Runaways Remix: Teenage Wasteland

Issue 4

The Main Room of "The Hostel"

Bronson Canyon, California

3:14 A.M.

"Wait, your serious?" Chase exclaimed. "A vampire? You mean, like, the things Buffy stakes?"

"Yes, for a lack of a better explanation." Alex answered, looking over his shoulder. Jake understood his worry; from what Hannah was showing him, is body was in full fight-or-fight mode.

"For real?" Gert question, amazed, sitting up abruptly. "I mean, considering my present company, I shouldn't be shocked, but I am. Are you sure he's a vampire?"

Alex and Nico exchanged a look, and Jake's eyes once again fell on the line of blood coming from the Asian girl's neck.

"Yeah, we're sure." Nico concluded.

"It doesn't really matter what he is, but where." Alex continued. "Specifically, the fact that he's coming here."

"So let him." Chase said, voice turning cold. He slammed one Fistigon-encased fist into the palm of his other hand. "I've been wanting to give this kid a good pounding since he got here."

"Got your six, Talkback." Jake called out, pulling back the slide on his M6D II. Chase nodded his appreciation.

"Did you know hear what I just said?" Alex cried. "Topher is a vampire!"

"We know." Chase and Jake said simultaneously. Alex blinked at them in surprise.

"And you want to fight him?" He said, sounding as shocked as he looked.

"Vampires burn." Chase said simply, igniting the vents on the back of his Fistigons. He grinned menacingly. "And they say you don't learn anything from TV."

"They aren't that tough anyway." Jake agreed, cracking his neck. "They're more of a nuisance than anything else. Buffy sure doesn't seem to have any trouble with them, and she's like, mostly human."

And you are the guy who single-handedly killed the entire Cullen clan on your last trip to Washington... Hannah added.

Mentally, Jake blinked.

Really? I don't remember that. All I remember-Oh, right. Stupid neural block

Yeah. But believe me, when you were done, the streets of Forks were running with the "blood" of the undead.

Awesome.

"That's TV, Jake." Alex argued, having not heard any of Jake's internal dialog. "Buffy doesn't exist."

"And yet you are being chased by a vampire." Chase added, eyes narrowed.

"And Jake's a Spartan." Gert interjected. "You said Halo wasn't real too, and, well..."

She indicated Jake, more accurately the pistol in his grip.

"Look, this is isn't a discussion anyway." Jake continued. "Talkback and I are going to stay here and kick this fuckers ass. You can run if you want, or stay here and help." Jake felt an evil smile spread across his lips. "Actually, go ahead and run. It's more fun to kill someone 2v1."

"Jake-" Alex cut himself off with a sigh, then rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Shit. Look, we don't have time for this! We have to leave, now!"

"What the hell is going on down here?" A voice called from the stairs behind the group. Everyone turned (except Molly, who was still out cold, and Alex and Nico, who were looking in that direction already) to see Karolina coming down the stairs, wearing sweatpants and the yellow shirt she'd donned during the events of four nights ago, the assemblage of clothing that she usually wore when she went to sleep. Apparently she'd gone to bed during the time Jake was out cold.

"Seriously, I'm trying to get some sleep here-" Karolina stopped when she noticed Nico standing amongst the group. "Oh, your here," She said coldly. "Done making out with Topher?"

"I wasn't making out with him!" Nico cried back. "He tried to eat me!"

"Oh, well that's a surprise." Karolina said acidly. "And here I was thinking you'd be all to willing to bend over and spread your legs for him-"

"Not that kind of eating, you dumb whore! He was trying to drink my blood-"

"Again, I would have thought you'd be into that sort of kinky thing. I mean, come on, you dress all gothic and you're a fucking witch-"

"If most of your body weight wasn't in your tits you'd be able to see that there's no way I'd be into that-"

"So my tits are huge then, huh? Apparently Alex thinks yours are bigger. I heard you two last night, moaning and trying to talk dirty-"

"Look, could you two argue later?" Alex cut in hurriedly. From the look on his face, Jake guessed he wasn't jumping in just because they were in danger of being attacked by a vampire.

"Shit, it's like the Real Life in here." Jake heard Chase whisper to Gert. The girl nodded. The three arguing teens missed the comment, which Jake only heard thanks to his enhanced hearing.

I am so recording this for archiving, Hannah informed Jake. Chase is right. This is even better than a sitcom.

"What, you don't like me bursting your little bubble of contentedness around your sex life?" Karolina twisted to look at Alex, unaware of the comments going on around her.

"No, it's because we need to get out of here, now." Alex paused long enough to move between Chase and Jake and get into a more equal hight with Karolina. "I need you to fly Molly out of here."

He indicated the girl, still asleep on the floor.

"Wait, what?" The rage in Karolina's face drained, replaced by confusion.

"Can. You. Fly. Molly. Out. Of. Here?" Alex growled, annunciating ever word. Understanding dawned on Karolina's face.

"No, I don't think so." She said, the anger leaving her voice. "My glow's gone completely. I think I'm dry."

"Take your bracelet off. We need to be sure." Alex's voice had taken on a decidedly worried tone, more noticeable than earlier.

"My bracelet is off." Karolina answered. She held up her wrist. Sure enough, the metal band was gone. "I took it off before I went to bed." Karolina explained.

Wonder when she started doing that, Jake wondered to himself.

"Shit." Alex spat. He fell silent for a moment, and Jake noticed his eyes were darting around, which Hannah informed him was the physical movement associated with someone searching their mind for a solution. "Well, carry her to Chase's van at least. We need to get out of here before fast."

"Yeah." Nico added, unnecessarily in Jake's opinion. He guessed she was talking in an attempt to relive her worry. "Topher's down for now, but he's not-"

Nico was cut off again, this time by a cough, which came from behind her. She and Alex spun around to look at the source of the noise. The rest of the group simply shifted their attention.

Standing in the entryway to the Hostel was Topher.

Instantly, Jake slipped into Spartan Time, reflexes triggered by the surge of adrenaline caused by their recently-confirmed enemy's appearance. With the time afforded him, he noticed several things; first, that there was a large hole in the boy's shirt, but the skin underneath was completely fine. Second, in his hand he held Nico's staff. As Jake looked closer, he noticed smaller, more disturbing things; Topher's eyes had changed from the brown of earlier to a sort of metallic goldish color, and the pupils have become more cat-like, vertical as opposed to the human-normal circular.

On a hunch, Jake glanced at his mouth. Sure enough, Topher's canine teeth had gotten a lot bigger, resembling the stereotypical vampire's fangs.

Guess he really is a vampire, Jake thought to himself. Awesome.

Oh, I'm recording this too, Hannah pipped up. It's been way too long since I saw a Spartan kick ass.

Time resumed it's normal course for him.

"-Out?" Nico finished.

"Oh, I'm very much in." Topher replied. Jake noticed his voice had changed to. Now, it was deeper, more...evil, he guessed. There really wasn't any other word to describe it.

Jake didn't give himself, or anyone else, time to think about it. Even before Topher finished talking, Jake swung his M6D II up, braced himself against the recoil, and fired four shots.

The result was quite a bit more spectacular than Jake expected; all of his shots hit their targets (one to each knee, one to the chest, dead center of the hole in his shirt, and the final one right between Topher's creepy gold eyes), but the damage they did was much higher than Jake had predicted. The 12.7 millimeter (or .50 caliber, depending on which measurement system you were using) magnum rounds, designed to break energy shields and crack Covenant personnel armor, punched through Topher's unarmored flesh without any resistance. The boy's knees effectively disintegrated, a three-inch wide hole appeared in his chest, and his head snapped back with enough force to basically liquefy every bone in his neck. The contents of his skull followed the round out, forming a strangely black mist behind him.

Like a puppet without strings, Topher dropped to the ground with a wet crunch. Jake lowered his pistol, calmly watching the smoke from it's firing curl from the barrel. His ears rang from the pistol's blast, and his palm tingled from the recoil, but other than that he felt strangely good.

"Hhn." He grunted. "That was easy."

He glanced at the rest of the group around him. They hadn't really moved, except for Gert, who'd clasped her hands over her ears when Jake had fired, and Old Lace, who had moved closer to Gert. They seemed shocked by Jake opening fire, especially Karolina, who's face had taken on a distinctively red hue and clasped her hands over her mouth. Jake also noticed she'd pressed her knees together, both of which confused him. Everything he'd heard said that someone's face turned pale when they saw something that shocked them. And he didn't know what to think about her legs.

Guess that must have shocked them good, he said to himself.

Understandable, Hannah replied. They are, technically, civilians. I doubt they've ever even seen a real gun before. And that take down was pretty brutal.

You disapprove?

Not at all. Well, I'm surprised you didn't shoot him in the nads, but that's a minor detail.

Jake mentally grunted in response. He glanced around at his friends again. They were still mostly motionless, except Nico had grabbed Alex's hand.

"Sure, don't all thank me at once." Jake said sarcastically.

This seemed to shake the group from their shock.

"Come on, we need to move while he's down!" Alex ordered, pulling on Nico's hand. Gert and Chase looked at him in confusion.

"While he's down?" Chase asked in disbelief. "Dude, Jake just put a half a dozen slugs into him! He's not getting up ever again!"

"Well, actually it was four, but still..." Jake noted quietly.

"He's not human, remember?" Nico called back. "I rammed him through the chest with my staff and he survived!"

Well now we know where the hole in his shirt came from, said Hannah.

"You rammed your staff through him?" Jake said, raising his eyebrow. "Any particular reason why?"

To himself, he added "Other than the obvious sexual innuendo possibility..."

"I thought it would kill him! You know, like a stake! But it didn't work. The staff went through him, and then the hole just...healed up. He said 'Whedon got it wrong. Stakes don't kill vampires, they just give us heartburn.'"

"Of course it didn't work!" Karolina commented. "It has to be sharp! And made of actual wood, not whatever your staff is..."

Great...Jake thought to himself. Just fucking great.

Agreed, Hannah concurred. So much for him being Vampiricus Whedonus. This certainly complicates things.

Vampiricus what? Jake sputtered.

It's a classification system for supernatural creatures. First part is the genus; vampire, werewolf, zombie and the like, and the second is sub-species. Usually named after who first recorded them.

Oh...wait, Whedonus...Joss Whedon! The guy who writes Buffy!

Exactly. Now let's just hope this guy isn't Meyerus. That would be a problem...Though considering the staff went through him instead of bouncing off and he's not pale as all get out, he's probably not...

Okay, I think I got it, Jake said. Hannah fell silent.

Jake glanced over at where Topher's still body lay. He kept his eyes on the large hole in his chest. Sure enough, as he watched, it became visibly smaller.

"Shit..." He muttered. "Alex is right, this bastard's healing himself up." He raised his pistol again.

"Jake, there's no time! We have to leave-" Alex began.

"Shut up." Jake spat, cutting him off. "You can run if you want. I'm going to stay here and make sure this prick stays down."

"But he can regenerate from anything you hit him with!"

Jake simply turned to face Alex, face pulling into the evil grin from four nights again.

"Oh, I'm counting on that." He said, then laughed darkly. "I've got a couple of...tests I'd like to run on our friend here. Finally put to rest some fanboy rumors regarding vampires, you know."

Alex simply turned pale and turned back to the others.

"Alright, stay here if you want. Just stall him as long as you can so the rest of us can get away."

"Hey, who said I was leaving?" Chase asked defiantly. "I want in on this ass-kicking too!"

He turned to Jake and grinned. "Now I've got your six." he said. Jake nodded in appreciation.

"Fine then, but the rest-"

Alex paused. A loud rustling, whispering noise echoed off the walls of the room.

"What the hell..." Gert muttered, looking around. Old Lace growled softly as well, crouching next to her mistress.

"Wait, where's Topher?" Karolina called out, voice sounding a little weak. Jake turned in horror. Sure enough, the space where Topher's body had been was empty. The only evidence that he'd been there at all was a small pool of blood, black as crude oil.

The rustling noise returned, coming from the upper floor of the room. Jake pivoted, pistol raised, tracking the noise. He could hear it, but he wasn't able to get a visual. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the rest of the group had joined him in his search.

"Where are you, damn it..." he muttered.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement; nothing much, just a blur, but enough to give him something to track. He focused on it.

It didn't look like Topher. Actually, it didn't look like anything. Just a warping, rippling blur in the air, like a heat haze. Lacking anything else to do, Jake fired at it.

The bullet caught the distortion dead center, and for a moment it solidified. Sure enough, it was Topher.

What the fuck is this? Jake wondered to himself. When the hell did he become Speedy-fricking-Gonzalas?

Shit, I've heard about this, Hannah muttered. He's moving into a parallel dimension. I thought that ability was only present in Taken...

Say what now?

It's like a personal Slipspace. Distances are way shorter for him. That's how he can move so fast.

Well fuck us then.

Distracted by his internal conversation, Jake lost sight of the blur that was Topher. With a growl, he cast his eyes around again, trying to get a visual on him again.

As it happened, Karolina got it before he did.

"Nico, behind you!" She howled, pointing behind the Asian girl, a look of fear on her face.

Jake spun to face Nico, just in time to see the girl spin as well, turning to face her attacker. Both teens watched the same thing happen;

Topher seemed to come out of nowhere, simply solidifying from the blur that had been moving around the room. In his hand he again held Nico's staff. Before anyone (even Jake) could do anything, Topher swung the staff, a brutal two-handed sideways slash that caught Nico straight in the chest. The blow sent the girl flying, and her momentum carried her into one of the relatively-undamaged pillars situated around the room. She hit it with enough force to crack it, then fell to the floor with a soft whump. She didn't get up.

"Doesn't feel very good, does it?" He asked the still Asian girl.

"No!" Alex howled. He spun, looking for something to fight Topher with. The vampire boy didn't give him the chance. He blurred up again, then reappeared behind Alex and simply punched the boy in the chin, an uppercut hard enough to knock his glasses clean off. Alex dropped as well.

Jake, seeing an opportunity, fired again. The round caught Topher in the chest again, and he stayed solidified.

"Chase, now!" He yelled.

Chase responded without question; as Topher stumbled around, the hole in his chest healing up, Chase let loose with a long burst of flame from his Fistigons. Topher stumbled backward, recoiling from the wave of fire.

Perfect, Jake thought to himself. He can't disappear when he's on fire.

"Keep the heat on him!" He shouted to Chase. "Keep him solid!"

"With pleasure!" Chase cranked up the heat, two additional vents on each Fistigon spewing flame. Topher howled at, but Jake noticed it wasn't a scream of pain. Despite the torrent of fire that was surrounding him, Topher wasn't burning. There was smoke rising from him, and his shirt and pants were practically scorched off, but his skin was fine.

Better do something about that...Jake thought. He dropped to his knee and aimed down the sights of his pistol into empty space. But it wasn't empty for long; Topher, still being driven back by Chase, stumbled into his sights.

Jake pulled the trigger.

The shot caught Topher's shoulder, sending him spinning off into the corner and releasing an impressive spray of black blood into the air.

"And stay down!" Chase howled, seeing the boy fall. He charged forward eagerly, caution forgotten in the rush of battle.

This was a mistake on Chase's part. Before he got to where Topher had landed, the vampire got back to his feet, the wound on his shoulder healing up before Jake's frustrated eyes.

"Huh, you think that's gonna stop me?" He said, face turning into a disturbing grin.

Chase came to a stop, stumbling and almost falling backwards. Topher took advantage of the boy's unbalance and lashed out. His foot caught Chase in the midsection and sent him tumbling across the floor, to come to rest next to Nico, who was just starting to get up.

This isn't working...Hannah said to Jake.

No shit. You think you could find a way to kill this prick?

Working on it...

Work faster.

Just keep stalling him and I'll get it done.

I can do-

Jake's thought process was suddenly and violently cut off by the sudden collision of Topher's fist to his face.

Pain followed a second later, drowning out pretty much everything else in Jake's mind. Brilliant white starts filled his vision, then evaporated, replaced by a spurt of what Jake realized must be his own blood. He felt the bone and cartilage of his nose give way under Topher's fist, the force of the blow more akin to being nailed by something metal as opposed to flesh and bone. Dimly, he could hear Hannah crying out as well.

Stunned, Jake fell, rolling down the slight incline of the broken floor to a stop a couple feet from the rest of his downed friends.

Ugh...fuck, he thought.

He tried to get up, but nausea rolled through his head and he sank to the floor again, closing his eyes to try and stop the room from spinning. Something warm and wet was running down his face, across his face and off his chin. He tasted some of it; coppery. Blood from his broken nose.

Above Jake, Topher glanced around, observing the damage he had done.

"Well, that was refreshing," He said out loud. "I haven't had a good fight like that in decades."

He chuckled to himself. Jake grit his teeth and pushed himself up on a chunk of marble pillar.

Yeah, keep laughing, prick, I've got your number...he thought. He inched forward slowly, both to avoid Topher's unwanted attention and to keep the world from doing 360 no-scopes on him again.

Topher certainly didn't seem aware of him. The vampire was currently stroking his chin, observing something out of Jake's line of sight, which was currently cut roughly in half by the pillar he was using to move.

"Decisions, decisions..." He said, obviously to himself, but out loud at the same time. Jake guessed that the boy liked to talk to himself.

Ugh...correct, Hannah added, sounding similar to how Jake felt. When you live as long as vampires do, you tend to become very introspective.

Glad to have you back, Jake replied sarcastically. He glanced back over at Topher, who hadn't moved.

What the hell happened?

Neural backlash. Basically, what you feel, I feel. So, if you would kindly not get punched in the face again...

Okay. Got it.

Jake crawled forward again. Now, out of the corner of his eye, he could see what Topher was looking at; Karolina, who was cradling the still-asleep Molly in her arms.

What blood remained in Jake's face drained out.

Oh no. Please don't tell me he's trying do decide which of them to suck blood from.

Well, he is a vampire, so there' s a 92.61 percent chance that-

I just said don't tell me!

Unaware of Jake's observation, Topher continued to talk to himself.

"Hmmm...mutant blood, or blond? Haven't had either in a while...though mutant blood is harder to find...yes, I think I'll have that first. Airhead blood is better as a dessert any way."

The vampire boy smiled, then strode forward, once again out of Jake's line of sight.

Shit, shit, shit...Jake muttered. This is bad. Gotta get up, gotta help Molly and Karolina...

With a grunt, Jake heaved himself to his feet...and promptly feel right back down again.

Another wave of nausea hit Jake, and this time it was worse. His stomach heaved, and he fought not to hurl.

A second later, he lost the fight, and promptly vomited up what little he had in his stomach onto the ground before him.

Shit, oh shit...Jake gasped, trying not to vomit again. He pushed himself forward a good foot or so, trying no to look at the pool of his own stomach content.

What the fuck is going on? Jake howled in his mind, directed primarily at Hannah. I though I was a Spartan! Why the hell did I get incapacitated by a single freaking punch?

Hannah didn't answer, but he heard something from the other side of the pillar he was resting on; soft whimpering noises that he realized were Karolina, and a quiet, deep laugh. Topher.

Shit. I'm too late. I failed.

Jake's arms suddenly gave out, and he crashed to the ground. Pain lanced up his shoulder, but he ignored it.

Okay, it's official, he thought. I'm the worst Spartan ever.

Jake lay where he'd fallen, unable to move. He noticed a blackness starting to eat away at the corners of his vision. For a moment, he thought about simply letting into that blackness.

Then a new voice filtered through his mind.

Pathetic. Fucking pathetic, Hunter.

Huh? Who the hell...

Did you hear me? Pa-thet-ic!

The voice wasn't Hannah, that was for sure. This voice was male. Actually, it sounded a little like his own, but not exactly. It was...darker. Deeper. Almost emotionless.

Who-

Doesn't matter. Your friends are about to be eaten by a fucking vampire. Kill his sorry pale ass now, questions later!

Right, right. Gotta get up...Oh, right. I can't. Fuck.

That's because you're letting the pain have it's way with you. Don't.

Okay, fine. But I thought I was a Spartan. Why the hell-

You honestly think Spartan's can't feel pain? They do, they just know how to deal with it. Now shove that nausea and pain somewhere useless and get up! You've taken worse hits than this!

Got it...Jake tried to focus, but the pain seemed endless.

Think about something else other than it.

Something else, something else...

How about the fact that Topher's going to pretty much make out with the neck of the girl you like?

Jake thought about that, for all of one second. That was all it took.

The pain receded into the back of his mind. The world stopped spinning. New strength filled Jake's limbs, and he stood, shaking slightly, but not from pain or fear. Anger filled his chest; a single thought echoed in his mind.

No way in hell is some undead punk going to touch Karolina!

Something familiar returned as well; the Heat, stronger and hotter than the times he'd felt it before. Out of the bottoms of his eyes, Jake could have sworn he saw blue light coming from his hands. He dismissed it as nothing. He had more important things to focus on now;

Like ripping Topher limb for limb.

"Oi, Edward!" Jake called out. Topher stopped what he was doing, which Jake realized to his horror was removing Karolina's shirt, despite the girl's resistance, and turned to face him.

What the hell? I thought vampires bit the neck? Jake thought.

Neither Hannah nor the new voice answered him. He filed the question away for later investigation.

"Well, look who's not out of the count." Topher said calmly. If he was surprised that Jake was back on his feet, he didn't show it.

"Hands off the girls, fucker." Jake replied, with a growl. Topher smiled, showing off his rather impressive vampish teeth.

"So you do have feelings for Karolina. Interesting." Topher scratched his chin. "I figured as much. But I think I'll disregard your offer."

"Back. Off." Jake growled, face turning into a snarl. He felt his hands clench. The Heat seemed to flow into them, heating the muscle and bone to almost painful levels.

"Make me." Topher replied, raising his right and, palm up, and curling his fingers towards himself. The universal "come at me" sign.

Jake could have cared less if Topher had been giving him both the American Finger and the British Finger at the same time. All that he did care about was the fact that Karolina was taking the time to crawl away from them, dragging Molly behind her. Thought he sort of wished she'd bothered to pull her shirt back down over her breasts before she started moving...

"Lets get it on, then." Jake said, cracking his neck. He took a cautious step forward, hands up in a fighting stance.

Apparently, Topher wasn't the most patient being on the planet. He barely waited three seconds before he went from defensive to offensive.

Exactly what Jake was hoping he would do.

The vampire's right fist came at Jake's face, almost too fast to track. But Jake was ready this time. With seconds to spare, he brought his own hand up, catching the blow straight in his palm. The sound of flesh on flesh echoed through the Hostel, and Jake felt something in his hand break. He ignored it, adding that pain to the nausea and broken nose of earlier.

For the first time in the fight, Topher looked shocked. Not fake shocked, but actual, honest-to-Master-Chief shock.

Jake smiled in response. He could see his reflection in Topher's eyes; the smile wasn't his normal one. It was...disturbing. Similar to the vampire's own, yet...not.

"What...are you?" Topher whispered. Jake laughed, the same cold, hard sound he'd made back at the Hayes's house.

"I...am a monument to all your sins." He hissed. Confusion filled Topher's gold eyes. He didn't get the reference. It didn't particularly surprise Jake. The vampire didn't seem to be the kind of 'person' to like Halo. Though he probably would have been good friends with the Flood Gravemind that Jake had taken the quote from.

But none of that was really important. It was important that Topher was of kilter. A confused opponent was a weak opponent.

A new noise reached Jake's ears; a sizzling noise, much like the sound of bacon cooking.

What the hell...

Jake glanced around, looking for the source. His eyes caught Topher's again. They were locked on their owner's hand, still held in place by Jake's palm.

Jake glanced over. Neither his hand nor Topher's had moved, and there didn't seem to be...

No, there was something differed. What looked like steam coming from the place that they met.

Jake had less than a second to observe this before Topher howled and yanked his own hand free. The sound and steam dissipated, but Jake swore he could smell burning flesh. How he knew exactly what that smelled like, he wasn't sure.

Topher was looking at his hand in horror. Jake didn't take the time to check what was causing his reaction; he took advantage of Topher's moment of weakness and slung a punch of his own.

The blow caught Topher across the face, sending him spinning. The moment it connected, Jake felt himself enter Spartan Time.

The punch continued, and Topher took it, but slowed down several times. Jake had plenty of opportunity to watch the impact, Topher's flesh yielding under his own...and what was going on with his hand.

As it collided with Topher's face, Jake could easily see where the smoke and burning flesh smell had been coming from; his hand, for that matter his whole arm, seemed to glow blue. He could see the veins and arteries in it against the flesh, glowing as if something bioluminescent had replaced the blood within them.

As his transformed arm made contact with Topher's face, the blue glow seemed to spread to the boy. Something liquid looking, yet solid at the same time, spread across the vampire's skin, before dissipating into the air. In it's wake, it left dead, blackened skin, and the smell of burnt flesh...and a stink of ozone.

Ozone...realization hit Jake harder than Topher's fist.

Plasma. His arm had plasma in it. It was like a biological Plasma Pistol. And, apparently, Topher's regenerative powers didn't cover it.

Now we're talking! He though. He felt a grin fill his face. Without hesitation, he swung another blow, this one more of a slap than an actual punch. But that was find with him. The intent for it wasn't to cause kinetic damage to Topher; it was to get as plasma onto the vampire's face as possible. In that respect, the blow worked spectacularly. The plasma spread across his skin in seconds, burning and blistering it.

Jake couldn't help but smirk even more.

Better than Harry Potter on Voldemort! He thought, remembering what Molly had informed him had happened at the end of the first book in the series.

Unfortunately, his attack wasn't as effective as he had hoped, and it didn't hold Topher back for long. While Jake's guard was down, the vampire slowly reached his hands up and curled his fingers around his shirt and the top of his pants. Before he could react, Jake was hefted over his head and promptly thrown against a wall. His back connected to a column, causing both it and the column to crack loudly and painfully. The shock was enough that the breath was knocked out of him, sending saliva flying from his shock-opened mouth. Gravity took over then as he fell, jamming his shoulder against a large piece of loose rubble. He groaned in pain, rolling onto his back to cradle his shoulder for a moment, before he shoved its pain back into the same dark part of his mind he'd shoved the rest of it. Topher gazed down at him, reading to strike a fight-finishing blow.

Fortunately, Gert had his back... In a manner of speaking. Apparently, the girl had finally decided to join the fight.

"Old Lace, sic him!" She howled, pointing in the direction of Topher. The dinosaur obeyed her master and lunged at Topher with a internal-organ rattling roar.

Topher spun to face this new threat, and, upon seeing it was Lace, smiled.

"Oh really, that's the best you got?" He quipped sarcastically, some of his old confidence coming back now that he wasn't fighting Jake and his bizarre plasma-hands. Without hesitation, he charged straight at Old Lace and, at the very last moment, vaulted straight over the raptor's back like she was a pommel horse at a gym. Topher stuck a landing that would have given him at least a 9.5 at any gymnastic event, leaving Old Lace to stand in the place where he had just been, confused about where her prey had gone.

With a slight chuckle, Topher reached behind him, grabbed Lace by her large muscular tail, and swung her around like someone throwing a hammer, right into a wrecked table on the other side of the room.

Shit, was this prick a gymnast at some point? Jake found himself wondering.

Lace roared in pain and frustration, a cry echoed by Gert. Jake glanced over at the girl and saw her fall to the ground, clutching her head.

What the fuck...

Ironically, it was Topher who answered his question.

"Oh, so it's an empathic connection, then." He muttered. "Interesting. Haven't seen that kind of human-animal control style in a good long while. Nice try, by the way."

The vampire smiled broadly, enjoying the results of what he assumed was a failed attack.

Unfortunately for him, while Gert's strike had failed as an actually frontal assault, it had worked perfectly as a distraction. While Topher had been dealing with Old Lace, Jake had regained his feet and readied himself to hit back.

Which he promptly did.

With a howl, Jake charged at Topher's unguarded back. The boy turned, realized it was Jake coming for him, and tried to run...

But didn't quite make it.

Jake launched himself into the air, muscles augmented with advanced artificial protein complex propelling him farther than any normal human would be able to jump. With grim determination, he grabbed onto the easiest part of Topher that he could reach; the vampire's neck.

Without hesitation, Jake closed his hands over Topher's windpipe and started squeezing. His victim made a high-pitched gasping noise that might have been a scream had Jake not been cutting off all air going into and out of his lungs. Twin clouds of smoke rose from under his grip as the plasma under his skin flowed out onto Topher's, burning and carbonizing every inch of flesh it touched. Topher struggled, but Jake put more of his weight behind his grip, holding the boy to the ground. He felt a sense of deja vu, like the ones he'd had earlier this night; at some point in his forgotten past, he'd done this to someone. Though why he would ever have had to choke someone was beyond him.

Under him, Topher suddenly found purchase; with a grunt of triumph, he slammed both his feet into Jake's midriff.

Jake grunted as the wind was knocked out of him, then tried to scream as the force of Topher's blow send him flying in an arc away from the boy and towards the floor a meter or so from where Karolina had moved with the still-comatose Molly. As he soared up, he could see that Karolina was still there, watching the proceedings with a look of horror on her face and her arms around Molly. Which Jake would have thought of as sweet, had her entire right breast not been visible...

Any further thoughts on the subject were violently and brightly dispelled by Jake's sudden contact with the floor, which once more knocked the freshly-gained air out of his lungs. He lay where he landed, unable to move for the moment as his lungs attempted to suck in fresh air. On the other side of the room, Topher was making gasping noises and coughing. Jake glanced up as much as he could and saw the vampire stumble back and forth, clutching at his throat. Jake was pleased to see that every inch of visible skin between the boy's head and chest was black and dead, and in some cases actually flaking off in ash-like chunks.

"Fugh...youl muder fugher." Topher groaned. "Dan ack unker."

Jake assumed he was trying to say "Fuck you mother fucker" and "Damn ass fucker", but he wasn't entirely sure.

Instead, he took pleasure in the fact that Topher had been hurt enough that his speech was effected.

However, he was still on his feet. Something that needed to be rectified soon.

With a grunt, Jake attempted to heave himself to a sitting position, but found his arm refused to work. For that matter, he could barley feel them.

Fear filled Jake; Had that last toss broken something important?

No, he realized. He could still sort of feel his arms. They were just really weak. He thought about moving his right arm, and it shifted slightly. He tried again, and it moved more. He was alright; just stunned.

After a moment of thought, he let himself go limp again. If there was one thing he'd seen so far in this fight, it was that Topher obviously wasn't very good at planning for surprises...

Topher coughed and stopped staggering around. The vampire still looked like someone had splashed him with napalm (a rather accurate description), but he was looking better.

"You know, you're really a pain in my ass." He said. Apparently, his regenerate abilities included his voice box.

"Not surprising, considering how big of an ass you are," Jake fired back. It came out weaker than he'd hoped. Topher snorted.

"Hmm, haven't heard that one before." He noted, before smiling again. Jake found himself wondering, in the back of his mind, why the hell he smiled so much. "I'll have to remember that one." He coughed again, and Jake could have sworn he saw ash come out of his mouth. "Or maybe not. I can't really decided. Now, unless you've got any more tricks up your sleeve..." He paused, waiting for Jake to do something. Jake simply glared and waited for Topher to come closer.

"Guess not." Topher declared. "Where was I? Oh yes. You know, I was actually going to make this quick for you and your friends. But, since you've gone out of your way to annoy me..." He paused, then shifted his attention to the right of Jake's position. "I think I'll let you watch me eat your friends first."

With a small chuckle, Topher strode across the rubble that littered the room towards the point that Jake had guessed held Karolina and Molly. He got half way there, then paused. Jake turned as much as he could without bringing attention to himself and noticed Topher staring in surprise at some spot beyond his field of vision.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me..." He muttered, clenching his hands into fist.

"Afraid not, asshole." Karolina's voice rang out from somewhere ahead of Topher. Jake, realizing that stealth probably wasn't necessary any more now that Topher was suitably distracted, swiveled around to get a line of sight onto whatever was going on.

What he was something that elevated his respect for Karolina quite a few notches. The alien girl was currently standing a meter or so from Topher, holding a large metal baseball bat that Jake recognized as the one he'd found stuck between two large chunks of ceiling a day and a half earlier, which he had ironically been looking for just before he started the power nap Molly had woken him from by riding Old Lace.

Staring at the bat, Jake had two questions enter his mind;

Where had Karolina found the fucking thing when he'd spent almost an hour trying to locate it, and why did he feel so good looking at her holding it? It certainly wasn't the tactical possibilities...

"Well, looks like I was wrong about you." Topher noted, attempting to sound calm and threatening and failing at both. Jake could hear something creeping into the vampire's voice, though he wasn't entirely sure. "I thought you were more of the ditsy cheerleader type. Looks like your more like Clair Bennett."

"Yeah, you were wrong on that count." Karolina replied coldly. The edge in her voice was sharp enough to cut titanium-A battle plate.

"Well, everyone's allowed one mess up, right? I mean-"

Whatever Topher meant, Jake never found out, as Karolina didn't give him the chance. With a surprisingly passionate battle cry, the girl surged forward towards the vampire and smashed him across the face.

The bat, driven by Karolina's fear and anger-fueled full-body swing, easily cut through Topher's fight-weakened flesh with and echoing bonk. The boy's lower face practically disintegrated into a cloud of flash-cooked skin, bone, and a large amount of dried blood that formed a black ashy cloud behind the bat like the tail of an evil comet. The momentum transferred into Topher himself, sending the vampire head over heels after his own blood. He crashed to the floor with a meaty crunch.

Karolina stumbled, regaining her balance, then looked over at Jake, who was climbing to his feet.

"Shit." He muttered, looking at Topher's still body. "Nice swing."

"Thanks." Karolina's voice was still hard. She gripped the bat tightly. Jake glanced around, taking in his surroundings and the current situation of his friends. Alex was still out cold, but Nico and Chase were slowly climbing to their feet, and Gert was off in a corner, stroking Old Lace and murmuring soothing words to her while rubbing the set of welts that Topher had left on the dinosaurs tail when he swung her into the wall. All in all, it was a lot better than Jake had hoped it was.

Something niggled at the back of Jakes mind.

"Wait, where's Molly?" He asked. He hadn't seen the mutant pre-teen anywhere.

"I moved her up stairs." Karolina motioned over her shoulder with the bat. "All the fighting woke her up. Took me a bit to get her to let go of my shirt, and she still has my bra, but she should be safe."

"Heh." Jake chuckled, imagining Molly clinging to Karolina's bra. When the girl eyed him curiously, he simply nodded and added "Good thinking."

Karolina nodded, satisfied. Sensing that the conversation was at an end, Jake turned to check on Topher...

Only to realized that, yet again, the vampire had slipped away when the group thought him down for the count.

Jake swore and slid into a fighting stance, arms up and ready to strike. Karolina, after noticing Topher's missing body, raised the bat again and pressed her self to Jake's back. Jake wasn't sure if it was because she had knowledge of combat or that she just felt safer with Jake at her back, or possibly a little of both. In actuality, he didn't particularly care. In that moment, he felt more confident about winning this fight than he had at all.

He turned to his right, scanning the area for any sign of Topher. Karolina turned with him, keeping six covered. Nothing moved. Silence filled the Hostel.

Then, without warning, Topher struck.

The vampire leaped from behind a column in a style that more closely resembled the bloodsuckers of TV and books than anything else he'd done today, arms forward in a grabbing gesture, mouth open. Or, as open as it could be with most of his lower jaw missing.

As Karolina was closest to him, she was the one he attacked, slamming into Jake as he did. Karolina saw the attack coming, but she moved to slowly to get out of the way. Instead, she reflexively raised her hands to block his strike.

What happened next, Jake wasn't entirely sure. Partially because it happened so quickly, and partially because he was in the wrong position to get a good look at it, his back being turned to the entire event. He did, however, manage to see Karolina and Topher collide, and the vampire apparently grab onto the girl's raised arm.

The moment he did, there was a brilliant flash, an ear-numbing crack, and Jake suddenly found himself flying across the room once again. This time, however, he managed to land on his feet in a crouch. He growled, rubbing his eyes until the spots vanished. When he could see again, he glanced up at the point in the room he had been blasted from.

It was empty, except for a large, smoking black patch in the center, where he had been standing a moment before. Three lines of black went off in opposite directions, one leading to a point six inches under Jake. At the end of one of the other two Jake could see Topher. Or rather, what remained of him. While the vampire was somehow still alive, whatever had caused the black patch on the ground and sent all three of the combatants flying had done some horrifying damage to Topher's body. Jake found himself comparing the boy's current complexion to a tennis ball dipped in gasoline and then lit on fire.

Feeling his stomach turn slightly, Jake's glance followed the final black scorch on the floor to it's origin; as he had suspected, Karolina. From where he was, he could see that she looked to be in much better shape than Topher, and was getting to her feet shakily.

Except for her right arm. Jake couldn't see it well at this distance, but it looked like a large section of Karolina's skin had lost all of it's color, standing out stark white against the rest of her California-sun tanned complexion. A mark that looked surprisingly like the palm of a hand and four fingers...

On a whim, Jake glanced back over to the right. Topher was still on the ground, clutching at his right hand and making a sort of gargling noise. Jake could easily see why; Most of Topher's right hand was completely burnt, possibly even more so than what Jake had done to him. As he watched, one of the boy's fingers fell off.

Topher glanced down at his appendage, then up at the still-recovering Karolina.

"Malgahineian." The vampire gargled out. "urg ahn bunkid malgahiniean."

In that moment, several seemingly unconnected bits of information came together in Jake's mind.

First, Karolina's contact with Topher had ignited the strange blast that had knocked Jake on his ass. Almost as if they were matter and anti-matter.

Second, Topher seemed weak to radiation of one kind or another, something in line with what Jake knew about vampires. He'd burned from Jake's plasma, and plasma was practically all radiation.

Third, Karolina's alien powers seemed to run off of sunlight. In other words, radiation in the ultra-violet wavelength.

And fourth, while the girl was currently running on empty, her inhabiter bracelet was off. All she needed was fuel.

In that moment, Jake suddenly realized he had a plan to finish Topher off.

With little time to waste before Topher regained his feet, Jake cast around the ruined floor in desperation. Debris chunks, blood spots, charred rug, one of Molly's random books...

There! His M6D II, laying atop a broken table. Still hurrying, Jake dove, rolled, and came up with pistol in hand.

Without hesitation, he pointed at Karolina.

"Cover your eyes, this is gonna be bright!" He shouted.

Not waiting to see if anyone followed his instructions, he flipped on the tactical light under the barrel to full power.

The effect was more brilliant than he hoped, in more ways than one. Karolina's strange alien biology took the taclights full spectrum beam (a feature installed, he remember, to let Spartans use the light as a improvised blinding weapon against any and all Covenant species) and used it as fuel for it's own mysterious purposes, essentially turning Karolina into the worlds largest flash grenade. The burst of rainbow light was so powerful that even Jake, who had prepared for it by looking away, was stunned. Every nook and cranny of the Hostel was illuminated, and Jake's shadow stretched to incredible lengths.

But it was worth it; before everything went white, Jake had a vision of Topher stumbling backwards and vainly trying to protect himself from the light. Then there was a loud whumph, and the vampire started screaming.

"Burn, you son of a bitch!" Jake yelled, keeping the light steady on Karolina. Three seconds after he said it, the light on his pistol died, its internal battery dead. Karolina, body deprived its source of radiation, dimmed back to normal.

But the light and the girl had done their jobs. Or, Jake thought it did. When he glanced over to where he'd seen Topher stumble, his heart sank; despite everything, the vampire was still alive. Despite the fact that his entire body looked like he'd been doused with napalm and (judging by the smoke that was coming out of every hole in him) he was apparently being burned from the inside out, he was still standing. Admittedly, he was screaming loud enough to make Jake's ears want to bleed, but he was still up.

Jake grit his teeth and raised his pistol. He was going to finish this, if it was the last thing he did. He hoped it wouldn't be...

Topher continued to stumble backwards from the center of the room, regaining some semblance of combat readiness. He stopped directly under the second-floor balcony, shook himself a bit, howled at Jake and his friends...

And had just enough time to look up and turn his howl into a scream before he disappeared beneath the end of a large red couch.

There was a crash, a burst of splintering couch parts, and then Topher was gone. The couch toppled over from it's position on its side onto it's legs, revealing a large pile of black ash.

"I told him I'd drop a couch on him if he messed with us!" A voice bellowed from the balcony. Jake glanced up, guessing who was speaking. Sure enough, Molly stood there, arms triumphantly crossed over her chest and what Jake realized was Karolina's bra currently tied around her head like a bandanna.

Jake had never been so happy to see anyone in his entire life.

"Nice one!" He called, raising his fist in salute to Molly. The girl returned it, then vaulted off the balcony onto the couch she had crushed Topher with. She landed in a rather relaxed pose, arms across her chest and legs folded over each other, and held it. Jake found himself smiling, despite how tired he suddenly felt. Understandable, of course. Though the fight had been hard, he'd won. He and his friends were safe.

With the tiredness came the pain from his injuries, reappearing from whatever dark part of his mind he'd crammed them into. Questions came with it. Like, how the hell could he have plasma-hands? And what the fuck had that voice been-

Jake, can you hear me? Come in, Hunter. Answer me, damn it! Hannah's voice once again filled Jake's mind, cutting off his internal tirade.

Oh there you are! Jake thought angrily, eyes narrowing. Where the hell have you been! I could have used your help back there!

Stuck in your cortex. Something blocked me from interfacing with you.

Doesn't that figure... We're going to have to talk. I have a lot of questions.

I can tell. I can see a lot of random crap floating around in here. I don't have time to go over them right now. We'll talk later.

Deal.

Satisfied that some of his confusion would be ironed out in the near future, Jake turned back to his friends.

They were okay...physically, anyway. Jake wasn't a psychologist, but he was pretty sure that the runaways wouldn't be forgetting this experience anytime soon.

"Is...is it over?" Nico called weakly from her place next to Alex, who Jake was glad to see was coming awake.

"Yeah, we're done here." Karolina agreed. Jake could hear the sharpness that had been in her voice drop away as she spoke, her words going from hard and strong to quiet and weak in seconds. The bat she'd been holding, even when Topher attacked her, dropped to the ground with a clong. Jake, an educated guess fueling his action, quickly moved to the side, preparing to catch her. In seconds, his plan proved to be correct; Karolina's legs gave out and she crashed into his arms, sending twin spikes of pain through Jake's bruised shoulders as they took her weight. For such a skinny girl, Karolina certainly wasn't light. Through his hands, Jake could feel her shake like she'd been hit with a taser. She glanced down at her own hands, watched them shake for a moment, then looked up at Jake, eyes full of confusion.

"Adrenaline letdown," He whispered, not entirely sure how he knew what was going on. "Your body's fight or flight system's spinning down."

Karolina nodded silently and gave him a weak smile. On impulse, Jake grabbed her hand in his and held it tightly. She returned it.

"Everyone okay?" Alex called out. Jake glanced over his shoulder to see him climb to his feet, helped by Nico. He was missing his glasses, and there was a rather nasty bruise forming on the underside of his chin, but other than that he seemed fine.

A chorus of affirmatives followed Alex's statement, though most of them were really nothing more than groans, and a "son of a bitch" from Chase.

Jake nodded to himself, impressed with the group. Fifteen minutes of having their asses kicked by a vampire, and no serious injuries.

Slowly, the group moved towards the center of the room, nursing their respective aches and pains.

"What the hell happened to Angel?" Chase asked, limping up to Jake's side. His hand was still on his chest, where Topher had kicked him.

"Molly dropped a couch on him." Gert explained, pointing at the large pile of ash that was once the group's enemy and the couch Molly was currently resting on.

"Huh. Wonder why Buffy never tried that?" Alex commented. "I mean, she used that rocket launcher on that one demon, but-"

"Who knows, who cares." Chase growled. "We almost got eaten by that fucker, and its all...your...fault." The boy emphasized his last three words with a fist shake at Alex.

"Hey!" Nico cried, jumping in to defend Alex. "Don't blame him! How the hell was he supposed to know that Topher was...whatever the fuck he was?"

"He still didn't have to bring him here!" Chase spat. "And if you hadn't been so damn happy to let him join us-"

"And why the hell were you so against that?" Nico shot back.

"Well I turned out to be right, didn't I?"

"Yeah, and what if you hadn't?"

"Then-"

"Look, can we fight later?" Gert moaned, clutching her head. "All this yelling's making my headache worse."

"Gert's right." Alex noted, obviously relieved to be off the subject of his apparently bad choice of recruitment. "We just got our asses kicked. The best thing for us to do right now is get some rest. We can figure out what the hell happened in the morning."

From Jake's arms, Karolina responded to the dark boy's suggestion with a snort.

"Rest? Sure," She muttered. "There's no way in hell I'm gonna sleep after this."

Jake found himself nodding in agreement. Though the truth was he actually felt dead on his feet, and would probably crash the moment he closed his eyes...

"We should still try." Said Alex, voice calm but still authoritative. Lacking any other ideas, the group shrugged collectively, mumbled agreements and shuffled off in a different directions.

Nico pulled Alex's hand into her, then lead him quickly up to the second floor. Chase glowered at them, raised both middle fingers in salute, glanced over at the pile of ash that had been Topher, and walked over to join Gert. He lay down next to her, both teens using Old Lace as an impromptu pillow.

Jake glanced up and realized he and Karolina were the only runaways still on their feet. Karolina shifted in his arms, and an awkward silence fell over the two of them.

"So..." Jake wondered. "Can I put you down now?"

"No, I'm fine." Karolina smiled brilliantly (if weakly) and crossed her arms behind her head. Jake chuckled.

"So, what? I'm your personal load-lifter now?" He said with a smile.

"Nah." Karolina wrapped her arms around Jake's neck. "More like my guardian angel."

"Guardian Spartan would fit better." Jake replied.

Karolina giggled and placed a quick kiss on Jake's lips. Jake's face heated.

"Uh..." He muttered. "Um...I think I might sleep down here tonight. I don't really feel like climbing the stairs."

Especially if I have to carry you, he thought to himself.

"Then don't." Karolina said happily. She blinked and her face fell. "I...hope you don't mind if I join you," She added, sounding a little shaky.

"Oh no, there's no way in hell I'm going to let a possibly wounded and obviously freaked out hot chick who's kissed me three times in the last week sleep anywhere near me," Jake said jokingly. "Go hide somewhere else."

"Shut up." Karolina scoffed. She punched Jake's shoulder. Jake simply grinned and stood. After stretching till his back cracked like a sniper rifle firing, he carried Karolina over to the couch Molly was currently sitting on. The girl, who had rolled over during Chase and Nico's argument, was currently poking at the pile of ash that had been Topher. Ironically, she seemed the calmest of the whole group. She pulled her hand out of Topher's remains and held something up to the light; the vampire's eye brow ring. She looked it over, then slid it onto her ring finger and nodded in satisfaction.

"Might want to get that disinfected first," Jake noted as he neared. Molly jumped up, slightly surprised, but relaxed when she realized who had spoke.

"Nah, I think it's cool." She said, admiring the trinket. She glanced back at Jake, apparently noticing he was carrying Karolina. She giggled at the site.

"Where are you two going?" She asked, voice laced with more giggles.

"Somewhere." Karolina answered, shifting to look at her.

"Gonna have some fun?" Molly probed.

"No." Both Karolina and Jake responded at the same time, voices indignant. Molly made an "aw" noise, scowled, and sunk deeper into the cushions of the couch she was on. She unfolded herself just as quickly.

"Well, if your not going to go do...stuff," she said, absentmindedly playing with one of the pom-poms on her hat. "You could sleep down here, with me."

Jake caught the subtext in Molly's offer. So she wasn't as unafraid as he'd expected. He didn't mind. If anything he found her subtle plea cute.

"We'd love to, Molly." Karolina answered before Jake could. "Right?" She directed the last question at Jake, making it very clear that he should say agree.

Not wanting to break whatever had formed between him and Karolina in the last few minutes (though honestly he would have agreed without her influence), Jake simply nodded. Molly clapped gleefully and scooted to the side of the couch to open up some room. With a grunt, Jake gently dropped Karolina lengthwise onto the cushions, then stretched and slumped to the ground, back up against the front of the couch. He retrieved his pistol, ejected the magazine, and reloaded it with a fresh one from inside his jacket. He placed it next to his right leg, safety off.

"What the hell are you doing on the floor?" Karolina asked, leaning over the edge of the couch. "We've got plenty of room up here."

"Yeah!" Molly joined in. "It's all lonely and stuff up here."

"Better tactical position." Jake answered calmly. "I want to be ready for anything."

He glanced over at the pile of ash that Molly had been stirring earlier. "Anything."

"Oh." The alien girl replied. "Well, if you get tired of sitting on the floor..." She patted the cushion next to her, the middle of of the couch's three.

"Sure." Jake replied, smiling. Then he turned back, crossed his arms over his chest, and closed his eyes.

Not like it's going to do much, he thought. I really doubt I'm going to just-

Before he could finish his thought, he was out cold.

A/N: Well, there we go. How's THAT for a remix, huh? Told you guys it wouldn't take two years.

But really, this isn't the end of this arc, not just yet. I'm gonna write one more short chapter as an epilogue, then it's on to the next one. For those of you who enjoyed how I mixed up the fight with Topher, theres going to be a LOT more remixing in the next arc.

Additionally: I have received a couple private messages wondering about Jake's dreams. For those of you who are wondering;

Yes, they will be explained in more detail. Probably in the next chapter. Part of the reason I'm writing it.

No, they aren't just there so I don't have to write more of the actual story. They will eventually form their own little plot line, which will fill in some of Jake's back story.

Lastly, I want to thank Ryuu-Kitsune-Onna1, for helping me out with this chapter and providing someone to bounce ideas off of. Even the really stupid ones. Without your help, this probably would have taken two years to finish, just like the last one.

Well, thats all I really have to say. See you all next chapter!