Upon seeing Ayumi get dropped by her captor, Artis hits the accelerator as red warning lights flash on his HUD.
[color=red:7ffec57b47]WARNING: Engine Coolant Low
WARNING: Hydraulic Oil Low [/color]
Steam begins seeping out the Mustang's hood and the tell-tale signs of a cracked engine block make themselves known to the wheelman. The Mustang will still go, but for how far/long...it's anyone's guess.
Goose carefully jockeys the ponycar up to Ayumi, affording her complete cover from the sniper fire. The coast being clear for the moment, Artis steps out of the vehicle and administers the stim-shot. Ayumi's eyes go wide, her hand putting a deathgrip on Artis' arm as she takes in a deep breath of life.
Pinned down near a row of half-shattered pottery stands, Carla feels her new wound.
Through and through. I don't like that dark blood spilling out.
Not knowing how long she has in current state of injury, Carla pops up during a pause in the fire and goes full-auto on the snipers' position. Spent casings fly out of the SAW's ejector port as a hail of 5.56mm slugs cut through the gunmen, one taking a family to the chest with the other getting stitched across his legs.
Brian moves toward a stone embankment, crouching down for cover as he returns fire at the snipers.
*brr-rap* *brr-rap*
Two well-aimed bursts from his G36 cut one of the Bravos at knees. The other sniper drops prone, retailiating with more gunfire. His bullets kick up dirt and shatter some stonework, but otherwise were well off target.
Ayumi's failure of kidnapper approaches the helicopter, ducking down as he gets inside the radius of the chopper's rotorwash.
Goose exits the near-crippled Mustang, slinging Ayumi over his shoulder. Taking cover next to a large marble fountain which graphically portrays a pissing cherub, he lays Ayumi down and pulls out the car's remote control.
The Mustang's tired engine groans as Artis puts it into gear, kicking up sod and flowerbeds as it tears towards the chopper. Spotting the fleeing guard, he redlines the poneycar, ripped a four-wheeled path of destruction directly toward the backpeddling kidnapper.
Meters away from making the poor bastard a permanent hood ornament, the helicopter's cargo doors slide open, revealing someone wielding a LAW rocket.
A smoke trail snakes out, passing the retreating guard by meer inches and streaking over the trailing Mustang's roof. It explodes just behind the car with a tremendous cloud of incendiaries and dirt.
Subsequently, the guard is violently struck by the Artis' able driving; consequently making the highlight reel of a forthcoming FOX pursuit special as he is splattered across the hood, over the streamlined roof, his body landing a short distance away.
Brian tags the remaining sniper, putting him down as Mustang careens towards the idling chopper.
Get this fucker off the ground, NOW!, shouts a new voice over the comm channel.
Carla watches as the heavy chopper groans at the unexpected lift-off. The person who had previously launched the LAW frantically gestures back into the cargo hold, dropping the spent weapon and revealing another. Aiming downward at the Mustang, a smaller trail of smoke arcs towards it and scores a direct hit on the crippled Mustang.
The entire front end of the car is shredded, causing the vehicle to stop in its tracks. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your POV), the poneycar still has its self-destruct device, which Artis uses directly.
A larger secondary explosion immediately follows, completely incinerating the Mustang and sending various bits of molten metal, ballistic glass, and unspent munitions upward. The chopper's pilot deftly handles the situation, managing to hold the helicopter together as its intakes suck in the firey debris.
-BUT-
The momentary thought of safety is quickly quashed as the harsh mixture of shredded aluminum and engine turbine blades yield a catastrophic failure in the chopper's propulsion system. Thick black plumes of smoke spew forth from its overhead turbines as it quickly looses upward momentum.
The burnt wreckage of the Mustang smolders on the villa's immaculently-kept lawn. Overhead, the helicopter pilot struggles to maintain some semblance of fight as all of his warning indicators flash in a forboding sychronicity of "failures" and "low-(insert engine fluid)". Giving the stick and rudder pedals all he's got with additional help by his co-pilot, the pilot manages to land the helicopter without further incident.
Artis orders the mop-up of the backyard, watching as two pilot-looking men exit the helicopter's cockpit with arms raised above their heads.
Moving close to klutzy-kidnapper (KK) with Brian providing any necessary coverfire, Goose checks out the man. He is indeed alive, but (no doubt) wishing he wasn't. A cursory examination finds both of his legs snapped just below the knees. One side of the man's face is crushed almost beyond recognition. A bullet to the head would be doing the guy a favor.
Beyond the smoking wreckage of the Mustang, the helicopter appears to sitting in an idle mode, it's blades still spinning at full speed.
Brian pops Mr. Roadkill, leaving Artis to detain the two pilots. Moving towards the chopper, Goose peers through Lexan glassed cockpit spotting two waiting gunmen on the far side of helicopter. Crouching down below the line where canopy and fusilage meet, he's pretty sure the gunmen didn't see his approach.
Artis leans around the chopper canopy just far enough to get a clean shot from his rifle. The two females wearing an expensive business suits come into Goose's view, one wielding an M4 and the other an MP5K. He stitches the SMG-toter with a narrow burst, taking out a piece of her left shoulder as he ducks back behind the chopper's fusilage.
Seeing their moment to escape the situation and redeem themselves, the pilots run toward the ladies shouting something at them in thick German accents. Artis isn't quite sure what they said but it probably had to to with Artis being the only one shooting at them.
Brian moves in, taking up a position near the chopper's tail-rotor. He spots the fleeing pilots running toward's the villa's perimeter fence while two aforementioned ladies (W1 & W2) appear to be preparing for a last stand. Brian takes a knee and draws down with his rifle. His shot hits center-mass, the flanking manuever catching the woman (W2) off guard.
The woman (W2) momentarily doubles-over in pain, her compatriot (W1) helping her stay on her feet.
Must be wearing body armor...
Gesturing with military hand signals, W2 orders W1 into a cover fire position behind the chopper as he pulls a grenade off her harnass and tosses into the helo's open cargo bay. W2 immediately proceeds towards W1's cover fire position.
Fire in the hole! shouts Brian over the comm channel.
Goose gets up from his crouched stance, beating feet and diving underneath a wrought-iron bench for cover.
Brian spins on his heels, heading away from the chopper just as the cargo area is incinerated, launching bits of hot aluminum and steel in all directions. The shockwave knocks him down, embedding pieces of white-hot metal into his back.
On the other side of the explosion, Goose pulls an Arny-Predator-style evasion, outrunning the blast and diving under the sturdy bench just as the supersonic fragments fly overhead.
Goose gets up and dusts himself off, attempting a sneaky/flanking manuever around the smoking hulk of the chopper.
Taking up a position in the hedgerow near the villa's fence, he raises his rifle and prepares a shot, being spotted by W1 just as he lets off a burst. Almost instinctively W1 pushes W2 out of the way with a stiff-armed shot taking one for the team as it were; receiving a grievous wound to the neck for her effort.
W1 falls to her knees, gripping her neck with both hands. Watching her comrade begin to bleed out at her feet, W2 brings her weapon up to bear, launching a grenade downrage at Goose.
Eyes widening and with a major case of tenitus, Brian props himself up on his hands and knees, assertaining his current condition of battle-readiness:
-Arms and legs seem to work...
-My head feels like someone hit me with a shovel then shoved two firecrackers in my ears...
-What is the hell is that burning sensation in my back???
Allowing his weapon to hang freely over his shoulder, Brian reaches around and finds a still smoldering piece of fragged fusilage stuck in his mid-section.
Went in fast, must not have hit anything vital otherwise I wouldn't be able to move...
Worse for wear and in desperate need of a beer and aid station, Brian stands up, using the butt of his rifle as a brace. He spins around, seeing the burnt-out hulk of the helicopter in the near distance.
Th-woomp!
A tell-tale smoke plume is seen arcing from behind the wreckage and into the neighboring hedgerow of shrubbery. Running in the opposite direction, out of the bushes is Goose.
[color=red:a463c7a798]BOOM![/color]
The area where the wheelman once perched erupts in small mushroom cloud of fire and smoke, Artis once again evading apparent incineration as he dives out of the blast radius.
Grimacing as the shrapnel digs itself into soft tissue, Brian makes his way past the helicopter wreckage, drawing a bead on the lone gunwoman.
*Br-rap!* *Br-rap!*
Brian puts two groupings into the woman, hitting her in the right leg and shoulder as she spins around reflexively. As she limps away towards the perimeter fence, the woman lays out a one-handed stream of suppressive fire at the Brit.
Back up on his feet, Goose makes a last-ditch effort to eliminate the remaining ground forces hastily exiting the scene.
Flanking around the gun-toting woman, he takes a knee and fires a burst from his weapon. The bullets stitch across the lady's leg, further hindering her retreat.
Not wanting a Yank to spoil his kill, Brian advances. Casings fly out of his rifle, cutting the woman down in the process. Arriving at her fallen position, he sees the woman clutching on to her shredded limbs, coughing up blood and wincing as she does so.
This being the first chance any of team has gotten a good look of the opposition, Brian recognizes certain facial features through the lady's bloody countenance.
Back up on his feet, Goose makes a last-ditch effort to eliminate the remaining ground forces hastily exiting the scene.
Flanking around the gun-toting woman, he takes a knee and fires a burst from his weapon. The bullets stitch across the lady's leg, further hindering her retreat.
Not wanting a Yank to spoil his kill, Brian advances. Casings fly out of his rifle, cutting the woman down in the process. Arriving at her fallen position, he sees the woman clutching on to her shredded limbs, coughing up blood and wincing as she does so.
This being the first chance any of team has gotten a good look of the opposition, Brian recognizes certain facial features through the lady's bloody countenance.
The team proceeds to strip, bind, handcuff and gag the woman. Reporting their dire situation to HQ, the Agency's Rapid Response for the greater Venice area is called in.
Twenty minutes later...
A five-car motorcade arrives at what's left of the villa's front entrance, complete with a clean-up crew and ambulance truck. Ayumi, Carla, Lara are strapped to gurnies with Lara being heavily sedated...as per Agency protocol for captured combatants. Brian watches over the ladies as he is also triaged in the back of the large ambulance.
Two vehicles stay behind to collect evidence and sanitize the area with two detail vehicles running security for the ambulance as it departs for the hospital;
Goose driving the tail vehicle of the motorcade.
Dieter