IC-Breakfast(various)

[Silver Priest]

"I'll remain calm as long as you do Sir," Sean says somewhat hypocritically. He goes back to work. Hopefully they could get out of here before all hell breaks louse. He chides himself to focus on the mission. But he still keeps an eye(and ear) out.

[Silver Priest]

"That's right Cath! We're all having fun, right guys?"

Tony frowns at his son. "Hey there Scotty, maybe put the game away for a little bit? And I'm sure the food will be out soon."

Then he sees the armed men enter the diner, and his face grows pale.

"You know what, why don't you both keep playing your video game? Bobby, why don't you watch and ah... give your brother some tips?"

He locks eyes with Cathy and attempts to be reassuring, likely doing a poor job of hiding his own fear. "I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding. Let's not get in the middle of things."

[Starspawn338]

"I hope you're wrong Sean... but I fear you're right." Jim says quietly.

[aine]

"Let's keep walking round the building and see if we can get to my car without being molested. Says Michael. "Just look casual."

Samantha is slightly relieved. "That's fine by us. You didn't hear any wild animals out there did you? I'm a zoologist and was about to go out and have a scout for it. You don't mind if I do?" She wonders how on earth she's going to get her three guns out though.

[Mr. Handy]

9:24 AM
In the parking lot-
Nitro got behind the wheel of the van, still clutching the detonator in his fist, looking back toward the gas pumps.

"I don't like this one bit," said Bo, "but my first priority has to be seeing you safely off to Omaha. Of course, after that, there's gonna be hell to pay. How's the fuel going?"

Bob tapped the barrel. "Another couple of minutes," he said. "You got a truck?"

"Yup. Here it comes now."

Baldwin pulled up in his big rig, Gary and Kimberly in the cab with him. "Oh, hell no!" growled Baldwin when he caught sight of the pickup truck and van on the dirt road halfway between the motel and the T-Bone and the skinheads in them. The one in the back of the pickup truck had his sniper rifle trained on the diner, and the one in the van held the detonator. There were also several more visible inside the diner through the floor-to-ceiling windows. "Those crackers gotta die..." He reached for his pistol.

"Hold off on that," said Bob. "They planted a satchel charge by the gas pumps, and the one in the van has the detonator. He's got orders to set it off if any shots are fired."

Behind the diner-
Jenny shut the door behind them and followed Michael to the northwest corner of the diner. Peeking around the corner, they could see the skinheads' vehicles parked on the dirt road, facing north. The van was closer to them, which blocked the view of the sniper in the pickup truck somewhat, but both of them seemed to be focused on the front of the diner and had taken no note of them. Michael's car was in the motel parking lot, well beyond the dirt road.

OOC,[b]Michael[/b], if you want to try to head for the motel, please roll Sneak. The base skill is 10%. Even if you fail, they might not hear you.

In the diner-
"Oh, God..." gasped Cathy when she saw the armed men. "This trip was your idea, you know."

"Ishi the Killer would make minced meat outta these guys," said Bobby. "He'd just take his katana and slice and dice them before they even saw him."

Scotty continued playing, though whether or not he had actually heard his father was unknown.

"Just sit tight, girl," said the skinhead with the M-16 at the front door to Samantha. "We won't be long."

Horst, Buzz, Flip, and Mutt went into Hammond's office, closing the door behind them. One of the men with a shotgun followed them and took up a position outside the office door, while the remaining one stood outside the door to the kitchen. The other two, with pistols, looked around the main dining area and kept an eye on the crowd.

OOC,[b]Samantha[/b], you may roll Fast Talk if you wish. [b]Horst[/b] and [b]Flip[/b] are moving to the thread linked below:

Danger

[Silver Priest]

Sean continues to work. Bob was right; getting Dr. Hausmann up in the air needed to take priority now. She seemed very concerned about this pandemic she was researching, and getting bogged down now could be disastrous.

He does still keep watch on the skinheads, but hopes he does not need to get involved and that nothing kicks off until they're safely in the air.

[Silver Priest]

Tony hisses at his wife and son to be quiet, not wanting to attract any attention from the robbers or whatever they were.

[aine]

Samantha doesn't want to leave her guns so she stays behind the counter. "Well okay, we won't get in your way but if you're going to do any shooting will you let all these people get out first?" She says to Skinhead M-16.

Fast talk,[dice]0[/dice]

"Quickly, while they are looking the other way!" Michael leads Jenny towards the motel car park. He tries to walk calmly and quietly so not to seem suspect or alarming.

Sneak,[dice]1[/dice]

[Starspawn338]

"Just a couple more minutes..."

[Starspawn338]

"Oh, hell no!" growled Baldwin when he caught sight of the pickup truck and van on the dirt road halfway between the motel and the T-Bone and the skinheads in them. "Those crackers gotta die..." He reached for his pistol.

"I'm with you but getting into a shootout with a bunch of innocent people around has got to be a last resort." Gary cautions.

[Mr. Handy]

9:25 AM
Between the motel and the T-Bone
Jenny followed Michael across the uncomfortably open ground. The two of them soon reached the dirt road, a short distance north of the vehicles. Jenny wasn't any quieter than he was, her footsteps crunching on the ground. However, if either skinhead heard them, they showed no sign of it.

OOC,[b]Jenny[/b]'s Sneak roll (10% base skill) to not be heard moving: [dice]0[/dice] Sniper skinhead's Listen roll: [dice]1[/dice] Detonator skinhead's Listen roll: [dice]2[/dice] Everyone, please roll Listen. The base skill is 25%.

In the parking lot-
"Yes," said Kimberly, getting out of the truck. "We have to make sure these people get where they're going first. Then we'll deal with the skinheads, carefully."

"Oh, I'll be careful, all right," said Baldwin. "I'll make sure to kill the one with the detonator first. We have to do something about these racist nutjobs before I take the fuel to Brownson, though. This can't wait until I get back. All of these people could be dead by then."

"If they were just going to kill everyone, they'd have done it by now."

"And we have to get to Omaha as soon as possible," insisted Dr. Hausmann. "The fate of the world is at stake. There are billions of lives in danger, and that outweighs the handful here."

"Please," pleaded Stephanie. "This is more important than you know, and you'll never be able to kill the man with the detonator before he sets it off."

Baldwin shifted the truck into gear and glanced over to Gary. "If you're with me, shut the door and get ready," he said. "Otherwise, this is your last chance to get out."

OOC,[b]Kimberly[/b]'s Fast Talk roll (52% skill) to get [b]Baldwin[/b] to wait before attacking the skinheads: [dice]3[/dice] Everyone, please roll Listen. The base skill is 25%.

In the diner-
The skinhead with the M-16 softened. "Look, if you want to go out there, nobody's stopping you," he said. "You're free to leave at any time." He and the other skinhead at the front door moved to either side to allow anyone who wanted to pass.

OOC,Everyone, please roll Listen. The base skill is 25%.

[Silver Priest]

Tony gets up. "That's our cue. Come on honey, kids." He waits expectantly for them to get up and plans to usher them out the door.

Listen 25%,[dice]0[/dice]

[Silver Priest]

Sean's listen 53,[dice]0[/dice]

Listen 53,[dice]1[/dice]

OOC:   messed up the first roll, sorry.

Seeing what's about to happen, Sean raises his rifle and points it directly at Baldwin.

"Listen to the Doctor. You fire the first shot I swear it will be the last thing you ever do."

[Mr. Handy]

In the parking lot-
"Seriously, man?!" said Baldwin. "Look, I'm not gonna fire a shot, and if you fire that rifle, they'll set off that bomb anyway. I can't hit from this range with my pistol. My momma didn't raise no fool. I'll take my truck around to the north side of the truck stop and come down the dirt road from the north. They're looking this way, not that way. Then I can build up some speed and ram my rig down that scumbag's throat. He'll never even know what hit him. The van's parked facing north, and he'll be crushed to a pulp by the impact. The pickup truck's behind the van, so the collision will hit that too and should disrupt the sniper."

OOC,You didn't mess up the roll, it's a bug with the spoiler button. When there's an apostrophe in the button's display text, it won't open. You can view the contents with the Quote or Edit features, though the dice rolls won't show unless you actually edit the post. Your Listen roll succeeds, but the sound won't actually happen until the next turn starts. I'll let you know what you hear at that time. Anyone who wants to try to talk [b]Baldwin[/b] out of it may roll Fast Talk. The base skill is 5%. [b]Gary[/b] has been talking to him long enough that he may use Persuade instead if he wishes. The base skill for that is 15%.

In the diner-
"Not so fast!" said Rita as the Lathan family started to get up from the table. "You never paid for your meal!"

"We never got our meal!" protested Cathy.

"They're preparing it now in the kitchen, and it'll go to waste if you just leave. You still have to pay."

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   I'll wait to post for Sean until Starspawn gets a chance.

Tony looks exasperated. "Don't you have more important things to be concerned with? You cannot seriously expect us to eat during a hold-up." He looks towards the skinhead. "Um, No offense."

Persuade 40%,[dice]0[/dice]

The cashier seems unsympathetic, however.

[Starspawn338]

OOC,Listen 25 [dice]0[/dice] Persuade 15 [dice]1[/dice]

"Even if that does work, you run a good chance of messing up your truck and that doesn't even account for the mess of them inside the diner with the innocents. I'm pretty damn sure they hate people of color. What do you think will happen if we do end up killing one or two of them outside? Gary says as he tries to reason with Baldwin.

[Starspawn338]

OOC,Listen 58 [dice]0[/dice]

"Hold on there Sean." Jim says emphatically. "And you too mister. We can't go off half cocked if anyone is going to survive. There are a dozen of them and half a dozen of us. Bo here is the law. Let's follow his lead."

[aine]

Michael walks over to his car and gets his key out to unlock it. "Get in, quietly." He says to Jenny. He's hoping he can get in himself, start the engine and drive sedately away towards the meteorite.

"You can't seriously expect them to stay here with the children?" Samantha says to Rita. "It looks like it's your boss or whatever that's brought this trouble here; people could be paying a lot more than money if you don't let them go."

persuade,[dice]0[/dice]

[Silver Priest]

Sean keeps his rifle trained on Baldwin.

"Listen to what everyone is telling you. Besides, you start something and things are likely to escalate and draw US all into it."

fast talk 5%,[dice]0[/dice] Ouch! Hopefully all of us talking and having a gun on him gets me a bonus. ;)

[Mr. Handy]

9:26 AM
In front of the motel-
Michael and Jenny reached the motel's parking lot. His car was right where he had left it.

In the parking lot-
"You saw what happened on TV," said Stephanie to Baldwin. "Dr. Hausmann and I are the only ones who can cure this thing, and to do that we have to get to Omaha. We need that State Police chopper, and we need to get the fuel there."

"Well..." said Baldwin. He wavered, but ultimately he sighed. "All right. Never could say no to a pretty face. I'll help you, but as soon as I've dropped off the fuel, I'm comin' back and wasting those assholes." He got out of the truck and went over to the back, opening up the trailer. At that time Bob finally finished draining the helicopter's fuel tank. "Great," he said. "Let's get these barrels loaded and hit the road fast."

Just then, high-pitched screaming came from inside the diner.

OOC,The gun doesn't give you a bonus, as [b]Baldwin[/b] figures you're bluffing. He knows that if you fire the rifle, the bomb will detonate. However, some characters haven't rolled yet. [b]Jim Kerr[/b]'s Fast Talk roll (44% skill) trying to talk [b]Baldwin[/b] out of it: [dice]0[/dice] [b]Stephanie[/b]'s Persaude roll (44% skill) trying to talk [b]Baldwin[/b] out of it: [dice]1[/dice]

Sean Blank,The screaming came from the rear of the diner. While it was high-pitched, it was definitely a man's voice.

Jim Kerr,The screaming came from the rear of the diner. While it was high-pitched, it was definitely a man's voice. [b]Jim[/b]'s hearing was good enough, and the man's screams were loud enough, that he could hear every word: "NO! No, please, I'll talk! I'll tell you where the guns are!"

In the diner-
Rita was adamant. "You're not going anywhere until you've paid for your meal in full," she insisted.

"It's not a holdup," said the man with the M-16. "We're just here to have a nice, friendly talk with Hammond." High-pitched screams came from the back office, casting some doubt on this statement.