Writers block... 1 page from the end.

[Corva]

It's been this way for a few years, and now I've finally decided to enlist the help of Dragnix in completing it. As you can see, it's a vampire/werewolf fight out, told from the perspective of a werewolf - and not the one I'm probably most like, which is Crescent. The virus isn't a straight lycan-noferustu transformation... but that's for the future installments.
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Prologue

Location: Noferustu Research Complex Alpha
Time: 00:30 Hour 1st Sunrise 21 NT (New Time)
Mission Objective: Recover Operative Skywolf

I moved through the shadows, my ears pricked, listening out for any sign of Vamps. I’d picked up the unmistakable scent of Zombies as I came through, so I’d warned the team to be on their guard. This was my first mission, and if I messed up it would also be my last in more than one possible way.
“Why do we have to go on this mission?” my brother Crescent complained as the team padded silently through the labyrinth. “It was Skywolfs fault he got himself caught. He should have known there was a patrol in that area every hour.”
“People can lose track of time, you do realise that,” Lupin Siberia, our team leader, said. He was one of the first to get bitten, a researcher working at a Darpa lab, and he’d thought the name sounded cool. It was so cliché though. I mean, what kind of a name is Lupin for a Lycan? And taking the name of a continent... Me and my brother (my English teacher would kill me if she knew I was using the word ‘Me’ in place of ‘I’) had been named after things to do with the moon. The Shadow came from my parents deciding on a new name, and Shadow sounds really cool. Well, to their minds it did. I was conceived just after my mother had caught the virus. I was technically half- Lycan and a bit, as the egg I was conceived from wasn’t altered, but the shot I’d got from my mum while being born meant I had more wolven DNA than most.
I cast my mind back through 15 years of memory, to when my parents were alive, although I can’t remember much…

We’d been forced to flee during the Purges, when all non-humans were being tracked down and killed. We fled upwards, through Old America, up into the wastes that used to be known as Canada, across to Alaska; the only piece left of the USA (not very United then), and up into the Arctic Circle. The hunters wouldn’t hunt there, they reasoned.
Then they heard the news. The original Lycans had got together and were setting up a pack. Next thing I knew, we were on the move again.
I can still remember that night when we’d ran into a group of Noferustu. We’d been hiding out in a snow cave we’d found when the group attacked without warning. They came down into the cave and laid into my parents, savagely ripping them, using teeth and nails and everything they could. I didn’t know why they did it. I was only 4 or 5 at the time. I know now that it is something in the very lifeblood of them that make them hate us. That they were designed to hate us.
Me and my brother and lay there under my mothers’ dead body for I don’t know how long. All I know is that it was lucky for us that the Lycan patrol found us when they did. I have vague memories of muffled voices, my mothers’ body being lifted, and being carried out of the hole.
There was a small ceremony, I said my final goodbyes to them, and then the ice cave was flooded and frozen. A small message was carved into the ice. TO THE VICTIMS OF A SAVAGE ATTACK BY NOFERUSTU. WE DO NOT KNOW YOUR NAMES. BUT WHAT WE DO KNOW IS, YOUR DEATHS WILL BE AVENGED. Then we left.


C1

I returned to the present. The unmistakable scent of zombies was coming from up ahead and behind. And we were in a crypt, nowhere to run.
“Draw your weapons and prepare to fight,” ordered Lupin. “Try and bring them down with the minimum of fuss. We didn’t get this far only to be discovered when fighting off zombies.”
I drew my weapon. It was a projectile weapon/blaster combined, so EMPs wouldn’t stop me, and neither could running out of ammo. I’d custom built it, as the main weapons were either old projectile ones or new blaster type ones; looking like the laser guns out of the old Sci-Fi movies I’d seen. The blasters were a good idea, but lightsabers? You’d have to have unnatural reactions to move that fast. And they were for close combat. It’s much easier to take the enemy down at a distance with laser fire. Plus when you get into close combat you don’t have the risk of chopping off your comrades’ arms/legs/head.
Back to reality. The Zombies were almost upon us. They looked different to ordinary zombies somehow. Something about the way they look… something vampiric…
Then it hit me. These weren’t normal zombies. They were zombie-vampire hybrids! I suppose this was a research lab, after all. No surprise to find such foul creatures in such a place.
We formed up into the formation created for a moment like this. I drew my weapon and set it to Laser. That would bring the Zombies down with the minimum of fuss.
Of course, we should have realised the vamps had been watching us all along. We’d deployed an EMP before to knock out the cameras, but these vampires made quick repairs. At that moment they decided to activate their own EMPs.
Momentarily blinded, I relied on my superior sense of smell to locate the zombies. Wasn’t hard for a mere human to smell them, but their lousy noses would prevent them from getting a fix on its position.
I fumbled about with my weapon trying to locate the switch to turn it into a conventional projectile weapon. I could smell the fetid breath of the zombies getting closer and closer, their horrible flesh touching me.
One tried attacking in the dark. Bad move. I snapped its neck back, paralysing the creature instantly. The only trouble being, now all the zombies were aware of my presence. I finally found the switch on my weapon and flicked it.
A couple of zombies’ attacked. A couple of headshots dealt with that. By the way, it’s a myth to say Zombies can only be killed with headshots. Sure, it kills them, but a headshot would kill anyone. Same with the vampires and the stakes. Having a stake through the heart would kill anyone. And don’t get me started on Werewolves and Silver. Personally, it’s my favourite metal.
I smelt a break in the ranks and ran for it blindly. I could smell the others making for the same spot. I fired towards it, knocking the zombies around it down and increasing its size.
We pushed through and sprinted away from the moving lumps of flesh. I howled, the sound echoing through the tunnels, making it impossible for anyone other than a werewolf to pinpoint where we were using only sound. The vampires already knew we were here, nothing I did would give them any new information.


C2

We ran through the maze of passages for what seemed like ages, until the smell of rotting flesh was far behind us.
“I think we’re lost,” said my brother.
“You don’t say,” I snapped back at him. “We’re lost in a maze with zombies on the prowl, we’re navigating by our sense of smell and hearing only, and ½ of our weapons are down. I told you to use a hybrid weapon, instead of relying on lasers and plasma all the time. Sorry for being short, but no one told me this was what this mission was going to be like and I’m kinda stressed out at the moment. That’s not to say I can’t go on missions,” I added quickly, for the benefit of Lupin.
“First thing we need to do: get our bearings,” said Lupin. “Crescent, you’re the navigator; can you get a GPS fix?”
“I’m trying, but the fact that we’re now a kilometre under rock with a high metal content makes it nearly impossible to get a fix. It would have helped if we weren’t limited to the few satellites that haven’t crashed yet. As soon as we get back I’m gonna complain. We need to launch some. We need to be able to launch more. It’s a miracle the computer survived the EMP blast. I must have had it switched off,” he replied. “I could hook it up to the vamps mainframe and get a fix that way. Vamp security is lousy when MY great hacking skills are around.”
“Show off,” I muttered under my breath. My brother could never resist the chance to show off his great computer skills. It was true that he was a whiz, but he didn’t have to brag and make a big thing of it.
“You’re just jealous,” he replied while connecting up to the network. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten just how sensitive Lycan ears are. Especially since mine are particularly sensitive, a by-product of the fact that I have more wolf than most. And only fifteen. Well, fifteen in a month.
“Jealous? What, of you? Why would I be? Anyone can learn how to work a computer, but no one can come close to MY senses.” It was true that I was bragging, but why shouldn’t I? I do have the best senses out of everyone, Lycan, Noferustu, or Human. Only pure wolf surpasses me.
“Done it,” he said. “That was easy. I wish someone would come up with a security system that wasn’t so boring. But the info in here… should have done it when we first came in. Then we wouldn’t have been taken by surprise. I’ve created a hidden account for people less skilled than me to use as a back door in,” he added.
“Good work but at the moment we just need to know one thing: where are we?” asked Lupin. “And where do we need to go to reach Agent Skywolf?”
Crescent held up the map. “As you can see, we need to go along this tunnels that has Bombs set into the wall, ready to go off at the slightest movement and collapse it on top of whoever is in there, through these ones with Vamps on patrol, and into these ones crawling with Zombies. So if anyone can think of a way to get through, it would be helpful.”
“You did say the Bombs are set off by movement?” I asked. “If that’s the case, won’t simply firing a bullet in there cause them to go off?”
“No, won’t work. The Bombs are set so only a slow motion will set them off.”
“A slow motion such as something being thrown in?” Lupin asked.
“I should have said: only the slow motion from something that is living will set them off.”
“Can you deactivate them from here?” I asked.
“Nope, they’re on a closed computer system. The only reason I know about them is because they’re marked on the map, plain for the world to see. You could take out the motion sensors though, if you’re really as good as you say you are with a projectile weapon.”
I shot him a look. “Even if I was lousy I’d still be better than you, furball. You need an auto-targeting system to hit anything that’s not in your face. Now that I think about it, I doubt you’re really that tall. Reminds me of those dogs that I’ve seen in pictures. They look massive, until the fur gets wet.”
“Sure, sis, sure I do.”
Lupin spoke up. I’d almost forgotten he was there. “Right, when you two stop behaving like you’re ten years younger, I’d like to remind you we’re in hostile territory.”
“OK, boss, I’m on it. Not that I was ever off it,” he added. “Just ahead until we reach a dead end, then it sounds like some sort of game cheat instructions. Lol. Left right forward right up forward down, shoot out motion sensors, forward left right right back up forward down, defeat the vamps in corridor 101 to get to corridor 616…”
“Can you say all that slower please,” asked Lupin. “And are you serious about the 101 and 616?”
“Answer to the first question, yes, answer to the second, no. Just follow me and I’ll get you there.”


C3

We set off at a quick pace. Crescent was messing around on his computer, looking at the vamps plans, stuff like that. Every so often a “This could be very useful,” or “These vamps are amazingly primitive,” came from him.
“Found anything that will help us defeat the vamps? And can you disconnect all the security cameras in our path?” I asked him.
“You mean, vaccines, spacecraft, somatic cell engineering that they had before society fell to pieces? The stuff that the legendary organization of Darpa had? And, I can disconnect the cameras; it would just look suspicious to the Vamps.”
“They have stuff like that?”
“And more. Seems they’re working on neuronal computing. Using living computers. Neuronal means to do with the br-“
“I know what neuronal means,” I said, cutting him off. “To do with the brain. I did take the same lessons as you, and two years before, kid brother. Carry on.”
“Anyway, as I was saying, before I was rudely cut off, it seems the vamps are advancing incredibly quickly. Too quickly to be their own advancement. They must have found old Darpa information…” he mused. “It’s a pity they didn’t find old Nsa firewalls though; I’d like to be against something that requires at least an eighth of my skill. Anyway, if we don’t advance as quickly, forget about using rockets to get to space, we’ll be blown up there.”
“So it’s simple then, isn’t it? You download all the files, and we use the knowledge to advance.”
“Don’t you think I’ve tried? I simply don’t have enough memory on my comp to save it all. Even if I format the entire system, I still don’t have enough space. I’ve had to prioritise. Vaccines and space travel take precedence.”
“Can’t we just access the network remotely? The vamp’ buildings must be linked somehow.”
He looked at me like I didn’t know anything. “If the vamps did that we would have won ages ago, their firewalls are that bad. The only reason we are able to do that ourselves is because of my excellent cryptography skills.”
I ignored that bit. “Did the EMP destroy the inbuilt computer of the weapons or just wipe them?” I asked. “If you can use the memory on that…”
“The EMP strike they used completely knocked out all electronic systems. Maybe they knew I’d be able to reprogram the computers.”
I laughed. “Or maybe they knew an EMP like that wouldn’t have affected the blasters, only the computers.”
We were approaching the bomb-ridden tunnel now. I drew my weapon. “Where do I fire?” I asked Crescent.
“Let’s see,” he said, pulling up the tunnel on his computer. “It seems there are three in a strip down the middle, and that’s it. Directly in the centre, and half way from the centre to each end.”
I pinpointed the centre and took aim. Knowing where the centre was would aid in shooting out the other two sensors.
The bullet hit the centre and bits of silicon showered down. Luckily they weren’t in the range of the other two or we’d be picking our way through rubble.
I took aim at a spot between the middle and the entrance on our side and fired. If I hit the wrong place we’d still have to pick our way through rubble.
A bit of plaster showered down. For a moment my heart sank. I’d hit the wrong spot. But the tunnel hadn’t collapsed.
“Crescent, are the sensors on a time-delay?” I asked.
“I’ll just check,” he replied. He scanned through all the pages he had open and looked up. “No, but they were on a series circuit. That’s the Vamps for you. Idiots. It is safe to go through by the way,” he added.
We moved cautiously through the tunnel, despite what Crescent had said.


C4

We moved through the shadows, alert for any sound that may give away Zombies or Vamps.
A noise ahead alerted me to the presence of vamps. “Vamps ahead,” I told. “I’d say about four tunnels away.”
“I can’t hear anything,” Crescent said.
“That’s because I have superior hearing to you,” I replied. “Check your computer if you don’t believe me.”
“I will.” And he did. “They’re getting closer to here. There are about ten of them, all armed. What’s the best plan of action? Run, fight, or hide?”
“Can you give them fresh orders through the network?” asked Lupin. “The Vamps are getting closer now so it would be useful if we could divert them.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” he said. “They receive their orders through the system, so it should be possible to send them false ones.”
He busied himself on the computer. The vamps were getting closer. “Can you hurry up a bit?” I said. “The vamps are only one tunnel away now.”
“I’m trying; it would help if you didn’t hurry me. Ah, here it is. A program called, somewhat unimaginatively, ‘Orders’. Complete with preset orders. I think ‘Return to base’ will do nicely. Rofl.” Then he added, as an afterthought, “Mao.”
A moment later the Vamps began to move away. “I wonder why we’re wanted at base,” I heard one say, before they faded out of hearing.
We carried on. Only the Zombies left to go. And those are easy to deal with. Lob in a couple of grenades, blow the Zombies up, and then the way is cleared. Simple.
“Check the computer map,” I advised Crescent. “The zombies might have toddled off somewhere as well. We don’t want to run into a load of Zombies we aren’t expecting.”
“Okay.” He checked the tunnels. “This is bad. Really bad.”
“What is?” queried Lupin.
“The zombies have wandered off, but in a direction that’s really bad. For us, I mean. They’ve moved round and cut us off. The only way out is through the hordes.”
“Well that’s easy, isn’t it? Just lob in a couple of grenades,” I said.
“You don’t seem to get it. There are loads of Zombies – Vamp/Zombies – closing in on us. A couple of grenades would not do the trick. A nuke would, but we don’t have one.”
“Where’s the concentration lowest?” asked Lupin.
“In the area around the entrances to the main security office. There are hardly any there. It’s as if they want to make us go there…”
“Well, it’s clearly a trap,” I said. “What’s the area with the second lowest concentration?”
“Can’t see. Wait, it’s the area where we’re heading.”
I counted my grenades. Of the five I started with, five still remained. Good. “How many grenades have you got?” I called to the other two.
“Five,” came the reply.
“Good. Crescent, would fifteen grenades be enough to blast our way through the tunnel to the research chamber?”
“Yes, but we won’t have any left for the way back.”
I looked at Lupin. “You’re the leader, what do we do? Go the way we’re being shepherded, or carry on the way we started out?”
“Chances are the way they want us to go is filled with their troops,” he replied. “Plus, I intend to finish this mission.”
“Right, if that’s the decision, we’ll have to make some minor course changes. But they don’t entail doubling back.”


C5

We quickened our pace, first doubling it, then tripling it, then running. The zombies might cut us off. Which would be… bad, to say the least.
I smelt the zombies before Crescent spoke. “Zombies soon,” he said.
I fingered my grenades. Soon they would be blowing large, walking bits of flesh into small, less annoying pieces of flesh.
The zombies were just round the corner now. “Don’t move,” I told the others. I peeked round. These vampires weren’t Vamp/Zombies. They were mainly Vamp/Zombies, but they had some Lycan in them. So that’s what they needed Skywolf for. They were using him to get Lycan serum for experiments.
The Zombies noticed me. Quickly I pulled out the pin of a grenade and threw it round the corner. “Now!” I yelled over the explosion.
We ran round and Lupin chucked a grenade. We let the smoke clear, moved forward, and Crescent tossed one. We repeated that process until we reached the end of the tunnel and discovered a door in the way. A Verilocked door.
I turned round and provided cover fire from the zombies to give Crescent the opportunity to open the door.
“Crescent, can you unlock this door?” asked Lupin.
“Sorry, it’s not connected to the network. It’s on its own computer system. I could connect to its computer and unlock it, though.”
He took out a screwdriver and began to take off the door panel. Once that was done he connected his computer up and began to hack.

C6

The door opened. Beyond, the room lay in shadow. I sniffed the air. There had definitely been some vampires here moments ago, but they weren’t here now. The room was lifeless. Wait; there was the faint smell of another Lycan. Skywolf? No, similar, but different. The smell of a Lycan in the process of Turning. Female, around twenty.
I felt around for a light switch, and then decided against it. If this were a Lycan in the process of Turning, they wouldn’t have got used to the improved eyesight. A sudden light could send them into a rage, or worse, blind them.
“The rooms free of Vamps or Zombies,” I told the others. “There’s a Lycan in here, but it isn’t Skywolf. A Female, about twenty years old. Currently Turning, about three quarters of the way through.”
Lupin thought for a while. “Is she awake?” he finally said.
“No. She’s in an extremely heavy sleep, drugged by the smell of it,” I replied. “Should I turn on the lights?”
“No, you know what happens to a new Lycan when suddenly exposed to bright light.” He paused to think. “Actually, since she’s in a drug induced sleep, yes, it would be safe to turn the lights on.”
I switched on the lights and looked round. We seemed to be in some sort of lab. The Lycan was curled up on what looked like a hospital bed. Other than that, the room was empty.
We moved into the room and shut the door behind us. Crescent locked it behind us. The zombies wouldn’t be following us in here.
There was a door opposite us. We moved towards it. I tried to smell through it but the vamps had coated in some nasty substance that confused the senses. If we went in there we’d be going in blind.
“Luna, can you pick anything up?” asked Lupin.
“Nope, they’ve coated it in a substance that absolutely stinks. The smells are too scrambled to decode,” I replied. “If we go in, we go in blind. Unless there’s cameras in there?” I asked Crescent.
“If there are they aren’t connected to the network,” he replied. “In fact, that room isn’t even on the map. So, do we go in or not?”
“A load of Zombie/Vampire/Lycan hybrids we have no hope of defeating on one side, and an unknown on the other? I’d rather take my chances with the unknown,” Lupin said.
“Right,” Crescent replied. “Wait, the door is locked, but there isn’t a door handle.”
“Could it be a remotely controlled?” I asked.
“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!” he said. “I’ll just check. Yep, it is. I’ll just open it.” He fiddled around on his computer for a moment. The door slid open. “Done it,” he said, stating the obvious.
We moved forward into the room.


C7

As soon as we’d done that the door shut itself behind us and locked. At the same moment, the lights in the room suddenly turned on.
Momentarily blinded, I reeled backwards from the light. We must have been led into a trap.
Once my eyes had recovered I looked around. We’d been led into a room packed with Vampires.
“That’s them,” came a voice I knew with chilling familiarity. “That’s the two I told you about. That’s the Senser and the computer whiz.”
“Skywolf,” Lupin said, shocked. “You, you’ve betrayed us. How could you?”
“I ‘betrayed’ the pack years ago. In fact, I was never part of the pack. I was spying on you the entire time.”
I glanced to Crescent. He was recording the conversation as secretly as he could on his computer. Good.
Skywolf went on. “The information I gathered has been instrumental in designing our plan, which has already been put into action. Luring you here was an important part of the plan. Soon we shall rule the Earth and no-one will be able to stop us.”
I knew what mistake Skywolf was making but I wasn’t going to point it out to him. He’d grown cocky and started telling us his plan. That was such a stereotypical thing to do. Useful though.
“The virus is nearly ready for deployment. Soon all Lycans will be transformed.”
“It’s not too late,” pleaded Lupin. “You can still turn back. We can still stop the virus being released.”
“Why would I want to? I have all I would ever want right here,” he replied. “Ready the planes for Viral Deployment. And take these worthless Furballs out of my sight.”
“Don’t do this Skywolf,” pleaded Lupin again. “You don’t have to.”
“Ah, but I do,” Skywolf answered. “On second thoughts, leave Lupin with me and take the other two for conditioning. Be careful not to damage their abilities.”
Me and Crescent were dragged away into a separate room. Dodgy looking implements adorned the walls. Such as a sinister looking headset that was plugged into a computer.
I was forced onto a bed and the headset was forced over my head. Then I felt something jab my leg and began to feel sleepy.
They’d injected me with a sleeping drug. They were intending to condition me while I was sleeping. Stay calm, stay calm I told myself. That way the drug wouldn’t go round my system as fast, giving me time to think about what to do. Then I’d panic and get the Adrenalin rush.
I breathed in and out slowly, slowing my heartbeat. Now what to do? The vampires were still in the room.
A screen turned on in front of me. It showed Lycans slaughtering innocent people. News footage from two decades ago. But of course, if I was asleep, I wouldn’t be realizing that. I’d think that all Lycans were evil and that I’d been lied to.
That must be their idea. Make me think that I’ve been lied to and then I’d be more willing to join them. Well, it wasn’t going to work. At least, not while I was awake.
I felt a sudden draft from the direction of the vampires. They’d unfurled their wings. I bet they’re comparing them right now I thought. That’s vamps for you.
I could smell their fetid breath. These particular vamps didn’t clean their teeth after feeding. Soon their fangs will rot and they won’t be able to feed I thought with glee.
There was a sudden waft of air from their direction and I couldn’t smell their breath as much. They’ve either turned round or are covering their mouths with their wings. I’ll go with the former assumption.
I slipped the head set off with ease. They’d made a fatal assumption: that I was going to be asleep. Well, I wasn’t, and they were going to learn that the hard way.
My feet made a slight noise as they touched the ground. I paused for a moment, checking whether the guards had noticed, but they were oblivious to it.
Looking around for something to use as a weapon, I couldn’t find anything. Then it occurred to me: I’d forgotten my basic weapon – my teeth and claws. I’d been so used to holding a weapon I’d forgotten I was one.
I weighed up my options. If I ran at them, would they be able to turn and defend themselves? Could they raise the alarm before I incapacitated them? I decided they could, and discounted that option.
That left me with two remaining: sneaking up to them and incapacitating them, or waking up Crescent first, then attacking. Really there was only one option, as I wouldn’t know how Crescent would react, or whether he would be in a fit state to tackle Vampires.
Sneaking up behind the Vamps, I got my claws ready. I was aiming for the wing muscles, since that’s where most of a Vamps blood flows; plus, if I stabbed right, I’d catch the nervous system as well.
Once I was in the correct position, I stabbed in with my claws. Blood spurted out from the arteries, and the Vampires collapsed to the ground. They feebly tried to staunch the flow of blood with their hands, in too much shock to cry out. That was what I’d been counting on.

C8

I rushed over to Crescent. He was on the verge of succumbing to the drug. I could hear the incessant voice coming from the headset, talking about how evil Lycans are and how I should join the Vampires instead. I couldn’t be bothered to remove the headset, so I just slashed the cables connecting it to the computer. That did the trick.
Immediately after I did that Crescent stopped resisting and fell asleep. I wanted to do that, but I had something to do first.
If anyone glanced at the doorway now they’d see the guards on the floor. Looking further in they’d see me standing there with blood on my claws. Not even the dumbest Vamp would fail to see I was escaping and raise the alarm.
I propped the Vamps - well, Vamps corpses - against the wall in such a position that anyone looking in would think they were still alive.
Then I went back and slashed the cable connecting my headset to the computer. After I’d done that I lay on the bed and pulled the headset on. Now I could go to sleep without the Vamps thinking anything was up.

C9

I woke up and slipped the headset off. I tried looking at my watch for the time and then remembered it had been EMPed. I shouldn’t have relied on a digital watch so much I thought to myself.
I swung myself out of bed for the second time and went over to Crescent. “Crescent, you awake?” I asked, not bothering to be really quiet. Crescent was probably awake, and we were going to have to fight anyway, might as well get it over with. Not quite logical reasoning, but I still wasn’t thinking entirely straight, due to the effects of the sleeping drug.
“Sure, I’m awake,” he answered. He slid the helmet off and sat on the edge of the bed. “What’s the plan?”
“Sneak in there and come up with the rest on the go?” I suggested.
“Sounds like the best plan available at the moment” Crescent replied.
We walked to the doorway and looked out, applying the same sort of logic which I used to back up speaking at a normal volume.
First thing I noticed: There weren’t any Vampires around.
Second thing: Lupin and Skywolf were sitting down talking to each other.
Third thing: They were talking about me and Crescent, and how long it was taking us to overpower the guards.
“I did that a few minutes or a few hours ago,” I said angrily from the doorway. “Then I needed to go to sleep. Of course, you two could have helped, but you were to busy talking to each other. Why has Skywolf reverted, anyway?”
“Long story and we need to leave now,” Lupin said, ignoring the question. “Crescent, how can we get out without encountering too many Vamps?”
He checked his computer. “There are no Vamps in the room that has that Lycan we saw, but they’re absolutely clustered around the next door.”
“I could simply order them to leave us alone,” stated Skywolf. “In fact, I could probably order them to let us walk out of the Complex. Why waste ammo killing them now when we can blow them up at our leisure”
“That’s sorted then,” replied Lupin. “We’ll simply walk out.”

C10

Skywolf walked up to the door and stood in front of it. There was a flash of light around his eyes and the door opened.
“Hidden iris scanners,” Skywolf said as way of explanation. “This place is a mine of technology. It’s almost a pity to see it go. Almost.”
We walked into the room and turned on the light. Bad move. The Lycan had just woken up and was clasping her hands to her eyes, screaming.
I quickly turned off the light. “Sorry about that,” apologised Skywolf. “You need to come with us if you don’t want to be blown up.”
She nodded, in a daze about what had happened.
Skywolf walked up to the next door and did the same thing as a before. The Vamps on the other sides stiffened, but relaxed when they saw Skywolf.
Skywolf ignored them and motioned for us to follow him. I could see confused faces on the Vamps faces as we passed by. I’m glad those confused faces had closed mouths, with these Vamps level of dental hygiene.
The plan worked well until we were near the exit. That was when someone accidentally discovered the severed cords in the Conditioning room, put 1+0 together, doubled it, squared the result and came up with 4.
Then they’d raised the alarm. We learned they had when we tried leaving the complex and got stopped by the guards.
“Let us out,” ordered Skywolf. “I’m escorting these to the runway.”
“No you aren’t,” responded the guard. “What you’re going to do is line up along the wall. Then what I’m going to do is wait for backup.”
“No, I don’t think you’re going to do that,” Skywolf stated, pulling out a small grenade. “This bomb contains a toxin, deliberately engineered so that it only affects Vampires systems. And don’t bother trying to shoot me. The moment the computer in here registers that I am dead, it will explode instantly.”
“What if I shoot you from a distance?” returned the Vampire.
“By the time you get far enough away to do that safely, we will already be gone.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Lupin said, before simply shooting the Vamps in their heads.
“Time to go,” Skywolf said. “Crescent, you did remember to arrange for a Helicopter to pick us up?”
“Er… was I supposed to?” Crescent asked. “I’ll do it now.” He opened a channel. “I couldn’t have done it before anyway. Too much metal in the rock.” He scanned over his screen. “They’ve had one in this area for half an hour. ETA 1 minute.”
“Everyone, we can’t stay around talking,” I said urgently. “You know those backups the guard was talking about? Well, they’re coming, and I don’t think that toxin of yours is going to be able to defeat them all.”
“Time to leave then,” Skywolf said. He didn’t seem to be bothered about the fact that a load of Vamps were behind us.
Just as we’d exited into the night air the Vamps rounded the corner and were in a direct line behind us. “I’d advise everyone to run, at this point,” advised Skywolf, while pulling what looked like a detonator out.
I got the idea about what he was going to do and sprinted as fast as I could away from the complex. Something jabbed me, but I ignored it and carried on running.
There was an explosion behind me. I threw myself to the floor, covering my sensitive ears with my hands. The smell of burning flesh pervaded the air.
It was the sound of Helicopter blades that made me get up. Charred corpses littered the ground near what was left of the Complex.
The Helicopter landed. Skywolf walked up to it. “Had a good flight?” he asked.
“An uneventful flight, yes,” replied the Pilot, looking around. “Not like yours, I see.”
“It’ll be explained later during debriefing.”
We climbed on board the Helicopter and I took a seat at the back. Crescent sat in the seat next to me, Lupin in front of him. In front of me sat the Lycan we’d picked up, and Skywolf sat in the co-pilots seat.
The Helicopter took off, causing the wreckage under the craft to be blown everywhere under the powerful downdraft.

C11

There was a pain in my right shoulder. I leaned forward and pulled out a dart. It must have been the one that hit me while I was running to get away from the explosion I realized, after staring at it for a few seconds. Somehow it had managed to penetrate my body armour. (NOTE TO SELF: File an official complaint as well as merely just complaining.) I put the Dart in my pocket for analysis back at base.
I looked around to see what the others were doing. Crescent was, predictably, scanning through the data on his computer. The Pilot was, obviously and predictably, piloting the helicopter. Lupin, and Skywolf were talking, another predictable activity. The new Lycan in front of me was staring right ahead, at nothing, shocked by what has happened. Predictable? What do you think?
“So that’s how they got all that technology!” I heard Crescent exclaim, causing the Lycan in front to attempt to jump out of her seat.
“No need to yell, we can hear well enough as it is,” I said, at a much more reasonable volume. “So, how did they get the tech?”
“Well, it appears that there’s an old Satellite in High Earth Orbit. Extremely high orbit. It seems it was designed to act as a backup in case of anything happening to the computers down here on Earth. Such as a nuclear war, for instance.”
“So how did the Vamps gain access to it?” I asked. “Wouldn’t it have had some kind of password or firewall on it?”
“I don’t know how they gained access,” he replied. “What I do know is, if they managed it, I can do it as well.”
“But wouldn’t they have wiped the satellite clean, in case we managed to discovered it?” I pointed out.
“That… could be a problem” he admitted. “A potentially very big one.”
He sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking. Finally, he spoke. "But any sane person would keep more than one backup, and not just in orbit, where it could be disrupted by Solar Flares and Gamma Ray Bursts. Ideally it would be placed somewhere where it would be extremely unlikely to be disrupted. Somewhere like underground on the Moon, for instance."
“The Moon? That would require spaceflight to get at though..."
"Or an insanely powerful radio. Requiring a lot of energy. But yes, a spacecraft would be more practical."
I thought for a while. "Is there anywhere else they could have hidden one? Underground on Earth, somewhere that is extremely tectonically inactive?"
"Perhaps.I don't know; I'll have to check when we get back to base."
"Which, from the looks of things, will be in a few minutes," I replied, looking out the window at the base. Held up by spinning gas bags shaped like blades to provide extra lift, it was nicknamed the Valient by some, Airhaven by others. There were a few other nicknames, but I've forgotten them. Oh, yeah, Skybase was another one.

C12

The pilot eased off the tail rotor to allow the craft to match spin with the central docking station. As he docked the doors began to open and we began to disembark (well, jump out).
We were met by various medical personnel, as well as, suprisingly, the Alpha. "Did the mission go as planned?" was the first question he asked, directed at Skywolf.
"There was a minor hiccup, and an unexpected addition to our ranks, but other than that it went fine."
"Good." He motioned to the medical personnel. "I assume these are not needed?"
"Not as far as I'm aware, although the new Lycan may need some checking over," Skywolf replied.
"Plus I got hit by some kind of dart while escaping," I interrupted, holding it out. "I don't know what it is; it's definitely not a Tranquilizer."
One of the medical personnel took it, turning it over in their hands and examining it. Puzzlement crossed his face. "I can't tell what it is. It's certainly nothing I've ever come across. I'll have it anylyzed at the lab."