DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE HUNTER
Chapter Two: Earth Under Siege
Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue
(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)
Outside the walls of the old mountain laboratory, a pair of figures watched that night as utter chaos rained down upon the village in the valley below, lighting the darkness like a tidal wave of fire. The stiff breeze ripping through his spiky blonde hair, Victor Von Gerdenheim knew it would only be a matter of time now. This wave had set a course, and they were directly in the way.
Emily, clinging to his side, looked up, "It is a sign, little brother, but of what?"
Victor's face was unchanging, a grim stare, "I know only this. I will not go quietly."
With a mighty, echoing bellow that would make a lion blush, the titanic Victor leapt from the cliff on which he stood, his feet skidding along the rocky slopes below as if he were skiing, and at length, made a somersaulting dash into the town in the valley.
The world around him was ablaze, and not far above, three abstract shapes loomed ominously not more than five feet above the crumbling buildings, hailing laser bolts of a violet hue down on the panicking villagers, who proceeded to crumble into fine dust as they were engulfed by the deadly lights, their final screams a lingering clue that they had been there in the first place.
Flash after flash, cry after cry, Victor shuffled his way through the convoluted mesh of panic and death. As he stared up at the proponents of this apocalyptic cacophony, his large hands clenched into tight fists, and tensing his entire body as he reared back, he thrust his arms forward, launching a two-fisted ball of lightning at one of the things, knocking it out of the sky.
Less than a few yards in front of him, the thing had crashed down, its' dented armor highlighted gold by the roaring flames. It began to rise, but the avenging golem dashed forward in a skating half-kneel, thrusting one knee into it so hard that the killer machine was torn in two. Though its' frame still emitted sparks like a live wire, it moved no more.
Now hovering directly above, two of the things began to open and close compartments of their body so fast it looked like mecha origami as they switched from floating orbs of death to massive jackhammers with humanoid forms atop them that jolted down at their target with perfect accuracy.
His body reeling from the shock of the blow, Victor found himself flung through a wall, the roof above collapsing down into flames around him.
The two mechanical monsters had assumed their roughly bipedal statue forms now, and stood side by side. "Sensing increase in lifeforce", they chanted in unison, "Stay locked on target until termination is complete."
The sun was still setting over the seaside village as the two of them walked together. Talbain was tense, as if expecting it all to end any moment. He kept trying to throw this beauty by his side a clever one-liner, but his mouth was dry for the words.
Felicia, for her part, was as talkative as ever, but the topics of conversation were obviously small talk; anything from how nice the sunset looked to how her musical career had really kicked off to rumors about the star. She just couldn't bring herself to say the things she was really thinking.
An hour into their walk around the village, Talbain couldn't take it anymore; even if it was a dream, he would only be prolonging his torture like this. "It's been a long time", he said at length, "and I have to ask myself how you found me here."
Felicia tossed her hat aside, and finally letting down that gorgeous blue hair of hers, flashed him a dazzling smile, "When you're on the road as much as me, you hear things. Not long ago, I was touring in London and heard talk about a fisherman living by the sea; the strongest man you ever saw, with eyes like a cloudy night. Call it a hunch, but I had to know for myself if you were really still hanging around these parts."
"I don't move around much", Talbain half-grinned, "Guess I'm a creature of habit."
"You're a creature, alright", she mused as she skirted round in front of him, their eyes meeting now, "But you're also one of the most unpredictable men I've ever known. How could I not be on board for a mystery like that?"
"Some mysteries are best left unsolved", Talbain said gravely, "What makes you sure I'm worth the time?"
"I'm just sure", she said with that cheerful smile, "And anyway, we have plenty of time now, right?"
"Yeah", Talbain said with a dreamy look, "All the time in the world."
As if to stand against them, an explosion rocked the world around them at that moment, smoke billowing through the alleys and glass shattering in every direction. When the smoke cleared, the couple stood amidst the wreckage, coughing from the dust.
"Looks like trouble. C'mon!", Talbain bellowed as he ran down a back alley, his keen ears following the sounds of screams in the distance.
Felicia heard them too, and began bounding after her dear friend. "All the time in the world", she thought to herself, "I wonder how long that is."
Clang after deafening clang, the sparks were flying. Like fencers locked in a deadly dance, Zabel and the teenage hunter parried spectacularly across the damaged stage, each turning at just the right time to match a given attack. If Zabel slashed down with his chainsaw, she would thrust up with a claw to impede him. If she slashed horizontal, he was quick to reel aside and deflect the blow as an afterthought.
After several flawless stalemates, both fighters instinctively leapt back, landing in mid-stances on opposite sides of the makeshift arena. Strobelights flashed in every direction, giving the scene a very club feel, and the crowd that had come for a concert was cheering for a wild brawl. They couldn't help but smile at each other from across the stage.
"You're pretty lively for a dead guy", the girl quipped with an amused smirk.
"Pretty spry yerself, sweetheart", Zabel returned with that ghoulish grin of his.
The girl stood up straighter now, brushing the charm off her face with her breath, "The name's Lei-Lei, grease-hog, and I'm nobody's sweetheart."
Zabel sprung off a heel, chainsaw out in front as he flew across the arena at her, "We can fix that, baby; I just need to chip at that attitude!"
As he had cleared barely half the ground between him and his beautiful assailant, the deathly rogue was rocked backwards from the force of a random explosion of white light from the center of the stage.
Lei-Lei, far from the progenitor of the blast, leapt backwards from the stage and landed firmly on her heels, claws raised and ready.
Zabel flew backwards from the smoke like a rag doll, slamming hard into a couple of unwary spectators and knocking them prone. As he stood, brushing himself off, he glanced to the remnants of the stage with an incredulous look on his face, "The bloody hell wuz that…"
Rising from the ashes like mechanical phoenixes were three of the statuesque robots. Unanimously, they spoke, "Negative auras detected. Classification: Undead. Begin extermination sequence Omega".
Now standing in a triangle, the killer machines spun in place, their chest-plates opening and glowing with a brilliant white light from within. A low-frequency rumble was the only sound proceeding the magnificent, blinding flash that erupted thereafter, shattering the frame of the auditorium even as it filled the building with horrified screams.
Gliding solo on her slender wings over the burning wreckage that once was the noble city of Edinburgh, Morrigan watched the carnage from a bird's eye view. "Meh, and I liked this city", she scowled, "What brutal terrorists have these mortals birthed now…?"
As if to answer her question, a trio of mechanical figures began a steady descent through the dark clouds above, their chest-plates opening to reveal a set of cannons, which promptly fired massive rays of blue light down at her.
Her warrior's instinct taking over, Morrigan closed her eyes and moved in the one direction the laser's heat would not be intersecting, nimbly dodging the attacks in a single acrobatic flip. Opening her emerald eyes now, she glared up at her assailants, her hands glowing from the palms with a golden light, "Sneak attacking a lady? What chivalry…"
With a wicked smile, she thrust two screaming comets of light up at two of the three mechanized assassins, the attacks hitting square on target to their squashed-looking faces and sending them sailing downward into the river running through the blazing inferno that was the cityscape.
Her smile now a sideways smirk, the flawless femme fatale raised one finger to her fine petaled lips and blew, as if her hand were a gun, "Better get out of town while you can."
Behind the remaining robot, several more shapes began to descend from the clouds, landing on the remains of the surrounding buildings, their gears twisting them into the shape of high-tech cannons, which began a steady stream of fire at the lone warrior.
Pulling her wings around her in a makeshift cloak, Morrigan stood fast against the assault, but as blast after blast rocked her flawless form, she soon began to tire and, at length, was knocked from the sky by the merciless barrage, crashing to the ground below.
Slowly standing from somewhere within the flames of a now-ruined church, she glowered up at the phalanx of steel soldiers headed her way. "This is no challenge", she muttered to herself, "This is suicide."
The mountain temple stood quiet, its' stone archways, towering stairways, and gothic statues left undisturbed for ages. For the first time in over five-hundred years, a living being readied himself to enter the rusted gates.
Donovan raised one hand, making a series of gestures comprehensible only to those of his order, and opened his eyes, "The search for the truth… begins now!"
Anita following at his heels, he pushed open the large steel door and entered the dark passage leading into the temple's core…