Hillman Compound
[COLOR=Red]Located in the industrial district, along the waterfront were 2 miles of nothing but warehouses. Some of the larger warehouses were fifty thousand square feet of storage and some were filled to capacity. On the south end, standing pristine and new, was Hillman compound, known formerly as Hillman, Inc. This is where the multi-millionaire stored his luxury items, docked his yachts and kept his precious things hidden away.
The warehouse itself was made of concrete and boasted security guards around its surrounding electrical fence. No one could come within 500 feet of Hillman, Inc without being thoroughly accosted by a gruff looking security guard with bad breath.
State of the art security and fifty cameras surveyed the premises. There were four check points and one main entrance. The surrounding warehouses have been bought and cleared out by Hillman, Inc and not a soul interrupted whatever went on down on the south end of the docks.[/COLOR]
Leaning back over to a computer on her left, she and another Merc frantically deciphered the incoming code and rerouted the information back with their hacking program. Suddenly the monitors overhead flickered and then came to life. They watched silently as each of the dozen monitors lit up with feed from inside the compound.
Carol reached over and grabbed the Merc she had just hit on the arm and gave him a huge kiss on the cheek. 'Simon, we're in.' Snapping her fingers, the mercs all hovered over their own computers, Carol spoke over her shoulder to them while concentrating on her own monitor. 'Find me the security codes, floor schematics and location of Ellis.'
Her eyes flickered across her three screens as they searched for Ellis.
He stood there, motionless as he concentrated on her. The other guards came and went and a few scientists would step in and whisper to themselves. The plan was to milk her on her own beast and surely she realized that. Why had she come alone? No, they must be outside, waiting for her signal. They hadn't searched her and that was per Hillman, the idiot.
Williams gauged her outfit now, she had at least two guns on her and her gloves, the tips were brushed metal. The small decorative spikes on her outfit didn't fool him. They were strategically placed to tear the top inch of bare skin off in one swipe. With her strength, she could easily penetrate their padded armor. While raging, which he knew most of her kind shared in ability, she'd pierce kevlar. Suddenly, Ellis smiled on the other side of the one way mirror. She was happily baring her fangs again, teasing whoever was behind the mirror.
Williams radio burst into life with a static screech but he did not flinch but immediately answered it. 'Williams here.' Hillman authorized the interrogation to begin. 'Commencing.'
His hand hovered over the panel in front of him but he stopped. He watched her again, chuckling softly to herself. He decided to introduce himself first and put his hand on the door into the room.
The door hissed open much to her delight. Here was the first contestant. She casually looked at the door which was situated to the right of the mirror and noticed the same guard that had been staring at her mouth. He closed the door behind him and the sizzling electrical noise filled the room.
Ellis was quite sadden by the fact that he did not appear afraid. Instead he looked curious, but they always were. Neither one spoke for a full minute, they just looked patiently at one another. Suddenly he took a step forward and moved his hands behind his back.
'Ms. Duban, I've been instructed to collect your weapons.' He hesitated for a moment, looking down at her.
Ellis slowly tilted her head to look up at him.
'But I think we both know that you have no intention of giving them to me.'
Ellis waited.
'You don't want me to try and take them from you.' It was more of a statement than a question.
'By all means,' Ellis said slowly and with a soft, loving tone. 'Please try.'
The .38's were nestled happily in her back hip holsters. The metal chair made them dig into her skin a bit but it was a welcomed pain. Reminded her of why she was there. She watched the guard and noticed he was looking at her mouth again. He spoke again before she could comment.
'Your fangs, you don't hide them.' Again, another statement.
'Where's the fun in that?'
'Indeed', replied the guard. His hands came forward and clapsed together and he bowed politely. 'Was a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Duban.'
Ellis watched him. He was friendly, unassuming. Clear psychopath. Of course, one psychopath would know another. She did not reply but watched him exit the room.
The rest was a blur.
Any other time he would've raised his rifle's sight and started taking out guards, one a second, but this time he let it rest on ledge he was perched on. He was not ready to instruct the others into the compound to rescue Ellis and he had no doubt that she was probably in quite the pickle at the moment. In fact, he had no intention on going as planned. He'd make them wait, not too long, but long enough.
Long enough for what, he wondered? Just long enough to change the history of the clan and his world as he knew it.
Simon was never one for theatrics, accolades, power or recognition. He was doing this for the honor of the clan, whatever was left of it. The members here tonight might not understand, but the ones that stayed and weathered the aftermath would. With the information he had given Thaddeus and Alafrinn, the clan could easily be sanctioned for death. He knew if he did not do this tonight, the clan would be hunted, the domicile destroyed, and Ellis would leave the continent to wait another thousand years to try again. He knew that was her plan, even if she didn't vocalize it. He knew it from the moment they refused to officially recognize her as an Elder and the clan as an member of their vampire nation.
She'd wait as long as it took and killed as many of her kind as necessary. This was personal; the creation of the Beast and its intended purpose. The money was secondary, as was the power she'd have. It was the revenge she was aiming for. Ellis Duban was the only being he had even known who reveled in being famous for being infamous.
Simon rested against the ledge and wished he had a piece of gum.
It twisted like paper in his hand.
He pulled back like his hand was on fire. He stared at his hand which was covered in his blood but as soft as could be. Kyle looked at the metal arm, twisted and imprinted with the little crevaces of his hand. It reminded him of play-doh.
There was a click and a voice chimed into the interrogation room. 'You just crushed the arm of that chair.'
Looking up, Kyle rolled his eyes and said, 'Fucking BILL ME.'
With a monotone tone, the voice continued, 'You are feeling the effects of the drug that is the by product of the vampire blood we harvested from the specimen you had the good fortune of meeting earlier.'
Kyle wiped his hand on his pants and again spoke up into the air, 'I wouldn't call that fortunate.' He mumbled, definitely not for the vampire.
There was an electrical hiss and the door opened. Kyle turned and from the left of the one way mirror entered the same scientist who injected him with the drug. 'These are residual effects of the drug and one of the few things about the drug that makes it so damn popular.'
'How is it I've never heard of this Eternity junk?'
'Simply because you are not rich enough, Mr. Evans.'
'I don't know, I'm pretty rich.'
'No Mr. Evans, not at one hundred thousand a dose, you aren't.'
Kyle shrugged, 'I've drank more than that in six months, you don't know me that well.'
The scientist approached Kyle and smirked. 'Funny man.' He reached out to touch Kyle's face.
Kyle grabbed the scientists arm and it caused the man to crumble. Kyle let go and picked the man up by the collar, easily lifting the man off the floor and to his eye level.
Grunting, the scientist said quickly, 'I mean you no harm, Mr. Evans.'
'Are you fucking kidding me?'
'In the room, next to us is the creator of that beast. You don't want to be here when she gets out and she will. I'm here to help, Mr. Evans.' He pulled at Kyle's hands.
Kyle watched the man, he was clearly in distress and it wasn't from being lifted off the ground. This man was worried. 'Why are you helping me?' He nodded towards the mirror, 'where are the others?'
Fighting for air as his collar slowly cut off his air supply, 'They're all going to watch the interrogation next door, believe me, no one cares about you, Mr. Evans. I didn't sign up for this.'
'This being torturing a species?' Kyle slowly lowered the scientist.
Coughing, the scientist sputtered, 'You have no idea what you're in the middle of, do you? Of what these vampires are, of WHO they are or how far their control goes. The rabbit hole goes further than you think, Mr. Evans. Straight down to hell.'
'I could kill you and make a run for it with these abilities now.'
'They're temporary...and you wouldn't make it one hundred feet. Not without this.' The scientist pulled out another vial out of his pocket. It looked like an injection pen that diabetics used, but this wasn't insulin.
Kyle took the pen and put it in his pocket. 'Fine, we're out of here.'
'One thing, Mr. Evans. The drug, it's addictive and you've had more than the normal dose.'
Kyle's eyes widened. 'What the fuck did you put in me?'
The scientist squealed, 'It was Hillman. He wanted to see the effects of a massive dose on an addict. Your alcoholism.' The scientist shrugged, 'I'm sorry.'
Kyle shoved the scientist to the floor and considered what he had just been told. The injection pen suddenly felt heavy in his pocket. One addiction for another.
Great.
Carol, this fox is ready to get in among the hens. Moving to position and awaiting Simon's signal.
Turning to Ginnie, he started
Well, I'm off mon co...
...and stopped abruptly. It probably wouldn't do to transmit endearments mid mission. Blushing, he coughed a bit, and continued
Sorry. See you on the inside.
Focusing strongly on his blending, Alec began his walk to the area around the perimeter from which he'd be making his approach. He'd wait until Carol's confirmation that she had stricken the facility deaf and blind and Simon gave him the all clear, but he'd rather have just walked in. Still...this was what being a team player was about. Following orders no matter what your personal preference might be.
This could take some getting used to.
Bypassing several posted guards who were well into their boring routines was quite simple. They rarely had a deja vu type reaction when they were entirely aware and awake. Patrol in the cold of winter always resulted in shorter circuits and more time at the warm points on a route. Finding a well concealed point directly across from the electrical maintenance hatch, he hunkered down comfortably, hoping it wasn't too long a wait. It was a bit chilly.
In position across from my entrance. Let me know when to head inside.
Click.
She heard the noise and looked around the room. Nothing had opened, but she clearly heard something click. She slipped off her left glove, resting it on the metal arm of the chair when the humming started. It was soft and almost barely unnoticeable. Was it a noise or a...vibration?
Ellis twisted around to look at the back of the room and nudged her glove off the arm. Again, nothing opened or seemed to move. Turning she began to reach down to pick up her glove when she noticed it wasn't on the floor. It was hanging on the side of the arm. The metal studs on her glove were stuck to the steel. She reached out to touch it and was shocked. Ellis blinked. Staring at the glove it suddenly occured to her.
She barely had enough time to activate the disc in her opposite hand before the electrical currents ran up her body, arching her back against the chair and throwing her head back in a horrible howl of pain.
'Hmm what? What are you looking at?' She leaned over and looked at the merc's screen.
'I was going through the security files when I found this.' He pointed at it. 'I was doing a search of Ellis' name and the beast when this popped up.'
Carol read through the file, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. 'But this says...'
The merc nodded, 'Yeah...it does.'
Another merc yelled out, 'I GOT HER.'
Carol turned to look at his screen. 'WHAT? Where?'
Merc #2 shrugged, 'Her locator went off 5 seconds ago and it looks like she's in one of the interrogation rooms, but that's what their computer is telling ours.'
Suddenly the lights on the building started to fluxuate. The link up to the security cameras inside the building started to darken as well.
Carol returned to her computer, calling up the electrical grid. 'It's not an outage from outside, it's coming from the inside.' She paused. 'What the fuck are they doing with that much voltage?'
'Christ,' the scientist mumbled.
'What the hell is that?'
The scientist turned and ran for the door. It wouldn't open. He leaned his head against the cold steel and started to whimper.
'What the hell is THAT?' He walked up to the scientist and pushed him to the side. Grabbing the door knob he pulled as hard as he could on it. The door buckled, pulling away from the frame but only where the door knob was. He regripped it and pulled again, it didn't budge.
'It's wearing off.'
Again the injector pen called out to him. 'Fuck that, I'm not wasting it on a door. If i'm going to be a full fledged addict, it's going to be for more than a fucking door.' The lights keep flickering, off and on. 'What are they doing to her?'
The scientist slid down against the wall in the corner. 'They're electrocuting her with about 100 million volts of electricity.'
Kyle blinked. 'Well, I'm guessing that's...bad?'
They had no idea.
'What the fuck are they doing with that much voltage?'
'Can you get a visual on her?' Simon put his hand on his rifle and waited.
'We're trying, one second.' Carol and the mercs raced to narrow down the specific camera into the interrogation rooms. 'For fuck sakes, how many rooms does this guy have?' They started to reach over one another, checking all the screens and narrowing down their search when suddenly they found her.
Well they thought it was her, they couldn't actually see her since the electricity had burned out the camera links to the room.
'My...god.'
She was literally melting. The skin on her face was cracking and her gums receeded back, exposing even more of her teeth and fangs. The smell from her hair and the smoldering of her leather outfit filled her nostrils and her back arched painfully as the currents seized her, tearing her asunder.
Ellis opened her eyes and let loose a horrific scream, one that came from the depths of her black soul. So loud, so furious, so pained that even the devil felt it. For one painfully excrutiating long moment, Ellis felt her long, treacherous life pass before and she was humbled. If there was a god, he'd let her die now.
If there wasn't and she didn't, she'd fucking find him.
The air in her lungs disappeared and her body refused to function further as the currents scrambled her mind like breakfast eggs. As if she wasn't already pissed off.
He wasn't bonded to her, so why was he feeling this? He took deep breaths out of his mouth as he tried to keep from throwing up. She was his creator and to his knowledge, her only child. He had no idea the creator bond would be like this. But if he was suffering, would Carol?
'Carol?'
Carol felt her stomach suddenly lurch and she rolled back in her chair and lunged for the garbage can. It felt like she was throwing up everything she had eaten not just that day, but every single day since the 3rd grade. In between the nausea she answered, 'Simon...I,' but was cut off by more vomiting.
'Carol, it'll pass. It's your bond as Ellis' familiar.' He considered what she was going through right at the moment as the lights continued to flicker. 'It's because we're close to her right now that you feel her pain.'
Carol was, in fact, feeling Simon's distress but the other's did not need to know that. Not right then. They were undoubtedly waiting for Simon to give the word to enter. He wasn't sure how long they had been electrocuting her, but he was fairly certain it was something she had never dealt with before and if it didn't kill her...god he couldn't imagine what she'd do.
The lights suddenly came back on full strength, signaling the end of whatever they were doing. Now was as good a time as any.
'Carol, cut the alarms and everyone MOVE IN!'
'Done, move in and take this motherfucker, people.'
Carol wiped her forehead, the sick feeling fading. She knew what Simon was trying to say and why he said what he did. However she had forgotten to tell him what her and the merc had found and would not remember for several more minutes.
Copy that, gaining entry. Cancel fire in section 14 of the overlay maps - I'll be blending through there.
Rising from his hiding place, Alec silently slipped around the sentries at the checkpoint - with the flickering lights he'd be completely invisible to even the most trained eye. Approaching the hatch, he checked the area - clear. Kneeling, he quickly yanked the padlock open, oiled the hatch hinges, worked the oil in, opened the door, placed a magnet on the inside of the hatch to hold the now useless padlock in place and sealed the hatch behind him.
I'm in. Proceeding to electrical junction to set charge one and then down to the elevator shaft to set the main support charges.
Knowing the cameras were blind, Alec skittered quickly and quietly through his selected electrical crawlspaces. Reaching the primary junction box, he set the adhesive charge on the back side of the incoming power entries. Continuing through his tunnels, he went left, left, right, straight. straight, straight, left and was at the access mesh to the central elevator system. Twenty feet above would be the primary mechanical room.
Placing clamps on the edge of the thin metal grate, he pulled the grate inward and bent it up to the ceiling. Poking a mirror into the shaft, he saw that no elevators were coming. Crawling out, he anchored himself to a support piling and began his short ascent up the shaft using the air suction on the suit attachments. With each slight movement, there was a small sucking and puffing of air sound as he worked the air pumps on his hands to open and close the suction valves. He pulled himself up onto the catwalk and proceeded to the right a handful of steps. Reaching the entry to the mechanical room, he lifted his shirt for his traditional picks. Licking them clean after removing them from his scar, he easily picked the simple door lock and entered. The four bays of elevators controlled from this room would all fall to the bottom floor when this charge went off, severing their lines. Setting the charge in a central location, he radioed in.
Charges set at primary electrical junction and primary mechanical control. Make sure to use the stairs, folks. Heading to machine rooms one and three - you should have entry by then and I'll be setting charges for floor two. How is it looking out front?
'The front is covered, don't wait on us, Alec. Everyone make your way in.' Simon holstered his rifle for a moment and stood. Taking a step, he leapt off the ledge, onto the ground below. The guards were coming out of the main entrance now and as he swung the rifle around on its strap, he pulled out his guns.
In a hail of gunfire, Simon walked slowly into the main entrance.
He walked quickly to her and leaned over. Her mouth was frozen in the painful ear splitting wail that she emitted in the final seconds. Wow they fried her up something awful, but her features were still recognizable, her clothes still holding together but burnt and smoldering. Her once raven black hair was half its length and curled in some spots. He spotted his prize and almost let out a squeal.
Her fangs were still there. Her gums had receeded and revealed more of them and he felt himself go warm inside. The fangs of Ellis Duban. Williams hand went into his pants pocket and pulled out the pliers.
Williams ran a fat thumb over one of the fangs, feeling how smooth it still felt. Still white. Licking his lips he raised the pliers and attached them to the fang. He reached out and braced himself, touching his shoulder and to his surprise, she still felt soft. Curious, he thought, but was distracted again by the brilliance of the shiny white fangs. With a violent heave, he pulled. The veins in his neck started to protrude as he pour every humanly possible ounce of strength into yanking the bitch's fang out. With a loud crack, he broke it off just above the gumline.
Sweating now and his heart racing like a champion horse, he dropped the fang into his free hand and then placed the pliers on the other fang left in her mouth. He slid the fang into his breast pocket and put his free hand onto her shoulder.
This time the fang came much easier and as he dropped it onto his hand, noticed the blotch of red at the broken point. He laughed, there was still some blood in her. Maybe they'd bleed her afterall.
Turning, he slowly walked back to the door and with his hand on the door knob, he reached into the pocket with his free hand and took out the white fangs. They were huge and sharp. He stared at them, hypnotized by their brilliance. He was holding the fangs of one of the most notorious vampires known to the human world, which was a very small population. He felt fortunate to have known about her, to have met her before being so easily lured and killed. It was too easy, bringing her here. Williams opened the door and the electronic seal hissed just as he saw the burnt, flayed skin reach over his shoulder and shut the door again.
The hand was planted on the door in front of him and suddenly the fangs seemed insignificant. Though his thirty nine years had given him ample time to form the steelest of nerve, the hand made him wet himself in 2 seconds flat. He started to shiver, even as the warmth of his own urine was running down his leg. Williams turned slowly.
Her hand was still placed on the door over his shoulder. She leaned into him, seductively, causing the man to gag slightly. Ellis pointed at the fangs and with her fangless grin whispered softly to the man.
'You really don't think we need those...do you?' And then began to feed.