Are you crazy? (PM for invite. Chapter Seven)

[Zodiac]

[for_peace][/for_peace] [against_sirens][/against_sirens]

She came to the conclusion she was officially insane.

What in the name of reason inspired her to make this venture she wondered as she crept through the darkness. This was not her specialty or true skill. She was barely getting past the things that dwelled in the depths as it was-let alone considering the idea to go even deeper into the maze.

Levitation was a blessing again. Gliding along slowly meant no foot steps to attract the attentions of some of the things that lurked, but sound was not the only thing that drew them. They could smell her at times. Normally she would consider that an insult, but after hours of sweating and crawling about in the filth and gloom, she imagined she was somewhat ripe in aroma. On the ground, padding along silent as death strode a large black cat at her heel. The cat was overlooked most of the time so far, but she would not have made the trip without her. She had learned long ago to take clues from the animal. If she refused to walk in a certain spot, the gypsy avoided it. Most of the time it worked, but she had a couple spike wounds regardless.

Her clothes were torn, her hair disheveled, a few fingernails broken. She was not prissy by any stretch of the imagination, but she hated finding herself in such a state of being. ‘Why am I here?’ she kept thinking to herself.

She knew why she was here. She simply did not trust others like her to tell her the truth of what was going on anymore. In fact, she was rapidly becoming disillusioned with her kind as a whole. Too many secrets concerning all of them. A handful making decisions that affected the majority without considering other views. Something serious was going on and half of the night feeder crowd had no clue, and the ones that knew were simply running their own agendas. She had her own views of course of what was happening and shared them with others. Only to be greeted by the same reactions. She found it curious that others often reacted like she was insane or delusional when she gave her views, but let one of them come to the same conclusions, and suddenly it was gospel brought down off the mountain on stone tablets.

”Such is the life of a Romany,” she reminded herself as she paused in the gloom. The hallway was different ahead of her now. She lifted her injured arm and focused, causing a small burst of light to form in her palm. The hall continued, but a fork to the right was also in place. She quickly made a note on her map then let the light fade again as she closed her eyes. She counted to ten, then opened them again to adjust to the near darkness quicker. Willing herself forward, she drifted into the right turn.

Somewhere in this place was a ‘key’ of sorts. One the ‘Administrator’ wanted very badly. She had her view on who she thought that was in reality and was determined to keep such a thing out of his hands at all cost. He was the linchpin in everything that had happened in the last few months and it was painting a very ugly picture if one looked at it properly.

”If I have anything to say about this, you can go **** yourself, Mr Cobb.”

She had only told Mordechai her suspicion on this. (Screw the rest of them) It was the only conclusion that fit the puzzle. What vampire hated vampires enough to work with other races to help hasten their destruction? The Admin’s idea of ‘backward engineering’ whatever it was the Sirens was doing was a double edged sword. On one hand, knowing how it was done meant you could learn how to stop it, but then again it also meant you knew how to do it yourself. Close the rift, begin killing off the other vampires and leave them trapped within the Nexus until he was the only one left again?

What concerned her more was who was helping him in this. Too much going on for just one vampire to be working this. He had to have help from other vampires as well as the Sirens and whatever else, and that thought burned inside of her worse than the idea Cobb might have found a way to come back from the Nexus (or else someone here had found a way to commune with his spirit and was putting his ideas into motion. Another possibility.) What did they hope to gain by being his lapdog? Once the job was done, he would have zero use for them.

Someone had to deny him (or whoever) access to it.

As she progressed, something in the darkness in front of her roared a challenge. She had already learned how to deal with some of the creatures well enough. She cupped her hands together and formed a far larger burst of illumination and sent it flying into the things face. It howled in surprise and pain as its eyes were suddenly blinded. As it flailed about, she let loose a barrage of Shadow Strikes and bullets. Once the thing’s eyes had adjusted, it became a fight proper. Muscle vs speed. She had learned over time how her lack of physical stature was her best advantage in situations like this. Just keep moving and dodging while chipping away at the larger, more powerful foe. It took longer than she would have liked, but eventually the creature collapsed to the floor in a broken heap.

Something caught her eye as she poked about the thing’s carcass. The small, metal object was easily pulled from what was left of the body. It was another one of those ‘keys’ that opened the doors to a deeper level. Zodiac wiped it off, then slipped it into her bag. She had already found that door earlier, so she continued to explore until she had covered all the ground this level of the labyrinth had to discover.

As she returned to where she had discovered the door, she could hear more growling in the area around her. Where the hell did the replacements keep coming from? Was there some machine like out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon that kept spitting them out? She tried to laugh at her own jokes, but she barely smiled. She was doubting now how much further she could get alone.

”Hope there is a blood fountain on this one.” She slipped the bit of metal into the slot. At once it was sucked in to prevent her from taking it back. A muffled clicking noise could be heard as the floor dropped slowly open to reveal the entrance to below. She needed to heal and recharge her inner anima badly now. Plus, she was hungry.

She allowed a bit of illumination to drift down into the open passage to give her a clue what was down there. The sounds and smells from below echoed loudly. A invitation of sorts. Do you dare, little vampire?

The gypsy knelt down and scratched her cat behind it’s ears gently. ”So what do you think, Miss Thing? We go for it?”

Ginny meowed softly before launching herself down into the darkness below.

”You were supposed to talk me out of this!” she fumed. She stepped off the edge and allowed herself to float slowly downwards as the doorway began to close above her.

”Why am I doing this?” She knew the answer, but that did not keep her from asking the question over and over.

[Mordechai]

Mordechai paused, ears perked, eyes searching… nothing. Slipping Chaos away he used one size sixteen NewRock clad foot to nudge apart the pile of tattered flesh and bones on the floor before him...nothing. Not even a ‘key’, the tarnished shards of metal that one could sometimes find amongst the rags of these feral mutations that somehow opened the ‘doors’, for lack of a better term to get deeper into this thrice cursed hole. Mutants, Sirens, Bancroft. Thrice cursed. When he had first found the bastards from Hebigumo Foundation digging in the wilds west of Cobb’s last stand he had spend over a week laid up in his hide, tracking the actions and movements through his Nikon spotting scope, occasionally swapping it for his beloved .338 lapua AWM, and ‘reaching out to touch someone’ is they strayed too far from the siren base camp. Watching with a smile as shadows came to life and knifed through anyone that got to close to his hide. Finally infiltrating, he had gotten down inside their ‘dig’ and far surpassed them.

The ‘dig’ had opened up into the mouth of a cavern system that twisted deep into the earth, a veritable labyrinth of passageways, headed ever deeper. In the beginning it had seemed as though the Heebeegeebee goons were releasing mutated failures from their experimentations into the caverns, but as he wound his way deeper, he realized that the truth was worse them supposition. These weren't a few misanthropic deviations hidden from the world, there was a seemingly endless supply of them squirming up from the bowels of the earth. What the sirens had done was release them upon the world. So once more he had cleaned his weapons, cast his bullets, spent hours working the old RCBS Rockchucker to fill his magazines, made countless strokes across the matched set of Japanese waterstones, watching polished razor edges appear on his favorite cutlery, and went to war to save those he cared for, even though the list was continuously shrinking. Over six month had been spent cleaning the caverns, with a few forays out into the city when called to battle those that thought they could steal territory from his faction, and one last one, to attend a party. It turned out that the rumors he had heard were true, Bancroft and the spiders, humans and vampires…. All sitting around drinking the kool-aid and getting their pictures taken together. One big happy family. And then the word came out that Bancroft’s puppeteer was looking for something the same place the demonspawn were looking. There was no thought of taking the job as he loaded his packs once more. They both had to be stopped. Maybe stopped dead.

So here he was, once more headed into the depths of hell. Settling down near the door he swung around his ammo pouch and began thumbing rounds into the Mag-Pul P-mags. There was a sudden grating as he finished topping off the last magazine. A flash of black flashed past him as he stepped back, Chaos swinging up on the ching- sling. As the sights locked on to a sleek black feline, a familiar scent wafted in through the cavity. His mind reached out, “Sister mine”

[Zodiac]

She stopped her descent a few inches from the ground and looked around quickly as the entryway finished closing. More of the same. Only the textures and styles of brickwork were different, which suggested to her this place was not built by one group but many over time. Each new set of builders working downwards.

But to what?

How many years had this been going on. It had to take time to build this, set traps, and make the entire area stable enough to support the weight from above. Even with the help of magick and supernatural creatures of great strength, it would be a long process to finish.

Ginny had vanished. That did not concern her too much. Nothing that lurked in these halls seemed to pay attention to her. They were more interested in her owner. The cat was already exploring the level as had happened every level she has been in here. Zodiac took the opportunity to sit down and rest for a bit until Ginny returned. She closed her eyes after reloading her weapon and began to doze.

“Sister mine”

She jumped and squealed at the sudden intrusion into her thoughts. Outside of the noises of the beasts, she had heard not a sound, and her conversations was limited to talking to the cat and getting the standard ‘Meow’ back as a reply. The words in her mind were clear. Not faint as if coming from a distance.
She stood up and willed illumination into her hand again as she began to creep along.

”Hello brother,” her thoughts called out. ”You know you mess things like this up without me along to help you.”

Who was she kidding? She had not spoken or seen a soul since she entered this place. Add to that her own unease being so far underground and isolated. She could not help but wonder if this place was old as she thought it was, what could happen to make it all come crashing down on top of her. Could she grab Ginny and activate her tome in time to avoid becoming a gypsy road pizza? She doubted it. Several times she had been tempted to say **** it, but that stubborn streak her ancestors blood had given her kept her moving onwards. She kept walking till she saw a familiar shape emerging from the darkness into her light.

”Not exactly the Ritz, is it?” she jested as she fell into his arms.

[Luffy]

“God damn it, not another one,” Luffy shouted as a series of spikes plunged into his stomach. So, he smashed it and took the remains with him. Three spike traps to the gut. Luffy sighed and continued through the area. He was real tired of stepping on those stupid things. He turned the corner and found himself face to face with another door. He inserted the key and stepped into the darkness.

He stepped out and was met with a growling snarling beast. “Well hello there ugly,” he said as he took aim with his golden machine pistol. A few rounds to the face, and the thing was laying in a pool of fluids. He dug around inside the creature and found nothing useful. He wiped his hands on his jeans and walked from the corpse. That was when he came across a cat.

“Well hello there, I don’t think you really belong down here,” he said as he knelt to look at the cat. As he reached out to pet her chin, she backed up. She took a tentative step forward to sniff his hand before taking off down the hallway. “That’s not good,” Luffy comment as he took off after her. He followed the cat back to a pair of people. One giant of a man, and a short, disheveled woman. “Hey, uh, is this anyone’s cat perchance?”

[Mortll]

[for_peace][/for_peace][against_sirens][/against_sirens]

Down and dirty Mortll wiped a smudge of grime off her brow. The dirtier it got the more Mortll liked it she guessed. Well at least that is how it had always seemed to her. Earlier that night she had the shop keeper glaring at her as she shoved gun and junk off on his counter and raised a eyebrow at the amount of ammo she had asked for it was a unhealthy number for many of the beast that she was sure to meet later that night....
and where she was going there wouldn't be any second guessing or whoops wait a minute let me go buy something to shoot you with.

Here she was in the deepest darkest **** hole in Harper Rock she could find just because some dick heads think its funny to mess with what she had become. She liked what she had become she liked who she was now and everything she had worked for or believed seemed to be some fucked up prize that people wanted to mess with. So here she was worn leather boots hand stitched leather that she had custom made for hunting It gave where it was supposed to give and protected where it was supposed to protect. Hell she even had knee pads ... She sometimes joked to herself that she had gotten into the super hero game with how she dressed it looked like it was straight out of a comic book but when it came to keeping her *** intact and running around with next to nothing on in tattered clothing in a room full of monsters .... Her *** was going to be protected .


She slid her swords blade between two fingers cleaning the grime of the last beast she had slain from the blade. She flicked the grime away as she sheathed the sword and picked the key up. With a grin she walked over to the door and heard the click of the latch as the key did its job. The clang as the door closed behind her She looked around and could tell instantly she wasn't the only one that had decided to make this journey .

[Mordechai]

Tonight was special, a rare occasion indeed. The killers lips quirked, hinting at a smile. The celebration, were it to be held, was in the way the smile continued to grow, lighting the giants eyes from within, The petite Romany that had swirled dramatically into the cavern and fallen into his arms was one of a few, very few, that could put true emotion on the stoic face before her. Gently he lifted her into his arms, as her familiar wandered off in the darkened labyrinth of caves. Placing a soft kiss on each cheek, he settled, pulling her on to his lap, keeping her above the grime and detritus of the floor. The smile grew as her words sifted through his mind. “The Ritz it is not, sister- mine, but it has its own allure. I have spent many a night deep within these confines. The Hebi-goons are involved her, but not in the way I originally thought. The creatures here, are mutated species, darker, stronger, than those we know and hunt. It will be better together I need someone to help with the laundry." A slow wink, the only sign of levity on the once more composed countenance. "We will make a nice pair this hunt, sister- mine.” One long finger moved with a softness and grace that belied his bulk and strength as it first tucked back a flyaway hair, before wiping a bit of blood from her cheek. “I thought those sirens were creating the creatures, but I have delved deeper than them, now I believe what has happened is that they have released them, with their mining into the earth.” Slowly he shook his head, as he considered Zodiacs presence. ‘‘You do not dirty your hands in these endeavors often, sister… What have you seen that has brought you so far from your home?”

Hia head snapped around as he rolled his torso, Zodiac sinuously slipping to the side and behind as chaos came up. The soft swish of fur against stone foretold the coming of Ginny, but his preternatural hearing had registered and followed the footsteps drawing near behind the ebon kitty. The form that entered behind the feline was known to him, but not a close acquaintance. They had battled together under the dragon flag in defence of territory a time or two, but not truly been introduced, name and face were all he knew. The past had show him to be a competent fighter, though the blood stained shirt that wrapped his torso showed that he might not be the most dexterous of dancers. A nod of recognition was barely given before the click and rumble of the door had him once more turning and moving, “******* grand central station tonight” he whispered into his sisters mind, as he lowered chaos to his sling “Mortll”

[Zodiac]

She wondered if she was the only one left who saw him like this? Something besides darkness appearing in his eyes as he scooped her up with little effort. Normally his aura would be so thick with it, one could mistake him for being actually dead, or -like at the Christmas Eve party at Mayor Mac Numb Nut’s place– he projected an aura of total darkness and hate at the Drider like it was a physical thing. She felt it despite the fact she was not the target of it, but here and in the garden at said same party, it was almost as if another person had taken his place for a few moments. The gypsy wished she could have known him before he was turned. Was he always this way or had the path he taken turned him into this or had something else been responsible?

Zodiac was about to answer his question when, like a candle suddenly snuffed out, that darkness returned to his eyes. She heard it too. Something was following Ginny. No, someone. The creatures Mordie was describing tented to say in a small area and not roam about. She clicked her tongue and the cat jumped lightly into her arms. She sniffed Mordechai’s arm for a moment, the rubbed against him before giving her owner her full attention.

She saw the man emerge from the gloom. A combination of death metal and Viking spirit rolled into one. He was familiar to her. Yes, a long time ago when Abelle (her oldest ‘childer’) had been running a newspaper. This man had come and interviewed her. She nodded and made the gesture of touching her forehead then pointing to him before she began ‘speaking’.

”Yes, she is mine. Though somedays its more like I am hers,” she smiled. What was his name? Obviously Mordie knew him from somewhere. Usually she was so good with names, but this one was eluding her. ”You showed great kindness and respect the time you came to see me for an interview, but please forgive me but I do not recall your name. Lucky the Man Otter? Something?” She smiled nervously. That probably went over like a soft turd castle in the rain storm.

Ginny meowed as the sound of the door opened again. This was pleasing and unnerving all in one. So much time alone down here now suddenly it was party central. At least she had something besides remembering the man’s name to worry about now. The cat did not panic and neither did Mordie, so she remined in her lap seat and waited till Mort came into the dim light of their location.

”Okay, we gonna have to have a serious talk about you stalking me like this, dear.” Her mood was finally relaxed now as she laughed for a moment. Two of her oldest friends that were still alive in one spot? She looked around at her sudden blessing of three (four) companions and her optimism gained a bit of ground again.

”As Mordechai asked me just before you both arrived,” she sent her thoughts out wide so all could get the majority of what she was saying now. ”Is very true, I do not get involved with things like this very often, or as he put it ‘dirty my hands’. However, recent developments tell me that the odds of our fellow night feeders playing right into the bad guys hands is quite high, so I decided someone had to do something, so here I am. Not sure how much farther down I could get in this, but at least I could say I tried.”

She eyed them all for a moment. Mordie knew some of this, but how would the other two react to her conclusions? ”How much do either of you know about the time when vampires first returned to Harper Rock? The elders and their childers? At least 7 years ago or more. I have come to the conclusion that something from back then has been playing a long game and has most of us happy as hell to be following his lead.”

There was not a touch of mirth in her eyes or a hint of humor in her mindspeak She was in full serious mode now.

[Mortll]

Mortll raised a eyebrow. Nothing much surprised her anymore but seeing Luffy standing there was a bit surprising. She had hardly ever seen the Viking out hunting but knew that he must train somewhere as his battle skills never seemed to fail him when they gathered to defend a territory. Zo and Mordie however were not quite so. A smile spread across her face as the Giant and Gypsy greeted her. "Hey if I keep running into you guys I'm going to think you are following me. If anyone is going to be stalking around here its going to be me" She took a quick pointed glance at Zos ***. "Hey Luffy what brings you to this neck of the woods ?" She smiled at the man

[Luffy]

He smiled as cat and owner were reunited. One happy reunion Luffy couldn’t help but laugh at his new name. “I don’t think anyone’s ever called me lucky before. Specially not some of those traps back there. The interview was my pleasure. I hope it helped drive up some business for you.”

He spied two others, Mortll, and Mordechai. He nodded to them and grinned. He had run some battles with the pair in the past, and now they were here, in a dark labyrinth. “The Admin actually. He wants whatever nightmare is down here, I want to keep it from him. Cause you know me Mort, the eternal rebellious, moronic, self-proclaimed king of otters.”

Luffy stretched and sat down on a large section of broken wall to rest. “Seriously though, this place has a lot of spike traps. I managed to get most of them, but three tagged me. It’s a real annoyance.”

[Mordechai]

The killer let his eyes rove the shadows, random patterns covering all the hidden areas around the small party of hunters, as his ears took in the words of the newcomers, and as his sister- mine reiterated her thoughts on who was behind the recent escalation against the vampires. The more she spoke, the less crazy her idea sounded. He had heard stories of the betrayal from the diminutive owner of the club in Gullsbourough. She had been there, knew what happened, The acts of the traitor were an eerie mirror of what was happening with in the city limits once more. False acts of friendship, companionship, the illusion of peace as the sheep were drawn to the shearing sheds. That all races party thrown by the ever absent puppet of an ever absent puller of strings…. Yeaaaah, the fallout from that farce had yet to emerge from the sludge of politics, but Mordechai was sure nothing good would come from it. Sheep were incapable of thought, incapable of intuition, incapable or learning, hence incapable living any life other than a repeated history, time and time again, over and over. Holocausts were not blase, they were a staple of all those in power that wished to force their will upon the weak, the downtrodden, and in this case, those that merely did not have the numbers for a sustained war of attrition. The one thing he knew beyond doubt was that the Hegis, the Bancrofts, all of those that would do harm upon him and his… must fail. “I have been here, I have been deep within this maze of tunnels, it is a veritable labyrinth of darkness and death the deeper you go. The creatures seeping from within, they may look familiar...they are not. These have been mutated, I had thought most likely failed experiments of the spiders with in the veiled corporation called the Hebigumo Foundation. Tho the deeper I have delved, the more I am unsure that they even have the capacity to create some of what I have seen. Strike fast, Strike hard. There are to many players in this game, they need to be sorted out, they need to be stopped.” Reaching into his pocket he removed a piece of tarnished brass, “Stay close, we can all go deeper at once onthis key, beware the door as you pass”

Letting one hand trace her shoulders he set himself closer to Zodiac, "Trust none, sister-mine nothing within this cursed maze is as it seems. I believe these with us to be true, but there are many within the walls and caverns that would have no qualm to see us dead"