form away, cursing the broken form of Hades. Lifting a manhole cover and easily tossing it aside he dragged himself down into the foetid hole. "Next time!" it hissed over its shoulder as it slid down into the rank darkness.
By the time Beggs and the other signs had arrived out in the street, Hades was already half healed.
They had encountered Solomon a further three times since. Each time they had managed to beat the creature off, but it cost them dearly, either in terms of resources or in lives.

[Hades]

Hades was quick off the mark, letting loose with a few slid rounds from his shotgun before sprinting towards cover.
The other Signs did likewise.
Knowing that he was their best chance, Hades yelled for the others to retreat and get Beggs and their dead friend the hell out.
Shots rang out as the Signs began to retreat as instructed, keeping the creature at bay whilst Hades made his way closer.
Solomon had always liked to fight up close, so to engage him in hand to hand combat was the best way for the others to get clear.
Soloman had always been strong, but the new insect thing was even stronger. However, the bulk made him slow which gave Hades the edge of being able to avoid many of the creature's attacks. Those that did connect though did some real damage.
Then the world errupted around them, a huge blast and fireball that engulfed the front of the apartment block as a ruptured gas pipe had poured its invisible contents into the super's apartment which had then ignited as the fires had gotten close enough.

The Signs, now a block away knew the fight was over and prayed that Hades uncanny luck and his ability to heal from his wounds was enough to bring the ork home again.

[Hades]

A glowing timber hissed, issuing forth a puff of steam and smoke as a large drop of water struck it. Shortly it was followed by even more such issues as the dark heavily laden clouds released their quenching burden.
The rain went from a few random drops to a compete downpour in moments, running in dark soot filled rivulets across and between the piled masonry of the collapsed buildings.

A trickle ran down the roof gutter of an old SUV that was partly engulfed in the ruins of one such building. The water turned left and right following the distorted line of the roof before cascading down to splatter on the blood and grime encrusted face of the body laying in the lee of the rusty hulk.
The cold persistent pitter-patter encouraged the unconscious form back to wakefulness.

Bleary eyed, struggling for focus McLarren Hades pulled himself from behind the wreckage, hopping tentatively on his left leg, knowing that before he lost consciousness the leg had been on the receiving end of one of Solomon's axe swings.
At that thought he glanced about knowing also that his old friend and now mortal enemy had been nearby when the building had exploded.
There was no sign of the big amalgamation of troll and cockroach. Hades could only hope that the thing was finally dead, buried beneath many tons of rubble.

[Hades]

Night was on it's way, coming in much earlier than normal thanks to the grim weather conditions. Even so, the rain would keep all but the most desperate off the streets tonight. Hades was glad as all he wanted to do now was get back to the relative safety of the place that he now called home.

A few of Catherine's soldiers still lay in the street having not been collected by the Signs during their clean up before Solomon had attacked.
One of the men sported a nice heavy armour vest, a garment that had done him little good as he had been literally shredded by gunfire from the waist down.
Hades stripped out of his ruined clothes, pulling the useful vest from the cadaver.
The marine was there too, his combat trousers and boots wet but otherwise in good order. The sizes were right so Hades took them too.

His SMG had been crushed and none of the other bodies had any firearms, so with a sigh at the marine's combat knife, but secretly thankful for even that meagre weapon, McLarren Hades picked his way gingerly through the streets, heading in a round about way for home.

[Hades]

Within an hour the light had gone completely, draining the city of colour.
A few of the remaining street lights cast their orange hue over their adjacent buildings, but for the most part the lamps had long since been broken or had been stripped of their useful components.
Lady Catherine's territory was still lit, her people having scavenged the bulbs and other parts from the surrounding areas.
Hades could see the location of her 'Queendom' by the way it underlit the low heavy clouds. He deliberately avoided that area, the last thing he needed right now was a skirmish with one of her recruiting parties.
Keeping to the dark streets, doing all he could to avoid the pockets of civilisation, the small neighbourhoods that had closed themselves off, barred the streets to protect themselves from the roving gangs and other predators. He also avoided the gangs too, even though his last encounter with one had gone well. Half of the gang had been wearing Chicago Shatters T-shirts. Hades and the other Signs with him had been treated like a part of the 'Brawlers' family. The Californian orc didn't think he'd be so lucky next time.

Picking a round about route, using the glow of 'Catherine Town' as a navigation aid, he moved cautiously through the litter strewn streets. The wind was picking up now, chilling his wet skin and sending a shiver through his body. Got to get the hell off the streets an hole up somewhere dry, he thought as he hunched his shoulders against the cold.

Finding a shop front that was still relatively intact he tried the door and found it locked. The mag-lock was smashed so he guessed the door was relying merely on the standard lock.
The rain seemed to be coming down even faster, the wind gusting in to make the rain almost horizontal.

Standing on the sidewalk in someone else's trousers and a Kevlar vest the orc cursed the Windy City.
Hades took several paces out further into the rain, then hurtled back in towards the door throwing himself at it. There was even less resistance than he had expected and the door crashed open sending him sprawling to the floor. Realising his entry was not too discreet he scrambled to his feet, knife drawn.

All was silent within what had once been a restaurant, just the howling wind and the staccato hammering of the rain on the front windows.
Hades shoved the door closed again, wedging it shut with a chair. For the most part, the tables and chairs were still arranged ready for business. In the rear half though the furniture had been shoved aside or smashed, evidence that some sort of scrap had occurred.
The floor was littered with paper and a dozen or so leather bound booklets.
Scooping one up he realised that it was a menu. Some of the dishes made his mouth water and his stomach rumble. Flicking to the first page he read 'Welcome to Gianino's.'

[arcanus]

The establishment had once been an classic Italian resturant, teak panelled walls, side alcoves for a dinner for two, opening into a larger dining area for family parties.
Pictures of an Italian family adorn the walls, a staircase led downstairs to further seating, the kitchen off to the left of the bar at the back of the ground floor.
'Hades' took in the scene, quite a fight, the wooen ballistrade smashed, the panelling gouged and pitted, the furniture literally exploded.

What concerned him was the method of the damage, the gauges ran through the ceiling and down the height of the walls, cutting 3 to 4 inches into the wood and plaster.
His feet crunched, looking down were fragments of chittin, as he cautiously moved into the room allowing his natural low light sight to give him 'clarity, at the top of the stairs were spent shell casings.

Preparing for action he moved further in, the battle was all around amongst the wreckage, his hearing picked up movement below.
Crouching at the top of the stairs he peered down into the cellar, everything was shades of grey, as little light reached the subterrean level for his vision to amplify.
The cellar had once been a dwelling, the remnants of cots were just visible, 'Hades' could pick out the signs of bodies, despite the current situation and how jaded you could become he knew that his had been a place of refuge and that some of these folk had fallen here.

It was then that he caught sight of the source of the movement, a large creature at first he though it was a troll, but its shape was too ape like.
He readied his knife, then grimaced at the absurdity of facing a huge paranatural with such a meagre weapon.
He felt a little queasy as it dawned upon him that the creature was feeding from the dead, time to leave!
As Maclaren Hades turned to go, he caught sight of the creature, it wasn't feeding upon them at all, it was caring for them, a sadness seemed to follow the animal as in the same manner as a mother would cradle a child, it lifted the head of one of the dead, stroked their hair and quietly crooned, mourning its loss.

Ever the hardman, Hades pretended to ignore the tear that ran down his cheek.