Rayne

Her arms were crying pain. She'd never felt this kind of muscular weakness before. It wasn't just her arms either. Her legs burned, at a near end of their endurance threshold. Panting, Rayne rested a moment, leaning against the wall with her burden. It was only a few feet from where she'd been tied up to the entrance of Kain's little laboratory. He'd ensured that his meals wouldn't interrupt his work. Yet another thing he was going to pay dearly for. The unconscious man she was dragging with her should have been lighter. Or more aptly, she should have been strong enough to pull his weight without worry.

Somehow the man was still alive. His heart was doing skips and lunges in his chest, but he was alive. That would have to do for now. Bracing herself, Rayne fastened her grip on his arms and began to drag again. It took several painstaking minutes to get the man through the narrow doorway of the room. Once in, she let him droop unceremoniously against a wall, lumbering her way towards a nearby computer. It was the only one in maze of test tubes, blood samples and other scientific apparatus. There was enough blood in here for a feast. Rayne's stomach rumbled at the thought, but she had enough self control to leave the samples be. No doubt they were tainted with whatever Kain had been working on. Now that he had involved her in it, she would put his work through a meat processor.

She was in luck with the computer. Kain, the arrogant bastard, hadn't bothered with disconnecting the power or Internet, let alone password protecting his machine. From the sounds coming from the back of the lab, the room was run on its own generator. It was easy accessing file upon file of his research. The information was encrypted, but it didn't matter. She could make out enough from the visuals the data provided. All his work was her's now. Rayne connected to the internet, pulling up the familiar website by memory. It was an international dating site but it served for rough communicating purposes in a pinch. With her communicator gone, it was just a matter of time before she had a link to Sevrin. Sure enough a few moments later, a live streaming video popped up on the screen. Ah the wonders of technology. Granted Kain's computer lacked a web camea making it impossible for Severin to see her…however he could certainly hear her.

"Rayne, is that you? I half thought you were dead." The cool suave of Sevrin's voice barely hide the concern. As always, she ignored it.

"Sevrin, I'm sending you some files. A lot of them. I want to know what's on them and I want to know now."

"Get them to me and you'll have everything you need." Severin paused. "I was starting to get worried. You've been out of communication for several weeks."

"Believe me you'll hear all about it. Especially after I get my hands on Kain. They'll be able to hear his screams three years in the future," Rayne said coolly. Several weeks? She'd been gone for several weeks? What did that accumulate to? A month? Two months?

"Wait a minute, Kain? Kain who? Where are you? I'm not tracking a recognizable signal, but we're working on it. Give me a few minutes and I'll have your exact location. Do I even want to ask about that last mission you were on?"

"They're all dead."

"Right, I thought as much when the deposit came through to your account. I've got your location now. Listen Rayne, you need to get out of there. Your current location is dead center in a biological warfare hot zone. I've been monitoring the situation and it seems that the government has plans to sanitize the entire city within several hours. You don't want to be there when that happens. I'm sending a transport your way now. You should be able to make it out with plenty of time to spare."

"There's a small hitch."

"You don't do hitches."

"Not usually," Rayne agreed. "It's a human." Her throat hurt to talk.

"A human?" Severin considered for a moment. "I take it the transport isn't for you."

"No."

"We can make a double run, but don't be in the city after the next three and half hours. Not even you will be able to survive that."

"hmph," Rayne commented dryly. It was a good thing Sevrin couldn't actually see her condition. She would never live down the criticism or the sympathy. "Make sure there's something I can eat when the first transport gets here."

"Our people will be meeting you on the roof," Sevrin replied. "You have twenty minutes to kill before they get there."

"Not a problem." Rayne glanced over to the elderly man slumped against the wall. This was a problem. Where the hell was the roof.

"I'm sending a schematic of the building you're in right now. It would seem your location is under ground so you've got some distance to cover. Also send the information you mentioned. I'll get on it."

"Understood." The live feed window went black on the screen. Sevrin's image cut out. Woozy, Rayne leaned against the counter the computer was on. Now it was only a matter of getting the encrypted data to Sevrin before somehow miraculously getting the man to the roof of where ever this was. Rayne sighed, her hands running over the keyboard like well trained spiders.

"Rayne," Sevrin's voice was low when he spoke next, making her jump. No doubt he was in the operating room at home. There were others there with him most likely. "Its good to hear from you again."

"Like wise," She replied. "Don't forget, the care package is for me and the human. No one feeds on him." Sevrin sighed.

"I understand. Be careful." The connection went dead.