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| Scene Title | A Bloody Line |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Violence on the streets of Chinatown leads to all out war between the NYPD and Triads. |
| Date | October 15, 2009 |
« — This is Joshua Darren with Channel Four Sky news! What you're seeing down here is happening live! We're trying to stay with this unfolding crisis as it happens — »
It was a warzone before backup even arrived. The middle of Chiantown resembles something out of an insurgent conflict in the middle east. An NYPD police cruiser rests upside down in the middle of the street, engulfed in roaring flames with one tire still spinning slowly. The rapid-fire pop of small arms echoes between the tall buildings flanking the street. Windows are blown out, cars peppered with bullet holes and the ground littered with shattered glass and shell casings.
« — Action Channel Six Sky Cam covering the violence in Chinatown! This is unlike anything I've ever seen in all of my career. Are- are you guys getting this? — »
Four NYPD drug enforcement officers are pinned down behind a police van. Officer Abraham Sutherland rests with a shotgun up against his shoulder, chest rising and falling with hastened breaths as he tries to watch movement in the reflection of a storefront window opposite of he and the car, reflecting the flames and chaos of the street below. Officer Andrew Clarke lays down on the ground, head resting against the sidewalk and blood pooling out from beneath his shoulder that he presses crimson fingers to, teeth grit together in a hiss of pain. Cut off from the van by erratic gunfire, officer William Trenton shakes in fear, ducked down as low as he can in a blown out storefront, back pressed hard up against the brick wall below the shattered window, hearing the sounds of bullets whizzing over his head and punching into the brick wall at his back. Lastly, it's the slap of a clip into her sidearm that results in a pinned down Aude Castalides to realize she's almost out of bullets.
« — This is Jordan Clarke from FOX News coming to you live. We're being ordered by the NYPD to pull out of the air space around Chinatown for our own safety. We're going to try to move to a better angle to keep covering the chaos that has erupted into the streets tonight. — »
Fifteen minutes ago this was supposed to be a Refrain bust on one of the Triad's shipments heading out of Chinatown. The vehicle in question, a furniture moving semi-truck is smashed sideways across the street. The cab of the monstrous vehicle is driven square into a marketplace stall, broken wood and fresh fruit littering the street around it, while the fishtailed and crooked trailer has swept out the corner of a restaurant, flames rising up from the windows.
« — in what we are calling an unprecidented show of violence, the New York Chinese Triad have begun what can only be called open warfare on the streets of New York City against the New York Police Department. We're seeing signs of Evolved activity in the conflict, and I warn you, the broadcast you are about to see is highly graphic — »
The loud shriek of a rocket propelled grenade being launched from the roof of one of the buildings comes as the NYPD sirens and flashing lights approaching the scene come wholly unprepared for what they're facing. The lead car headed towards the scene is struck indirectly when the grenade slams into the pavement right in front of the car, causing a fireball and cloud of dust to explode behidn the vehicle, launching it up and spinning thorugh the air before crashing into the street and skidding on its side, plowing over a fire hydrant and sending a shower of water spraying up into the air.
« — Reports are streaming in from our affiliate station in New York that a full-scale gun battle has begun on the streets of Chinatown between the Chinese Mafia and the NYPD. This shocking violence comes only days after a terrorist attack collapsed the New York Municipal Building in a — »
"Shit, shit!" The driver in the car behind him howls, slamming on the brakes and jerking the wheel to the side, pulling out of the way of an oncoming line of automatic weapons fire that peppers the street in a serpentine pattern. Reaching for the radio, officer Hal Quinn calls in the first real report of what's happening downtown, screaming in to the radio in the moments before a bald man leaps out in front of the car. "Holy shit!" Before he can even slam on the brakes, the bald and tattooed Lao-Yan - an enforcer of the notorious Triad boss Liu Ye - reaches down and grabs the front of the car, using its forward momentum and his tremendous strength to flip the vehicle up end over end.
« — I simply cannot believe what I am seeing here. As an embedded reporter with the troops in Iraq for two years, I have not seen this level of concentrated violence and carnage perpetrared before. I am reminded of the civil uprising in Haiti some several — »
Officer Magnes Varlane has seen things in his time on the NYPD that most soldiers wouldn't ever have to put up with, but the war zone that Chinatown has become is unlike anything dealt with thus far. "Oh shit!" Comes the cry of the squad car's driver as another NYPD cruiser comes spinning end over end through the air towards it, there's a moment of panic, and time actually seems just a little slow when the flung cruiser comes smashing down on the hood of Magnes' car. The air bags deploty in an abrupt explosion of white power as the car arrests from its forward movement and jerks crooked across the street, slamming into a street light, snapping it off at the base and sending it collapsing down atop the car, dimpling the roof. The thrown car continues to bounce end over end until it strikes a parked car and comes to a halt, windows shattered on both vehicles.
« — What you're seeing is live. The New York Police Department has declared the entire area around the blocks of Chinatown as no-fly, and we're getting orders to keep clear. Our helicopter was pinged by a few stray bullets fired from street level but- but I think we're alright. I'm going to try and keep our cameras on this for as long as — »
Ash has been watching all of this from the nearby rooftops. The man has been laying low, he's watching for a very specific person. He's not taking part in any of the gun fights going on, he's just lurking up on top of a building, in his black wannabe ninja outfit. His eyes flicker from place to place as guns go off, his eyes searching, alert, attentive, waiting for that familiar face amongst all the ones running around on the street.
It's looking like a bad night overall to pick up some true authentic Chinese food from Chinatown for Sparrow. All was perfectly fine until the world decided to go crazy with grenades, guns, and sounds of people screaming. Leaving her table, and the food she'd only /just/ been served, the young Native American woman throws down some cash and heads for the street. Following the general movements of those heading to where things are going down, trying to figure out what's going on. Once on the street, her form pushed this and that way by the crowd, she turns to where the noise is coming from.
There comes cars tumbling, fire, and everything else out the end of the nearby street that send people scurrying away from it, and hopefully out of the way. "I don't remember ordering entertainment with my dinner.." Words are spoken in some surprise to herself as she glances around to those who might be out on the street, then back to where she can see the police cruisers and the trapped cops. Brows furrow as she looks around the street further, not quite understanding the rapid talk of the natives to the area as they discuss what's going on.
Clink… Tink
"Xing le."
The elongated barrel of the sniper rifle is finally fixed onto the weapon, the man with the rifle bringing it up, testing it's weight. Wearing a midnight black suit, a vest has been strapped over the top of it after the battle was already underway. The weapon is placed on the dresser that has been positioned next to the window, providing the man a decent bird's nest for which he perches on happily. Leaning forward the man peers through the scope precariously as he scans slowly in search of any exposed targets.
"Hao."
The second voice is nearly identical yet somehow different, belonging to the man standing behind the sniper. Dressed exactly the same, the second triad is fiddling with an entirely different type of gun. The brothers have taken to the very top of one of the less used buildings by the Chinese. The brothers are identical in nearly every way, with only two details distinguishing them. The 'elder', Dong-Tiang, has a jagged scar drawn across his right temple. The second being, they wear their hair different. The 'younger', Xue, wearing his shoulder length hair pulled back rather than flowing down.
"Bi wode, Xue." Says the elder twin, his assault rifle in hand as he goes to shuffle down the stairs of the building more than likely to get closer to the action.
Reminiscent in sound of the sharp rattling of hail on a metal roof, bullets stitch their way across the side of the police van, not penetrating the reinforced armour but keeping the officers' heads down for the moment as a pair of chinese gunmen bearing submachineguns pop up from the second floor windows of the building across from them and open fire, shouting epithets into the chaos of the street that are mostly swallowed up by the hound's barking of their guns.
It's a distraction; as they try to keep the police pinned down, another man leaps out of the upper window of the restaurant whose lower floor crackles with flame and heat, landing deftly atop the side of the toppled semi truck. His head down, hair drawn back fluttering in the air behind him, he runs along its metal sides quickly and lightly, pulling a grenade from his belt and bringing it up to his teeth as he tries to flank the police van.
Magnes is groaning, even after bracing himself with gravity, the entire experience was incredibly disorienting. He's never gotten an airbag smashed into his face before, or been in a car wreck in general… "Hey, you alright?" he asks with his heart pumping rapidly, hearing gunfire all around him. His partner is unconscious, but he's spotting cops in the building he's crashed next to. Alright, has to be a way to get in there, but now isn't the time for taking risks.
He unstraps his partner from the seat, opens the door on the side that the cops are on, keeping his head low as he very awkwardly moves himself and his partner out to the ground. He keeps his partner on the ground next to the car, then closes the door as he tries to think of his next move, drawing his gun. He has an entire car inbetween him and the Triad, but he also has a partner to keep alive. "Damnit…"
The flashing, the lights and sound, all of it was so disorienting. She had only been in the area to supervise like she did with many fo the Refrain shipments, if it could even be called that, but now things had gotten far outside of Ling's area of expertise. Now, everything had gone to utter shit, and she was torn between worrying about her own life, and worrying if this would all somehow going to find it way back into her lap.
Groaning, she looks out from the doorway she had found herself momentarily holed up in. She wasn't sure exactly what to do next. A firefight was not her idea of a night out, but it looked like she was going to have to make do, somehow…
Officer Sutherland steps out from behind the police van with his shotgun in hand, opening fire with a thunderous explosion of the rifel to the upper floor windows of the tenement building the Triad gunmen are firing from. "Hold on Clarke! Just hold on man, backup's here!" Backup is here and half blown to hell, at least. Racking up another round in the shotgun with a loud cha-chak, Sutherland raises the gun and fires into another window with an explosive blast from the gun. He manages to duck to the side, just in time for a peppering of gunfire to come whipping by the armored van. "Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ… Jesus Christ…" His hands shake, his eyes wrench shut, and as the sound of bullets pinging and panging off of the van grow louder, he fails to notice the man with the grenade headed on a path towards him.
In the bombed out storefront, officer William Trenton clutches his shotgun to his chest, the barrel clattering against his badge, eyes wrenched shut, murmuring the Lord's prayer under his breath as pieces of masonry and stray bullets whip over the low wall beneath the storefront's window he is huddled against.
In the middle of the firefight, the enormous bulk of Lao-Yan reaches down and grabs the front end of the car he had thrown, fingers winding into the frame before he swings the vehicle on its roof with a series of showering sparks, and smashes it like a club into Officer Varlane's squad car. Magnes had only just vacated the vehicle before it is crushed in like a tin can by theother vehicle, and the heavily tattooed Triad enforcer shakes slivers of twisted metal off of his palms.
Overhead, police helicopters begin to move in and circle, spotlights cutting down through the late afternoon glow as they try to shed light on the street and rooftops. "«This is the NYPD. Put your weapons down and surrender or we will be forced to use deadly force. Put your weapons down and surrender.»
Ash watches the man with the grenade, the gun shots, the large man wielding a car like a matchbox. That actually earns a soft chuckle from the black clad figure, but nothing more. His tabi covered feet slip along the roof top as he creeps down the street, a little closer to the action so he can get a better view as to what's going on, his eyes focusin, lookin, searchin, hunting for a certain sick individual that deserves to have a bullet put in his skull for the kinds of things he was doing to Logan, a man Ash doesn't even like.
With the helicopters moving in, Sparrow is caught between the urge to help, and that of her gut instincts telling her to get the hell out of dodge right now, missy. Not your fight! Making her way through the crowd that still lingers, watching what's going on like stupid children, the Native American slips towards the intersection, her gaze to take in smoking vehicles, and the firefight that comes from the buildings towards those men that might still huddle behind cars. Kicking off her sandals, she reaches down to pick them up in her hand, carrying them with her as she continues to try and get closer, and yet stay out of harm's way. Her mind is telling her quite strongly, she should leave this alone, and get out of here. She's not a cop, and she's not even Chinese.
A soft laugh is let out, warm breath splashing against the cold metal of the rifle. Large man flinging around a car. Flying cars are funny. But the giant seems to have those police in particular handled. So Xue continues to search meticulously. And then like a godsend from… God, a choir of angels descends from the heavens. Except it's police on the loudspeaker and they're in a helicopter.
Slowly going to place himself lower, the man tilts his rifle upwards, frowning lightly. Helicopters are harder to hit, especially moving ones. But with a little patience, he just might be able to tag a pilot. Xue starts to take aim.
On the ground level, Dong-Tian is exiting onto the street to immediately take cover by the SUV sitting in front of their building. But then he quickly finds that there are a lot of bullets out here and retreats hastily, keeping low to the next door over. Once he's in, his head tilts to the side. He finds himself staring directly at Ling.
The shotgun's blast explodes against the side of the window beside one of the two gunmen, fragments scattering everywhere and one digging a furrow across his cheek. Swearing profusely, he drops down, even as the other swings his uzi to spit a few wildly-fired rounds in the direction of Sutherland just as he ducks back out of the way, ricocheting off the van with flashes of sparks and tink-tink-clang sounds. The gunman drops down to reload, ignoring his compatriot's swearing as blood stains the injured man's cheek.
On the back of the semi, the lithe, quick soldier of the Triad leaps from the back of the truck onto the side of the cab - a wicked grin curving his lips as he pulls the pin with his teeth, reaching back to hurl the oblong object in an arc end over end through the air towards the cluster of officers behind the police van.
Magnes spotted the man jumping from the truck, but once he was on the ground, from this hunched position, he couldn't see what the man was going for. He briefly pokes his head over the back trunk of the car, and when he spots the grenade he yells, "Watch out!" right before the shadow of the car behind him causes him to dive on top of his unconscious partner, shielding him from the tiny beads of glass from the car windows.
From the yell, the large man definitely knows there's someone behind the car now. Doom!
Eyes narrowed, Ling watches the man before her with an intense look of caution, pressed back against the closed and locked door. "Hmph," she begins, running a hand through her hair in an attempt to look far more calmed than she really was at the moment. She didn't know the man, but it wasn't hard to guess that he was caught up in all the madness as well. Now, it was just a matter of figuring out his part to play.
"Tell me," she shouts after another hail of gunfire, grimacing as much as she could, "What, exactly, is going on over there?" She knew the answer, of course, but it would certainly help her judge her immediate danger based on his response.
Magnes' scream is all it takes to warn the NYPD officers of the man approaching with the grenade. Officer Sutherland whips around, the loud cha-chak of his shotgun ejecting a smoking red cartridge spinning into the air, followed by a thunderous explosion of a shot being forced. The impact of the shotgun blast sends the airborne Triad member flipping end over end in a whirl of dark clothing and blood. The grenade flies freely in the air from his now limp hand, and Sutherland does all he can to grab the downed officer Clarke by the scruff of his jacket and haul him away from the grenade, the wounded officer's feet kicking and pushing before the grenade bounces twice down the sidewalk, and explodes in a shuddering plume of stone dust and smoke.
Screams rise up from where the grenade blew apart. Sutherland is staggering away dzed from the blast, one side of his face slicked with blood from a piece of shrapnel having hit him in the side of the head. FIngers touch tacky at his temples, and bullets whip and whiz past him. His hearing is nothing but a dull whine in the back of his head, and he fails to hear the sounds of approaching sirens and roaring engines coming up the street.
By the time Sutherland has stumbled out into the middle of the road between the van and the Triad's position in the building, an NYPD SWAT van has rolled past the burning car at the intersection, stopping in the middle of the road as the doors burst open and the first man out finds a bullet punching through the side of his helmet, sending him staggering to the side. Two more SWAT members climb out, reinforced plastic riot shields raised with the clatter-tack of bullets bouncing off of them as they try to maneuver around the truck for cover.
Then, it's hard to say what started the tailspin, but watchful eyes will see a bloody bullet hole in the front of the police helicopter's windshield, where a pilot is dead at the helm. The helicopter whirls and wobbles out of control, its floodlight washing over Ash after a moment before it veers in another direction and begins descending rapidly towards the ground, and with the deadly chopping motion of its helicopter blades, the vehicle seems to be on a collision course for a civilian bystander. One of the helicopter blades clips the corner of a building, breaking off and whipping through a second story window, and the helicopter begins its plummet down towards Sparrow Redhouse.
Moving around people, slinking past parked cars, Sparrow finally gets into a position near enough to what's happening, and yet not so close to be noticed. Hopefully. Whispering beneath her breath in her native language, she ducks hurriedly behind one of the parked cars, bare feet bleeding from some glass she stepped on in her rush to get behind the car as the shout went up from someone to 'Watch out!'. Not able to see just what it is that was being shouted about, or what more is going on, she is stuck with what she can see. And what she's seen is enough to lead her to lend a hand to the cops trapped behind the car. With hands pressed to the ground, she begins to work as the world goes to hell around her.
At first, no one would have noticed it, but near the trashed cars where Lao-Yan is standing, there's a hole in the road. It was likely there before, a slight pothole that many have complained about, and taxi drivers try to avoid with no luck. But soon, the pothole widens, with a crack that seems to be moving towards Lao-Yan where he stood pounding the cruiser with the other car held in his hand like some strange club.
However, with the whine of the helicopter above, Sparrow jerks her head up to peer, surprised to see the bird falling from the sky, plummeting in her direction. She falls backwards, scooting away towards the nearby building, only to end up stopping and putting all her strength into one thing - protecting herself.
A slow smile turns on his lips as he looks on Ling, something familial sparking up in his eyes. Leaning forward at her question, Dong-Tian murmurs something lowly into her ear. Not whispering, he's talking fairly loud. But under the roar of gunfire and mayhem it is very much like a whisper. After his piece is said the man leans back, giving a knowing look to the woman. An implication to Ling that there is more to his statement that is being said.
Taking a moment to allow recognition— or confusion set in, Dong-Tian offers one hand to the woman. Slinging the strap of his rifle over his shoulder, he reaches into his coat with his now free hand. A sidearm is brought out and offered to Ling's freehand. And then, if she allows him, he will be leading the both of them to the doorframe.
Eyebrows arch high on his forehead after the shot is taken. Xue really didn't expect to take the bird out of the sky so quickly. Glancing down at his rifle he gives a slow shrug before slowly lowering it once again. Now there are SWAT men with shields on the scene. Pulling back on the rifle, a squeeze on the trigger is sent out in hopes of lowering that number of men.
The bullets rattle off the plastic riot shields like a metal rain as the SWAT arrives, most of the gunmen on the second floor or higher trying to take out the elite force before they can form themselves up into a defensive unit. There's little success on that end after that first shot toakes one down, but then the doors of the building the van's parked before burst open…
Jin Yeoh steps out, short, slender, his white suit immaculate beneath the flak vest he's thrown over it - and he almost pulls even that off as stylish. He stares at the van for a moment, breathing angrily, then lifts one hand and sweeps his designer shades off in a single motion, breath drawn in. And then he screams.
The sonic shockwave slams into the side of the SWAT team's vehicle, metal groaning with the impact, wheels tilting… and then it topples over backwards. All across the street, windows shatter, eyeglasses explode on their wearer's faces, and those poor bastards still in the truck as it crashes down to its side feel blood start to well up from their ears, pressure building within their own skulls as he pushes his power to its utmost.
Magnes winces and places his hands over his ears when the sound of the shockwave starts, but he's already spotted the civilian about to be crushed by the chopper, and like hell if he's gonna let that happen. He reaches over for one of the deformed doors of the crushed car, ripping it hard from the vehicle before turning it around and holding it up like a makeshift shield.
Gravity collapses on it, trying to quickly tighten closed spaces and make the door stronger. He doesn't have enough time to finish, the chopper's almost down, so he tries to make his body as small as possible behind the door, and goes zooming for the civilian, moving to swoop them up, then try to fly back behind the crushed cars where his partner is laying. Bullets are already pelting the door, and there's still the super strength man to worry about, but damned if he's gonna leave his partner behind.
An entire unit of SWAT officers laid to waste by a single Triad agent. The wheels of the SWAT truck are still spinning when the last of the SWAT team who can still move crawls out of the vehicle. The silenced rifle round that punches through him is an understated end, the kevlar coated armor-piercing rough ripping through the vest and dropping the crawling man onto his stomach. Gunfire still rattles out intermittantly across the street, and it's amidst that hail of gunfire that Magnes makes his dramatic rescue attempt of Sparrow.
The ground is buckling under his feet as he moves, pavement cracking and splitting and then tearing apart as sheets of concrete and dry earth rise up like staggered walls, tiny pops of wet earth and broken water manes pinging with sparks are the telltale signs of bullets being deflected by the terrakinetic.
As the car doors force back the helicopter with a variance of gravity, Magnes barely manages to get past another sharply rising wall of earth and stone, tumbling with Sparrow in his arms before his gravitic manipulation pushes to its limits and the door shatters into pieces of strained and distended metal, sending the helicopter crashing down to the street with a crumple of metal and a loud creaking groan. Fuel pulses out of bullet holes that riddles the tail section, sending a drooling line of gasoline running across the street.
Not far away, Lao-Yan staggers and stumbles, the ground breaking apart underfoot as a sinkhole created by Redhouse nearly drops him down into the sewer system before he finds his footing and she is forced to focus her attentions elsewhere to save her own life. The enormous and tattooed man stares down into the hole, then ducks as the bloodied and dazed Officer Sutherland opens fire with his sidearm. Lao-Yan crouches, totters, and begins stumbling away from the gunfire as he grabs the hood of a car, fingers squeezing through the metal as he whips the hood like a Frisbee towards Sutherland, smashing the officer off of his feet and down to the ground.
This situation is only getting worse by the moment, and when the sparks of a stray bullet ignites the pooling trail of gasoline in a rapidly expanding line of fire, it will only be moments before bad goes to worse.
A wide grin crosses Ling's face as she looks back at the man, a grin of relief with a certain mischievous edge. He certainly spoke her language, perhaps a little too well, but that was beside the point. She now knew where she stood, and while she was sure she could make due on her own, she wouldn't pass up the help. "An excellent idea!" she shouts in response, even as her yes drift down to the offered handgun. She wasn't much in the way of a good shot, even with the training she'd been giving herself just in case something like this happened, and even if she was it wouldn't matter if she had to fall to her backup plan.
Still, she took the sidearm with a nod, looking confidently at the man. That devious smile still apparent on her face, she makes a motion to him, making a conscious effort not to shudder in response the a sudden boom. "Lead the way!"
Ash sees his target, oh yes he does. He winces despite the thick earplugs in his ears, the his screech of noise ripping up and down the street. Ash grabs a hold of the rope he had tied off to the ladder on the building and lets it drop down to the ground before he lifts one of his guns, his .45 in hand. He squeezes off a couple of shots at Jin, then he slips down the rope, rappelling quickly, thanking the heavans for his gloves, even then they're shredded by the time he hits the ground with a roll. Off of his back comes a khukri, the other hand holding his gun as he ducks forwards behind a police car, trying to get his bearings and figure out where the hell Jin is.
Sparrow is doing everything she can to protect herself from the falling helicopter that's heading her way. And thankfully, the ground is answering her. As the spikes form upwards, shielding her from whatever might come, imagine her surprise when someone comes barreling in nearly on top of her? There's a flash of wide eyes, of surprise upon seeing the cop that she'd been trying to help, now saving her ass. Tumbled further along the sidewalk, she ducks her head as things seem to change, and the helicopter hits the ground… not on top of her. For a moment once they both come to a stop, she lays there, a little dazed before muttering, "Remind me to not come to Chinatown for food in the future."
Recoiling, Xue slaps his hands to his ears as he stumbles backward in his lonely room. Leaving his perch momentarily unattended, a hushed curse flows from the twins mouth as he rapidly works to get back to his feet. Shaking his head as if to shake the ringing the man retakes the rifle and begins to scope out…
The scope lands on Ash, and a slow but cruel grin winds up the man's lips. Reloading the sniper rifle his sights remain on Ash, preparing to let off a shot at the would-be ninja.
Down on solid ground, Dong-Tian's arms fly up to shield his face from the sudden warmth of the newly lit fire and the loud noises that invade the ears. Turning slightly, the man makes a quick motion for Ling to stay close. Rifle brought out, a few rapidly fired shots swing out against a cop car as Dong-Tian starts to lead Ling away from the center of the firefight, behind cover of the parallel parked vehicles.
As a number of bullets suddenly ricochet off the pavement around him, Jin's head jerks up—and his eyes narrow at the sight of the ninja-esque fellow rappelling down the rooftop. Feeling rather exposed standing out in the middle of the street, the white-suited chinaman turns and ducks back into the building where he came from, shouting orders, "«Secure that door! Where is Wong? He needs to take care of the helicopters!»"
"You're Evolved, use your ability to protect him." Magnes swiftly instructs the Native, pointing at his unconscious partner. But Lao-Yan, that guy's gonna be a problem, a serious problem, and he might be the only person who can handle it right now… "Alright…"
Staying hunched as he listens to the cacophony of shots, waiting for some sort of brief lag. Then he just does it, he takes his chance, he flies straight for Lao-Yan to wrap his arms around the man's side, trying to use him as cover as he begins to greatly increase the man's overall weight. But the weight isn't pulling down, it's pulling up, and he attempts to fly the man high into the sky, far above the gunfire and snipers. Up, up, and away!
When Magnes launches himself and Lao-Yan into the air, a litany of Cantonese slurs comes spilling out of the gigantic man's mouth. He struggles, trying to move large arms around Magnes and crush him like a bug, but the addition weight of two thousand pounds of pressure weighing down on him in a completely inverted sense of gravity has Lao struggling to even breathe, despite his tremendous strength. With Magnes at helicopter level, the Officer is able to let Lao go, and for a moment the hulking super-strong Triad enforcer hangs weightless in the air.
Until Magnes changes which direction is down.
With hundreds of times Earth's gravity pushing down on him, Lao-Yan turns from human bulldozer into human missile as he plummets flailing and screaming down to the roof of the Triad-occupied apartment complex. Xue is only able to hear the screaming in the last few moments of Lao's descent, and keen reflexes are all that allows him to bounce ot the side and roll across one shoulder, losing his honed shot on Ash before Lau-Yan's flailing body smashes through the ceiling, shattering the bones int he man's back before crashing through floor after floor after floor, windows blowing out on the building as a rush of air pressure and debris comes exploding out the windows with each hole punched thorugh floor and ceiling.
The gunfire stops, if only for a moment, in the time it takes for another rocket-propelled grenade to be loaded, and launched from a second story window beneath the armored NYPD van. The explosion rocks the street, sending rock shrapnel flying thorugh the air and upending the van to crash down on its roof. Still hiding inside of the building, William Trenton hears the explosion and ducks his head down, shoulders shaking and hands clutched tightly around his rifle. He can see Officer Clarke bleeding out on the ground, and it's with a shaky sucking in of breath that the young officer finally throws himself up from the floor to kneel by the window, leveling his shotgun to aim across the street. Cha-Chak — Bang. The RPG firing Triad officer stumbles from the crack shot, falling out the second story window to the pavement below.
"I— I did it— Holy shit Clarke I— " thwip. A flash of red on Trenton's bullet proof vest, and the offers is stumbling backwards, clutching at a gunshot wound, laid up on his back.
Ling was content, at the moment, to follow rather than to lead at the moment. Her attention was not kept on Dong, however, as she follows behind him. Rather, she tries to keep herself focused on the mayhem ahead of her. She knew she'd only be fine so long as she had an idea of what was coming, and even then she'd need to be at the edge her wits to pull anything off in time. Another spray of bullets flies by just as Ling ducks down at the cars, looking over to Dong. She doesn't comment, however, simply giving the man a silent nod, her hand gripped nervously on the gun she had been given. A brief moment passes before a thought occurs to her. "You," she remarks in a commanding tone as she looks at Dong Tian, hoping to be heard over the dissonance around them. "Do you have… some thing sharp?"
Ash doesn't know there's a sniper scope on his back, so once his eyes spy Jin he moves, hopping up over the ruined cop car and sprinting across the street after the man ducks into the building. He's got his gun in his hand still and he empties the clip into the door, hoping to hit a lock or something before he slows his speed down so he won't break hsi leg. His foot lifts up and his body weight, enhanced by his strength and his momentum, slams into the door, his foot smashing at it right above the hand, trying to force the damn thing open. He wants Jin, and he wants him bad. After the initial kick he spins to the side, whether he got the door open or not, and he puts one of his guns up, only to pull the other .45 and have it at the ready.
"That's what I was /trying/ to do." Sparrow does mutter to the man before he gets off her and runs off to take down..erg.. up.. the guy she was trying to sink. Leaving Magnes to do his thing though, she concentrates on sending some protection to his partner, hoping to bring up the very sidewalk around him to give him cover from any stray bullets that might head his way. It's at least a temp protection till someone can get to him and get him out of the way. Once it's done, she'll take cover again, then look to see who else might be helped, cop-wise. Triads are on their own! Ducking as things go boom, the woman tries to stay out of sight, slinking from one parked car to another, though certainly not going too close to where bullets fly between cops and triads. She does give a look upwards to see where Magnes has gone, and likely realizes.. he's missing the crazy car-club man. Hrm.
Letting out a groan, Xue crawls forward to peer into the hole that the huge man just made. His eyes widen before he glances back over to his rifle. A tad inaccessible, now. A light sigh and a roll of the eyes is given as the younger of the twins makes his way for the stairwell instead. His sidearm is unpacked as he goes.
Peeking over one hood, Dong-Tian arches a brow at Ling but silently complies. Reaching into his coat a slender blade is drawn before passed over to the woman. Though the earth moving does not escape his attention, and neither does the small woman slinking from car to car. Weapon held in both hands, the elder brother takes a step forward to closely watch the woman.
As the door to the building goes crashing open, there should be several men with guns there waiting for the darkly-clad would-be assassin to come through, eager for the blood of all not of the Flying Dragons.
…should be…
The sudden collapse of the ceiling beneath the weight of Lao-Yan being hurled with gravitically-enhanced weight to the ground floor shakes the entire building even as the floorboards smash and the tattooed enforcer vanishes into the cellar. Dust and coughing fill the air, and Jin charges across the room to the hole, waving dust away and shouting at the broken, possibly dead man, "«Lao-Yan! Stop laying down on the job, you lazy dog!»"
Magnes isn't about to get back into the line of fire, instead he quickly lowers himself on to the Triad roof, the last place he'd likely have to worry about being shot. But he's not here to hide, no, he's going to attempt a strategic use of his ability. Gradually he begins to touch the ground, floating only a few inches above, just to keep from falling in case of a collapse. He tries to cover a great deal of ground, more and more sections being enhanced to the two thousand pound weight, attempting to continue covering enough ground so he can eventually weaken the roof itself entirely.
Sparrow Redhouse finds her way weaving between the abandoned and parked cars. Gunfire seems to have quieted on street level for the time being, and she can just barely hear the sounds of pain coming from the interior of a destroyed shop front. Thorugh the large blown-out plate glass window, the terrakinetic spots two NYPD officers, both injured, laying on the floor of the building. The ceiling above them is bowed and creaking, and the entire building looks to have been damaged by the earlier rocket attacks. Neither wounded man seems to be able to move on their own, and if something isn't done soon, they'll have a collapsing portion of the second floor to worry about.
Across the street from Sparrow, the back door of the tenement buildng blows in from a shaped doorbuster charge. The entire casing explodes off of the walls as six SWAT officers in body armor and riot gear come charging into the building's ground floor. Two men in front with assault rifles and two in back with shields raised and tear gas canisters loauded into grenade launchers. The remainign two men watch the back door — the only means of escape from the building that doesn't open out into the bloody mess of the street.
As the assault-rifle wielding men move into the building, gunfire and screams fill the air as men that were headed to the back door run head long into the escaping SWAT team. Dong-Tian, Xue and Ling are now trapped between a rock and a hard place. The street outside is an open and dangerous area flooded with gunfire and surviving police officers and God knows what else. And now SWAT is hammering in through the back entrance, and a psychopath with a knife and gun is just a few rooms away chasing after Jin Yeoh.
With no sound of recongition — or life — coming from Lao-Yan in the basement, it leaves only one real option left. It's time for the twins and Ling to carve themselves an exit before the SWAT guns them down, or Magnes Varlane crushes them alive in the building.
Ling was by no means more skilled with the knife she had been given than she was with the fire arm, but something about it made her feel a bit more comfortable than the sidearm did, particularly if she had to do was she was expecting. Following behind him, she can't help but grit her teeth. "Perhaps we should move faster?" she posed, the slightest hint of arrogance and annoyance in her voice as she remained low and as out of the way as she could hope. She was in no position to be demanding, of course, but it was her nature, and she wanted out of this situation as fast as possible. "Or, do you have another idea?"
Ash glances around himself. He had slipped to the side of the doorway to avoid any gunfire that might have happened to pour through the door. It's then that he spies the men that are eyeing Sparrow. And, while he doesn't know anyone involved, these Triad really aren't very nice people, not that he really is either. He turns his .45 on Dong-Tian, unloading a few shots in his direction to get him to duck his head down, hopefully giving Sparrow a few more moments to do whatever it is she's doing, looks to be helping wounded people. Anyway, none of his concern.
With those shots fired he spins around the empty door frame and dives forwards into a roll, coming up moving on his feet inside of the room. He doesn't stop for a second, not giving anyone a chance to draw a bead on him. He dashes across the room looking for cover to fall behind, and will take potshots at anyone he might happen to see on their feet in the dust filled room, thank god for goggles huh? He hears the guns going off around the building, but his target is running through the place, and Ash is hot on his heels, tabi'd feed pounding the floor. And he's a psychopath with a knife, two khukri's and two guns thank you, not to mention a six foot something ninja… wait….
Unknown to Sparrow is the man who has noticed her, and is keeping an eye on her. General concentration is more upon the very things around her than anything at a distance. As she spies the two downed cops in the building nearby, she frowns to herself as she takes in the building's shape. The creaks and groans are heard, and the woman gives a quick glance around before she hurries closer to the building She lays her hands upon the brick outside, trying to keep herself out of sight with bullets still coming and going.
For a moment, she concentrates, mentally seeking the broken and cracked concrete that makes up the building, hoping to repair it, or at least get it to cling together if only long enough that she might duck inside to help the two cops. Bare feet leave bloody prints on the ground as she moves, shoes long dropped out of her hands. Hearing the gunfire from nearby does have her flinching at times, and muttering to herself, "Should have gotten delivery to the hotel."
Ash's back in his line of sight, his gun raises a cruel smile turning the corner of his lips upward. Pistol pointed out at the man, Xue takes a step forward when…
Beats so big I'm steppin' on Leprechauns, yall get hit with the BOOM BOOM…
Instantly recoiling, Xue stabsa hand into his jacket to take out the ringing phone. Flipping it open the man only needs look for a moment to understand the message. A deep scowl manifests on his features as he shoots up a look out a blown out window to his brother. A hasty jerk of the head says what must be done.
But the door being blown in doesn't help an escape attempt much. Especially when it's done by SWAT. Collapsing back into the corner of the stairwell, Xue simply allows the SWAT officers to run by him, appearing to be a prone body, most likely slain in the hail of gun fire.
Outside, Dong pauses before re-entering the building as if assessing the action without actually seeing it. Pausing he squints for a moment before glancing to Ling's jabbering. A grimace before one finger is held up in a 'please hold' motion. And with that, he's ducking one shoulder and entering the building, rifle first.
The shots are precise, the bursts of shots being aimed exactly where the SWAT were without even having to look in the room. The first two are laid to waste in a flurry of automatic gunfire. The thing that gives Dong-Tian pause however, is not the return fire of the SWAT but an assailant from.. Somewhere else. Ash's bullets whiz into the wall behind him, giving him good enough reason to throw himself to the ground behind cover.
Xue's turn! As if returning from the dead the younger brother is swiftly on his feet, dust and flakes of dry wall shooting off of him from the sudden action. The closest officer is one of the SWAT men guarding the door. He receives a very sharp knife to the very middle of his throat. The second guard receiving a headshot from Xue's sidearm. The fifth longarm of the law however does not go down so quickly.
A quick burst from his rifle goes flying and slapping dead into Xue's chest, sending the younger brother colliding into the wall behind him.
There's a great deal of shouting and confusion in the room where Jin ducked for cover, the muzzle-flash of gunfire lighting the air here and there and the constant bark of weapons echoing off the walls. Shattered glass from the earlier scream litters the floor, making it dangerous and slippery to walk on. No doubt Jin's shouting into the hole isn't even heard…
…but something warns him that there's a man coming right behind him, and he twists just in time, bringing one foot up in a side kick expertly aimed for the man's midriff, a kiai-shout echoing like an ear-splitting explosion through the room. Still, ready as he is, he's in a precarious position there beside the hole that Lao-Yen made with his fall…
Magnes just keeps going, who knows how many people could be dying, or who might pop out with a rocket launcher or some destructive Evolved ability. A woman, a woman he can't remember, a woman he's likely be grieving over if he could, taught him one very valuable lesson: Don't hesitate. He's not thinking about the Triad's families, or that they're dozens of human lives, all he's thinking about is continuing to weaken and make sections of the roof heavier and heavier, for the greater good of the situation. He's not hesitating to crush a floor full of people if it needs to be done…
It works exactly like Sparrow had hoped. The concrete above the police officers melds seamlessly to together again, plaster and brick all fusing back into a solid structure of arches and flat surfacing over their heads. Watching this happen, the two wounded police officer looks wide-eyed to the miraculous molding of earth and stone, and then down to the girl in the doorway. While still clutching his bloodied shoulder, Officer Clarke manages to croak out a rough, "Th— thank you…"
Were it not for Sparrow's intercession in this, both of those police officers would be dead right now.
Up on the roof, pushing down pressure on the Triad's apartment complex, Magnes Varlane's blossoming anger at the criminal organization is shattered by the sight of something coming up the southern street from the direction of Canal Street. His eyes can barely make it out through the smoke at first, but then the distant rumbling sound clues him in on the massive armored vehicle headed this way.
It's barely audible over the other sounds of conflict, right up until the semi truck that had been blocking the south end of the street is shorn in half by the emergence of a massive black armored vehicle. Tearing through the aluminum walls and thin streel frame of the semi-truck's trailer, a matte black armored personnel carrier comes rolling on all six wheels across the debris and broken glass of this urban battlefield. On one side, the emblem of a blue shield marked with a gold eagle with wings outspread is displayed, and across the opposite side of the vehicle there is only one phrase stenciled on the black metal — FRONTLINE.
From the explosion through the semi truck, thousands of small blue points of light comes bouncing and glimmering thorugh the air, shattering glass and phosphorescent streaks of sapphire-hued liquid smearing across the street and glowing on the vehicles spinning tires as a Refrain shipment is destroyed by the vehicle's impact. The wheels come to a grinding halt, skidding across the pavement as the back doors fold up and open, and a ramp comes slamming down on the concrete. The clink-tink-clank of a smoke grenade is next, bouncing down end over end across the ramp and obscuring the entrance in a haze. Then, somewhere in that dark, glowing pinpoints begin to move. Tiny red lights that glare like the eyes of monsters from some children's fairy tale come bounding out of the back of the truck in synchronous movement.
Emerging through the smoke, a figure in black body armor with hardened molded plates over the chest, shoulders and legs comes stepping out with a black assault rifle braced at his shoulder. His face is covered by a black helmet with two glowing red irises set where eyes should be, and a central domed camera lens on the front between the two eyes. On his back, in white stencil, the name designation of FRONTLINE is displayed in white text.
Bullets rip across the street from Triad gunmen on the third floor of the apartment building towards the first of the emergency task force to respond. The rounds slam against the hardened body armor, sending the man staggering back a step, then another, another bullet ricochets off of his shoulder plating and arcs up into the air. But now when the bullets come, they don't even seem to slow him down. Behind the mask, Michael Spalding charges headlong into the gunfire, rushing across the street and dropping to the ground in a baseball slide before slamming up against the side of a parked car, unclipping a canister from his belt and whipping it in a broad arc into the air.
A single bullet comes tearing out of the smoke, snaking like it's on fishing line until it hits the canister, sending a loud flashBANG to shake the street and blind the Triad at their window gun positions. Michael rises up from behind the car, leveling his assault rifle to his shoulder as he sprays rubber bullets across the road, peppering the Triad and sending them staggering down to the ground in bruised and bleeding heaps behind the windows. «This is FRONTLINE Unit-01.» Comes the crackling hiss of Michael's distorted voice through the helmet's speakers, «Lay down your weapons and cease fire or we will be given no choice but to use lethal force!»
The Cavalry has arrived.
A curse, uncharacteristic in both it's loudness and vulgarity, escapes Ling's lips as the announcement fills the air, barely audible over the cacophony around her. With every passing moment, Ling's options shrank, and it was all narrowing to just what she was expecting. Her left hand clenches tight on the knife she had been given and lets out a long sigh. She knew she would regret it. Standing up straight, her eyes fixated on th scene around her, even as wisps of smoke began to rise from her body - hopefully she could keep her concentration up enough.
Ash races through the building, in search of Jin. Ash is on the hunt, and everything else is ignored now. He can hear the other man's footfalls just in front of him. Then he turns and runs through a doorway, only to catch a food in his gut, as well as a wave of sound with the impact. He grunts at the impact, his body flying backwards, more from the blast of noise than the impact from the blow.
Out of instinct the hand he has with the khukri swipes out upon the impact from that foot, swinging towards Jin's leg. That's the only chance he gets before he tumbles across the floor, though in a matter of moments he's back on his feet, a snarl coming from him as he resumes his chase, running after Jin. Now he's leading with his gun, intent on shooting the bastard before he gets the chance to hit him or use his silly sound powers on him again. Ash's head is still ringing from that sonic blast of noise. He's hoofing it again though, chasing after the Triad torturer.
When the building holds, Sparrow gives a soft word of thanks to the Mother, turning to the two hurt cops as she slinks into the building, "Just trying to help, sir." The young woman offers to the pair as she ducks down, hearing the various sounds from outside. Still her feet and hands touch the ground, likely making sure the building will hold while she glances over to the two cops, at least helping them with some simple first aid until they can manage something more. "There's another cop outside, who's unconscious, but at least protected from any stray bullets. He's near the car that the guy was slamming the other on." She's speaking rapidly, likely trying to hurry and get out. But when the sound of the arriving FRONTLINE unit is heard, she blinks and looks back to the entrance, seeing the blowing smoke across the doorway. "Woa.." Perhaps now might be a good time to go..hmm.. find another way out so she can avoid the questioning later! And that, she tries to do!
The remaining SWAT officers point their rifles at the downed Xue, one going to slowly pull the trigger again to ensure the target is eliminated. But the trigger can't be pulled before a plethora of bullets embed themselves into his back. Dong-Tian poking himself out shortly, just long enough to pepper the man's back with a spray of bullets before ducking back down. FRONTLINE is here.
The final SWAT is taking his shots back at Dong-Tian, but he too is taken in the back. This time from the formerly wounded Xue. Dropping his pistol and shrugging off his hole-y vest the jacket is thrown down as the two brothers reunite. A gesture is flung at Ling to follow, and with that the twins are retreating through the hole in the wall.
The edge of that angled blade slices across Jin's calf only lightly as he pulls back after that kick, but crimson still blossoms over pale fabric as he stumbles back a step before steadying himself. "«Gwailo dog,»" he snarls, drawing in a breath at the same time the gun comes up, but the pistol's a split second faster than another shriek from the audiokinetic's throat. It's not dead on, the bullet hitting his shoulder in a spray of blood, but that roar of anger turns into a scream of pain as he goes tumbling back—
— over the edge of that hole, tumbling down to where the tattooed strongman likely met his end, hitting the floor of the cellar with a sharp crack.
« — //Are you getting this? What you're seeing is live, FRONTLINE Unit One has just been deployed into Chinatown. What looks like some sort of armoured personnel carrier is… wait… we're experiencing some turbu… OH MY GOD — »
A hand lifts from the roof of a building a few down, garish sunglasses that would seem better fit for Elton John's face on that of Johnny Wong, the winds he's been gathering for some time now coming down in a sudden vortex that crashes into the FOX News helicopter, the chopper swinging wildly back and forth in the grip of winds as it spins out of control, whirling around and around as it slices towards the street… and towards the APC that's just crashed into the area.
Dressed identically to Michael Spalding, it's Tristan Bentley who hangs back and takes cover, the glowing red of his mask making twin points as he scouts out his targets. The pistol— of all weapons— in his hands is one he's held before, and often, leveling it upwards towards the gaping windows where Triad members flit in and out. A deep breath escapes through his helmet, and though no one could possibly see it through the chaos of the scene—
Tris doesn't pull the trigger. Not with his hands.
Shots fire from his weapon, guided deadly points that arc through the air faster than the eye can see. Impossible trajectories that he can only feel. A bullet whistles through the window, swerves, and clips the ducking Triad gangmember blindly in the arm. A split second later, there's a shout of pain from two windows down.
And then there's a helicopter crashing through the air, and Tris's eyes widen behind his mask, turning and lifting a hand back towards where another black clad figure had emerged from the vehicle. With a sudden jolt, the soldier is telekinetically pulled through the air and out of harms way, as Tris himself is diving for cover.
In the midst of his Big Damn Heroes awe, Magnes eyes the chopper and… Goddamnit, now he's gonna be known as Chopper Saver. But this time he doesn't have the aid of a magnetokinetic and a telekinetic helping him, and, unfortunately, he had no idea he did the first time. He leaps into the sky after the spinning chopper, moving to slam his fingers directly under it. He's not making the mistake he did last time. The last time he attempted to make the chopper heavier and push it up, but that was dumb. This time he lowers the weight of the bottom half, trying to use the momentum of the propeller to land the damned thing again, which should be a lot easier on his muscles this time. "I swear, if someone shoots me…"
With a crash atop Tristian, the third FRONTLINE agent through the doors lands with a lack of grace from the yank. Struggling to get up on to her knees, Juliette Wright rests her back towards Tristian's direction, a crackling pop of a woman's voice echoing out of her helmet, «This is ridiculous.» The helmet turns, tracing a pair of red streams in the air from the lenses. «I hate these helmets, I feel like I'm going to suffocate.» Viewing the world through a panoramic LCD display, Juliette moves off of her knees and towards one of the cars for cover, looking up to the falling helicopter with wide eyes. «Chester!»
Diving out of the back of the truck, the largest of the Frontline officers lands with a slam of his boots on the pavement, gloved hands spread out as he reaches up towards the falling helicopter and grabs it as it begins to slow its momentum from Officer Varlane's tactful use of his ability. The ground buckles and cracks beneath Chester Wade's feet, fingers pressing hard into the metal at the helicopter's front as his deep, baritone voice rumbles out with static crackle. «S'all good. Easy now, I gotcha.» The panicked news crew inside of the out of control helicopter stares wide eyed as a single man lowers the vehicle down to the street with Magnes' help, a clunk of the runners hitting the pavement means a smooth landing, even as Chester twirls one finger in the air for them to turn off the rotors.
Looking over to the young police officer, a pair of gleaming red lenses focus on Magnes, and all Chester can think to do in response is flip him a black-gloved thumbs up. «We've got movement on the ground floor. Three gunmen headed towards the back exit.» Juliette turns to look at Tristian, then towards Michael who's scanning the rooftops. «Orders?»
Michael nods his head, motioning towards the carrier where a woman not wearing a helmet steps out, the same black form-fitting body armor as the rest of the men, but her dark hair is caught in the downdraft from the helicopter's blades. Ruth Crow Dog lowers her brows, spotting Sparrow Redhouse escaping by the alleyway between the blown out storefront and an adjacent building, one brow raised on the other Native American's face as she nods to Michael and moves to stand beside Chester at the helicopter.
Something bolts through the haze of smoke out of the back of the armored personnel carrier at Ruth's command. It moves quick and low to the ground, a sleek form of black and brown that weaves between cars, moves with startling agility across the street and then leaps through one of the ground floor windows and comes up behind one of the gunmen. Out of nowhere the wild-looking dog with shaggy brown fur and a stocky build comes bounding into the air, jaws open, landing atop one of the Triad members with rending teeth. Its massive bite clamps down on his gun hand, shaking it back and forth until the firearm is loosed, then enormous paws slam down on his chest and teeth bare near his throat but don't quite go for the kill, and the screaming man beneath the shaggy hound merely stares up with wide and horrified eyes, screaming that he surrenders. Overhead, two birds circle the intersection in slow and lazy arcs, observing the area from afar.
Inside the apartment building, the path of destruction carved by the Twins leaves thankfully little for Ling Chao to have to do. With her body shrouded by the ephemeral waves of hazy smoke, knife gleaming in a swaying lamp's irregular light, she is able to merely walk out the back door, shoes leaving blood footprints as she hears the sounds of wild dogs, armored carriers and the government's new Evolved Emergency Response Force outside on the street. Laying slouched over and dead in the hallway, the SWAT members' corpses do little to stop her escape from the scene of the crime, and live to betray another day.
Ash growls loudly as he watches Jin dissapear down the hole. Ash wants him, and bad, but he's not an idiot. He's not going to dive down a hole into the unknown. "Retribution is coming for you Jin." He shouts it into the hole before he turns and heads around it, moving for the back door, the one the SWAT came in through. He peeks outside to see if it's clear out there, and if it is he'll simply slip out the door and hustle off into the streets of New York City.
Slipping out the door, Sparrow heads out the alley, though she does turn back for a moment. Catching sight of the other Native American in black, she blinks, then gestures to the building she came from, perhaps to mouth that there are those needing help in there. And then, she's gone, slipping away as quick as she can on feet cut from the broken glass that littered the ground. She does do one last thing before beating a retreat - relaxes the rock that protected the downed cop on the sidewalk so that emergency crews can get to him a little easier!
As the haze thickens around her, Ling's gaze lingers back for a moment, back where she still heard the sounds of conlict, from where the sounds of FRONTLINE came from. She left no sympathy for the various law enforcement that littered the room, and had no desire to stick around so that FRONTLINE could find her, and ruin it all. As bad as the night had gone, she took solace in the fact that it hadn't gone as bad as she had expected, her grip tight on the knife - she would be saving this, as se had learned at least one thing tonight.
With an ever quickening pace, Ling's body begins to convert fully into smoke, just enough concentration mustered to take what she carries with her as she vanishes on the bare winds, the sound of her bloodied shoes hitting the ground vanishing just as quickly. She would have to thank the Twins another day, but for now, she was more worried with making sure she got out of here without a hitch… and as unseen as possible.
"Ohmigod. Ohmigod. Are— are we alive? Ohmigod thank you— " The news anchor is virtually sobbing out his thanks as the helicopter, against all probability, is set down upon the street, rotors slowly whirling to a close after slicing their way through several laundry lines and a storefront canopy.
There's no answer from where Jin fell; that sharp crack was rather loud and unpleasant, so he may well have met his end beside the girthsome remains of his compatriot in the Flying Dragons. Until the final toll is counted, there's no way to tell.
Johnny Wong frowns, as he sees the helicopter fail to crush the elite unit as he'd hoped, nearly fuming— then turning around to stalk back into the building. Others of rank and importance begin to make their escape as well, beating a hasty retreat and fading into Chinatown while leaving the foot-soldiers to keep FRONTLINE busy. They've lost this day, though the New York Police Department paid for this block in blood…
On his feet and moving back towards the grouping of FRONTLINE soldiers, Tris scopes the area with a masked sweep of his eyes before checking his weapon. «Looks like we're late to the party. Ruth, cover me, I'm gonna check the tenements.» A glance to Spalding, before he's moving to take point. Gun in hand, Tris is headed directly for the building at a brisk pace, moving with caution but direction. There's the scrabble of of claws, somewhere, as an animal darts through the doors to use eyesight that might just be better than human, even better than the electronics of their helmets.
Magnes, once he's landed on the ground, quickly rushes behind the FRONTLINE vehicle, since he doesn't exactly have full body armor. "Be careful in the building! I made the roof super heavy, so it might collapse in the next thirty minutes!" he calls out to warn, but then finds himself slumping, having strained the hell out of himself a lot in such a short time.
«Collapse?» Comes the crackling response of Chester Wade to Magnes as he approaches the gravitokinetic. «Can you undo what you did? We got people that have to go in there and make arrests.» Then, looking across the street, the central camera mount on his helmet whirrs and clicks, lensed eye narrowing as he zooms in to focus on the sight of police officers crawling out from a blown out store. «Then…» Chester's red lenses settle on Magnes again. «I need you to show me where the rest of the wounded are, if you can Sir.» There's a quirk of his head to the side, «I'm Chester Wader, Frontline Medical Officer. Once you get that roof secure, I'll do what I can for your boys until the ambulances are safe to come in.» The guy who was able to pick up a helicopter is their medical staff?
Across the street, with Spalding and Bentley inside of the building and the surviving Triad members scattering to the winds of being rounded up by the FRONTLINE officers, Juliette Wright watches the rooftops by one of the heavily damaged cars on the road. «Hey.» She calls out to the officer by the helicopter, «Good work, officer.» This may be the first time someone has congradulated Magnes on anything relating to policing. Striding out of the APC, the sounds of gunfire have all but ended, leaving Ruth Crow Dog to raise one arm, awaiting the arrival of a falcon from high above the city. When it lands, winds spread and talons scratching across the matte black armor of her forearm, she settles dark eyes on Chester and Juliette.
"There was someone up on the roof disturbing the air currents. He headed in the direction of Chelsea. I've got a dog trying to follow him." She looks back to the bird, a hesitant smile on her lips as her dark eyes settle on Magnes, then look back up to the creaking and groaning apartment building, brows furrowed.
« — what you are seeing down there is New York City's FRONTLINE Unit One deployed for the first time since their formation. To those watching this broadcast, you're seeing the beginning of a new — »
Inside of the apartment building, Spalding and Bentley move from room to room, securing the surviving Triad members, ensuring they're disarmed and that the situation is clear. By the time they reach a large room with a spacious hole at the middle of the floor, Michael pauses, looking up to the hole that goes all the way through five floors to the ceiling, then back over his shoulder to Tristian.
« — in a stunning late afternoon raid, the NYPD stopped a major shipment of the street drug Refrain from reaching distributors. This is a solid victory for the New York Police force against the Triad, and the first — »
Leaning over the edge of the hole, the lens at the middle of Michael's helmet narrows with a whirr, and his LCD display on the inside flashes to night vision. He looks left, looks right, and then looks back up to Tristian and shakes his head. «Nobody down there, just a bunch of rubble.»
« — New Yorkers can sleep a little easier tonight, knowing that FRONTLINE Unit One has been deployed to the streets. Mayor Bianco has cited their victory over the Chinese Mafia as a turning point in the war on terror in this city. — »
Sirens approach from the distance, squads of police cruisers, ambulances and television news trucks all rolling towards the scene of the most violent police battle in the history of New York City. Open warfare with the Chinese mafia has turned the streets red, and now that more Triad blood has been spilled, retalliation is not far behind. But for the unsung heroes of the battle of Chinatown, for the earth movers who save police lives, for the gravitokinetic officers who stop collapsing helicopters, this is their victory as well.
« — In response to the recent violence, New York State Senator Robert Malden is recommending the immediate opening of FRONTLINE's second squad, which was not slated for enlistment until — »