See No Evil

[Mr. Handy]

"You're right, he's no threat," Vanessa tells Nik. "He's more distraught than anything, possibly mad, but I don't know his language. I'm going to go help Taylor." She hurries off after Colm.

[Silver Priest]

Vanessa easily avoids the man, and heads out of the store. The scene outside is chaos. The pedestrians have all scattered, and the fbi agent spies two ice cream cones, discarded during the gunfight. She next notices Agent Taylor. He's leaning against the side of the car, and is bleeding through his shirt. despite this he pops up out of cover and fires at a vehicle across from his own. But it's not Colm he's shooting at. It's the taxi driver, the one who had been reading the paper and listening tot he radio when they arrived.

The shot bounces off the car door, but the man does not retaliate. He has a nice tan and looks like something of an athlete, or a boy scout leader. But there's a lot of blood around him, suggesting Agent Taylor gave as good as he got.

Before Vanessa can reach the taxi driver takes off, accelerating quickly out into the open road. Maybe his wounds affect him more than he realized or perhaps he's just not thinking clearly. Maybe it's just bad luck. Whatever the reason, he accelerates out onto the road just as another car is coming, and hits it dead on. His abruptly stops, now blocked, at least for a few moments, by the unexpected vehicle.

Taylor motions to Vanessa. "Bastard started shooting when I went to intercept Colm. He took off out of here in the confusion. Don't worry, it's just a flesh wound. I think I got him worse. You need support approaching him?" Despite his wounds, he seems willing to back his superior up if she requests it."

With Nik busy in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, he can only watch as the burnt man runs out of the store through the front. Vanessa and Taylor both see him at once. He's still shouting and seems quite agitated.

"Who the hell is that? Is that Stromm?"

OOC:   I'll say Vanessa can reach the taxi driver's car on this round( and attack if she so wishes). It's fully stopped, but due to the angle it's stopped at she can't see where the driver is or what he's doing. She could certainly hold her position, or confront the burnt man.

As Nik considers his situation, he finds something of interest. On the floor a few feet away from the downed man lies a cork bottle. It's now empty, but the man he just shot had been carrying it before Colm had knocked him down.

[HoneyDog]

Nik gets on his radio and requests an ambulance to their location, and also calls for an APB on Colm and his car – suspect considered armed and dangerous.

While doing this, he approaches the burned man, and attempts to lay his hand on his arm. He wants to bring the man back inside the building and out of sight. If he can, he will pick up the bottle now.

[Silver Priest]

Nik's requests are acknowledged.

The burnt man tenses as Nik goes outside and approaches him. His eyes go from side to side,and he resembles nothing so much as a cornered animal. It may prove difficult to calm him down, especially with the language barrier.

OOC:   The bottle will probably have to wait until the next round or whenever he's done dealing with the burnt man. Can I please have a persuasion roll, with a-10 modifier. Succeed and the man will follow Nik's instructions as best as he's able, unless and until h ehas reasons not to. Fail and you'll need to get physical to clam him down.

[HoneyDog]

Nik puts his gun away and holds out his hands, palms up, trying to show the strange figure that he means no harm. He makes soothing sounds and gestures, but they don’t seem to have much effect.

Persuade,Persuade -10= 61: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/550191]Persuade[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]91[/b]

[Silver Priest]

The man reacts screaming to Nik's attempts to calm him down. He seems almost afraid of the agent,and looks ready to lash out. While he's unarmed, there's not telling what he can do fueled by desperation.

OOC:   Vanessa's round. She can see Nik's having trouble subduing the burnt man. Meanwhile the taxi driver has crashed his car just out in the street.

[Mr. Handy]

Reasoning that the burned man isn't really a threat and the taxi driver is, she leaves the burned man to Nik for now. "Cover me," she tells Taylor, "but stay behind cover. I'm going to try to get closer." When Taylor begins to fire, Vanessa approaches the crashed car, using cover herself whenever possible, so that she can get a clear shot at the cabbie.

OOC,What do I see when I get close enough? Can I attack now? If so, and if the man is still a threat, I'd like to use rapid fire.

[Silver Priest]

Round 4

Taylor nods and follows Vanessa. If nothing else, the rookie had guts. He's clearly been shot- seemingly in his shoulder- but is still in the game. He gives her the distraction she needs to get closer. The agent darts behind the few trees around and the sign announcing the strip mall's name. Cover is sparse, and she's uncomfortably close to in full open view at times. But the man does not attack. Finally, she can spy him from the side, and their eyes connect.

The man does not appear to be armed, but she can't see his hands so it's hard to tell. He's just watching her impassively as she approaches. She's still about two car lengths away from him, but from this angle she's reasonably confident she can hit him, or at least attempt to. But he already looks injured, his shirt stained with blood. Another bullet might kill him. Did she prefer to negotiate, or did she want t end the threat here and now?

The burned man meanwhile takes off down the street towards the edge of the mall. There's no pathway here, aside from a block of concrete and rough ground packed into it that separates the mall from the rest of the area , but he seems to be trying to maneuver through it and away from Nik and the chaos surrounding him.

OOC:   Essentially burnt man is trying to maneuver out of the mall and back onto the thin sidewalk that borders the street. There's no direct path here so he's going through some tough terrain to get out of the parking lot.

[HoneyDog]

Nik gives chase to the burnt man. He wants to catch him if possible.

OOC,Shall I make a roll for this?

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   Roll Athletics. Alternately, shoot him. If you hit, he goes down. Of course he might go down permanently...

[HoneyDog]

Doubtful that he can catch the man, Nik swears under his breath. He pulls his pistol and squeezes off a shot. He tries not to aim for anything vital.

Firearms,Firearms 70: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/550460]Firearms[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]20[/b]

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   Sounds like you want to try a Flesh wound attack.The bad news is that's at a -40 penalty. The good news is you make it anyway.

[dice]0[/dice]

Nik's shot hits the man's left leg. It's not a good shot. Really, it only grazes the figure. But it's enough to take him down. Leg giving out, the man collapses to the ground. He curls up into a ball and seems to be whimpering to himself. It seems clear he's not going anywhere without help.

[HoneyDog]

“What a goddam mess” Nik mutters.

He hesitates for a moment, thinking about what to do. The man needs to be removed discreetly. Nik turns back to the mall to get the car. He plans to get the man into it without any other law enforcement getting to him first. He’d better stop and check on the man he shot, and get that bottle too.

On his way back he radios Vanessa and Taylor. “Marchand! Taylor! I have two wounded suspects down! Do you need me?”

[Silver Priest]

Nik,Sorry, just to confirm, what does Nik want to do first? Taking the man to the car is a full round, so he'd not have time to do anything else. Does he want to go back in the store, or get the burnt man into the back of the car first?

[HoneyDog]

OOC,It depends on whether the others need help. If they're okay, Nik will check on the wizard and retrieve the bottle before getting the car.

[Mr. Handy]

"Taylor's wounded, but I think we've got this," Vanessa says. Taking her pistol in both hands, she aims it at the driver, ready to fire if he makes any sudden movements. "Federal agents! Put your hands where I can see them, slowly!"

[HoneyDog]

“An ambulance is on its way” Nik tells Vanessa. “Don’t let any of the suspects be removed from the scene until we talk”.

Relieved, he goes to check on the wounded wizard.

[Silver Priest]

Vanessa's words go unheeded, as the man abruptly dives down. He seems to be trying to get low, into an angle where Vanessa can't shoot him from. However the agent is ready for him, and can squeeze off a shot or two before he gets out of sight.

OOC:   Vanessa can fire a normal shot or use any of the special maneuvers described in the rules section. If she misses, the driver disappears from her sight and she'll need to get up close to the window to regain vision.

The burnt man dealt with, Nik goes back inside, where he immediately is confronted with a disturbing site. A trail of blood leads to the other corner of the room. The wizard is bleeding badly and presently using his own blood to paint some symbols on the wall, like something out of a demented children's party. He's chanting to, though his voice is considerably more shaky than it was earlier, and he seems to be struggling to stay up. Whatever he's drawing though he seems to be nearly done with. He notices Nik but makes no effort to stop his activities or indeed react to the man in anyway.

OOC:   Nik can fire if he likes, though without point blank bonus this turn.

[HoneyDog]

“This guy’s far too dangerous to live” thinks Nik. He already drew his pistol – he points and shoots.

Firearms,Firearms 70: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/550832]Firearms[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]7[/b]

[Silver Priest]

Damage [dice]0[/dice]

The bullet enters the back of the wizard's head. Immediately he stops chanting and drawing and collapses once again. Judging by the size of the hole, he seems to be quite dead. Though given the other powers at his disposal, Nik could not say for sure.

It may just be Nik's imagination, but the lines he had been drawing seem to briefly glow. But when he next blinks, it has faded away, and instead he just finds fresh blood dripping from the wall.

The cork bottle still lays in the middle of the floor. In his rush to draw, the wizard had apparently disregarded it.