# 10
by Brian Campo (bcampo@hotmail.com)
This is a work of fan fiction. The Savage Dragon and all related characters are owned by Erik Larsen, and I do not contest
that ownership. This story is in no way official and it should not be taken as such. All characters in this story not owned by Mr.
Larsen are owned by me, though I would gladly loan them out if asked nicely.
John Sansker is owned either by Alan Moore or TMP productions, I don't know which. Anyway, he's not mine and I don't think that he is. Blah, Blah, Blah. . .
Warning: This story may contain graphic violence, sexual situations and harsh language. If you shouldn't be reading it, don't.
Visit the Dragon 2200 home page for back issues and covers (http://www.angelfire.com/or/icffa/dragonifshome.html)
Vampire Nation: A Dragon/Sansker 2200 crossover.
Part Two
The Flesh Pot Night Club and Whore House, Hong Kong- The skinny blonde kid sat up on the floor behind the bar and shouted, "Someone answer the goddamn phone!" He looked to be about fifteen years old, was dressed in a pair of torn blue jeans and a t-shirt that was covered with mystery stains. He stank, the odor a mixture of fire, brimstone and raunchy BO.
There was no answer, and the phone continued to wring. Wiping the sleep from his eyes he reached up and grabbed the edge of the bar. He pulled himself up to his feet and saw that aside from his brother (who was still passed out on the floor) he was alone in the club. It was nighttime and all the lights were out, a very unusual occurrence for the Flesh Pot.
"Where in the hell did everybody go?"
Outside there were loud rumbles and bright flashing lights, like bombs dropping. An airplane roared by and the windows of the club vibrated with it's passing. The boy scratched at his puke encrusted hair and wondered just what the hell was going on.
The phone continued to ring, breaking his concentration and irritating his hangover. "All right, all ready." he hissed at it. "I'm coming, motherfucker." He stumbled down the length of the bar and snatched the phone off the hook. "What?!"
"Mr. Violator?" said the voice on the other end.
"Who wants to know?" he rested his head on the bar, enjoying the cool feeling of the countertop on his aching head..
"We spoke before. My name is Jacob Moore. I am in the employ of a Mr. John Sansker. Do you remember? (Sansker: A Change of Heart # 2 & 3)"
"Faintly." said the boy. "I've been drinking for a while now."
"I understand. Well, Mr. Sansker had offered a certain piece of property in the United States to you in exchange for a favor."
"Property? I don't know nothing about any property." He squinted his eyes in concentration and rubbed his hand through the peach fuzz growing on his chin.
"A twinky factory."
At the mention of twinkies he stood up straight, paying attention now. "Wait. Oh, yeah, he said that he'd hook me up with a warehouse full of twinkies if I did him a favor sometime."
"That's right. The reason I'm calling is that he asked me to call you and call in that favor."
"Oh, yeah? What's he need me to do?"
"I'm not sure. He said that he wants you to meet him at Kenpo Square there in Hong Kong."
"Do I need to bring anything?"
"I don't know. He said that he would be requiring your surgical skills and that you would know what that meant."
Surgical skills. The boy thought about that for a moment and then a smile broke out onto his face. Chuckling, he said "OOOOOH. I get it. Heh, heh, surgical skills. That guy kills me. All right, sounds good. I'll meet him there."
"Good day, then. When you see him tell him that I hope things are going well."
"Yeah, I'll do that." The boy hung up the phone and listened while another bomb explode outside. It sounded like a war was going on out there. Something told him that John was involved.
Hong Kong Harbor- The light on the decompression gauge turned green and, as he was instructed, Crusader yanked on the handle. The top of the SAPC (Submersible Armored Personnel Carrier) blew off with a bang and the silence in the pod was instantly shattered by the sounds of warfare. Deafening explosions and the loud rattle of anti-aircraft guns filled the night outside. All across the island bombs were being dropped and the explosions were making the moonless night bright as day. The brightness would fade to pitch black for a second and then another bomb would hit, turning the sky white. It had a strobe effect and was very hard on the eyes.
Crusader stood up in the front of the boat and took in his surroundings. He cut a striking figure as he stood there and Maxine found herself in awe of him. The pictures and video she had seen of him over the years didn't do him justice. He was one of those rare people that actually looked bigger in real life. In that pose, she thought to herself, he kinda looks like Washington crossing the Delaware. She had to admit it. There was a certain thrill in knowing that in a few minutes she would be fighting side by side with a vampire hunting legend. Strangely, she found herself feeling more excited then scared.
The was air was thick with the smoke of burning buildings and only the dim outlines of nearby docks could be made out through the haze. Crusader turned and pointed over at the nearest dock. Gridwell, one of the men in the back of the pod, nodded in reply and lowered the outboard motor into the water. He cranked up the engine with a push of a button and steered toward the dock that Crusader had indicated.
They drew up next to the dock and the members of the super powered assault team quickly disembarked from the craft. Maxine pulled herself up onto the dock and immediately crouched down to make herself less visible. She brought the butt of the automatic rifle up to her shoulder and scanned the surrounding shoreline through the scope of her gun. She didn't see any vampires, but that didn't mean they weren't out there. Any of those shadows could be hiding a horde of them.
A movement right next to her made her turn and she heard Crusader whisper, "You see anything, Chalmers?" He crouched next to her and pulled out one of his swords.
Max shook her head. "It's all quiet here by the waterfront. They must all be farther inland fighting the human troops."
"Well, keep your eyes peeled. I think we'll run into them soon enough." He stood up and started down the length of the dock towards the city.
The rest of the team hustled to keep up with him. They moved as quietly as they could, but there were four heavily armored cyborgs in their number and they made a lot of noise when they walked. One of them in particular, a walking arsenal named Bonesaw, sounded like he had a v-8 engine idling away inside his chest. The boards beneath his feet bowed under his weight when he walked on them and his feet produced hollow clanks with each step he took.
The team moved into the alleys and started to double time their steps. One of the vigilantes jumped onto a fire escape and made his way to the roof. From there, he moved quickly along the building's edge until he reached the far side of the building, where he jumped over to the next roof. He disappeared from sight as he raced ahead to scout for trouble.
For her part, Max just stayed as close as she could to Crusader and tried to look in all directions at once. She was following a little too close. He paused once and she stumbled into him, nearly knocking both of them to the ground. He whirled around with sword raised, but lowered it a second later.
"Careful, girl. Something touches me on the back I assume it's a vampire. Got it?"
Max nodded. "I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again." Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I'm sorry." she said again.
He must have felt guilty for talking to her so sternly, because after a moment, he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and said, "Forget about it. "
"I guess I'm just a little nervous. I'm just a cop. I've never been in a situation like this before."
"Relax." he told her. "You're going to do fine."
She managed a smile for him and said, "I'll try."
As he turned to continue on his way up the alley he motioned for her to follow. "So, you're a cop, huh?" he said in a low voice. " I think I've heard about you. From Chicago, aren't you?"
"Yeah. I've only been on the force there for about three months."
"From what I hear you've been pretty busy."
"Yeah, but not always productive. Sometimes it seems like I lose more fights then I win."
"Oh, I'm sure that will change in time. Things will be different when you have a few more years under your belt."
"You sound like my dad." said Max with a chuckle.
"He sounds like a smart man. You should listen to him." He stopped, all of a sudden, and sniffed at the air. "You smell that?" he asked. His eyes narrowed into a squint as they searched the dim recesses of the alley.
"Smell wha-" Maxine started to say but she was cut off a moment later when the ground beneath their feet vibrated with the rumble of a nearby explosion and the darkness around them turned to white. "Holy shit, that one was close." she said as she looked up at the sky. Then she saw the shapes lining the surrounding rooftops. She snapped her rifle up and sighted one.
"Vampires." she heard Crusader whisper. That's what Maxine had thought, but who knew that vampires were so big? The creatures silhouetted by the bomb's explosion were huge, possibly as big as eight feet tall. As the brightness of the bomb faded she could make out more of the creature's details. They were long and skinny, their bodies like that of a heroin junkie. A large mane of black hair sprouted from their bat like heads. Most were naked but a few of them wore loin cloths and large metal boots.
"They don't look like any vampire I've ever seen." said Max.
"They're bezerkers." said Crusader. "Not very intelligent but strong as an ox. Sometimes they have a psychic handler controlling them but most of the time they just let them do their thing and rip shit up."
One of the vampires heaved something out into the air and it hit the ground in front of Max and Crusader with a wet sounding thump. Max tore her gaze away from the vampires just long enough to see what it was. It was Devil-Man, the vigilante who had run ahead to scout for trouble. Apparently he had found trouble. The vampires had mangled him until he was barely recognizable, and he was missing a couple of limbs.
As she looked up, she saw more vampires scurrying out into the end of the alley. She turned and looked the other way, and sure enough, more were at that end, cutting off their escape.
"Crusader." she said. The thrill was gone, now. All that was left was fear.
"I see them." said Crusader. "Get ready." He gripped his sword in both hands and kept looking up and toward both ends of the alley.
There was a hiss from above, and one of the vampires dropped down off of the roof towards them. Carbide, another of the cyborgs, opened up with his chain gun and cut the vampire in half before it could touch the ground. The rest of the vampires jumped down on them, and those on the ground rushed in to attack.
Max took aim and started squeezing off shots with her rifle. The head of the vampire nearest her exploded. Before the brain matter had even hit the ground she was sighting on another one and firing.
"Goddamnit, Chalmers!" she heard Crusader shout. "Aim for the heart!"
The first vampire she had shot was struggling to get to it's feet, still moving even though it didn't have a head. She put a round through it's chest and it fell to the ground and lay still.
Clawed hands grasped at her shoulder and Max spun towards them. She grunted in disgust and drove the butt of her rifle up into the head of the vampire standing there. The bones of it's jaw snapped under the weight of the blow and the rifle but continued up through the creature's palate and into it's brain pan.. She spun the rifle in her hands, shoved the barrel against it's chest and pulled the trigger.
Farther down the alley, Crusader moved in a blur, spinning under the vampires flailing grasps and swiping at their guts with his sword. He tore through them, his sword strokes criss crossing across their torsos. The cyborg Bonesaw was roaring like someone was stepping on his gas pedal, and every couple of seconds it sounded like he was shifting up into a higher gear. He had arms with various saw blade attachments extended from his chest and was using them to saw through vampires. The metal all over his body was slick with their gore and blood. Air Raid blew wave after wave of attacking vampires back, using his air and wind manipulating powers. The Flaming Madman was releasing blasts of white hot fire from his fingertips and burning vampires to a crisp. Ginsu, a vigilante with knives on his fingers was slicing and dicing and leaving the vampires in chunks of three different shapes and sizes. Before the awesome power of the team, the dead vampires began to pile up. More vampires took thier places, coming from the streets and the roof tops.
While Maxine shot at one vampire another jumped onto her back. It pulled her backwards and lifted her into the air. She struck at the vampire with her rifle and kicked at it's shins with her heels, but it held on tight, clinging to her with the claws on it's hands. It snaked an arm around her throat and tried squeezing off her windpipe. Another ran towards her and tackled her from in front. Max and the vampire on her back fell over backwards, and the three of them went down in a pile of thrashing limbs. More vampires jumped on them and Maxine felt them begin to claw at her body. Teeth from one sank into her forearm and another bit her on the lower thigh. In the midst of the struggle she lost her grip on her rifle and it was ripped away from her. She opened her mouth to scream for help and one of the vampires shoved his fingers in and tore at the soft flesh under her tongue with his claws. She panicked and began thrashing out at them. The first couple of blows were pretty ineffectual because she didn't have room to move. But once her struggles had loosened up the pile of vampires a little she was able to put some force behind the punches. Her fists ripped through them as she threw right after left after right. She was punching hard enough to literally punch through them, her clenched fists tore straight through their rib cages and skulls and out the other side. They squealed like pigs and fell off of her, only to be replaced a moment later by another.
In her head she was screaming, "Why isn't anyone helping me?!" Maybe they are all dead. she answered herself. Do something, Max, or you will be too.
With a grunt of effort, she threw a leg over and rolled onto her side, dragging the pile of clawing vampires with her. She continued rolling and ended up on her belly. They were trying to tear off the body armor and clothing she was wearing. Max bent her leg at the knee and was able to raise herself off of the ground. A hand clawed at her face and she sank her teeth into it. She bore down and a second later the hand was jerked away minus about three fingers. She was growling now as she struggled, a low, bestial sound from deep down in her throat. Rage was building in her as she fought to free herself. She pressed up with her arms, like she was doing a pushup and she lifted the whole pile of vampires up with her. Max threw herself to the side and slammed herself and the vampires on her back into the side of a building. It shook a few of them loose, but when she was able to brace with her feet and use her legs to push with, she crushed the vampires on her back to mush. She pushed off the wall and threw herself forward, throwing punches at the vampires in front of her. They fell back before her onslaught, shrieking in fear and stumbling over each other in their efforts to get away.
Through the jumbled thoughts in her mind and the loud roar of gunfire in the alley, Max realized that someone was calling her name. A quick look and she spotted Crusader shouting, "Chalmers!! You still with us?"
"Yeah, I'm here. A little busy at the moment, though." She noticed that she had a quiver to her voice when she spoke. Adreneline pumped through her veins and her heart was beating a fast tempo. She was afraid that at any moment she was going to lose control and wet her pants.
"Here!" he shouted back. "This will help!" He pulled out the other broadsword he had strapped to his back and tossed it to her.
Max snatched the blade out of the air and waded into the mass of vampires swinging it. Her powerful blows took out three or four of them at a time. As she fought, all the feeling of fear and helplessness she had felt earlier when they had pinned her to the ground turned to anger. She bellowed with rage and continued forward, hacking and slicing. The blood of her victims covered her in thick, chunky splatters.
"Yes!" she heard Crusader shout. "Kill 'em all, Chalmers! Yeah, girl! That's the way you do it!"
There was an explosion at the far end of the alley and chunks of shrapnel struck all around Maxine. She looked to see what had blown up and saw Bonesaw lying in a pile of burning pieces. There were several vampires laying near him that didn't seem to be in any better shape. Apparently they had done something to him to make him explode but had been caught in the blast when he did. There were other members of her team lying on the ground as well. They were all superior fighters but the vampires had numbers on their side and it looked like they were winning. Attracted by the sounds of battle, more and more vampires were entering the alley every second.
Crusader ran up behind her and grabbed her by the elbow. "Come on," he said. " we have to get out of here."
"You want to retreat?"
"No. This isn't our mission. We're supposed to be taking out the leaders, not fighting the troops. If we stay here, we all die and the mission fails. We need to make a run for it. Understand?" A vampire rushed at them and Crusader put it down with a blast from his shotgun.
Maxine wasn't sure. "What about the others?" She cut off the head of a vampire with her sword. She then snatched the decapitated head out of the air and swinging it by the hair, used it to club another. She dropped the head and impaled the vampire through the heart.
"If they can make it out they know that we're headed to Kenpo Square and can meet us there. If they don't make it out then at least they can slow down the vampires so that we can. The mission is what's important here."
"Then maybe you should go." said Max. "I can stay here and help hold them off."
"No, Chalmers. I need you with me. I can fight but I'm not invulnerable. If I have any hope of getting into that building and taking out the leaders I have got to have you with me."
She knew he was right. If they didn't get out of here then they would likely all be killed without ever getting close to Kenpo Square and the leaders of the Vampire Nation. She didn't like the idea of splitting up the invasion team, but she couldn't see any other choice
"All right. We do it your way." she said.
"Good." said Crusader. "We fight our way to the end of the alley and head north." He started that way and Maxine followed. The going was rough. It was like going against the current of a very fast moving river. Crusader and Max hacked through the crowd of vampires, stumbling over the bodies of their victims and pressing forward. The alley hadn't seemed that long earlier, but when you had to kill fifteen vampires to move forward five feet it made the alley feel like it was several miles long. They kept going, though, and several minutes later they were able to break out into the open. Once out into more open ground they began to run, quickly cutting down any vampire that tried to stop them. Crusader was faster than Maxine and he had to slow down every thirty seconds or so to give her a chance to catch up. At one point someone shot at them from a roof top and Maxine covered Crusader's body with her own to protect him from the bullets. He thanked her while he fired back with his forty five's and killed the sniper. Together, they continued on towards the center of Hong Kong and the Vampire Nation.
Kenpo Square, Hong Kong. Twenty minutes later.-"Sir?"
Mark Trevors turned away from the window overlooking Hong Kong and saw his hired hand, Adam Westerling standing there.
Adam was an albino, and his entire body was devoid of pigment. His long white hair was braided into thick dreads that were tied into a pony tail at the base of his skull. He wore loose fitting jeans, boots, and a plain white T-shirt. Strapped to each arm was a shoulder holster holding two forty five's.
Adam was the only person in Mark Trevors' army that wasn't a vampire. He was a mutant, a victim of a botched experiment when Westerling used to be in the United States military. He had escaped from the US Army and started traveling the world, peddling his skills and powers to the highest bidder. Mark had hired him back when he first started making his plans to steal the vampire nation away from John Sansker. He wanted to have someone with him that could match Sansker's fighting skills and speed but didn't have all the same weaknesses of the other vampires. He had been aware that his plan could have failed at any time and he had taken care to make sure that he had someone who could defend him from Sansker if things had gone badly. The plan had worked, though, and they ended up not needing Adam. Mark had kept him on, though and he was glad that he had. With this little war going on. Adam's skills had proved invaluable. In the last couple of weeks he had been doing everything from stealing weapons to assassinating UN military officials.
"What is is, Adam?"
"I've recieved a report that a group of Super Powered Beings have tried to sneak into Hong Kong by way of the harbor. There were heavy vampire casualties, but we have stopped them."
"They're dead?"
"All but two of them."
"How did that happen?"
"They fought their way past our forces and disappeared. We're looking for them."
"They must be found."
"They will be found, sir."
"Very good." said Mark. He turned and looked back out the window, watching the explosions and tiny flashes of gunfire. "These two that escaped. . ." he said after a moment. "Do we know who they are?"
"There is a girl. She has green skin and a fin on top of her head. We believe that she is the Dragon cop from Chicago. The other is Crusader."
"The vampire killer?" There was a hint of worry in his voice.
"Yes, sir."
"This is not good."
"I know, sir."
"Double your efforts to find them. I want machine guns guarding every concievable way into this building. And I want you waiting in the lobby downstairs. If they make it inside you will deal with them. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir." said Adam.
"That is all. You may go."
Adam turned and left the room, leaving Mark alone to watch the progress of his war.
On board the USS Majestic, just off the coast of Hong Kong-"In case you haven't noticed, private, we're a little fucking busy at the moment." the sergeant growled at his subordinate. "We got a goddamn invasion going on."
"This is very important, sir. I really think that you ought to see this."
The sergeant glared at him for a minute but when the private didn't back down he said, "This had better be good."
He followed the private down several corridors and then down a flight of steps that took them to the next deck down. From here the private showed him to a locker room full of metal lockers. They walked three rows over and then headed into the back of the room, towards the showers.
About halfway back the sergeant spotted the blood on the floor. It was dripping out of one of the top lockers and there was a puddle about four feet wide on the ground below it.
"I haven't touched a thing, sir, and I haven't told anyone but you." said the private.
The sergeant stared at the name tag on the locker. This was bad. "Get something to open it with. Hurry."
The private took off running and was gone a couple of minutes before he returned with some bolt cutters. The sergeant took them from him and used them to cut through the padlock holding the door on the locker closed. When the lock broke, the sergeant pulled it off and dropped it on the floor. He pulled up on the handle and the locker door swung open, revealing a grisly sight. The sergeant covered his mouth with the back of his hand and suppressed the urge to vomit. Inside the locker was the body of a gray haired middle aged man. Apparently, the man had died from a gunshot wound in the side of his head. After he had been killed the body had been bent and broken until it could be stuffed into a locker that was half his size. (If you have read Spawn: Bloodfued this should sound familiar)
The sergeant coughed into his hand and turned away so that he didn't have to look at the corpse. "Phone." he choked out. "I need a phone."
The private lead him to the nearest one. The sergeant picked it up and dialed "0". "Get me Colonel Tibbets" he told the operator. "It's an emergency."
A moment later the Colonel came on the line. "This is Tibbets."
"Sir, this is Sergeant Victor Yale. I have reason to believe that the invasion team has been infiltrated by the enemy. We found a body, sir. I think it's Crusader."
~Fin-Fan-Fic-Fanatics~Letters and comments from readers. Do I rock or do I suck? Write me and tell me what you think. If you don't want your comments put in this letters column, or if you want them taken out, please let me know.
If you want to read other stuff I have written, try Bad Monkey Comics
Just thought I'd drop you a line to say Dragon is looking pretty good.
The Hong Kong and Vampire Nation aspects are what have really caught my
eye so far and I'm really enjoying the way its developing.
(edited )
Keep up the good work.
La Tristesse Durera,
Jac
This was kind of a surprise to see. It was Jac Milnestien and I that first started the IFS fan fiction group. He's a completely cool guy and I've never had one bad thought about him. Thanks for the kind words, Jac, they are appreciated. I do my best on this series. Usually it doesn't come out like I planned it or anywhere near as good as I would like to see it, but it is my best. I'm glad people are digging it. Jac is a great writer and you guys should go check out his Angels over Albion series over at IFS .
Brian,
As always, impressive story. I have a couple of points on grammar, but I'll
get to 'em. First, I liked the description of Crusader. Glad there's some
experience along on this trip. Just a slight quibble with him- the
generational father-to-son angle. I like the idea, but I winced at it, just
because Spawn, the Crow, Grendel, and endless Batman Elseworlds tales have
driven the idea of passing the mantle into the ground. Still, with the
"exotic locale" and the idea of fighting the supernatural, this has come the
closest to reminding me of the classic generational hero, Lee Falk's "The
Phantom." Not the story, just the character. Nice.
Small complaint: this was such a tease!!! No action w/our heroine! If
it wasn't for the fairly cool double crossing soul sale earlier on, I'd call
this issue a cheat. That was a cool scene tho', so I won't call it that.
Besides, I can't feel but so "cheated" with a free story, right? =>
(edited)
P.S. I admit I haven't read Sansker 2200, and so don't know all the rules on
that story's vampires, but exactly how does a vampire get "a bronze tan?"
Vampiric Ignoramus,
C.L. Bishop ;)
I edited his letter a little and took out his grammar lesson. I did take the lesson to heart, though and I appreciate it. I even manage to avoid making some of the same mistakes this issue. Thanks for the help, C.L. Bishop. I need it.
The Crusader origins were more inspired by DC's Azrael then anything else but there were a lot of other multigenerational heroes thrown into the mix, some of them vampire killers. By now you can see that Crusader was not what he appeared to be, and maybe you can see why I opted not to bring the Phantom Master into the Hong Kong affair. I had already planned to have a traitor on the team and more than one would have been too much.
Max saw some action this issue so hopefully that will make up. Next issue should have plenty more and hopefully it will tie up all the loose ends for this story arc.
Kasner Industries, the company that John Sansker used to own, developed sunblocks for vampires that protect them from the sun and allow them to come out during the day time. Some of these were "Tan in a bottle" which gave the wearer a fake tan. John has been using this trick for a long time, though, and readers of the Spawn:Bloodfued series might remember him using it way back then. (If you haven't read the Spawn:Blood Fued series you should search it out in a back issue bin near you. It's one of my favorite Spawn stories ever and I liked it so much that I was inspired to write nine Sansker fan fics since I've read them.)
Someone on the Dragon message Board left a message last month saying that the story was good but I forgot to copy the message. To whoever that was, thank you. I also had a review for that issue on Fanfiction.net but as I am writing this I am unable to access it. I do remember that it was a positive one, which made me happy.
NEXT ISSUE: The earth moving, senses shattering, at times stomach churning conclusion to the Vampire Nation: Dragon/Sansker 2200 crossover.
