Guns and Fun

The Industrial District of Brockton Bay was a maze of abandoned factories, rusted machinery, and forgotten warehouses. Once the heartbeat of the city's manufacturing prowess, it had now become a shadowy territory where gangs and criminal organizations vied for control. It was into this environment that Scribe and Buckshot ventured on a warm summer evening, following up on a tip about an impending Empire 88 operation.

Scribe, had picked up news from his contacts that Empire 88 was planning a significant arms deal. If the chatter was to be believed, the gang was to bolster its forces with new shipment of tinker made weaponry. The thought of such a dangerous group gaining more firepower was enough to force Scribe and his fellow cape Buckshot, into action.

"Are you sure about this intel?" Buckshot asked, adjusting the bandolier of ammunition strapped across his chest. His eyes scanned the darkened alleyways and the eerie silhouettes of decaying buildings but was unable to identify any potential threats.

"Positive," Scribe replied, his robotic voice distorted slightly but still retaining its original posh British accent. "The intel suggests that the deal is going down at Warehouse 13. If we can intercept it, we can hamper their plans, weaken their forces and prevent future bloodshed."

Buckshot nodded, his expression grim, if only they had more backup but with the city in its current state the Protectorate was already pushed to its limits. He was a sharpshooter with a penchant for sarcastic banter, but he could find little to joke about as the danger they were walking into. Empire 88 was not just any gang; they were organized, well-armed, and their parahuman members were formidable. But they couldn't sit idly by while the group grew stronger.

As they approached the warehouse, Scribe activated a pair of small drones that quietly flapped their wings and flew into the night sky. The drones where designed to resemble small mechanical owls that would survey the area and relayed a live feed to Scribe, allowing him to scout the area without exposing themselves. However what he saw would have made his heart sink if he still had one.

"There's more of them than we thought," Scribe whispered, relaying the footage to his scrying stone, the crystalline device created a small holographic screens to display the drone's feed showing a large contingent of Empire 88 foot soldiers patrolling the area. Among them, he spotted the distinctive figures of Hookwolf and Stormtiger, two of the gang's most dangerous parahumans.

"Great," Buckshot muttered, peering over Scribe's shoulder at the feed absentmindedly checking his gun. "It's always more entertaining when its a target rich environment."

Scribe's mind raced. They had expected resistance, but not on this scale. The gang members were heavily armed, and the parahumans with them only made things more complicated. "We need to call for backup," Scribe said, reaching for his communicator.

But before he could activate it, a sudden noise startled them both. They turned to see a small group of Empire 88 soldiers, apparently a scouting party, had emerged from a neighboring alley. The soldiers froze, just as surprised to see the two hero's crouched behind cover as Scribe and Buckshot were to see them.

"Shit," Buckshot hissed, drawing his weapons. Scribe immediately activated his defensive systems, but the situation quickly spiraled out of control. One of the soldiers managed to shout out in alarm, alerting the others as Buckshot opened fire to stun and silence the patrol, downing two as the third opened fire diving back into the alley they had entered from for cover their spray of bullets going wide and the few that where almost on target being deflected by scribes sheilding device. Within moments, the entire warehouse area was alive with movement and shouted orders as gang members scrambled to the source of the gunfire.

Scribe and Buckshot found quickly found themselves surrounded as the rest of the nearby Empire 88 members converged on their position. Hookwolf transformed into his monstrous metal form, a growl rumbling through his distorted throat. Stormtiger flexed his claws, preparing to unleash his deadly shockwaves.

"Looks like you boys are seriously fucking lost" Hookwolf growled out though his metal mask as his gang members circled around cutting off potential exists for the capes as they kept their guns trained on the duo's cover.He cracked his neck as he chuckled "Why dont you boys come out here and I promise we wont beat one of you completely to death. what do you sa-"

Hookwolf was cut off mid sentence as Buckshot had leaned out of cover to fire a single shot catching the Villain between the eyes, though the bullet succeeded in piercing flesh and throwing the gang members head back violently, the bullet being deflected off the metal musculature below.

Buckshot quickly took cover again as the gang returned fire on their location. "Seems they have us surrounded, the poor bastards" Buckshot chuckled mirthlessly, "Got any plans hidden up that sleeve of your?"

Scribe assessed their options quickly. They were outnumbered and outgunned, with no immediate backup. The best they could hope for was to hold out long enough to find an opening to escape or call for help. "My deflector wont work on this much firepower so I cant fly us to the roof without you getting shot." He paused in thought. "We stand our ground and try to create a distraction," he said, his robotic hands grasping his staff willing the device to ready an high smoke incendiary round. "If we can draw them away from the warehouse to our 6, we might have a chance to reposition."

As the gang members closed in, Scribe stood brandishing his staff as he shouted "FIREBALL!" launched the incendiary at the feet of the larger group, the flame spread catching to clothes as the cloying smoke blocked their vision and choked their lungs hoping the fire would delay the human gang members as Buckshot turned opening fire on group to their 6 downing two of the gangsters and scattering the remainders.

Scribe and Buckshot ran through the cause of gunfire and angry shouts. Buckshot easily dodging and weaving through the hail of gun fire while the spray of bullets quickly broke Scribes deflector with several of the shots missing his mechanical body by a hairs breadth as the duo swapped to a new tactic taking turns providing covering fire trying to buy the other time as they moved from cover to cover.

The battle was intense, the air filled with the sound of gunfire, explosions, energy blasts from either Stormtiger attempting to destroy the heros cover or Scribes staff launching an explosive to throw Hookwolf back and keep him from entering melee range with the two capes, and the clash of steel and breaking masonry.

Despite their best efforts, the two vigilantes were being pushed back, by the sheer numbers and fire power of their opponents preventing their immediate escape and harrying them as they attempted to take cover in a nearby warehouses. Buckshot kicking the old lead doors open as he  quickly scanned the interior

To their dismay a collapse in the building had strewn the entryway with debris and left them with no more room to retreat, The Empire 88 members slowly closed in, their eyes gleaming with anticipation. Hookwolf snarled, as blades of metal emerged from his skin shifting into a grotesque, metallic beast. "This is the end of the line for you two," he growled his body covered in scorch marks as blood still dripping from his mask from the head wound Buckshot had inflicted.

Scribe took quick stock of their position and the situation seemed dire, as he was trying to formulate a new distraction he was interrupted as shouts of alarm erupted from the Empire 88 members as the wall between them and the two hero's collapsed into the alleyway the falling bricks and mortar dust dispersing to reveal a small scaly figure tumbling through the debris with a giggle.

It was Pun-Pun, the three-foot-tall kobold, his face smeared with ice cream as his eyes swirled around in childlike wonder at all the gang member "Whoa, there's so many baldies here!" he giggled in excitement.

Scribe's optics widened in realization as a new plan began to form in his mind. He leaned out of cover waving at the kobold "Hey, Pun-Pun!" Scribe called out, his voice friendly and enthusiastic. "Do you like games?"

Pun-Pun's eyes lit up, and he nodded eagerly. "Yeah! Pun-Pun LOVES games!"

Scribe would have grinned if he still could. "Great! How about a game of tag? Your IT and those guys" He pointed at Hookwolf and Stormtiger who turned in horror to look first at scribe before quickly focusing back on Pun-Pun "you just have to tag them to win!"

Pun-Pun's face broke into a wide, toothy smile. "Tag! Fun!" He slowly tottered side to side as he turned towards the Empire 88 members, who were now watching the kobold warily as Pun-Puns eyes slowly stopped aimlessly spinning around to finally focus on the empire 88 members.

"Ahh shit.." Hookwolf sighed his sentence cut short by the concrete beneath the small kobold exploded as the kobold launched himself tongue flapping in the wind as he flew at his new playmates.