Their flight had taken only an hour and some before they were on the ground in Kràkow, the courier ship dropping them off at the commercial dock. It was looking to be an overcast, cloudy day, luckily.

"Where should we go first?" Astha asked as she carefully applied a little more UV gel on her face before putting on her sunglasses. The rest of her was protected by the UV suit she had put on while they were on the ship.

"Petros would near the church and given that he helped carry my casket this could get… awkward at the very least."

"That's true, so it's the consulate then."

Abel nodded, getting out the map to check their route while Astha walked over to the taxi lane.

Local police were visible everywhere, fire trucks having quenched the fires a few hours ago. They would pass along various crowds of people that looked confused or milled about with fearful glances. At one street a small group of angry men were being detained by a few police officers.

"I didn't think the city would be that quick to upset." Astha commented softly after they passed them.

"It's been utter chaos here, Ma'am." The driver replied as he slowed down the car. "And this here is as close as I can get, boss said no vehicles past this point. Hopefully you two can help the cops here."

They were left at the corner of a parkade, few vehicles were left as the area was evacuated after the blast. It felt eerie as there was no movement, no sounds of people going about their day. Far away was a few sirens, and the noise of cars but from what they could tell, this corner was empty. "We seem to be about a block or two west of the consulate." Abel looked over at Astha as she adjusted her long coat and hood. "Will you be ok?"

"Stop fussing over me, I know when the sun is too much and when it's not." She glowered at him for a moment before looking around. There was an odd smell to the air, something bitter and sour to her senses. Perhaps the smoke was the cause.

"Something seems really odd..."

"Exploding buildings have that effect." Abel said dryly and shrugged his bag strap more on his shoulder before drawing his gun from under his coat. He felt more than saw the withering look she sent him.

His eyes scanned the area, the commercial building were smaller, only one or two stories tall. A smattering of stores had sidewalk displays and the occasional bistro was visible. The plume of smoke from the consulate was a murky grey as it likely had been put out a while ago.

"Let's get to the consulate, it's the starting point and perhaps we will find out what the hell is going on." Astha started off down the sidewalk going westward to the location. Abel looked around a little longer before catching up with her.

"Does the air smell weird to you?"

Astha's golden eyes snapped to Abel's profile as he kept looking over the buildings.

"I can't place it but perhaps the smoke?"

"It's a chemical… just hoping it's not the one I'm thinking of. You should put something over your face, just in case."

"Poison gas?"

"Possibly."

She reached into her pockets and pulled out a long black silk scarf, wrapping it around her nose and mouth as he suggested. Little could be seen of her now, large sunglasses, a deep hood and the scarf left just a snippet of her ivory hair visible.

"Anything is possible right now…"

"What about you?"

"I'll do a low activation if I feel anything so that the nanomachines can repair any damage."

The smoke from the consulate was easily seen now, bits of brick and cement were scattered on the ground now around their feet.

A little further up they were able to see where the building had been.

"It's gone!"

The whole area was just a crater, the ruins of the foundation were but boulders of busted cement and bricks. What wooden parts smouldered a thick oily smoke. Glass on the surrounding buildings were all broken, chunks of stone stuck in their walls. There were quite a few police, ambulance and first responders vehicles sitting with doors open and so signs of life nearby.

"Abel… I see movement over to the back." Astha quickly drew her spear.

Abel stepped forward, tipping his head his glasses would slide down his nose a little. Focusing a bit more he could see someone, a larger person in an all black coat… head was covered in a type of gas mask. A cold chill went down Abel's spine, the form looking familiar. Red orbs behind the full mask glared balefully at him.

"Autojägers!" Abel fired a shot, hitting the undead, corrupted methuselah in the head. It dropped instantly.

"Dammit! I hate those things!" Astha cursed, activating the laser of her spear.

As the first one dropped, more and more of the dark forms came out of the rubble, armed with guns, knives, chunks of debris and a few looked to have grenades.

"There's an awful lot of them, hope you have extra bullets." Astha stepped forward in a ready stance, the white light her spears laser arcing across to the closest Autojäger.

A flash came from Abel's old revolver with its long, heavy barrel and then the whirl of it loading the next bullet in the chamber before the next bullet fired.

The undead were starting to fight back, bullets and other projectiles whizzed past their heads. Abel looked around for some cover… a longer bodied car was less than a hundred feet away.

"Astha! Get behind that car, I'll cover you."

As she turned to look at where he wanted her to go, a bullet ripped through her long coat, having just nicked her calf. "Son of a bitch!" She cursed, gritting her teeth and sprinting to the far side of the car. She could hear Abel shooting as she got down by the car. An explosion made her jump, and rocks fell around her. Quickly grabbing a strip of bandage cloth off her utility belt she wrapped her leg. It was minor but the day was young, no need to bleed out quite yet.

Another explosion happened not very far from where Abel was, and she noticed a pause in Abel's shooting...She shifted to the edge of the car to look around the corner.

A good portion of the autojägers were down now, and Abel was hurrying towards her. A few beams from her spear gave him time to reach her without harm.

"You got hit." He said flatly as he leapt around her and sat on the ground.

"It's nothing, and I bandaged it already."

He nodded, but she did see the flicker of red in his eyes as he looked her over quickly.

"If I keep at this I'll be out of bullets soon."

"There's been over fifty of them from what I counted."

"More like eighty and they aren't moving as fast as the normal ones, the grenades are more concerning."

"They are pretty sluggish."

Their eyes clashed, dread evident on their faces.

"Humans." "Terrans." Both answers mingling their voices together.

"The emergency workers." he loaded his gun again, quickly sliding in the 6 shells. He rose up to look over the car edge. The last twenty or so of the undead were moving towards them, most looked like the hulking mindless minions he had fought before… but then a few were slimmer, shorter..

The closer he looked the more he could see the difference in each, how the masks didn't fit well, the clothes, while uniforms were not the same. Some were blue, dark grey and a bit of reflective lettering could be seen now, the only part that was the same was the angry red glow from the eyes.

"They are not human anymore, and they look hastily converted…"

A few bullets had ricocheted off the car and one was close enough to have thrown a board at them. Astha moved and blasted over and over again at the mob. Abel was only marginally conservative with his bullets, reloading a few more times.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, I expected much more from the Empire. A bit shoddy of a showing, really." One of the autojägers had stepped aside, its movements different from the rest. The voice was one they both had heard before… Dietrich von Lohegrin, the Puppeteer.

"Only you two were sent to protect this little outpost? I'm a little offended… perhaps I have to make a bigger statement to be noticed by the Empress."

He looked around a little then moved towards the car.

Astha readied her spear, energy humming along the shaft, Abel shook his head, signalling her to wait.

"Is that Esther's precious Father hiding behind that car? Could I be so lucky?" Dietrich's voice rose with curiosity.

Silence answered him.

"Oh come now Father Nightroad, I've known you for sooo long, a friendly hello is in order here." He paused, the head tilting to the side. "Has our dear Esther becoming queen sent you adrift? You know, I did always question your devotion to her... I personally know how tempting she can be with those big blue eyes that cry so easy and that body… so tempting."

Astha watched as Abel ground his teeth and flexed his hand on the grip of his revolver. She went to fire and again he motioned her to wait again.

"I find it odd that you are here… that boarish blue haired inquisitor has his hands full at the church, he needs more help really. I left that one messier than this, a bit of a homage to Istvan really, like when we first met… Father, have you switched to the vampires plight? Given up on the broken Vatican that housed you?"

The few remaining autojägers were less than twenty feet away from the car, and Dietrich was only ten feet behind them.

"No response? Come Father, confess to me some sins, I'm sure you have a few…"

Abel nodded to Astha, before turning to shoot, his first bullet going into the eye of the body Dietrich had been talking through. Moments later all lay dead around them.

"Oh my, is that feisty lady vamp is with you again?"

This time the voice came from a woman that stood behind them, the skin gone to an ashen grey, and what looked like black blood dripped out of her nose. Her clothes were dishevelled and stained with various bodily fluids.

Abel and Astha quickly stood up, weapons ready at their sides.

"No, not my finest work these, my apologies. But gassing them worked so well that I took them without breaking a sweat." He gestured towards the buildings around, the silence of the area. "I'm surprised you didn't pick up on it." He tipped his chin towards Abel.

"You monster!" Astha fired at Dietrich, but he dodged aside last moment.

"Killing this body is nothing, I have many more I can tap into, unless you want to take on the task of giving a second death to all these people." He gestured to the surrounding buildings. "After the explosion I gave them all a sporting chance to run… and well after that I didn't spare the gas." A chilling smile pulled at the ashen face. "Though your appearance is unexpected I think I'll enjoy this more than what I originally planned." A horrible gurgling erupted from the woman's body, and she vomited a putrid liquid before collapsing.

Abel closed his eyes, uttering a quiet prayer for the fallen around him. Astha scanned the area around them, the rubble and bodies making it look like a war zone. The empty police cars and emergency response vehicles making sense. She walked closer to the consulate area, seeing that some of the dead were office workers, humans and methuselah both.

"What do we do now?" She asked quietly. "How much of what he said was the truth?"

"I'm not sure… he's capable of a lot of things. Let's try a few buildings and see what we find, I pray it's not what he said."

He stood up, shaking the dirt off his coat before he reached for his ammo belt and reloaded the revolver. He straightened up and looked over Astha before walking towards the door to the building beside the consulate.

"Stay near the entrance, whatever gas he used might still be in the buildings. I should be ok but you… might not." He held up his hand as she opened her mouth to protest. "I don't want you to turn into that." He looked back at the dead woman's body.

"Fine… I'll keep watch out here."

Abel nodded and paused to drop his bag. "Crusnik 02, activate fifteen percent."

The first building was a small office building, no noticeable smell was in the air initially to Abel. As he walked along the hallway, his heavy boots sounding menacing even to his ears. Then he caught the faint smell of a bitter chemical from an open door to his right. He could feel the nanomachines buzzing along his veins and an odd warming in his chest. Perhaps repairing the damage of the poison gas already.

In the room was a reception desk, a lady was slumped over the papers, vomit and black blood covered the surface. Abel's face showed his discomfort, a tightening about his eyes and a scowl to his lips. He moved past her to the cubicles, seeing more of the same where it looked like someone didn't listen to the orders to leave. Dietrich wasn't lying when he said he waited a little while. It could have been a lot worse… but where was the gas coming from?

Done with this section he moved to the next, finding no clues again just a few men and women who died horribly.

"Now that we are alone… Father," Dietrich's voice came this time from a true Autojäger, it looked to have been stationed at the back entrance of the building.

"This is quite bold for you, not quite your usual style." Abel said evenly. His muscles twitched as he forced himself to stand quietly, gun ready.

"I have done a few things… shall we say subpar for the Mein Herr and to gain some favor I wanted to do a little more provocative display."

"Blasting both a church and the consulate would get some attention I'm sure."

"That I got yours is even better."

Another full autojäger walked in behind Abel, stopping a meter or so away.

"What part do you think I'll play?" Red flickered in Abel's eyes as he waited to hear the answer.

"Hmm, I'm not sure, but the fact you haven't fallen to this poison gas, my own concoction is fascinating… it's a pity I can't snag you through this form as I can see you're more than just a bumbling priest. I'll have to do the next best thing."

The Autojägers both lunged for him in an attempt to grapple him to the ground. Abel swiftly moved out of the way, kicking one across the head as he pushed away. He landed tipped backwards with a hand on the ground, the other with his gun firing at the standing death hunter. They were moving quickly now, his shots not quite stopping them as they activated haste. The tight space of the hallway had him slamming into the walls, as he fought them off from trying to pin down.

"I love it when you fight back. Come Father, feed me some of that rage I see in your eyes." Dietrich's voice dripped with excitement.

Abel's hands found a blade on the belt of one of his attackers, he quickly pulled it and shoved it in its temple, the body falling instantly. The other Autojäger leapt on top of him, it's weight making him stumble. The arms went around his middle and squeezed hard to cause him to pass out. He winced as he felt ribs crack and break, down they went to the ground.

"Time to sleep, Father." Dietrich cooed into Abel's ear as he reached down for a gas grenade off the hip of the Autojäger.

"I'm a little harder to kill than that."

Abel curled up a little and then pushed up into the heavy body, throwing it off him and into the wall. He spun around and stuck his gun in the face, firing at point blank.

Abel grabbed at the wall, to balance himself as his vision swam from lack of air, broken ribs having pierced his lungs. Around his feet he could see the gas seeping from the grenade. A bit of a faintly yellow cloud, his nose burned from the fumes. He stumbled around the bodies and went outside, looking for Astha.

Once in the open he could feel the nanomachines hotly in his veins, repairing the damage. Lilith's presence was curious but didn't voice anything.

He walked around the building to where Astha was supposed to be…

"Astha?!"

His bag was still there by the door but he couldn't see her anywhere.

On the other side of the ruins he heard the discharge of her spear. He quickly ran towards the sound. She was down in a part of the basement unearthed by the explosion, fighting several more of the newer turned Autojägers and a full one.

Abel shot down into the room, downing the remaining undead.

Astha's golden eyes snapped up to him, gratefully. Her scarf had been pulled off, it hung awkwardly over her shoulder, her glasses were missing and he could see her skin was starting to burn in the cloudy daylight.

"Are you ok? What happened?" He jumped down to help her.

She lowered her spear, pulling her hood back up and securing her scarf again. Reaching into her utility belt she got out more UV gel to apply.

"I was curious, so I wandered over here to see what was left of the building, if anyone was actually alive… then these things jumped on me from behind and that big guy came running in just before you did. They were trying to knock me down, not kill me from what I could tell… you had trouble too?" She took in his disheveled hair, the black blood splattered on his skin and the red flickers within his eyes. She paused a moment as she looked him over. "Are you still activated?"

He nodded, "Yes, between the gas and some injuries I haven't deactivated yet, but we need to leave now." Quickly putting away the container she leapt up out of the crumbled basement and onto the lawn, following Abel.

"What did you learn?"

"The gas is very poisonous, he set it off after the first set of evacuation happened that's why it's there's so many emergency service people. He controls this area right now."

They hurried to their bags and then dashed down the street they used earlier.

Abel ran into the first bistro that had its doors still open. He scanned the darkened room, sensing no movement.

"This should be ok, not ideal but we have a good view of the road."

He noticed Astha was having trouble breathing, a few gasps here and there. Even for himself there was still some discomfort to his ribs but the nanomachines had repaired him mostly by now. She sat at the table just inside the door, out of the light, catching her breath.

"I'll get you some water… hopefully you haven't had too much exposure." He went into the kitchen, grateful that they were indeed empty of anyone dead or alive.

He came back with a glass of water. As he put it on the table he felt the first real flare of the crusniks demand for blood. He shook his head and sat down a little ways from Astha, looking out the door.

"Crusnik deactivate zero percent." He sighed as felt the presence leave.

"This is a lot more than we thought. I'm a bit afraid of what we will find at the church." Astha said after taking an aqua vitre pill to help after sun exposure and whatever the gas had done to her lungs.

"It is… Dietrich said he wanted to do something to gain back some approval within the Orden."

"It might have the desired affect." She looked out the window pensively.

"I want to do a sweep of the area for anymore Autojägers, but I think we got the majority of the undead civilians he planted for whoever came to check out this mess."

She sighed and turned to look at him. "I need a few more minutes, between the gas and sunlight I'm not quite up to par." He could see the fatigue on her face, dark circles under her eyes as well as the painfully red swatch of skin across her forehead and cheek that had been exposed earlier to the UV light.

His eyes met hers and softened with compassion. "Of course, tovarish."

A small smile played across her lips as she heard him use the term finally with her.