Path of the Vampire forum

"Don't freak out yet, Mike... let's just see what the facts are before we pick a direction to run in." Alex said in the most soothing tone she could manage under the stressful circumstances. Of course, leave it Anemoi to add fuel to the fire and be the alarmist in the room. The young man reminded Alexandrea of a chicken with the head cut off, still running around the yard long after they had lost their head.

Windbag had been responsible for almost everything that had gone wrong with this undertaking. "And which direction down path number two gives us the better odds, Windbag? North or South? Are you willing to just toss a coin? Go ahead and take your chances but leave Mike with us. I don't give a flying fark what happens to you but I won't allow you to risk him."

With narrow eyes, Alexandrea showed Anemoi her full fangs and then held up a pair of hands with full razor claws extended to drive her point home. "I don't need this crap, I could be out of here in the blink of an eye if I wanted. But I'm not going until Mike and Red can get out safe as well. So rush off if you have to but don't try and drag anyone else along just to stoke your stupid ego."

After that, Alexandrea paid no attention to what the guys were doing for the moment,. Her focus was on the computer screen. She peered over Red's shoulder, the young human woman's hands flying faster over the keyboard than Alex thought a human capable of. The blonde was suitably impressed. As Amalea explained what she was doing, Alex gave a low whistle.

"I'm all thumbs on the computer next to you, Red. Maybe after all this is over this we can meet for lunch and you can teach me a few tricks." Even though Alex chuckled as she spoke, she was quite serious. The was a whole new world of things to steal in cyber space and Alexandrea was of a mind to learn how to do exactly that one of these nights.

"Right then, Windbag gets his wish. We're outta here."

The pounding on the door grew louder and the frame began to crack even as the two females moved to join the guys in the passageway. "Red, you saw the route. Take lead with Mike and if there are any of those robots left, Mike? Use them to scout ahead. Windbag. I don't care what you do. But I'll be right behind the others guarding the rear so either be helpful, be out of the way, or be the first of our little gang to die from what some call, 'friendly fire'."

Mike's mind went blank a moment as he thought about weapons. Yeah, he could take out a zombie but he had been curious about them, wanting a closer look. It was most likely stupid of him to have done that though. He quickly looked around in his bag for his blade and gun, he really didn't like weapons or hurting people but this was life and death. "O-Okay, ready.." he said.

He didn't know what to say with the two fighting. He was sure Anemoi had his best interest at heart, he hoped anyway. Though he felt like he trusted Alex more. "Please stop fighting, we're on the same team right now." he said, looking at Anemoi as he knew that he would have some kind of comeback. He didn't have many robots left, just the snake one. He wished he had made ones that could hover, now that should be something he should work on.

Once they were ready to go, Mike headed down the passageway. He slows down as the path goes left. He looks around the corner before making his way down it. Keeping his eyes peeled for anyone they didn't want to meet in this dark pathway. He came to a crossroad, and on the left side he heard movement, he felt like the right way was the way to go anyway but it also made it the only way to go if those people were done there. Sure enough when he reached the crossroad, there was a figure there. He threw the snake at it which caused the man to jump back with a start. He gave the man a big push which made him tumble over onto the ground. "We have company!" he shouted before running down the empty hallway. He took out his gun, part of him wanted to try to help, stop and turn to provide some cover fire for the others but he was more afraid of shooting one of them so he didn't. He came to what seemed like a cellar door, he pushed on it but it wouldn't move against his weight.

"Alex! Need your super strength!" he called out.

Anemoi glared at the blonde, he just wanted to stab her in the head right now but that would freak out Mike, if he even got a chance to get that close, which he didn't want anything to do with her so he kept his distance. "My ego doesn't need stroking blondie. You don't ******* scare me so stop showing off your vampire powers." he said in a cold tone. "Mike is part of a little human group that I'm in charge with protecting so **** off!" he was given a job and he was going to do it. Just like killing Kira was just another job he had to complete, failure wasn't an option.

He rolled his eyes when she brought up friendly fire. "Same here *****." he growled, heading off after Mike. Not that he made it a habit of using guns, cutting into that blonde would be so much more enjoyable than shooting her up, but whatever he managed to do, so be it. He heard Mike up ahead, if he had stopped, he would have told him to keep going. The man he knocked over was getting up, Anemoi moved in and cut open his throat before he had a chance to really recover. Taking his gun, he started to shoot at the figures that were still coming down that path, they were hold up behind a corner though.

He slowly backed his way back to where Mike was, shoving his weight against the door. "Might be chained on the other side.." he said. It was annoying that a vampire is more useful and they needed her again.

The back and forth between the other woman and the idiot didn't phase the human woman as she quickly double checked her commands and hit 'Enter'. Looking up, Lea sighed as the boys headed down the passage before she had really moved too far towards the opening. Honestly, pressing Enter didn't take that long. She wasn't quite so sure why they were gung-ho about rushing forward given their current situation; the best she could come up with was that the pair, particularly the Greek, had a death wish. While she understood wanting to get out of this place quickly, it was far more sensible, in her mind, to have a plan as well as to stick and work together.

Glancing at Alex with a shake of her head and rolling her eyes at the boys, she pulled her gun from its holster and a throwing knife from another one. Keeping both at the ready, she cautiously stepped through the tunnel door, mindful of what surprises might wait her, particularly if the one male decided that a bit of 'friendly fire' was in order and thought she was Alex. She stopped long enough for the vampire to follow her through the door, before engaging the electronic locks to their highest level. "This is going to be interesting," she stated quietly, to Alex as she moved forward.

Hearing Mike's shout about company, she groaned, knowing that anyone and everyone in the area would know their location within moments and they were going to have one hell of a fight on their hands if they didn't get moving quickly, "Oh for fucks sake," she growled, following the sound of Mike's voice. She slowed slightly at the left bend turn, taking care to check it for surprises before heading towards the crossroads she had seen on the map. Hearing the shots, she stayed back in the tunnel slightly, out of the range of the cross-fire as she had no intentions of getting hit by either side. With one eye where she believed the intruders to be, she dug in her bag for the smoke bombs Alex had given her earlier and a couple of the knockout variety she had purchased on her way to the building.

A quick check was made to ensure that the bomb's effects wouldn't affect the group by drifting back towards them, she pulled the pin on the smoke bomb. Glancing around the corner, she took aim and threw the projectile towards the group, where it began to spew smoke even before it had landed. This was quickly followed with the knockout bomb. Taking off down the corridor at a run, she came to the door the guys were having trouble budging. A cursory look around reveled a small abnormality in the wall near the door. Moving over to inspect it, it easily popped open as she ran her finger along it. She wasn't completely surprised to see yet another control panel as this damn building seemed to be full of them and all sorts of other nasty surprises. Emmanuel Broussard had definitely been a little more than a bit eccentric.

Studying the screen for a moment, she smiled slightly as she began pecking away on the on-screen keyboard. Glancing back at the cross way to make sure Alex was in their tunnel, she executed the command to seal off each tunnel, giving them a bit of time to work on this door before continuing on. "I'm about to unlock this one, guys, but it looks like there's also some sort of actual physical locking system on the other side as well," she warned the group. A moment later, a click was heard as the electronic locks disengaged.

Leaving the Greek and Alex to figure out getting the door open, she turned back to the computer, though she did keep one ear on the pair, just in case. Another command later, she had the map and security footage feeds, having hid them in a secure, unlikely location just for this purpose. "While the majority of these people look to behind us or above us, there's at least one up ahead about 500 yards and there's a couple people on the greenway, though it's hard to say if they're with these morons or just citizens." Hiding the files again, she closed the panel, just in case.

Windbag's words meant nothing to Alex, as always he was just full of hot air. She knew what group he was referring to and they were all her friends as well. Dammitt. The thought crossed her brain before she could stop it and she briefly enjoyed the distraction of just what she would do to Anemoi if she didn't care about their mutual friends. He'd have been lucky to have enough left of him to make a windsock with. And as usual, he went off on his own and did whatever he pleased while Amalea and Alexandrea stood there holding the bag.

And this time Mike had as well. But it was easy to forgive the younger of the two males, Alex could blame it on him being jumpy to get out of the place or maybe just on the impatience of youth. Anemoi, however... was supposed to be an adult. The string of obscenities that Alexandrea was muttering under her breath paused only to comment on Red's making sure the door behind them would stay closed. "Nice." The Allurist said warmly, and then went right back to cursing men in general (but Anemoi in particular) as they followed the two males.

Mike's shouting had urged Alex to speed up even more, and the women caught up soon enough with the men. Although not soon enough to be any help in preventing them from finding more trouble. Alex stayed close to Red as they rushed through the battle zone and towards Mike, everyone all together again for better or worse.

Red had seemed to find something and was examining it closely while Alex sized up the door. It was wooden, as luck would have it. A real old fashioned cellar door. No matter what was blocking it from the other side; if Alexandrea could not break the door through it, she would just break the door. Unless it was steel reenforced.. maybe. A commotion from the tunnels behind them made Alex turn her head in time to see the way they had come on was now cut off. And by the echos and vibrations around her, other routes as well. It made her wonder what else might be down there, under the old Broussard place. Maybe sometime she would come back and explore. Without any humans.

Alexandrea liked most humans. But they could die. That was kind of a deal breaker for being brought along for a return trip. Red had managed to guard their back better than Alex had, however. She nodded at the human female. "Great job." The human's quick thinking in shutting down the private tunnel system they had stumbled into, stopped all pursuit for the moment and bought them time. Time to figure out the next move and time for the sun to go down so once Alex did get outside, she didn't get burned. It would give Anemoi way too much satisfaction to see her fried up.

Having the way closed behind them again, still was a good idea. And for good measure, Alex ripped the lid off of the control panel and ripped out it's guts. The sparks flew around her hands and face, stinging her flesh in tiny little burns that healed as quickly as they formed but Alexandrea was fed up. "Let them try and open those door now."

"While I... try to open this one." It was spoken out loud but Alexandrea wasn't actually talking to anyone in particular. Getting things to open that people wanted to have stay closed was a favourite past time of hers.

Whatever unlocking mechanism that Amalia had been able to effect, hadn't changed whatever was blocking their exit. A quick testing of how much give there was along with the sounds the door made when Alex pushed at it confirmed that.

"Mike was right from the start. This needs brute force."

Alexandrea took as many steps away from the cellar door as the space in the passageway would allow and got a bit of a running start before lifting off the ground and attempting to use super jump on the closed door. The result was mixed and covered in wood chips. But at least she was out.

Regaining her footing and looking around after her impromptu flight, it was hard to miss a very unfriendly looking man was heading right for her. "Just stop. Do yourself a favor and run away. I'm not in the mood." She brushed chunks and splinters of wood off of her clothes, thanking Nox that the door hadn't had a metal core and the sun was down passed the horizon. Her tone of voice had been flat and the volume low but Alex was sure that the human had heard her.

But the hunter didn't listen, and came full steam ahead at the vampire who easily stepped aside while grabbing his head and then quickly breaking his neck. She smiled, picturing Windy's face in place of the stranger's. 'Quick and quiet. That's the way to do it, dumbass... ' Alex thought in Anemoi's general direction but didn't actually send into the human's mind. Going back to peer in the opening her exit had created in the door, she told the humans to stay put for a minute and crept to the side of the building.

She stepped lightly through the shadows that had grown long enough to hide her from the street lights that were coming on and peered around the corner, pleased to see the way was clear. Alexandrea went the other direction and checked the green way that Amalea had mentioned. There were two other men that seemed as if they might be with the rest, all had those shaved heads and dressed alike. As the blonde watched, one lifted what looked like a two way radio and exchanged a rapid conversation. Alex only caught a few of the words but she could tell that the message had been about her little gang when the pair hurried out of her sight and around to the front of the house.

Satisfied that the escape route would was as good as it was going to get, Alex went back to her custom sized hole in the cellar door and poked her head through. She looked at the humans and sighed. Any trace of a smile having long since abandoned ship, she explained what was outside and what in her opinion they should do about it.

"Alright. Here's the situation. We got two out there that just went around to the front of the building in a big hurry and another one that was wondering why I came flying through this door a minute ago. He's dead now."

Alexandrea pulled the rest of her body through the opening and started to make it wider, tossing the broken wooden boards behind her into the sealed off passageway. There wasn't any point to trying to be quiet anymore. The males didn't seem to care and it was too bloody late by now any way.

"This is what is going to happen and we need to move fast. Anemoi out first, then help Mike. Then you two both help Red. I'll stay behind to give everyone a foot up and come out last. We need to do this quickly and not lose this opening, it won't take long before they all head to this exit and then we'll have no option left to us except to fight our way out."

She turned to look out the opening and checked the view outside one last time to be sure the coast was still clear. Then Alex nodded and then took a step back and got ready to give Windbag a boost up.

"Everyone move. Now." The blonde gave them all a dark look, making sure the guys were doing what she said this time. She was prepared to use any means necessary to get this show over with.

OOC: Small join post because we're both stuck, move along faster if we do it this way

Mike was glad that the way they came was closed off now, there was no telling if more of those guys would be coming. He watched in amazement as Alex went through the door, vampires were cool but he had no desire to be one. There was a lot to learn about them though as well as the rest of the creatures that were found in this city.

He listened to her plan and looked to Anemoi. "Ready?" he asked.

Anemoi was hardly impressed by vampire skills, he sorta hoped that she would be shot up on the other side but he needed to focus on getting Mike out of here. He just nodded, and got out of the hole. He looked around before turning back to help Mike out of there.

Mike was glad that Windy was listening, he watched him go through the opening and turn back to help him. Mike was glad to be out of that building. He held his hand out to help Red out of there. “Where we going?” he asked.

Anemoi shrugged, tugging on his arm. “Let’s just go.” He said. He moved down beside the building and looked around the corner. Taking his blades out and at the ready, he was sort of hoping there would be one of those guys close enough to kill but he didn't see any.

Mike looked around then looked back to where the girls were to be. "It's clear, hurry." he said.

Lea smiled at Alex when the woman told her she had done a great job, though she was pretty sure she didn't mean only with the control panel. The human female had already decided that the next time she planned to go on an adventure that she would only be inviting Alex along, not doing another open call. This had be an amazing disaster and not an experience she ever wanted to repeat if they managed to make it out in one piece.

Keeping one eye on the guys and another on Alex's movements, she listened for the idiots blocked off from them to try the doors. A slight smile of satisfaction graced her lips as their whining was heard - apparently this was not an encounter for which they had a response planned out. Her full attention was drawn to the vampire by the sound of the door giving way to her superior strength. The red head groaned as she heard Alex tell off a hunter followed by a distinctive crack. Shaking her head, she did a quick check of her weapons wanting to be prepared if the idiot wasn't alone.

Listening to Alex's assessment of the situation and her subsequent orders made the human grateful that the blonde was around. She nodded her assent to the plan as she surveyed the hole, figuring her best method for getting through it with weapons at the ready. Frankly, she didn't trust the menfolk to help her out nor to cover their collective asses while the women made their exit.

A sharp eye and ear were kept on the opening as the boys made their way through. She was immediately behind Mike, tucking one of her blades away temporarily as she took his offered hand for the extra bit of help out of the hellhole. Just as quickly as the blade was tucked away, it was back in her hand as she scanned the area, quietly turning back to Alex, "Looks clear at the moment." She turned slightly so she'd be able to help the other woman if she needed it, though she wasn't willing to turn her back on the menfolk nor trust them to cover the area thoroughly.

"Be careful," she hissed lowly as they crept away from them. In all honesty, if it had just been the Greek, she would have been all too happy to leave him behind, but she wasn't willing to leave Mike. "At this point, our goal is to get the hell out of here, not engage more of these jerks in a battle." She eyes scanned the area again; her weapons always at the ready. "Alex?" she queried softly.

It seemed to take forever for everyone to get themselves outside and Alexandrea was starting to feel exhausted. The blood loss was taking it's toll on her and she felt as if the last of her strength was evaporating away with every passing minute. Sunrise was hours away but all Alex wanted to do was close her eyes and rest for hours. She had given the last push she had in her getting everyone to this point and her tank of 'giving a f*ck' was almost on empty.

She followed behind the rest, making sure to give a boost up here and there when needed. Finally pulling her body back out through the hole again after Red was though safe, Alex quickly counted heads once she was back on her feet again. Spotting Mike and Anemoi not far from where Amalea was, she frowned to see Windbag apparently still scouting for trouble. *Mike* She spoke into the younger man's head; *Come away from there now. We have to get out of here.*

Alex turned as Amalea spoke her name and gave her a nod, then pointed to the Redhart Arena. *We should head that direction. Get across the greenway and past the Arena we can blend into the people on the street heading for the Wickbridge Train Station.* The thought was directed to all three of the humans, even though Alexandrea couldn't have cared less if Windy followed. Part of the Vampire wanted to get rid of Mike and Red so she could kill the stalker but it was more important to make sure the other two humans got away safely.

Mike pulled on Anemoi's arm, "Let's get out of here." he said softly. They didn't need to go that way. He heard Alex's voice in his head, he turned his head towards her. It was a little strange to him to hear the voice but most likely since he wasn't used to it. He quickly moved away from Anemoi and went towards the females, following the directions that Alex had gave. There was a good group of people heading out of the clubs and casinos that would make for a good cover, not that he looked like he belonged to either group of people.

He gripped his backpack straps tightly as he blended in with the other people around there, towards the station. He let out of a sigh, he felt sick. Gym wasn't exactly his best subject in school. He needed to work out more though, expressly in this city. He leaned against the wall, waiting for the others to catch up. He didn't see any of the bad guys chasing them, looks like they made a clean getaway.