Welcome to Gaia! ::

Astor had been walking for about five minutes when he heard a buzzing sound off in the distance. Assuming it to be some kind of insect he ignored it. The buzz grew into a low whirring noise which grew more and more staccatto and rythmic as it increased in volume. Astor stood close to a thick tree and waited for a moment, listening. The noise grew louder and became more and more defined, thwopthwopthwopthwop. A helicopter. He peered through the leaves and saw the small G.A.O. emblazoned on the side of the machine. Damn, he thought, we need to leave here soon this place is going to be full of agents, and maybe even their hounds. He turned around and walked in a circuitous route that included the crossing of a stream as he headed back to the cave where he had left Lehr. He hoped to god that she had stayed where she was.

((no big deal hehe if i'd have known i wouldn't have double posted, but oh well biggrin ))

Astor took off at a run, his long sure strides carried him swiftly through the woods. He soon arrived at the cave, the drone of the helicopter fading slightly and becoming louder as it partolled the area. He had been sure to stay under cover and was fairly certain he hadn't been seen. All the same he knew they had to get back into the city, it was far less likely that they would be found in some of his safe houses there. This "den" Lehr had mentioned also sounded promising. The advantage of the cave only existed so long as no one knew where to look for them.

He saw Lehr standing in the cave looking worried, saying nothing he rushed past her to the very back of the cave. He retrieved the bag of food and water, and made sure the large bag or brass bb's was still inside. Turning he said, "I assume you saw the helicopter?"

((I think it'd make sense if we join the one in progress though it could get a bit awkward if two people respond to the same post. I suppose we could keep it seperate and just have people post in both too keep it organized.))

Astor considered that for a moment. He would have preferred going to one of his own safehouses but he did very much want to see the Den. "Ok, I'll get us into the city, you get us to the Den. Follow me." Astor took off running.

They had been running for about 3 minutes when Astor heard a man yell "Stop right there mother ********!" And then the blast of machinegun fire. Astor id'd the weapon as a standard issue M4 Carbine firing full metal jacket ammunition. Employing a small amount of his power he deflected the bullets just enough that they wouldn't hit himself or the woman. He must have missed a couple though because one skimmed over his arm and another just barely missed Lehr, impacting the dirt beside her foot.

He took the nerve gun from his belt and fired a half aimed shot at the Agent. He must have just barely clipped the main on the shoulder because he dropped almost instantly. "Keep running and keep your head down," Astor yelled. He heard a short burst of static and knew the man was radioing for backup. "It's about to get real dangerous around here."

Astor smiled a mischievous smile. "About a mile, It's them or us Lehr, we have a long way to go so keep your wits about you. I'll do my best to keep us safe but I can't promise that neither of us will get hurt." He saw several more Agents similarly armed off in the distance to his right. He pushed Lehr ahead of him, "Run Lehr, run faster than you've ever run in your life." Astor fired several shots at the Agents, but his aim was off since he was running and he missed. Thank god these are just grunts, Astor thought, I don't have to worry too much about the G.A.O.'s nasty high tech weaponry.

Firing shot's behind him as he ran Astor heard a man fall with a strangled cry. One down, he thought, a s**t ton more to go.

They burst into a clearing less than a quarter mile from the city and found themselves surrounded by about fifteen of the soldiers. The soldiers were obviously on edge but assuming that they had the two creatures caught and were no longer in immediate danger they defaulted to their orders, bring them in alive. Both Astor and Lehr stood still, "This is not good." Astor whispered, "I can take eight maybe ten of them, but that leaves the others who'd waste us in a second." Throughout all of this an agent with a red patch on his sleeve, a badge of rank Astor assumed, was screaming orders at them, "Get the ******** down on the ground or we will fire!"