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Gideon Kaspar	The Sangvis invasion in Sector S09 is by no means a random conflict. At this moment, a Sangvis Ferri ringleader is in fact searching for the T-Doll going by the designation M-4. She is part of a special tactical unit under a division of Griffin&Kryuger, and has been collecting data under the commission of G&K's private science and artificial intelligence affiliate 16Lab. According to our sources, her memory bank contains extremely important confidential intel. M-4 is currently in hiding in Zone T6 of Sector S09. She must be retrieved safely with all possible haste.     Launch an immediate search and secure M-4 before Sangvis forces get to her first. Though we still have little intelligence on the mind behind the current operations of Sangvis Ferri, the advanced tactical doll, designated SP524, code name 'Executioner', has been confirmed to be the SF ringleader in the area. Though she is currently hellbent on chasing her target, she will still attack if approached rashly. Please exercise caution. If possible, disrupt SF's communication channel, dismantle their command structure, eliminate all local forces necessary for a clean extraction, and/or capture Sangvis' Executioner in one piece, however do not jeopardize the mission to do so. M-4 is of the utmost importance. We expect much from you. Don't let us down.     Thus goes the briefing by the stern woman in the red coat and apparently standard issue tactical monocle, whether in person previously, through holoprojector en route, or as part of the extensive file package delivered beforehand, with attached satellite photos of the target area, markers of confirmed troop movements, and sequences images of M-4 and Executioner themselves, as is professional procedure from competent organizations that expect to succeed.     They don't get that from a helicopter ride or Warpgate departure however. As it seems Zone T6 is nothing but a decrepit, abandoned urban area, or no real relevance, no convenient Warpgate leads directly to it, and company air travel has been set on the sidelines as a plan B. This is because the operational outline discussed earlier involves teleporting directly into the urban area through the use of good, friendly, reliable Black Mesa technology. With ample topography and precision coordinates provided by G&K's tactical network, they essentially have free choice of where to drop in, directly bypassing the outer perimeter SF has no doubt established, according to the map, and some basic idea of where to anticipate troop movements.
Gideon Kaspar	It's a good thing too. The provided map shows that though the urban center is small, it'd be a huge pain to assault. Surrounded by flat, clear farmland to the west and south, a large town is built up on on a steep, rocky bluff, encircled by craggy rises. The north and south are only accessible via a choppy and fast-moving river, making scaling the sheer cliffs that lead up from it even more suicidal under unobstructed enemy fire. One large road leads out of it to the west, down a wide slope, while a narrower one leads down a winding passage to the south, more covered, but lengthier and more difficult.     The town itself is of vaguely east-European style, though nebulously 'recent', built upwards rather than sprawling outwards in somewhat more modern style, equipped with solar power and efficiently planned, largely only wearing the facade of classical construction. It's very green, to the point of being somewhat overgrown, though the buildings aren't in an advanced stage of decay, or structurally unsound, apparently only abandoned semi-recently. It is a ghost town, but only more eerie for its relatively pristine, clean, extremely modern 'country village' appearance.     The northwest end is largely covered in trees and public park and preserve space, while the northeast end, overlooking the river, is host to a large, high-end villa, with an expansive courtyard and attached recreation field. The midtown is dense and heavily built up on multiple vertical levels of rocky rises, with stairs, bike paths, and highway bridges connecting them. Due east is almost nothing but winding roads going through a minor warehouse, industrial, and port area for trucks and boats, while due west seems to be for administrative, medical, and meteorological facilities. The suburbs are all clustered in the southwest and southeast, getting more upscale as they travel eastwards towards the river.     Unfortunately, the target could be anywhere in the area. To the best of G&K's remote reconnaissance, the roads in and out, as well as overlook of the river, are the most heavily defended, with recently placed turrets, drones, and sniper teams. The midtown is constantly swept by teams of prowlers and heavy T-Dolls, while the suburbs are largely left to drone swarms. Sangvis Ferri is using the villa for its center of operations, which is where Executioner is expected to be. Most of their communications are going through the radio towers to the west, which have a permanent staff of T-Dolls and scouts.
Gordon Freeman	For those who went along with Gordon's plan -- in as much as Gordon can express a plan -- getting through to here is complicated, and involves, as mentioned, the Black Mesa Lambda Complex facility. It involves using something Dr. Kleiner has set up for the team, a massive high-precision teleportation apparatus nestled deep within the heart of the Black Mesa Research Facility, in the heart of a New Mexico off in the Tapestry. After tram rides and other suchlike, the team can be brought through to the teleportation facilities themselves. The massive chamber and its four vast pylons center around a ring in the middle, where emitters shape a warp in space that can pierce esoteric dimensional barriers and deposit someone precisely in a hazard zone.     https://i.imgur.com/egSKi0M.jpg     https://i.imgur.com/yVE5kcj.jpg     This is that hazard zone. Those involved may need to take something of a running leap through a whirling, high-energy 'spherical' four dimensional tunneling manifold. Where this deposits them should be only a few feet above ground, in a modest storm of crackling light that's as minimized as Kleiner's command of exotic particles can get it, leaving each individual at the insertion point safely.     Incredibly disorienting though. A lingering shimmer in the air indicates that their entry zone is also their extraction zone. Gordon has been deposited first, of course. Less because he's a great point man, and more because he's the guy who officially signed up to try to survive if it's configured wrong and teleports him into a wall.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka hates teleporters. She feels uncomfortable going through portals, teleportation is something she's never gonna get used to. Even if she regularly uses it to get to and from her ship.     The cyborg's decked out in her tactical sneaking suit, clutching an X95 carbine tac'ed out for this sort of operator stuff. She's relunctantly going along with the plan Doctors Kleiner and Freeman have cooked up. "Well, in for a penny." She mutters, before sprinting and leaping toward the 4D portal after Freeman goes first.     Once it works, she drops to a knee and secures the landing zone, noting the rather rustic feeling of the village. "Good thing we had this, it'd be a nightmare getting here the hard way." She eventually comments, taking cover at a convenient alleyway.     This was supposed to be an invaded nation, where is all the fighting? All this non-activity is getting Maaka more on edge than if there was a full on war going on.
Haguro	Should Haguro be questioning this Black Mesa tech more? Yes. Is she questioning it? Internally, yes. Is she questioning it enough that she's not going to take the risk for a more expedient insertion? No. After a good minute of psyching herself up, the shipgirl takes a running jump towards the crackling portal thing, and she finds herself landing in a completely different area all together!      Alas, there's no time for her to do any sightseeing. There's a mission to be done, and the cruiser has a job to do. Heading towards the midtown area, she's making a beeline for the highest vantage point she can reach through a combination of climbing and somewhat clumsy running jumps.      <<"Haguro here. I'm aiming for higher ground. It'll be easier for me to aim any artillery that way, and it may draw attention away from wherever the target is once we confirm their location.">> She pauses in mid-run to check her revolver, then her turrets, but she doesn't stop for long. There's a lot of ground to cover, not a lot of time, and... Well, it's not as if her eyes are the best compared to her other allies. Might as well stick to what she's trying to get better at.
Tony Stark	Tony Stark had arrived at the briefing for the Grifon & Kyruger mission in a full tailored royal blue jacket (two button), black vest (double breasted) and white, crisp collared shirt. His tie was a bold blue-with-silver-dots, patterend necktie complete with tie bar, and he wore a set of plastic large-framed designer glasses to complete his look. Which, at the briefing, basically made him look like a New York stockbroker or venture capitalist and not an armed combatant, at the strategy meeting. Which he still seemed terribly interested in, but before everyone had left for Black Mesa, he still raised a question. "Miss... Helian, was it? If I had a business inquiry, where would I direct that? I did some market research, and I'm incredibly interested in your product lines. Could I get you to have someone contact my enterprise office? Just..." Tony gets up, in the middle of the briefing, whisking pen across paper and approaching the monocled woman. "You can just take..." He foists the paper onto her until she accepts it, his smile genial even in the brash move. "... my office's contact information, and pass that on, alright?" He winks at her, before clapping his hands and spinning on black dress shoe'd heel, full attention to Gordon "Silent Protagonist" Freeman. "Doctor Freeman, I've brushed up on your body of work. Fascinating stuff, really. We're going to your facility? Teleportation is only something aliens managed to crack so far - I'm still working on it. Oh, by the way." He extends a hand to shake. "Tony Stark. Really, charmed. So, tell me about your work and the link between transuranic crystals and energy transfer? When I learned MIT's alumni was working on teleportation in other worlds, I realized that the whole Paladins thing could have fascinating prospects." Things continue apace at a similar speed the entire trip to Black Mesa, moving through the whole teleportation issue (Tony talking, most likely, enough for both of them), and then being deposited in an active conflict zone, it's only when they arrive through the incredibly disorienting teleportation access shortly after Doctor Freeman (and he goes through a quick check of his major parts being in the right place) with just an incredibly jazzed expression on his face. "Faaaantastic." He breathes, checking his glasses and tapping the side of them to activate a noticeable heads-up display. "And, Doctor, have to say - your Hostile Environment Suit is frankly majestic in its simplicity. What's the armored coif padded with? I've been working on something that doesn't pinch and still breathes, but I'm always on the look-out for new ideas." Looking around at the urban area, he begins speaking aloud to nobody present. "Friday, are you on-station?" Pause. "Mmhmm. Alright. Send me the Mark Seven, then." He gives an faux-awkward smile to the other operatives. "Sorry, didn't want to put a delicate power source like my proprietary reactor technology through a teleporter, even if I wanted to try it. You understand, Doctor Freeman."
Silica	A woman of twenty-something contacts Kleiner after looking up posts on the syndicate board. Talking through her Augma as she walks to the nearest warpgate. "I am on my way right now, Doctor. You'll know who I am when you see me." she says into the little boom-mic, sensible heels clicking on the pavement as she steps into the Gate, appearing outside the facility and showing a small tablet display to the guard. "Syndicate business. I have an appointment with Doctor Kleiner in the High Energy Metaphysics department." she explains.     A short tram ride, and a short discussion with the scientist before she goes through the teleporter.     Appearing in the combat zone, she touches a button on her Augma, then makes a gesture anyone who's used VR or AR tech would recognize, before speaking two words. "LINK. START." She transforms, then heads straight into cover. "This is Silica. I'm onsite, what's the plan, just fan out and start looking?"
Tomoe	So this was a job to rescue the T-doll named M-4? Tomoe got the plan it was simple and direct. She liked that much and she has to admit? Her employer's been very good with giving them what they need to operate, for which she's glad. The intel she was given is looked over in detail then vanishes into her personal inventory. "Got it get M-4 out at all costs if we can catch the Executioner, do it but not at the cost of the primary objective." She seems about ready as she can but through their means of entry is certainly a new one for her she's not seen just what Gordon's able to do really outside of a firefight. She has to admit to herself. The way from Gordon did their teleport, was not quite like any teleport she'd had before she used warp gates or her own teleport crystals. She's impressed with it as she comes through near Gordon all right. "That was something, Mr. Freedman." She grins a little bit and takes a look around taking in the place. The town feels almost like it should be right out of GGO for Tomoe as she looks around she's on edge she has not forgotten what happened with the snipers, last time. The Salamander muses for a moment "I'll take point." She'll aim to attempt to do so afterwards if anyone here should be the one getting shot if someone has to? It's her job to take it. "Ah good to have you here Silica." She also makes note of Tony arriving and she nods a bit to Mr. Stark reactions seme understanable to her and she also grins a bit. She'll have to talk to him when she has a moment later, she muses for now the job. She also makes note that Maaka and Harguro are here, there's a lot of people she knows of or has worked with before, this is good, very good.
Amon	Revolutions require advantages to oppose those in power. The most common form that these advantages come in is equipment, and Amon is nothing if not an opportunist. The world will not change if they stand still, and so they must adapt to what comes without as well as the challenges of their own homeworld. His involvement isn't a surprise-- associates of his came into contact with the team a short while ago via radio, and fell in with the existing plan smoothly. Amon emerges second of the group through the teleportation device, a moustached man with two blades on his back going in first. Both of them have been relatively quiet along the way-- more withdrawn than truly businesslike, and not present at the in-person briefing. A good dozen men and women wearing similar masks and equipped with gauntlets and bolas follow after, falling in around the pair of them in a tight formation that keeps anyone from reasonably approaching Amon without going through a mook first. But Amon already sees enough wonderous enough things to keep his interest. Any one of the gadgets he witnesses here today could substantially alter the viability of his plans... and allow him to entice certain other parties to join his cause. It is only upon arrival and taking the time to recover from teleportation disorientation that he actually offers up a few words. "My men and I will be heading for their communications facility. No more than one or two of you should join us-- the bulk of this team should stick to the primary objective." Amon folds his hands behind his back and begins to step away. Two of his men form up on him -- probably navigators -- and they take off towards the west.
Riva Banari	Briefing? Check. Plan? Check. Firepower? Check. Riva's not sure what's up with this plan or the fine details of the teleportation, but standing around in Black Mesa is no big deal. Observing the interactions between Helian and Gideon during the briefing lent some very... /interesting/ observations to Riva considering even mild prodding seemed to open up several extant cans of worms. Cans that Riva isn't here to open or de-worm. She has as much investment in this mission as G&K has in their own mission, acting as an ersatz mercenary of a kind. The phenomena of the T-Doll is interesting, but ultimately not something she has to contend with for the time being. TELEPORTATION NOISES happen while Riva is ruminating, however, the Templar not making much of a scene. Yet. She lands in the town and looks about, frowning as Amon immediately breaks off with his team. Not her problem, though. If it becomes a problem G&K will tell her so. She tends to follow orders, which is eccentric enough considering she's part of the Watch as well. Strange bedfellows, really. She turns around, marking landmarks and orienting herself. She sends a couple signals over her phone and adjusts a headset. "I'm heading straight into the heart to disrupt the enemy. Anyone who wants to go in hot and try to interrupt the enemy leader, come with. Evertyone else, take advantage of the disruption and look for the target." At that, Riva pulls her shotgun and begins moving forward. Maybe some people will go with her, maybe not, but she's heading to the northeast, towards the villa. A direct threat to Executioner will force the local forces to pull back to defend... Or maybe expose a chance to take care of the puruer once and for all.
Gordon Freeman	On the way Gordon is about as expressive as he gets. He doesn't reply to the compliments, though he does nod about the facility aspect, and he gives Tony the handshake he's after. Firm grip, and he does give a quick smile. They both have disturbingly similar looks, what with that goatee and hair and all. And the glasses. And sometimes the power armor.     Actually, what the fuck is going on there? Gordon almost wants to change to the other HEV suit or something. It's almost a fashion faux pas.     Well, in any case, Gordon does put a finger up to sort of silently tell Tony "just a minute", prodding at an interface on his HEV suit to send Tony a quick whitepaper report, and then when they do get to the tram ride, Gordon has already made sure to remote into one of those office printers to get him some more details on precisely what sort of ELW pulses in what arrays are needed for which real or hypothetical transuranic substances for what hypothetical (or, clearly, real) teleportation results. Gordon's writing voice is about as terse as his real voice, but it's informative.     He has still not talked much at all by the time they get to things, but has mostly handed off his writings whenever prompted. Just kind of going along with what appears to be the man who has embodied all the speech Gordon never engages in.     "Welcome to the HEV Mark 4 Protective System, for use in hazardous environment conditions." The HEVos synths in aloud quietly. When asked about the headpiece, he's a bit more demonstrative, prodding a switch on his suit's shoulder and letting it assemble itself slowly, showing off what appears to be various complex polymer substances within. "Personal heads-up display activated." He readies his SMG. "Defensive weapon selection system activated." It synths again. And then he peers around, looking for those radio towers. "Communications interface online." His HEV suit synths again, and now... Well, he can't decrypt any information in it, but those are /radio towers/, it's going to be easy enough to tell where the nearest source of broadcast is. He looks to Tony and makes a quick shrugging motion, tapping the battery indicator on his HUD. Looks like whatever power source he's got on this is fine to risk. "Have a very safe day." And there he goes.     Alright. Time to make a break for a radio tower. Because Gordon remembers how SF handles their communications. Abandoned by humanity, they still seem to record an awful lot. If Gordon can get to something there... Maybe he can do a quick breach, blast away the SF forces, raid for data about where M4 might be /within/ Zone T6, and try to crash his way out and towards the most relevant search site as quick as he can.
Gordon Freeman	He winds up sort of forming up near Amon. He doesn't exactly inform what his deal is there, but he does tap a button at the hip. "High impact reactive armor activated." It's a silent invitation to Amon to let him be one who takes the big hits and be the armored point-man. Because he's a GREAT armored point man, in practical terms, but also because, by now, Gordon hopefully knows what needs looking for when it comes to communication stations and the records kept therein, and which specific structures need to have what kind of data pulled from them. How does he express the vast complexities of that other topic? He doesn't. OBVIOUSLY. Instead he just jabs a button into his HEV suit that pings up a fresh app and makes it softly synth, "Data input and processing systems activated."
Tony Stark	Stark seems to take the silence of Doctor Freeman in stride, having also (probably) read up on his personality traits. Unlike Doctor Banner, he does not become a gigantic downtown-destroying Jolly Green Giant, so there isn't much point in prodding him overmuch if Tony was feeling particularly bullish. He accepts the papers offered, though, and folds them up to slide into his jacket's inside pocket. "I'll give these a look. Much appreciated, Doctor Freeman." In the silent village, there is at least one sound that starts whistling - then roaring - then rocketing through the air. As this happens, and there's a clear route split, Tony gives a smile to Tomoe. "Hey, you seem to know the others, and we've got a plan looking solid. You five -" Indicating Silica, Tomoe, Haguro, Maaka, and Riva "- can hit their base, and Doctor Freeman, the Phantom of the Opera, and I will hit their communications network." As he speaks the missile incoming on the group resolves into a man-shaped hotrod red metal figure, which lands on the ground in a metallic 'THWONK' in a crouch - the Iron Man Mark VII armor - and stands up, the back opening up. Tony steps into the suit seamlessly, the backplate closing and the limbs articulating around him. "Friday, push updates to Doctor Freeman's suit as you get them. Everyone?" Tony's tone drops a hair to a smug assurance. "Let's go work for a living." Then he's off, jetting to the rooftop level and following Amon and Gordon towards the communication network. "Friday, see if you can't pick up a trunk line and zero in on their comm hub, I want to own it in the next ten minutes." "On it, Boss." comes the feminine voice of his suit AI.
Gideon Kaspar	PRE-MISSION: Helian does indeed show up to Black Mesa to inspect what G&K is hinging a mission on. She has the look of someone who is impossible to please, is definitely not married, and has a nice position in a company with corporate wear designed by Hugo Boss. She approves of Tony in only a silent 'lack of condescension or critical disdain' sense, having the good practice to take a card and exchange one in return, with the contact information for the local S09 branch and the corporate HQ. She doesn't stay however.     MISSION START: There is one additional presence on the Black Mesa teleportation tour. As the local commander responsible for Sector S09 operations (being only technical legal and being new enough to the company that he has no current obligations to G&K's main jurisdiction defending a lot of rich people from a lot of nothing), Gideon would be remiss not to see people off. He, however, does not go through the portal, chilling out likely with Dr. Kleiner with a desk and tactical console of his own. It's his Echelon of choice that goes through instead: a squad of five T-Dolls comprised of two SMG, one HG, and two RF models, picked for the situation in the sense that they're kitted out for stealth, with the former three equipped integral suppressors and various sensor countermeasures, and the latter two showing up in scanner-baffling cloaks.     They have the order to wait until everyone else jumps through just to make sure the portal doesn't splice anyone in half, because Gideon is apparently attached to his hand-picked squad of tacti-girls, but when they make it through, they immediately fan out around the landing area. The white-gold professionally dressed SMG-type Krysanthe, black-green sketchy ops SMG-type Umbra, and the black-clad spy-style blonde handgun-type going by Juliet, form up around Haguro, surrounding her as an escort into the dense urban zone. The twin snipers, being the black-wearing pinkette with the 20mm cannon, and the orange-jacketed girl with an eyepatch and accompanying tactical drone, apparently Autumn and Ash respectively, wait to move to a properly secured vantage so they can support Riva.     LANDING ZONE: The spot chosen by Kleiner is obviously free of enemies; it'd be a crap infiltration spot were this not the case. It's in a relatively barren stretch between the midtown and eastern mess of roads, easily concealed by useless warehouses that have already been scoured and dismissed due to the lack of potential for someone to intentionally hide in them. It'll be good until Sanvgis Ferri has a reason to check it again. The local communications are dense and heavily encrypted, as opposed to the first few times they'd been encountered. They appear to be bouncing from the western radio infrastructure, reflected and amplified from a main tower, but initially broadcast from the villa to the northeast, making either one of them potential targets. The civilian radio station doesn't seem equipped to handle the full bulk of the data though; it's insanely high bandwidth stuff.
Gideon Kaspar	WEST: The objective is at the highest point in the urban area, necessitating a lot of movement up bike paths, stairways, and bridges, none of which are ideal locations to go unseen and un-shot-at. In terms of closest and lowest, to furthest and highest, the useable paths lead to a number of government offices, such as a police station, hospital, and city hall, then up to a weather station and lab, and then up to a full radio station setup and something like a lighthouse (for some reason) alongside what appears to be a helipad.     Even stopping for a casual assessment will note that there are dozens of places any given sniper could be hiding, and the lack of a serious ground patrol presence is telling; only a single, large unit can be heard slowly coming down the road, doing laps down the circular path around the western rise, to the base, and back up. Alternatively, someone could try ploughing through brush and climbing up harsh and probably unsettled rock faces if they want to take a more covered route, at the risk of making a lot of noise or setting off potential traps.     NORTHEAST: The villa being confirmed as the command base makes sense, given it sits atop a cliff almost entirely surrounded by rough water, has enough space to land a VTOL if necessary, and a U-shaped mansion around a massive courtyard has plenty of space to set up equipment, run patrols around the walled perimeter, and gun down anyone trying to use any of the doors. Riva and co. won't actually get there all in one run though. Well before reaching it, they'll come to a heavily defended checkpoint in the city's abandoned 'main street', where aerial drones fly circles around the area, and stationary emplacements have been set up at each road that feeds into it, crewed by dozens of heavily armed T-Dolls of an unfamiliar model. Going all the way around would entail a full detour northwest or east.     MIDTOWN: The densest part of the urban area is the one being most heavily searched, given it'd be the place someone could stay hidden the longest, easily moving from cover to cover as long as they could doge constant, 24/7 patrols. It's largely a place full of offices, small business, and local chains, like a slice of a metropolitan downtown, both for work and recreation, with cars starting to rust in the streets, still alternating stoplights, and even functional payphones. There are a large number of broken windows and doors, due to simply being forced open by SF patrols, rather than looting, as all the insides are either smashed up or untouched, without nothing out of place. Someone could literally walk in and take something from a vending machine if they wanted.     A high vantage will be difficult, seeing as it entails going deep into the midtown area and then climbing all the stairs on what appears to be a telecom company office, either inside or on an external fire escape. That is easier said than done, because teams of Prowlers and Rippers are constantly moving down each street, armed and ready, as aerial reconnaissance scours around them for anyone that might be trying to flit through their blind spots. They're already combing methodically for a single person. Bumbling through won't work for long.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka stares at Tony's suit as the red and gold armor assembles from individual parts almost instantaneously. By the time Tony's suited up, he's totally encased in that metallic aegis. It makes Maaka's old STALKER suit look like a t-shirt and jeans in terms of sophistication. Only one thing goes through the cyborg's head. "I want that fuckin' suit." She says aloud in a mutter, watching Tony jet off.     But Tony's right; It's time to work for a living. Maaka takes off, sprinting with her X95 in hand. The bulpup rifle's tucked tightly in her hands as she runs, the compact rifle a good fit for urban warfare. Midtown is where she goes, relying on small town architecture to conceal her as she slows to a crouched over walk.     Her suit's texture and color mimic her surroundings as she finds a good spot to hide, behind a trash bin.     <Head's up, patrols in midtown are pretty thorough. They're looking for our target. I figure we can use that.> She radios mentally, trying to keep out of the way of patrols. This is where she's most comfortable, this is her element.
Gideon Kaspar	REMOTE: Gideon folds out his console, brings up the tactical map, puts on the AR glass, cracks his knuckles, adjusts his tie, and then begins using a holographic haptic setup to start surveying and administrating the situation. He'll have instructed everyone possible beforehand to take an IFF beacon with them to identify friendly positions on the map, currently under surveillance by a G&K private satellite, and updated with recon from his T-Doll team. He has Ash in particular sets her fancy black recon drone off high up into the air, gliding around from spot to spot to keep close to realtime tabs on Sangvis Ferri patrols.     "I suggest against directly assaulting the command post right at this moment unless you're ready to commit to it as a full offensive from everyone involved." he radios. "There are no less than forty-eight units I'm picking up just on the villa grounds itself, and three echelons within spot recall distance. You'd be getting shot from the front and back even if you snuck in. Taking and holding at least one of those enemy echelon territories is going to be your job."     "The enemy is going to notice if their comms network goes down too. Don't blow up the radio tower if you can help it; taking it over manually stands a higher chance of their ringleader not noticing for a while. I don't expect stealth to last long in a small area this heavily patrolled, but try to keep firefights as local as possible. Gang up and destroy enemy forces in small groups, minimizing resource consumption and damage to our side. I'd like to stack the deck in our favour before Sangvis Ferri sounds the red alert."     "One other thing. The SF forces on the ground are being mass-managed by the ringleader on automatic routines, periodically adjusted through the radio network. If Executioner is anything like Scarecrow from before, if she assumes direct control over local forces, they'll exponentially increase in effectiveness. Any enemy you encounter will be easier to eliminate while working through the automatic network. SF's AI is second rate compared to ours, so only their new Advanced T-Doll models with the dramatic names are equivalent to an intelligent enemy commander."
Haguro	Joining up with the trio of Gideon's T-Dolls, Haguro's looking more heartened than ever! Nervous as hell, but having even more backup than initially expected is giving the cruiser some high hopes. Of course, with all the emphasis on stealth from both the allies she's familiar with and those she's only met recently, there's a shift in her movements as she heads further towards the denser midtown.      Notably, she's not just charging down the street to draw as much attention to herself as possible. Rather, she's using cover to try and get to a better vantage point unseen. It's taking quite some time to do it, but she's focusing more on stealth for the time being what with not being completely sure of the T-Dolls' combat capabilities just yet.      "That office building there... It looks like the best point to work from." Ducking into an alley momentarily, she peers out at a passing flyer before turning back to the small group. "If we can get to the top, it'll be easier to bombard key targets from the high ground while you stop any reinforcements at the top of the stairs. Is that okay with-"      Wait. This is supposed to be a new, more confident cruiser! Takinga deep breath, Haguro puts on a more determined face while getting ready to move once more. "Does anyone have any objections? If not, let's go."
Riva Banari	It's the Zeno's Paradox of military action. Before you can get to the target, you have to get halfway. Of course they're going to have checkpoints and security stations. Sangvis isn't /stupid/. Far from it, actually, they're frighteningly effective when a leader is on the field. Gideon provides essential intel and coordination as is his duty as a commander. While Riva on her own would have simply attempted to march into the enemy base like some kind of buzzing juggernaut (and been shot to hell and back for her trouble), he provides a more doable interim goal: Carve out an area and hold it. Since the group isn't prepared to coordinate for a direct assault, Riva alters her tactics. Since she's not noticed yet, Riva takes the time to pull a couple different grenades, marked with white strips and pulls the pins. "Three, two, one, let's jam." She says, hurling in the grenades to the chokepoint and immediately charging. The renades, of course, blow out a thick cloud of smoke, and just as importantly, metallic chaff. Apparently she's been paying attention to the T-Dolls and thinking about the fact that they're dealing with AI. "IS IT PARTY TIME YET?" Riva yells, charging in with shotgun forward, blasting away at the local enemy group in an attempt to get into her optimal range before the enemies can gun her down. She moves like she has armor or something... And she does, it's just not visible to the naked eye, the swirling Anima barriers providing layered augmentations to her toughness, evasion, and pure luck that allows her to minimize incoming damage. She hopes.
Amon	Amon didn't bring the mecha tanks to this little outing. They were a surprise for Republic City, after all... and it didn't seem as if they would have fit along the way here, besides. So when Gordon takes point, he nods his assent both to the armored man and his own followers. Their formation changes slightly so that they can move up alongside Gordon if need be, but for the most part they just let him have the lead. But he does pay attention to the way Tony refers to him. A faint hum escapes the confines of his mask, but it's the appearance of the armor that really gets his attention. It is like their mecha suits, but it is improved in every conceivable way. Miniaturization has been achieved and it arrived from the sky at incredible speed. Before he has the opportunity to respond, Tony has ascended to the rooftops. He reaches to one side, accepting a radio from one of the soldiers around him. It's a hand radio, not /terribly/ large but not as miniaturized as anyone else here is used to. << "That is an astute observation, Mr. Stark. It is an opera mask. I am afraid that I have a flair for the theatrical-- a trait that we clearly share." >> He hooks the receiver to his belt as they continue, until they reach an area of reasonable overview. The surroundings aren't favorable for the climb, but they also aren't all that well-guarded for the moment. After a brief conversation on the radio and an analysis of the situation, Amon and his men split off from Gordon -- and Tony, who will presumably be flying off to make a nuisance of himself -- and begin to rig a random building (coincidentally, a police station) with timed explosives. Their aim is to give the enemy a false search area after Tony is done on distraction duty and links up with them again.
Tomoe	Tomoe grins back to Tony for a moment nodding in agreement. "Right, that does sound like a plan. Let's go Silica and good luck Mr. Stark." With that Tomoe's wings will flare out and she'll take off after Riva gesturing for Silica to follow her. "Come on Silica lets go keep Riva from getting herself killed." She may not even know that Riva gets better from being dead. So away she goes after Riva, and getting some support from Gideon's own personal guard is welcome, she makes note of them and factors them into the plans she's making she knows it's going to be pretty heavy fire from the sounds of it. She gets the Dawnbreker ready, she has her shield the mourning wall she slams it into a ground cueing up a defence buff for her, Riva and Silica. Hopefully, this additional protection should help. With that out of the way? Tomoe starts to march in calling out as she does. "COME LIVE BY THE GUN AND DIE BY THE SWORD!" She's just taunting, and trying to keep attention, she also knows this is so going to hurt. Hopefully, his will aid her allies in this regard, right? Keeping as many of the enemy T-dolls focused on them. She'll also fire the odd blast of light or fire until she can find something to melee.
Gordon Freeman	Alright, one primary hostile. Tony's offered to do a quick flyby and draw attention. Much as Gordon's loathe to have someone else take the major heat, he knows two things: It's better to fight whatever that unit is off from indoors, and it's better to let someone who can get away from it get its attention. And Gordon's awful at getting away from things. So he's going to wait at the exit of one of those structures. Structures!! Thank god for them. He hates open-street fights, he needs that close range.     He waits for the telltale thruster-scream of Tony Stark zooming by. Once Tony zips by and gets the attention of that main unit, Gordon can charge. And that seems to be his intention: CHARGE! Swapping to his shotgun, once he sees any sign that Tony's drawn all eyes he's going to... Throw random shit out into the street. Yes, he knows a bit about snipers, and his hope is that he'll surprise a sniper on the lookout, causing them to fire early on movement seen in the corner of a scanner. Whether there's a sniper shot or not, Gordon will rush through the open street. Suicidal for most, he can at least tank a shot or two to get to the main door, and try to shoulder-check his way through it and start hunting down a relay in the tower that he can get Tony plugged into with his own suit's local connection, eyes wide and alert for hidden old passages like vents and other suchlike.     Oh, right, and brutally hunting down any of the Rippers that tend to guard these interiors with hefty AP slugs. If Amon has cover set up for an escape, he can use his traditional violent rushing tactics to crash through the interior. Hopefully.
Tony Stark	Stark's ascent to the sky is not the most subtle thing, and while he's not screaming through the sky, his repulsor-powered flight agilely carrying him between taller buildings and following street patterns to stay under the Sangvis Ferri's radar (and anti-aircraft assets, which Tony presumes they have). As the Mark VII sweeps through the area and Friday continues slicing into the Sangvis Ferri comms network. "And what should I call you, masked gentleman? You seem to know me, and if we're going to be working together, nicknames at your expense will run out fairly quick." Ramping up to attack speed, Iron Man zips into a major thouroughfare, Stark's in-helmet HUD rotating from a light blue to a combat red and counters for ammunition and a situational map layering itself in his periphery. He paints a series of targets with his eye as a reticule locks on over his gaze, and, conversationally, adds to Amon and Gordon "Well, children, I've arranged our play-date." Then he rips off a brace of missiles into the clusters of Ferri Dolls, before vectoring off across their sightlines to draw attention. "Friday, how are we coming on that shutdown?" Friday, even for an AI, sounds a little stressed. "The system's very complex, Boss, I'm not sure the loop took - and if it did, it'll be sniffed out quickly." Tony pushes that, as well as his targeting data from the outside, to Freeman (and Gideon). "You heard the nice lady. Expect resistance."
Silica	Silica nods a little, following after Riva and Tomoe. She's small enough to hide out of sight behind things others wouldn't be able to. She does keep up with Riva... and then when she starts setting up for the attack, the Cait Sith starts chanting softly. Words of power lock into position, and then Riva gets an interlocking bubble of blue hexagons.     She then summons a pet, a large creature that looks like a tiger with the stripes made of black scales. The fur is a dark ashen grey. As Riva rushes in, the Tiger follows after, leaping to pounce on and start viciously mauling some of the SF drones with its iron-sharp claws.
Gideon Kaspar	MIDTOWN: It isn't actually one of the dolls that answers Haguro. Krysanthe turns over her wrist, and a holographic projector like a watch gets her a direct feed to Gideon. "That sounds perfect. The longest line of fire around from there will be three kilometers to the villa, and highest elevation of ninety meters to the radio facility. I'll task Maple Moon to your position as spotter; it's imperative you don't accidentally hit somewhere M-4 could be hiding, and it'd be ideal if Executioner weren't blown to pieces. Not that I think it'd be easy."     Krysanthe looks back up, pulls the charging handle on her weapon, and stares Haguro down for several seconds with an implacable amber stare, before finally nodding silently. "Please be careful, and don't move ahead of the group. You'll be an easy target." Umbra on the opposite side can't seem to sit still, her fingers tapping constantly against the side of her gun, other hand fiddling with where her black hair is loosely tied at her shoulder. "As long as I get to kill plenty of Sangvis trash for what they did to VZ-61, I have no reason to complain." Juliet appears to have access to the actual tactical uplink Gideon is using, checking a miniaturized version herself, attention rapt on a blob of enemy IFFs on circuit to the intersection around past where Maaka is. "Be ready. A mixed attack unit is on their way. Haguro, if you would please move across the street. Do not fire your cannons during a surprise attack, do you understand? We will cut them down the second they've moved past us, and move along their patrol route."     The three T-Dolls move into covered positions up ahead, flanking a street which opens up into a T-intersection around a major block, split down the middle by a car-accessible alleyway. Across the perpendicular street, two squads of roving Prowlers move easily and quickly over the road, scooting and sliding back and forth to scan the area around them with their enlarged lenses. A squad of Rippers moves between the drones at either end, stopping at each building, car, and even dumpster, to meticulously check over each point with mechanical precision, at least three keeping overwatch while the others scan corners and under vehicles.
Gideon Kaspar	WEST: Starting at the base of the rise, the westward team has some time to plan, and Tony has some time to get Friday into the local network by getting a little closer to it. From an aerial vantage, he can spot the thick blob of terrestrial Rovers zipping down the hard-packed path from the top, moving at quite high speed, given the lack of real obstruction. He is at least uncontested for aerial supremacy for the moment, which plays to his advantage, in that the ground-bound search and destroy drones don't get a warning that isn't 'missile lock'.     The fact the expendable drones can even detect missile lock is kind of impressive, as they go scattering as soon as he starts his flyby, but six of them are blown to flaming pieces the second his missile barrage swerves into them, easily obliterating the light, speedy units as their adjacent fellows skitter off like wheeled spiders. Deliberately showing himself off, the scatter of Rovers begins charging down the rise all at once, easily hopping off the sheer surfaces and bouncing down the rocky inclines. A fan of Ripper models begins swarming out of the radio complex, spreading into the surrounding area and setting up a defensive perimeter. Two squads of five chase after him, settling on the hospital midway to set up, and begin firing at him. The lurid green streaks of particle weapons are much faster than bullets, and essentially unaffected by gravity, making them perfectly adequate anti-air fire on their own. They aren't lasers, or guided weapons, but twenty guns spraying relatively accurately at him makes an approach on the hospital very difficult.     The police station isn't manned at all. Sangvis Ferri apparently deems it a location of negligible strategic importance. Considering the T-Dolls are wired to go after the first sign of conventional weapons fire however, and the place is full of untouched oldschool police firearms, rigging it up with explosives and then popping off a shot or two to draw attention is an easy way to get a second away team to move towards it, reducing the radio tower's perimeter defense to two thirds force. Considering their quick deployment however, Amon's guys are going to be spotted immediately if they retreat from the building far enough to be safe from their own explosives.
Gideon Kaspar	As expected by Gordon, it's the Jaeger units to be worried about. The second he tosses out a piece of debris (probably an old tire in this case) it is obliterated by two simultaneous shots from different angles from heavy particle rifles, vapourizing it into so much toxic fumes. Knowing the cycling time on the sniper rifles form last time though, he can charge across the road and into the rocks and brush before they get a second shot. Ploughing through the sharp, crumbling rocks and thorny, rusty metal-strewn brush with his HEV suit, he finds that 'an enclosed entrance' and 'taking on Rippers' are mutually exclusive. There is an maintenance door in the side of the rock one tier below the radio tower itself, where he could bust down the door and crawl through the basement, or he could scale to the top and fight the remaining Ripper squad to secure the front door. If Amon cares to follow, he is presented with the same option.     When Tony patches into the radio tower traffic at last, the comms traffic is . . . odd. All data is being transmitted as what amounts to text, rather than involving audio files, sent as rapid-fire logs with extremely minimal language, only really comprehensible to a scientifically minded AI engineer qualified to monitor this kind of thing. None of the T-Dolls have anything really interesting to say, 'talking' to each other in clipped, identical ways, optimized for efficiency rather than nuance. They report enemy fire and potential intrusion on their position, but also a second set of reports comes from the northeast, fed through the relay and back to the villa, along with a status update that they are engaging the enemy. Only one personalized report comes through, with a completely different key signature to the grunts. It queries for visual confirmation and upload of enemy scans, in order to weigh a potential counter-deployment, apparently not up to full alert /just/ yet.
Gideon Kaspar	NORTHEAST: Riva does what Riva does. Having learned a lesson about how hard the Sangvis Ferri line troops hit, she makes sure to actually cover her initial charge, and load herself up with as much protection as possible. The reflective smoke does wonders for a short while, as the beam fire that comes through is purely saturation, attempting to suppress intruders with sheer volume, to dissuade them from taking advantage of their own smoke. There's a lot of it, but the majority of it misses anyways, and Riva isn't about to be intimidated it like a normal soldier who might be killed or incapacitated by a single lucky shot.     She runs face first into a squad of Rippers entrenched behind a barricade of sandbags and iron sheeting brought in and welded into place to face the road, normally a formidable chest high wall position to gun down the street, but utterly useless when she hops over the top and blasts them point blank with her Anima-powered shotgun, being at a severe disadvantage in CQC against her. Her layered protections come into play when the other cardinal directions take notice of her, and begin rapidly shifting positions so that their cover properly faces her, immediately blasting her with much more accurate fire after she's exited her smoke.     Tomoe and Silica's pet take some of the heat off her as the enemy splits their fire to prevent any one of them charging directly into melee as they'd like to. These are T-Dolls optimized for gunfights, and Sangvis Ferri seems to have gotten the memo from last time not to get into swordfights. The pet gets the opportunity to pounce on an ill-positioned squad running back to better cover, but it's immediately fired upon by two more situated around a grand central water feature, smashing its flanks with volleys of high-impact beam fire. Tomoe is mostly just blasted from the front, able to let her shield absorb all the punishment if she takes it slow and doesn't advance too far, where she'd be possible to shoot from the sides.     Until an uncannily accurate shot is taken right at her shin, where the shield doesn't cover, multiple times more powerful than the other weapons firing at her. The whine and crack follows much after, indicating a highly accelerated bolt. There's one of those damn Jaegers overlooking the city square somewhere, prepared to pick her to pieces by sharpshooting around her shield while the rest keep her busy. Aerial Scout drones finally move in to intercept, doing their characteristic high-speed strafing runs to scatter rapid fire over her and Riva, and then go right past the smoke grenades, spraying down even Silica in the back row, leaving no target un-shot.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka slings her X95, slowly climbing her way upwards using her climbing gloves, as though she were some kind of friendly neighborhood spider-...person. She moves slow and carefully, knowing she'll be above the guards as she tries to make it above to the roof.     There, she can keep an eye out for the rest of the team. At least assuming someone doesn't get the idea to look upwards, or even search the rooftops.
Amon	<< "I am called Amon. If you feel a need to address my associate, he goes by Lieutenant." >> Amon replies, not feeling a particular need to explain the shiftiness of both of these names for a couple of men in masks. The fact that their identities are concealed at all is, on the whole, evidence enough that they're people who left behind whatever lives they had before they donned the masks. It isn't as if a colorful opera mask is exactly standard issue within the scope of a covert military operation. The situation deteriorates somewhat between setup and execution. Enough eyes are on the area that they can't meaningfully make a run for it without drawing attention. With a thoughtful hum, Amon executes a series of hand-gestures towards his subordinates. The final gesture is an obvious count down, the prelude to... whatever it is that he just told them to do. As the countdown finishes the Equalists all draw small hand grenades that they hurl at the ground. Smoke billows out along the side of the building, and they scatter in all directions. Broadly speaking, they break into two groups. One is lead by the Lieutenant, and the other by Amon. To call them groups isn't entirely accurate-- they are in proximity, but each taking their own routes through streets and where possible nearby buildings. The smoke will draw attention for sure, but they don't need to evade /all/ notice. They just need to get far enough away that the center of attention is on the building, and not them. Amon himself pushes uphill, hugging buildings and -- if somebody takes adequate notice of him -- transitioning from conventional mobility to a momentary horizontal run along the nearest wall. It doesn't last long-- he's not /that/ fast, but it's enough to throw off somebody expecting generally human capabilities for a moment.
Silica	Silica ducks back behind cover as a strafing run comes over her position, the slugs slamming around the cover piece and some scoring across her body, leaving 'damage decals' and making the girl wince. "Ow ow ow..." a shrill whistle sounds, and the giant dracotiger bellows out a roar, raking the pinned T-Dolls, while its flanks take those shots, spatterings of red showing damage. The impacts seem to do different damage depending on where they hit, strikes to the furry parts leave a big angry hole, while strikes against the scale stripes only leave a 'spiderweb' instead, showing some level of armour.     Tetsu is taking a lot of fire, but has a large health pool to soak the incoming fire, turning on the nearest cover position and attempting to just batter it down using his great bulk. Silica set him to 'Aggressive' mode, apparently.
Haguro	"Three kilometers... Ninety? Understood." As Haguro repeats that distance to herself a few times, it's easy to see that she's doing some sort of calculations in her head. "A spotter will be ideal, thank you. Without the sway of the ocean, aiming these shots should be even easier as well. The wind, though..."      Haguro goes quiet, readying her revolver as she listens to the local crew. She can't afford to worry about what-ifs about the wind at the moment, pushing down those concerns to listen and nod while taking note of the trio's particular traits. "Understood. I have a few close-range techniques, but... I'll leave them to your discretion, then. Should things go badly, though, don't hesitate to say the word and I'll draw their fire myself. I'm confident in my armor."      Her turrets twitch briefly for emphasis, but her grip on the revolver tightens as she starts to move across the street as well. Trying not to let the distinct lack of confidence show past her words, she actually puts her revolver away to keep her hands free while taking cover behind a dumpster. <<"Maaka. If you can do so without revealing yourself, please try to assist the T-Dolls here as well once they start. Until then... Do you see anything flying from up there?">>      Cannons are a no go here for the time being, but hand-to-hand combat is a different story. She's taken a few notes from the last few encounters, and she's again taking notes on the Ripppers checking out just about everything in their path. Hiding behind a car that's a little behind the T-Dolls, she'll wait for them to start firing (assuming Juliet's stated plan goes without a hitch) before charging out to grab the closest Sangivs unit and, with that running start, slam them directly into the ground.
Riva Banari	Riva charges like a madwoman, hauling ass and mantling the initial barrier like she was charging the beaches at Normandy. The problem is a lot of people who charged the beaches at Normandy got freaking shot. And in that tradition, Riva also gets shot. Thankfully, the first waves of saturation fire from the Rippers do little damage, winging her a few times. Things get uglier when she plows out the other side of the smoke, blowing out what defenses she can. She's a sacrifice play, but that's all right with her. The nice thing about that is she can get away with it. Though not without incident. Taking shots HURTS. And as the groups begin to focus fire on her like tha tank she is, Riva once again quietly reflects on why, exactly, she keeps doing this. Blasts punch through her magical defense barriers, cutting into toughened flesh and drawing more significant blood, the high-tech weapons carving into her and causing her to stagger under the onslaught. "SOMEONE TAKE DOWN THOSE FLIERS!" She yells at the others while she pushes forward, forcing herself to crash into the Rippers and take it up close and personal where she operates best despite the smell of burned flesh and clothing trailing her. She'll focus on the Rippers first, reducing the sheer volume of fire.
Tony Stark	As Friday starts indexing the data structures of the Sangvis Ferri communications network, the incompatibilities between a Stark-Brand natural language learning AI and the network they were cracking into became readily apparent. Working through this and a little improvisation on her part, communications are intercepted and then fiddled with before being disseminated. The rote nature, and autonomic response of the Ferri line soldiers, works to Tony's (by proxy) advantage. He focuses on his aerial dodges, and Friday starts engaging in information warfare. And what a heck of an aerial dodge string he has to get into. High-power rifle shots strike Iron Man and tear rents into his armor, the layered plate immediately gouting smoke as Stark weaves between more fire. "Gheez, these girls are popping off like HYDRA's best and brightest. Did Strucker beat me here by years?" He complains, darting behind a building. "Report back that the patrol had a breakdown, point the snipers at the wrong sightlines, and..." Amon, huh? "Friday go ahead and try to mark Peter Pan and the Lost Boys as Sangvis friendlies. Don't let anyone who seems to know what they're doing get solid info." Friday goes silent in his helmet, and Stark looks out from a corner of his building, instantly taking at least one laser-accurate directed energy blast that sends wall dust all across his gold faceplate. "Friday?" "Working on it, Boss! It'd be easier if we could just shut it off." Stark laughs, swinging an arm out to rip off a guided wrist missile back at the snipers pinning him down. "But I expect you to excel! Focus on the disruption and flagging Amon's crew as friendly. That should get him close. Mesa Control-" He means Gideon. "-I'm not really a take-and-hold sort. And these girls don't play well with others, it seems. Is your team enough to hold ground?"
Gordon Freeman	While Gordon could conceivably manage a climb like that, he's more used to cramped underground spaces. Even if they're rigged with traps or crumbling, it's something he's more used to, having spent so much time around Black Mesa and its vast tunnel systems! There's little to do here but rush in, and use his traditional tactics. Take corners wide but not too wide, always have a piece of trash on hand to throw forward through open doors, keep the shotgun loaded but a grenade ready to prime, and hold that crowbar close...     Gordon's gotta prioritize heading up from /below/, and that means always being on the lookout for unconventional passage upwards. He's not afraid to take a vent, stack random nonsense, or even intentionally collapse sections of the structure to create new paths up. He's only got a few minutes according to Tony, so he'd better make those minutes work!     This is a basement though, and basements are frequently the sources of power. The best thing to do here is to focus on finding a generator, /not destrying it/, and then following its wiring up to the relay he's looking for, which must draw considerable power. He can hardly imagine they'd wire this place unreliably to a local power grid that may or may not be the sort of functional necessary to keep a crucial communications relay working, after all.
Tomoe	Well it seems that the enemy T-dolls know enough to not get into a sword fight if they can. This is going to make things a little more interesting for Tomoe as she's blasted from the front rounds slam into the mourning wall doing a lot of damage,e she's still taking damage. It's a lot less than direct hits and even then she's taking a few, her HP bar is going own though and she's feeling the damage that gets past her shields getting shot hurts, it hurts a lot really. The fact she can push through his is somewhat lost on her as being rather unnatural at least for someone like her when you get down to what she was before the Multiverse. Beam rifles also hurt a good deal, in comparison to a physical attack. Tomoe will keep going slowly and doesn't try to advance too far. As Riva calls for the fliers to go down. "Silica! Can you do something about it!" That's when the shot comes for her. It succeeds in catching her off shield even then though Tomoe is durable inhumanly so. The wound impacts the area of impact goes Red and Tomoe starts to stumble, yet she does not /lose/ the limb. At this rate though she's going she's losing HP at a rapid rate, and should they push her out of avatar mode? The weakest of firearms could likely kill her with a single round, maybe two and she knows it. She's stagged she's not calling for help and she's more worried about Riva and Silica at this moment.
Gideon Kaspar	MIDTOWN:     Gideon's girls are apparently A-OK taking the first move. The commander himself watches the succession of coloured dots move into position, estimating timing and positioning on the fly, before ordering the initial assault. Juliet relays the orders down as a field officer, and in the blink of an eye, the HG-type T-Doll rounds the corner, produces a pair of hefty, oversized handguns that are 50% suppressor by weight, and plants a pair of point blank shots into the back of a Ripper's head with some kind of anti-android hollowpoint ammo that immediately blows its mechanical brains out, double tap assassin style.     Umbra tosses a smoke grenade into the street squad, but it isn't the covering kind. Rather, it dispenses some kind of electromagnetic chaff in a thin haze, decently possible to see through, like a thick misty fog, but which causes laser sights to fragment wildly, digital visuals to badly scramble, and insane amounts of static to build up in motor systems, blinding and slowing the Sangvis Ferri units inside it. She and Krysanthe open up with a deluge of automatic fire that somehow manages to be Hollywood *fwip fwip fwip* quiet, all of it placed with ludicrous accuracy that stitches drones a dozen times in sequence, tap switching mags so quickly that the stream of fire is basically unbroken, unloading hundreds of rounds..     A small handful of Rovers break the smoke on the west side, swerving around the cloud to charge down their position, but moving right past and under Maaka, in clear sight of her rifle. Haguro has little difficulty snagging one of the Rippers debilitated in the crowd, smashing it to ground and having her full run of crippling or destroying it, or ripping components or gear she might want while it can barely fight back. Juliet walks up and blasts the transmitter out of the T-Doll's neck with a precise, close range shot. "Confirming all targets down." Gideon radios. "You have 345 seconds until the next patrol shows up and finds the wreckage. I'd get moving if I were you."
Alexis Maaka	Maaka ascends forward, before she sees a Rover beneath her. She grabs her rifle with one hand, before opening up with a burst of .300 BLK. Armor piercing rounds pepper the Rover, and Maaka hops to the rooftop as she opens fire upon the other Rovers, her rifle's suppressor muffling the shots without sacrificing too much accuracy or silence. Good thing about AAC suppressors, they pair well with .300 AAC.
Gideon Kaspar	WEST:     In much the same manner as Riva, the smoke immediately draws mass aggro. Sangvis Ferri doesn't fuck around, and apparently has no concerns about efficient ammo expenditure with those weapons. The smoke is immediately hosed with blasts of streaking beam fire, buzzing and snapping through the air and easily punching smoking, glowing holes through light cover. It's fired essentially at random, so it's down to luck and speed to not get shot. It does have the sensible advantage that the Rippers won't charge blindly through it though. The police station is heavy, advantageous cover, and they move to secure it immediately, robotically breaching it through the other side in their characteristically eerie, silent, gesture-free way.     They sweep corners and check dead angles carefully, entering in a way that ensures they're alone before taking up firing positions on the other side, drawn neatly into the trap. Amon himself is only fired upon during the brief window where he splits up from the group, before the smoke draws all the aggro. Dashing along the erratic inclines, the shots spit hot molten rock at his heels, but don't manage to connect as his orientation abruptly changes and shifts his target profile. The quick maneuver gets him out of trouble while Tony works.     In the nick of time, Friday gets into the SF network and begins falsifying the diffused direct transmissions. Once the Rippers have taken the police station, they cease pursuing, just holind the defensible area, waiting for the enemy to reappear. The Jaegers cease firing, briefly, letting Tony calculate their positions by where they'd shot Gordon's tire from, giving him time to plant a mini-missile directly through a high window to blow one of the snipers' head off, but even Friday can't stop the other one from turning back on him immediately and popping a shot off right at his wrist as a threat response.     Gordon is really in luck. An old world iron door leads directly into cramped concrete passages lit by cheap LED ceiling lamps, with walls only painted with colour coded navigation lines. He runs directly into a skeleton guard, but overcomes them easily with his head armour and close quarters weaponry, taking only a few shots for his trouble. There are even more cramped concrete stairs upwards, but they are extremely likely to be trapped, or at least guarded by a turret, given faint whining from above. The generator is a big, electrical storage beast, rather than an old-generation backup affair with anything for gas. The cabling leads directly up through the ceiling, but the shaft is meant to be possible for a technician to crawl through and repair couplings. A couple of workbenches and tool crates are enough to stack up to reach it, if he awkwardly balances them on and around the generator.     The state of affairs isn't going to last long though. Without a timely return answer to the command post, it re-issues the query and begins checking for communication errors. Since Friday has convinced the local forces that the Elites are absent or in other directions, the reports sent back are inconsistent; enough to fool a fully autonomous system, sure, but there is definitely an intelligent operator on the other end who is highly suspicious of an error or fault in the system, and won't be kept waiting for long before dispatching to check on it.
Gideon Kaspar	NORTHEAST:     Silica quickly finds out the un-fun reality Riva and Tomeo dealt with last time: Sangvis Ferri started as a weapons manufacturer, and is still top in their field. The T-Dolls use well-executed but simple tactics, and are predictable and weak in close combat, but their guns are just plain nasty. They're accurate, hard to dodge, laugh at cover short of concrete or decently thick metal fencing, and are really, really punchy. They thankfully don't spit out as much fire as a conventional ballistic weapon would, but they very much present a 'don't be caught in the open for long' sort of threat.     Even the Scouts are capable of putting a hefty dent in her health bar, zippy and fragile, but still capable of pumping out legitimate DPS. Tetsu is a safer job for pressing the charge, smashing down another emplacement and cutting down the Rippers behind it, but they don't even attempt to move this time, intentionally absorbing the casualties to shoot him a few more times at point blank, piling on the damage at a scary rate as he is rapidly surrounded. The worst kind of AI enemy to fight is one aware of its own expendability and acts like it, as any gamer knows.     It's different when Riva ploughs into their lines however. A shotgun isn't /quite/ a melee weapon, and the Rippers are damn quick, able to sprint and fire at a challenging pace. She can blast the legs out on several of them, but they actively kite her to try and wear her down. They've reduced the Sangvis chokepoint by roughly half, and if they keep tanking and spanking, it's likely they could come out on top, but with extremely heavy damage. The issue is that one of their beefiest tanks, holding a lot of aggro, is directly in the sights of an aggressive Jaeger with an easy target. With Tomoe only holding her ground, it keeps up its almost sadistic barrage, pinpointing any toe she steps out of line, her shield elbow, her sword shoulder, the top of her head -anything she can't hide behind the Mourning Wall all at once, like it's pulling the legs off a spider.
Haguro	Note to self: Get something bigger and more suppressor-friendly than a revolver. After cratering that Ripper and crushing its neck (following Juliet's transmitter elimination), Haguro turns her attention back to the T-Dolls and Alexis above. "Good work everyone. That'll be our cue to get upstairs. If it's anything like other office buildings, we can use the stairs at the top as a bottleneck." Haguro sure is making a lot of assumptions today. She breaks into a more rapid run, trying to get to that telecom building and looking down the streets to minimize the odds of running facefirst into another patrol from behind, all while trying to get there in less than ten minutes before the alerts go out and everything starts exploding. No pressure.  Haguro's turrets are primed and ready, her feet are taking her forward as fast as they can carry her, and she's ready to should-ram the door to that building open if it doesn't open normally within the first three tries.
Gideon Kaspar	REMOTE:     Autumn and Ash haven't been doing nothing. With the teams spread out and engaging the enemy, Gideon has spent the past few minutes guiding them up to a proper vantage in the deadzone created by the wiped out patrol. The two snipers occupy separate rooftops, going prone over the safety rails on each, and sighting over to the northeast plaza. Both are loaded for anti-materiel, and it seems the two kilometer distance is trivial for specialized models like them.     Welcome relief comes in the form of .50 bullets slamming into enemy T-Dolls from on high, three of them reaching their marks before the sound catches up, despite coming from a bolt-action rifle. Ridiculously huge 20mm shots join in, blasting straight through steel barricades to chop the dolls behind them in half, giving Riva an opening to get right at the building serving as a Jaeger perch.
Amon	There are woundings among the smoke, though Amon himself is not among them. There are no IMMEDIATE fatilities. Three of the Equalists emerge from the smoke half-walking and half being carried by their fellows. Prominent burns are visible sporadically -- one leg shot, one body shot, another grazing head wound. Of them, the last is in the worst shape. Her mask has been split open and from the sound and look of her she's going into shock. The less wounded of the equalists get out of the way in an alley, while the team medic moves in with their satchel and gets to work. Having kept ahead of weapons fire -- barely -- Amon glances back towards the wounded. He makes a sharp gesture towards the side, and the second "team" lead by Lieutenant take up positions in the alley to defend the wounded. Only two of the Equalist soldiers remain with Amon as he pushes up the slope, following the same path that Gordon did just a little while ago. Back in the alley... The Lieutenant takes a detonator from one of the wounded, and depresses the button. All sound vanishes as the rigged police station blows, its bottom floor utterly demolished by the explosives and bringing the weight of the rest of the building down on top of it. The ammunition, weapons-- everything, will be going off as it goes down. The equalists flanking Amon draw bolas as they advance, expecting to encounter resistance that will demand a ranged response soon enough. The longer it takes, the better.
Silica	Silica is pinned down, using a concrete wall as cover, though it's getting shredded by those repeated passes. She can't get enough time to charge up and loose her usual Wind Needles or Ice Spear spells, so instead summons her golden fairy wings, launching skywards to 'catfight' with the Scouts as they zip around. The Cait Sith chases the Scouts down, attempting to tag each of them with the icy power of her Sword Skills, trying to freeze their internals up so they fall out of the sky.     Tetsu, the Dracotiger, meanwhile continues to just charge in and bastter down the bunkers, heedless of his own safety, or at least seeming that way to the T-Dolls he's facing. He's showing a lot of damage, huffs of 'steam' coming out of his mouth as he batters down another cover-wall.
Gideon Kaspar	MIDTOWN:     The groundbound Rovers are for terrestrial search, recon, hunt and kill ops. They aren't really designed for much vertical traversal, and so don't spot Maaka until she pumps a magazine of fire into their more thinly armoured topsides, easily punching the trio full of holes and stopping them dead in the street, collapsing into sparking heaps. Haguro wastes no time and books it straight for the telecom office, immediately flanked on all sides by all three silenced T-Dolls, smoothly coordinating a perfect triangle around here, and barely having to jog to stay ahead of her. They methodically sweep corners by gunsight, keeping their weapons level and ready at all times. Stationary Rippers are gunned down in hails of suppressed fire, liable to make one wonder just how much ammo the girls are /carrying/, but they make smooth progress.     The telecom tower isn't actually guarded. There's nothing of significance that Sangvis Ferri is keeping there, and by the looks of all the toppled desks, scattered filing work, smashed plants and decorative panes, and computers tossed all about, it's already been thoroughly ransacked. The elevators are unfortunately cut and sabotaged, so she gets the lovely task of running up fifteen stories, and even Maaka has her work cut out climbing externally, but she can easily bust down the iron door to the roof and its cheap lock, letting her step out onto a flat, clear, and mildly windswept plateau.     The spec-ops equipped T-Dolls aren't equipped for long range shooting, so they settle into defensive positions lower down, kicking over desks to use as cover and securing an easy killbox down a stairwell to a lower landing. Haguro, at this point, and even Maaka should she have a suitable sniper rifle, have their clear pick of the fight brewing to the west, and the one to the northeast.
Gordon Freeman	Reactive armor deals with the bulk of the skeleton guard. His armor chimes: "Minor contusions detected." Nice. If he's gonna hit that relay and get a connection before Tony's cover expires though, he'd better move FAST. That means hoisting and precariously balancing chunks of random shit atop the generator he eventually finds, leaping onto the cabling, tugging himself up, and eventually sidling himself up the thing.     In a cramped shaft like this, even the shotgun is a poor decision. He holsters it and pulls out a heavy Colt Python .357, clenching its barrel longways between his teeth and tugging himself up the shaft, ready to open fire above or below where necessary with beefy slugs of armor-piercing pain. Gotta get that relay. Gotta plug Tony in. Gotta do more pull-ups, honestly, this is miserable. "Lactic acid buildup detected." Gordon mutes that alert and amps up some of the power assist, trying to quickly rush the last of the way to the relay.     Once he pops up to the top -- breaking through a floor, perhaps, or popping a maintenance hatch, or just poking his head out of the shaft -- he does it revolver-first, ready to ambush anything set to guard the place, and trying his best to rush out and get Tony and Friday plugged into... Whatever he can find, to properly link him up! Gotta get that network scoured for M-4's probable locations.
Tony Stark	Aiming and firing takes time, and Tony isn't battling human goons with high powered plasma rifles. He's firing guided missiles with clear heat signatures at perfected android sniper-platforms with high powered futuristic rifles blowing holes in armored plate that had deflected the blows of gods and men-who-were-built-like-gods. "Friday, be a dear, pen in 'reinforce chest plate' on the to-do?" "I'm a little busy, Boss." Tony takes another singing shot, a long black mark and a deep pitting in his arm that makes him bite his lip and make a 'hnnnnnnf!' exhaling noise. "Yeah! Yeah, take your time." He gasps, dropping back into cover. As Amon triggers the explosion of the building, the Mark VII shoots into the air, a spray of flares heralding the rise like angel wings to hopefully throw off the targeting of the Jaeger units as Tony stops messing around and playing footsies with the robot sniper. If there's just one, and it just shot -- he'll charge it down. Strafing along the path with blasting repulsors, the heavy fire support from the G&K sniper team is well-recieved, Tony rocketing towards the compound. "Doctor Freeman, any time now!" he calls into his comm, lasering open a hole in the tower's control room wall for Amon and himself before charging in ready to lay out any SF T-Doll that gets handsy with a red metal fist. "This is way more than I expected from a read of the reports." "Well, Boss, you actually just skimmed them." "That's not what the nice men want to hear, Friday."
Tomoe	Tomoe had to deal with Sangvis the last time and it proved to be quiet. She's holding a lot of aggro off Silica and Riva which was the plan, but she was not expecting something a bit above the norm for the enemy T-dolls, which this Jager seem to be. It's doing a good deal, maybe she should have joined Riva in the charge but it's too late, she's being hammered, again and again, she's skilled at making it harder, pick off her less protected areas and they too are generally armoured. Tomoe's HP bar just keeps dropping from each hit that gets past her guard. The HP bar is being chipped away at shot by shot and the barrage is not stopping either. She can't get a moment to breathe and counter-attack. Or she could and take some serious damage, she may end up having to, she pops several more endurance related abilities hopefully to hold out a bit longer. If one were watching her through the places routinely targeted by this doll are bright red and how it fights is causing to make Tomoe recall certain things from her past and her mind's going to a very bad place. These memories might just drive her to attack the enemy T-doll in a moment even if that might be utterfoolishness.
Riva Banari	Life isn't fun. Still, she's smashing and crashing and firing at them, using grenades to try to hem in and catch the Rippers that get too clever in trying to kite, forcing them in close so she can put them down. Her body continues to sear and scourge, slowly trying to close up the painful wounds but slowly. Too slowly to matter here... But she's taking far more punishment than any human should. The lack of Tomoe at her back is noticed. Locked down by the Rippers, though, there's little she can do about the Jaeger problem. "DAMMIT TOMOE! TELL US WHEN YOU'RE PINNED!" She yells in her direction... And then the T-Dolls act. Silently, she rolls her eyes to heaven in a momentary prayer of thanks before she turns to the sniper perch, the Ajoran Cross coming out of storage to get one-handed by her magically enhanced strengh. A moment later, the window the Jaeger(s) are using erupts as the Cross smashes through it, a tether of Anima linking back to Riva and dragging her up as it anchors to the window frame. Riva hurtles through, blowing out the mounting as she howls her defiance, levelling the shotgun at the sadistic machines. "GEEEEEEET DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNKED!" She yells over the sound of Anima-empowered buckshot blast waves.
Gideon Kaspar	WEST:     The police station ruse goes off beautifully. Lured in and then left stranded by the coordinated effort by the Equalists and Tony's hacking, the entire Ripper detachment is deep inside when the bombs go off, setting off not only the ammo storage, but multiple parked police cruisers and their gas supply as well. The whole station is a fireball that not even a tough android would survive for long, and the structural collapse that swiftly follows certainly crushes any that attempt to escape the flames. The echelon is effectively wiped out completely, giving the wounded the breathing room they need, since they aren't possible to sight by the others.     The maintenance causeway inside is much easier for Amon and his lightly equipped, acrobatic Equalists to shimmy through than Gordon and his heavy HEV. When he pops the hatch, he enters a ground control room with a quad set of Rippers, two to an east and west exit. They'll /immediately/ shoot at him, but the second he exits, the two Equalists can leap from the hatch with the T-Dolls' attention on him instead, and can sling their bolas right away, taking two of the Rippers out on the spot as they're hit with weird archaic weapons they don't really deal with and electrocuted on the spot, leaving them largely intact, and Gordon to put six rounds in the remaining two.     Without having to do a breach and clear, they've bypassed the 10 outside, and have an easy shot at a dinky cable elevator to the top, where they can manually access the transmitter, or else direct access to the computers at the bottom, where they could take the direct route of just flipping all the switches off, or the slightly more finessed route of hacking them. Of course, Tony can just fly to the top easily, and the transmitter room's walls definitely aren't rated to withstand laser cutting. That entails getting past the remaining Jaeger however, which snipes his next missiles out of the air with uncanny precision. Just like Gordon's debris decoy however, it goes for the flares when he launches them, uncannily picking two of of the air. He can quickly tell they're coming from the top floor of the radio tower, being the tallest thing around, making his job very easy to kill two birds with one stone. The entrenched sniper won't deal with a kool-aid maneuver well at all. The radio tower is effectively secured.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka moves from rooftop to rooftop, before she climbs her way toward the Telecomm building. She reloads her carbine as she jumps through a window, and she makes her way towards an iron door. A swift kick brings the door down, and she heads topside.     Maaka definitely has a suitable arsenal on hand for long range. The X95 isn't quite her first choice for distance shooting, but she can in theory use it if needed. But she doesn't need to when she's got hammerspace. SHe slings the carbine before summoning a longer, more accurate pick in rifle; an HK MR308 customized to her usage, with a smart-linked scope and suppressor. The .308 rifle is loaded and cocked, before Maaka takes aim and opens fire upon the T-Dolls down bellow.     Her shots are accurate, and she goes for the head and center mass in that order, making sure to destroy the CPU and power supply, depending on if that's where those are placed.
Haguro	With the building secured, Haguro takes a position at the roof and starts looking around slowly to get a feel for where everything is. One team to the west, another northeast, and a whole lot of land in between. Thankfully, there's no sway of the ocean to contend with while aming, but she does need to be much more careful about making her shots count without the luxury of firing practice shots first. So little pressure. With the fighting seemingly more heated in the northeast, however, there's not a lot of time to make sure her aim is perfect. Relying mostly on her own intuition at this point, Haguro turns to the northeast with her turrets making minute shifts as she zeroes in on the SF T-Dolls to determine where to target. Noticing that Riva's going for the Jaegers keeping Tomoe and Silica pinned down, her attention focuses on something a little less prone to friendly fire incidents: The Rippers. She focuses her long-range barrage on those that are still in cover and those in the largest concentrations, aiming to thin them out and force them out of whatever hiding places they were relying on.
Gideon Kaspar	NORTHEAST:     Silica taking to the air is beyond what the SF forces stationed had expected, and it shows in how she attracts no ground fire whatsoever. She immediately spirals into a tight furball with the Scouts, who no longer have an easy target to pepper to death on the ground. Though each pass she makes results in a cluster circling behind her and doggedly shooting her from her six, their evasive maneuvers are specced for gunfire, just like the T-Dolls, and charging straight into them gives them no real ability to dodge her sword skills, which send them crashing out of the air and shattering on the ground as icy junk. If she's willing to tank some additional punishment, she can wipe them out given the lack of anti-air support from the Rippers and Jaeger.     Given how completely fucked Tomoe is, stuck in exactly the position the bloodthirsty killer sniper wants her, she should be grateful for Riva's bravado. It's so focused on blowing her limbs off (and it will probably succeed in getting one), that it doesn't move before Riva smashes the surprise cross through the wall and collapses it on the sniper, hitting on the precision unit's weakness of being relatively fragile compared to the more robust Ripper light infantry, and dedicating all of its memory to targeting, concealment, and coordination routines, without much focus on mobility and strategic cover. It makes a satisfying crunch when Riva takes it out.     Tetsu is borderline slaughtered by the remaining units, but hangs on above 20% HP when the ridiculous shots from Ash and Autumn join in. The buzzing black drone flies low over the battlefield and highlights targets for Maaka and Haguro, going through any tactical HUDs they might have, or at least providing bearings and coordinates to them as a spotter.     The artillery barrage, arcing high over the intervening buildings and plunging almost vertically into the plaza, blows any useful cover to bits, annihilating the first few unaware T-Dolls and sending the rest scattering away from the thorough barrage, constantly kept on the run as they're flushed out into the open by heavy shelling. It makes for easy targets for Maaka to pick off the stragglers with her sniper rifle, so the plaza is cleared in short order, albeit most of the usable cover for preventing it from being retaken by forces to the north and east is destroyed in the process. The three battered tanks might not be enough to deal with two more blobs of enemies storming them in a pincer maneuver if they're left on their own.
Gordon Freeman	Gordon finishes with the T-Dolls, panting with some exhaustion before he flicks the revolver open and reloads it, taps the spent shells out, and slips six fresh rounds in. As he does, he gives a grateful nod to Amon, any harshness in his silence defused entirely by the rather authentically grateful smile on his face visible through the helmet and the audible sigh of relief.     Gordon quickly heads to the computers where he's at, immediately moving yanking a cord out of his wrist and plugging in. He doesn't expect the best and the brightest of /government defense contractors/ to know shit from fuck about cybersecurity when they can't buy a backdoor from the CIA, but Tony seems to know, so Gordon immediately pushes a remote link from his HEV suit to Tony, ideally giving Tony what he needs to yank data... However much there might be, given this isn't a /command/ site, per-se. Ideally about the location of M-4! And /hopefully/ this can all get done before some remote operator he doesn't even know about issues a data wipe command.     Gordon's already warily right next to the hard drives, in fact, and the moment he sees anything fucky data-wise, he's going to just physically crowbar the computers open and start the Grim Harvest of hard drives being yoinked out of cases and shoved into HEV compartments. He also keeps his shotgun nearby, set out on any tables nearby, because he's quite worried of ambush.
Amon	Amon is shot, because he drops out of a hatch relatively blind and his enemies have time to notice him before he notices them. His body jerks as their weapons strike center mass but-- they don't penetrate. He staggers back into the wall in relative silence as his soldiers drop from the vent and loose their bolas immediately. The impact and the hunched over posture that the masked man immediately assumes looks desperately painful, and in truth it is nothing but. But he knows pain. He recovers gracefully, straightening up to examine his own wounds. His soldiers turn as well-- concerned, probably expecting him to be dead or at least more badly wounded than that. They look at each other in the aftermath, but no words are exchanged. "Keep them bound... and bring them with us." He rumbles. His hand falls to the receiver at his belt, << "We will be bringing a pair of... prisoners. Barring unexpected opposition, this should be done shortly." >> Clasping his hands behind his back, Amon looks towards Gordon with that expressionless mask of his. He answers the man's smile with a nod, moving up next to the scientist to observe with some interest. His soldiers do as they're told, insofar as they're able to do anything with the disabled Rippers. If they're too heavy to carry one-to-one, they'll just pick one to carry between them.
Tony Stark	Tony, on the roof, ejects the wrist-mounted laser battery from his right bracer, the smoking port not being replaced with a fresh one for the moment as Iron Man surveils the situation from the roof. The G&K T-Dolls laser out of the sky the aerial assets, and Gordon, down below, offers a remote linkup. "Right, I've got it, Doctor Freeman. Running analysis now. Kaspar, are you getting this? I'm fronting you the data stream while I run my own analysis. If 'M4' is here, we'll find them." Keeping his perch, Tony leans on the roof, watching the data scroll by until Amon pipes up that he's got a prisoner. "Right. I'll send someone to help you carry. Friday, send in seventeen?" "Of course, Boss." Moments later, another red streak flew through the sky, this one directly at the base of the communications bunker, a second bulkier Iron Man armor robotically landing (airbreaking, instead of hero knee-landing, with repulsor hands) and moving to join Amon. "Mister Amon. Do you need any assistance?" Comes Friday's voice, through the helmet speakers, the helpful AI visibly (but mechanically) surveiling the surrounds, even though they're quite secure for now.
Tomoe	Tomoe gets so focused on protecting her comrades she often forgets about herself this is one of those times. She hears Riva's words they hurt almost as much as the rounds from the Jager's sniper weapons does due to them being correct. She didn't call for help when she should have and if not for Riva her life would be taking a very bad turn here. She's lucky in not losing a limb but she's bad off when the Jager is down she has a chance to breathe and her Avatar has a chance to try and at least fix its appearance. She's looking pretty mangled though from all the fire she's taken. She takes a deep breath and she's wait is she limping as she moves. Whoever did that Jager's weapons did a hell of a job on it. She'll look to Riva. "Thank you..." She now making sure she won't get jumped. She looks like she's about done and then her thoughts turn to Silica for a moment. "Silica are you all right..." She's starting to wish very badly she still had Eisen's Spaz-12 that she used to use in GGO it would be wonderful in fights like this, not that she might not voice this around most of the GU.
Gideon Kaspar	WEST:     The T-Dolls hit by the Equalists are pretty fried. They aren't, magical handwavium quotes, 'EMPed', but they're actually physically tied up and just took a shitload of electricity to actual motive parts, so they aren't going anywhere. They aren't especially heavier than they'd suggest -heavier than a woman of their frame would be, but not some 400lbs solid terminator thing. Their guns are actually the obnoxiously dense and awkward thing about them, completely unbalance and unergonomic for human use, and heavy enough that any marine stuck with it would bitch up a storm after an hour on patrol. They're better off with the Iron Man suit rather than forcing humans to lug them around.     The radio system that Gordon accesses is, of course, civilian grade. It's civil infrastructure for a large, modern town in (probably?) eastern Europe. There's not really any difficult security to crack to get in, though the SF data stream is properly fucking encoded for military use, with some weird algorithms he wouldn't have seen before. It's not as robust as their primary tactical network would be, since it's all basic routines that a civilian tower can handle, but there's a limit to what he can and can't access in a timely fashion.     A helpful thing he can pull is a record of where Sangvis Ferri has searched in the city and how many times, as well as their calculations of M-4's probable location, which narrows it down to only a few spots. She'd done an astoundingly good job so far, by a casual look, but given a few more days, she'd certainly have had nowhere left to run to. It certainly works to /their/ advantage though. The other piece of significant data is the familiar transmission from Scarecrow, logged and recorded. It might not be too useful to Gordon at the moment, but Tony can tell right away that it has a huge volume of heavily crunched data apparently reverse engineered from VZ-61, analyzed by sandbox, as if Scarecrow had halfway simulated her captive T-Doll's own AI, and brute forced it just in time to send to Executioner, which speaks to a certain /ridiculous/ level of processing power, even if used somewhat inefficiently on the spot.     It's still a bit of a mystery how she'd magically known where to search, but a second party has been frequently accessing the log and doing some crunching of their own, refining the available data with the luxury of time to scout for M-4. A hopeful sign is that the search files have also logged no less than twenty eight SF units KIA during the search effort over the past few days, meaning the sole 16Lab doll has been working hard, and must still be operational. It's no wonder that someone has been trying to predict her movements with simulated models, if she can run circles around them this adeptly while they rely on manual patrols. Given some time, Friday might be able to narrow down the search parameters even further.
Gideon Kaspar	That's all they get though. After such a long pause in proper updates, the villa communications party seems to have had enough. It's not like they could be unaware of the firefight going on in the plaza especially. The automated routines are shut down immediately, given over to direct access by the intelligent party on the other end. The two captured Rippers suddenly go completely limp, collapsing with open eyes as their AI banks are completely wiped. The console is immediately hit with an infowar bomb, but Gordon is at least prepared to unplug and rip out the hard drives manually.     When the console stops functioning, the analogue broadcasting system on the radio tower screeches to life, working off a moment of feedback, and then sounding off with the booming, slightly tinny echo, of an operator on the other end. Though Tony had only intercepted code/text reports before, this time a voice comes through the microphone, unmistakably feminine, but raw, intense, and heated.     "What a surprise! Griffin's dogs are already barking at the door! You're really desperate to get your precious toy back, aren't you? Hate to tell you this, but you're way too late! M-4 is mine, and the only way you're leaving is in a hundred different body bags!"     "Hahaha! I'm really lucky! It's been a while since I've had the pleasure of chopping up a human! Cutting T-Dolls to pieces just isn't quite the same, you know? Griffin's disposable tools are just that. You /deserve/ it."
Amon	"If you would be so kind as to take these two..." Amon gestures towards the subdued Rippers, "... to the extraction point, it would simplify matters for us. As valuable as they are, I believe that I will be needing these two to have their hands occupied with something a little more... immediately useful."