San Aligheri: Inferno in Paradise [Cyberpunk, NSFW, Gore]

@Cobalt @Cerebrate  
Impatient to wait for the procession to move, he knocks in passcode against the truck backdoor and speaks to the courier; “I’m going to see if we can ask the roadway be cleared for just a moment so we can pass, but I want you and that package within my sight at all times. Follow me, because if they don’t clear, I’ll find us another way and another vehicle if I have to.”

@Coriolanus  
supressing a curse he warns his ini lizards to scamper off and wait for new instructions. then again the new situation could be even better.
 
the shark would see the procession group having made a stop, a few preachers holding address to the crowd as Aseliel overlooked it all, the faith guards had even parted far enough to allow foot traffic to pass by them if they really were in such a hurry, the nuns had remained quiet though they now kneeled seemingly in prayer.

@Coriolanus
 
@Cerebrate  
Some of the members of the crowd grow agitated upon seeing the carrier leave the truck with his massive escort, though unfortunately they seem to catch the attention of the other security guards as well.
 
@Sky  
“Hold on a second… oh no way he’s got the payload. This big-ass cyborg shark just stepped out of the truck and he’s got this guy with a briefcase with him- Fortune this might be it! Are you seeing this?”

@Cobalt @Cerebrate  
holstering all of his weapons away, he politely seizes the briefcase from the courier, then locks both of his extra robotic hands firmly unto that container now held securely behind his own back. “…I’ll hold onto this too from here on out. If your job’s to make sure this gets delivered, I suggest you and the rest keep up. Now, let’s go.”
 
With that said, Sureshvara peacefully leads ahead through the space provided by the faith guards, towering well-over the entire crowds, with the briefcase held up to behind his head, inadvertently preventing any particular snipers from taking a shot at him, lest they don’t mind destroying the goods… While passing, the shark also spectates the scene he’s now literally immersed within, listening in on the preachers as he moves.

@Coriolanus  
“for what is the debauchery of inferno, but the cry of a dying city? we carry the new covenant, so that people may know, faith has not died, and the flock grows ever larger, as the shepherd guides us. today we make a statement, tomorrow we make a house, the day after a ladder, the day after that, the stairway, light will return to these streets, as the fires are replaced with hope.”

@Coriolanus
 
@Cerebrate  
The attention of the crowd seems equally divided between the sermon and the security forces, and it is not clear which is the cause or recipient of the rising intensity of their outcry…

@Cerebrate @Cobalt  
“Dunno about the vice part, it’s our lives, we get to choose the coping mechanism… but that’s what compromises are for, after all. Fixing the city? Give’em a chance, I mean, come ooooone, come ooooooone…’’ He says, to surrounding crowdgoers, but soon glancing over to see his exit-route however as he notices their hectic moshing/disgruntledness.

@Coriolanus  
Aseliel: “perhaps the preachers overdo it a bit at times, ultimately we mean but to inspire cooperation, after all every journey must find its’ goal.”

Fortuna for now….was just watching, although from a new location. While yes she wasn’t all that much better than typical Inferno trash, she at least had principles that included ‘Don’t just start blasting random civilians’ even when money was on the line.
 
She’d get on her coms saying “ARES, tell our gang contact to relocate nearby that roadblock and stand by. But also tell them to keep it quiet for now. I’m gonna shadow this group for a bit…”

@Coriolanus  
_Said exit route was difficult to ascertain as the crowds press in despite the security guards’ bet efforts; his best bet at this point would be a rooftop escape, if it came down to it.
 
 
@Coriolanus
 
@Cerebrate  
The crowds were growing more agitated, angry shouting from both sides as one occasionally spotted weapons drawn as one street in partiular began to actively clash with the security force’s shields. They were either determined to get closer to the payload or the preacher, or desperately trying to escape someone or something behind them…
 
 
@Sky  
“Roger that, hopefully he won’t mind the change of plans…” The comms went silent for a few moments as ARES apparently relayed the orders, but then after a minute or so he came back online “Ok so I have good news and bad news. The good news is our friends agreed that changing location ASAP was a good idea…”

@Cobalt  
Sure the plan was already the textbook definition of FUBAR, why not add more complications? Letting out a slight sigh Fortuna would almost hesitantly ask “And the bad news…?”

@Cobalt  
“…aaargh,” Seizing the courier’s arm, Sureshvara puts the briefcase into the original carrier’s hands, plasticuffing the man’s wrist unto the handle.“You, head up that building there right now, take to the rooftops, and carjack another ride if you have to,”
 
To the security force then, via radio; “all of you, fall back in detail and follow the courier, he’ll lead you out of here, but don’t broadcast where he’s going, we’re definitely being followed; they’re agitating the crowds as they move in, so get clear fast.”
 
@Cerebrate @Cobalt  
Now turning to Aseliel, as the security & courier carefully depart. “Wasn’t thinking I’d be doing pro bono work for you lot this soon… and I’m not about to leave whatever’s about to tear through here. Just, please, get everyone to safety.”
 
Suresh then nears the demarcation between crowd & retreating security line, climbing up a nearby fire escape as the guards fall back below–letting a sea of people flow under–then attempts to see over past them to whatever could be sowing chaos.

@Coriolanus  
the Prophet waved for his children, a small unit if guards surrounding the arc and seeing it to safety as the rest keeps holding back that particular crowd, the nuns huddling away from them as if in fear.
 
Prophet: “gangs… they have abandoned hope and faith for the right to call a dumpy corner theirs. one of many fires, burning in inferno, but this one gets put out today.”

@Sky  
“They had another reason to leave, and it’s headed your way now!”
 
 
@Coriolanus  
The security detail is able to help the courier ascend a nearby empty building, and just in time as the crowds start to scatter.
 
 
@Cerebrate  
His flock is able to help funnel some of the crowd away from the scene as well as hold the advancing mob at bay
 
 
@Sky
 
@Coriolanus
 
@Cerebrate  
The roar of the crowd is soon matched by the roar of engines as a group of armed Ganger vehicles can be seen speeding down the road occupied by the mob toward the truck. The crowd frantically tries to part to escape the road, but it may be too late…

@Cobalt  
one of the floating orbs that accompanied Aseliel attached to his staff and started sparking, he then flung it at the lead vehicle.
 
the plan was that that vehicle would loose engine power causing the rest to get crunchy with it.

@Cobalt  
Fortuna meanwhile had other ideas, she can work with this… “We’ll use the chaos to our advantage. Tell the boys to stand down but stay close, we’ll bide our time on the sidelines. I still got eyes on the package.”

@Cobalt @Cerebrate  
Also focusing on the lead vehicle, a track of rings within both tubes running the length of his forearm begin to glow from induction as he aims from his raised position; it’ll take a few, if only three or less seconds to wind the compulsator up…

@Sky  
“Will do. Good luck out there.”
 
 
@Cerebrate  
The vehicle’s acceleration stopped, but its momentum did not, and since it was moving at a similar speed as the ones behind it their collision did not have much effect, at first. In time though the coasting vehicle could not keep up with its armored “assistant” and began to spin out. The third vehicle almost deliberately maneuvered to catch it on its spin and in doing so forced it on its side, forming a sort of horizontal barrier supported by the two that screeched horribly and belched sparks from where it made contact with the pavement. It was unlikely the drivers of either vehicle could actually see beyond it, however…

@Cobalt  
With a loud clang, the pair of tubes release a pair of flaming bolts screeching forth into the barrier-vehicle, one bolt sinking through the roof into the driver’s seat, the other into the rear cabin.
 
In an instant, the driver’s compartment lights up from a brief flash of light, just before the windshield and side-windows are all tinted by a sudden smattering of red, slowly leaking out of the vehicle and unto the pavement as a crimson puddle… Passengers hidden inside the rear cabin likely suffering the same censored fate from the second bolt, as the explosion leaves the vehicle’s sides visibly billowed outward a bit now.
 
Sureshvara then climbs up to the roof, moving across the buildings to flank those within the other two trucks behind.

@Coriolanus  
The event sends the occupants of the other two vehicles tumbling out in a panic as they try to use the two (plus one former) trucks as cover to prepare for whatever crippled their lead vehicle. These gangers seem better-equipped than the usual riffraff, not exactly top-of-the-line equipment but decently armed and armored with jailbroken and jury-rigged tactical gear and machine guns, though some also appear to be carrying heavier ordinance like rocket launchers.

@Cobalt  
Flanking them from high above on a roof to their side, Suresh draws his rifle with his natural pair of arms as one of his cybernetic ones draws his pistol set to full-auto, while the other cyberlimb holds a smoke grenade ready in the event he needs to conceal Aseliel or his guards on the road below.
 
Aiming his two guns down unto the gangers below, he then shoots, raking his gunfire upward along their position, though focusing with worried surprise on the rocketeers as he sees the big things hefted on their shoulders & backs.

@Coriolanus  
The sudden spray of fire shreds a couple gangers and scatters the rest, one taking aim at the truck with his rocket launcher
 
 
@Cerebrate  
You see the cyborg scatter the gangers from the impromptu fortification of their wrecked vehicles, though you do see one break formation and level a rocket launcher at the truck. The crowds have not fully dispersed and doubtless would be threatened by the blast…
 
 
@Sky  
You see the carrier and his escorts safely enter the upper floor of a nearby building, doubtless expecting to escape on the other side

@Cobalt  
Aseliel also saw an overhanging billboard one with a sound system he quickly tuned to the max and had it play a screech that sounded like a mechanical amp screaming for help while in an industrial shredder.

@Cobalt @Cerebrate  
For a brief second, Sureshvara winces, interrupted in the middle of reloading. As the anechoic foam inserts over his ears adjust within his helmet, he peers over the edge of the roof, looking to see how the gangers are faring meanwhile to the acoustic attack.

@Cobalt  
Putting a building between themselves and the chaos…yeah thats gotta be the package making a break for it. “ARES, new target. Small team heading away from the fight, should be coming out on the other side of that building on the south. I’m gonna see if I can’t hunt them down. Be ready to join the chase.” And she’s off chasing after the small bunch now that they have separated from someone she’d need an anti-armor railgun to kill.