Making a Run for It

Suggested Music: The Matrix Reloaded - Mona Lisa

Saturday, February 6. 12:34 AM: San Francisco, CFS. Shiawase Arcology, 14th floor.

Doc could feel his heart already beginning to beat heavily inside his chest, even a short gunfight never failed to get the adrenaline pumping, he minimized the biomonitor readings in his field of vision as he scrambled down the first flight of stairs. Within moments he could already here doors above and below him being pushed open by more security guards; however Doc wasted no time with pause trying to get down as many floors as possible before encountering guards. Once he was below the restricted levels of the arcology the guards would become less frequent and hopefully less experienced.

Doc hugged the outside wall of the stairwell as he ran down the steps, skipping steps when he could and jumping down to the landings below as quick as possible, by staying on the outside he hoped that the guards would have more trouble seeing him. Ideally this would have made it harder for them to find him, though he guessed they had security cameras on him already, but most importantly would prevent them from taking shots at him from other floors. Doc rounded the stairs at Floor 14 before the guard got through the door, the two men made brief eye contact through the small window of the door as the guard approached and as Doc ran by. Doc heard the door pushed up in haste and could hear the footsteps from behind, but he had to ignore what was behind him and continue forward. He was not so lucky at Floor 13, Doc was halfway down the staircase to the 13th when he spotted the two guards entering the landing. Doc immediately moved from the outside wall, grasping the handrail on the inside he used it to launch himself across the chasm between staircases. While in the air and falling from one staircase to the next he aimed his Ares Predator back without a glance, aiming through the smartlink system he fired off two shots at the guards from the 13th floor. He didn't care if the bullets found their mark, instead he focused on not calling out in pain as he twisted his ankle while trying to land halfway down the next flight of stairs. His ankle gave out and sent him into a head-over-heels tumble down the remaining half flight of stairs between floors 12 and 13. Doc suppressed the urge to call out as he resumed running on the sprained ankle, though the mental cursing running through his mind appeared in the group's chatlog in Japanese.

Doc was off and running again in an instant, the two guards from Floor 13 fired off four shots at the landing where Doc had been, but their surprise at his leap left them too slow. Doc was turning the corner to descend towards floor 12 and ignored more steps chasing from above. As he rounded the corner to the 12th floor the guard was waiting for him with his gun drawn.

"FREEZE!!!"

Doc didn't. Without pause Doc leapt from the landing above with a leap straight down the staircase with a guard at the bottom. The guard squeezed off two shots, the first found its mark and hit Doc just above his left hip, however the second shot went harmlessly high as Doc's body crashed into the security guard shoulder first. The leap had the intended effect, though getting shot in the process was not a part of the plan, and Doc crashed into the surprised guard who's body helped to break Doc's fall. For his part the guard did as much as he could to restrain Doc, but the tumbled mess of the two bodies on the cramped stairway landing along with the jolt of the fall left him too disoriented to restrain the quicker and more savvy field operative. Doc was off and running again, leaving the 12th floor guard to scramble back to his feet as the other pursuing guards ran down the stairs.

Doc continued down the stairs towards the 11th floor, his mind and feet racing as he approached the 11th floor where he knew at least one guard would be waiting for him. With no time to wait Doc rounded the staircase leading down to the 11th floor sinking into a crouch while still moving forward and towards the outside wall. His gun was outstretched as he took aim and waited for the first available shot to open up as he moved forward. Doc forced himself to control his breathing and exhaled as the security guards chest entered his view, reflexively Doc squeezed the trigger twice.

Both bullets hit their mark in the chest of the security guard who managed to fire off only a single ill aimed round before slumping towards the ground in front of the doorway. Doc didn't waste any time and rose from his crouch and back into a full run as he rounded the corner, leaving the restricted levels of the arcolgy behind him. Of course the challenge of his escape was far from over, still 10 floors above the street where the van could only wait so long.

The guard on the 10th floor was without a doubt a different caliber than he had encountered before this, this confirmed that the public levels of the arcology were secured by lower caliber guards and that if he moved quick enough he should meet less resistance. Two more shots from his Ares Predator dispatched the rent-a-cop on the 10th floor without slowing down his escape, Doc let a moment of relaxing though slip into his mind as he stepped over the bleeding body he left behind. Maybe he actually could escape this...

There were no guards on the 9th or 8th floors, what was at first a relief eventually started to leave an empty feeling in Doc's stomach, what were they planning?

He couldn't risk slowing down to think about it, he needed to put some space between himself and the guards in pursuit. He was starting to formulate a plan by the time he reached the 7th floor where 2 guards greeted him, the first guard and Doc exchanged gunfire while the second guard slipped back out the door onto the 7th floor. The guard's shots grazed by Doc with minimal damage besides another hole in his suit jacket and a tear across his right shoulder that barely drew blood; meanwhile Doc ended the gunfight quickly by putting two slugs in the man's chest.

Doc figured now was a good a time as any to start his plan. He fired the last 3 rounds of his clip blindly up the staircase to bring the guards in pursuit to a temporary halt as he leaned against the door to the 7th floor. Doc dropped the clip from his Ares Predator and reflexively loaded a new clip into the weapon as he peaked through the window of the door to briefly scan the situation outside. As he expected several guards were outside with guns trained on the door, one even fired a shot as they saw his eyes in the window, though the shot bounced harmlessly off the metal door. They were more concerned with keeping him in the stairwell than stopping him on it, that seemed a logical conclusion at this point.

Doc fired another shot up the stairwell to make sure the guards hadn't continued to creep forward, his blind shot was met with return fire this time. Though the shots were as blind as his own and missed their mark by a safe distance. Doc pulled the security guard's Colt pistol from his dying hands and tucked it into the back of his pants quickly, firing another blind shot up the stairs to keep the guards at bay. Next he found the fallen guard's keycard and tucked it into his front pocket, at the same time he pulled his holdout pistol from around his ankle and carefully leaned it against the staircase pointing up.

Doc fired two more shots up the staircase from his Ares Predator before he continued his dash down the steps towards the 6th floor, the return fire from the guards above was just as far off as before. Doc wirelessly fired the holdout pistol he had left behind on the 7th floor, blindly firing it up towards the guards that would pursue him once they realized he'd resumed his descent. Doc continued to fire shots blindly through the smartgun system of the holdout pistol every couple seconds until the clip ran dry. Doc was rounding the landing of the 6th floor by then and didn't pause to observe his situation, Doc had reached the empty 5th floor before the camera on his smartgun displayed the pursuing guards passing by it on the 7th floor. A two floor lead should be enough for his plan to work and he was on his way to the 4th floor when Hector sent an urgent message into the group chat.

<Hector:> Oni and Dimitri have made it to the Van but we've got to move, Lone Star is closing in and the mall cops aren't far behind either.

<Oni:> Tactical unit spotted. Their most logical course of action is to secure the stairwell and a prisoner first. They are headed your way Doc.

<Hector:> We gotta move! Doc you better get your ass out here soon or you're on your own!

<Doc:> Shit! Plan is out the window, we gotta improvise now!

Doc again encountered only a locked door at the 4th floor and he continued to move as quickly as he could, half way to the 3rd floor he heard the SWAT team enter the stairwell. His time was running out. He paused again to stabilize his breathing on the entry landing to the 3rd floor, drawing the fallen security guards gun into his left hand as he sent a message to the van.

<Doc:> You better not be gone yet! Follow my video feed and meet me, you'll see what I'm planning. Don't be late!

Doc didn't wait for a response from Hector or Oni, he immediately swiped the fallen guards keycard to unlock the door and rushed through the doorway. Gunfire flooded the halls as soon as he pulled the door open, he fired rounds from both pistols as he broke into a sprint down the main hallway of the mall's 3rd floor. Several guards had set up in defensive positions outside the door and they wasted no time opening fire on Doc as soon as he appeared, though his own gunfire and high running speed made him a difficult target.

As he passed several bullets grazed his skin, tearing at clothing and flesh without significant injury until one round found it's mark and pierced the muscle of his left thigh. Doc gritted his teeth and didn't let up, though the wound increased the already forming limp from his earlier gunshot wound. Doc returned fire as best he could without sacrificing his running speed, firing bullets semi-blindly behind him at the guards and the doorway. He dropped the fallen guards Colt when it ran out of ammo, moments before his smartgun system alerted him that his Ares Predator was running low as well. Bullets continued to fire from behind him but missed their mark and instead began to puncture the glass at the end of the hall. Doc trained his gun there as well, firing the remaining 3 bullets of his gun into the glass directly ahead of him before dropping it carelessly to the ground. The glass didn't completely shatter but the web of cracks throughout the storefront had obviously weakend it enough. As Doc reached his goal he heard the terrifying sound of submachine guns open fire from behind him, a series of grazing blows surrounded him and one round found it's intended target and pierced through Doc's chest.

---

Hector was driving like a mad man, his van was hardly made for this sort of use. They were already on their way out of the parking lot when they received Doc's message. Hector slammed the brakes and spun the wheel, sending the tactical van into a sliding 180 which he somehow managed to control. He down shifted quickly and sped towards the pursuers; Hector fired several shots out the window as he split the two pursuing Lone Star sedans by clipping only one that had tried to impede his progress.

Hector sped along the edge of the parking lot parallel with the length of the arcology as he checked in briefly to see where Doc was. Doc's video feed told him they were a little behind and Doc was taking too much fire.

"Hang on back there!" Hector called to Oni and Dimitri in the back of the van as he put his pedal to the floor and jerked the wheel to the right and jumped the curb of the parking lot onto the sidewalk and garden area next to the building.

Hector saw the first fragments of glass burst out of the 3rd story storefront from the windshield, the glass fragments shattered along the roof of the van quickly followed by a loud thud that shook the entire van.

"Get him in here!" Hector yelled as Oni was already opening the back doors of the van.

Oni stood up to his full height as he leaned out the back and reached up onto the roof to grab a hold of Doc, who was attempting to cling desperately to the top of the speeding vehicle. Oni's massive hand grabbed firm hold of Doc and dragged him forcibly inside and tossed him haphazardly onto the floor of the van behind him.

Dimitri was sitting tucked against one of the walls of the van behind Oni holding a large assault rifle somewhat awkwardly, Oni pulled one of the two van doors shut and turned back towards the elf who immediately tossed the heavy firearm towards the troll. Oni snatched the rifle out of the air and spun it and himself back towards the opening in back of the van as Hector jerked the van back onto the road to make their escape. Oni opened fire on full auto with the assault rifle, targeting any of the Lone Star vehicles that dared to pursue them. When his clip ran dry he launched a flash bang from the under barrel grenade launcher on the rifle and hastily pulled the door shut as the blinding flash went off to cover their escape.