Author's Note: Thanks for everyone's nice reviews…and as for shadowsonic137…well, for everyone else, I apologize for the harsh way I dealt with him…but I got really annoyed. I guess I didn't handle my first "flame" very well, and for that I apologize…I mean, I thought that writing was all about using your imagination…and, I really hope that I haven't "fucked up the whole Tekken plot" and if I have then I'm very sorry…I just thought it'd be an interesting take on an already wonderful story. Anyway, I'm so happy for those who have been kind enough to write me nice, friendly, critiques (not blatant criticisms) okay, I'll shut up now...
Jamie Parker walked through the suffocating darkness of the warehouse's corridor. His enhanced vision adjusted to the gloom with little no complaints. The shipping yard was huge and housed several, large warehouses. Nina thought that it might be best if everyone split up, that way they could cut the time in half.
And they were running desperately short on time.
Jamie had a headset on, as did the others. Nina had supplied them, and Jamie felt for a moment like he was in a 007 movie or something. This way, everyone could keep in contact, with each other as they were scattered throughout the shipping yard.
Hwoarang and Steve were placed in the same warehouse as Jamie was. Xiao, Jin, and Nina were in another. To minimize the searching, Julia had managed to get into the control room and hack through some of the harbormaster's files. Apparently, the occult cargo was being stored in two warehouses…the same ones that Jamie, Nina and the others were investigating.
Christie was in the control room with Julia. Protecting the Native American computer genius if anything tried to attack her…although that was just a title to make sure that Christie didn't get in the way. She meant well, and Jamie thought she was an awesome friend, but right now, Jamie thought for sure that Christie was sitting on a table with one leg draped over the other, doing her nails.
So far, the warehouses were lightly guarded. Jamie had only encountered about five vamps in the hour and a half since he had been wondering around. The boxes that they had searched did have occult items in them…but they were all herbs, candles, and the like. The candles were used for ambience during rituals, and the herbs in the boxes were used for menial spells; fire into ice, truth spells, and the like.
"So, you mean to tell me that none of this stuff is what we're looking for?" Hwoarang said through the radio chatter.
"Well, they are occult items, but this stuff isn't used for anything remotely dangerous." Jamie replied.
"So…what then? Is this just gonna be a big bust?" Steve asked.
"I have this feeling that maybe all these other items are here to just throw us off. Dr. Abel might have ordered all of this useless junk to keep us from seeing the truth…to keep us from getting to the real items that fathe- I mean Kazuya wants." Jin observed.
"That's a good point." Nina complimented.
"So, how do we know where the right stuff is?" Xiaoyu asked.
"Hm…wait a minute…I'm detecting a lot of movement in your warehouse Jamie. There's a lot of vamp activity towards the back…right around where the water is…why don't you guys check there?" Julia suggested.
"Got it!" Jamie quipped.
"Thanks Jules!" Hwoarang called.
"Back o' the warehouse it is then!" Steve exclaimed merrily.
The direct route to the back of the warehouse was blocked off with debris. Jamie, Hwoarang, and Steve had to take a side route via the docks. By traversing the waterfront, they would not only meet up with Nina, Jin, and Xiao, but get into the back of the warehouse…and to the proverbial motherload of occult goodies that Kazuya had stockpiled.
Jamie shivered in the cold, and began to ponder on exactly what Kazuya wanted so badly. Jamie's knowledge of the occult was limited at best. Nephilim training required an expert knowledge in self defense, and a well rounded comprehension of demonology, and magic.
Well, on the bright side, Jamie was a helluva fighter.
As he walked down the docks, his sneakers clonked heavily on the wood; in the stillness of the night, Jamie worried that the noise would give him away…but the night was still.
It was quiet…much too quiet.
"Jamie!" Hwoarang's voice cut through the twilight.
Quickly, Jamie turned and ran towards his friend. The red haired Korean held several obsidian objects in his hand. Steve stood with Hwoarang looking at the strange things in his hand.
"Been picking these up for awhile now, and they look like they're either decorative black ashtrays,"
"Or industrial sized guitar picks!" Steve interrupted.
"Hm," Jamie looked down to investigate them. Gingerly, he picked one of them up, and shuddered slightly at how…slimy they felt. Still, the texture did feel somewhat familiar to Jamie…almost identically like fish scales… "They could be scales…from a fish?" Jamie suggested.
"I don't think a normal fish would leave behind scales like these!" Hwoarang argued.
"Then I guess they're from some demonic jumbo shrimp or something." Jamie replied.
"You're kidding right?" Steve asked with a nervous chuckle.
"I never joke about demonic seafood," Jamie began.
He meant for the comment to be taken as one of his trademark sarcastic quips…but, as if right on cue, a rumbling could be heard below the planks. Suddenly, the planks below him exploded. Jamie promptly fell on his butt several inches from the ragged hole that was the remnants of this particular section of the waterfront.
"Jamie!" Hwoarang and Steve called.
Quickly, they helped Jamie up…and stared at their latest obstacle. It looked somewhat like a tiger…only with scales, and two strange tendrils protruding from its back.
"See? This is why I never joke about demonic seafood…" Jamie whispered.
Quick as lightning, the creature attacked by lashing its tendrils at the trio; Steve and Hwoarang dodged the attack, but Jamie got smacked full on in the face. He groaned in agony as he spun through the air, and landed several feet away. The creature let out an ear piercing screech and leapt across the gaping hole it created.
"Jamie! Are you okay?" Hwoarang asked.
Jamie groaned as he stood up. A huge gash had been streaked across his forehead.
"I'll be fine! Nephilim healing remember? I'm going after it! I'll meet you guys in the warehouse!"
With Nephilim speed, he ran after the creature, and cleared the gap that the demon had created…leaving Steve and Hwoarang to find another way into the cargo bay…
The creature left a trail of scales, and echoing howls through the night sky.
Kinda like breadcrumbs…gross, disgusting, disturbing breadcrumbs…
The wound on Jamie's face stung…but he couldn't let it get him down. Already, it had begun to heal…the only problem he had was when the blood would drip into his eyes…but the blood had begun to coagulate so that was no longer a problem. Jamie tracked the creature onto the roof of the warehouse. By using his momentum, Jamie managed to get to the roof by hopping across stacks of boxes.
The roof of the building was huge, with a skylight in the middle…but more importantly, that nasty demon was here…and he began to rush at Jamie.
This time though, the Nephilim was ready for it.
The demon lashed it's tendrils out at Jamie, and the Nephilim dodged them. A well placed side kick to the temple stunned the beast. In its stunned form, Jamie quickly hacked off its tendrils…copious amounts of green blood gushed from its wounds in a kind of macabre fountain.
Spinning angrily, the beast lashed its claws at Jamie. The Nephilim dodged the attack, and landed on his knees. Quickly, he hacked at its feet and severed one of its legs. He rolled out of the way before the creature landed on him.
"You're move stumpy!" Jamie called.
Angrily, the demon howled in agony as he collapsed from loss of blood.
"Well, that was very anti-climactic…wonder what's going down under the skylight?" Jamie wondered.
He looked down below, and saw Jin, Nina, Xiao, and Hwoarang engaged in a fierce battle with about ten strong looking vampires.
"Uh-oh…looks like that's my cue!" Jamie murmured as he jumped through the glass, and landed on top of an incredibly heavy crate.
"Jamie! Cut the rope!!" Nina called, before a vampire decked her in the face.
Quick as lightning, he took his ax and hacked the ropes. The box fell with a huge, ear splitting crash…abruptly ending the lives of half of the vampire guard. Not wasting anymore time, Jamie leapt down into the fray with the remaining vamps. Swords and various other weapons were brandished and used…but finally, the room erupted into the cerulean fires of vanquished vamps.
"Alright, I'm cross checking the inventory, and Christie's watching the cameras," Julia began…her voice cutting through their headsets. "That big box that's being held up by that crane? It has several important artifacts in it; something called the Seal of Metatron? Another called the Sovereign's Edge, and several rubies known collectively as The Vie de Angelus."
Everyone looked expectedly at Jamie…who shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, all this stuff is news to me too. But they must do something cool since Kazuya wanted 'em so badly…all we've gotta do is lower the crane."
"Already two steps ahead of ya!" A distinctly British voice called.
"Steve!" Everyone shouted.
He smiled down at the group from inside the crane.
"Hey look! I'm crane-operator man…always wanted to sumthin' like this when I was a li'l nipper." He said as he cracked his knuckles.
Jamie and Xiao grinned to each other when they noticed the glacial Nina quickly smirk at her son's comment.
"Okay crane-operator man, can we get the fuckin' crate down so we can leave?!" Hwoarang called crossly.
"Alright, alright! Hang on a sec!" Steve exclaimed.
Steve fumbled with the controls, but finally found the right one. As he gingerly lowered the box, and moved it slightly to the left…a vampire leapt out of nowhere and attacked him.
"STEVE!!" Nina shouted.
Immediately, Jamie ran towards the crane to stop the vamp…but completely forgot about the box that was swinging at a rapid pace in his direction! The box slammed into Jamie's side, and broke through a door. The result would've crippled a normal person…but fortunately, Jamie wasn't normal. However, this predicament posed another problem…with the box blocking his only exit, Jamie was temporarily trapped.
He could hear signs of a scuffle beyond, and the kind of poof sound a vampire makes when it explodes into flames. He also heard Steve proclaim.
"That's it! No more crane operator man for me! I'm callin' me Union rep."
Under more pleasant circumstances, Jamie would've laughed at the comment…but this was far from pleasant. The area he was in had a conveyor belt that he remembered ran out to the room where his friends were…but the belt was off. He'd have to turn the power on, but first, he wanted to open the box and grab the artifacts. The crate was heavy, but a few placed kicks should splinter the wood enough to create a small enough hole for the Nephilim to crawl in and grab the stuff.
Jamie only wished that it was that easy.
"Jamie?! You alright?" Xiao called.
"Yeah! I'm fine…there's a conveyor belt in here, I'll be with you guys in a sec…but first, I wanna get this stuff outta the-"
Jamie didn't finish before the crate's side exploded in a shower of dust and splinters. The force caused Jamie to fly through the air and smack his head hard against the wall. Slowly, the Nephilim coughed as he stood up, and looked towards the crate. He blanched, and the color completely drained from his face.
The Devil from his dream stood in the box.
"No…" Jamie whispered.
"Oh yes. It is I American Nephilim." Devil said in a low, gravely, menacing voice that seemed to echo and carry several pitches at once.
Jamie had faced Kazuya before, and he had nearly died because of it…now he faced evil in its truest form.
"I suppose Anna Williams couldn't kill you either. I figured as much. I will admit that I had underestimated you a great deal. You've beaten back my vampire minions, my high priest, and even my brother." Devil began to advance on Jamie at an incredibly fast speed…still, Jamie began to back up.
His back bumped into something somewhat sharp, he turned, and found that it was the switch for the conveyor belt! Desperately, Jamie through the switch, and moved to jump onto the belt, but Devil was on him.
Quickly, the demon grabbed a handful of Jamie's hair and pulled. Jamie cried out in pain and agony as he heard a sound not unlike pulling Velcro. In one fluid motion, Devil flung Jamie across the room and into the crate. As the Nephilim flew through the air, he felt chunks of his hair and scalp give way.
They would heal in time…but for now…he was in utter agony.
Jamie hit the side of crate hard. Splinters of wood shattered everywhere…and as he slowly began to get up, he noticed five rubies glinting in the shadows...they were some of those artifacts that Julia spoke of! Quickly he pocketed them, along with what looked like a rusted pendent with runes displayed on it, and a rusted crucifix with a chain around it…these were the only artifacts in the box, and he hoped they were the right ones.
Devil roared furiously and ran at Jamie. The Nephilim ran too, but not to attack. Devil was way to strong for him to fight right now in the Nephilim's already weakened state. Right now, Jamie's top priority was to run. Escape. Get the hell out!
In desperation, Jamie shoved the embodiment of evil out of his way and started towards the conveyor belt…his friends shouts and screams could he heard on the other side. Jamie was almost to a point where he could leap through the small slot and towards freedom, but Devil only laughed.
Suddenly, his forehead slit open vertically, and a purple beam shot out and hit Jamie square in the back.
The pain was immense.
Jamie felt as if his insides were slowly being hacked apart by miniature swords…and his brain was being infested by fire ants. The attack stopped him dead in his tracks…and Devil took advantage of the situation. He grabbed the Nephilim, and with a mighty beat of his wings lifted the two of them in the air.
"Ah…I can smell you're fear…this is good, because when I steal your valiant, little warrior soul, you're fear will make me all the more powerful!"
Devil prepared to fire another laser blast at point blank…Jamie desperately looked around for any means of self defense…and found a sliver of wood stuck to the fabric of his jacket. Not wasting anytime, Jamie grabbed it, and jammed it into the strange "third eye" of Devil's.
It seemed to work, because the demon screamed in agony, and dropped Jamie. Wordlessly, Jamie leapt onto the conveyor belt and finally to blessed freedom…he and the others hurried out of the warehouses, and (with Julia and Christie in tow) managed to peel out of DockTown in twenty minutes.
However, Jamie knew that Devil was far from finished…
Author's Note: Okay, I rushed the end and I'm sorry. But it's like uber late here, and even though I only have one class tomorrow at 11:30, I'd still like to get some kind of semblance of sleep…since it's like 1:30 AM here…anyway, please read and review, no flames please…I think that my writer's block period is over HURRAH!!! At anyrate, once again, I apologize for my long ass rant about my first "flame" I know I handled it pretty badly but I guess everyone get's flames once in awhile so I guess I shouldn't let it bother me…afterall, it's like one, in over fifty reviews!! Anyway, much love to everyone, thanks for everyone's support. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!! If I can get 100 reviews by the time I finish this story that'd be super!!!!