Wolfe: Well, here it is! Many people have asked me(well complained some of them) to go in depth about the whole Vergil-capture thing plus the whole Tyler thing. So I've happily agreed. Special thanks to SirenaLoreley for the lend of her OC, Vladimyr. The credit for that character goes to her. I promise, this will not interfere with the progress of "The Situation Room". So without further ado, the story!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I make no money from this.
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Dark. Cold. Nothing. Windblown landscapes as far as the eye could see, nothing for miles. Save for one landmark. An old castle, medieval in appearance and haunted in spirit. That's all the guarding hellhounds had seen their entire lives. They learned quick. Had to, for their survival depended on on their intelligence. The Master didn't like it when they strayed from their posts, when they misbehaved. And if the Master wasn't happy, then you didn't stand a chance of living very long.
The wind kicked up around them again, carrying on it the scent of the recent rain that had fallen near the clearing. The wind chilled them slightly and they shook their heads, the metal collars on their necks jangling quietly. Above them was a soft fluttering and then an intense whistle, the dead grass whistling as two shapes fluttered past them. The mistress was out for a ride again.
Above them came another noise. A long, monotonous buzzing. Time to go back in and let the next pack of hounds take over. It happened like this, every twelve hours, unfailing and like clockwork. One pack would enter, one would exit. Never failing. They knew not what went on within the walls of the castle. But their sensitive ears and noses picked up enough.
Enough of the screams, the crying and their noses always twitched with glee, for the scent of fear and blood always hung heavily in the air.
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"Dr. Shalom! Dr. Shalom!" A men in his late thirties spun around in his chair, short blond hair in disarray, storm gray eyes harrowed. The intern that had been running towards him skidded to a halt in front of the doctor's desk. File clutched tightly in his hand, his eyes widening as he gazed at the scientist. "Are you alright Dr. Shalom?!"
"Yes Timothy. I'm fine. Just a little... surprised at the recent turn of events." Behind him was a wall of monitors, several showing only television snow, others showing a landscape covered in blood. Timothy dropped the folder he had been holding, jaw going slack and eyes widening further. "H-he really killed the entire pride!? It was over three hundred strong!!" Shalom nodded. "But not without great injury to himself. By the time the last one had fallen, he could bear hardly any weight on his left leg, his right arm was practically useless and he was bleeding from multiple lacerations and gashes all over the rest of his body. The poison in the Shadow's claws worked. We stopped the healing process!!"
Normally, stopping the healing process would be seen as a bad thing. But not for them. They needed to stop the demonic healing process, or the experiments would never work. For, like many other insane scientists, they wanted to harvest the enormous power of demons and half-demons. One half-demon in particular. A son of Sparda. To harness the blood of The Great Dark Knight, could possibly put the world to an end. But unlike most villains past, Lex Shalom had no desire to open the Hellgates. No, he wanted Sparda's blood for an unknown, deadly task, that not even his most trusted assistants knew about.
"T-that's excellent Doctor! Should we send out Numb-" Shalom cut him off. "No! He's still an untrained specimen. Send me Vladimyr." Timothy shook his head. "I'm afraid that may be a problem, Doctor." Shalom cocked his head to the side. "And why would that be a problem?" He asked and Timothy sighed. "Mistress Kayta took Specimen Forty-three out for a ride about an hour ago. When Vladimyr found out, he left the castle to go find them." Just as Shalom was about to rip into Timothy, they heard a great commotion from down the hall.
"You have to stop doing that, Kayta!! He won't last long if you keep this up!" There was a snarl following that shouted sentence. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt your little pet, Vladimyr, but he was asking for it." An indignant squawk was heard. "Damnit!! For the last time! He's not my pet! I was assigned to watch over him, not treat him like some pampered dog." The two yelling people stormed into the office at that moment, nearly at each other's throats in their anger.
"Father! Vladimyr is being mean to me!" Vladimyr glared at her sullenly. "Well if she didn't try to kill my ward every five seconds I wouldn't have to yell at her! She pushed him through the speed trial fifteen times today! That's too much for him. He landed in the courtyard, reverted and collapsed at my feet!!" Lex sighed. How he ended up with the only daughter and Royal Guard commander on the planet that wanted to rip each other's throats constantly, he didn't know.
"Enough you two!" He roared and sighed internally as both stopped and Vlad stood at attention while Kayta stood still. He swore that was really the only way to get those two to shut up sometimes. "Vladimyr, why do you bother? She's ten years younger than you with an attitude to match. Kayta, you know it's Vlad's responsibility to watch over Specimen Forty-three. Yet every chance you get, you go above his orders and do something to jeopardize the specimen's safety." Both sighed, Vlad chiming in with a "Yes Sir. Sorry, Sir." and Kayta sighing in tandem with Vlad's voice.
"Good. Now go on, Kayta. Vlad and I have something to attend to." She nodded, gave her father a hug and left. Vlad took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Lex's desk next to Timothy. "You wanted to talk to me, Sir?" Shalom nodded and began filling Vlad in on the details.
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Vergil hurt. Horribly so. He bled from gashes all over his body and limped along, dragging his leg gently behind him. In his time in hell he knew that demons congregated in large groups. But he didn't know that they would attack in such large groups.
He had lost track of the days since he'd escaped from hell. From Mundas's control. He didn't know what happened really. All he remembered was feeling a huge surge of power as buildings crumbled around him and lesser demons fell to their knees, screeching in pain as they slowly disintegrated into ashes. His armor had flickered and pain lanced through his head, leaving him aware of his surroundings for a little while.
Aware of what he had done. Who he had attacked. What he had destroyed. Everything. He'd screamed, a horrible demonic screeching sound. For at that moment, it wasn't Nelo Angelo standing there, it was Vergil. Another wave of power had blasted through then and, in another moment of clarity and through sheer will he managed to shed the horrid armor he'd been saddled with for years and stood there, himself again after so long.
He'd run then, tears streaming down his face as more flickers of the horrible deeds he'd done passed in his mind. He used the portal ability he had learned and jumped through, materializing in some unknown area. He didn't stop, barely stopping to drink or find food. He didn't know how long and he doubted he would be able to find out for a while.
He froze. Behind him he could here the quiet sound of a horse running towards him and he tensed, using his thumb to partially unsheathe the random sword he had taken in one of the towns far back in his travels.. The sound grew more rapid, louder and on the horizon he could see a lone horse-mounted figure. He relaxed. From what he could tell, the man had just seen him. More details were visible as the man drew closer.
In the dark of night and by the light of the moon he could see piercing red eyes and long dark silver hair, skin as white as snow covered by a black jeans and a black sweater, both covered with a blue trench coat much like his own. The man pulled his gray steed to a halt in front of Vergil, the horse rearing at the sudden halt.
"Oh my! Be you alright, stranger? You look as if you've been through the wars!" His voice was a kind baritone and Vergil almost relaxed. Almost being the key word. He caught sight of the Rapier by the man's side, sheathed right next to a long-barreled silver revolver. The man followed Vergil's line of sight and smiled. "No need to worry stranger. Those are purely for self-defense. Demons and the like have been known to prowl around here. Never hurts to have a little help." Vergil relaxed. So this man was a lone devil hunter or traveler.
The man held out his hand. "The name's Vlad, stranger. Can I offer you a ride to the nearest town. It's pretty big and they should have a doctor there to help you out with your injuries. And then I can treat you to a nice dinner perhaps?" The man seemed kind enough and Vergil was hungry. He nodded and grabbed Vlad's hand. "Name's Vergil." The man gave him a disarming smile and helped him on the horse, careful of Vergil's numerous wounds. Once the other man was settled Vlad turned his head back around and clicked his tongue twice. "Move up, Gel." And off they went at a steady trot.
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The lights and sounds of Kavé City momentarily disoriented Vergil as he and Vlad rode into town on Vlad's gray stallion, Gel. He hadn't seen so many people in one place for a while. Vlad cursed under his breath and cast an uneasy smile Vergil's way when he cast him an odd look. "Looks like I brought us in at the wrong time. It's the Rain Festival. Means everything is going to be full." Vergil shrugged his shoulders and continued to look around him as Vlad stopped in front of the Hospital. He tethered Gel to a near-by post and helped Vergil clamber of. Well, more like fall, but Vlad wasn't going to say anything.
Upon entrance to the building, Vergil with one arm slung over Vlad's shoulder, they were assaulted by doctors and questions. Nurses pulled Vergil off of him and a doctor quickly looked him over before deducing that the other man was the patient. As Vergil was rushed into emergency, Vlad smiled.
Phase one was a success.
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A doctor found Vlad sitting in the waiting room, playing the worried companion. The doctor came over and sat down. "Are you the friend who brought that young man with the silver hair in here earlier?" Vlad nodded. "Could we get a name please." Vlad nodded. "His name's Vergil. I'm Vlad." The doctor shook hands with him. "Well young Vergil suffered multiple laceration, bruises and broken bones. The ligament in his left knee is torn and his right arm muscles are torn. We have him sedated and on pain killers for now. Do you have any idea how this happened?"
Vlad shook his head, playing the worried friend. "No clue. I was out riding my horse and found him that way." The doctor nodded. "I see. Well, if you want to see him, he's in room 334" Vlad nodded, the doctor left and Vlad stood.
"Time to do what I came here to do." He snarled and his eyes flashed golden for a moment as he went down the hall to his target's room.
He shut the door behind him and locked it firmly, staring blankly at the figure on the bed before him. He glided over to the window and open it as wide as it would go, which was pretty wide, all things considering. He closed his eyes and focused. A soft bang was heard and a cloud of blue smoke filled the room. When it cleared(thankfully not setting off the alarm) in his place stood a huge bat. Well a bat/human cross. His body was that of a human but he had large black wings instead. Long claws protruded from his feet and horns curled from a bat-like face.
He gently grasped Vergil in his claws and wedged himself out the window, batting his wings in the air and pointedly ignoring the screams of terror and gasps of appalled shock that followed his path as he left their view.
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Wolfe: There it is. The beginning of a new story. Special thanks to all who are helping and contributing to this. Now, my minions!! Review!!