chicago ♔ everybody's looking for something

[romanticidal]

♬ Let There Be Drums - Carl LaFong Trio

WHO || Buffy, Rafael, Spike, Jade. [closed]
WHAT || Buffy, Raf, and Spike return to Chicago to attempt to convince Jade to come perform with Finnick & Raf
WHERE || Airplane & Nightscape
WHEN || Tues, Nov 27th
HOW || Actionspam

[ Talk about your desperate gamble. Burt Becksworth is in great danger of losing his control over NOVA Records, which would leave all of its assets squarely in the hands of his evil cultist brother, Chad and whatever diabolical plans he has involving the Talisman and his hideous experiments. Obviously, the Knights aren't ready to stand for that, but the only way of helping Burt maintain control is to help Rafael and Finnick skyrocket their careers to incredibly heights of fame. Burt believes the much sought after Jade to be the key to that, but she's seemed very adamant about staying put in the past.

Time to find out if anything's changed...]

Comments

i lied 2/3

[romanticidal]

[ Rafael's got his 'ready to murder things' face on as he draws his guns out and steps in front of her. ] Is there another way out? [ The look on her face dashes that hope immediately then, and he blanches a bit, before nodding sharply. ] Then we go through.

[borrowedheaven]

[ She grumbles something about 'deja vu' but nods. and then holds out a palm decisively to Raf. ] You've got two. And there's not really room for a holster in this thing. [ He hesitates a moment, but then hands her one of the guns, which she immediately and instinctively seems to check for ammo and safety off. ] Let's roll.

[bigbad]

Sure hope they're not human. [He doesn't need the headache. He lets his fangs come out, the better to terrify the shit out of people he can't eat, and nods.] Stay behind us. Takes more than bullets to kill me.

[romanticidal]

[ there's another burst of gunfire from below, followed by yet another huge explosion... this time centered below. the entire staircase seems to buckle below them. ] They're blowing the entire building. Trying to collapse the club, perhaps. [ he feels so naked with only one gun. it's so obvious. but still, he heads towards the right hand staircase, motioning for the others to stay close behind, and pops out to fire off some rounds as he moves sideways down the steps. most of his bullets fly wildly through the smoke and dust, but there's at least one direct sound of impact below.

it's impossible to see the assailants, but they must be positioned down inside the area that's blown up around the door. ]

[slay]

I really miss the days when my life didn't involve running towards the gunfire and explosions. [ she follows quickly after rafael - she's not remotely cleared for bringing a gun into the field, though, so she feels useless and unarmed and unprepared for what's down there, because it's going to be tough to really get to the guys shooting. ]

[borrowedheaven]

You're really not the only one. [ she keeps tightly behind them, seeming unfazed by spike's game face, but leans out to fire off a shot. it pwings off the walls below, but buys them a few seconds while the assailants are taking cover down there, for them to keep heading down those steps. ]

[bigbad]

[It's too bad Spike doesn't have any sorts of ranged weapons. He'll just use this round to move, getting as close to where the shots are coming from as he can because he's really brain damaged like that.]

[romanticidal]

[ there's another volley of shots as they reach the bottom of the steps, closer now to the door. a 13+ spot check can make out that they've been chucking grenades... the front of the building is blown open, and numerous men crouch behind chunks of debris taking aim at them. it's hard to say how many there are, but some of them have also moved into position at the mouth of the hallway into the club, so the shots will be coming from both directions as our intrepid heroes make for the exit.

rafael, as the man in front, is the one to take a bullet in the arm (dmg 7) as they hit the landing, but his grip barely slackens and he grits his teeth and fires more shots: two at the soldiers at the front entrance, and two at the flanking soldiers inside. only one of the latter actually hits, however. ] We have to break through, we are too outnumbered!

[slay]

[ spot 25, so buffy easily recognizes the grenade damage for what it is. ]

They've got grenades, I don't know if breaking through is gonna happen. [ she does some quick math. ] There's, what, four of them, two of us? We can do it.

[ she'll jump over the banister to skip the rest of the stairs and make her way to one of the close, flanking soldiers, aiming a kick for his throat (atk 27, dmg 17). ]

[borrowedheaven]

[ jade gives raf a sidelong look as she raises her gun in the direction of the guys in the hallway ] So your friend's actually crazy. Good to know. [ she fires off a near-perfect shot, and it strikes one of the men, who ducks back into cover beyond the door ]

[bigbad]

Friends plural. [Spike charges forward at the men with a growl (intimidate 27) and punches the first one (atk 26, dmg 10), then jerks backwards a bit with a whimper as his headaches kick in (dmg 6) ASSUMING HE IS HUMAN IF NOT IGNORE THAT LAST PART.]

[romanticidal]

[ spike's posturing freaks a few of them out, that's for sure, but only a couple actually break and scatter back. his fist connects with the helmet of the nearest soldier, but he slams the butt of his gun into spike's temple with a sharp cracking sound. (crit; dmg 12) it's pretty brutal. a couple more train their guns on him: a bullet strikes him in the back (dmg 7). others lean out to focus fire on rafael, and two bullets strike him in the chest: one hard enough to send him staggering back into jade, a look of extreme pain crossing his features. ( critted 8( ).

of the three baddies by buffy, the one she attacked frantically backs up to try and shoot at her, but it's hard to get a read on such a close target. one of his buddies behind her, however, clocks her twice (16 dmg total).

rafael shouts out through a grunt of pain: ] We must go! [ and makes a break for the small path cleared by the couple spike cleared, landing four shots into the one guard who he held his ground there, and blowing him to pieces. ]

[slay]

[ okay, yeah, the fact that they're all getting beat on convinces buffy pretty effectively. she gives a strained look at the three by her, but then turns and begins to make for the exit with the others. ]

[borrowedheaven]

[ ♬ i'm just a killer for your love - blur

jade gasps as rafael gets plugged with bullets mere steps in front of her, and when he staggers back her way, she grabs the back of his shirt, and follows after him, sending a shot at the soldier who just cracked spike over the head and finishing him off with a shot that goes right through the temple of his helmet.

they break through the small clearing of debris out towards the ruined remains of the fruit stand. ]

[bigbad]

[Now that Des and Jade seem to be free, Spike breaks and runs after them, glancing back at Buffy for a moment as... he bursts into flames the moment they reach the sunlight (FINALLY crit failed his fort save, dmg 9).]

[romanticidal]

[ jsyk it's a dc 15 reflex save to try to put himself out now.

:)

rafael notices that, however, and looks torn for a second, hesitating amid the debris. the bad guys don't waste a second, however. the few hiding in the hallway buffy is escape shoot at her fleeing form and she gets hit with two bullets that graze her back (6 total dmg). the others train their fire on rafael, since spike looks ... ready to burn to death anyway. one bullet slams into his torso in a painful looking location (dmg 16), and he hisses out a curse in italian. but keeps moving back to spike anyways, and rips off his jacket, smothering the flames for him, since he made the reflex save :|

he'll let you keep that literal smoking jacket there, spike, FOR YOUR HEAD. ]

[slay]

Now? Now is the time you pick to burst into flames?

[ yeah buffy is blaming the victim as she comes up on him. she grabs his back over the jacket, and shoves spike along because wow burn and walk, asshole, she has gunshot wounds. ]

[borrowedheaven]

[ the street out here is a mess, a number of unmarked vans parked in a haphazard semi-circle, with more thugs peeking out from behind them. jade had started them in one direction but stops abruptly when she sees that and backs up, nodding them down an alley to the right ] That way's a no. C'mon.

[ parked down here are a pair of blue motorcycles, and she gestures at them ] Looks like a convenient getaway to me. [ without hesitation, she shoves her gun in the back of her pants, and then her fingers fly to the wires trailing out of the ignition of one bike. she unhooks a connector, reconfigures a couple things and then the engine roars to life (disable device 19). it takes all of ten seconds and is impressive and shady as hell. ]

[bigbad]

[That was so cool, Jade. Too bad part of the party IS NOT BUILT FOR ALL THIS SUNLIGHT. At least he knows how to ride a bike, even if he'll look like a complete dumbass with Rafael's coat over his head. He gets on the bike, figuring Jade'll make the other one work too.] Best to split up. Meet us back at the hotel if you can. [Us being him and whoever gets on behind him. He's determinedly not looking at Buffy.]

[romanticidal]

[ despite bleeding all over from his multiple bullet wounds, rafael takes a second to look kind of turned on by jade's decisive criminal instincts. yep.

and then he recovers, moving to try and hotwire the other one, but he's apparently taking too long for jade's satisfaction, because she says: "Move." and pushes him aside to do it for him. it takes a tense second longer than the other one because rafael messed it up first but finally the second bike starts up.

as she's doing that, he's staring back down the mouth of the alley, where there are the definite sounds of gunfire echoing still. looks like security's actually trying to do their job, albeit a few seconds late. raf's got a dangerous look in his eye as he asks: ] Buffy, do you know how to drive one of these?

[slay]

No. I don't. So, I highly recommend you get your ass on that bike and stop thinking about whatever stupid plan is going on in that head. We're going back to the hotel. All of us.

[ bossiness achievement unlocked, she climbs onto the bike behind spike, slipping her arms stiffly around his waist to hold on. ]

[borrowedheaven]

[ jade snags rafael by the sleeve and yanks him towards the bike ] Come on, cowboy. I'll even let you do the shooting. [ she hops on the front of the bike, and he reluctantly climbs on, but not entirely unwillingly now that jade's the one extending any sort of invitation in his direction at all. she reaches behind herself to what i'm sure he is thinking is an area close enough to his crotch to get excited about and pulls the gun out of her waist band, swinging it on a finger to hand it back to him.

once he takes it, she revs the engine, glances over her shoulder, and guns it. (drive 14) ]

[bigbad]

[God this is awkward. Spike can't help the surge of happiness at her touch, but he's also still pissed, so he doesn't look over ihis shoulder at her, just guns his own engine and shoots forward, past Jade and Rafael (drive 17).]

[romanticidal]

[ and as they shoot out the end of the alley... another motorcycle comes whizzing around the corner after them. damn, these guys were prepared. it is almost uncanny.

the driver's wearing a black helmet and pulls a gun out of his leather jacket, taking aim at spike's bike since it's the first one to emerge from the alley. one shot pwings off the front above the wheel, but the second strikes buffy in the leg (atk 24 dmg 9). better make with the fancy ass driving, spike.

rafael would, y'know, do stuff, but he can't really fire right now without hitting you two. it's a narrow alley mouth. ]

[slay]

[ buffy lets out a grunt of pain right in spike's ear which certainly sounds nothing like other noises and is in no way awkward.

yep.

she moves to clasp a hand against her leg, twisting her body and loosening her grip on spike. just the one bike. she looks back up, past spike, at rafael. ]

Any chance I can borrow one of those? [ the guns. obviously. someone mark this day in your calendars. buffy's using NOT ONLY A RANGED WEAPON, but a gun. god she hates guns. ]