"Pizza?" Brandon asked, following Kidd to the front door.
Kidd payed the money and turned around carrying AT LEAST twelve boxes of pizza in one hand and a bag full of several sodas in the other. He awkwardly tossed Brandon a key. "Mind opening the basement? The bomb drills probably gonna' go off any second."
He'd OBVIOUSLY forgotten what he told Brandon about NEVER going in the basement.
"Got it." Brandon said, and walked briskly to the basement. He put the key into the lock, twisted his wrist, and the sound of a most likely very complex locking system hummed out.
"Thanks," Kidd replied walking briskly down the steps. "Go get Alice and Raggy."
Brandon walked quickly to the gaming room, and found the two in a heated match. "C'mon, bomb drill's about to go off." He said from the doorway.
"Well," Alice said walking past. "Guess Kidd's throwing a pizza party in the basement."
"Try not to let the animals creep you out," Ragnarok said, also passing him. Brandon's face grew a ponderous look, his curiosity and imagination running wild with what they could possibly look like as he followed the two into the basement. As soon as he came down, he saw glass cages, each one with different animals in different environments. He saw what appeared to be lightning bugs in one, but knew they weren't because the glass was warped and what used to be the plants were nuclear waste. He read the plaque, it said Nuclear Shock Bugs: Animal Warfare experiment 001.
"Hm." He grunted, now having a reasonable idea about what most of the animals will be centered around. He walked by another one. It had a cave in it and as soon as he looked, several huge bats with skeletal wings and no eyes slammed against the glass. The plaque beneath it read Sânge Vampire Bats: Animal Warfare experiment 002. After examining the creature, he turned his attention forward. "Please tell me you have sharks with lasers strapped to their heads." He said, remembering the scene from Austin Powers.
"No," Kidd said, setting the pizzas down. "But we have sharks that shoot lasers out of their mouths."
"Close enough." Brandon said, grinning widely.
"The failed Hell Hound experiments are over there," Kidd said, pointing to a cage with a forest in it. "I was planning on releasing them in the wild."
"Here's an idea: how about a bionic wolf with a telescopic chainsaw on his tail, that could them be attached to a string similar to a whip?" Brandon hypothesized, letting his imagination run free.
"Hmmm," Kidd said. "It'll take awhile to make them. The first two I make will be sent to your dimension."
"Hehe, that could be cool." Brandon said, chuckling lowly.
"Yeah, they could be guard dogs or something."
"It sure as hell would ward off any unwanted guests." Brandon replied, cracking a grin.
"Yes," Kidd grinned as sirens began to blare. "Oh! That's the bomb drill!"
Brandon cringed at first from the shrill sound of the sirens. "Dear God, its like Alice and Brianna fangirling." Brandon said, cringing further.
Alice chuckled, while Raggy and Kidd gave him confused looks. "Don't you mean me and Samara? Brianna kicked ass!"
"She still squealed some times, though Samara would've been a better choice." Brandon admitted, shrugging his shoulders. Then the ground began to shake and Kidd grew alarmed. "Um, is that natural?" Brandon asked, the shaking growing more violent every minute.
"No!" Kidd exclaimed. They were really getting bombed.
"Oh shit." Brandon muttered, realizing the severity of this situation.
Kidd looked furious. "If it's a war you want, Belikov," he muttered. "It's a war you fucking get! Alice plan a counter attack immediately! We're using Neutron bombs!"
"Um, what?" Brandon asked, knowing that an atomic subunit mixed with the word bomb usually means a WMD.
"Should we attack Moscow?" Alice asked.
"Yes, and we'll make this worse than Hiroshima!" Kidd snarled.
'Uh-oh.' Brandon thought to himself. He then realized something. The multiple rumblings and explosions means that this was most likely a carpet bombing maneuver. Which means...
"Kidd, I think Russia's invading."
"SHIT!" Kidd said, before pressing a few panels on the wall. And suddenly, out popped a supercomputer! Brandon watched Kidd begin typing furiously into the keyboard, and wondered what he could be doing. He set in the coordinates for Moscow and then type something in binary code.
Brandon saw this, and thought up a better plan. "Hey Kidd, you wouldn't happen to have satellite camera access on this, would you?" Brandon asked, stepping up behind the Reaper and looking at the monitor.
"Uh, yeah," Kidd replied. "Why?"
"Take a look at the known missile silos in Russia. It could be the deciding factor in determining whether Russia wants to invade us or eradicate us." Brandon explained, remembering this out of a book he read once. Kidd did just that. Brandon watched the several monitors, all displaying a different missile silo. "There doesn't seem to be any unusual activity." He replied, entering a tactical mode of thinking. "They could possibly want to invade us, since this world is so resource deficient."
"Not gonna' happen!" Kidd snarled.
"Then we better get guns. And lots of them." Brandon replied with a grin.
"OK," Kidd said. "Alice?" Alice slipped the Mana Glove she had at some point slipped into her pocket. She put it on her hand and touched her hand to the wall. On the opposite wall an arsenal of guns and swords and-were those light sabers?-appeared.
Brandon grinned widely, excited by the chance to use rifles again. "Ya'know, this dimension isn't that bad after all." He said with a grin, taking an assortment of weapons and clips of ammo for them. "Got any fatigues?"
"Uh, yeah." Kidd said with a grin, turning back to face the supercomputer's main screen. "There's some extra over there." He pointed to a closet. "I'm gonna send out the orders to the troops."
"I'll get ready." Brandon said, and grabbed a pair before hiding behind a wall. When he came back out, he was wearing red, gray, and black camouflaged fatigues, with a matching combat vest, a black helmet with a black balcalva, and black boots. He carried an ACR 6.8, strapped to his back was a Benelli M1014, a Colt M1911 was visible in his pistol holster, and an 8" Bowie was strapped to his chest rig. "Dress like Spetsnaz so they'll never expect it." He said, a grin not visible under the mask. Alice chuckled. "What? It's called covert-ops." Brandon replied, turning to look at her.
"Well, you actually look mean for once-WHERE THE HELL IS CAMERON?!"
Brandon thought for a second, then went racing up the steps. He opened the door and found Cameron lying passed out at the front door, though there was a constant thundering banging at the door. Brandon shook him awake, and yelled something.
"Get back in my head! There's a fucking war going on!" Brandon yelled, and Cameron agreed, too dazed to know any better. The insanity material liquefied and shot back into Brandon's ear. Brandon then raced down stairs, hearing an explosion, most likely a grenade or breaching charge, at the front door. "I got him!" Brandon yelled, racing back down the stairs.
Alice breathed a sigh of relief. "Where is he?" Ragnarok asked. Brandon felt something crawl up his throat, and insanity material poured out of his mouth right after he pulled the balaclava down. It then formed into the shape of Cameron, who looked shaken and aggravated.
"What the hell is going on?!" He demanded, his clothes materializing into his body.
"Gross," Ragnarok and Kidd said in unison, while made an 'ew!' noise.
"Think I feel any differently?" Brandon replied, trying to wash an unusual but horrid taste out of his mouth.
Alice decided to answer Cameron's question. "Russia attacked us. Want some pizza?"
"Um, sure." He said, taking a piece. He ate it quickly, then went wide-eyed "WHAT?!"
"We're getting bombed," Alice replied casually, like it was something that happened everyday.
"Why the hell-never mind." Cameron began, then stopped. He then noticed Brandon's outfit. "Why are you cosplaying as a Spetsnaz?"
"Fuck you." Brandon growled, resisting the urge to blow Cameron's head off.
Alice took a mountain dew out of the bag, taking it to a corner for herself. "Mine." she said.
"Lucky I bought all that food, huh? We could be stuck down here for a few days." Kidd said.
"Let me do some reconnaissance quick." Brandon said, taking a pair of binoculars before heading up the stairs.
"OK, bring down some alcohol!" Alice called. Kidd chuckled before grabbing a piece of pizza.
"Freaking alcoholics." Brandon said, shaking his head with a chuckle before going upstairs. He went straight to the attic, where he climbed out of Alice's window and onto the roof.
The sight he saw terrified him.
The sky was full of large bombers, resembling a similarity to American B-2 Stealth bombers, dropping what looked like tons of bomb clusters each. He got down on his stomach and looked through his binoculars out to the distance. He saw a large wave of Russian troops marching towards the city, numbering at least 100,000. As he scanned the horizon, he caught a glimpse of something metallic. He zoomed in on it, and saw large rows of artillery cannons being loaded. He went wide eyed and climbed back into the window as fast as he could. As soon as he was in, the shells that were fired began exploding all around him. He raced down the stairs, grabbing a large trash bag before rushing to the liquor cabinet. He put as many bottles as he could of various alcohols into the bag before racing back downstairs.
"How bad is it?" Kidd asked, not bothering to look at him and still focusing on the screen. Brandon was hunched over, panting heavily.
"Shit." Was all he could muster through his labored breathing.
Kidd raised an eyebrow. "What the fuck kind of answer was that?"
"There's at least a 100,000 troops, and at least 2,000 artillery guns." Brandon said, still lightly panting.
"OK, I'll send the army the information." Kidd replied, typing something in Morse code.
"I could've sworn i saw cargo planes among the bombers, so paratroopers might be coming next." Brandon warned, finally catching his breath.
"Got it," Kidd said, relaying the information to the supercomputer.
"How is this house so sturdy and bomb-resilient?" Cameron asked, taking a lager from the bag of booze.
"Magic," Kidd said. "Literally. I put a charm on the house."
"Huh, that should help in keeping us alive, but wouldn't that give away our location if they level the whole city?" Brandon asked, realizing the drawbacks to this charm.
"Several houses on the outskirts of town including this house and Stein's have this charm strategically placed in a Pentagram with the Academy in the center," Kidd said. "If they level the city, it'll come back and so will anyone who dies, unfortunately." he said, making Alice raise an eyebrow and Ragnarok's jaw drop.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'UNFORTUNATELY'?!" he exclaimed.
"That means they'll just keep dying and returning to life simply to die again." Brandon realized, readjusting the vest on his chest.
"Actually, It'd be better if they did die because Death makes us gods stronger." Kidd replied. "If those people died, me, Apollo, Aphrodite and Kali could kill them all."
"But I thought Kali hated your guts." Brandon replied, remembering their earlier encounter.
"Yes, but she hates Skadi more."
"And who is Skadi?" Brandon asked, slightly confused by all the names flying around.
"Skadi is like this Norse giant, I think," Kidd replied. "She controls ice, which is pretty fitting. She's also a complete bitch."
"That reminds me of this guy we met in Russia on a mission in the other dimension," Alice said. "We had to hunt and everything!"
"Um... Isn't that illegal in Russia? Like, poaching or something?"
"Poor guy. Hope he didn't get caught."
"Eh, he's out in a cabin in the middle of the woods, so I'm sure he'll be fine." Brandon replied, waving it off.
Alice the grew alarmed, remembering something VERY important. She snapped her head towards Kidd. "Kidd, Is Professor Morgan OK?"
Kidd grew even more alarmed. "SHIT!"
Brandon shook his head. "Too many god damned names to remember." He said, looking at the startled two. "Who's that?"
Kidd gave him a stern look. "Professor Morgan is the ONLY person who can teach us about Alchemy and Wendigos-considering he used to be one. He's a vampire now."
Brandon chuckled, causing his gear to rustle. "From wendigo to vampire. That's quite the improvement." He mused sarcastically.
"Actually," Alice said. "It's almost the same thing. A Vampire is just a slang term for a Wendigo who's gotten so addicted to blood, that they're body's adapted to only needing blood as nourishment."
"Hmm. Quite the improvement." Brandon said with a chuckle, shaking his head.
"Eh, I guess it's better than just eating people, cause that might leave the person they're feeding off of alive." Alice replied.
"Might, but it'd scare 'em stiff." Brandon joked, darting his eyes to the supercomputer monitor.
Kidd punched in some coordinates, and the screen showed what used to be a small house. Alice bit her lip and looked down. Kidd gave a sad sigh. "I just hope he made it to a bomb shelter..."
"Want me to go check?" Brandon offered, gripping his rifle.
"Don't," Kidd said sternly. "If he wants to us to know, he'll come here."
"Does he have a way of protecting himself from the bombs and artillery being dropped on us?" Brandon inquired, and he still felt explosions through the floor.
"I have no clue," Kidd replied.
"Well, that's just wonderful." Brandon replied, shifting his weight between his feet.
"Believe me, if Professor Morgan wants to live, he will. He has an odd habit of getting what he wants." Kidd replied.
Alice chuckled. "Yeah. How else would he get straight A's from you?"
"He's your teacher?" Brandon asked, turning to Alice.
"Yes," Alice replied. "He's been teaching us Alchemy and the history and biology of Wendigos."
"Hmm, must be quite a lot to learn." Brandon commented, trying to rack his brain to remember everything Alice has told him.
"It is," Kidd replied. "For example, Pandora and Xerxes had two servants to accompany them."
"Really?" Alice asked.
"Yeah, he taught me that while you were gone. According to the religion of Wendigo's, the four of them are reincarnated every one thousand years."
"Huh." Brandon grunted, then something clicked. He realized that, due to all the Wendigos' reaction, Alice might be a reincarnation.
Alice grew curious. "Why just those four?"
"Well," Kidd started. "Because the servants were their children."
"Hm, child slavery? Seems legit." Brandon mused, a feeling of trepidation and foreboding filling him when he noticed the distinct lack of explosions.
Alice saw his expression. "What's wrong?"
"The bombing stopped." He said, feeling his senses become sensitized, feeling for any more explosions.
Kidd tensed, waiting for another bomb. "My ears have stopped hurting," Alice said. "I think they really have stopped."
An unreadable emotion flashed in Kidd's eyes. "I smell the dead."
"You think it's bad now?" Brandon asked, throwing a hot glance at Kidd.
Kidd's eyes flashed blue a moment. The color of a soul. "All the soldiers died."
"There's bound to be more." Brandon interjected, knowing that it was near impossible for the Russians to all be dead.
"No... They died." Kidd said. "Every soldier on American soil died. Even ours."
"How?" Brandon wondered aloud, unable to think of something that could cause so much death, fearing that he wouldn't be able to shoot at anything.
"I dunno." Kidd replied. "Wanna go check it out?"
"Sure." Brandon replied, bringing his rifle to the ready as they traversed the way towards the door. He slowly pulled open the front door, half expecting to be a sneak attack.
He just saw a tall, gawky man with light reddish-brown hair and gooseberry green eyes. He was wearing a doctor's uniform. "Oh, hello," he said. "I'm professor Morgan. Who might you be?"