Ororo had taken the hidden exit onto the rooftops and gracefully made her way across the city, her keen senses alert constantly for anything. Glancing around to check no one could she she stealthily and silently vaulted from a rooftop to the far side of the street where she paused momentarily to sniff the air. Though her nostrils were constantly filled with the ravages of death she detected now threats nearby. Her destination was such that she could not afford to be followed.
All memories of a time when the streets would be bustling with people and the sounds of everyday life had long since faded; bleed from every fibre of every being - from every brick of every building - by the tightening hold the vampires had on this world.
Running down an alley she didn't even slow as she stepped up onto a grabage can and flipped over a barbed wire blockade. Landing on the other side, her foot carelessly went through the top od a putrifying skull, filling the silent night air with a sickening crunch and the smell of rotting brain matter. She remained motionless as she watched the shadows, her eyes piercing the veil of darkness like flood lights.
For a moment she thought she was safe until a distant movement caught her attention. She watched as the movement got closer and with it seemed to multiply until she could pick out several figures moving through the gloom toward her. Slowly she reached round and drew her sword as the first figure dropped from a spiralling flip to a crouch a few hundred yards ahead of her. As this figure rose its head to snarl at her, its companions drew up along side it.
"What's someone like you doing in a vampire ghetto after sundown?" said the lead vamp, standing to his full height.
Bloodstorm remained silent, keeping her sword concealed behind her back.
"She looks like wanna the Royals!" said another vamp, this one short and bald. "She sure ain't smelling like us."
The lead vampire took a step forward. "So it remains to be known...just what exactly is your business here?"
Without so much as another word Bloodstorm flicked out her leg, sending the rotting skull stuck on the end of her foot hurtling through the air where it shattered upon impact with the lead vampire's face. The movement was fast even for these vampires, who semlt as though they hadn't been turned more than a decade.
As the first two vampires lunged forward through the air, Ororo's eyes were unblinking as she spun; arching her blade through the air and cleanly decaptating the closest. The other one dropped into a crouch beside her and attempted to sweep her legs from under her but she rammed her sowrd into his shoulder and then vaulted over his sweep and pulled her sword free, bringing it round and taking the vamp's head off.
The bodies were dust before they even hit the ground as the lead vampire wiped the viscera from his face and ordered his remaining three commrades to attack. Ororo was unphased as she leapt to meet their advances - ramming her boot into the gut of the first, backhanding the second and slicing the thirds left arm clean off. Her opponents fell in heaps around her as she pivoted in the air and landed to face them.
They snarled as they regrouped. The nearest one leapt from its fallen position to bring its claws down across her abdomen but Ororo grabbed his hand in hers and crushed every bone in his hand with her awesome strength. It roared in agony as she spun and roundhouse kicked the second approaching vampire, hearing the satisfying crack as she broke its jaw. The armless vamp squirmed in a pool of its own blood as it tried to escape but Ororo closed the distance and with a swipe of her blade sent his head tumbling across the ground where it combusted.
Turning to regard the remaining threat, Ororo's eyes darkened as the sky was split by two huge bolts of lightning which tore through the chest cavities of the two lesser vamps; gravely injuring them. The lead vampire walked casually forward and slowly clapped his hands in applause.
"I'm honoured...to actually meet the legend."
Ororo watched him carefully. "What are you talking about?"
"You. The Bloodstorm. You're a vampire legend now, didn't you know?"
His words unnerved her. "Shut up."
"I have to hand it to you; I mean, we owe you a lot."
"I said SHUT UP!"
Ororo leapt forward at him and kicked him in the jaw, the force causing him to bite off his own tongue. As he stumbled backwards, his mouht full of blood, Ororo pinned him down with a boot to his chest and rose her sword to end it. She gazed into his eyes as he smiled up at her with blood-stained teeth before her blade flashed in the half-light on the waning moon and the night air was filled once more with ashes.
She put her sword back in its sheath and dusted herself off before continuing toward her destination. Her mind was troubled by the vampire's words as she desperately tried to clear her mind. Soon enough however, she reached her destination and her mind automatically returned to her duties. Silently she crossed the street and stood before a huge derelict building. It had once been a public library and though the upper floors were trecherous and condemned, the basement was filled with books and archive materials and the very person she needed to see.
Moving around to the side of the building, she shifted a garbage cart to reveal a secret access hatch. She glanced around before descending and climbed down a small ladder before she stepped off into a small service elevator that had been installed years ago, before technologies were stolen or destroyed by the vampires. The elevator whirred quietly as it took her down into the tunnels leading into the basment after the main exits were all booby-trapped.
Stepping off the elevator, Ororo made her way down a short passage before coming up against a huge metal door. She banged on it, the sound vibrating through the tunnel and echoing back eerily. Some moments later the door was opened by a young afro-carribean woman who looks out at Ororo.
"Is he here?" Ororo asked.
"Where else is he likely to be?" the woman asked callously.
She moved to one side to let Ororo pass before directing her along a small hall to an old office. Ororo nodded in thanks and slowly made her way to the frosted glass door. She raised her hand to knock but a voice beyond told her to enter. She stepped into the vacant room to find a bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling and the man she had come to see sitting in a chair with his back to her.
As she closed the door, his head tilted slightly. "You're one of them, aren't you?"
She was silent for a moment. "Yes."
"What do you want?"
"I am part of the resistance, we need your help."
The man laughed softly as the chair swivelled round. Ororo looked on the man seated in his dirty rags in shock. His face was badly scared, his eyes shielded behind a pair of dark glasses. His trousers where folded up under the stumps of his legs which where missing below the mid-thigh. His name was Matthew Murdock. In his day he had been known as the DareDevil; one of the few survivors of the time of heroes - his legs taken from him by the cruel, black mascinations of the vampire scourge.
"My help...what can I a blind man with no legs really do to help the resistance I wonder?"
Ororo stepped forward, pulling the paper document she had brought with her from her jacket. She unrolled it and set it before him.
"We need to know what it says on here."
Murdock's dry and dirty hands moved toward the paper as his fingers trailed the fading print.
"What is it you are looking for?" he asked.
"A location. We need to know the whereabouts of the facility that document details."
Ororo stood over him and waited patiently as Murdock's hands purposely trailed over the paper. Though the print had faded, it was still there and as such Murdock's enhanced sense of touch enabled him to "read" it. After a series of long minutes, Murdock lifted his head and offered the paper back to Ororo.
"It's an underground facility; on the outskirts of the city. Twenty miles south-east of the old Xavier Institute."
Her eyes dropped at the mention of that place, now no more than a gutted tomb and undoubtedly crawling with vampires like every other inch of this filth-ridden world. She took the paper back and said her thanks.
"What are you going there for?" Murdock asked with intruige.
"Rumour has it there's a body down there."
Murdock's face crumpled in a frown. "What use is a body?"
Ororo paused for a moment, unsure if she should say anything more. "It is supposedly where the vampires put Dracula's remains."
Murdock glanced up at her, even though he could not see with his eyes the weight of his "stare" bore into her. "Dracula? What could you possibly do with that pile of old bones?"
Ororo moved toward the door and pulled it half-open. "Ressurect him."
To Be Continued...
All memories of a time when the streets would be bustling with people and the sounds of everyday life had long since faded; bleed from every fibre of every being - from every brick of every building - by the tightening hold the vampires had on this world.
Running down an alley she didn't even slow as she stepped up onto a grabage can and flipped over a barbed wire blockade. Landing on the other side, her foot carelessly went through the top od a putrifying skull, filling the silent night air with a sickening crunch and the smell of rotting brain matter. She remained motionless as she watched the shadows, her eyes piercing the veil of darkness like flood lights.
For a moment she thought she was safe until a distant movement caught her attention. She watched as the movement got closer and with it seemed to multiply until she could pick out several figures moving through the gloom toward her. Slowly she reached round and drew her sword as the first figure dropped from a spiralling flip to a crouch a few hundred yards ahead of her. As this figure rose its head to snarl at her, its companions drew up along side it.
"What's someone like you doing in a vampire ghetto after sundown?" said the lead vamp, standing to his full height.
Bloodstorm remained silent, keeping her sword concealed behind her back.
"She looks like wanna the Royals!" said another vamp, this one short and bald. "She sure ain't smelling like us."
The lead vampire took a step forward. "So it remains to be known...just what exactly is your business here?"
Without so much as another word Bloodstorm flicked out her leg, sending the rotting skull stuck on the end of her foot hurtling through the air where it shattered upon impact with the lead vampire's face. The movement was fast even for these vampires, who semlt as though they hadn't been turned more than a decade.
As the first two vampires lunged forward through the air, Ororo's eyes were unblinking as she spun; arching her blade through the air and cleanly decaptating the closest. The other one dropped into a crouch beside her and attempted to sweep her legs from under her but she rammed her sowrd into his shoulder and then vaulted over his sweep and pulled her sword free, bringing it round and taking the vamp's head off.
The bodies were dust before they even hit the ground as the lead vampire wiped the viscera from his face and ordered his remaining three commrades to attack. Ororo was unphased as she leapt to meet their advances - ramming her boot into the gut of the first, backhanding the second and slicing the thirds left arm clean off. Her opponents fell in heaps around her as she pivoted in the air and landed to face them.
They snarled as they regrouped. The nearest one leapt from its fallen position to bring its claws down across her abdomen but Ororo grabbed his hand in hers and crushed every bone in his hand with her awesome strength. It roared in agony as she spun and roundhouse kicked the second approaching vampire, hearing the satisfying crack as she broke its jaw. The armless vamp squirmed in a pool of its own blood as it tried to escape but Ororo closed the distance and with a swipe of her blade sent his head tumbling across the ground where it combusted.
Turning to regard the remaining threat, Ororo's eyes darkened as the sky was split by two huge bolts of lightning which tore through the chest cavities of the two lesser vamps; gravely injuring them. The lead vampire walked casually forward and slowly clapped his hands in applause.
"I'm honoured...to actually meet the legend."
Ororo watched him carefully. "What are you talking about?"
"You. The Bloodstorm. You're a vampire legend now, didn't you know?"
His words unnerved her. "Shut up."
"I have to hand it to you; I mean, we owe you a lot."
"I said SHUT UP!"
Ororo leapt forward at him and kicked him in the jaw, the force causing him to bite off his own tongue. As he stumbled backwards, his mouht full of blood, Ororo pinned him down with a boot to his chest and rose her sword to end it. She gazed into his eyes as he smiled up at her with blood-stained teeth before her blade flashed in the half-light on the waning moon and the night air was filled once more with ashes.
She put her sword back in its sheath and dusted herself off before continuing toward her destination. Her mind was troubled by the vampire's words as she desperately tried to clear her mind. Soon enough however, she reached her destination and her mind automatically returned to her duties. Silently she crossed the street and stood before a huge derelict building. It had once been a public library and though the upper floors were trecherous and condemned, the basement was filled with books and archive materials and the very person she needed to see.
Moving around to the side of the building, she shifted a garbage cart to reveal a secret access hatch. She glanced around before descending and climbed down a small ladder before she stepped off into a small service elevator that had been installed years ago, before technologies were stolen or destroyed by the vampires. The elevator whirred quietly as it took her down into the tunnels leading into the basment after the main exits were all booby-trapped.
Stepping off the elevator, Ororo made her way down a short passage before coming up against a huge metal door. She banged on it, the sound vibrating through the tunnel and echoing back eerily. Some moments later the door was opened by a young afro-carribean woman who looks out at Ororo.
"Is he here?" Ororo asked.
"Where else is he likely to be?" the woman asked callously.
She moved to one side to let Ororo pass before directing her along a small hall to an old office. Ororo nodded in thanks and slowly made her way to the frosted glass door. She raised her hand to knock but a voice beyond told her to enter. She stepped into the vacant room to find a bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling and the man she had come to see sitting in a chair with his back to her.
As she closed the door, his head tilted slightly. "You're one of them, aren't you?"
She was silent for a moment. "Yes."
"What do you want?"
"I am part of the resistance, we need your help."
The man laughed softly as the chair swivelled round. Ororo looked on the man seated in his dirty rags in shock. His face was badly scared, his eyes shielded behind a pair of dark glasses. His trousers where folded up under the stumps of his legs which where missing below the mid-thigh. His name was Matthew Murdock. In his day he had been known as the DareDevil; one of the few survivors of the time of heroes - his legs taken from him by the cruel, black mascinations of the vampire scourge.
"My help...what can I a blind man with no legs really do to help the resistance I wonder?"
Ororo stepped forward, pulling the paper document she had brought with her from her jacket. She unrolled it and set it before him.
"We need to know what it says on here."
Murdock's dry and dirty hands moved toward the paper as his fingers trailed the fading print.
"What is it you are looking for?" he asked.
"A location. We need to know the whereabouts of the facility that document details."
Ororo stood over him and waited patiently as Murdock's hands purposely trailed over the paper. Though the print had faded, it was still there and as such Murdock's enhanced sense of touch enabled him to "read" it. After a series of long minutes, Murdock lifted his head and offered the paper back to Ororo.
"It's an underground facility; on the outskirts of the city. Twenty miles south-east of the old Xavier Institute."
Her eyes dropped at the mention of that place, now no more than a gutted tomb and undoubtedly crawling with vampires like every other inch of this filth-ridden world. She took the paper back and said her thanks.
"What are you going there for?" Murdock asked with intruige.
"Rumour has it there's a body down there."
Murdock's face crumpled in a frown. "What use is a body?"
Ororo paused for a moment, unsure if she should say anything more. "It is supposedly where the vampires put Dracula's remains."
Murdock glanced up at her, even though he could not see with his eyes the weight of his "stare" bore into her. "Dracula? What could you possibly do with that pile of old bones?"
Ororo moved toward the door and pulled it half-open. "Ressurect him."
To Be Continued...