Chapter 24: All Alone

Kasumi was nowhere to be found. Locked in her bedroom in the darkness.
The curtains were drawn tight. Slivers of light illuminated the darkened room. Kasumi sat on a chair right by the side of the bed which was covered with weapons.
She picked up a double barrel shotgun, and checked the line of it. Kasumi flicked open the breach and snapped it shut.

The same tune the homeless man played that rainy night drifted through the air. Soft, in the ether somewhere. She heard it, all right, and she half raised her head…
Spence's voice rang in her ears. "You didn't help me. You didn't come."

Kasumi looked at him, he was standing by the window, the light going through him like some spirit.
"No." She offered no explanation, no defense.

"They said you wouldn't."

"What did you say?" She asked because she had to. Sure, she was talking to herself but it made her comfortable to just see him…even if it's not exactly him…

"I was a fool. I said you would."

They all believed he was dead but to her…he always had been. Always will.

The wind rustled through the curtain and he was gone.

She was all alone.

They were all alone now and King knew it. All three of them were huddled around the table. It was like one of those 10-minute idea brainstorming thing. He knew why they were doing this but he didn't think it was one of the most brightest ideas because for the first time…

Time was not on their side.

"Why? Why are they doing this. If they'd wanted Pita, they could've taken her anytime but instead, they…" Abby swallowed hard. "…they killed Spence"
"Because they wanted us to know…" King said in a low tone.

"Know what?"

"The feeling."

Ruby continued for him, "The feeling of having nowhere to go…no one else to turn to. We're all alone, Abby. There are no more other Nightstalkers. No more allies. They're all…with them."

"Not all." Abby said. "They haven't got us."
"Yeah, sure, us." Ruby said enthusiastically. "A black American old woman, a man with crutches and a woman who can't even breathe without wincing. Ooh, we can't forget the one who wants to kill us."

Abby frowned.
Ruby looked from one to the other. "Face it, you kids, We're fighting a losing battle..."
"Then I guess we'll have to work a little harder." King stated.

Abby muttered. "Twice as much…"

"…Twice the fun."

Startled, they looked over their shoulders to find Kasumi standing by the doorway, shouldering her gun. After a few moments of silence, King said. "Where do we start?"

"From the bottom…" Kasumi threw a gun at his direction and he snatched it from the air.
"…Biomedica enterprises ring any bell?"
Abby nodded at Kasumi. "But me and Blade shut it down."

"Well…" Kasumi cocked her weapon then looked at all three. "…it's back in business."

Silhouettes against the inky blackness of the sky, struggling for balance at the rooftop, three figures crawled up the slick tiles of the roof and sat down by the skylight. King looked down and cringed. It was a long way down to hell and it was everything but a pretty sight.

"Why can't we just go through the front door?" King groused, clipping on the safety belt.

"Because then, they'll have a marching band to greet us." Kasumi stated, dead-pan. "We don't want that, do we?"
"No, we want it nice and simple…" Abby replied. "They kidnap Pita, we kidnap someone for info. We don't want anyone noticing the guy's gone till' we leave or we're dead. The security and the stakes are much higher now...they might kill her with what we're about to do."

King looked down again, spotting a couple of vampires walking around, on guard. "Hey, look…the guests of honors showed up."

"Good." Kasumi said. "Let's surprise 'em."

David Crowther, one of the 'best' and most 'important' familiars there is in the business, opened the door with a much enthusiastic attitude. It had been announced by the boss herself that he was to lead this operation. 'Bout damn they gave him some credit, too.

But before this all occurred, he had been like an invisible being to Miss Drew. He was unseen and he almost got the idea of her actually not caring about his life.

Up in the ceiling above him, one of the screws started to move in the skylight, unscrewing. When it appeared ready to drop out, a thin strip of metal snaked out from between the holes of the skylight and edged up next to the screw.

The screw dropped out of its hole but instead of dropping to the floor, it zipped over and clung to the side of the metal strip with a gentle click, as to a magnet. The screw was pulled up, through the hole.

Now, the glass moved down, into the room, held by a gloved hand. It turned sideways and was pulled up.

David looked around, hands behind his back. Nothing unusual seemed to be going on.
He squinted his eyes at a figure lurking by the darkness. "Hey. You over there. What do you think your doing?"
The figure broke off into a run, David running a right behind him. Getting more and more closer, he realized that it was not a man…but a woman.

David grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back. "Hey."
Kasumi looked at him with a furrowed brow, yanking her arm away. "Fuck off, bud."

"Who are you?"

"I should be asking the same thing."

David straightened up and cleared his throat, "Oh, I'm the new leader of this operation, my name's--"
"Don't know. Don't care." Kasumi backed off and looked over her shoulder one more time, "Next time: know who works for you."
Ashamed, he shouted after her. "I'll do that!"

Turning over a corner, she sighed, rolling her eyes and tugging at her 'fangs'. They're fake, prosthetic. Why would they make that guy lead this operation? Has this world run out of human beings?

Now, feet descended slowly into the room. It kept coming and coming--first the feet, then the knees, then the waist until King is now in full view, hanging above the gantries, moonlight shining down from the skylight. It was clear that if any of the vampires decided to look up…King gets shot.

It was also clear that Kasumi was nothing but a distraction so that King and Abby could lower down, David seemed pleased with himself that he walked over behind a computer and relaxed.

"All right, you two." Kasumi whispered in her ear-piece. "Unleash hell."

King lowered himself, hiding behind a tall gantry and then, suddenly, he stopped, hanging down in mid-air.

"Oh shit!" King heard Abby say in his ear-piece.

"What?" King murmured.

"King…" Abby said slowly. "The rope won't lower..it won't go up either."

King heard the sound of footsteps coming his way…Fuck.