Hunting Shadows
By
Fade
Chapter 15
Driving away from the Society's headquarters, Silk finally felt herself relax. The team had made it out of the secret exit just a minute or two ahead of the 'Star. Luckily, they had made it out ahead, and the exit had come out far enough away from the compound that the runners were outside of the police perimeter.
As chance would have it, the car that DeVries had arranged to have waiting for them was located very close to the exit, so all indications were that the runners had escaped free and clear.
Equally important, in Silk's mind at least is that the Silver Society was done for. There was no question that a number of the mages had escaped, but not enough for the remnants to put together a legitimate power base again. Especially because Lonestar was very likely to be hunting anyone connected with the Society for the next several weeks.
It was common knowledge, especially among those who played fast and loose with the law that Lonestar was incredibly corrupt. Under a different set of circumstances, higher-ups in the police would be actively suppressing any investigation of such a prominent group. Where there was enough money, the law tended to look the other way when asked.
The way that the runners had taken the mages down should help guarantee that didn't happen in this case though. There wasn't any margin in helping suppress an investigation if there wasn't anyone left to pay for the suppression, especially when every reporter in the city was going to be interested in exactly why such a philanthropic group had been targeted for such a violent run.
Of course Martin's bribes to some of his contacts in the local precinct, combined with a couple tip offs to some reliable reporters should help bring to light pretty much all of the filth that the runners had seen as they exited the building.
Commercialized police might not mean that there was justice for all, but at least if you had the money and knew the right people, there was justice for some.
Looking over to Mercury, the blond elf saw that the runner was already asleep, as was DeVries. Although normally groups of runners didn't let their guard down like that, in the mages' case this time there wasn't any other option. It was only a little past midnight, but the effects of throwing so much magic around had already caught up with the other two.
As Silk felt her eyelids grow even heavier, she spared a though to hope that Shadow wouldn't get pulled over before making it back to the hotel.
Hearing a soft snore that Shadow knew would have mortified his friend if she had known that she was the source, the shape shifter smiled slightly and blinked back sleepiness. It would be best not to mention anything to Silk when she woke back up. Shadow didn't know why the elf abhorred snoring so much, as long as one wasn't sleeping somewhere that the noise would alert one's enemies, the shape shifter didn't see what the problem was, but past experience had quickly taught him that this was just one of the things that he needed to accept as a peculiarity of metahumans.
Regenerating from his wounds had exhausted the physad almost as much as it had the mages, but he had deeper energy reserves upon which to draw than his two friends. Shadow suspected that under other circumstances the vampire would have reserves comparable to his own, but DeVries had thrown as much mojo as the two women combined, and Shadow was fairly sure that the other hadn't feed in a very long time.
When the runners had encountered the two vampires associating with the racist organization, Shadow had done a little bit of research about this new potential set of opponents. DeVries' name had come up a couple of times, but it wasn't until the vampire had shown up, and Mercury had commenced her almost desperate quest to verify DeVries' identity that Shadow had learned why the mage had reacted as she had.
Vampires as a general rule viewed themselves as the next step up on the food chain, and consequently felt no compunction about preying on metahumans. DeVries on the other hand abhorred vampires, and apparently had become one in order to better fight against the things which had killed his wife and unborn child.
Martin had become creature of the dark dedicated to hunting those like him, he fed only on vampires, and somehow had managed to keep nearly all of his metahumanity during the transformation.
Shadow wondered how long it had been since the pale individual asleep beside him had fed. According to the shape shifter's research vampires were more plentiful than most people ever would have imagined, but they were often magically active, and if they survived their first couple of feedings, they invariably became adept at hiding, striking only when they were sure they could evade detection.
Judging from the amount of money that DeVries was pouring into what was essentially a long shot at flushing out a pair of vampires who were unlikely to take a personal hand in events, it had been a long time since Martin had fed.
The car-mounted GPS system beeped to indicate that the runners had reached the location of their first vehicle switch, and Shadow carefully took the car off of autopilot. As exhausted as Silk had been, she hadn't been thrilled by the idea of letting her friend drive, and had made him promise to leave the autopilot on as much as possible.
Shadow was willing to admit that this was the first time that he'd been behind the wheel of such a large vehicle, but thought that the mage was being extremely unreasonable. With a response time as quick as Shadow's, the shape shifter figured that he could handle just about anything that the light traffic of the area could throw at him.
Regardless, a parking was beyond the autopilot's capabilities, so Shadow eagerly took the opportunity to smoothly pull the car alongside a white van that DeVries' contact had provided to throw of any pursuit.
Shadow got everyone awake and moved over to the van, conveniently forgetting to mention to Silk that the second vehicle didn't come equipped with an autopilot. The shape shifter pulled out of the parking garage, merging into traffic and heading out towards the next vehicle swap site, driving for a few minutes as he continued to contemplate the status of his vampiric teammate.
Glancing over towards DeVries, Shadow jumped slightly when he realized that the vampire hadn't fallen back asleep yet. Instead the other runner was watching the were-tiger.
DeVries considered Shadow for a couple more heartbeats before asking, "Did you make up your mind about me yet?"
Shadow cocked his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
The vampire gave a slight snort, "I've been alive for a lot of years now. I've had much more practice trying to read what was on people's minds than you have had trying to keep your thoughts off of your face."
Shadow shrugged, a gesture that he thought came off naturally now, after so much practice. "How long has it been since you've fed?"
"Don't you mean how much longer do I have until I hit starvation? I'd say that is the more pertinent question."
Shadow slowed down to make a left turn, checking his mirrors to make sure that the runners weren't being followed. "I suppose you're right. How long then until you have to feed again?"
DeVries smiled at how nonplused Shadow was with his response. Most individuals got more than a little uncomfortable talking to a vampire, especially one who radiated as great of a sense of power as Martin did. For all of his relative innocence and simpleness, Shadow was refreshingly sure of his capabilities.
On a whim the vampire decided to test the shape shifter a little, and he let some of his hunger slip past the iron mask which he used as a face.
Shadow tensed just a little, but DeVries was sure that most people wouldn't have even notice the subtle changes in the were-tiger's posture. "I have a few days, a week at the outside."
The turn complete, the shape shifter sped back up. "What happens then."
It was DeVries turn to shrug, but in this instance, the motion looked as forced on him as it usually did on Shadow. "I'm not sure what will happen after that. By all accounts vampires who hit starvation become little more than beasts. But then most of us aren't much more than animals to start with."
Shadow took a second to register the response, and then nodded. "You are unsure if you will remain in control if you hit that point."
DeVries smiled, revealing fangs. "And thus become the very demon which I hunt."
Shadow cocked his head slightly, "you could have fed off of some of the mages which we killed tonight. They certainly merit death. As much as the vampires that you seek."
DeVries shook his head, a sharp gesture. "If I start feeding on normal people, even bad ones, where does it stop. How bad does someone have to be to justify my killing them to continue my pale half existence."
Shadow took his eyes off of the road to look the vampire in the eyes. DeVries calmly returned the gaze, and in the end it was the shape shifter which broke the contact and returned to watching the road.
When the physad looked back over at the mage next to him, five minutes later, DeVries was asleep or doing an excellent job pretending. Shadow was left to contemplate the vampire's answers in silence, wishing a little that he hadn't ever left the jungles.
Metahumans lived a life that was so much richer than the were-tiger had before taking human form, but the richness came at an incredible price. The best people that Shadow had encountered all seemed to be full of conflict. It was as if those who tried to better themselves were doomed to forever face inner battles.
Speeding up so that he could merge into freeway traffic, Shadow was surprised to feel his wristcom vibrate. The shape shifter carried around the piece of technology because on occasion it proved useful for Silk or Hammer to be able to contact him while he was out people watching, but it was rare for it to get used more than once or twice a week.
Reaching for the communication device, Shadow paused for a second as he realized who had to be calling him.
_____
Pulling up to the curb, Shadow tried to decide which of his companions to wake. Silk was without question the less reliable of the three, but in the end she was also the most predictable.
Shadow finally decided that the elf was going to be mad at him regardless of what happened next, and with an abrupt motion shook her a couple of times. Holding a finger to his lips to indicate the need for silence, the shape shifter made sure that Silk understood that she needed to stay awake before ghosting out of the van.
Looking down at his clothing Shadow realized that there was no way anyone would believe that the blood was almost all his. The guard at the front desk was almost certain to call the police, which would probably link the runners to the earlier hit on the Silver Society's compound.
Running around the corner of the building, the physad found a fire escape that he thought led to the right room, and jumped up to grab the bottom rung. A few seconds later, Shadow had climbed up several floors and stationed himself outside a window. Looking at the bars protecting the room for intruders, the shape shifter took a deep breath before lashing out with a powerful kick.
The shriek of metal fixings tearing out of the wall was followed by the tinkling of breaking glass, and then a muffled thump signaling Shadow's arrival inside the room.
The big troll who was in the process of trying to crawl out of a bed that hadn't ever been intended to support his massive bulk barely had a chance to blink before the runner had realized that he had chosen the wrong room, and launched a whip-fast roundhouse kick to send the hapless construction worker back into the simplicity of unconsciousness.
Wishing that he could remember some of the curses that Silk muttered under her breath when she didn't think anyone could hear her, Shadow crept out into the hall, found the room he had been looking for and opened the door, looking down to see Hammer gazing steadily back at him.
With a feeble attempt at a smile the obsidian-skinned troll cleared his throat. "I'll bet you are wondering why exactly I called you."
Shadow simply stared at Hammer, refraining from the questions that the troll had expected. Trying to regain some of the cool that had become so elusive during the last couple of weeks, the big runner decided that he had better just start explaining.
"I'm clean, whatever DeVries did, it has managed to clean the drugs out of my system without killing me." Shadow remained silent, both eyes fixed on Hammer, and it was the troll that broke off the contact.
"I've let everyone down, but you have to trust me. Hit the corp tonight, if you wait all four of you will be walking into a trap."
Shadow shook his head, "you could have told me all of that over the phone, what do you want?"
For the first time Hammer started to realize how badly he had shaken the shape shifter's confidence. The troll hadn't imagined that the other runner had put so much trust in him, and so hadn't expected Shadow to display so much cynicism after having that trust betrayed.
"Please take me along. All indications are that the four of you got hit pretty hard tonight, you'll never make it through the run without additional backup. Besides that I need to start redeeming myself."
Shadow cleared his throat, about to ask additional questions, when Silk came running down the hall, followed closely by Martin DeVries. The shape shifter saw Hammer tense up slightly as the vampire came into view.
As Silk neared Shadow, she threw a submachine gun magazine at him, hissing like she always did when she wanted to shout at someone, but knew that she had to keep her voice down. "What. Exactly. Do. You. Think. You. Are. Doing?"
The physad reached out and plucked the projectile from the air with an ease that no doubt made the furious elf want to kick him. For a second Silk seriously considered the idea, but Shadow tensed up subtly, confirming that he could tell she was considering something hasty.
Shadows was surprised that she didn’t kick him regardless, but she probably wasn't sure how he would take an actual physical attack, weak and ineffective or not. Things were strained enough with what Hammer had done without adding in additional tensions between the runners, that everyone was treading more cautiously than normal.
DeVries smoothly slipped between Shadow and Silk, deciding that he needed to give Silk a way to gracefully back down. "Once she realized that we were back at the hotel, Mercury and I were, rather enthusiastically awakened. Mercury stayed with our transportation, while I tried to keep up with yon mage. We should probably leave the lobby guard a tip, he'll have a very nasty headache when he finally awakens."
Shadow winced a little, recalling various times when Silk had convinced him to serve as a guinea pig for various of her spells. Returning to the matter at hand, the shape shifter pointed at Hammer. "He wants back in, says we should hit the corp tonight before they have a chance to set a trap for us."
DeVries made a circular gesture and got just a tad paler. "A truth spell, it should ensure that the troll can't speak anything that is not truth."
The next few minutes were fairly tense, Silk claimed to be all for leaving Hammer where he was, Shadow didn't have enough experience with the emotions he was feeling to be able to put labels on them, but he thought that he was tentatively in favor of giving the big runner another chance. In the end, it came down to DeVries.
"Do you wish any of the team harm? And how capable are you right now?"
Hammer looked up at the vampire, straining at his bonds a little. "I don't like you blood sucker. Regardless of what people say about you, in the end you are a vampire, but I won't harm you as long as you don't harm any innocents. Free me from these shackles, and I'll be up to about eighty-five percent by the time we reach the target."
DeVries looked at the battered runner, very much aware of the fact that Hammer resented the fact that his fate depended on a vampire's whim. With a gesture Martin caused all of the bindings encircling Hammer to fall to the ground. "Lets go, the night is wasting."
Ten minutes later, the four runners had cleared their remaining equipment and possessions out of the hotel suit and headed back down the stairs.
Piling into the van, the team headed across town towards the corp complex. Mercury hadn't looked all that surprised to see Hammer accompany the other runners past the unconscious security guard and out the door.
At the troll's hesitant but questioning glance the elf had shrugged. "Figured you were too much of a pro to drag us all the way back here if you weren't ready to rejoin the land of the accountable."
Even more surprising, Hammer found himself driving. DeVries had pointed out that the troll was too big to fit comfortable in any of the passenger seats, and since everyone else was tired, it made sense to let them grab a little bit of sleep on the forty-five minute drive to the target.
Within five minutes of hitting the road, all of the mages were back asleep, and Shadow was on his fifth EnergyBar TM. The shape shifter chased the 1500 calorie snack down with something ultra sugary, and then turned to Hammer.
Hammer caught the motion out of the corner of his eye, and glanced over to see the other runner trying to decide how best to ask a question.
The troll considered not saying anything and hoping that the shape shifter would decide not to ask his question, but after a second decided that he owed Shadow too much to treat him like that . "You want to know why I cracked like that don't you?"
The were-tiger nodded content to allow Hammer to proceed at his own pace. Rubbing a monstrous palm across his eyes, the other runner offered something that was supposed to look like a smile, but which ended up bringing him close to tears.
"Part of it came down to Shiver leaving like that. I'd sensed for a little while that he got too much too quickly, without having to work for it, but I'd hoped that his sense of responsibility came through intact enough that he'd basically stay the same person that I knew before he got his mods."
Shadow nodded, not necessarily because he understood, but he knew that sometimes people just needed reassurance to continue with a difficult explanation.
"Once he left, I knew that he wouldn't be coming back. He wouldn't be back, and that there wasn't really anything holding him back from going against everything I'd tried to teach him and committing the kind of atrocities that I've spent my lift trying to help prevent."
Hammer took a deep breath, and then continued. "That isn't the only reason though. I know that you deserve a full explanation, but I'm afraid that I can't really tell you the whole story."
Shadow looked at Hammer, at a pair of dark eyes that showed more pain than the shape shifter had ever seen the troll reveal. The runner sat back with a tiny nod. All wasn't forgiven yet, but Shadow was willing to wait until Hammer was willing to tell him what could cause the gillette, who had always stood on his own feet, to turn to Acid in an effort to drive away something that he had to know would still be there when the narcotics wore off.
Hammer saw Shadow lean back in his sleep and close his eyes, and correctly interpreted the other runner's gesture to mean that further explanations could wait. His inner demons at bay at least for the moment, the battered razor returned his attention to making sure that the runners all made it to the target site in one piece.
***
Pulling over two blocks from the corporate enclave, Hammer checked his watch before deciding that there just wasn't any way to let everyone get anymore rest. If things went south, the time table already had a small enough frag-up factor that the runners could end up in some fairly serious trouble.
"Why do I always jump into the do or die causes instead of just sticking to the stuff that had a decent margin and more than a ten percent chance for survival?" There wasn't anyone else awake to hear the troll's only partly serious question, but that was probably for the best. If everyone knew that Hammer was talking to himself again, he'd only inspire additional doubts as to his sanity and dependability.
Carefully waking DeVries and Mercury up, Hammer briefed the two as to their location, and relaxed a little as the pair slipped into astral space, leaving their bodies slumped in the van's seats. Hammer wasn't sure if he was relieved or not that DeVries was the one in charge of this horse and pony show, but the troll was definitely unnerved by the vampire's presence and happier when DeVries wasn't staring at him with those flat, emotionless eyes.
All too soon the astral scouts were back and giving Hammer, and a the other two runners a quick rundown of the situation at the corporate headquarters.
Things apparently looked about like one would expect if nobody in charge had realized that they were probably next in line after the gangers and the vampire sponsored mage group. That, or if the people in charge knew full well that they were the next target, and they were hoping to spring a trap on a few overconfident runners.
The enclave was much too big for even someone with the late Silver Society's magical muscle to ward, so the pair of runners had been able to scout all but a trio of buildings, any of which could potentially house the scientists or the virus research that was the team's objective.
In the end, the runners decided to go with very nearly their original plan, making a couple of very minor changes.
DeVries made a couple of calls to the deckers he had standing by, as well as to another pair of contacts who were supposed to arrange a couple of possible escape routes and some suitable flashy distractions.
With one last check of their equipment, the team members slide out of the van, and headed towards the corp buildings.
While still out of sight of the guard booth, DeVries and Silk separated themselves from the other runners, leaving any visible weapons behind, and looking for all intents and purposes like a couple of gothic clubbers who had somehow gotten lost on their way to a hot spot like Dante's Inferno, or Club Penumbra.
DeVries put on as harmless of an expression as he was capable of assuming, in the end looking like someone who was harmless trying to look deadly, while Silk assumed the ditzy facade that she used to pick up guys when she really did go clubbing.
As the pair of runners stumbled into the illumination provided by a street light, the two corp security guards looked up from their bored reading of the latest issue of whatever magazine had recently caught their interest, and called the central office to report the approach of a pair of unidentified, and unscheduled visitors.
"Right, Fred is going out to warn them off right now. We'll check back in once they are out of sight."
Fred glared over at the other guard, extremely put out that he was the one who had to leave the centerfold of Tizza Sunfire in the comfort of the protected guard shack, and go out to tell these two club hoppers that they needed to go back and learn how to read a map.
Upon stepping out into the night, the balding security guard decided that maybe he had the better end of the deal after all. The pasty vampire wannabe wasn't worth a second glance, but the blond elf hanging off of his arm looked like something straight off of the trid series Night Runners TM. The tight leather outfit looked just like the one that Smoke had been wearing last week, right down to the fake armor inserts.
Hitching his gun belt up slightly in an effort to try and hide his beer belly, Fred gave the beautiful blonde an inviting look as he neared the two.
"Oh hello, officer," gushed the elf as she tried unsuccessfully not to sway a little on her companion's arm. "Can you help us, we've gotten a little lost. I told James that we should have taken a left at Boulder Street, but you know how guys are, they never want to stop and ask directions."
From the guard shack, Robert got a good look at the hot number out on the street, and realized that for once his attempt to get out of what little real work he was supposed to do had backfired on him. Frag, gorgeous, and drunk too, they only way this could get any better would be if she was by herself, and I was about to finish up my shift.
The guard watched Fred point off to the west, seemingly giving the pair of clubbers directions, and checked back in with Central. "Everything is ok so far, Fred has the situation under control."
As Robert hung up the phone, the tall, thin guy Fred was talking to suddenly looked towards the shack, and the guard felt a jolt as if he'd been hit by a prize fighter. At the same time, the hot number pulled a gun, holding it to his balding partner's side as she disengaged herself from the thin guy, and latched onto Fred's arm.
Robert tried to reach for the panic button, or even the land line phone that connected him to Security Central, but the slender man's eyes bored into his and the guard was unable to make his body so much as twitch.
Outside, the elf was leading Fred away, positioning herself between him and the camera in a way that made it look like he was supporting her, when in reality she was shielding part of his bulk from the camera, making him look enough like the slender man, that anyone watching the scene from one of the grainy security cameras would probably be fooled.
Robert registered the departure of the two only peripherally though, because the tall man who had held his body captive was slowly approaching the guard shack, holding his arms out so that he looked nearly as fat as Fred.
Reaching the magically immobilized guard, DeVries activated a part of the spell that had lain inactive, and coldly started ripping information out of the human's mind. Gaining what he required, the vampire forced the now trembling human to pick up the land line receiver.
"Hey Central, this is Robert over on the west side. Fred just got back, they were just a couple of lost clubbers, the situation here is normal."
_____
Fifteen minutes later, DeVries was the one trembling, but all the runners were inside the compound. Hammer had taken out one o the cameras with a well-placed round from a portable sniper rifle, while Robert called Central and convinced them that he'd seen the camera go in a burst of sparks that indicated some kind of electrical problem.
Once the guards on the other end of the phone were convinced that the loss of the camera wasn't anything serious, they had futilely started the remaining cameras tracking to try and cover part of the new blind spot, but the remaining runners hadn't had any problem sneaking in one at a time when the cameras were turned away from them.
DeVries had then instructed Robert to forget the events that had just happened, and after clubbing Fred into unconsciousness, had made Robert think that his partner was drunk, and instructed him to cover for the 'irresponsible slacker'.
Unfortunately, the spell that the vampire had used to control the guard was one of the most powerful he knew, and after the previous events of the night, it was a wonder that DeVries was still able to walk.
The vampire had learned the mind control spell form a mage who was incredibly powerful and old, but neither of the mages used it very often. The drain was enough to put even a ritual circle of two or three lessor mages in the hospital, and not something that DeVries liked to flirt with unless there simply wasn't any other way to get what he wanted.
Realizing that his hunger was reaching levels where his concentration was starting to wander, Martin shook his head slightly, and set off after Mercury.
The team made good progress, Shadow donned a cleaning uniform over his armor, and took the lead, neutralizing people, and temporarily blocking cameras until the rest of the team had passed.
Fifteen minutes into the infiltration, the team had made it to the first of the buildings that most likely held either the researchers, or the viral results of their work.
Shadow, exactly two bends ahead of the rest of the team, saw a pair of guards stationed at the door that lead into the next section of the complex. The shape shifter put on his best smile, and continued on towards the guards, despite the fact that the didn't appear to be excited to see someone from the janitorial staff wandering through their area of responsibility.
Shadow made it to within ten feet of the pair, before they ordered him to halt. "This is a level three security area, you don't belong in here buddy, so turn around slowly and go back the way you came. You only get one warning"
The runner faked confusion for a split second, before deciding to try and bluff his way through the situation. "They just called me over from the other building, something about needing another set of hands. I was told that they had already let you guys know I was coming."
For a heartbeat, neither of the corp men said anything, and then as one their fingers started to tighten on the triggers to their assault rifles.
Once again, Shadow was saved by his combat sense, which tipped him off to the fact that neither man was buying his feeble attempt at a bluff, at the same time that they decided that he wasn't legit.
Shadow was sure that both men were wired, likely very heavily, so he didn't try to cover the distance separating him from them like he normally would have.
As both triggers started to move, Shadow hurled himself to the left, a split second later, the first couple shots buzzed through the spot where he had just been.
Hands blurring, the shape shifter reached inside his cleaning suit, and pulled out a throwing knife as his left leg came up in preparation for pushing off of the rapidly approaching wall.
The two guards had been expecting for the 'janitor' to turn and run before they were forced to follow protocol, and fire a warning shot, so Shadow's evasive motion caught them completely by surprise. Where the flesh was weak, wires were strong, and the microprocessors inside both men's heads had recognized the shape shifter's actions as being potentially hostile, and were already tracking each guards arm towards Shadow, as he hit the wall, and kicked up and away from it.
Augmented muscles kicked in now, contracting with a strength that would have put an unagumented olympic power lifter to shame. The powerful bursts of movement managed to overcome the inertia of eight kilograms of metal and flesh, and swing the muzzles of the guard's assault rifles back in an effort to hit Shadow, who was a meter higher, and two meters to the side of where the guard's reflexes had expected him to me.
Shadow saw a trio of bullets impact against the wall he had just kicked away from, causing concrete to geyser away in slow motion from the smooth surface. As another pair of projectiles hissed past the shape shifter, he finally got his target lined up, and flipped one of his knives at the leftmost guard.
Moving at a speed which most physicists would have decried as being unachievable for anything thrown without mechanical assistance, or by someone without several hundred thousand nuyen with of implants, the knife tore through the air and buried itself in the guard's throat as the second guard's wires finished upgrading Shadow's threat level, and switched his weapon to full auto.
Shadow used the momentum imparted by throwing the knife, to bring his legs up in front of him, as he lined up his second target. As the second blade left Shadow's left hand with a velocity nearly that of the first one, the surviving corp man's smart link finally painted the runner with a pulsing red dot.
At full auto, an AK-49 was able to empty it's clip in just over seven seconds. In the second that the guard had between the time when he acquired Shadow as a target, and when the runner's knife took him in the eye, he did his best to put three rounds into the physad.
Unfortunately for Shadow, the guard was a pro, and his best was good enough that all three rounds went exactly where he wanted them. The shape shifter legs were in the way though, so the projectiles wasted themselves against the massive bones and muscles of Shadow's lower limbs before penetrating a couple of inches into his stomach and chest.
Shadow crashed to the ground a second behind the guard, unable to move until his body finished healing itself, and wishing for the second time in less than twelve hours that swearing brought him the same kind of release that it seemed to bring Silk.
The rest of the team came pounding around the corner about the time that Shadow was finally able to climb back to his feet. Looking at the shape shifter's ruined cleaning uniform, and deciding that there was no way two seconds worth of gunfire would go unnoticed, Hammer abandoned subtlety, and hit the door at a run.
Reinforced steel shuddered under the impact of two hundred and eighty kilograms of troll and equipment. A normal person would have rebounded from the door bruised and bleeding, but Hammer's titanium laced bones were the next best thing to indestructible, and his reinforced, polymer-laced skin was strong enough not to split and tear as a result of the incredible forces it was being subject to.
With a final shiver-inducing shriek, the door bent and gave way, falling from its warped frame and hinges. Hammer picked himself back up, and followed DeVries and Shadow as the runners started sprinting down the hall.
A small company of guards appeared, pouring from a couple of different doors in response to both the gunfire and the noise from the destruction of the door.
Against a less powerful team, the guards, all of whom were very experienced, and four of whom were in full combat armor, would have handily been able to eliminate the intruders.
Unfortunately, the one mage with the guards wasn't able to deal with the fury of all three of the shadowrunning mages.
Silk's spell hardly made the mage flinch, but DeVries then fired off what the pretty elf had come to think of as his soul harvesting spell, and the mage all but collapsed as he tried to diffuse the shrieking, ghastly green light that shrouded the guards.
Before the mage had completely managed to ground the vampire's spell out, Mercury hit the assembled men and women with her incredibly powerful ram spell. The cone of force materialized in front of Shadow and Hammer, deflecting bullets away from the two runners, and causing the opposing mage to pass out from drain as he tried to defend the rest of the guard detail. The spell then proceeded to slam into the armored guards at the front of the group, and wash over the less well protected individuals further back.
The four company men in the ready response team were pretty battered, but unlike their fellows, they survived due to their now dented and cracked security armor. Unfortunately for them, Shadow and Hammer were upon them before they could begin to free themselves from the pile of corpses that had been their comrades.
The two razors attacked with a ferocity that Silk had come to expect from Shadow, but which was very atypical from Hammer. The big troll usually operated like a surgeon, using exactly the amount of violence and force required to accomplish the task at hand, miserly in comparison to the majority of runners, who seemed to glory in destruction. It was the mage had decided what set him apart as a top runner, a true pro.
Now however, Hammer jammed the muzzle of his assault rifle into a weak spot on his opponents armor and fired for a full half a second on full auto.
As Shadow dispatched another pair of guards with lightning fast strikes from his katana, the troll reached out with one hand picked up the remaining guard and threw him repeatedly against a concrete wall. Silk had to swallow a couple of times as she passed the bulky, wrecked figure that Hammer had so casually manhandled. Nothing living should be able to do that to someone in hardened armor, it just shouldn't be possible.
Deciding that the alarms had been squealing for long enough for people to be up and moving, but not long enough for the complex's security forces to have an accurate picture of what was going on, DeVries, pushed a button on the high-powered radio transmitter he had brought with him, and was answered with a trio of massive explosions that the team's backup had rigged.
Hammer and Shadow looked at the various doors leading off of the large room in which they found themselves, and each kicked a door open, bursting into large suites which proved to hold middle-aged men who appeared to be of an intellectual bent, and not at all interested in fighting.
DeVries slipped into Shadow’s room, and confirmed that the shape shifter had found some of the geneticists that they had been looking for, at the same time that Hammer and Mercury did the same from the other suite of rooms.
A few minutes later the runners had opened up the other four doors and confirmed the presence of the other researchers that DeVries' intelligence had claimed would be found in the complex.
The scientists, with the exception of a rail-thin elf who's eyes had the glow of a fanatic,were all relieved to be going anywhere if it meant release from the hellish work that they had been forced to pursue for the last several months.
After listening to a full minutes worth of screaming and promises of vengeance and death from the sole ungrateful scientist, Silk surprised everyone by lashing out with her right foot, and knocking the other woman into unconsciousness.
Hammer was especially astonished, unprepared for the change in how assertive Silk had become while he had been in a narcotics induced stupor. Shadow and DeVries on the other hand simply smiled, partly in relief, and partly in amusement, and Mercury patted the other elf on the arm. "I was trying to decide whether or not to do that myself."
One look at Silk's tired, bloodshot eyes scared the remaining scientists badly enough that it took DeVries, of all people to calm them down enough that the team was able to get any kind of useful information out of them.
Partway through explaining that there was a set of corridors that connected the living quarters to two research labs where the modified HMHVV strains were stored, the defacto leader of the scientists suddenly went pale, dropping to his knees before Martin, and baring his throat.
"I'm sorry Lord, we should have known that this was all a ploy, I await your punishment."
Mercury swore softly upon seeing the fang marks on the man's neck, while DeVries pulled the man to his feet roughly.
The runners got the scientists moving down the corridor while they attempted to get someone to explain the old man's comment. To the team's astonishment, it became apparent that there were vampires who lived in a group of rooms off of the labs, and supervised the work of the researchers.
DeVries urged everyone to greater speeds, the hunger now easily visible in his eyes. Hammer, burdened by the limp form of the woman that Silk had knocked out, covered the team's retreat, taking shots at the guards who had started to trickle down into the area and pursue the runners.
Another trio of explosions shook the complex as the runners that DeVries had hired continued to try and keep the corp's security forces shaken up and confused.
The troll whirled and raced through a door only to find that the group had reached the first research lab. A pair of scientists tried to push Hammer out of the way while another researcher started swinging the massive door closed.
The runner shrugged off the two men and palming a grenade with his free hand pulled the pin and hurled it with most of his incredible strength towards the quartet of heavily armored guards who were approaching.
Backing out of the way, Hammer helped the other three men swing the door shut, swallowing astonishment as one of them punched in a code which caused the wall to shake slightly as gigantic locking mechanisms sealed the room.
Working much faster than one would expect a man of his age to be able to, the scientist proceeded to enter another string of numbers and commands which effectively caused the computer running the locking mechanisms to empty its internal memory and operating system.
"They wanted to be able to seal this place up tight if the someone tried to get in, but they made the mistake of thinking that we were even more cowed than we really were."
Hammer gave the scientist a respectful nod as he assessed the door. That should hold for at least ten minutes, then they'll be able to bring in some heavy explosives and open this whole place up with shaped charges.
Some of the researchers still seemed to believe that the team was some kind of subtle attempt by the vampires to determine which of the poor men and women were truly cowed, and which ones still entertained thoughts of escape.
Nevertheless, after a short pause, and repeated commands from DeVries and a steadily more angry Silk, all seven of the remaining scientists started destroying their work. The runners prowled around, generally eager to help in an attempt to speed things up, but none of them were familiar enough with what needed to be done to do more than verify that the samples were being destroyed with ever-increasing vigor.
Hauling around another fifty kilograms in addition to all the gear that he had brought was starting to wear on even Hammer's great reserves of strength. Under different circumstances matters might have been different, but the troll hadn't taken decent care of his body in quite some time, and there was a limit even to what his implants and augmentations could do, so he set the unconscious woman down next to the door into the second lab.
There was some experimental pounding coming from the other side of the steel door that was protecting the group from the security men, but all indications were still that the door wasn't going anywhere without shaped charges, so DeVries herded the scientists into the next room where they began destroying additional viral strains and computer records.
Shadow stationed himself next to the door separating the two labs, and struggled not to fall asleep. The shape shifter had been through an incredible amount in the last seven or eight hours, and was exhausted to the point where only willpower and his incredible, but rapidly dwindling magical strength were still keeping him moving.
All things considered, the physad could hardly be blamed when he failed to register the familiar crawling sensation between his shoulder blades until a fraction of a second before a stinging sensation signaled that the slim woman Hammer had been carrying was awake and in possession of a hypodermic needle.
Shadow spun, cutting the woman in two before he fully registered what had happened. The were-tiger saw the needle crash to the ground as the fanatical light faded from the scientists eyes, and then the stinging sensation started spreading from his neck, to the neighboring parts of his body.
The rest of the team came running as they heard the body hit the ground. Silk knelt down next to Shadow and began a healing spell only to stop within a couple of seconds when she realized that she didn’t know any spells that would do the shape shifter any good. Turning the mage grabbed the nearest living researcher and pulled him down to look at the syringe. "What did she inject him with." The man tried to protest that there wasn't any way of knowing, but Silk hurled him into a wall with a low-power ram spell. "Try again, what was in it."
DeVries was the first to make it to the mage, pulling her off of the whimpering man before she was able to seriously injure him. The mage then tried to hit the poor man with another spell, but DeVries ruthlessly grounded the energies out, and slapped her hard enough to draw blood. Silk looked up with fury in her eyes, but blanched as she met the vampire's gaze. The hunger that had given Shadow pause was back, closer to the surface, and under less control than ever before.
Hammer was halfway to DeVries, with murder in his eyes, but the vampire set Silk down, visibly regaining control of himself before the troll was able to intercede. The two runners stared at each other, seeming to will the other to misstep and vindicate the doubts that they had been nurturing, but a yell from Mercury refocused everyone's attention.
Shadow was on the floor, struggling to pull himself up a stool, while one of the researchers approached wild-eyed, wielding a chair as a make-shift weapon.
This time DeVries didn't interfere when Silk blasted the man into a wall. The other scientists froze in an effort to avoid a similar response, but their eyes held a hopelessness so profound that it finally penetrated Silk's grief.
A motherly looking woman finally broke the stalemate, walking over to check the now unconscious researcher. "He's right you know. Phelps was lying, we can't say which strain she injected your friend with, but it was HMHVV. Killing us wont change the fact that he'll become a vampire."
Hammer looked back at Shadow, who was in too much pain to really register what had been said, and then over to DeVries, where what he saw made his blood run cold.
The hunger was back in the vampire’s eyes. Hammer had seen the look of self-loathing and relief often enough on his own face when he'd shot up with Acid to know exactly what was going through the vampire's mind.
If Shadow really was going to turn into one of the enemy, that meant that Martin could feed on him. The fact that he could keep his oath to never feed on someone who wasn't a vampire for a few more months was an incredible relief. A relief for which DeVries hated himself for feeling.
The moment of silence hung in the air for two heartbeats, and then Silk screamed at the kind looking woman, hurling herself at the bearer of bad news, only to be hauled up short by Mercury.
As the ensuing bedlam erupted, Hammer pulled out a pistol and fired a round back into the other room, shocking everyone back into silence.
"Nobody touches Shadow until we have proof." A glance at DeVries showed that the hunger was contained. "Hold yourselves together and nobody else will get hurt."
It was obvious that the researchers didn't believe Hammer's promise, but they finished destroying the various viral strains, for the simple reason that they all hated what they had been forced to do.
Five minutes later Hammer's augmented hearing picked up sounds that convinced him that the door was only a minute or two from being blown open. The troll picked up Shadow, while DeVries demanded to be shown the exit that the vampires used.
The runners were operating on the assumption that their quarry would have another way out of the complex. The guards at their back had cut off the planned escape routes, leaving the group no option but to continue on in the hopes that they would come across another way out, as well as the vampires that they had been hoping to flush out of hiding with the paired assaults of the night.
The scientists brought the runners to a door that wasn’t locked, proving how little the vampires felt that they needed to worry about the middle-aged intellectuals who were the only ones in a position to use the door.
The runners and researchers made their way down a long hallway that in addition to the normal flourescent lights that one would expect, also had some kind of glowing plant set in holders at regular intervals.
None of the researchers had ever dared go through the door, so they couldn't explain the vampire's curious choice in decor, but just as a thought started to tickle the back of Hammer's mind, a loud explosion signaled the breach of the door that had been holding the guards back.
The thought of dealing with numerous guards who by now had gotten over the initial confusion to the runner's infiltration was enough to make the runners and the researchers both pick up the pace.
DeVries lead the way into an area where the normal lighting disappeared, leaving only the glowing plants. The runners all had infrared eyesight, while the scientists although only human, were scared enough of the guards that they knew had to be following, that nobody even slowed down as they sprinted into the darkness, and around a corner in the corridor.
DeVries rivaled Hammer in experience, and bettered him in power, but the hunger had him far enough in its grasp that he was moving too quickly in an effort to find the other vampires, and satiate his growing need for blood.
Consequently, DeVries was caught almost completely off guard when a massive hand grabbed him as he rounded a corner, and hurled him into the far wall.
Hammer looked forward as he heard DeVries' body slice through the air. Vampires have recuperative powers that rival those of shape shifters, but some things are able to put even them down for the count.
Hammer sprinted towards the front of the group, dropping his passenger as he saw the vampire hit the far wall, and come to rest unmoving on the floor. Mercury had already realized what had happened, but she appeared to have her hands full trying to keep Silk and the scientists from continuing on blindly into the grasp of whatever had just thrown DeVries about like a stuffed toy.
Hammer brought his assault rifle up as he skidded around the far side of the corner, only to see a massive figure bat the weapon away before he could even pull the trigger.
The troll tried to back up and buy himself some room, but whatever the large heat image was, it was faster than he was. With an incredibly powerful jerk, the troll found himself pulled further into the darkness, grappling with an opponent who seemed to outclass him in every possible way.
The runner fought back with all of his augmented strength, but muscles which had almost effortlessly thrown a 110 kilo guard around were of little avail against this opponent.
The creature, which seemed to have some kind of rough, knobby skin stepped closer, and slipped grotesquely muscled arms around Hammer, pinning his arms against his side, and lifting him from the ground.
A portion of the troll's mind realized that the scrabbling sounds coming from further in the darkness had to be another of the creatures coming to join the fray, but the runner had no choice but to focus on the opponent who was doing its best to crush his ribs and spine.
Massive slabs of flesh and blood muscles strained to rip free of their moorings on Hammer's titanium laced bones. Meanwhile those same bones, proclaimed to be the next best thing to unbreakable by the surgeons who had done the cyberware modification were creaking and bending so drastically that Hammer knew that they were in fact very close to snapping.
In all the long years since Hammer had hit his full growth, and received his cyberware and bioware, he had never been manhandled like he was being right now. For a brief instant, an overwhelming fear tore at the corners of the runner's mind.
The rising tide of terror threatened to wash through his being, carrying away his sanity, but then decades of training took over, reasserting the legendary focus that had seen Hammer through situations that would have left most of the trash who called themselves shadowrunners broken and dead along the wayside.
Hammer lashed out with his right foot, connecting against something that felt like a good sized tree, but which had to be his opponent's leg.
The blow loosed up the vice-like grip holding the troll enough that he was able to lean forward and slam his helmeted forehead into the creature's face.
A few feet away Shadow stumbled around the corner and drew his katana as he prepared to attack the creature holding Hammer. The shape shifter was obviously still in a bad way after being injected with the unknown strain of HMHVV, but he had recuperated enough that we the second creature's heat silhouette suddenly lunged from around another corner, the physad nimbly sidestepped the attack.
DeVries was stirring slightly as Shadow danced back from another attack, slashing his opponent with very near his normal speed.
As his opponent's grasp weakened a little morel, Hammer rammed his knee up into the creature's groin, and whipped his elbow around to slam into its throat in a blow that would have crushed the throat of any creature which Hammer had ever encountered.
Shadow streaked in, slashing his opponent again, only to be backhanded into a wall when the creature hadn't been slowed by the previous attack.
"They are regenerating," screamed the shape shifter as he lunged away from the big form that tried to trap him against the wall before he could regain his feet.
Hammer executed a flawless side thrust kick, shattering a massive knee, before grabbing a now-flailing arm and blowing out an elbow. The troll realized that Shadow was correct when the creature regained its feet before Hammer could capitalize on what should have been crippling strikes.
Shadow was on the offensive now, his blade weaving a rippling shield between him and the retreating monster. The shape shifter's katana keep licking out and opening up slices in boney, armored skin, but Shadow knew that in his present condition, he couldn't sustain the fury of his attack for very much longer.
With exhaustion quickly narrowing Shadow’s range of options, the shape shifter made a decision, leaving gapping holes in his defense as his katana slashed out in powerful blows aimed at robbing the creature of its limbs.
Hammer saw a hot spot representing a massive hand drop to the ground as Shadow pressed his attack. The troll's opponent rushed him with a unintelligible roar, and suddenly something clicked in the back of the runner's mind.
Moving slightly backwards, Hammer made the massive animal come to him. Still moving slightly faster than Hammer, the creature grabbed at Hammer, who had anticipated the simple attack, and moved closer to execute a jiujitsu style throw.
Hammer's opponent soared through the air, as the runner used its own momentum against it, crashing into a wall and bouncing into the dim light provided by the glowing plants.
A deep grunt brought about by impacting on the reinforced concrete wall changed to a hair-raising scream as the faint light touched the creature.
Scientists scattered as the huge form which they could barely see lunged to its feet and desperately tried to flee back into the comforting darkness. Unfortunately for the creature, Hammer had followed up with is throw by closing the distance between him and it, and he now launched a powerful spinning back thrust kick.
The creature was too maddened by pain to avoid the blow, and it found itself hurled further up the hallway, where the light was even brighter.
As the smell of burning flesh filled the hall, Mercury, who had previously had her hands full with keeping the researchers from fleeing back to where Silk was trying to hold off a persistent group of guards, now realized the creature's vulnerability as well.
A low sizzle was all the warning Hammer had before a ball of fire came streaking from the mage's hands to impact on the creature.
The flickering light of the flames revealed that the fire combined with the light was eating away at the monstrosity's flesh faster than it was able to regenerate from the damage.
Silk yelled for help, over the team's radio channel, so Mercury turned and sprinted back to assist the other mage while Hammer spun to find Shadow holding a broken katana, and contemplating a messily beheaded creature that looked like a troll that had been redesigned by the legions of hell.
DeVries struggled back to his feet, offering a stiff thanks to Hammer and Shadow, although he kept an eye on the shape shifter, no doubt wondering how the virus had affected the physad.
Mercury came over the team channel to report that the elves had driven the guards back temporarily, and that they were headed back towards the rest of the group.
Hammer instructed each of the scientists to grab one of the glowing plants, and then the team set off again.
A hundred yards or so traveled along the path littered with the least amount of the creature's past meals brought the group to a set of corridors that were lighted again, with both electrical fixtures and plants.
"A very neat way of containing the beasts," murmured Hammer as he lead the group out into a suite of rooms that were so lavishly appointed, that even Shadow, who usually felt that shag carpet was a perfectly acceptable way of decorating, was momentarily speechless.
The sound of a pair of hands clapping brought the runners spinning around so that the could see the source of the noise. A tall, pale man whose skin looked nearly transparent was rising to the left of the group. The man smiled, revealing enlarged canines, and Silk suddenly matched the man with the description that her teammates had provided of one of the vampires that had been behind the racist organization.
The vampire slipped past the group of women, who on closer examination all had to be vampires as well.
"He was right after all. I told my master that you wouldn't ever bother us again." Another lazy smile crept across the vampire's translucent face. "Then you had to stumble across those stupid gangers. By the time we realized who those pieces of drek had tangled with, it was too late to order them to leave you alone."
The female vampires, were following the male now, rubbing up against him like puppies.
"I told him that we should cut them loose, let you take them down, and just continue on with the work here. After all nothing else really mattered, if we succeeded in furthering the genetics work, the Order would have forgiven the loss of a few million nuyen that had been invested in taking that bunch of nulls and turning them into a big noise."
The vampire continued to close in slowly, and the runners edged the researchers back away from him and his female companions.
"Of course since he didn't just cut them loose, the mages somehow got traced, and you no doubt then had enough information to track down this corporation."
Hammer growled, a deep rumbling sound that made the hair on the back of Silk's neck stand up. The vampire just smiled however, pushing the other vampires so that they began to start spreading out to encircle the runners.
"Of course, as soon as we realized that you all had hit that prissy bunch of mages, the master had to go running off to try and bring in extra muscle."
"I told him we could shut you down without any more people than we had on-site. You've got him running scared though, he hasn’t been the same since you took that table leg to him. I don't think anyone besides his superiors in the order has dared raise a hand against him in decades, and it has been centuries since he was last injured."
DeVries took a breath to warn the rest of the team that the vampires were about to attack, but they preempted his warning, launching into blurs of motion that only the augmented runners could follow.
Silk and Mercury both launched flashy spells at the undead, but neither mage had much strength left to put into her efforts, so the single mage among the females was able to ground both spells out as she launched herself at the nearest researcher.
DeVries didn't even try to cast a spell, he was so tired that there wasn't any way that he could possibly overwhelm a fresh opponent magically. Instead the mage launched himself at the translucent-skinned vampire.
Hammer opened up with a three-round burst at one of the four female vampires, more in an effort to knock her back than with any hope of actually killing her, while Shadow streaked to intercept another of the females before she could strike down another researcher.
DeVries found himself flying back through the air, the recipient of a powerful kick that was moving too quickly for even the experienced runner to counter.
The next few seconds were a nightmare of blood and violence. Shadow eliminated one of the vampires, but she was attacking with such violence and reckless abandon for her own well being that she shredded his armor and left him with deep gashes in his stomach.
Hammer was forced to drop his assault rifle, and defend himself with his hands and feet as a pair of vampires closed with him and tried to ripe his throat out.
DeVries bounced off the wall, grimacing in incredible pain as bones and flesh knit itself together just a split second before the other male vampire closed with him again.
Silk and Mercury tried to bring the magic wielding female down with small arms fire, but she moved so quickly that she closed with the remaining scientists before they could put more than a few rounds in her.
The vampire struck out with razor-sharp fingernails, opening the throats of another pair of researchers before Mercury drew a dimly glowing knife and threw herself at the vampire.
Shadow saw the dark-haired elf move, and realized that she just wasn't fast enough. The shape shifter whipped out a pair of throwing knives, flicking them at the vampire where one took her in the wrist of the hand that was about to open Mercury up from crotch to shoulder, and the other glanced off of a cheekbone, rather than burying itself in her eye.
Events were moving too quickly for Shadow to be everywhere he needed to be. Hammer was holding his own against the two vampires he had faced off with, but it was a very close thing, the vampires were very nearly as quick as the troll, and there was two of them. The only things keeping the runner from being overwhelmed was his superior size and reach, and the incredible amount of damage his augmented skin and bones could withstand.
Silk had joined Mercury, and the pair was trying to overwhelm the vampiric mage with the help of the two scientists who weren't crying, quivering mounds in the corner, but they were now both bleeding in a number of places, while their opponent showed no signs of slowing.
Shadow caught all of this with a corner of his mind, because the majority of his attention was focused on DeVries and the translucent-skinned vampire.
The shape shifter had fought the other physad previously, when he was much less tired and battered than he was now. On that occasion, the best that Shadow had managed was a draw. If DeVries fell, Shadow knew that the other vamp could very well overwhelm the remaining runners in short order, so the shape shifter quickly decided to carry the fight to the most dangerous opponent.
As the shape shifter covered the ground between him and the fighting pair, he whipped out his two remaining throwing knives, both of which struck true.
Unfortunately, neither blade managed to pierce the unearthly, translucent skin of their target. Shadow had expected as much, recalling that the physad had displaced an ability to turn weapons, but the runner had hoped to distract his opponent from DeVries, who had fallen back, desperately trying to buy himself enough room to get a spell off.
The eerie vampire hadn't even winced though, pursuing DeVries with a single-mindedness that didn't bode well for the runner's continued survival.
Martin tripped, sliding backwards as his opponent's hand flashed out, just missing him, and then Shadow was there, between the pair, and the energies that the vampire had been gathering were finally ready.
With a mental effort, DeVries created an incredibly powerful differential between him and the vampire that Shadow had just knocked back against a wall. With a eye-searing flash, a bolt of lightning materialized, racing from Martin's cupped hands to strike his opponent, narrowly missing Shadow.
Shadow's magical nature, the reason for his keen eyes, allowed him to resist the temporary blindness that afflicted most people after a flash of light that powerful. Consequently, the shape shifter was able to see the bolt of lightning hit the vampire, and then arc to a nearby wall, causing a large section of concrete to explode, while somehow leaving the vampire completely unharmed.
The vampire seemed to share Shadow's immunity to sudden flares, because while DeVries was still trying to blink spots out of his eyes, his opponent launched himself at Shadow, who quickly found himself taking an incredible amount of damage, all the while narrowly avoiding death time after time.
Hammer's cyber eyes came equipped with flare compensation, and he was looking away from the flash, so he was able to continue to fight, taking advantage of one of his opponents' temporary blindness to behead her, while holding the other vampire off with a well-placed kick.
Silk didn't fare so well. The blond mage had looked up at the precise instant when DeVries had cast his spell, and her helmet didn't contain the flare-dampening electronics that Hammer's eyes did because that would make it impossible for her to cast spells.
Consequently the incredibly bright light overwhelmed the minimal tinting, blinding Silk and taking her out of the fight.
Mercury happened to be on the other side of the vampire though, and she was spared anything worse than reflections off of a couple small mirrors. Blinking a few spots away from her eyes, the willowy elf brought her submachine gun up from the where it had been resting on a sling, and opened up on full auto.
The magic-using vampire was still trying to regain her vision when the first few rounds hit her, and consequently couldn't defend herself. As fiery lances of pain tore through her body she willed her body to transform into a dark mist which then fled up one of the air intakes.
DeVries' watering eyes recovered enough that he could see that there were only two vampires left. The runner screamed for Hammer to spare the last female as he threw himself at her.
Hammer saw the other runner at the same time that he realized just how close Shadow was to being overwhelmed. With a mental curse at DeVries for abandoning the shape shifter, the troll kicked his remaining opponent towards Martin, and brought his assault rifle back up.
A carefully placed burst scored on the vampire, piercing his magically reinforced skin, and knocking him back slightly a fraction of a second before he was able to deliver a killing blow to Shadow.
The battered physad used his momentary respite to back towards Hammer in an effort to buy himself more time to finish healing.
Behind the pair, Hammer could hear DeVries cast a spell to immobilize his prey, and then begin feeding, while Mercury, and a still slightly disoriented Silk spread out to either side of him and Shadow in an effort to support the two razors.
Shadow, who's throat had healed enough for speech to return warned the pair that spells wouldn't work on the vampire, and then drew an Ares Predator who's laser sight quickly found the again-smiling vampire.
With a cheery wave, the fiend assumed his own mist form, and also fled through one of the air vents.
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