Nothing can possibly go wrong...

[Machaeus]

Urufu runs at Guido, pulling out a tomahawk and hurling it will all his might and accuracy. It sails straight for the thug, hopefully biting deep into something. But Urufu doesn't stop running after the little b@st@rd, either.

[tachyon]

Urufu's tomahawk, through some bizarre combination of game mechanics, timing, and dumb luck, finds itself in the path of a bullet fired from Guido's rifle a few microseconds after it leaves the barrel. The result is an explosion of stone and brass fragments and a disabling split running the length of the rifle's barrel.
Seeing both that the weapon was useless and also Urufu running at him, Guido drops the ruined gun, braces himself and puffs out his considerable gut at just the right moment to send Urufu tumbling back into the street. Urufu cuts his leg in the fall, not a major wound, but without his inherent lycan healing abilities the pain is surprising.
Guido, meanwhile, relishes in the failed assault.
"You lose p*****o! (Spanish swearword, edited just in case) Dis town is ours now. Your friend is ours!"
Laughing, he realizes far to late that he has left himself critically exposed to the others...

[Ash]

"Wrong and wrong.", Ash says, walking around the corner of the building, his revolver pointed at Guido.

"One move and you are dead.", Ash continues, not sure if he would even hit him, even though he is standing just a few meters away.
Again he cursed innerly for getting the class with the least accuracy. But it cant be helped now. He has to make the best of it.

"I think I misheard the last part. Could you please repeat that? The "Your friend is ours?" part, I mean.", he says slowly, grinning slightly.

He couldn't mean Kei. Or could he? If he meant her, then this guy is no ordinary program. He might be aware of who they are and what they are doing here, Ash thinks, walking slowly toward Guido.

[Machaeus]

Urufu grits his teeth and pulls out his other tomahawk. "I honestly say you let me scalp him, but - "
BANG.
Guido drops, howling, a bullet in his shin. "That's for f****n' with my pal," Machaeus snarls, walking forwards.
Urufu turns. "You sure can be vicious when you want to be."
The gunslinger just shrugs and grabs the man by the front of his shirt. "We're getting answers outta you, you zit - one way or another. So make it easy on yourself and that shin shot is the least pain you'll have to worry about. Or...we can do the Spanish Inquisition. And don't even think it, Ur - Wolf Fang."
"But nobody expects the Spa - "
"NO."
"Bu - "
"NO," Machaeus snarls in an extremely demonic-sounding voice.

[tachyon]

Guido, between snorts of pain, is laughing. The Sheriff walks over and drags him to the wall, sitting him up against the wall.
"Ok wise guy, your gonna start talking. You and your pals done killed alotta good men, most of which I knew and liked. Now that makes me angry. But if'n you have some sorta plans for that girl there," he inclined his head at Katrina, standing at the back of the group, "well, then I'm gonna get real mad."
Guido laughed softer. His small eyes shifted, looing for a fraction of a second at something behind them. Then he smiled.
"Este mundo será su tumba." was all he said.
There was a crack from behind and above them; a gunshot. Colechester, standing on the roof, was working the bolt on his rifle. The Sheriff fired at him, and the other man leaned behind a chimney for cover. By the time he looked back, Guido's outline was already becomming blurry.
"Hacemos más fuertes..." he said before dissapearing into the air.
The Sheriff kicked the spot where the fat man had only just been.
"Dang it! That son-"
He was cut off as a bullet shattered a kerosene lantern hanging overhead. Katrina screamed and cowered. The Sheriff pulled her with him as he moved into the alley between the buildings.
"Find some cover!"

[Machaeus]

Machaeus looks to Urufu. "I need to hit the roof. Alley oop!" he said, lifting a foot.
Urufu picks his pal up, grunting at the weight ("I really wish I had my lycan strength right now," he groans) and boosts him up. He then grabs his thrown tomahawk and runs behind a barrel stack.
Machaeus, meanwhile, has found some cover on the balcony. "Blast him," he mutters, looking through a hole in his cover with his pistol ready for any sign of their foe and his pattern of attack.

[tachyon]

Colechester leans around the chimney to open fire, but is forced back by Machaeus' shots. He resorts to firing blind with his pistol.
Back in the alley, the Sheriff reloads. Katrina tries to move closer for a better look at the situation, but the Sheriff pushes her back.
"You'd better stay way back. Ricochets might get ya even if you're this close." he said
"Ok." she said, and backed further into the alley.
She was so far back when she was grabbed from behind that the Sheriff never heard it.

*********************************************************

"Can't say for sure," said the tech, "but it looks as if the maintenance program is trying to perform a system wipe."
Porky leaned over the tech's shoulder to look at his screen.
"Dang they are goin' to town on that server. Looks like they're wiping anything with even the slightest trace of infection."
"Doesn't matter much, by the look of things the wiped files are-"
"Whoa!" came a voice from the opposite side of the row of computers. Porky moved to investigate.
"Check this out; the virus just lost one third of itself!"
There was a slight cheer from around the room, but Porky soon quelled it.
"Calm down, there's still two thirds left. What about our friends on the inside? How are they doin'?"
On one screen the D&D shirt-wearing tech and the medical robot appeared, still in the pod room.
"Slight elevation in heart rate. They're looking stressed out, probably from the form the maintenance sweep is taking in the AR. Must be like a shootout in there or something... wait, Kei's pulse just shot up!"
On the screen the robot quickly moved out of sight, presumably to Kei's pod.
"What's goin on? She alright?" asked one of the techs in the main room.
"I don't know... d**n I wish we could see what was going on!"
"Ah, Porky...," said another tech worriedly.
"What is it?"
"You know that one third of the virus that got lost? It's coming back."

*********************************************************

Both of them could feel their own power increasing, their power to individually affect their surroundings grew. For Colechester this was immediately useful. He altered the properties of his weapon...

[Machaeus]

Urufu is looking around for some way to help out...does he spot Kei?
Machaeus, meanwhile, is wondering what the heck just happened. "I keep waiting for Urufu to make a 'Battle Network' joke," he mutters, finding that talking actually helps his concentration. "I mean, here we are, fighting a virus in a digital format...what else would he say?!"

[Ash]

Ash, who had taken cover in another alley than the Sheriff and Katrina, presses himself against the wall of one building. One step at a time, he moves closer and closer to the corner, his revolver ready.

One down, two more to go.

He leans around the corner, trying to get a better sight at Colechester.

Crap. I cant see him from here. And even if I could...

Shaking his head, he moved a little away from the corner.

Okay. Guy with rifle on the roof..

A second after this thought he looks to his left and right, then down at the street as far as possible.

Where the...

"Guys! I think I lost sight of Francis. Can anyone see him?", he shouts, still checking his surroundings.

[tachyon]

(Sorry guys, went over our internet limit and my nana is staying in my room, so net time was limted)

There was a flash from the rooftop across the street. Then one of the wooden posts supporting the balcony above them exploded in a shower of splinters. Then the one opposite it blew out in the same fashion.
The balcony begins to fall forwards.
"Get offa there!" yells the Sheriff at Machaeus, he then turns around check on Katrina...
Who is no longer in the alleyway.

[Machaeus]

Machaeus clambors onto the roof quickly, making sure he hides behind the saloon's sign after he does so.

[tachyon]

Colechester leans around the chimney one more time. He no longer held his bolt-action period rifle, but a threateningly large black Barret M107 50 Cal SASR. It's .50 BMG rounds smashed easily through the wood and brick of the buildings, as the man wielded the large weapon like it was as light as a pistol.
"Lets go!" yelled the Sheriff, "We ain't doing ourselves any favours standin' here, and we gotta catch up with who'ver took Katrina before they get too far!"

((internet died mid-way through me writting that a few days ago, only just got it back.))

[Ash]

Ash wants to shout something across the street to the others, but is interrupted as something to his left and right pierces through the buildings wall with ease.

Without thinking any further about it and with an expression between shock and disbelief he starts to run across the street.

"RUN!!!", he shouts to Machaeus and Urufu as he is halfway across the street. With one big jump, followed by a small slide, he reaches the alley where the Sheriff is.

Ash grumbles something before he turns over to the Sheriff.

"How is that possible!?! Where did he get that thing?", he asks gasping, until he realizes that someone is missing.

"HEY! Where is Kei. I mean Katrina. Kat. No. Katrina was correct. I think... WHERE DID SHE GO?", he asks, trying to hide from Colechester and his destructive new weapon, even though he is pretty sure that, if Colechester would fire everything he had toward the building, he would score at least one hit.

Wondering when he and his friends lost control over the situation, he tries to come up with a plan to take Colechester out. Not an easy task, as he realizes that, most probably, his own big mouth started all of this. Colechester and Francis in the town. And, if Ash heard right, countless Indians outside town. Close to despair, he starts to punch himself against the head. As if that would help.

[tachyon]

The Sheriff grabs Ash's hands.
"Cut that out! That's not helping anyone."
Another .50 bullet smashed its way through the side of the wooden building.
"We can't win this fight," said the Sheriff, "but we have to find Katrina. Lets go!"
Following the NPC out into the next street, there are a group of Indians loading a bound and gagged -but still struggling- Katrina onto the back of one of their horses.
They quickly noticed the others, and the one riding the horse spured it out of town. The others followed, but the last one turned and called out in clear english:
"If you value you friend's and your own lives, you WILL follow us!"
He reared his horse and followed the others.

[Ash]

Ash rumbled and scratched the back of his head.

Out of all possible this that could have happened...", he mumbles, clenching his fists.

"Seems like we don't have much of a choice. If we go back we are dead for sure."

Ash looks up into the sky and sighs.

"Fine. If we should follow them, we need horses. Who knows where they take her."