Saorshe, after discovering the information about the Water DeathDrome, continued in her attempts to decode the demonic tomes she discovered in the haunted house. After an hour of going back and forth with some of her family’s protected books in the occult section she translates a rune. It turns out to be a spell called “Traversal Blink”, which can teleport the user to anywhere within a 50 mile radius of their current position. Unfortunately the spell is limited to ten uses due to the power involved in its casting. Teleporting another person along with her would count as an extra usage, so she decides to use it sparingly and even then only in emergencies.
As she continues to look into another rune in the tome her phone rings. Looking at the caller ID she sees that it’s Cherice. “Hello?”
Through what sounds like a hail of gunfire and chaos Cherice screams, “The military base… get here NOW!”
The line goes dead a moment later and in a panic Saorshe gets ready to run to the bus stop on the corner, but thinks twice when she remembers her new spell. After contemplating using it so soon after learning of its limitations for a few seconds she decides, “What the hell. This is an emergency.” And with that she disappears in the blink of an eye.
As he lies in bed thinking about the trial that he just completed with Jack and Saorshe, Liam realizes that if he doesn’t get some sleep, and soon, he’s going to suffer for it at work tomorrow. As he closes his eyes and places the evening’s events aside to put his mind at rest his phone rings.
“Hello?” he asks groggily.
“Army base. 30 vamps. Death. Bring ammo.” Jack screams over a loud racket that sounds like the Vietnam War going on in the background.
“What?” Liam questions.
“NOW!” Jack replies, followed by a loud scream. Then the line goes dead.
“Ahh, crap.” He says as he grabs his car keys off the nightstand.
EARLIER THAT EVENING…
As Oz, Violet and Brad race toward the army base they notice that the vampires that were chasing the van on foot are no longer behind them.
“Looks like they gave up.” Violet says as her eyes return from the rear view mirror.
“Good, we’re almost there anyway.” Brad adds.
“Just because we can’t see them anymore doesn’t mean they aren’t still chasing us.” Oz says.
“I hope you’re wrong.” Brad muses.
“So why are the vamps after you?” Oz asks Violet matter-of-factly.
“None of your business.” She replies.
“Look, we’re doing you a pretty big favor right now so I’d be a little more forthcoming with the answers if I were you.” Brad demands.
“Fine, if it’ll shut you up. I managed a punk band a little while back and I stole a few bucks from them before we parted ways.” Violet explains.
“How much is a few bucks?” Brad inquires.
“Around $65,000. And then I found out that the band was made up of vampires and they have a pretty big following, as you saw back there.” Violet answers.
“That explains a lot.” Oz says. “Hang on, we’re here.”
The van pulls up to the military base and to the guard post. Oz stops the van to speak to the guard on duty, and in less than 15 words the gate opens and they pull into the complex.
“I thought we’d have a hell of a time getting in here. What did you tell that guy?” Brad asks.
“I went to school back in Sunnydale with a couple of these jarheads.” Oz says.
They exit the van and head for the armory building. A very angry looking soldier stands in front of the door blocking the entrance.
“What the hell is going on, Oz? I allowed you in here the other night and when I report for duty the next morning I find some lunatic locked up in one of the supply cages.” The soldier hollers.
“What did you do with the guy?” Oz asks calmly.
“What did I do with him? What do you think I did with him?! I LET HIM GO!”
“Sorry about that. It won’t happen again.”
“You’re damn right it won’t!”
“But my friend Violet is in trouble and we need to keep her safe tonight.”
“Safe? Safe from what?”
“Remember those things that attacked us all at graduation? Picture a street gang of those guys.”
The soldier suddenly turns as white as a ghost and nods in agreement. “Make yourselves at home.”
They enter the armory and lock the door behind them. Brad makes sure that the large loading door next to it is locked as well. Violet goes about looking at all the weaponry that is on display on the far side of the room.
“You weren’t kidding about this being an armory. Look at all this hardware.” She says in awe.
“I just hope that won’t need to use any of it.” Oz says as he walks toward her.
Just as he finishes speaking the sounds of sporadic gunfire can be heard outside, followed by screaming. Someone starts banging on the door, and a slight voice says, “Oz… help me.”
Being the bleeding heart that he is, Oz runs to the door and opens it. His military friend stumbles in looking as pale as before, only this time he has a gaping wound in his neck that is spewing blood everywhere. He falls to the ground dead a moment later.
Oz pulls a wooden stake from his interior jacket pocket and impales his friend through the heart. He then rushes to the door to close it, but not before taking a look outside. Once the door is locked he turns to the others and says, “Uh… yeah. They’re everywhere.”
Brad wastes no time in arming himself and the others. Using a nearby pair of bolt cutters he rips the locks off the cabinets and starts handing out firearms, starting with a humungous belt fed M60 that he places on a tripod and aims at the door. The rest have assault rifles and knives.
The front door is suddenly ripped from the hinges. Six vampires, some with fresh bullet holes, enter the room and begin to advance. They head right for Violet. Brad unleashes hell on the nightstalkers as he empties the M60 into the crowd. It quite literally tears them apart limb from limb.
“Suck a dick!” Brad yells triumphantly. A second later his elation disappears as ten more vampires run through the open door. He opens fire again, but these vampires seem to be more adept at dodging bullets. One vampire jumps over the bullet storm and onto Brad. Oz moves in and stakes the vampire before it can bite its prey.
Violet fires her weapon, but as she’s unaccustomed to firearms she completely misses her target, instead peppering the loading door with red hot lead. She drops the gun and pulls out two retractable batons that she keeps hidden in the legs of her pants. She extends them to their full length of about two-feet long and begins swinging. She takes a vampire down by uppercutting it onto a nearby wooden palette.
Brad picks up a shotgun and fires off round after round into the vampire’s faces until there are none left.
Another wave of vampires run in, but stop in their tracks when a bright light floods in through the open door. The gunfire stops momentarily, but picks up again followed the sounds of more people screaming; some in pain and others in rage. The vampires seem intrigued by this and head back to the door to see what the hubbub is all about.
10 MINUTES BEFORE…
Jack and Cherice pull up to alongside the military base’s exterior gate in the ambulance to see that the place is swarming with vampires. The soldiers in front of the armory are attempting to hold the line, but aren’t succeeding. It’s a warzone. A few vampires veer off from the fight and break the main door to the armory down and run inside.
“That’s where the others are holed up!” Cherice screams as she takes out her cell phone. She dials Saorshe as she tells Jack, “Call Liam. Tell him to get his ass down here now!”
Jack complies as he heads for the back of the ambulance to get his weapons. Liam answers the call and all Jack can say in his haste is, “Army base. 30 vamps. Death. Bring ammo.” When Liam questions him he screams, “NOW!” and hangs up.
Cherice rounds the back of the ambulance with her katana drawn and says, “Saorshe is on her way. You talk to Liam?”
“Yup. He should be coming too.” He explains as he attaches a scope to his M4 Carbine. He leans against the hood of the ambulance and takes careful aim at the armory. “The soldiers are dropping fast. I’m going to try to even the odds a bit.” He squeezes the trigger and a single round fires off. Down below the heads of two vampires, standing single file, explode in a bloody pulp. “Two for the price of one. Damn I'm good!”
“We need to get down there and help. My sword doesn’t fire fifteen rounds per second. Know what I’m saying?” Cherice quips.
“Fine, let’s go.” Jack says while lowering the gun.
As he gets into the driver’s seat he notices a young girl at the other end of the street. She looks to be in her late teens; 17 or 18 at the most. As she slowly approaches he can make out that she is bleeding, her clothes are torn and she looks like she’s having a hard time staying on her feet.
“What the hell…?” Jack says under his breath.
From behind her he can make out a group of people coming his way as well. They are wearing robes of some sort and are heading toward the girl with no regard for the firefight going on a few yards away. As they pass under the street lights he can see that their faces are just like the vampires down below.
5 MINUTES BEFORE…
Alexander (player Ken) has successfully infiltrated the military base undetected. That’s not much of a surprise to him as it happens all the time, being that he’s invisible. He easily crosses the length of the grounds toward the armory. As he approaches he sees that there are a lot more soldiers on duty than his previous reconnaissance showed. The closer he gets he notices that the people he has mistaken for soldiers actually appear to be common street thugs that have infiltrated the base as well. And to make matters worse… they’re heading for the armory!
Suddenly a vicious firefight breaks out between the real soldiers and the thugs. The officers unload their sidearms into the mass of the attacking swarm, but it is having very little effect. The thugs keep advancing without even slowing down.
He cautiously approaches the firefight trying not to get in the way of anyone or in the path of any stray bullets. He slips past some of the thugs that have engaged the officers a number of meters away from the armory, but suddenly one of them lunges in his direction. He can see that the person’s face is twisted and distorted; barely able to pass as human. His teeth are elongated into fangs and he appears to be sniffing the air where he stands.
This creature can smell him. An instant later it is on him.
MEANWHILE…
Nidia (player Miranda) has just escaped the sacrificial ritual that was meant to kill her. She’s been walking without direction for the past ten minutes. She’s beaten, bleeding and barely has the strength to carry on, yet she finds the willpower to continue. As she makes her way down the dark road she hears the sounds of gunfire.
A second later a person jumps out of the shadows from the side of the road. It’s a street kid wearing some sort of ornate robe, but his face is a twisted mess.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asks through his fanged teeth.
“I… I need to go.” She whimpers.
“You think you’re pretty slick, the way you took care of Monty back there, huh?”
“No… I… I didn’t mean to…”
“The ritual needs to be completed, or we will all fall before the Never Was!”
“Leave me alone… please.”
The kid takes her by the arm forcefully and starts to drag her back the way she came. Suddenly his arm is aflame, and it spreads quickly across his body turning him into a pile of ash within seconds.
Clearly upset by the event, Nidia stands watching the smoldering remains of the person at her feet before noticing a large group of people wearing the same type of robe heading for her. There are ten of them; far behind them there is the faint glow of a burning house.
She turns to flee and sees an ambulance turn onto the street in front of her and stop in an open area alongside a long fence. She sighs in relief and tries to move as fast as she can toward her rescuers, but she is so exhausted she can muster no more than a slow hobble.
A man and woman exit the ambulance and get on their cell phones. The man heads for the rear of the vehicle and returns with a large machine gun. He starts shooting in the direction of the gunfire down below. As he gets back into the driver’s seat he notices her approaching.
The man asks, “Are you okay?”
She stops in her tracks and stares him down, not knowing if she can trust him after seeing him firing off his weapon in public.
“I’m a paramedic. My name is Jack. I can help you if you’re hurt.” He says confidently.
Knowing what’s following her she makes the decision to approach the man named Jack and accept his help. As he runs to her she loses her footing and falls. He catches her and takes her back to the ambulance and puts her on the stretcher in the back to examine her.
She’s covered in minor scratches and bruises, a few cuts that look to have been caused by a knife. She’s lost a lot of blood and is deathly pale.
"What's your name?" he asks her.
"Nidia." she mumbles in reply.
“What’s this?” the woman in the front seat asks.
“I saw her in the road. She’s hurt and was being followed by some vampires. I couldn’t leave her out there.” He replies.
“What about the others?” the woman demands.
“We’ll get to them soon enough, Cherice!” he screams at her.
“The hell with that…” the woman exclaims as she gets into the driver’s seat and starts up the vehicle.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Crashing the party."
The ambulance jolts forward and breaks through the gate. As it makes it's way to the armory, vampires bounce off the front fender left and right. She stops the ambulance right in front of the building and the headlights brighten up the whole grisly scene. Soldiers lie dead everywhere, some still being fed on by the bloodsuckers assaulting the place. A number of vampires run into the open door to the right of the loading dock.
Jack looks over the young woman again and asks, "Will you be alright if I leave you here for a few minutes?"
She nods, "I think so."
Jack then picks up his gun and heads out the back doors. He opens fire immediately and begins systematically taking out vampires by spraying bursts of bullets into their necks, severing their heads.
The sound of glass shattering can be heard and rain begins to fall for a short couple of seconds. It can't be ordinary rain, because all the vampires that were splashed with the water begins to smoke and painfully burst into flame.
Cherice sees the odd sight going on outside, so she floors the gas and plows the front end of the ambulance right through the loading dock door. Exiting the bus, Cherice sees that Oz, Brad and Violet are in quite a pile of deep shit.
2 MINUTES BEFORE...
As Alexander attempts to dogde the attacks of the vampire in front of him, something else catches his eye and distracts him... a woman appears out of nowhere not three feet away. He catches a right hook on his invisible jaw and goes down for the count.
Saorshe's teleportation spell was successful, although the distance to her intended target was a little off. Instead of appearing right in front of the armory she materialized at least twenty yards away. And worse, she seems to have shown up in the middle of World War "V". Vampires are everywhere, and the soldiers on duty are completely outnumbered.
The sound of snarling coming from directly behind her gets her attention, and she turns to see a vampire clawing and scratching at nothing. The vampire seems to take a hit from something unseen and backs off.
With the fate of her friends on the line she decides that the spectacle she just witnessed isn't at the top of her "to-do list", so she pulls a vial of holy water out of her bag and levitates it into the air above the attackers. She casts Ball of Light and the sphere smashes into it, making it explode and rain vampire acid onto the crowd around the open door. Vampires are set aflame and scatter in all directions just as Jack's ambulance streaks by and crashes into the loading dock.
"Holy crap!" she screams as the crowd around the door thins out and she makes a run for it.
5 MINUTES LATER...
Liam pulls up to the military base to see that the place is in complete chaos. Dead bodies are strewn as far as the eye can see, and the armory is wide open. The front door is missing and the loading dock door has an ambulance sticking out of it. The non-stop flashes of light coming from within tell him that a firefight of massive proportions is going on inside.
Before he enters the complex he also sees a group of robed vampires standing at the far end of the street watching the entire fracas go down. They see him and head for him.
He decides to ignore the small group and head for his friends. He drives his car down the embankment and stops behind the ambulance. As he gets out of his car he is clipped in the shoulder by a stray bullet coming from the armory. He is spun by the impact and falls to the ground.
NOW...
Inside the armory the bullets fill the air as wave after wave of vampires, coming from both the open door and the loading dock, stream in like a flood.
Brad is holding his own with his "gigantic gun of much destruction", blowing the heads off the oncoming targets as best he can. Oz and Violet are standing behind him taking pot shots whenever the opportunity arises. Cherice stands at the entranceway beheading vamps as they enter with her katana. Jack is in a flanking position on the opposite side of the room picking off the vamps that get through the maelstrom of ordinance with his M4.
Saorshe attempts to enter the armory, but every time she makes a run for it the firefight picks up again and she's forced to take cover to avoid getting shot. Just then Liam's car pulls up and as he gets out he is hit by a stray bullet. He falls to the ground with a loud yelp of pain.
A couple of minutes later the gunfire slows and eventually stops. Saorshe stands and looks into the armory to see that the remaining vampires, about five of them have tucked their tails between their legs and are making a run for it. The floor is covered with bullet casings and piles of dust.
A young girl steps out of the ambulance and heads for the armory as well. She looks badly beaten and is a little wobbly on her feet, but she seems to be coping just fine. A stray vampire on the way out heads past her and in an instant it is set aflame. It dies at her feet. Saorshe is speechless at the sight of this.
It takes a moment to recover fromt he sight of what seems like pyrokinesis in action before Saorshe makes her way over to Liam to make sure he's okay. As she does she feels that someone is watching her. She remembers the strange sight of the vampire getting a beatdown from something that wasn't there and decides to use her Sight ability to check out the supernatural mojo in the area.
She sees a man a few feet away that wasn't there just a moment ago. He must have the ability to make himself invisible. She tries to make her way over to him inconspicuously, but she just ends up looking extremely awkward.
Cherice comes out of the front door to see Saorshe looking nervous and inching away from her. Suddenly Saorshe reaches out and wraps her arms around the invisible man, holding him in place.
"Cherice! Help me!" she screams.
Seeing that Soarhse is wrestling with something that isn't there strikes her as funny at first, but then a moment later she snaps out of it and runs over with her sword drawn. She places the tip a few inches away from what she guesses is the border of whatever it is the witch is holding onto.
"What is going on here?" she asks confusedly.
"The guy I'm holding onto is invisible. He's trying to get into the armory!" Saorshe answers in a panic.
Cherice looks at what she hopes are the eyes of the person and says in her most threatening tone, "Either stop moving or you're going to look like a see-through shish kabob. Understand?"
Suddenly the person becomes visible. He's Around six foot, early forties, looks like he hasn't shaved in a few days. He's also completely nude.
"Anybody got a towel?" he asks.
Liam walks up behind Cherice with a blanket from the ambulance. He has haphazardly patched his arm from the available tools in the back of the bus. "Here, take this."
Soarshe lets the man go, but Cherice keeps her sword at the man's throat. "Don't think about running. Just stay right there."
Saorshe takes the blanket from Liam and drapes it over the man.
"Inside. Now." Cherice demands. Everyone complies.
The fight is over and Brad, Oz and Violet are sprawled out on the floor resting. Jack helps Nidia into the armory and looks over her injuries more thoroughly now that the siege is over. Cherice enters with a naked man at swordpoint, followed by Saorshe and a wounded Liam.
"Who the hell is this? Another vampire?" Jack asks in total disbelief.
"All I know is this fucker can turn invisible. Saorshe caught him outside." Cherice answers.
"He was trying to sneak in here for some reason." Saorshe adds. "I think he was just going to explain the reason for that. Right?"
"Oh, of course I was." He says sarcastically.
"Keep acting like a dick and I'll cut yours off." Cherice whispers to him as she lowers her sword to his pelvic region.
"Okay, okay. You talked me into it. I'm a thief." He explains. "A hired thief."
"And you were planning on stealing something here?" Liam asks.
"If you must know... yes, I was."
"And that was...?" Saorshe presses.
"Let me go and I'll show you." he answers.
"Don't make any sudden moves or Mr. Winky eats pavement." Cherice says as she motions for him to start walking.
He leads her to the rear corner of the room and pushes aside a large weapons locker. It slides on a hidden rail system to reveal a safe behind it embedded in the wall.
"Open it." Cherice urges.
He spins the lock and enters the combination quicker than most people could. The door swings open and he removes a single envelope from inside.
"What's in it?" Brad asks.
"I don't know and I don't want to. I open this and I don't get paid for my services." he replies.
"You don't open it and you know what I'll do." Cherice says.
"You're killin' me, you know that." he whines as he tears open the envelope. Inside is a sheet of white paper with a series of numbers on it. Jack walks over and takes it from him.
"Coordinates." Jack explains as he looks it over. "Wait a minute..." He reaches into his pocket and produces the note taht Intel wrote out for him earlier that night. He compares the two series of numbers to each other and adds, "These coordinates are nearly identical to where Liam, Saorshe and I were tonight."
"Grant Park again?" Liam asks.
"I'll put it into the Garmin but I can guarantee you that these are in Millennium Park." Jack answers confidently.
"What's in Millennium Park?" Oz asks.
"What is so hard to understand about me being a thief? I steal envelope, I deliver envelope, I get paid for envelope. No questions asked and no specifics are given. Period."
"Who is paying you to steal it?" Soarshe presses.
"I was afraid you were going to ask me that."
"Who?" Cherice asks, pressing the tip of the sword to his inner thigh.
"Never got a name."
"Can we cut this short? I really want to get out of here before the cops or MPs or whatever shows up." Violet interjects.
"She has a point." Brad adds.
"Let's finish this conversation at SubT, shall we?" Jack says to everyone, and they nod in agreement. "I'm going to take Nidia here to the hospital. She's pretty banged up."
"Can I come too. I was shot, remember?" Liam pleads.
They all head outside and Jack stops to look at the front of his ambulance. The hood has been collapsed inward and is pretty trashed. "Thanks Cherice. Thanks a whole bunch."
"Just doing my part for the cause. But look at the bright side... at least it's still running." Cherice jokes as she prepares to load the thief into the back.
"Hey everyone... look." Violet says, pointing at the top of the ridge just past the ripped open gate. The robed vampires are standing there watching them. Watching Nidia.
"I'll take care of this." Soarshe assures as she steps closer to them. She raises her arms and slowly rises into the air. Her eyes turn completely black as she levitates closer to the gang.
The gang disperses slowly, apparently knowing the dangers of pissing off a "dark witch", but not completely impressed with her display of power.
She comes back down to earth and walks back to the others a little weakened by the effort she put into scaring away the onlookers.
"Why are they after you?" Jack asks Nidia as he helps her to the ambulance.
"They wanted to sacrifice me to some entity they called 'The Never Was'. They worshipped it, or feared it, or something like that. I didn't ask them about it. I really don't want to talk about it, if it's all the same to you."
"Yeah, no problem. It sounds like an effed up situation, but you made it through."
"And how did you manage to set that vampire on fire withough any gasoline or a match?" Saorshe asks rudely, her dark episode apparently having an effect on her attitude.
"It's just something I have been able to do since I was a kid." Nidia answers.
"Is that how you were able to escape the vampires?" Jack inquires.
She nods her head. "I set the whole house on fire."
From behind them Liam asks, "What are you doing here?"
They turn to see who he is talking to, and find that Intel is coming down the embankment toward them.
"Had a little fun, I see." Intel jokes.
"Intel, how did you know we were here?" Soarshe asks, a little surprised to see her friend outside of the club.
"My name is Intel, isn't it?"
"That doesn't explain what you're doing here." Cherice pushes.
"I wanted to see you all in action. Even thoguh I missed the fight it looks like I came at the perfect time."
"Perfect time for what?" Jack asks.
Intel's hands morph and stretch into long blades made of solid water.
"The perfect time to strike."
