Darkstalkers The Series: Dawn of the Huitzil Chapter 4: Termination, a darkstalkers fanfic

"Even if the unit is destroyed, the program will continue."

Man against monster. Monster against self. The story is as old as time. Even in the empires of the ancients, they existed in one form or another: the proverbial 'spirits of the night'. One culture, the Mayans, may have found the first successful defense in history against the plague known as the Darkstalkers.

DARKSTALKERS: DAWN OF THE HUITZIL

CHAPTER FOUR: TERMINATION

As he opened his eyes, Donovan found that his burns had been dressed in a makeshift light blue cloth obviously torn from a large shirt. The others had been given the same treatment and the obvious fixer upper was sitting by the doorway to the room, emitting a faint luminescence via the electricity coursing through his body.

Talbain looked over to see him awake and nodded slowly, "How are your hands? Mine are still a bit tingly." Donovan stood up, "I will live."

Mei-Ling, Anita, Felicia, Aulbath, and Quatos were all huddled around in a circle talking amongst themselves when Felicia peeked up to see Donovan awake, "Hey there big guy; sleep well?" She grinned cheerfully as if they weren't still in danger.

Mei-Ling rose to her feet, "Now that the entire party is roused, we ought to keep moving before we attract any more attention than we have." "Agreed", Talbain nodded firmly, "How do you suggest we go about our research?"

Mei-Ling shined a light up against the wall, "Normally in pyramids there are some sort of paintings which are relevant to events of the times. If indeed the Huitzil are a product of the Mayan myths, there should be mention of them in the walls somewhere. However, this room holds no such paintings and is therefore useless to us."

Quatos frowned, "All this talking is boring. Why don't we just go smash the dumb things and get it over with?" At this, Anita spoke up, "That would be unwise. Then -he- would know we are here and he will come."

All eyes shifted to the girl but Aulbath was the first to voice his opinion, "If you don't mind me asking chico, who is 'he'?" Anita closed her eyes and spoke slowly, almost dramatically, "He is the one who collects worlds. He is the Ruler of the Universe, as mortal men know it. He is the bringer and taker of light and life. He is Pyron."

Quatos blinked, "The kid has a screw loose!" "I'm not so sure", Talbain commented with grave tension in his voice, "Anita's powers of mind have served us in the past and I would be a fool to doubt her now. Can you tell us more?"

Anita shook her head, "No, I am sorry; that is the extent of the vision." Talbain's eyes lowered, "I see. In that case, you all heard her clearly enough: we don't attack the Huitzil unless they attack us first. Until then, we learn anything else we can."

"This is insanity", Aulbath shook his head, "If we attack them we bring about the end of the world. If we don't attack them they bring it about by themselves. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't so I say let's do it."

Quatos slammed a hard fist on the ground, making a thunderous echo, "YEAH! Let's show those things what for!" The noise was a bit more than he had anticipated though, and the shock waves trembled awake some unwanted residents of the pyramid. A whirring buzz could distinctly be heard just down the hall and getting closer.

Talbain flashed Quatos a glare, "You fool! We might as well kiss our asses goodbye after that little stunt!" "Please be calm Jon Talbain", Mei-Ling broke in as quietly as she could to still be heard over the noise, "We have no time and must prepare ourselves for the fray to come."

Donovan took a stance, drawing his sword, "Indeed. This is an inevitable event now and the time has come to sink or swim." Talbain nodded and took his stance, wishing he'd worn something besides these jeans. The others stanced in unison behind the two of them.

There was a long pause. It seemed like forever, waiting in that darkness, and just as if they had known exactly when the group would drop their guards, eight Huitzil broke into the large room through a wall on cue.

One of them spoke for the entire unit, "Intruder alert: destroy on sight." Beams began charging at the top of their heads. "Get out of the way!", Victor shouted, diving into the direct path of several of the beams as they fired.

"Victor!", Donovan shouted, jumping into the fray and slicing horizontally at one of the robots, cutting it clean in half. Sparks flew as the severed halves fell to the floor.

A bit of smoke cleared, just enough to see through in the dim light, and Victor stood up with minor burns and a slight smirk on his face, "Electricity is just fire with a bite. Your tricks are getting old." With this remark, he promptly dashed forward and gave one of the Huitzil his own display of 'fire': an electric smash attack that sent parts of the automaton flying across the room.

Talbain grinned, baring his sharp lupine teeth, "I can play by those rules." He beast cannoned forward at another of the Huitzil, smashing it like a soda can against one of the walls and sending sparks showering.

"Subjects deemed too powerful for this unit", one of the robots said out of nowhere, "Sending emergency backup signal now."

"Oh no you don't", Aulbath dived forward, spin kicking the head off of the one that had said that. The head fell to the floor muttering, "Malfunction. Malfunction", before shutting down due to failure of power.

"Units down. Sending emergency backup signal", several of the remaining units said in unison. A loud signal similar to what you hear every time you use an internet dial-up began ringing through the air as they called for backup.

"Shit, we've got to get out of here!" Talbain looked around furiously.

"ENOUGH", Quatos shouted and lunged forward, swinging a massive fist that knocked the remaining units in the room completely for a loop and shattered them into the nearest solid object which was fortunately a wall.

Felicia sniffed the air, still in a stance, "More metal headed this way. A big chunk of it too: why am I not surprised?"

Everyone clustered together, trying their best to circle the wagons one way or another. However, they were not expecting what happened next. A shrill note came shredding through the room as it erupted into light. It looked like certain death.

But then, when the light faded, the entire party found themselves somehow hovering in the air. In the center of them was Anita, eyes closed tightly as she attempting to hold the barrier that had protected them from their demise.

Quatos clung to Aulbath, "Ok I take back the loose screw comment, just please don't leave us hanging like this!" Slowly the barrier lowered with them to the ground and Anita opened her eyes, panting heavily.

Donovan looked up, "There!" Above them, already in wait, was a seemingly endless legion of red eyed silhouettes that were quite obviously more Huitzil in the cold, uncaring darkness that permeated this golden pyramid.

"Intruder Alert", the began to chant in unison, "All targets to be destroyed on sight. All targets within range. Commence fire in 5. 4. 3. 2."

All was silent. The lights went off except for the glow stick Mei-Ling was carrying and Victor's faintly glowing body. Felicia's eyes widened as her cat eyes peered up into the darkness, "EVERYBODY RUN!"

The group exited the room just in time as countless metal bodies, completely lifeless, began littering the room until it was completely full. There was no telling what had happened but the heroes didn't want to stick around to find out. They exited the pyramid in a manner of fifteen minutes.

The world was not the same as it had been when they had entered however. Now there was not one sun, but two, in the sky which burned an eternal fiery orange. The land around seemed unchanged but the heat was almost unbearable.

Aulbath stood beside Talbain as they looked up, "What the hell happened?" Talbain was at a loss for words, "I don't know. I just don't know."

DARKSTALKERS: THE SERIES WRITTEN BY REGIS A WELCH