Infection Site [IC]

[RobRX]

"If there's no one home, why don't we just blow up the place?" proposed Bloodline, already about to jump to the most drastic solution. Of course, his mission had to leave very few loose ends. The fact the place seemed empty only made his mission easier because he wouldn't have to worry about innocents caught in the crossfire.

 

"Any of you got explosives on you? Plastic? Plasma, maybe? Anything strong enough to take out the whole building." asked the time-traveller, casually, as if asking someone if they carried highly potent explosives the same way one would ask for a cigarette or chewing gum.

[Supercape]

"Explosives? Carry Explosives? Are ya kidding? Explosives are dangerous! They explode!" yammered the Hound, chewing a cigarette frantically. 

 

Even the thought of explosives made him spit out his cigarrette and stamp on it furiously until he was quite convinced the thing posed no fire hazard. If he could have poured a bucket of water on it, he would have. 

 

"Besides, ain't that dangerous? I mean, like more dangerous than just the flying shrapnel and masonry thing? If we are dealing with a virus, exploding it seems the worst thing to do. Could set the thing free. And guess who is ground zero? That's right, my friends, we are! And I for one don't fancy on being dead, no offence!" he added, quickly giving a confused look at Revenant. 

 

"I reckon the best thing is for you all to go in there and set fire to the place. Whilst I wait out here and make sure...um....I'll...watch out for....I'll do some important stuff out here, ok?" he said, furiously defiant. 

[trollthumper]

Nick looked to Bloodline. "See, here's the thing," he said. "First of all, as our friend said, we don't exactly know how this virus transmits. If there is a gigantic lab down there and fire happens to act as a catalyst, we might be entering one of those time loop thingies where we make our own apocalypse. Two, as far as I can tell, the other offices aren't fronts, nor do they all belong to the same company. It may be whoever built this place decided an office park was the best place on Earth to get up to crimes against humanity, but whatever their reasoning, they've also decided to lease the place out. If we can do this surgically - take out the vampires, neutralize the virus - without blowing up a few livelihoods, I'd prefer to do that."

Still, he wasn't one to push all the way back against someone with a big gun. "Here's what we'll do. You've got some unique key for that bomb? Voice print or whatever? Set it to that, put it somewhere load-bearing. If we are able to contain it surgically, you pick it up on the way out. If whatever's down there turns out to be too much for us... then you can try your hand at demolitions. But not before then."

[RobRX]

"No, I don't HAVE a bomb." pointed out the vampire. "Why do you think I ask? When I time-travelled, it was a last-ditch effort, all I have on me was what I had when I went through. Honestly, I'm glad everything actually passed. We weren't sure anything inorganic could actually pass, in fact. As for virus dispersal, to my knowledge it has never been airbone but I could be wrong."

 

Bloodline paused after his explanation, before continuing with more. "What you want to avoid are bites and blood; the two primary means of transmission. If you become infected, I will terminate you. I'm sorry. The transformation itself will be so painful you will lose all reason and begin feeding soon after. Hrm, from there the infection rate will snowball..."

Edited August 26, 2014 by RobRX

[Tiffany Korta]

“That would be the very last options and we’d try everything else before even considering that, and freedom City has some of the finest minds in the world.†she raised her hand to stop him making the obvious statement

 

“This time round we have an advantage, we have you to tell us what happened the first time around.â€

 

She gave a little smile and a shrug.

 

“Beside I suspect I'm immune to the infection as I have no blood for it to infect.â€

[trollthumper]

"I've got some healing magics of my own," said Nick, "so I can probably drive out the infection before it takes hold." Probably, he thought to himself, not wanting to put it to the test. "Sorry for the assumption on the explosives. But let's just say that, if the building needs to come down around our ears, you could have picked worse people to pull it off."

The lock to the building opened quickly, as Nick spoke the word of all steel he'd learned from Hecate; the alarm ignored them all soon after. From there, it was just a slight whisper to open the lock to the basement. It was black as pitch below, and Nick was having trouble making anything out. To Revenant and Bloodline, however, it was clear what lay at the bottom of the stairs. A series of hypobaric chambers, all greater than state of the art. Each one contained a man or a woman, run through with a series of intravenous connections. Some of the tubes ran thick with blood; others with unnameable fluids.

[Supercape]

Bloody Mess followed whilst his Canine companion stayed behind, explaining how the Dark gave him panic attacks and he had high blood pressure. 

 

But the dark was not something the Bloody Mess was much a fan of either. In this light he good barely see anything. 

 

"Hey guys...what's going on down there? I can hardly see lefty or righty!" he protested, holding up his left and right fists perspective. 

 

"Can't we turn a frikkin' light on or somethin'? This dark is giving me the spooks, man" he mumbled. Normally pretty fearless in the face of danger, the dark was giving him palpitations and sweating. He wasn't gonna be able to fight like this. Anything could come jumping out of the shadows...

[RobRX]

"Hrmmm..." Bloodline stood there, looking around, with a very distressed expression on his face. "Hypobaric chambers. With people in it." explained the time-traveller. "Or possibly vampires. These people could have already been infected and kept inside the chambers. Which is why..." The vampire took out his blaster, setting it to maximum setting and began aiming for the closest chamber.

 

"I'm not going to take any chance."

[trollthumper]

Before Nick could do anything, an alarm cut through the basement, piercing the darkness. He had trouble seeing what was up, but Revenant and Bloodline saw it clearly. The seals on the hypobaric chambers were flying off, and the tubes that pumped into the individuals were practically ripped from their bodies. As the wounds suppurated - but not as much as one would expect - the subjects' eyes flew open. Even over the blaring klaxons, the snarls and hissing could be heard. With unnatural speed, the vampires leaped from their chambers, landing on their feet with unnatural grace. They weren't quite the horrors Bloodline remembered, but they did have little details - like needle teeth that filled unnaturally-wide mouths - that more than made up for it.

"Well," yelled Nick over the sirens, "seeing as any other option would be impractical as hell right now, I say, take 'em down!"

[trollthumper]

GM

The freshly awoken vampire leaped out of its coffin with unnatural grace, lunging for Bloodline. In the darkness and the chaos, he could see all the details he dreaded and remembered - the pale skin that was on its way to somewhere between marble and shark hide, the finger nails and toe nails that were already growing to stiletto point, and the chest that was as still as a rock, even as the thing snarled and roared. It lunged for him, points out --

-- but missed, apparently still groggy from the forced torpor. The thing spun in place with catlike dexterity, sniffing towards the time traveler. Its brow furrowed, as if in confusion - while so much was telling it there was an enemy standing there, so much smelled familiar...

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy had seen similar set up before this wasn’t the first time vampire had tried to tamper with their makeup, and sadly it wouldn’t be there  last.  She wasn’t going  to leap to conclusion about  who was behind this, but right now it  was a very short list.

 

As the  first vampire was just finishing his clumsy attack she stepped up  beside Bloodline and her arm shot out catching it around the throat. As she begin to attempt to lift the creature she talked casually to Bloodline as if this was a normal everyday thing.

 

“I know you instinct are telling you to burn this all down, but we need to know exactly what’s happening here. And that probably involves keeping one of them alive.â€

Edited October 19, 2014 by TiffanyKorta

[trollthumper]

The creature brought its terrible claws down on Revenant's hand - and, with a quick burst of strength, managed to break her grip, falling gracefully to the ground. The other vampires leapt forward with similar unnatural grace, practically flying through the air and falling on their targets. Bloodline managed to dodge out of the way of his vampire, quite trained in effectively keeping distance with the creatures. Another landed on Bloody Mess, trying to get at the rich, wonderful essence it could clearly smell. The last tried to drive its claws deep into Nick... only to feel the nails sliding off the leather, like he was trying to get purchase on steel. 

 

"Sorry," Nick said, even as he struggled to make anything out in the darkness. "Not on the first date."

[Supercape]

"Hey waddahell is this?" shouted the Mess, swinging his arms around uselessly. "I cant see a damn thing! Somebody turn on the lights!" he complained. 

 

He could not see, but he sure felt the claws rake him. Scratches, really, but enough to draw blood. His blood. Supercharged, superhuman blood. He had plenty of it to bleed, too - and his body could replenish his blood supplies much faster than normal. 

 

But still, it was his blood in the darkness. Like crack cocaine to a dying addict. 

 

He swung his fists reflexively and uselessly through the darkness at the unseen vampire who scratched him. 

 

"I'm gonna punch yer lights out...you...whatever you are's...!"

[trollthumper]

Bloody Mess's blow actually did connect with something flesh-like. Under his fists, he could feel skin that was smooth and abrasive as a shark's, but cold and unflexible as an iceberg. Still, all that exotic armoring became decorative under the force of his blow. He could feel the creature yield to the strike, and the pained hiss that grew ever fainter - followed by the sound of a collision - indicated it had done its work. The fact that the hissing cut off in a satisfying fashion indicated it had done much more. 

 

"All right," said Nick. "I'm kinda tired of not seeing the people trying to kill me." He drew inward, accessing that which connected him to the pulse of life and death. With the force of dislocating one's own shoulder, he felt it snuff out, that potential now liberated. He exhaled, channeling that power into barrow fire, and directed it towards his crown.

 

To all others, a blue spark went up in the depths of the darkness, briefly cutting through the shadows. Then, it erupted into a crown on cerulean flame, banishing the blackness. It looked strange licking at Nick's hair, and looked like the last thing it would give off was warmth - but it at least gave off something approaching light, letting everyone see the vampires for what they were. 

 

"Man, I can see why you're happy to keep the lights off." 

[RobRX]

"You know." said the time-traveller as he reached for his blaster, a frankly somewhat ridiculous-looking weapon given the size. Even half-folded the thing was almost more like a cannon than a pistol, despite apparently being designed to be used one-handed. "We're in the dark, it's a total mess and we're fighting blood-sucking monsters. I really hate to admit this but..."

 

He pressed the trigger and opened fire on the nearest vampire. "It really feel like I'm back home." And deep down, he knew that wasn't a good thing to feel.

[Supercape]

"Hey I can see!" said the Mess, as Nick illuminated the place, and he found himself in the chamber of horrors, fists swinging this way and that. 

 

"Awesome. Now then..."

 

He cracked his muscles, his muscles swelling and bulging with turbo charged blood. The haemoglobin was practically sweating out of him. There was blood, and there was his blood. Blood squared. Blood cubed. 

 

He wound up his fist to let crack at the nearest vampire-thing, and, whilst his force was to be commended - a brutal uppercut that would have knocked the head of a marble statue, his execution was too slow, his ambition to great. 

 

"Man, sloppy" he grunted to himself. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy wasn’t the most graceful of fighter, when she was growing up Martial Arts were a strange and wonderful things thing that few had heard off let alone seen. But she had learned to fight on the streets and whilst blunt and to the point, and normally quite effective.

 

With the newborn vampire having slipped from her grasp she went for the much simpler option of just trying to hit the thing.

[RobRX]

"Whatever you do, don't let them bite you!" Bloodline shouted as he opened fire once again. Under the stress, his aim was sloppy. He had hoped, many times, that he had come back to a point before any vampire of this kind had been created. Unfortunately, he had been wrong and now he found himself reliving the horrors of the past. A single bite from them on the wrong person, on someone not immune to the viral infection and that would be it; the vampire apocalypse would resume.

 

"Keep firing! Keep firing, keep the pressure on them!" Of course, the others weren't 'firing' but old habits died hard.

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy was starting to get a feel for the newborns fighting styles. they weren’t particularly skilled and like many vampire, and truth be told many heroes, they relied on their strength and speed to see them through. And she shared some of their abilities except for one big difference she had learned to fight a very long time ago.

 

She spotted an good opening and went for a solid blow, she almost missed her mark but at the last second corrected it to strike a solid blow on the newborn.

Edited November 23, 2014 by TiffanyKorta

[Supercape]

The Mess pounded away - left, right, uppercut. Dodge, weave, jab jab, uppercut. But he was only pounding at air. 

 

"Hey why don't these guys stay still?" he shouted, pausing for a moment before swinging again. Wild and telegraphed, and too darn slow. 

 

"I ain't feeling these guys, they give me the creeps!" he yelled, swinging wide again. And they did give him the creeps, a little tingle up his spine. He wasn't treating them light fighters, but like wild beasts out of his childhood nightmares. 

[RobRX]

Bloodline fired yet another shot from his weapon, but this one missed, impacting the wall instead and making a large round burn mark in it. "Damn it!" He shouted, clinging to whatever was nearby as cover as he proceeded to tap the side of the weapon, hoping it was just some glitch in the targetting system and not him completely missing.

 

"If they give you the creep, then it mean you are still sane! Now keep the pressure on them at all cost and stay away from their bite!"

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy couldn’t help but smile at Bloodlines warming, she knew it was a serious threat going on here but combat was always an exhilarating

 

“I don’t think I have anything to worry about, in case you hadn’t noticed the blood doesn’t exactly flow through my veins.â€

 

She spun round and planted an elbow into the face of one of the newborns.

 

“But then again I don’t plan on getting bitten either.â€

[Supercape]

"Sheesh, they get a taste of my blood, they are going to go crazy..." said the Mess, truly scared for one of the few times in his life. He wasn't joking either, his blood was pumping, fizzing and bubbling with his mutant power. 

 

He batted his arms left and right, trying to fight the vampires off with fear and panic rather than his normal skill. Something sweaty and cold had hit him, and infected his spine. He tried to grab at them, but he was just reacting, his discipline flown. 

 

"Get offa me! Get offa me! Get these bozos off of me, Lucy!" he snapped at his undead friend. 

[trollthumper]

The phantom flame that licked Nick's head flashed bright for a second, then flew off like a javelin at the last fledgling vampire. The bolt of ethereal fire caught the creature right on the crown, making it convulse and twitch like an electrical current had run through it. It stumbled away from Bloody Mess with clumsy, arcing gestures, until it finally lost all control over its muscles and tumbled to the ground in a heap. Nick evaluated the room - the four vampires were down, and it appeared there were no others waiting in the wings.

"All right," he said, "this is a bit more high-tech than your usual 'moldy coffin in a basement' operation. So, I've got a feeling someone knows we're here, and they may be bringing backup. First priority? Getting intel before we get out. Second priority? Well... Bloodline?"

[RobRX]

"I'm still in favor of using the 'blow it up' option if that's what you're asking. Right, just so we're clear, nobody has been bitten or those who are immune to viral infections. Correct me if I am wrong because I don't want to have put down anyone when they start suddenly having a pretty bad case of the munchies. If any of you feel sweaty, has intense jitters or tingling in their head and mouth raise your hand." The time time traveller switched the weapon to 'lethal' setting. Just in case. Drastic, but required to avoid an apocalypse.

 

"No? No mouth aching like you're growing new rows of teeth? Good, I'd really hate to shoot you down. I'd feel like a jerk and you'd think people from my time are all trigger-happy bastards." With a beeping sound, the weapon was powered down. Mentally, he cursed his own paranoia, knowing he likely came off as quite unhinged and violent. However, for him it was standard procedure to question anyone at any possible sign of having been infected. Lives depended on it, as a single carrier brought back to base could be the death sentence of many.

 

"I'd say we should see if there are any other infected around, otherwise, intel's a priority. Maybe there is an anti-virus and the data has been lost in my time. Any techhead here, good with computers?"