PUBLIC Calling All Cars

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KA-THUNK.

​
Jack didn't take the time to guess as to why he was pointing it at him.

Jack dove down and away from his cruiser- which was violently lifted. It rolled along slightly, skirting as the explosive pressed against the armored door, sending shrapnel flying to and fro. He grit his teeth as he felt his cruiser lean over when it impacted the ground. No more cruiser. No more cover- he was exposed. Gunfire ripped through the streets. Slowly, but surely, the sheer number of encroaching NCPD, angered by the loss of their own, inspired their wrath.

The robbers and would-be thieves had attracted pretty much every cop in Night City. He looked up, a Chromed-out jockey leveling his rifle with him. A grin across his mostly metallic face. Jack went for his shotgun, his fingertips brushing the grip of the weapon-

And then, all at once, darkness in the sky. Two hovering craft Surveyors came over. The Chromed out Psycho was picked off, and there was a light all around Jack. Blue, then red. The drop site. He knew better than where to be. He scrambled to his feet, booking it across the street, gunfire peppering him, though substantially less so. And then, two squads of MAXTAC Officers dropped from their craft.

The gunfire ceased, for just a moment.

The reality set in- the NCPD hadn't just sent in anyone, hadn't just responded. They had escalated the situation. The streets were blocked. MAXTAC Officers began to methodically clear the street of suspects- with lethal precision beyond Jack's comprehension. They were fast. They were lethal. They were pissed. The bank robbers and their friends had killed their fellow Officers. It wasn't about arrests anymore. They were going to kill everyone in that bank that wasn't an innocent person or customer. And even still.

Jack knew that much, at least. He racked his shotgun again, the other Officers of the NCPD beginning to take blocking positions. The MAXTAC Officers were pressing inside- towards the psycho, and then to anyone else who might've been involved in the carnage. Jack's body tensed up- he looked down at his side, where a round had grazed him along his torso, cutting just above his vest, under his arm.

He grit his teeth, while another Officer noticed and quickly went for first aid. He wondered what the MAXTAC would do- but wouldn't have to wait long. Their chief concern was the psycho, and the two squads set off to pincer and eliminate the threat.

If you're in the bank, I'd run. If you're the psycho, I'd also run.
 
--CLICK HERE--




Ryan's eyes darted to @Vex Kiranova as the power sword hissed to life, its crimson glow reflecting off the debris-strewn floor. Vex's sharp Belarusian quip barely registered over the cacophony outside—Trauma Team assembling, MaxTac lowering their AV, and the muffled chaos inside the bank.

Ryan muttered under his breath, securing the straps on the duffel bag of eddies. Beau's voice crackled faintly in Ryan's earpiece, but Nyx's interruption cut through clearly, marking the back door as the only viable escape route. Ryan's lips tightened into a thin line. He didn't like the odds, but staying here was suicide.

"Back door it is," Ryan shouted aloud.

He shifted his stance, slinging the duffel over his shoulder as he scanned the room. Ivo's rampage had drawn most of the attention—NCPD, Trauma Team, even MaxTac would focus on the cyberpsycho.. at first. His blood ran cold with the thought of the dreaded NCPD task force that was MaxTac, a group of chomed out bogeymen that hunted down the darkest of predators Night City had to offer. That left them a slim chance to slip through unnoticed if they timed it perfectly.

"Wait for the breach," Ryan instructed, eyes fixed on the exit as MaxTac's squad formed outside. "They'll hit him first. When they do, we move." He adjusted his grip on his weapon, glancing over at Vex. The flickering edge of the power sword set his nerves on edge, but right now, it was an asset. The solo tensed as MaxTac signaled their breach, the sharp crack of flashbangs followed, and the heavy roar of augmented boots echoed through the bank. Almost as if a sign of God, the sprinkler system erupted to life dumping water down across the lobby, reducing visibility.

"Move!" Ryan hissed, keeping his profile low as he darted for the back hallway. The timing was razor-thin—if Trauma Team or MaxTac spotted them, the mission was over. His pace quickened as he reached the hallway, scanning for cameras or drones. "Nyx, keep their eyes busy," he murmured, already mapping their next steps in his head. Every nerve was on fire as he moved, the air thick with smoke and adrenaline. Behind him, he listened for Vex's deliberate steps and the hum of the power sword slicing through the chaos like a siren song of survival.

"@Beau Frost I need our ride out of here!"​
 


Location: Bank, Inner Hallway en route to Backdoor
Nearby: @Ryan Graves, @The Watchman, @Ivo "Ironhand" Lasko, @Joseph "Grey" Graham, @Jack Kowalski

"Always did, you just weren't paying attention," was all Vex managed to say in response to @Beau Frost before @Ivo "Ironhand" Lasko had whirled on him. The runner was wise to the metal beast's tricks this time however, and he managed to dance on the balls of his feet to avoid the hammer blow accompanying Mister Lasko's fist. The table he'd been using for cover evaporated and Vex caught the faint glimmer of light that signaled an energy build up in his opponent's hand cannon.

He issued the mental command subconsciously, but Ivo's ICE was too thick. His stream of daemons hit an impenetrable wall from every angle and bounced off its face in utter futility. His body was moving in time with the attempt as he charged in low, just as the light of the arm-cannon reached its apex and thundered a blast in his direction. Fortunately for Vex and most unluckily for Mister Lasko, the psycho had hesitated. The heat of the blast singed the flesh along the right side of Vex's face as it passed by and atomized the wall separating the attendants' booths from the lobby.

His sword crackled and wept burning ozone as it carved a greased path through the air toward Mister Lasko. He swung two-handed as he passed beneath Lasko's outstretched arm and levered his sword as hard as he could into the psycho's side. If the blow hit, there would be a small explosion of light and sound when the blade made contact, the energy field sheathing the sharp edge of the sword burning hot enough to evaporate organic flesh with a second's contact. For her part Nyx, focused all of her energies on drawing her invisible hands over Ivo's eyes. She couldn't breach his ICE, but she could flood his oculars with several thousand chat requests, the hope being that some would slip through to scroll across his vision and distract him long enough that he might not see where Vex was disappearing to. The runner deactivated his sword for good measure, its red beacon dimming, though its edge remained keenly deadly.

In no time at all he'd slipped around the Ironhand and found himself huffing behind what little cover the bodies of two NCPD officers provided a few paces away from @Ryan Graves.

"Beau said that way was pretty fucked." The runner muttered over the trio's shared link. "Doesn't sound like we've got any alternatives though. I - is that MaxTac?" Vex's lips pressed into a thin line as he peered out past the cacophony of the room. He blinked at the VTOL's as they hovered in on silent engines like the steads of death that they were. Men and women in armor Vex had only ever seen in TV ads and in stolen passing glances came filing out in disciplined kill teams, all of them homing in on their position.

"We couldn't handle a psycho with a sandevistan. Don't even think about trying it," Nyx demanded over the shared link.

"I wasn't. Just makes getting out a lot harder." He paused for a moment as he caught a blur amidst the din. His head cocked to the side as he watched @The Watchman pounce through the rubble. "Even more strangeness here. I think blowing up the gas station is the best move. Get some heat off of us - and if you can lock down portions of the bank as we pass through them that'd help tremendously."

Vex paused then as Ryan gave his orders. The runner nodded, and Nyx extended her presence outward toward the building's security systems. It was a relatively simple thing to reach out toward one of the cameras and lurch herself up inside. The systems here were being breached by half a dozen different parties - that they were functioning at all was a miracle in itself. She sliced off pieces of herself and jumped from one camera to the next, extending like a spider's web, widening and lessening her influence at the same time.

She drew dozens of invisible hands over the cameras and plugged a hundred fingers into any microphone unlucky enough to be connected to the bank's security system.

"The surveillance system is mine, but I'm stretched pretty thin. Beau's gonna have to do the doors and... well, anything else really."

It was around that time that MaxTac made its presence known. Vex ducked his head down low as Nyx preadjusted his sensory inputs to slow to a dull numbness. He felt the flashbangs as a dull thud, heard them as a far-off echo. His hearing just barely tuned back to normal when Ryan yelled to move. The snap-hiss of Vex's power sword crackling to life was the solo's response.

Vex charged alongside Ryan deeper into the bank, sword swinging in one hand, his .50 thundering wrist snapping shots from the other. He only aimed for anyone that dared to aim at him first, and only then for their limbs. They'd be crippled, but they'd live, and these days a ruined limb was an easy problem to solve. His sword's energy field was turned down too - one of the security guards a bit too brave for his own good received a hard crack from it as he rounded a corner. There was a crackle of light as the guard's face and chest were singed and his body crumpled to the floor, but he was still breathing.

He'd managed to get through this without killing anyone yet. He intended to keep that way, if he could manage to do it without dying.

The runner paused for a moment as he realized it was raining. He blinked, glanced up, made an 'O' with his lips, and noticed Trauma Team (@Joseph "Grey" Graham) firing down the hallway from one of the board rooms. They were shooting at the psycho, but the duo would have to cross their field of fire of they wanted to continue forward.

"Some trauma dogs are trying to kill us from the room just ahead. We're sandwiched between them, MaxTac, and the psycho - Beau would you kindly seal them in?"


 
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Ivo "Ironhand" Lasko stood amidst the chaos, his metallic frame a brutal contrast to the desperate humanity around him. The pulse of his arm cannon dimmed after the near miss, a faint heat haze rising as it recharged, but his focus remained razor-sharp. His ICE systems easily shrugged off the invasive daemons Vex had unleashed, their futile attempts an irritation more than a threat. The cyberpsycho turned his attention to the runner, eyes burning cold and unyielding as the energy from Vex's sword crackled against his armor. The strike landed, searing against the alloy and causing a sharp burst of sparks and light, but the damage was negligible. "Cute trick," he growled, his voice metallic and guttural, reverberating with disdain. "But yOu FeLL oVeR tHe EdGe, PuNk."

Before Ivo could retaliate, his comms lit up with the precise, calm voices of MAXTAC command. The VTOLs hovering above cast an eerie glow over the scene, their disciplined operators descending with lethal efficiency. As Vex and Ryan maneuvered deeper into the building, Ivo disengaged momentarily, letting the MAXTAC squads flood the area with their overwhelming firepower. Water continued to rain down from the sprinklers filling the lobby.

"Sector breach neutralized. Engaging containment protocols," came a curt update over the MAXTAC channel.

The hulking brute's optical HUD flared red as his internal systems calculated the escalating chaos. The faint whir of his augments intensified, and the moment stretched into eerie stillness. With a deliberate flick of his wrist, Ivo triggered his Sandevistan. Ivo descended on Truma Team's position like a chrome-plated reaper. Trauma Team's heavy rounds glanced off the psycho's subdermal armor, sparks flying as Ivo closed the distance with terrifying speed. The rocket-propelled bullets spiraled toward Ivo, but the Sandevistan's acceleration made him a blur. He ducked and weaved, the rounds pinging harmlessly against the walls. Ivo's arm cannon hummed ominously, the energy core reaching critical as he fired at Trauma Team. He fired, the blast vaporizing a nearby pillar to Webber.

Time itself seemed to crawl. The deafening roar of gunfire dulled to a distant hum, and the frantic movements of Vex, Ryan, and the scattered NCPD officers became sluggish, almost pitifully slow. His vision sharpened, isolating key targets as his HUD painted their outlines in crimson. The burst of acceleration propelled him forward, his movements unnaturally fluid and precise. Dust hung frozen in the air, and the glow of VTOL lights reflected in fragments of shattered glass seemed suspended in time. Ivo's arm cannon, now primed and glowing with restrained power, tracked seamlessly to Vex's position as the runner ducked behind cover.

Each step echoed in his own mind, deliberate and unyielding. The world unfolded in slow motion, every detail crystal clear. He felt the surge of augmented power coursing through his veins, the Sandevistan pushing his reflexes and awareness beyond the limits of flesh and bone. Vex's attempt to slip away behind the bodies of fallen officers was futile. Ivo's enhanced optics locked onto him instantly, the faint heat signature of his movement standing out against the haze of battle. "RuNNing wOn'T sAvE yoU," he growled, his voice cutting through the distorted symphony of the slowed world.

With a brutal swipe, he closed the distance, his massive frame a blur of chrome and synthetic muscle. The air crackled with kinetic energy as his fist arced toward Vex, shattering the remnants of a nearby pillar with the sheer force of the swing. His vision filled with dozens of message requests, spamming his system with malware. Though his target narrowly evaded the blow, the calculated brutality of the attack left little doubt—there was no outrunning Ironhand in this state. His Sandevistan continued to push him through the battlefield with relentless precision. Each move was deliberate, each strike calculated to corner his prey. The psycho and the chaos of the bank were secondary; the hunt was all that mattered.

The next blow swung forth.



 


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Active Location: First National Bank
Physical Location: Her car, three blocks over
Objective: Observe, perhaps intervene
Tags: @Ryan Graves
@Vex Kiranova @Jack Kowalski
@Omega
@Joseph "Grey" Graham @Basher @Evelyn Night @Ivo "Ironhand" Lasko


This was providing some amusement, the monster which her recognition algorithms had flagged as @Ivo "Ironhand" Lasko
was losing his shit and making an absolute mess of the people around him, she loved her chrome but she was quite aware of the risks of turning into.... that.

She glided through the surveillance system and took another angle as the man moved.

Kore: You know you got MAXTAC on route C? Where you at?
Callisto: Yeah, IC, 3 blocks out safe
Kore: KK
Leda: Shit, just checked the scroll, someone DM the port so I can watch thx
Gandymede: :🔗:
Leda: Thanks
Click to expand...

MAXTAC were a problem, she had her self ICE running high to prevent counter intrusion but she was starting to feel the warmth in her car from the power she was using. She flipped a switch turned on the coolant system in her car to try and counter the work she was doing, mist from dry ice began to swirl at her feet and fill the bottom half of the car like an invisible bath. She popped an oxygen pipe into her mouth so she didn't suffocate in the cold carbon dioxide fog.

Kore: Gan, you still on? Can you remote that cannon dude is rocking?
Gandymede: What camera you on? I cant see it from here.
Gandymede: Oh NW found it, need you to run us in there Calli, they have the bank firewalled hard now.
Callisto: I can, im running really hot though.
Click to expand...

Xasha switched her focus onto a deployable cannon that a security operative had failed to set up before being eviscerated. The thai woman was forced to give up her access to the fire suppressant systems but she got in. She managed to self right and deploy the tripple barrelled rotary cannon that rapidly spun up and started spitting out death towards the cyberpsycho, narrowly missing @Vex Kiranova as it fired over his shoulder towards Ivo.


Xasha watching through the cameras firing a dropped rotary machine gun at ivo
 
The blast didn't knock him unconscious, but it sure took the wind right out of him. 'Shit! Graham! You okay, choom?!' Gritting his teeth, Joe sat up, dust and debris pouring off him. Fragments of glass and stone adhered to his scrubs, small, sharp bits digging into the aramid weave that had kept him from becoming a glorified pincushion. He opened his mouth to speak. 'Y-yeah... just... gimme a moment.'

The gunfire hadn't eased off at all. Brief flashes of light illuminated the lobby and main atrium. Blue and red and orange. Police cruisers and perps.

'Fuck! Psychocunt's coming our way!' Checking his rig, Joe scrambled to his feet, a wave of nausea threatening to put back down where he belonged. His G-58 was still rumble-ready, the ammo count displayed on the bottom right of his retina reading showing just over half a magazine remaining. Joe brought the weapon to his shoulder. 'Light him up!' He yelled, sound returning in a flood of automatic fire.

Two men ran through the chaos unfolding just outside the conference room (@Vex Kiranova @Ryan Graves ). Armed, but not firing his way, Joe let them be, instead keeping his attention locked on the cyberpsycho. A mountain of chrome and synthetic flesh, the sight of him was almost enough to make any man weep in despair.

Almost.

Adrenaline coursed through Joe's veins. He could feel the Thrill working its way through his system. Combat was always like that; as terrifying as it was exciting. Metal against mettle, and only one way to find out which was worth more.

The cyberpsycho had plenty of both, it seemed. Chipped beyond his body's limits, he became a literal blur, crossing the room too fast for Joe's rounds to follow. Even Webber was having difficulty tracking him, the security specialist firing in short, tight bursts. Accurate, but not nearly enough. 'MaxTac's on scene,' the pilot's voice came through over comms. 'Hold fast. Keep the client safe. They'll be on you in twenty seconds.'

'Twenty seconds?' Meyer snarled, taking aim with her handgun. 'May as well not bother, way this guy's moving.'

'Just keep shooting,' Joe replied, instinct taking over as the 'psycho rounded on them. The pillar Webber was sheltering behind disappeared as the man in question dodged aside. Thunder boomed, lightning flashed. Shielding Meyer with his body, Joe felt something hot bite the backs of his legs. Turning, he fought through the pain to zero in on @Ivo "Ironhand" Lasko . The brute's maw was flapping, spouting nonsense that went half-heard over the din. Then, he became a blur again, thankfully changing course.

Heavy weapons fire chased the psycho. It was then Joe noticed a second blur, running in the wake of the big guy.

Glowing green-and-blue lines melded together to form a greater whole. More figures appeared clad in heavy flak armour, weapons up and tracking the psycho with ease. Joe knew who they were, and realised he might just survive this after all.

The tables turned.

@Xasha Callisto @Ivo "Ironhand" Lasko @Ryan Graves @Vex Kiranova @The Watchman
 

Outside, Making Her Way Into the Bank

Well, hell's bells, would you look at that? MaxTac was dropping in for tea, and suddenly Ivo's dance card just got a lil too busy for Omega's liking. She may just be a gutter rat from a hood that makes Compton look like Mr. Roger's neighborhood, who didn't have a damn thing going far as what others would consider "advantages". When your bedtime lullaby gets its instrumental backing from the gunshots and screams just outside the window, "sweet" dreams and restful sleep don't happen. Old Combat Zone isn't exactly known for its high educational standards either...Wait, do they even have standards? It was all thanks to her Nana she learned to read, write and the maths. Lots and lots of maths.

Once Omega snuck out while her Nana was napping. She was around 8, with an insatiable curiosity for the world outside. Yeah yeah, Nana had filled her head with horror stories from "out there". Out There being anywhere not their lil boiler room haven. Nana had it rigged up nice and tight, but kept her yap tight shut everytime Omega pestered her with "How???? Nana, show me!!!". Nana had this concern, absolutely unfounded in Omega's opinion, that if she taught her grandkid what she knew, she could be painting a target on Omega's back in the future. What 8 year old cares about that kinda shit?

Not Omega. She snuck out while Nana snoozed, thinking herself slick shit cause she was sooo super sneaky. Nana was old, she had no chance against youth...Right? Had youthful arrogance been the only thing Omega had going for her, she would've gotten her ass beat a lot worse than she did that day. Not just by Nana, who knew all along thanks to the code that had been imprinted on her TraumaTeam ID before it was implanted into her spinal column. Wasn't anything special really, Nana's code. But it did send a very aggressive alarm straight into Nana's neuralware when/if Omega ever left the boiler room thanks to small sensors she'd installed round the place. The instant Omega;s chip moved past the front door, Nana's brain meats started cooking and up she jumped.

Omega, experiencing her first taste of freedom, was pretty shell shocked. She'd been outside before, but always with Nana. The fuck had gotten into her today??? Whatever had inspired such adventure had been forgotten as the door clicked shut behind her. Now, she was a smart kid. She knew that her time as a free woman was running out. Nana was gonna wake up at some point and then...

Instead of getting bogged down in the details, she said YOLO and her body jerked to life. She sprinted fast as her lil feet would go, deftly hopping over huge mounds of rubble from walls that had given up. Another couple years, and she would start to wonder just how the building hadn't completely collapsed years ago. She's only 8 now, tho and crashes out the door, spilling into the street. Grinning like a madwoman and crazy at her brazenness, she turns and starts giggling and hopping down the street. Kinda like "Hopscotch", without chalk, squares or any real purpose. Just a kid playing outside.

Til the chromed out scavvers heard her giggles and came to see who was making such a racket. Couple mangy looking guys, more hungry than really dangerous. But hunger does things to people. Can push a person to do things they never would otherwise. Omega, at the age of 8, was familiar with hunger and what it does. These two didn't even have a ton of chrome. One might've had a cybereye. Or it could've been a marble, Omega didn't get close enough to be sure. She's got her Nana and her obsessive concern for Omega's safety to thank for that.

Cause it was Nana who'd been watching from the camera inside. She knew how hard Omega had it. Damn kid didn't get to play outside, ever. Long as she watched, she wanted to let her granddaughter have a couple minutes of just being a kid for once. And then some ASSHOLES had to go and fuck up her plans. She saw the scavvers as they took note of the giggling, hopping kid. Nana didn't pause to consider anything. She took off to the door, grabbing her stun gun off the table beside the monitors.

Outside, Eyeball scavver dude had smacked his buddy with a pipe wrench he'd been using, torquing under the hood of some heap on blocks. BuddyBoy poked his head round the hood after cussing Eyeball dude good and proper. BuddyBoy took a gander while he wiped his greasy, oily hands on a shop rag. And licked his lips.

Nana had the good fortune to have slammed the door open split second before BuddyBoy made his proclivities known. That had her fuming that she had grabbed the stun gun and not a more lethal option. Ah well, necessity was the mother of invention. Or some horse shit like that. Nana's eruption from the building was loud enough that Omega heard and somehow knew who was back there. She was so flatlined. She kept hopping, tho her lil hops weren't as organic and flowing as before. Her 8 year old brain was coming up with The Greatest Plan Ever.

We've got a runner!

Omega darted down the street, fast as greased lightning. If greased lightning was had the coordination and grace of a newborn calf. She tried, she really did. But she failed to plan past step one. Run. Ummm...So that's what she did. She ran straight down the street, not daring a look back. Cause she just knew Nana would be there with that freaking look again. The same look she gets every time Omega asks to play. What's Nana know bout being a kid anyways, she's ancient! That's what happens when you get old like Nana. You forget. Omega was only 8, but she could feel herself forgetting, too. But if she ran fast enough, she could outrun getting old. And she wouldn't forget anything else.

Had Omega chanced that looksy, she'd have seen BuddyBoy in hot pursuit. Well, hot being relative. He, adult, chasing an extra large toddler. Yeah, more like a drunk raccoon, fumbling forward by sheer dumb luck. Eyeball Dude starts barreling towards Nana, who calmly pops him several times with her gun. Her own special project, she was in the process of modifying it for some kinda full auto setting. Whatever Nana had done to it, the first hit caught him in the gut. His body start spazzing and twisting, and then the poor fella started losing all control of his bowels. Just going of quantity alone, he had a big lunch. He crumpled to the ground after the first shot. The rest were for science. And hate.

Her head snapped and she screamed for Omega to run. Damn, she was caught red handed. She couldn't lie her way outta this one. She slowed down and stopped. She was really glad to have a chance to catch her breath, cause woah! She'd never run so far in her whole life and she couldn't suck the air in fast enough. Wait, why did Nana say run? That didn't make sense. Until Omega turned around. Saw. And it all made sense. She hated when Nana was right. And for a change, Omega was a good lass and did as she was told.

She bolted to life. Those oxygen deprived lungs found reserves from somewhere because she could breath. Every second felt like lava was rolling round her chest, but she pushed thru it. Funny how being eyeballed as someone's dinner inspires one to unknown heights. She pumped her lil legs, feet smashing violently into the concrete. And then she started to feel herself going faster than she'd gone before. She could tell cause the wind was really blowing the very tips of her hair around. Wasn't like the movies, but it was a start! She stole a glance over her shoulder, and then stopped.

BuddyBoy was laying in a crumpled heap way back where she'd started running. Turns out Nana's a mean shot, and there were now two quivering and nasty smelling, twitchy scavvers in the middle of the street. Nana and Omega shared a look, but no words.

That memory played thru Omega's mind from her dumpster perch, while she surveilled the bank and the shenanigans. She watched Ole Ivo do some serious fucking up of the shit, the man seemed very dedicated to his craft. Thorough, would be a good word too. She couldn't pick up every word he was saying, but she did take note of the lil glowy chip he clenched in his meatpaw. The clarity that came to his eyes when he focused on the chip did not escape her, either. Hmmmm.

Fuck a duck. MaxTac complicates things. Had they stayed their happy asses back in cybercop HQ, she wouldn't have a shred of hesitation right now. But, they're here. And much as they may be a severe cockblock, those dudes were badasses and deserved respect before doing some dumb shit like she was getting ready to attempt. TraumaTeam was in there too, their arrival hadn't gone unnoticed. She smirked, wondering what how bad it would be if TraumaTeam and MaxTac went to war. Fucking epic, that's what. She had a healthy respect for TT. Healthy enough she shells out for the executive package, extortion racket that it is. She had this obsession with staying alive tho, so it was a necessary expense.

Her eyes were zoomed into the bank's interior, scanning for any faces she may recognize. Never walk into any situation blind. Always stack the odds in your favor. So imagine her surprise when she spots not just one, but three different people she's recently made acquaintances of, however brief and from a distance. There was @Vex Kiranova , from the junkyard, lookingwell, alive. Science is awesome! Then she spied biker boy @Ryan Graves , the dude with that sweet ride. And, for the 3rd Amigo, it's @The Watchman , who also has excellent taste in noodles. The fuck is going on here?

She allowed herself a second or two to ponder then gave her head a shake. The Boost was fully in her veins and she was ready. Itching. She followed the movements of NCPD outside as well as MaxTac inside. Her first objective was entry. Then she need to take Ole Ivo down a peg or two. She flexed her grip on Ole Sparky. This was suicide. Had to be. The memory was still tugging at her, and she had to remind herself she wasn't so young and fragile anymore. What was it they used to say, she'd had some work done? The neuralware had been the first step, obvs. The reflex co-processor, holy shitballs Batman. That had been what a blind dude who blinks and can see suddenly feels like. A year ago, she finally had saved enough eddies up to get the Kerenzikov neural implant. That combo was game changing. And topped off with the Boost for good measure right now, she felt unstoppable.

She darted for the bank. It wasn't only that she was fast, cause gawd damn! She had earns her spot on her team every match she escapes, and that takes speed. It was like her brain could process shit faster than most people. Like Matrix-time, seeing things with wicked psychadelic trails. Making it from her dumpster perch, zig zagging thru the chaos outside. She'd made it behind the remnants of some poor shmuck's truckbed for all of 2 seconds, long enough to gulp down a quick breath and do a status check. Behind the perimeter the Leo's were trying to form, she quickly turned her attentions within.

If it was possible for a situation to be even worse up close, this was it. Seeing so many MaxTac in the lobby that was becoming smaller with each passing second thanks to one rampaging Ivo, she was forced to alter her plans. Going in, lights out. At least, going the meat route. She zoomed her eyes in on Ivo's face, and grinned. The poor guy was being spammed with visuals right now. And someone was texting about his car's extended warranty.

Shifting her focus to the chip in his meatpaw, she suddenly wished she had some understanding of the easiest way to separate bone. Not having a sharp blade anyways, she instead looked at his armpit. Where the nerves that control the hand and all it's nerves is located. She had paid enough attention to know precisely where and how hard to hit someone to affect change in a different body part with the proper application of electricity. Her thumb turned a knob on the baton's handle far as it would go. Ivo was all jacked up on mountain dew, she had to hit him at max output. One steadying breath, and she was a blur inside.

Fast as she was, and slow as everyone appeared to her, that only means she does dumb shit faster. Like diving headfirst behind the stump where a pillar used to be, and using her RealSkinn covered arm to try and break her fall. Yeah she didn't see the big chunk that was gone near the base either, and rolled her wrist when she landed. Mental check...No holes and she still had a pulse. She was flying skyhigh on adrenaline, feeling more alive than ever. Goal 1 achieved. She shifted her position, putting more of the pillar remnants tween her and the bullets, to prep her next move.

​
 
Ryan's focus narrowed as chaos erupted in the building. Ivo was a force of nature, his sandevistan-fueled speed turning him into a lethal blur. MaxTac's arrival made everything worse, their mandate was clear: eliminate all threats. That didn't bode well for anyone still breathing inside. A omnious chill ran down his spine as he heard their AV reach the bank, the sounds of their heavy boots planting on the concrete outside. "Keep moving," Redline growled, his rifle snapping to target as he laid down suppressive fire.

Ivo's rampage was impossible to ignore. Even through the chaos, Ryan could see the cyberpsycho tearing through their former 'comrades' with feral precision, turning to even engage Trauma Team. But engaging Ivo was suicide, at least with the even bigger threat knocking on their proverbial door, and Ryan knew better than to waste time on a fight they couldn't win. He kept his sights forward, pushing Vex toward the back exit. "On me," The Solo barked, his voice cutting through the cacophony. He fired another burst to keep the remaining officers outside the windows pinned. Trauma Team was still in the fray, shouting orders and trying to evacuate their client, but they weren't the duo's problem.

The exit loomed ahead, a glowing rectangle offering a shot at survival, yet even from here it felt like an eternity away. He stopped briefly, dropping to one knee to cover Vex's retreat as the chromed out man pushed through the doorway. A quick glance back showed Ivo still in the thick of it, his chrome flashing in the muzzle flashes. He closed the distance on them in no time, immediately coming in after @Vex Kiranova with a brutal strike. Ryan's Kiroshi Optics tried to follow in vain, even if they could his body was no where near fast enough to respond. All he could do is pull the trigger and light up this hulking behemoth.

Boom.

Redline felt the air leave his lungs, a triggered explosive from MaxTac across the room went off like a bad habit, sending him crashing down the hallway. Ivo took the brunt of the damage, but to warm bodies like him and Vex, the shockwave was enough to knock the wind out of their sails and any fragmentation deadly if they were caught in it's wake.

It was a momentary reprieve, a painful one.

Ryan lifted his head, shell shocked. His eyes fading in and out as he looked at the glowing exit door. No doubt covered by NCPD outside.. but what choice did they have?

"VEX!" He shouted groggily in between coughs as rubble and smoke filled the air. "VEX!!!"



@Xasha Callisto @Ivo "Ironhand" Lasko @Vex Kiranova @The Watchman
@Omega @Jack Kowalski @Joseph "Grey" Graham
 


Two months ago, Vex had been working from a comfortable desk in his private office on the thirty-third floor of the Militech Atlanta Sector HQ. He would spend nine hours working on the code for the series of programs that would eventually become Nyx, grab a cup of coffee, hit the gym, and then wander home to kill time until work the next day. On the weekends, he'd go out to bars with work colleagues, or maybe take that nice girl from accounting out for dinner every now and then. He churned out quality work, was paid well, and was left alone. It'd been a very dull life by modern standards, but it was comfortable, stable, and safe.

It wasn't until that Cyberpsycho had disemboweled him just a few weeks ago that he'd realized how blessed he'd been. Now, as Vex felt his sword make almost no purchase and Ivo's broken voice crackled over the cacophony, Vex once again began to reconsider his decision to start a new life in NC.

"Cute trick," Ivo said, "But you fell over the edge, punk."

The words hung in his mind as he'd scrambled away. He could hear the thunder of his own heartbeat, the surge of the blood in his ears somehow louder than all the chaos. His body moved on autopilot, dodging and weaving between bits of debris and broken bodies. He only paid Maxtach's arrival a moment of his mind and made a silent prayer of thanks that they'd gathered Ivo's attention for the time being.

"Keep moving," Ryan said.

The runner flashed a wicked grin as he regarded his sole surviving compatriot. "Really having a great time though!" A frustrated laugh sung on his lips as he raised his sidearm and popped an oversized shell into the kneecap of an officer by the entrance that took aim at Ryan. There was a bout of sparks, blood, and lubricant as the man disappeared beneath the detritus with a yelp. "Thought I'd stay awhile, enjoy the vibe!" The .50 spat two rounds in the vague direction of another officer before it clicked in protest. Vex replaced it, two-handing his sword as he followed in close after Ryan.

Nyx's voice hissed over the shared comms. She sounded strained to the point of breaking. "Got a buncha' foreign entities hijacking cams, fucking with systems - they're not corp I don't think but I can't shove them out and keep the cams' signals from transmitting at the same time. Just an FYI."

"You're doing great! Just keep go-" Whatever Vex was about to say was cut by the snap-hiss of something moving incredibly fast, and then the crash of steel meeting marble. The runner whirled about to see Ivo, just a second ago near thirty feet away engaging MaxTax, standing amidst the flying rubble of a shattered marble column.

"RuNNing wOn'T sAvE yoU," Lasko growled, his voice cutting through the distorted symphony.

Ivo disappeared. His silhouette blinked toward him, closer the next time, then coalesced in front of him, fist raised. Restrained as she was, Nyx only had time to scream her terror. For Vex's part, the runner's 'ganic eye went wide as a saucer as his thumb flicked the power actuator on his sword. In a fraction of a second the sword roared to virulent crimson life, electricity sputtering from places along its edge where the energy sheath failed to contain its output at max setting.

It was all Vex could do to twitch the muscles in his arms and raise his sword. Ivo's first crashed down on him with enough force to flatten a building. An explosion of sparks and dancing shades of red and orange fired in every direction the moment the chrome in Ivo's knuckles hit the energy sheath surrounding Vex's sword. Without the sheath, the sword would have bent in on itself and Vex would have been flattened into the floor. With it, the force of its field sought to repulse the force of Ivo's blow with an equal reaction of its own.

The result was like crashing two opposing magnetic forces into one another with the force of a freight train. Consciousness left Vex entirely the moment the shockwave of the blow traveled up his arms and into his skull - he was out before his feet left the floor. Nyx winked out with him, and for a moment they sailed through the air in numb darkness. He crashed into a wall a few paces away from @Ryan Graves, though his figure was hidden amidst the din of smoke.

The corporeal returned to him as quickly as it left, the smell of sulphur and gunpowder the first to greet him as his soul lurched back into its cage of meat and steel.

"Up! Up! Up! WE ARE ON FIRE GET UP!" Nyx's voice was fairly high-pitched and resembled a screeching animal to Vex at that moment. He blinked away the dreariness, stared down at his body, and knit his brow in confusion as he noticed the tiny flames that had sprouted in various places across his legs and torso.

"VEX!" Ryan shouted groggily in between coughs as rubble and smoke filled the air. "VEX!!!"

Ryan's voice served to further pull him out of his stupor. Vex relented the death-grip he'd maintained on his sword and shoved himself to sit in an upright position, hastily patting out the flames. His whole body hurt, but adrenaline did well to bring him back to his feet. His legs might have been quivering, but they were beneath him, which was more than most would be able to say after getting hit by a human semi-truck.

"Why does every single stupid fuckingcuntassholeps-YCHO IN THIS ENTIRE FUCKING CITY HAVE A SANDEVISTAN?! AND WHY DO I KEEP RUNNING INTO THEM?!" He shouted at Ryan, God, and the world as he made his way through the smoke toward the rectangular halo that was the exit door.

"You take dumb jobs you run into dumb situations." Nyx, still strained, wasted the mental energy to snap over the comms. "Stupid begets stupid and I told -"

"Shut-the-fuck-up-you-are-not-helping." He managed to bring himself a moment's peace as he hurried with his head down through the smoke toward the doorway.

Ryan's face slowly emerged through the shadows. Vex allowed himself a pained smile, and patted his comrade on the shoulder as he pressed his weight against the doorframe. "Still gotta split the money two ways, sorry to tell ya." He glanced out past the door, expecting to see the horde of cops @Beau Frost had mentioned. "Rather deal with common cops than Maxtach or that animal. Dunno if they reported our faces. I say we stow our gear and just run. Probably think we're just regular people trying to escape if we don't brandish our weapons." Bit of a longshot, but it might work.

He spared one glance back to Ivo, who was being lit up by one of the facility's turrets as well as MaxTac and Trauma Team. That situation would be resolved one way or another shortly, their window of escape was rapidly closing.


@Xasha Callisto, @Ivo "Ironhand" Lasko, @The Watchman, @Omega, @Jack Kowalski, @Joseph "Grey" Graham, @Basher, @Evelyn Night, @Cyrus "Risers", @Evi "Dustoff" Ashford
 
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Tags: @Ivo "Ironhand" Lasko l

MaxTac came in hard, came in fast, and was moving through the bank. Jack and the other Officers followed, flanking them, taking out the stragglers here and there. MaxTac was ruthlessly efficient, not a thing escaping them. The bank was surrounded, every exit blocked off-

The robbers and would-be criminals had caused too much of a disturbance. Barriers were raised around the area, preventing vehicle traffic from escaping or entering, on the ground at least. MaxTac moved deep in, surrounding the CyberPsycho. Jack traded an exchange of gunfire with three robbers, and with four racks of his shotgun, dispatched the aug'd up assholes with the utmost lethality. He reloaded his shotgun in the same way, four shells rapidly loaded in, his hands coated with sweat and shaking from the adrenaline.

A very human reaction. A very human response.

There was an intensity in the air, as MaxTac moved in closer, the Cyberpsycho flailing, murdering indiscriminately. No more police were inside besides Jack and his partner, and MaxTac. The other police outside had dared not ventured inside, and were busy securing the perimeter, and the skies around it to prevent anyone else from escaping.

Hell broke loose as MaxTac got close. The psycho was quick, fast, but MaxTac was unphased, calculating cruel. Their weaponry broke his plating, damaging him more than Jack's sidearm could. His faceplate was exposed, subdermal armor given way by their weaponry, bladed or otherwise. They set on him like a furious dragon, biting, clawing, shooting, gnashing, breathing fire.

Jack saw it. An opportunity. A MaxTac Officer was reloading, quickly, faster than Jack could ever be. But the Cyberpsycho was moving closer, half of his face's subdermal armor exposed, a fit of rage. Cybernetics and what remained of his human form were exposed. Underneath all that, there was a man, there was once a human being. Jack didn't hesitate. Jack didn't flinch.

Jack raised his shotgun, some eight feet away and beyond the Officer as the giant Cyberpsycho loomed over the MaxTac Officer. And with his expert aim, and expert precision, took aim at the exposed portion of the psycho's face-

And fired.
 



Ivo didn't feel pain anymore.

Not the kind that mattered, not the kind that stopped him. His vision swam in pulses of crimson and static, his cyberware screaming error codes into his brain like a chorus of dying angels. His body moved on instinct, systems overriding fear, rage overriding reason.

He had torn through meat, shattered steel, and felt the warmth of fresh blood on his hands but MaxTac was different. They weren't scared. They weren't running. They were the storm, and they came at him with everything.

The impact of their rounds sent shockwaves through his body, servos failing, plating cracking. His faceplate shattered, he felt it, but didn't process it. His hands found flesh and metal, his armor-piercing rounds carving through armor, but MaxTac adjusted. Calculated. Countered.

Click.

One of them was reloading.

Ivo turned, movements jagged, cybernetics pushing past their limits. The officer was vulnerable if he could reach them, tear them apart, he could still keep fighting. He had to keep fighting.

He lunged.

BOOM.

A blast from @Jack Kowalski. Point-blank.

Ivo felt his world tilt. His vision fractured, an explosion of light and noise. His body tried to move forward, but his legs didn'trespond. His systems failed one by one. Warnings flooded his HUD, then blinked out.

For the first time since he lost himself, Ivo felt cold.

His body crashed to the floor, twitching, cyberware sparking. His breath came in ragged gasps. His fingers twitched. He reached for something, but felt nothing. His mind drifted to hallucination, he was in a tattered life raft, a storm howling around him. Rain lashed his bare skin, raw and trembling, no steel to shield him. His breath came fast, heart hammering not to the cold, calculated pulse of a cybernetic pump, but something real, something fragile, something original. Lightning carved through the black sky, illuminating the endless, writhing ocean. The salt burned his tongue. His fingers dug into the raft's rubber edge, calloused palms rough and torn.

Then he saw it, a tidal wave, a mountain of water rising from the abyss, devouring the horizon. The current seized him, dragging him toward its towering maw. He should have fought, should have struggled against the inevitable. But as the wave loomed above, Ivo simply let go. The raft tipped, the sea roared, and the world vanished beneath the water's crushing embrace. And then, the last fragments of Ivo, the man who once was, disappeared into the static.

Ivo faded to black.

The cyberpsycho was dead.



 
'Is the client ready to move?'

'Ready and fuckin' able,' the man in question growled, refusing Inoue's offer of assistance as he forced himself to stand on shaky legs. His eyes -cybernetic implants- glowed a light blue as he made contact with someone outside the room. A boss, maybe, or a put-upon secretary. Joe couldn't care less. 'Alright, then.' The security specialist glanced out into the main atrium.

Smoke curled in the half-light. Blood and bodies stained the tiled floors. MaxTac had certainly lived up to their reputation, sparing nothing and no-one dumb enough to get in there way, save for one or two shell-shocked bank staff he spied milling amongst the carnage.

Waving for Webber to take point, Joe gestured for Meyer and Inoue to follow on behind. He would bring up the rear; "pulling security", his chooms in the service called it.

In truth, he didn't feel like he could pull much of anything right then. His head ached something fierce, the concussion from the earlier blast still effecting him despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins, keeping him up and operational. The dump, when it came, would likely put him right back down on his ass. Until then, he would just have to suck it up and keep going.

Sweeping out into the open, Joe kept his back turned to his team as they quick-marched their client towards the bank's front entrance. Broken shards of glass crunched underfoot. Spent casings rolled about the place, collecting in pools of blood or beneath desks destroyed by gunfire. Joe heard more than saw a badge speak briefly to Webber. There was the crackle of radio chatter as the badge called ahead, letting the boys outside know the sawbones were coming out. Plus one.

It was then the shotgun blast rang out, shattering the uneasy silence like the tolling of a bell. Joe knew what it meant before the cop's radio crackled once more.

Psycho down.

Turning on his heel, the security specialist narrowly avoided bumping into a squad of police officers moving in the other direction. Though the threat had been neutralised, they were taking no chances, fingers on triggers, shoulders hunched, as if afraid things might pop off again at any moment.

The street outside was packed with patrol cars and media vultures quick to the scene of a major crime. Above, AVs swirled in close proximity, thrusters burning hot as they manoeuvred past each other. 'Stand clear! Landing!' Came the familiar voice of the pilot, guiding his craft through the organised chaos. 'Nearly there,' Inoue whispered, supporting the client with a hand under his elbow. The corporat scoffed, said something snide that made both MT's cringe.

'Want me to shoot him?' Joe asked the others over comms.
'Be a waste of a bullet,' replied Meyer, keeping her back turned to him. Joe smiled.

'Just another day on the job,' said Webber, watching as the AV landed a dozen meters away, gull-wings open. 'See, told you it wouldn't be so bad!'
 
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Information
Objective: Clean the Mess
Location: National Bank, Night City
Equipment: Hawkeye costume | 2x pistol | Bow | Tricky arrows
Tags: @Jack Kowalski | @Basher | @NightCorp | @Cyrus "Risers" | @The Watchman | @Evi "Dustoff" Ashford | @Ryan Graves | @Ivo "Ironhand" Lasko | @Vex Kiranova | @Joseph "Grey" Graham | @Evelyn Night | @Beau Frost | @Omega | @Xasha Callisto | Open
"English" | <"Japanese"> | << Radio >> | ~ Thoughts ~
[ Fight as One ] ​
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~ Finally some challenge and work ~ , thought Balthazar, when the call came that there was a mission to do. The man was delighted, after all, he was an adrenaline junkie and loved his job, which was part of the reason he had left the military. To add to the excitement, only to Balty's great chagrin, the cyberpsychos weren't too numerous, so they didn't call out MaxTac much. But today was finally something like that. And, as always, he was ready to go, so, as usual, he was the first one in the vehicle.

For many, it may seem strange that the man was chasing crime in Night City dressed as a comic book hero, but for those who knew him, this should come as no surprise. On the one hand, the costume was a great way for the man to protect his own identity, and on the other, it was a holdover from the military, where they once had to capture a terrorist at a comic book con. Then the costume was a good luck charm, which the man blended in very well, so he kept it. Besides, apart from the two pistols strapped to the man's thighs, Harris used a special weapon at work anyway, a bow.

And for the bow, the man had a myriad of tricky arrows, including armour-piercing, conventional, smoke grenade-like, EMP, bola... and more. I'm sure there are those who think that this is an outdated method and that modern weapons are only effective, but the man has never disappointed and has always done his job professionally. After all, what else mattered? A former elite soldier works the way he wants to work and with what will always be his highest performance. For Balty, it was costume and archery. Not least, it made it easy to surprise opponents.

As they drove the vehicle towards the National Bank, the man checked his weapons, two pistols and his bow. It was a kind of ritual for him, but it would have been unpleasant to find out in the middle of the operation, in the middle of the opponent, that something was wrong. However, everything was in the best possible order. Now all that was left was for them to arrive. Naturally, he listened to the radio and the messages exchanged between the NCPD members outside and the headquarters.

Finally, as they rounded the last corner, there was only one thing missing, the man had put on his mask and taken his bow. The vehicle finally stopped and the man jumped out of the vehicle almost immediately. Although he saw the camera footage on the way here, it was still different than if he had been able to look around and survey the area himself. So almost immediately, it was his first thing to look around and try to find the main target, the cyberpsycho.


//OOC: The character has just arrived on the scene and I am open to any interaction.//
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She was doing her best ever impression of a jumping bean on a week long synthcoke bender. From her very tenuous hiding spot behind what once identified as tall, robust and statuesque was little more than an ugly stump in the floor that didn't do shit for cover. Omega's optics worked a frantic grid from her position. Analyzing a path from her to get closer to good ole Ivo. Other than MaxTac, she was the only on who wanted to do that. Maybe there was some validity to the rumors she really was insane?

As MaxTac got into position and then went to work, she had to remind herself to give them the props they deserved. NCPD was a joke, but these boys had no rules and all the toys. Just as nuts as she was, so her next move was to an overturned desk that put her kinda not directly in MaxTac's path while also moving her closer to Ivo and the shard in his hand. She didn't have a death wish today, and her ego wasn't quite up to Lex Luthor. Yet. She was avoiding antagonizing who she considered the greater threat. And sorry Ivo, it ain't you today.

She was about 3 seconds from darting to the another pillar stump, when The Blast Heard Round Night City rung out. Even Omega's brows popped up in shock. She hadn't paid the NCPD @Jack Kowalski much mind once she'd breached. Outta sight, outta mind. The vanity of youth. He was just another cop, nothing worth a second look at. Yeah, that was before he popped ole Ivo and said How ya like me now bitch. She didn't have the time to dig into him just this second, there was something she wanted even more. No clue what that shard was, but she wanted it.

When she heard the shot, to say time was of the essence was such a gross understatement. Full MaxTac squad and a NCPD who's either just as crazy as the still breathing people not running for the exits or something else she didn't see right off. Either way, she was outnumbered and soon as she made mer move, she was gonna draw their attention. Whether she also drew any fire...She had to pay to play. She didn't know any other way.

When Ivo hit the deck she exploded towards his body. Fueled by Boost, her reflex co-processor and the kereznikov, and not to mention youthful piss and vinegar, the rabbit exploded outta her hidey hole. Just as the cute lil bunny her team position gets its name from, she moves in jagged bursts and stutter steps, changing direction on instinct alone. The few meters to Ivo's body felt like time stood still yet it also drug on forever. Ole Sparky griped firmly in her hand, she held the stun baton kinda in front of her as she darted.

As she drew up to Ivo's body she adjusted her path to bring her where she could grab the shard outta his hand. And if he didn't wanna let it go even after being all dead? She would slam Ole Sparky hard as she could into what qualified as his armpit. She would either short out the entire socket and the entire arm would short out. Or she was gonna hit the nerves that controlled everything from the shoulder down and that would be crazy fun. The muscles and tendons could all start spasming everywhere all at once. She giggled in her head at the thought of what that was gonna look like. Keeping herself for a possible flailing cyberarm having a Gran Mal seizure, she slid to a stop and grabbed @Ivo &quot;Ironhand&quot; Lasko hand with the shard and grabbed for it.

Was the dead guy gonna give it up? Would she get to see if the reality of a flailing cyberarm was as funny as the mental image in her head? Either way, she had her exit route planned. She could bring that up to @Ryan Graves or @Vex Kiranova next time she runs into them. Tell em thanks for clearing the way.​
 
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