ic ACAV (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

It soon became apparent that Paul was not a very good driver. His truck blasted down the road outside of Stone Ridge, riding the center line so closely that it sideswiped several smaller, normal-sized cars out of the way. On the one hand, he'd been smart enough to head in the right direction for a high-speed chase. Zipping away from town, there was nothing but straight roads with little development on either side as they headed west across Wisconsin countryside. On the other hand, he was not a very good driver - and he was being chased by Rev. Just when it seemed like she could close on him at will, she caught sight of flashing lights in her rearview mirror; the cops! 

 

"Hm. I don't know about that," said Pete blurrily as he looked out the back window... 

[Supercape]

Rev

 

"Oh shoot, the Cops! And Bedlam Cops too!"

 

Rev muttered and drummed the steering wheel. "Not ideal. Very far from ideal. Light year from ideal. Maybe a couple of light years from ideal with intergalactic space mines literring the space between ideal and their present situation. Intergalactic space mines. They sound cool."

 

"Buckle up, Bronco, we need some speeeeeeeeeed!"

 

She stuck one of her hands on the dashboard of the car and felt the biomechanical virus stream from fingertips to engine! Burp, whizz, boom! Time to boost the engine! the bumper buckled as the engine sort to grow out of its confines. The wheels screeched and spun, the exhaust flamed and let loose a stream of acidic smoke. 

 

"Lets go get em, baby!"

 

She glanced over at Pete. 

 

"Didn't you get one of their guns? Pyeow Pyeow-Pyeow! Cops and Robbers? C'mon we could be Bonnie and Clyde!"

 

Of course that was playground antics. Real bullets really killed real people. But Rev didn't want to think about that now. Or ever, come to think of it. 

 

 

[Avenger Assembled]

Pete peered out the rolled-down side window, his brow furrowing as the chill night air of Bedlam whipped into the speeding car. He was holding the gun, an automatic pistol that had swelled into a real hand-cannon. "Baby I wouldn't shoot at the cops for just anybody! I-huh. Look at-wait, no, don't look at that!" He'd been about to tell her something about the rapidly approaching police car. "Something doesn't look right; that's-" 

The police car pulled up alongside Rev and the Dune Buggy, a shocking burst of speed that was clearly blatantly impossible for a normal car, much less whatever Bedlam cops provided. Looking out the window, Rev could catch a glimpse of an old-fashioned black and white police cruiser, the kind of car that even in a city like Bedlam had been retired years earlier. The road was narrow enough to have two lanes but the police cruiser was riding on the shoulder, its lights a lurid shade of blue and tires glowing with eldritch fire. 

Ahead of them, the vampire lord in the truck was technically at either of their mercies - whoever the other driver was. "Do you want me shooting?" asked Pete, looking like he was steeling himself either way. 

[Supercape]

Rev

 

"What the hell???" screamed Rev. "Possibly literally!" she added. 

 

It was shocking enough to see any car match the souped up Dune Buggy's speed - but...

 

"Are we in some kinda B Movie?"

 

At least they had not turned to sepia tones. If they were in a movie, it was a colour one. But it was existentially concerning! Where they in a movie? Where they just characters in a book? Or some kind of internet writing venture?

 

Screw that!

 

She gave a metaphorical finger to the writers of a story. Screw you, suckers!

 

"Who the hell are you?" she shouted at the ancient police car. 

 

"I'd say start shooting!" she added, to Pete. "But I don't know what the hell you should be shooting at. Other than shoot for the moon. They say that, right? One of those motivational speeches?"

 

She shook her head back to the present. 

 

"I said.... WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!" she shouted, even louder, at the police car. 

 

 

[Avenger Assembled]

The being behind the wheel turned and looked at Rev and smiled. Or rather, continued to smile. She couldn't make out much in the dark but she could see a white face, huge black eyes, and a wide, fixed, skeletal grin. The inside of the car was glowing with an eerie fey light, The police officer - for it was, or perhaps had once been a police officer, pointed to the speeding vampire ahead of them, then back at Rev, then back at the speeding vampire. At this point, leaning out the window on the other side, Pete licked off a shot at the vampire ahead, blasting a visible hole in the speeding truck's backside. 

"We're gonna run out of room soon!" Sure enough, Pete was right; speeding north they were going to reach the end of the long peninsula on which Bedlam sat in the space of just a few minutes, meaning they had to make some fast decisions before they hit Lake Michigan at a speed that would do very little for the Dune Buggy's outside - or Rev's inside! 

[Supercape]

Rev

 

"Plenty of room, plenty of room!" shouted Rev as she continued pushing the Dune Buggy to outrageous speed. 

 

"I mean, we are going so fast, we will just skim across the lake like a stone. Wait. Stone sink, don't they? Dang, that's a bad analogy. I mean... errrr.... we will go so fast we will just skip across the stone like a kung fu master. Yeah. That works. The mysterious mysteries of kung fu!"

 

She liked old kung fu films. She could just seem the buggy dancing across Lake Michigan like a white bearded kung fu master, in a cracked film with faded colours and some blaring seventies dicso music. 

 

But unfortunately the Dune Buggy was not a jkung fu master, and no matter how fast they were going, they would sink. Rev didn't work well underwater. And Pere was barely working above water. 

 

She split her arms in two. 

 

Now, instead of two cyborg arms, she had four. 

 

"I'm gonna take the wheel!" she yelled to Pete. "Keep hold of my arms!"

 

Two arms detatched, and continued steering. 

 

Rev Stood up in the Buggy, and extended one of her remaining arms, trying to reach the ghost police car...

 

...if it was actually real. 

 

 

[Avenger Assembled]

The moment Rev touched the strange police car, she gained a series of impressions, even as her metallic fingers passed through its outside to grip a slick, soft underneath, like spectral meat and metal she couldn't quite get a firm grip on: 

 

A Bedlam police officer of the old school at work, shaking down merchants for protection money, beating a fleeing suspect with his nightstick. 

One night the officer stops a passing car but a single shot rings out as he reaches the driverside window. Officer Friendly staggers back to his car, and then - 

 

The patrol begins. It has never ended. It will always continue. 

 

Up in front of them suddenly there was a tremendous crash; and through her vision Rev was able to see their target, the fleeing vampire lord in his fancy pickup truck, now hurtling into the air! The truck had hit a barrier full-tilt and launched itself into the air, its front end smashed, suddenly rolling quickly, like to smash into the concrete barrier just in front of them. 

The lake! They had reached Lake Michigan; and were about to crash! 

[Supercape]

Rev

 

"Shoot! You are a ghost! Well that figures. I mean, I am totally an expert in Ghosts. And ghostology, too! In fact, I am a professor of Ghostology, PhD, etcetera ectetera...!"

 

It was hard to drive and babble at the same time, but Rev was excellent and driving. 

 

And babbling. 

 

"The Lake! Shoot! Double shoot! Double double shoot! Thats quadruple shoot, right?"

 

Was it Pete, the Ghost Policeman, or herself she was babbling too? She didn't know, but babbling she was. 

 

As far as she knew, the car wouldn't operate underwater. Maybe on ice. But she didn't have any ice powers. 

 

There was nothing for it but to slam on the brakes, swerve, and hope they didn't hit a roll. 

 

And that damn Vampire was in the air! Getting away! Grrrrr!