Eric Lentan's eyes snapped to the closed-circuit monitor at his left hand.  He'd hijacked that camera, mounted over Shenzai Square, just moments after he had returned to his bunker from the front.  The camera had limited flexibility, but he'd managed to point it at the Palace of the Wolf, angling it upwards as far as he could.<br/><br/>He couldn't make anything out - the camera was too grainy to see much, and the Palace was too tall to allow him a good view of the roof.  He chewed the tip of a pencil.  If his mission was happening at that moment, he couldn't even watch.  He anxiously snatched a rabbit from the cage beneath his desk and gulped it down, trying to drown out the butterflies in his stomach with its struggles.<br/><br/>He had sent a group of people into the wolf's maw.  They had to come out of it with Karogen, a Slayer agent, and a blow to Alhanda's pride, in addition to their lives.  His throat threatened to constrict with nervousness, and he forcefully devoured another rabbit to pry it open.  His war was still raging elsewhere, but at that very moment, Eric Lentan cared only about eight people.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Lady Alhanda's eyes shot to the ceiling as the ripping, chainsaw-like report of the helicopter's minigun tore through the upper levels of the Palace.  From where she was - briefing her top generals via telephone in her office - the gun sounded quite near.  Too close for comfort.  It was, after all, just three stories up from her living spaces.<br/><br/>She cut off the conversation with her generals and leapt from her table, rushing into the central corridor of the floor.  It took her all of three seconds to send the closest guards rushing to the stairwell with orders to investigate and repel any attack.<br/><br/>Immediately she returned to her office and picked up her telephone, pressing the button that called the Palace Guards' barracks, several stories below.  After a single ring, a husky voice answered, "Guard barracks.  My lady?"<br/><br/>"Report."<br/><br/>"One guard reported dead on the roof, my lady.  More guards en route.  Loud noise reported from the catacombs.  The dungeon section chief has organized an investigation."<br/><br/>Alhanda paused.  The catacombs?<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Arget nearly lost control of the mini-gun as the weapon vibrated violently, its bullets sending shards of cement everywhere.  The vent grates sparked and began to shift, weakening under the assault.<br/><br/>Five guards were at the door to the stairs in seconds, having rushed up in a hurry.  The mini-gun couldn't cover the door as it was blocked by the interior of the helicopter, but it took the guards a moment to discover that as they crouched in the doorway, trying to see their attackers.<br/><br/>Their silvery blades rang as they were drawn.  All five of them darted out of the doorway, heading for the helicopter...<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Halvorson had kept an eye posted just beyond the edge of the funeral opening.  He saw the guards.  At first only twelve - mostly canine and lupines - had come into the hallway, the sole connection to the Palace.  Then six more rounded the corner - a mix of vulpines and lupines.  One of them, a tall female, was talking loudly to her fellows.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Guys, pair off so we can search better," </span>she was saying, her Highlander accent obvious.<span style="font-style: italic">"And try for live, eh? Lady'll reward us better if we bring her back meals instead ae bodies!" </span><br/><br/>Halvorson's eyes flew open wide.  With that accent, that could only be the Slayer agent.  The Slayer agent that was SUPPOSED to be up near the roof, where Chiro and Arget could extract her.  He grit his teeth.  The best laid plans...<br/><br/>The first twelve guards were getting too close.  It wouldn't be long before they spotted Halvorson's group.  He saw their blades.  He couldn't let them get close enough to use them.  In silent anxiety, he pulled his head back behind the edge and ran a pair of fingers over the liquid armor he'd spread on his forehead.  There was no way he could hope to turn his group back.  From here on in, it was time to raise hell.<br/><br/>So he started it.  "RAISE HELL, FELLAS!!" he cried, rounding the corner and loosing a volley from his submachine gun.  O'Toole stepped out and knelt, slightly to his rear, joining in with her own weapons.  Seth screeched and recoiled from the noise of the gunfire.<br/><br/>Guards fell in groups; those bullets that didn't find a mark sparked off their armor, lighting the black hallway with little flashes of yellow and white.  The group of twelve was utterly ravaged by the gunfire, while the six guards in the rear were frozen momentarily in utter shock.  Some began retreating around the bend.  Halvorson prayed that the Slayer agent knew to pull back and wait for them to stop firing before she tried coming over to join them.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>The noise of gunshots tore through the lowest level of the Palace.  Anyone down there could have heard it - even those locked away in their cells.  The old man gave a rattling cough and inhaled harshly.  "That sounds like they're more than busy to me," he remarked in his hoarse whisper, barely audible over the rattling shots.  His chains clanked as the violence of his choking fit racked his frail body, the coughs serving as frail echoes of the gunfire.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Lanner's ire had risen to the breaking point as Dreamer flaunted his order.  He took two steps back from the safe, keeping his eyes on Dreamer's every move, his body wound like a spring.<br/><br/>Maeve lay on the floor, terrified and weak.  She felt the bodysuit cover her and did her best to keep it there.  She knew what was about to happen.<br/><br/>Dreamer pulled out the bundle of cash.  Lanner's greedy eyes took it in, his lip twitching with avarice.  Then Dreamer tossed the money across the room.  As the small bundle sailed in mid-air, the eyes of the other men followed it, but Lanner let it go.  Dreamer's hands were moving again, and he wanted to see what else was in that safe.<br/><br/>Dreamer's left hand wasn't reaching into the safe, but around his back.  The jerky movement was far too rapid for a man held at gunpoint - Dreamer was making a break for it.<br/><br/>Lanner's taut reflexes went off.  The machine-gun in his hands explosively spat lead at the young man by the safe.  All of the other men jumped, their attention distracted from the money on the floor.  Maeve screamed.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>((OOC:  I'll post about the battle at Merelli's HQ once Saiai's posted about Raice.))