(DELETED)

[Holister]

(DELETED)

[Natasha]

Hi Holister. I will ask Kolya to translate your post in English now.

[Razor]

Damn straight!

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Well said Ben. *Hums a few bars of Jeremiah was a Bull Frog*

I guess I'll steal Ben's thread here to recount what happened to me on the Rig.


After we arrived on the Oil Rig (we all went there together via boat), I was teleported down into the engine room to square off against War. And this sucker was more heavily armed than I was if you can believe it. I started the battle my pulling the pin on a pair of grenades, one tear gas and oen flashbang. Those stunned War for a few second and I fired my Grenade Launcher (an under the barrel model on my M16A1) at him. The High Explosive grenade blasted him off the level we were on and onto the next level of the engine room while charring his body armor and wrecking his Chain Gun. Things are a little fuzzy for me here, but while I was creeping around looking for him he let loose with a burst and put a few rounds through my leg. Now, somewhere during this fight my shoulder is shot too, but the adrenaline got pumping and I'm not sure exactly when.

So, War is coming up after me, I popped a smoke grenade and he lost sight of me. I opened up the deck grating above me to make it look like I'd climbed up to the next level, then went hand over hand on the grating and carried myself amidst some pipes to hide...

I'll post some more later.

[Ashikaga Hideoshi]

I will cover the team's medical expenses. (they most likely prevented casualties on a very expensive team)

[Holister]

(DELETED)

[Ron Caliburn]

I've said my piece on Celeste often enough now.

[Holister]

(DELETED)

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Sounds good Ben. Evil red midget hunting.

[AdamaGeist]

The only important question, Ron... If Celeste was able to be turned human tomorrow, would you still kill her before/after?

Anyway, not important... I can't tell everyone's stories, so I'll just do my own...

KT told me where we'd be meeting up for the trip over to the boat, and I'm not one for a long car-ride. He was winging it over, so I decided to do somthing I havn't done since my battle with my mentor... I pulled my entire body into the astral, and went that way. Thank god for that Orb I demolished earlier on.. The repairs I made to myself realy paid off here.

Honestly, I got there after everyone else, so I had the last choice of seats as we piled into the boat for the ride over. KT did his best to give us some magical support, and Bert had a few weapons and tactical armor to offer. I'm not one for a bulletproof vest, so I just took the Smoke and Flash-bang Grenades that he offered as we went on in.

We didn't get much time to look around before Sheapard decided to speak up, welcoming us all to our dooms, more or less. He introduced our opponents, and the next thing I knew, I was dumped into the Cafiteria with a knife-happy loon he called Pestilence.

Damn guy was psycho. Came at me first thing, swinging his swords wildly. I was more lucky then skilled, but I needed luck more in that quick melee, I couldn't move anywhere near fast enough to dodge or block his attacks then... But the crowded area, full of tables and chairs kept him from realy getting to me easily. I took a bad slash against my left arm before I could duck away under a table and knock a chair into him.

Which brings me to my second point of bad news... I couldn't cast a damn thing when he was near. Worse than that, I couldn't feel my artifacts either and I've lived with one of those things for well over half my life. I used the time to get away from him, tossing around some smoke-grenades. Damn stuff choaked me too, but it kept him from finding me as I got myself some room.

With the room, my powers came back. The loon had somthing about him that was a dampening field, consuming magic. That confermed a bit of suspicion, and somthing I didn't bother to mention earlier... I'd sent a fire-elemental to destroy his promiced viral bomb earlier, only to find the damn thing was empty. He'd used it on him and his buddies instead, one of the days before we arrived. They were all infected, and in the initial high-infection stage.

Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled, but I had somthing else on my mind right then. If my artifacts couldn't work, there was no chance in hell that I'd be able to cast spells at him from a distance. But that didn't mean I couldn't use the environment further. I got up a spell and started blasting the floor between us with plasma, tearing a hole in the metal floor. No sooner had I done that, Zippy came charging at me through the smoke, his blades smashing up everything in his path. But I knew when he hit the pit, when I couldn't hear him swinging anymore.

I'm not so dumb as to expect the fight to be over so quickly, so I pumped a few more plasma bolts down the pit as I backed up a bit further. Apparently I hit somthing major down there, because the damn thing exploded, and back up came Zippy, on fire, no less. He charged me again, forcing me to run around the flaming pit till I was certain he wouldn't interfere with my magic.

And then I ran right at the pit, leaping right through the rushing flames. No worries, normal fire can't hurt me as long as the Elements still hear from me. My clothes didn't even get singed. Pestilence, however, was neither as lucky, or as smart... He charged right after me, right into the flash-bangs I dropped behind me.

I already knew this wasn't going to be a fun fight, but this is where it got wierd. Zippy stopped, blinded and flailing, then he took out a dagger and drove it through his goggles, twice! Into each eye, he stabbed, then looked right at me with those ruined sockets, and charged me again.

I shot off a quick blast into the pipes above, bursting the water and gas mains, nearly destroying the power line while I was at it. Zippy just lept through the spray, slashing away at me. I didn't get off as easily this time, taking three more heavy cuts before I could push away. I bolted, quick as I could, right back through the spray, dropping a last flash-bang as I did. Zippy followed, right in time to be under the gas-main as the flash-bang went off...

The room pretty much exploded, the force slamming me against a wall. There wasn't much fire, instead steam bathed the place as the water-main was ruptured with the gass explosion. The slam against the wall didn't hurt much, even if it dazed me, but I can't say the same about the piece of metal that drove it's way through me. It was sticking out of my side, it had smacked into my back so hard.

The main way out was buried in rubble, but I could see sky out of a new hole in the wall. As I started to head for it, Zippy lunged at me from over a counter, trying to grab me... Poor bastard was little more than charred meat, only one arm left to him, and precious little else. I knocked his arm away, and just told him.

"You lost, and have been lost. Let yourself go, there's nothing more to fight for."

I turned to walk to the opening, and I could hear the sound of a gun being cocked. I quickly cast a spell, erecting a wall of ice between us. There was one gunshot into the wall, and as I walked away he tried for another, but never fired...

I almost got inside, just in time for Bert to barge on in through the opening. It took me a minute to get him to give me some room, but before I did, he gave me a shot... The cure. We got outside, and I gave a call out. My Water Brother was still in the ocean below, waiting for me. I told him to heal us as I tore the shrapnel from my side, then talked over with Bert about our next moves. I suggested we go for KT, because he was probably loopy enough to try and get his opponent to turn back to good.

I don't know what happened with him... We found him in the aftermath, also infected. We got him his dose, quickly, and we got him back to the helecopter we found. I stuck around to make sure he was healed, while Bert went for the others.

The rest you already know. My question is this... Everyone else's bout with the Virus left them almost blacking out at the end, unable to help themselves. I'm the only one that didn't have any reaction whatsoever. Why?

[Crosshair MT]

Possibly due to you origins and nature? As you have refered to on a few occasions you are not normal by hunman standards. Just me pulling ideas out of my back side no insult ment.

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Hmmmm, maybe you weren't exposed to it long enough?

[Dorian Gray]

I am not sure weather to feel envious because of the fight you had or because of the fact you remembered the fight AdamaGeist, I always seem to have memory lapses during such times in my life with the only thing I remember being the adrenaline rush I had, I should probably work on sorting that out if I am ever to be of use for people around here.

But that is one opponent I wish I could of fought, the one Bert the Turtle fought not so much, guns tend to make things rather bland in my opinion.

[AdamaGeist]

Somthing about physical wounds makes me remember the events. I couldn't exactly just detail every single slash, but with how fast this thing turned out, I'm glad I can remember what I have.

[KonThaak]

Adaaaaaaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaaaaa... I wasn't infected... I was immune by then...!

But Cubrious said Claw was infected...so maybe we needed the shot thing then...

Yeah, II'd tell y'all about the fight I was in, but y'all pry don't want me to... Hehehehehehehehe...

I'll tell it later.

[Holister]

(DELETED)

[Bert_the_Turtle]

How do we innoculate two dragon spirits? Honestly, how?

[KonThaak]

Oooohhhh, shit... Owowowowowowowowowow... >_< Pain-killer wore off, snapped me awake good and proper...

Uh... In answer to your questions, Bert, whatever you did seems to have worked.

Now I'm going to call the nurse and get some Flintstone's chewable morphine, stat.

I've still got a few hours before morning.

[KonThaak]

When I got separated from the others, I was in the refinery. (At least, I'm surmising it was the refinery, from the amount of pipes, machines, and pumps in the room...) At that time, I was armed with the handgun and shotgun that Ron helped train me with, Claw's saber, and my claymore, which was, at that time, inhabited by Cubrious... I was also wearing the armor and the flashbang suppression helmet that Bert had given me, plus my own magic armor, and a charm to help reduce damage I might receive in combat.

When I caught sight of Famine, he was wearing some kind of armor, he had flashbangs (which I only recognized thanks to Bert; I was glad for the suppression helmet at that point), and a couple of big guns I'd never seen before. I haven't talked to anyone knowledgeable enough to tell me what they were; I just know that he pointed them, and everything he pointed at was destroyed. It wasn't an energy weapon... I just don't know what it was.

I did know, while running away in a manner that would've made our Sir Robin proud, that all that armor I'd put on was pretty much useless against that kind of onslaught. It might have held for a few seconds, but there was no guarantee of that. This thing was shredding oil pipes into shrapnel at the drop of a hat...

I sent Cubrious off to confuse him... He made shadows move and echoed the sounds of my footsteps to throw Famine off my track. It worked.

I knew I had to do something they wouldn't fully expect, because Shepard had openly told us that these guys were all very fully informed on our abilities... That told me that if I was going to survive this encounter, I had to do it with abilities I hadn't talked about in the forums, yet.

Claw had an interesting proposal... My shapeshifting uses the spiritual energy of creatures to reshape my body. Normally, I use the lingering essence of a spirit in a bone or some other remain of a deceased creature, but since dragon spirits leave no remains in our plane, he was willing to bond to my soul directly to allow me to take the form of a hybrid humanoid dragon.

So we tried it.

And it hurt. At the time, I thought it was one of the most painful experiences I'd ever had. Now I think differently, but it still hurt like hell. A dragon has so much more energy than a human; it's damaging to a soul to try to house that much more energy in that fashion. My very soul was almost literally on fire.

That's not even mentioning the fact that I'd been in such a hurry to try it, I hadn't removed Bert's armor. My tail and wings felt like they were slowly getting crushed as they grew and curled in on themselves inside the armor.

I guess Famine heard me scream, because next thing I knew, I was getting hit with shrapnel from those weird guns. It ripped through Bert's armor, but my dragonscales kept me mostly safe from harm. Not quite completely... I knew I had more holes in my body at that point in time than I'd had going into the fight.

I got knocked off my feet, though, and I guess he figured there was no way I could survive a direct shot like that, because he turned his back. With my wings and tail free, I hit him with a rather hot blast of dragonfire, intense enough that it blew several pipes around him.

I don't know when all the machinery got activated...but at some point, it did, and I heard a giant drill firing up over me around this point in time.

Well, Famine drops his guns, and turns around, and starts coming at me all slow-like... His armor is ruinned. I see tattoos covering his body, and he's got a couple of katanas that are glowing blue...

He rushed me. I waited until the last possible second, then grabbed the katanas, rolled back, and kicked him up into the drill.

Here's the scary part... When I touched the katanas, they started rapidly draining Claw's spirit... Fortunately, I was in contact with them for so little time that they didn't do extensive damage, but he's going to be resting and unable to fight for a while, as a result.

Famine left me a final present... A couple of grenades he dropped on his one-way trip to the drill... They ended up blowing more shrapnel into me, as I was re-assuming my human form...

When Adama and Bert found me, I was suffering from multiple first-degree burns, and a lot of shrapnel wounds. They almost magically closed my wounds with the shrapnel still inside me, but they realized their mistake. I was in a coma, but I was still partly aware of everything happening around me... I don't remember posting the cryptic message on that page, but it was probably while I was out... That was the kind of thoughts I was having during that time.

And the rest, y'all already know...

[Bert_the_Turtle]

In our own defense KT, it was that or have you bleed out on us and I didn't have enough duck tape to cover all those holes.

[Holister]

(DELETED)

[Holister]

(DELETED)

[Shadowstalker]

Ben I think you got hit in the head very hard, and I hope for your sake Celeste takes that into account before she pops you one upside your head for this post of your's.

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Oh yeah Ben, Celeste was all over you *chuckles*.

Now, where did I leave off?

Right, the deception worked. War climbed up "after me". I spotted some of the hardware he was carrying, a LAW and soem grenades and tried to get a bead on them with my Grenade Launcher; my idea was to detonate all the explosives he was carrying with him.

Unfortunately I couldn't get a clear shot and that would require climbing up after him which would've been a monumentally stupid idea.

While all this happened, War made it to the next level and started searching me out. Then he stars walking back towards me, though he's still a level above. I pulled out a half-pound block of C4 that I'd rigged before the fight to a remote detonater and hung it on the deck grating so he'd walk over it.

I waited inside an inactive boiler and watched as he approached my trap. Just as he stepped on the mark I triggered the explosive and pulled the boiler door shut; shielding myself from the explosion.

All was quiet in the aftermath of the explosion. I tried to take the Boiler Door off and use it as a shield but I didnt' have access to the hinges from inside the boiler and I sure as hell wasn't gonna stand out in plain view while I fiddled with the door. So, I tossed a Smoke and Tear Gas grenade out the door and crept out (I wanted to make sure I wasn't gonna be gunned down as soon as I left my hidey hole). I found a flat piece of metal which I later used as a splint for my leg and then I found War. His legs and arm were gone, as was an eye. He was pinned under a huge mound of twisted metal and had a pipe sticking out of his chest. His remaining eye rolled to look at me, and he lifted up his gun with his remaining arm. I threw myself to one side to make it harder for him to attack me while emptying my clip into his body (had my leg been working I would've sprinted out of range and let him bleed to death, but I was moving none too fast and couldn't risk being shot in the back as I hobbled away).

And thus War was ended. I used a roll of duck tape to patch up my leg, pulling flaps of skin over other flaps of skin and duck taping them together and then taped the metal to my leg to act as a splint. My shoulder got similar treatment. And thus I went to leave, but the exit was blocked by debris; and with me losing blood I didn't have time to clear it by hand. A small charge sent the debris flying away from the exit stairs but started a perilous race to freedom and safety.

I'll post some more later.

[Celeste Darken]

I walked over to Cee, shrapnel bouncin' off my rock hard abbs.

She got up and ran to me, " Ben, you saved me, how can I ever repay you. " she said to me.

"Shucks ma'am, " I said, " It weren't nothin' Its my job, my life to serve and protect. "

Cee gazed longingly into my eyes, a look of admiration and desire wellin' up within them. She drew closer...

I backed away, " Sorry Celeste,
but I know what your feelin' now is natural, havin' just saved your life and all, but I'm not the guy for you. Im a sheriff, and my mistress is the law. Maybe one day somewhere in this mixed up, crazy world you'll find find someone. "

" Oh Ben " she said, " I can never find someone as ruged and brave as you. "

" Well then, give me some sugar baby. "

. . . .?!!! One . . . two . . . three . . . four.

I suppose I should relate my portion of the story concerning the oil rig, as a certain man has several accounts . . . skewed. I shall take Shadowstalker’s suggestion in mind. And I suggest, Mr. Holister, while you are at the hospital, as soon as all the present . . . difficulties have been completed, that you have your head checked.

As Konthaak had stated, I must have hitched a ride with someone else; but that little detail is not important. Let us just say I have friends that don’t frequent the Lazlo Society and leave it at that. Since a number of posters have declared their faith and trust in me, let my word suffice that the individuals who helped me are also trustworthy; but they wish to remain nameless, as dealing with vampires in their line of business is not exactly . . . encouraged, let us say.

Shepard had it in his mind to divide us and pick us off individually with his “Horsemen.” The idea was to “divide and conquer,” I presume. Bert was to deal with War; Konthaak, Famine; Adama, Pestilence. And as for myself . . . Death.

But we all knew him better as Ben Holister.

My battle took place on a high tower with no cover anywhere. It was literally a featureless platform at the top, the drop off was a good sixty feet, with nothing but the waters of the sea to surround us. I could barely make out another tower, even higher than the one we inhabited, a little ways apart, though too far for me to worry about with such immediate concerns to take the forefront of my mind. At first, I thought my battle had already taken place and involved two foes: Ben Holister, nearly unrecognizable as once our friend, his features frozen in an expressionless grimace that somehow still exuded the inner conflict within; the second figure was a man dressed in blood-spattered robes, his wounds received by an entire arsenal of weaponry: there were the smooth and jagged tears done by blade; riddled bullet holes rimmed in blood, by automatic machine guns; and charred and smoking flesh and robes, flames and explosives; each wound seemed strong enough to shred an ordinary human thrice over, yet the robed man lurched for me wearily.

“Better hurry,” Holister said, though I was uncertain to whom he was addressing. “I won’t wait too long; and you’re nearly dead, anyway.”

I sensed no trouble from the second man; he laboriously made a staggered path toward me, though every step must have been agony. He nearly fell at the last step, and I quickly knelt in front of him, my brow furrowed when he collapsed in my arms. He weighed no more than a feather; even if I hadn’t my supernatural strength, to hold him would have required no effort. He slowly raised his gaze toward mine, his eyes clouding over as death sought to tug him free; but he held on stubbornly. I tried to place his face within my memory, but was unable. It was indescribable, but not in a bad way. It was a face no different than any other human in a large crowd. It seemed washed out and faded, a face that no memory could hold. His cracked lips parted, and when he spoke, I instantly understood.

“Nocturnal goddess . . .” he croaked, his failing eyes seeking my face. “You are just as beautiful as I imagined . . .” He broke off in a fit of coughing, but he rallied. “I wanted to see you before I died. To apologize for . . . my failure. I failed you . . .” He raised a reddened palm, caressing my cheek gently.

A flash of memories . . . his memories . . . touched my mind.

“Finish . . . what I began . . .” he implored, and then suddenly sagged in my arms.

“Grim . . .”

I didn’t speak, nor could I find the proper emotion to convey when he died. And for that reason, I was expressionless when his body turned into mist and discorporated.

“Interesting,” Death spoke in Ben’s voice. “How he wanted to see you before he died. Especially in that false form, pretending to be a human. I would have thought his demonic visage much more suitable, considering that he was a monster from hell. Declared from his own lips; do not bother to deny it.”

I slowly stood, the fire inside my eyes licking through my irises angrily. “Shepard,” I announced caustically. “Tonight, you die. Tonight, Ben Holister goes free.”

He smiled humorlessly and brought up the weapons he had chosen to start the melee.

And the battle began.

It was rather uneven to start, though well-matched. I held back because I had no desire to kill him; I knew Ben was not responsible for his actions. In the meantime, Death, augmented through magic, held back because Ben would not give up his body and mind without a fight. We feinted back and forth for the first portion of the battle, seeking openings within established defenses. Death was decked in combat fatigues and armed with a slue of weapons, all calibrated to killing vampires. My opponent was going after me with an eighteen inch, silver-plated, kris dagger when the photographs came.

I smelled Konthaak’s signature of magic on them, these pictures of Ben and Molly. And suddenly, I knew my chances of getting through Death and to Ben had just gotten a lot easier. Up to now, I had been dodging and parrying his attacks, trying to reason with the human just underneath the monster. But now I took a chance, remaining still and cajoling Ben to come out. Death charged me with the twisted dagger leading, aiming for my heart. I took his wrist and deflected it downward, intentionally ramming it through my stomach. Gritting my teeth against the dull pain, I grasped his wrist and held him fast.

“Benjamin Holister,” I called to him, staring into his eyes. “Listen to my voice. You are not the murderer they would want you to be. You are a father. To her,” I showed him the picture of Molly, and his distant gaze became focused on it. “Do not return with the need to explain yourself. You are not only a father, you are a man of the law. Humanity’s law; thus, you should be one of their saviors. Not one of their destroyers.”

Holister froze. A wild look of chaos rushed through his eyes. He suddenly cried out in pain, dropping to his knees, clutching at his head. He gasped once, and fell to the deck.

Shepard was not one to have his crony leave his side so suddenly. I spun about with the force of the bullet hitting my shoulder. I pinpointed the shot to a man on the distant tower. He was older, his face horribly misshapen.

A man, if it could be called that, stood by on the deck, a flechette in his hand. Here was the cyborg, a thing of metal. He was a Juggernaut intent to destroy me. The wound had only grazed me, but it hurt far more than was ordinary for silver, healed slowly, and bled sparks like an artery.

Shepard called out from a loudspeaker, “My dear Celeste, you do remember my son David, don’t you? I’m sure he remembers you. You are not leaving this place alive, monster!”

As a second hail of bullets came screaming.

“Kill her, then that traitor Death!”

“DIE SLUT!!!” Shepard yelled his favorite monicker of me through his . . . “son’s loudspeaker. I leaped out of the way of the bullets, skirting the lip of the deck and drawing the fire away from Holister. But its wild burst slapped into my hip, and another agonizing splash of pain with it. It was far faster in movement than any machine that bulky had a right to be. I hit the deck, it approached. It loomed over me; Shepard gloated; a mistake. A panther’s growl escaped my lips, and I lunged up, tearing into it. It staggered beneath my blow, but Holister had one thing correct: it was specifically made to kill me. A punch to my temple sent me sprawling to the deck yet again.

I waited, braced on my hands in a prone push up position. When it drew near, I vaulted into action, weighting myself down by adhering my palms against the deck floor and spinning my legs against it, memories of gymnastic endeavors fueling the double strike against the back of its knees. As it tumbled to the ground, I pounced on its back and interlaced my fingers over the top of its metallic head, my palms against its temples.

“Haven’t you figured it out?” I growled to Shepard, putting the full force of my vampiric strength to shove its head together. “I am already dead.”

“So tell me, Shepard,” I snarled. “How does it feel to be damned? Did you sell your soul yourself, or did you have to have help for that, too? And how many others have you bargained for?”

Suddenly a sharp ping erupted in my chest, sending agony throughout my body. A series of hollow silver reeds ejected from the thing’s spine and into me; the scent of water, obviously blessed, filled my nostrils, and I was forced to back down.

My body began to smoke as the lethal does of some sort of poison coursed through me. The torso of the wretched abomination spun to face me; sinew and entrails simply plummeted to the ground in a macabre “flop.”

As a flash of intense flames erupt from the tubes benathe its arms.

Still fazed and dizzy by the Holy Water coursing through me, I forgot my immunity to fire and leaped clear. And here Ben did[/I awaken. But he wasn’t quite as . . . eloquent as he portrayed himself. I won’t post his exact words; Molly should keep [i]some of her father’s dignity.

But he was a good shot. I will give him credit for that. It turned its attention away from me as two more slugs buried themselves into the chest of the monstrosity.

Thats when I saw it . . . a glowing green fluid filled cylinder with a human heart in side of it, buried deep in the titanium chest cavity. It sprayed fire in Ben’s direction as he dove out the way, throwing away the spent gun and grabbing a fresh one. Ben unintentionally distracted the thing, while I leaped upon its back and planted my feet to its shoulder blades, adhering to it in case it tried another pirouette. Ripped away at the metal encasing the strange canister, I yanked the thing free and jumped clear.

It suddenly dropped like the dead thing it was.

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Woot! *Cheers!* Go Cee!

[Holister]

(DELETED)

[Shadowstalker]

Holister you know such statements can get you in a lot of trouble don't you?

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Yeah, he might end up working with Adam and Jamie and those bastards are *Really* nuts!

[Holister]

(DELETED)