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Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

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“Just so you know,” one of the red armored GenMag mercenaries said. “The specimen is panicked and highly dangerous. We’ll have to take her down swift and hard. Anything less and we’ll all die.”

Rovin and his companions nodded in understanding as the group approached an empty warehouse near the southern wall of the city. In ages past, the building was used as a storehouse for the Phoenix Gang, but the recent events with the Liberators and the Brotherhood have been unforgiving for the gang itself.

The details were unclear even to the highest ranking Allivierion members, but whatever had happened, the gang had packed their bags and moved out of Varrock shortly after the Brotherhood murders had began. Out of fear or a bargain with the murderers was anyone’s guess.

“So are you sure she’s here?” Rovin asked as one of the mercenaries kicked down a rotting wooden door. “I mean, we haven’t seen her fly into this place at all, so what makes you certain we’re in the right place?”

“We’ve been trained to magically track all GenMag experiments upon taking our jobs,” one of the mercenaries explained. “We’ve also been equipped with the countermeasures you see on our persons, so you’ll have to trust us when we say we’re close.”

“Well, if you say so then I guess I can’t argue,” Rovin admitted. The guard captain kicked a broken chair leg out of his way as he took stock of his surroundings.

The warehouse was bare save for a few broken crates scattered about the room, and the building’s age was apparent in the blackening wood that coated the walls and what was left of the stairs leading to the upper level and basement. Small holes dotted the ceiling, and streaks of sunlight peeked through them and gave the room an eerie, if not outright haunted, feeling.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

15-Aug-2011 19:47:19 - Last edited on 25-Sep-2013 06:12:18 by A Mad Hatter

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“The magical fluctuations are…scattered,” a mercenary noted. His comrades seemed confused as well as they tapped their horned helmets silently.

“Indeed,” another agreed. “We’ll have to split up.” To Rovin, the mercenary said, “You and the blonde lad will take the top floor. Our spells are saying that the rest of our group won’t be able to move about up there due to the weight we possess. So we’ll take the basement. If you see the creature, retreat and sound the alarm.”

Rovin and Ben nodded in agreement as the mercenaries and the guardsmen in their care descended the rickety steps carefully. Once they were out of view, Ben whispered, “Sir…do you trust these guys?”

“No,* Rovin admitted as he began to climb the rotten steps leading to the upper levels. “But that’s good that they agreed to split up. If we find the Vampire up here, we’ll have the perfect chance to alert the Spider and have him help us out. I get the feeling that even he will be more humane compared to what these GenMag goons will do to her.”

“Are you sure he’ll help?” Ben asked as he followed the guard captain. “He never struck me as the charitable kind.”

“He’ll have to,” Rovin said. “He was pursuing this thing before we got involved because he believed it was linked to the Brotherhood cases somehow. I’m willing to bet that he’ll feel the need to satisfy his own curiosity at the very least.”

“But why?” Ben asked. “I mean, he’s a mercenary. Surely he has better offers from nobles to do some dirty work that pays more than anything he could get out of this whole situation?”

Rovin shrugged. “I…dunno. He never told me much about his motives when he approached me a few years ago with an offer to help us out.”

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

15-Aug-2011 19:47:52 - Last edited on 25-Sep-2013 06:12:23 by A Mad Hatter

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

The pair entered a room that was no different than the one below. However, the only difference was that this room had no roof, for whatever calamity that had befallen the building years ago had ripped the roof right off of it. The only dark part of the “room” was a small corner that had collapsed and had a small hole leading down to what Rovin assumed was a small closet before the disaster.

“So…wait,” Ben said as Rovin inspected the collapsed portion of the area. “You mean HE came to YOU and not the other way around?!”

“Yup,” Rovin said. “Don’t get me wrong…I have a bad feeling about mercenaries in general after going toe to toe with the Baron’s legions in the regions close to Falador. I’ve seen the worst of ‘em, but something seems…different…about the Spider.”

“Different? How so?”

“The mercenaries I’ve met before him were only interested in either coin, drink, women, or fame,” Rovin explained.

“But this guy…he didn't ask for anything like that. He just asked that we help each other out: I use my position as guard captain to provide intelligence about high profile crimes to him when he asked for it, which he fights. And really, how could I refuse such an offer during these dark times?”

“By saying NO!* Ben cried. “Seriously, how can you trust some guy who comes out of nowhere asking for classified information?”

“The same way we trust a bunch of guys who caught us with our pants down in the western sector,” Rovin said. “Now c’mon…I think I can fit through this hole if you help push me down. I think I hear something down there but I dunno if it’s rats or something else.”

Ben complied, and kneeled to the floor as Rovin struggled to fit his frame in the hole. It wasn’t an impossible task- as a guard captain, the brown haired Miles was in top physical shape for a man of his age- but the hole itself seemed to bend and creak as Rovin’s chainmail worked its way past the edges. With a huff, Ben took hold of Rovin’s shoulders, and forcefully shoved his superior down.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

15-Aug-2011 19:48:50 - Last edited on 25-Sep-2013 06:12:28 by A Mad Hatter

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Rovin slid through rather quickly, and landed with a loud crash in a pile of abandoned buckets and rags. A sharp hiss escaped his lips, but other than the sudden but brief pain that came from landing haphazardly in a pile of buckets, he was unharmed. He looked around to let his eyes adjust to the room, which was rather larger than he first thought.

There seemed to be no way out of the room itself, for what might have been a doorway in the past was blocked by fallen beams of broken wood and rubble. The wooden panels serving as walls were just as decayed in there as they were in the rest of the building, if not even more so, for the faint smell of mildew drifted about the room.

A faint sobbing sound came from one of the further corners of the room. Roving turned around, and on seeing a mutilated pile of pillows in one of the corners, decided to investigate further. The guard captain shifted through the disintegrating fabrics and bland stuffing* that had leaked out of the pillows over the years, but as he got closer to what he presumed was the bottom of the pile, a sickly pale hand shot out of it and grabbed his wrist. Rovin gasped, and tried to get free of the hand’s grasp, but to no avail.

“W…who’s there?” the voice of a frightened young girl asked. “Daddy? Mommy?”

“Try Rovin,” he whispered. “And keep it down…you…who are you anyway?”

“Rovin?” the voice asked as the pile of pillows shifted. A young girl who looked like she had seen only no more than fourteen winters yet rose from the pile, keeping his arm in her unnaturally strong grip as she moved. The girl was dressed in the rags of a pauper, though whether or not they were once clothes was up to debate. A pair of bat-like wings protruded from her back, and her raven colored locks were resting on them as if it was a natural aspect of her body.

“Oh...damn,” Rovin whispered. He knew that they were tracking a vampire, but he hadn’t expected it to be someone this young!

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

15-Aug-2011 19:49:46 - Last edited on 25-Sep-2013 06:12:33 by A Mad Hatter

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“I…I don’t know a Rovin,” the girl meekly said. “And my mother said I wasn’t to talk to strangers.”

“And who’s your mother?” Rovin asked. “Hell…who are you? What are you doing here?”

“I…I…” the girl began. She let go of Rovin’s arm, and scratched her head. "I don’t know,” she admitted after a few moments.

“Don’t know, or don’t remember?”

The girl shrugged. “Both?” she asked. “I can’t remember much of anything, truthfully.”

“So,” Rovin said as he put some distance between him and the girl. “What *do* you remember then?”

“I remember a cage,” the girl said. “I remember a cage and…something else. It was smoky, but…I think it was a lab. Like the kind you hear about in the penny dreadful stories.” Tears welled up in the girl’s eyes as she recounted her experiences to Rovin.

“There were these guys,” she said. “I didn't see their faces. Just some red masks that looked like a demon fish face. Or at least I think it was a fish face. They came and…took me? Picked me up? I can’t remember which. But they told me to drink something, and the next thing I know I ended up in a cage. Then, I ended up on a table with some guy in black robes holding a dagger and talking about…die…diss…cutting me open.”

“Well damn,” Rovin said. Thoughts swirled through his head as he took what the girl said and paired it up with what the GenMag mercenaries had told him. “She’s a convicted killer,” they had said. “She had agreed to volunteer for an experiment that would transfer racial qualities between specimens in exchange for a clean slate.”

But the girl before him didn't seem like a killer, let alone one that had gotten in trouble with the law in the past. The killers in Varrock were already accounted for in Allivierion’s and the city guard’s records…outside of the Brotherhood jobs, of course. And not once were any of them young women who met this girl’s description.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

15-Aug-2011 19:50:27 - Last edited on 25-Sep-2013 06:12:38 by A Mad Hatter

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Are…are you with them?” the girl asked, snapping Rovin out of his thoughts.

“N…no," Rovin said. “My men and I agreed to help the men who took you so we could find you. But we’re not helping them at all. We’re helping someone else. Someone who wants to help.”

“Can I meet him?” the teary-eyed girl asked. “The one who wants to help? ‘Cause I could use a lot right now.*

"Well…I can take you to him, but I need a way out of this room,” Rovin said. “Maybe you can help? Get us out of here, and I’ll get you to safety?”

“But…you’re a stranger,” the girl said. “How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you won’t take me back to the red men?”

“I won’t,” Rovin said as he stepped closer to the girl. “I’m a guard. Trust me, those red men are no friends of mine. Not after this.”

“Promise me,” the girl said as she held out her hand. “Promise me you won’t let them take me back.”

Rovin took the girl’s hand in his. “I swear on my life,” he said. “I’ll die before I let them take you back.”

“Weellll,” the girl said sheepishly. “I would’ve gone for a pinky promise. But I guess a life promise is good too.”

Rovin interlocked his pinky finger with hers. “Well, girly,” he said as a smile began forming under his mustache. “I’ll take a pinky promise too. Now, we need to get out of here though. Help won’t come to us if we stay here.”

“Deal,” the girl cried happily. She ran over to the collapsed doorway, and scratched her head in confusion. “I think I can do something about this,” she declared after inspecting it for a moment.

“Good,” Rovin said. “You do that.” He activated the communication spell that the Spider had taught him, and sent to Ben, “Meet us in the main room we came in from. Bring nobody. I have the vampire and we’re getting out of here.”

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

15-Aug-2011 19:51:30 - Last edited on 25-Sep-2013 06:12:43 by A Mad Hatter

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Rovin, don’t,” Ben sent back. “They’re coming. They know she’s not down th…” the message was interrupted by a loud crashing sound followed by a blinding flash. Rovin snapped out of his trance, and saw that the girl had somehow disintegrated the entire wall with a spell. How, he didn't know, but the results were plain for all to see.

Unfortunately, the mercenaries and his own guards were coming up the stairs at that very moment. Ben was in the room as well, and he looked at Rovin with fear in his eyes.

"I told ya so,” he said in shock while he stared at the young vampire.

“Wow,” the girl said, evidently in shock as well. “I just…just wanted to move that door stuff. Not the entire wall. How’d I do that?!”

The GenMag mercenaries bore their weapons and advanced on the girl. “Be a good girl and come with us, Six,” one of them had said. “We’ll help you find out how that happened.”

“No!" the girl shrieked. She backed up in a panic, and scrambled to get behind Rovin, who brought his sword and shield to bear. “Please, don’t let them take me! You promised!”

“And I like keeping my promises,” he replied. “Stand down, guys. The Varrock Guard can handle it from here.”

“I’m afraid not," another mercenary said. “Specimen Six is legally GenMag property. Therefore, we’re securing her here and now for safe transport back to our facilities. Now stand down, captain.”

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

15-Aug-2011 19:52:11 - Last edited on 25-Sep-2013 06:12:48 by A Mad Hatter

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“And let you goons kidnap an innocent girl again?” he snarled. “No. YOU stand down, and leave this place immediately. This has become a matter for the authorities to investigate, not individual labs and their sponsors!”

“Sir, you’re protecting a biological threat!” the mercenary replied. “You have no clue what she can do, and besides, the authorities don’t have the proper housing arrangements to keep it contained. Who knows when she'll escape again!”

“Oh, you mean a cage?” Rovin asked. “Because I’ll tell you, we have loads of those. They’re called cells!”

“Will you guys SHUT UP!” the girl shrieked, much to everyone’s surprise. "I...think I hear something.”

“It’s a side effect of the procedure,” one of the mercenaries said. “She’s hallucinating.”

Rovin noticed that the shadows were growing thicker behind the mercenary group. At first he had thought it was a trick of the light, but now he was certain of it. He could make out vague humanoid forms, and the mercenaries and his guards seemed to be unaware of the threat.

Or at least all of them save Ben and himself. The blonde haired youth pointed, and yelled, “Hey, guys….behind you!”

“Yeah, like we’re going to fall for that,” a mercenary snorted. His comrades chuckled in agreement.

Their chuckles were cut short by flashes of green energy. The guards closest to the back were the first to fall, though their comrades and the mercenaries turned around in time to brandish their weapons to ward off the attack.

A group of four humanoid forms covered from head to toe in black assassin’s garb emerged from the shadows. Each attacker held in their hands a pair of short swords made from the mysterious green magical energy, and the light produced by the weapons revealed robe-like features on their armor.

What was visible to all, however, were the symbols depicting an eye in the center of a hellish pentacle.

“MagiTek,” the mercenaries hissed in surprise. “Their field team must’ve been following us this entire time!&quot

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

15-Aug-2011 19:53:15 - Last edited on 25-Sep-2013 06:12:53 by A Mad Hatter

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“No," Rovin said as he held up his shield defensively. “Brotherhood assassins. They’re here for something.”

“Hmmph,” a hollow voice sounded from the assassin’s direction. The voice seemed to come from all of them at once, yet none of them at the same time. That fact confused Rovin and Ben as the attackers laughed. “That’s what the humans call us? ‘MagiTek’? ‘The Brotherhood’? Interesting.”

“Well, we’re only following your cue,” Rovin snarled as he prepared to strike at the attackers. He inched closer and closer to the group, and the girl wasn’t far behind him. “Pray tell, if those aren’t your names, then what’s the real one?”

“Fools,” the Brotherhood assassins hissed. "Names are a luxury afforded the ignorant of the planes. But if you must call us something, then ‘Salvation’ works fine. Or maybe ‘Heroes’. Titles that mean something honorable to your kind.”

“Yeah, because wholesale slaughter is honorable,” a mercenary remarked sarcastically before he took a swing at the assassins. They retaliated in practiced unison, and so the speaker was cut down in a manner of milliseconds.

“Really?” they hissed. "Slaughter? That’s what you call our work? Or is that what Samael the Deceiver told you?”

“The name means nothing to us,” Rovin said. “Now, if you don’t mind, you’re under arrest!”

Green energy flared as the assassins began their furious assault. Guard and mercenary alike had fallen within seconds, and it was only by pure luck that Ben and Rovin had managed to avoid or block their blows as soon as the killers turned their attention to the pair.

The girl, sensing the imminent danger, threw out her hands. “Here, have this,” she said.

“Not now, girl,” he said as he batted away the assassin’s odd weapons furiously.

"But it’ll help!”

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

15-Aug-2011 19:54:37 - Last edited on 25-Sep-2013 06:12:58 by A Mad Hatter

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Rovin didn't notice anything different, so he ignored her in favor of the bigger threat in his face. He caught a hint of an acrid smell in the air from the blades, and it was when one scratched across his chainmail did he realize what it was.

“Acid!” he screamed to Ben, who had been driven to the ground by a pair of the attackers.

“I know!" Ben replied as he produced a dagger from his pocket. The youth stabbed an attacker in the shoulder, but it seemed unaffected by the blow.

Rovin parried a few more attacks before rushing Ben’s attackers. His sword sliced through the air furiously, and it bit deep into one’s neck. No blood spilled as the head separated itself from the body. Instead, a puff of dark smoke filled the space it occupied, and within seconds the body was gone.

“NO!" he heard the girl scream. “I’m not coming with you! I don’t even know you!”

Rovin looked over towards the source of the noise as Ben followed his superior’s tactics and began trying to attack the assassin closest to him by aiming for the head. The events seemed to move in slow motion as he dashed towards the girl, who was being harassed by two of the assassins who had engaged him previously.

The girl was strong enough to resist the magical acid blades. But it was evident she was not a fighter. Rovin heard a shout followed by the twang of a crossbow, and he saw a silver bolt appear in her shoulder. The girl screamed as a black substance leaked out of the wound, and collapsed to the ground in spasms.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

15-Aug-2011 19:55:24 - Last edited on 25-Sep-2013 06:13:37 by A Mad Hatter

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