Order 8: Eclipse
Time Stamp: Present
Location: Vatican City, in route to unknown train station
The turrets on the train were constantly firing at anything that came to close for comfort to the train. Inside the metal beast the soldiers were constantly at the controls, either reloading the turrets or using there own guns and training to snipe off anything that the turrets missed.
Both William and Walter were busy in the control car trying to get the trains location relative to the Iscariot headquarters. Seras was nervously standing guard, guns drawn. Without notice, the train lurched with more speed.
"What the hell was that!" Seras demanded.
"Kids power is fire, this train burns coal, do the math Seras." William responded, he didn't have time to be distracted.
"The closest we can get to the headquarters is here." William said, pointing to a train station. "Its about 6 kilometers away from the Iscariots headquarters. Whoever's goin to go is goin to have to deal with quite a bit of land to cover between where we stop and the target.
"Obviously the troops wont be able to cover that on foot with hell on earth and all." Walter remarked.
"Obviously me and Nathan will be going, what about the other two?"
"Myself and Yumi can handle ourselves." Henikel replied as she entered the car looking for more ammo for her desert eagles. "We were trained to depart the damned after all."
An explosion rocked the train a moment later sending the group to the floor. "What the heck was that!" William shouted as he picked himself up from the ground and looked at the monitor's.
The screen displayed the train and two cars; the third one was missing along with anyone in that car at that moment. There was no time to grief for the lost or go back for the car if it still existed, no they had to press on. Without having to be told what to do, the small group returned to there activities of defending the train as they headed towards the station, even when they reached that it would not be a refuge. No anyone who remained would have to stand against the clones and anything else that was thrown their way.
R-O8-FB/
Nathan loved being in his "true" state. Something about being fire, to actually be the energy that gave off light, heat and everything else that fire gave off just felt warm to Nathan. It was only in this state though that he felt truly comfortable. In this state he could control the temperature that the boiler was at, giving the train that extra boost of speed that it desperately needed. He, however, couldn't be out helping the troops or Seras in fighting the enemy. No, he couldn't be in more than one place at once, even though he could stretch himself out to the point that it wouldn't matter, he needed to focus on the task at hand.
He felt the trains' wheels freeze up against the metal of the rails; the train was starting to slow at the conductors command. It was time now for the real fun to begin.
R-O8-FB/
The possessed force raced towards the stopped train, only to be cut down by the singing bullets that the turrets shot. Razor wire danced around the area around the train, slicing to bits anyone that came within their radius. Occasionally there would be the sound and smell of burning flesh as a warm body came in contact with one of the wires. Both father and sun were enjoying the time that they were together, though they would both have wished for it to have been under difference circumstances.
Nathan stood on the roof sending bouts of fire into the crowd. He muttered under his breath something in Latin constantly as he worked. As the solders and others held off the horde of demonically possessed Seras, Yumi and Heinkel ran threw the train stations surprisingly large car garage complex. They needed a way to get to the headquarters, several cars, trucks, and so forth had made good candidates, but there were still several floors to search. Heinkel was holding out hope for the slim chance of a hummer or other form of heavy transport that had armor. Most of the vehicles in the garage were just a thin sheet of metal that wouldn't provide any protection for the troops that went to face Maxwell at the headquarters.
"How about this one?" Seras said standing next to a Cadillac. The car was both wide and the make had been known to be heavyset hinting that it could take a beating and was quickly added to the list of possibilities. Eventually they reached the roof of the garage. A few cars dotted here and there. The trio walked over to the edge and looked over the barrier, what they saw made even Seras pale.
As far as the eye could see there was destruction, Vatican City lay in ruin, the possessed clone army ran around rampant, buildings were ablaze and the sound of gunfire was always present. It was indeed hell on earth. Directly below them was the Logos. On top of her cars were Walter, William and Nathan, each using their unique abilities to hold off the army as along as they could. A sudden shout of delight caught Yumi's and Seras' attention as they turned to face Heinkel who was busy running towards a rather large, black, Hummer.
R-O8-FB/
The former military transports engine roared to life as Yumi lifted herself from under the console. Both Seras and Heinkel gave Yumi a questioning stare as she sat down in the drivers seat. "What?"
"Why does a sister know how to do that?" Seras asked as she climbed into the back of the Hummer.
"I was bored one week and just decided to pick the locks on the desks at work." Yumi said nonchalantly as she shifted the vehicle into gear and roared down the driveway.
"That still doesn't explain things!" Seras shouted as they pulled along the train. Nathan quickly jumped down and entered the Vehicle, leaving the rest to defend the train without him. The Hummer plowed threw the mass without any problem having been designed to handle rough terrain plowing threw bodies wasn't an issue.
"So what's the plan? How are we going to stop them?" Heinkel said as she reloaded her guns and brought them to the ready.
"As far as I know, Legion is the one controlling most of the clones but he's following orders, we need to find Maxwell. He's at worst a puppet in this, at best the ring leader. We kill the ring leader, we cut off there organization and the other Phoenix in the area will be able to take out the army in one sweep."
"Why Maxwell?" Seras asked as she held on to the side of the car, Yumi's driving left something to be desired but then again when your driving ontop of a demonically possessed army bent on killing you…
"He's the one that was ordering the chips to be placed in everyone at Iscariot. When we get there we will find out what happening."
R-O8-FB/
Maxwell watched from the balcony at all the destruction. The city was in flames, the local populace decimated, the army running rampant. Only the infernal Pope and his cardinals remained. They were held up safely in St. Peters. Blast them, if it weren't for those artifacts, countless blessings, and flowing holy water that man and his birds would be dead by now.
"Ah see their ah commin here." Anderson said from behind Maxwell. The man paid him no mind as he quickly spotted the vehicle containing those that Anderson spoke of.
"You know what to do…" Maxwell said.
"Aye."
"Then see to it." With that, Anderson left the room.
R-O8-FB/
The Hummer crashed threw the ancient wooden doors and entered the headquarters lobby. The inside of the structure resembled a church, a defiled church. Quickly the group piled out, respective weapons drawn and at the ready.
"I'm sure that's going to cost me a few decades in purgatory…" Yumi said as she balanced her Dai-Katana on her shoulders.
"I thought demons couldn't enter churches…" Seras said as the team walked threw the defiled corridors.
"Then explain why you are able to be in here." Heinkel said sharply. She still was uneasy with the new knowledge about the truth behind vampires.
"Heinkel." Nathan said in a warning tone. "But that does raise a question. Section thirteen was designed to keep demons and the undead out. Seras shouldn't have been able to enter, the seals and blessings must have been removed or destroyed."
"Why?" Yumi said uneasily.
"To let us all enter. They're toying with us." Nathan replied. As an after thought he took one of his sword weapons off and handed it to Seras. "You may need this."
At first she was confused then she understood. Her weapons may indeed be powerful, but like all firearms, was only effective as long as the bullets lasted. If Nathan was giving her one of his swords, then he knew that the guns wouldn't see the end of this battle. Great fully she accepted the weapon and put it on. The weapon felt heavy even to her vampirc strength.
"So, to Maxwell's office or to his quarters?" Heinkel said as they continued to walk down the hallway, the blasphemy on the once majestic and holy structure made her sick to her stomach.
"To his office, I doubt that he would be hiding in his room." Nathan said as the group continued down the hallway.
R-O8-FB/
Gunfire and explosives continued to emanate from the train. Wires flew wildly in all directions, there movements nearly to fast for the human eye to keep up with.
"This takes me back to my youth when I fought the Nazi's." Walter exclaimed. Indeed this was truly taking him back; even when he fought against the Valentine brother's ghoul army he didn't break a sweat. But this, he saw no end in sight as he continued to work his dark art.
William continued using his own wires though there weren't as many, only his artificial arm contained the electrical wires, his other hand held onto a classic looking magnum hand gun. 'So this is what life would have been if mom had stayed with dad…'
Father and son continued to stand their ground on top of the roof of the train. The turrets continued to fire there bullets as the men in the cars knew that a fate worse then becoming a ghoul awaited them if they stopped firing. Fear gripped the back of there minds as they slowly watched the ammo slowly disappear. When that happened… the idea of hand-to-hand combat did not excite them much.
R-O8-FB/
The small group encountered some resistance as they proceeded deeper into the building. All of them knew how to get to their target; Seras knew thanks to the link that her and Nathan shared. She briefly wondered if that's how she knew how to handle the sword attached to her wrist with such deadly accuracy.
During the fight she discovered a new love of fighting styles. She would use her sword weapon to distract her enemy and keep it off balance. When the timing was right she would pull Redeemer out to finish the job. Some times the sword would be all that was needed to end her opponent's retched life.
Yumi and Heinkel seemed to be the ones having the most difficulty. Yumi especially, her weapon was simply too large in the enclosed space. She was always cutting into the walls or ceilings when she was trying to strike. Her usual one stroke, one kill technique wasn't working. She was forced to resign herself to stabbing at her opponents. They were usually able to dodge the thrusts but when they came in to make the kill Heinkel would quickly take them down.
Nathan, seemed to be getting agitated as their advances were constantly being impeded by meaningless foot soldiers. "Enough of this."
Calmly, Nathan thumbed a switch causing his sword to retract back into its defensive position. Taking on a strange stance he began to mutter something. Around him waves of heat began to come off him. Suddenly he jumped into the air, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling, landed back on the floor, hit his fists into the floor and sent out waves of blue fire.
The fire passed harmlessly threw the three girls, but were not so gentle with the possessed clones. The fire latched onto there bodies instantly, demonic screams of agony instantly rang through out the floor as the bodies fell to the ground. Almost like an after image, the demons in there true form could be seen, the first now acted like chains and slowly began to drag them under the floor boards. They tried to fight against the fire like chains as they clawed in vain at the floor and walls to keep from being pulled under. A moment later they were gone, piles of ash were all that remained.
"What was that?" Seras asked as Nathan stood back up.
"Call it a field weapon if you like, I sent them back to hell, we shouldn't have any more resistance on this floor." Nathan responded.
"Why not send them into the abyss?" Yumi asked as they continued on.
"I can't open an abyss gate for more than one at a time. All I could do was put them out of this war, they can come back when they find a body unfortunately." Nathan said, he didn't sound pleased with the affects of one of his many weapons.
R-O8-FB/
"They don't give up, do they?" Walter said with another wave of his razor wire, cutting down an several of the clones at once.
"No they don't..." William responded, his own wires dancing threw the massive army. He looked briefly at the army, there was no end. Even if Nathan got to the source, how were they going to send this many back to hell?
The sound in the air changed, one of the guns had gone silent. That could only mean one thing, it had either ran out of ammo or the crew manning it was dead. "Oh that's not good..."
"Indeed. I admit this might be the end for us son." Walter said, a grim smile on his face as he glanced over at William.
"Maybe, in the mean time lets send as many as we can back to hell."
"Indeed."
They continued to on, cutting down any that got within reach of there wires, eventually it got to the point that the enemy had to crawl over their dead to see the train, a moment later they to would be cut down either by gun fire or by razor wire.
R-O8-FB/
"Well, this is new." Heinkel commented. The group stood before several archways, each one leading off somewhere into the darkness.
"So, what do we do now?" Seras asked.
"We could split up." Yumi said.
"Fine, Yumi and Heinkel will take the one on the left. Seras and myself the one on the right."
Yumi and Heinkel quickly departed down the hallway, weapons drawn ready for anything.
"Shall we?" Nathan asked, a familiar grin on his face.
Seras thought for a moment before replying. "No, you go ahead, you know the place better then me."
"As you wish." The two started for the hallway, Nathan in the lead a little, nether noticed that someone was watching them from above. The moment that Nathan stepped into the Hallway a gate came crashing down, separating both Nathan and Seras.
"Okay..." Nathan remarked.
Several other gates came slamming down, blocking all exits, effectively cutting Seras and Nathan off from one and another.
"No problem, I can pass threw them." Seras said coolly. When she tried however, she jumped back in pain.
"What?" Nathan responded.
"That hurt." Seras said as she looked down at her hands, the burn marks began to fade away instantly. She blinked, how could something have burnt her unless. "Dammit, they have silver between the bars."
"That shouldn't be a problem." Nathan responded and he grabbed hold of one of the bars. In a matter of seconds the cold steel turned bright orange as Nathan focused the miniature fire in his palm to incredibly hot temperatures.
Without warning several swords flew past Nathan, some hitting the gate, others passing threw the gaps. "Nay lad, ye will not be doin anythin of the sort."
Nathan turned, the voice all to familiar to him. "I didn't expect you so soon, Anderson."
"Oh come now lad, I taught ye better than that." With that, his body burst into flames and took off down the hall.
"Go, ill be fine!" Seras said before Nathan even turned to resume his work."
"Are you sure?"
"Nathan. Yes I'm sure. Go! I can find my own way out." Seras replied. Nathan gave one final glance down the hallway and back at her.
"GO!" Nathan rand down the hallway, fire erupting from his body, returning to his "natural" form.
R-O8-FB/
Seras stood there for a minute. The link between her and Nathan was strong enough for her to know that he was tempted to turn back still. A few strong pushes from her forced him to continue on his chase. Now that, that was out of the way she began to try to think of a way out. Naturally she could try to turn to mist but this was the Vatican headquarters. She was sure that such things were taken into account. She looked a the sword gauntlet on her arm. She really didn't have any idea out of what type of metal or material the sword was made out of and she doubted that she could hack her way out.
"Think Seras. How would mas... how would Alucard get out of something like this." She said to herself.
"Da monster wouldn have gotten caught, Draculina..."
Seras turned in time that her reflexes took over in time to use the sword to block another pair.
"Ye are quick with the blade, did ye fish food master teach ye that to?" Anderson said, trying to get a rise out of Seras.
"How the bloody hell..."
"Ah now, now. This was sacred grounds. Lets not defile it shall we?" Anderson said as he struck out again, Seras managed to dodge the blades, throwing Anderson off balance, leaving him venerable. In one fluid motion Seras upholstered the Jackal, took aim at Anderson's neck and fired. The bullets screamed pasted him, kissing the side of his neck.
"Nathan just left to chase after you... your one of them."
"Aye you catch on quickly." Anderson replied before charging at her. Seras jumped over the crazed, possessed, copy of Anderson. While she was still in the air she fired several rounds into the copies back, sending it staggering forward.
"Ye will pay for that!" the copy shouted throwing one of the swords down. Raising his hand towards Seras, flames shot out from the palm of the hand towards her. Rolling to the side she managed to dodge the fire. Looking back at the copy she noticed the Tattoo's along his fingers.
"Your just a cheap imitation. The real Anderson wouldn't have missed." That seemed to get to the copy.
"Just hold still ye wench!" The copy shouted as he took aim again and released another spray of fire. Seras grinned, she was getting him angry. One thing Alucard never did was get angry in a fight. She realized awhile ago that was one of the things that made him such a killer. He got under his opponents skin, made them do something stupid. She laughed.
"What's the matter, they forget to add the originals accuracy to that body?" Seras was jumping around cage now, laughing with every step.
"Damn you!" the copy said once again, his anger was raging now.
'Good." Seras thought. Becoming a blur she ran along side the copy and sliced the one arm off before stopping behind him and kicking him forward.
"Nothing but a copy, a shadow." Seras smirked.
"Die!" The copy shouted as he charged, his remaining arm still clutching onto the blade he still held onto. In that moment, her former masters smirk appeared on Seras' face. The outcome of this fight was already decided. Leveling the Jackal, she fired at the arm. The bullet flew straight threw the sword, shattering it as it flew to the hilt of the blade. It continued on, missing the hilt, entering the arm, shattering bone as it traveled up. Before it exited the bullet exploded, right at the shoulder blade.
"You bitch!" They stood face to face now, Seras had the Jackal pointed into the side of the copies neck.
"This was sacred grounds, lets not defile it shall we?" The Jackal barked as the bullet flew from the barrel of the gun and exploded in the neck of the copy. The body slummed to the floor with a sickening thud.
"Pitiful copy." Seras commented, looking down on the remains.
"...aye." As Seras turned to face the source of the voice she felt something enter her chest. All her strength drained out her body instantly, looking down she saw a wooden stake in her chest. The last thing she saw before she passed out was Anderson's crazed smile looking down at her.
Authors note: I am so, so sorry that I waited so long to post this chapter.First the entire filewas corrupted, then college finals, then the file was corrupted again,I revised the chapter several times and thenI got caught up in MXO. I really, really want to finish this story andIintend to.Im breaking from my routine and am going to make one more chapter along with the epilogue. Please R&R.