Pinstripes shouted something in Russian. Tyler didn't speak the language, but had a pretty good idea that it was something to the effect of 'WHAT THE HELL?'
"Switch out weapons!" He ordered, pointing to the men in the watch-points and waving them down. "You go outside to hold off their allies." He pointed to some of the men on the floor. "You take care of these three monsters!"
As if on cue, all three of them sprang into action. Tyler snapped his cuffs off and broke free of the guy who had grabbed him. Once free, he charged forward to gain an early attack on Pinstripes. Rick gave his handler a hard shove, just as Tom knocked his handler flat on his ass. He heard three shots ring out almost simultaneously, but paid no heed just yet. There was something different about Pinstripes; something in the way he carried himself that bugged Tyler. It told him that this guy had to be taken down quick. It was like he was something other than human; not Kindred – not quite. It was like he was something else completely.
For his part, Pinstripes steeled himself; making ready to try and grapple Tyler. Too bad for him, Tyler had something a little more impact oriented in mind. At the last instant before getting to the Russian, Tyler activated his Blood to kick in Celerity, adding a quick burst of momentum as he crashed into Pinstripes with a shoulder tackle. He didn't quite get the result he was looking for. Instead of dropping him, Tyler found himself carrying the Russian a couple of yards. Running into him was like hitting a wooden post. At least he heard the unmistakable clatter of the katana hitting the tiles at their feet. That was good; Tyler would have the edge in straight hand to hand combat, whatever this guy was. They smashed into a wall, Pinstripes let out a sharp gasp as the air was forced out of his lungs from the impact. Tyler let him go. The Russian sucker punched Tyler, landing a solid blow across the jaw. This guy was definitely a little more than human; maybe a ghoul, even though that made no sense. That would mean these vampire hunters were working for a vampire. Grinning, the Russian went for another blow, this time to the body. Tyler caught it mid swing, grabbed the other arm and pulled the Russian into him, raising one knee to plant it firmly into his solar plexus before shoving him back into the wall, hard. For the sake of humanity, Tyler didn't want to kill the guy; he held back the full extent of his strength. The way Pinstripes was shaking everything off was starting to think that maybe that was a mistake.
Tyler heard at least one other gunshot, probably a .45, as he threw a straight punch at the Russian's face. The Russian easily ducked the blow, and Tyler's fist slammed into the wall as Pinstripes slipped around behind him, landing a back elbow into his kidneys. He then grabbed the back of Tyler's head and planted him face first into the wall, right in the exact spot he just made a hole. There was a momentary break in the action. Tyler heard a shriek of terror, someone screaming about his eyes, and the closest sound to him was a distinct noise that he knew all too well from living in poor section of New York City; even with a football scholarship he was very familiar with that sound, he heard it a lot growing up. It was the click of a switchblade being opened up.
This asshole is really starting to piss me off. Tyler thought, feeling his rage build up unlike he had allowed in awhile. This started as a straight up fight, and now this prick, which had a numbers advantage, was looking to knife him the back! What a chickenshit move! He whirled around at blinding speed and grabbed Pinstripes by the neck, and continuing the spin he was already in, pinned the Russian against the wall. The switch fell to the floor, and Tyler kicked it absently away as he tightened his grip on the Russian's throat, cutting off his air supply. Tyler bared his fangs as Pinstripes kicked at the wall in a futile gesture to struggle free of his grip.
"Let's see you shake this off, asshole!" He hissed. It was hard to believe just how good it felt to watch this guy's life go dark as he gasped in vain for even a hint of air. Tyler smiled cruelly as he watched the Russian's face start to match the shade of his driver's coat. Somewhere behind him, he heard someone cry out that Dmitri was getting killed. Since he heard first two, and then just one step of footsteps coming his way, he guessed that Pinstripes here was Dmitri. Wait for it... He told himself. He waited until Dmitri's buddy was practically on top of him before flying his left elbow back sharply. From the crunching noise, Tyler figured he got him square on the nose.
It was just enough. In that fraction of a second, Tyler was able to regain humanity enough to realize what he was about to do. He loosened his grip and knocked Dmitri cold with a left jab just as another gunshot rang out and a thin shroud of mist began to seep through a nearby elevator door.
Tyler had a minute to scan the scene. Dmitri was out, at least for now. His buddy was starting to gain his feet, clutching his nose. Most of everybody else was down; goons were strewn about, one probably permanently blinded with glass shards in his eyes. Rick was down with multiple gunshots. Tom was staked. One goon was still up, clutching a smoking .45 above Ajax (when the fuck did he get here?), apparently not noticing that the Nosferatu was already starting get up from his gut shot. Outside, it almost looked like Brightstone and Brujah were working together on crowd control. Following the mist, the sound of the elevator doors being opened manually; this was followed by about half a dozen more goons filing in.
Ajax nailed the goon above him with a low blow, probably sterilizing him for life, and got to his feet.
"Well, I guess we're really screwed now." Ajax commented as he healed his wounds to prepare for round two. Tyler couldn't tell if he was sincere or not – nor did he much care. The point was it seemed their fight was far from over. Cracking his knuckles, he got ready for another round with this fresh set of goons.
The goons fanned out in the room as they poured out of the elevator, and the other two elevators which flanked the first one that got opened began to open too; it was starting to look like Ajax was bang on, whether he was being sincere or not. Then he saw what was really happening.
From each of the other two elevators, a few more goons came out, followed by a bunch of vagrants, which looked even more dazed and worked over than usual.
"Clear the way, boys," a weak voice came from the middle elevator. "Once we're clear, you'll want to go out and help your buddies with crowd control. When that's all settled, you'll want to think long and hard about resigning just on fucking principle."
"You heard her!" one of the goons shouted with some degree of authority. "Let's get this mess cleaned up! Move it!"
The goons scrambled and started getting to work. Tyler snapped his attention to the middle elevator and saw Damsel standing at the entrance, using the frame for support; her beret was missing and her hair was a tangled mess. She looked famished. Tyler hustled to her. She took a step forward, stumbled, and fell into his arms. Ajax helped Rick to his feet, who told the Nosferatu he was okay to walk; already starting to heal. Rick indicated Tom and had Ajax take care of him.
"What the hell is going on?" Tyler asked. He'd been with Damsel long enough to know not to ask if she was okay; if she was still standing, even assisted; she was still in the battle.
"These jerks have been taking me like a steroid." Damsel replied with a scowl. "That makes them almost like ghouls. It's not enough to have a permanent effect yet, but they are in enough of a thrall to take my orders now that I can give 'em."
Tyler, shocked, spoke his objection without a thought. "We can't have a bunch of blood slaves running around. The Masquerade..."
"Shut up for a second!" Damsel cut him off. Even in her compromised state, the Den Mother had a strong degree of authority to her. Tyler caught on she was using a touch of her Presence abilities to boost her sway. "They haven't been on me long enough to do any damage. If I cut them off now they'll have a hangover for awhile, but they won't have any permanent side effects; especially since the overall effect is spread so thin. Just get us out of this dump and back to the Last Round."
"Where's Fenris?" Tyler asked. "She was part of this operation."
"She misted out of here, dumbass!"
Ajax had Tom in a fireman's carry, and Tom was standing next to him. "Everyone, get close to me," Ajax called. "I can get us out undetected."
"What about cameras and shit?" Damsel called back.
"Not a problem, babe." Tyler replied as he helped her to where Ajax was standing. "We used an EMP to kill the power. All electrical devices in here are fried. Even better, any electronically stored data they had on us is obliterated."
Gathered around Ajax, The Nosferatu raised an Obfuscate cloak around them and nodded to get them moving out the main entrance. Once they were clear, the goons that Damsel had in thrall moved out behind them, apparently oblivious to any of them, and started to aid in crowd control. They got to the van and Tyler drove them all back to the Last Round; the rest of the crew would join them once the crowd in the blackout zone was under control.
