Where Does the Time Go? (IC)

[lostsole31]

He tilts his head towards you and asks, "What are you doing?"
......................................

Janos, as you drive along the parkway in the wee hours of night (you were held over until night to have clearer roads), a biker keeps trying to find a way to pass you (and in turn, the convoy) ... as speeds are still not allowed to exceed normal speed limit (not even the typical civilian adder).

Finally, once there is no more oncoming traffic, he revs up what obviously sounds like a Harley or other American bike and roars past on the left, passing the Brink's car, and then out of sight.

Several minutes later, you hear on the radio chatter (open line with other cars in the convoy): WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?

[BuckGodot]

He tilts his head towards you and asks, "What are you doing?"

Using his acting skill, Crane leans forward and grimaces while saying Gas pains.....Sorry.....Burrito for lunch....

[lostsole31]

He simply looks at you and shakes his head and says, "For someone who is supposed to draw upon great darkness, you are transparent."

He pulls out his gun and points it at you, then says slightly off to the side (not, not far enough away that he is somehow 'distracted' from you or his aim): "The prisoner has slipped his shackle. Advise if I shoot to kill or wound."

[srgonzo]

Sh**-snacks. We couldn't just have a peaceful ride back to my apartment so I could have a little time with my very weird girlfriend.

[lostsole31]

Surprise Round ...

Janos sees the lead car veer off the road, sideswipe a tree, and tumble a little.

At about the same time as that "WTH" radio report, the Brink's car in front suddenly looks like it slammed into something, and jack-knifes up but spins from the impact to land on its side off the shoulder of the opposite side of the road. There is something green and yellow that fell there as well.

Inside the armored car ... no sooner does Donovan make his errant statement and realize he can't Cloak up, the agent looks like he just might sho-*BAM*!!

The carrier is horribly tumbled around inside. Donovan, you take 17 STUN and 2 BODY from injury slamming around, and you are STUNNED.

Janos, With the side jackknife, it clips the driver's side corner of the car behind the carrier, and that car spins wildly, slamming into the SUV Janos is inside as air bags deploy.

Pre-Turn Segment-12

T0D32S12: Janos, in the first car that tumbled, you can see that someone comes out, but you're not sure who.

T0D30S12: Janos, something else you see is well, well up ahead, probably a hundred yard up, is a single headlight on this side of the road. What do you do?

[srgonzo]

I'd prefer to tackle the driver of the oncoming motorcycle as Mr. O, but if I can't make it, then I'll just do it as Janos.

[BuckGodot]

Donovan says, "What the crap?" which actually comes out, "Whazzicar?" because he is stunned.....

[srgonzo]

[LS] Camera is tilted down on a view of the improbably vacant highway. The road stretches off in the distance. In the foreground is a car, a few hundred yards up the road is an armored truck with BRINKS written on the side. Smoke for a purely dramatic effect is billowing out of the bottom of the truck. Past the truck is another car which is on fire.

[CU] JANOS GEHLEHWAT and DR. MOCH are in the car behind the truck. JANOS is in the passenger seat. Both occupants are visibly shaken.

JANOS: What the FRAK was that?!!!

MOCH: It looks [cut to MS of someone getting out of burning car]like someone[cut to CU of motorcycle with boot of BIKER X][cut to CU of MOCH] is trying to free or kill your friend. [cut to XCU of JANOS with an expression of determined rage, then back to MOCH]Don't do anything...[cut to MS of JANOS pulling himself out of the car through the window, then back to medium shot of MOCH, throwing himself back against the driver's seat]...rash.

LS of JANOS pulling himself out of the car through the window, and climbing on to the top of the trunk of the car. He crouches and blackness begins to spread out from the center of his body.

Cut to MS of motorcycle accelerating toward the camera. Back and forth between JANOS and the motorcycle. Music should be rising as JANOS leaps at the motorcyclist.

Dun-dun-DUN!

[srgonzo]

Janos switches to his Mr. O guise and does a quick check of the truck to see if there is any fire or smoke coming from the vehicle. If not, he moves toward the abandoned motorcycle to see if there's any indication of where the rider went. If there is fire or smoke, Mr. O will attempt to evacuate the people inside.

[lostsole31]

T0D30S12: Janos pops out of his seatbelt and opens the door to the SUV. He is not in superform yet.

Spoiler

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Seatbelt is half-phase, and opening door is half-phase, and that is all you can do.

T0D27S12: Donovan, the agent inside the tumbled van compartment with you gets behind you, has an incredibly firm hold about you in a half-Nelson with his left hand, and his right hand is holding a Desert Eagle handgun to your right temple. He says, curiously, "What is happening? Report."

Outside, two NSA agents get out of the side-turned Brinks as two other agents come out of the main car.

T0D20S12: Janos, the green-yellow thing gets up. It is a man. A very big man. Given that this man singlehandedly must've plowed into and upturned a Brinks armored car ... and he wears a green-yellow costume ... there is no doubt in Janos' mind that he is a super. Unfortunately, Janos knows a lot about the normal law enforcement world, but nothing about other supers. One thing is for sure, this guy attacked a federal convoy and he doesn't look friendly.

Spoiler

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He is a tall and imposing figure: 7' tall and weighing in at around 300 pounds of muscle. He is a light-skinned African man with obvious signs of Caucasian influence, which causes no end of problems for him in Africa, some places in America, and elsewhere. His skin tone actually lends as much to a gray as a light brown, owing to his thick hide and the fact that the rhinoceros is what influenced his armored hide. His back, legs, arms, and chest, however, are covered in a fair matting of black hair, almost like that of a gorilla.

The costume is primarily green, with many trimmings of yellow. He has a pair of antlers protruding from his head (or at least his costume), though they are not particularly large and likely more decorative than real. His movements are more feral, yet measured, like some cautious hunting animal. On his left breast there is a motif of some type of deer or antelope.

He leaps up from where the carrier is at the front, easily clearing well over the heads of the two agents that are now standing on the door (top) of the carrier to land at the entrance at the back. It is a pretty incredible brute-force jump.

"Release the man, and I won't have to kill you," he says to someone inside the carrier.

T0D18S12: Donovan recovers from being stunned and is no longer stunned, but has no action either.

Post-Segment 12 recovery ....

Donovan recovers 9 STUN (now at 22:30)

Turn One ...

T1D32S2: A voice shouts from the opposite side of the agent car up ahead. "Whoever this is, you have attacked a convoy containing federal officers in a multi-branch taskforce escorting an extremely dangerous creature to a holding facility. I demand you surrender at once or we will fire upon you."

T1D30S2: Janos, it's a no-brainer (I hope?) that a half-phase will be spent shifting to Mr. Ourobouros. What will the other half-phase be? Unfortunately, because of the side of your car that you're on, you can't get to the green-yellow guy in a charge, but you can make it up to him.

Spoiler

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Guys, sorry ... I actually did this several nights ago, but finished just after the nightly backup began and I was too exhausted to wait up. I saved it as a file, then forgot about it and didn't post it.

[srgonzo]

Get up to the moose and ready entropic touch on the way.

[lostsole31]

T1D30S2: Janos calls on the Four Forces of Balance to invoke the form of Mr. Ourobouros. He then does some outstanding free running action over the hood and up to the big "moose" in green and yellow. A dark force envelops his right hand, blacker even than his own costume, and thrumming with a strange energy-noise that would only likely be familiar to The Cloak.

Some type of bullet - and it's a big caliber - rips from the back and out through the front of one of the agents at the downed carrier, leaving a hole where his heart was. He isn't thrown. He just falls over face down dead on the ground.

The agent who is up near the lead car shouts out, "Sniper! Agent Jackson is down. Agent Johnson, keep the abomination contained. Agent Jones, assist Agent Gehlewaht with the mutant attacker. Agent Brown to me while we get the sniper. That came from the woods near my position."

T1D27S2: With apparent response times far in excess of what could possibly be expected of normal men, the agents begin to move. The one that must be Agent Brown gets out of the car and stands by the leader up ahead.

The one that must be Agent Jones jumps clear up to the top of the carrier to get a high-ground shot on the green-and-gold moose. He fires his handgun (the agents all seem to have .50 Desert Eagle-similar handguns), and the bullet would've hit the brute's chest but for a fistload he was holding. The thing in moose's hand zaps into a contained electrical field shaped like a shield, and the bullet bounces off. The shield shape is not round, but is a type of long wedge shape reminiscent of the shape of African shields.

Inside the van, Agent Johnson takes advantage of Donovan's stunned status. He grabs him and then throws him against the front wall of the van as Donovan's back slams hard into it. It's a bone crushing throw that does 3B/29S. Donovan's world goes to black ... and in his case, not the good black.

T1D20S3: The moose looks at Mr. O curiously and says in a basso profundo voice, "Hm. Upgrades."

He springs well up and over O's head to land on the other O's right side and several feet back. He then roars .... like a lion. I mean, he really sounds like some powerful hunting cat. The roar is incredibly loud, doing 11 STUN (totally bypasses armor, as it affects hearing) to Mr. O, though only 6S to the agent on top of the van.

T1D18S3: Donovan, your body fights hard to bring you back around. You can take no actions of any kind, but you now have 2 STUN. As you lie on the floor of the van, you notice the lighting has changed some in the vehicle. You look above you. Where you slammed, your body broke plexiglas and hit some junction box.

The UV lights in the van ... are gone. It is dark in here, and other than the fact that you are heavily wounded and barely conscious, you feel the connection to darkness there at the periphery of your being.

T1D32S4: The lead agent heads into the woods. His voice can be heard within. "Brown, this way."

The sound of a shot.

T1D30S4: Janos, what do you do?

[srgonzo]

Combine a strike (the 8d6 kind) with Entropic Touch. Janos isn't fooling around.

[lostsole31]

T1D30S4: Janos combines the power of Brazilian Jujitsu with that of his darkforce, sacrficing the defensive movement of the former, to really give it to the big guy. The big guy moves like an animal though, and ducks out of the way.

Spoiler

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1) "Strike" on your martial arts (#11 on your list) does 9d6.
2) Doing a combined attack takes the worst OCV and DCV. Since a basic power is +0 on each, you lose the +2 DCV of your martial arts strike.
3) You pay END for both: 5 total. (41:46).
4) You have a +1 HTH CSL (Combat Skill Level). Since you didn't define, the assumption is that it is in OCV, which makes sense for your intention.

T1D27S4: Agent Jones sets his aim for a better shot on the moose.

With Donovan KO'd, Agent Johnson steps outside (behind Mr. O) to see what's happening, raising his gun at the moose and shoots just past the moose's shield to hit him in the stomach. The bullet bounces, but the shock still does 14 STUN.

T1D20S5: The moose pounces on Mr O with his shield as an electrified battering ram, smacking O's right hand (12B/21S base) but doing no damage. "You're tough. Fought tougher."

T1D18S5: Donovan, you see as I described before as you come out of unconsciousness. The agent is just outside the van, showing you his left profile. The UV lights in the van are done and you are mainly in near-darkness (lights from a vehicle's headlamp outside). You are prone. What do you do?

[lostsole31]

T1D30S4: Janos combines the power of Brazilian Jujitsu with that of his darkforce, sacrficing the defensive movement of the former, to really give it to the big guy. The big guy moves like an animal though, and ducks out of the way.

Spoiler

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1) "Strike" on your martial arts (#11 on your list) does 9d6.
2) Doing a combined attack takes the worst OCV and DCV. Since a basic power is +0 on each, you lose the +2 DCV of your martial arts strike.
3) You pay END for both: 5 total. (41:46).
4) You have a +1 HTH CSL (Combat Skill Level). Since you didn't define, the assumption is that it is in OCV, which makes sense for your intention.

T1D27S4: Agent Jones sets his aim for a better shot on the moose.

With Donovan KO'd, Agent Johnson steps outside (behind Mr. O) to see what's happening, raising his gun at the moose and shoots just past the moose's shield to hit him in the stomach. The bullet bounces, but the shock still does 14 STUN.

T1D20S5: The moose pounces on Mr O with his shield as an electrified battering ram, smacking O's right hand (12B/21S base) but doing no damage. "You're tough. Fought tougher."

T1D18S5: Donovan, you see as I described before as you come out of unconsciousness. The agent is just outside the van, showing you his left profile. The UV lights in the van are done and you are mainly in near-darkness (lights from a vehicle's headlamp outside). You are prone. What do you do?

[BuckGodot]

Not fooling around. Now is my chance to make a break. I Cloak up and Fade to Black and fly the hell out.

Spoiler

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In addition, I activate Defensive Shadow Form if that isn't a passive thingy....

[lostsole31]

T1D18S5: Donovan tries to change form, but his multiple wounds are painful so it takes him a Half-Phase action to complete (1 END). The pain of his wounds are too much for him to focus to activate Defensive Shadow (but he still pays 6 END for the effort, and he pays this cost each round). He activates Fade to Black (5 END). But he can't even get to his feet.

Spoiler

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STUN 7:35. END 5:60. BODY 11:16

* Whenever you are KO'd, you lose all your END. Once you are conscious, you regain the same number of END as the STUN you have. You got a boost in END because of the difference (10) between Donovan and Cloak. You are exhausted, woozy, and injured ... but at least you have much better protection.
* Defensive Shadow provides outstanding benefit, but like any normal power, the cost must be paid every segment on your turn, unlike Fade to Black. You won't be able to run it next turn.
* You can take an action to recover ... you'd be at 1/2 DCV, but you gain your REC in END. You can't take an action to recover STUN. That you can only get during each Post-Segment 12.
* For every 2 BODY you are down (fractions rounded up), you have to make an EGO roll to conduct any action, make any movement, or activate any power. You have resistance (+1) to show some ability to overcome pain, but your mind is only a little above average.

T1D32S6: The sound of a single gunshot is heard in the woods.

T1D30S6: Janos?

Spoiler

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STUN 31:42. END 40:46.

[srgonzo]

Dealt with tougher, eh? I guess that's a matter of perspective.

Janos looks the human rhino in the eye and hits him with A Matter of Perspective.

[lostsole31]

T1D30S6: Janos looks the rhino in the eye and says, "Dealt with tougher, eh? I guess that's a matter of perspective."

Janos, competition-level MMA fighter, closes and performs a textbook necklock (type of joint lock, but for the neck) on the man, and getting 12 STUN through his defenses. The elbow is at the throat, and the rest of the body plying the man's body back as Mr. Ourobouros stares into the man's eyes.

Spoiler

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Again, the assumption is that your HTH level is in OCV.
Full Strength = 3 END. STUN 31:42. END 37:46
-1 DCV for maneuver.

.
T1D27S6: One of the agents comes out of the woods and covers the grapple between the flashy strong guys. "Unknown terrorist in green-and-yellow .... your accomplice in the woods is dead, shot through the head. The agent you are fighting is a former professional hand-to-hand fighter and superhero. You are outgunned and outclassed. Surrender or be destroyed."

Just at the lip of the open back door of the van, the agent turns to see .... that he can no longer see Donovan Crane. "The UV system has failed. The aberration has escaped!"

He fires at where Donovan was last seen .... which is the area of where he actually is (but the agent doesn't exactly now that) ... and the bullet hits the junction box that powered the UV system.

T1D32S7: A gunshot from the woods. The HSR agent that was with Janos in the jeep was just beginning to stir, and a bullet goes through the door that Janos had opened to open the man's head wide and go through the driver's window. Janos' fellow HSR agent is dead.

T1D30S7: Mr. Ourobouros, do you continue to perform Matter of Perspective II on the "rhino?"

[BuckGodot]

I will take time to Recover.

[lostsole31]

Yes, yes, you're very shmart, shut up.

Mr. Ourobouros, question as before .... ?

[lostsole31]

T1D30S7: Mr. Ourobouros' funky silver eyes seem to spin as he forces the 'rhino' to look at him. "Yes, tough guy, it's all a matter of perspective."

He keeps his hold on the big man, but this power is more than Mr. O's relatively weak mind. The Balance isn't quite able to reach the beast's mind, as that man seems to be made of sterner stuff mentally as well.

Spoiler

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Using this power effectively requires an EOCV vs EDCV, EGO OCV vs the target's EGO DCV. Your EGO is merely a 10, you ended up only getting an avergae result, which for you is a EDCV of only 3. This guy's mind is stronger than that. 3 END to maintain the hold, and 3 END to attempt the power.
* STUN 31:42. END 31:46.

T1D23S7: The Cloak takes a breather, but has to drop his defensive shadow to do so.

T1D27S8: The agent at the van steps over to make sure that if Cloak is in the van, he has to go through him first. (No, there is no "slipping around him" when you're in the same hex without him sensing you there.) He delays the other 1/2 Phase of his action.

The other agents cover the rhino man but don't fire so as not to hurt Mr. Ourobouros.

T1D20S8: With only his neck held, and bent back at an angle, the 'rhino' attempts a shield slam with his electro-shield. He smacks Mr. O's left hand to get him to let go, but O's resiliency is way more than that.

T1D30S9: Mr. Ourobouros, what do you do?

[srgonzo]

Hit him with the Machin Shin.

[lostsole31]

T1D30S9: Only because of his incredible agility is Mr. Ourobouros able to affect the Machin Shin. Because it would be too costly for him, otherwise, he lets the 'rhino' go of the head lock. It takes an incredible amount of energy but the big man disappears in a whirl of dark energies and horrible noise.

Spoiler

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3 END for the hold, because you didn't say you relinquished the hold +
28 END for full-power Machin Shin, because you didn't define any less =
33 END, and you only have 31, which is why I had you let go of the hold.

You now have 0 END.

T1D23S9: The Cloak has regained some energies. He is prone, and his fade to black is active. What does he do?

Spoiler

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* STUN 7:35. END 20:60. BODY 11:16 (-3 EGO check to perform any actions)

[srgonzo]

Mr. O collapses onto the ground, looks up at the sky and says:

I'm really going to have to do some mental training.

[BuckGodot]

Cloak looks around the agent blocking the door to spot an area of darkness beyond him.....Thinks to himself, Here goes nothing... takes a deep breath and.....A deep, inky blackness erupts from the center of where his body would be, if you could see him, forms in to a miniature black hole drawing his matter, again if you could see it, into it's center with a brief sucking sound like a sharp inhalation of breath, he vanishes. This all takes place in the space of a breath....The reverse happens outside the van in a shadowed area not far from it's entrance. Cloak reappears...Or he would if he was visible and immediately dashes silently for the woods....

Spoiler

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As per our phone convo. 1/2 phase action activating Big Steps Through the Darkness 3 hexes out of the van and then 1/2 phase action to run 3 hexes into the woods...

[lostsole31]

T1D23S9: Cloak looks around the agent blocking the door to spot an area of darkness beyond him.....Thinks to himself, Here goes nothing... takes a deep breath and.....

... nothing. The pain of his wounds keep him from mustering the necessary energy. In fact, he doesn't even have the will to get on his feet.

Spoiler

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Sadly, you were still prone. You can teleport while prone, but not run or fly.

So, the long-discussed tactic would've failed as you would have had to stand. But I would've been happy to amend that to you teleporting far enough away, if it weren't for the fact that you failed your EGO roll with your pain from bodily wounds on both getting the teleportation AND even trying to just stand. Luckily, your groans aren't heard because of your inaudibility.

* STUN 7:35. END 17:60. BODY 11:16 (Must roll 10- EGO for any action).
* Prone. Fade to Black.

T1D27S10: The agents continue to ready to fire on the rhino ...

T1D20S10: The rhino tries again to smash Mr. O with another shield smash. This time, the big man's shield arm swings around to slam Mr. O in the back with the shield as the rhino spins and ducks forward. The nigh invulnerable Enforcer of the Balance actually takes 12 STUN, but also is sent blasting into the forest and careening into a tree with his right shoulder, but Mr. O is back on his feet in a split second.
Mr. O

Spoiler

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When you get Knocked Back and hit an object, you can usually do one of two things:
1) Roll an Acrobatics check to halve damage, but you can't use Breakfall, or
2) Roll a Breakfall check to spring back to your feet instantly, but you can't use Acrobatics as above.

I defaulted to the second since you can usually count on being unharmed after blasting into something ... even by a palooka like this one.

As comic book coinky-dink would have it, at your feet is a man. Because of the agent car that hit a tree, some light is this way and that's the only way you see him at all.

The man is 5'11", probably weighs in at an extremely lean buck-fifty. Balding, but with short white hair at the temples and around. He appears to be of some Hispanic or not-quite-Caucasian descent, so the pale white skin and pure white hair is odd. He wears blue jeans, a faded cowboy shirt, a bolo tie with turqouise, has a headband, and a leather duster. His boots are obviously biker boots, with the thick rubber side soles. On the ground beside him is a gun which you (amazingly) recognize as some type of customized/ modified Barrett Light .50 caliber rifle ... a real super-sniper weapon. With his back on the ground and his jacket open wide, you also see two types of pistols you don't recognize.

There is a bullet hole in his head..

T1D32S11: Several feet from Mr. O (2") - in the direction of the battle but using a tree as cover (which means not behind a tree to you) the other agent that was in the woods fires at the rhino, but the latter manages to deflect the bullet with his electro-shield.

T1D30S11: Mr. O collapses onto the ground, looks up at the sky and says, "I'm really going to have to do some mental training."

T1D23S11: The Cloak attempts to right teleport again, but fails. However, this time he manages to get on his feet.

T1D32S12: All of the agents move at a speed that is obviously well beyond the human norm, but so did Janos before his apotheosis. This lead agent behind the tree, however, is confoundingly and truly, truly mind-boggling ... which means that his speed is like that of the two PC heroes. It seems that Mr. Ourobouros and his Redeemers are not the only super-human law enforcement agents!

Once again he fires his gun and once again it is deflected by the shield.

T1D30S7: Mr. Ourobouros' incredible speed and metabolism has recovered 20 END in a mere second with focus, and his body is just about to recover the same amount in the next second (Post-Segment 12 recovery of END and STUN for everyone).

Springing to his feet is a no-brainer and takes no time.

Mr. Ourobouros, given that you were straight-lined into this tree, you have a straight line of 6" to get to the rhino if you wanted. What do you want to do?

Spoiler

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Remember that movement powers show total movement per full Phase action, not what you can do to move and then attack. If you wanted to attack the rhino in this round, it would have to be with a Move-By or a Move-Through. Since you can only run 6", it would be one of those just into his space or next to it. With Leaping, your ballistic trajectory keeps you from being able to perform a Move-by when you pass over him.

As phenomenally agile and fast as your body at close-range hand-to-hand, and over several seconds, your actual burst speed - even with Parkour - is only okay. Well, your leaping is about low-end superheroic, but whatever. Just so you know, by slamming you 6", that means this guy knocked you 12m or damn near 40' into the woods, and manage to sting you with brute strength. He doesn't seem to be as physically powerful as the Axe-Man that you fought (the brick in the group Heavy Metal) .... but he's damn close.
* STUN 31:42. END 20:46.

The thing is, there must be two shooters .... because one agent came out of the woods to tell the rhino that one of his accomplices was dead ... shot through the head. That must be this one.

Soooo, where is the other shooter that blasted the head of your fellow HSR agent/ driver not but a second after that report? From where you are, you recognize that the shot must've come from your general vicinity.

[srgonzo]

Janos looks for the second shooter.

[lostsole31]

Janos doesn't see anyone else. Then again, his eyesight - despite his funky eyes - are only human.

[srgonzo]

Janos takes a round to gain a little more awareness do his surroundings, using his senses to see if he might not detect a second shooter.