When he saw his sweet sister standing atop their transport, wreathed in lightning like some kind of ancient goddess of victory, it was all Dio could do to restrain himself from leaping up to carry her back into the cab of their truck so that he could give proper tribute to the magnificence that he was bearing witness to. Still, he, Dio, held himself back until the smell of charring flesh – a horrible, unmistakable thing under any circumstance – came wafting over to him on the chill, meager breeze. Quite unlike the few other times he, Dio, had been forced to endure that particular assault on his superior vampire senses, this time he rather enjoyed the experience.

Or rather the sight of the one who was providing him, Dio, with such an experience as he was privy to at this very moment.

Yes, it was swiftly becoming entirely too clear that his own efforts at challenging those bastard Pillar Men – what remained of them, at least – would be rather superfluous, but here in this moment of moments Dio found that such a thing hardly mattered to him. Yes, in time all the annoyance he felt for the situation that had developed would return in full, but by such a time he, Dio, would have his sweet sister to speak his mind to. Dear Alice always seemed to know just what to say; she always seemed to know how to peel back all the layers of the world's falsehoods to show him the truth of things.

It was one of the things he, Dio, loved most about her.

So, when that magnificent show of pure, elemental force ended – loath as he was to see such a thing, even under the circumstances – he, Dio, swept dear Alice into his arms and leaped back into the padded seat of the truck that the pair of them had been riding in. Yes, it was not exactly the most comfortable place that he, Dio, could have chosen for any kind of strenuous activity, but it was the closest place to their current position. He'd not have to delay his sweet sister's reward for long.

However, when dear Alice somehow contrived to pull herself out of his embrace, launching herself out of the truck's cab and landing neatly – though barefoot – upon the tarmac that had become their latest battlefield he, Dio, was swift to follow her.

"I miss anything?" his sweet sister asked, making her way over to the side of that upstart Stroheim.

Still, the sight of that bastard Pillar Man ACDC with a truly massive hole in his chest – the scent of charred flesh and blood wafting toward them on what meager breeze could be found on this breathless night – was truly an enticing one.

"It was rather odd, Frau Brando," the annoying man said, frowning in obvious puzzlement at the remains of the Pillar Man as they continued to smolder.

"What about these guys hasn't been?" his sweet sister asked, her usual good-natured amusement coming through one more.

"True, but this is the first time I've ever seen someone's brain leap out of their head and try to attack," Stroheim said, the dully confused expression on his face clearing quickly. "It was a good thing that I can still think so quickly in a crisis," the arrogant human – no matter what kind of augmentations dear Alice had seen fit to give him, a mere human could never be a match for a vampire – said, a small, irritatingly smug smile on his harshly-angled face.

"To say nothing of our little joint project, of course," dear Alice said, the tolerant smile on her lovely face showing none of the fury that he, Dio, felt at seeing her grand accomplishments belittled so easily.

Truly, his sweet sister was entirely too grand a person to let the opinions of those she considered beneath her affect her in any way. Still, that was all well and good: he, Dio, held more than enough fury for the pair of them.

"Looks like his spine was fused," dear Alice said, her attention focused upon the pitiful corpse of the Pillar Man who had been so foolish as to challenge the might of his sweet sister and the company that she had spread so far across the very world in the mere span of half a century. "Organs were carbonized, too, so he would've probably been down and out even without the brain thing."

As his sweet sister and that upstart bastard Stroheim began to move back towards the truck he, Dio, took the opportunity to spit on the corpse of the Pillar Man who had been so foolish as to challenge his dear Alice on her own grounds.

=BT=

While Dio got himself settled in the seat next to her, Alice resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his antics. Then, turning her attention back to more pressing matters, she looked over at Stroheim again.

"No sign of the others?" she asked, continuing the discussion that the pair of them had been having while her people had been loading up the truck.

"No, Frau Brando," Stroheim said, the displeased look on his face nearly a match for the annoyance that Alice could feel smoldering inside her. "However they've managed to hide themselves, those last two Pillar Men have managed to evade both our soldiers and your security forces."

"Yeah, that's going to be a real pain in the arse to work around," she muttered, narrowing her eyes as Stroheim turned her truck back around and guided the three of them and their – slightly reduced, it had to be said – force of robotic dinosaurs. "We'll need to start making some plans."

All things considered, however, she was starting to suspect that she already knew what was going to have to be done; all that remained, naturally, would be to convince the others.

Still, one thing at a time, here, Alice reflected, as Stroheim pulled the truck back into the loading bay and she, Dio, and the man himself stepped back down onto the tarmac. She'd only a brief moment to appreciate the fact that vampires like her and Dio didn't sweat, as well as to make a mental note to grab a new pair of socks as soon as the opportunity came up. Or else to send Straizo to fetch some, since that kind of thing seemed to make him happy, for whatever reason.

Once she, Stroheim, and Dio had all made their way back into the main control room once again, Alice flagged down one of her people and sent them to fetch Jonathan and the other members of her and Dio's family. Telling them to meet her in the tertiary conference room, Alice herself made her way back to the elevator. Stroheim was quick to fall in beside her, and of course that led Dio to practically teleport over to her opposite side, wrapping her left arm around his shoulders and glaring at Stroheim.

Stroheim, naturally, didn't take much notice of Dio's little temper tantrum, and Alice had more important things on her mind than catering to her twin's mercurial moods. There was, naturally, going to be a lot of Intel she needed to gather, if she was going to be able to begin making preparations for the next phase of their battle against the Pillar Men. It was becoming more and more obvious that it was going to end in a battle, much as she would have liked to find out everything she could about the history that the pair of remaining Pillar Men had borne witness to.

It would have been nice to know just how many ways this new world of hers had truly diverged from the one where she'd lived Before, but if that wasn't going to happen, then it wasn't going to happen.

=BT=

When Aunty Alice had called them all down to the main conference room to discus what they were going to do next, Joseph hadn't known quite what to expect. Finding Uncle Dio and Stroheim both glaring down at something a bit too small for him to see on the table, however, wasn't at all like what he'd been preparing himself for.

"You can't honestly think that this mad plan of yours will actually succeed, sister," Uncle Dio nearly growled, the look on his full of angry disapproval.

"Out of everyone here, I'm probably the only one that the Pillar Men wouldn't either kill, eat, or both," Aunty Alice said, sounding calm enough, though she looked annoyed to have to explain herself.

Joseph wondered how many times this latest argument of theirs had been rehashed, and just what this one was about. It wasn't as though Aunty Alice and Uncle Dio didn't argue over things; the pair of them were both determined and strong-minded people, and they didn't always share the same views on things. So, some arguments were pretty much inevitable; just like he and Gramps tended to disagree on a lot of stuff. Didn't mean they loved each other any less, though.

"What are you talking about?" he heard Gramps ask, over the man's familiar, steady footsteps.

"Alice has some mad idea about allowing those bastards to capture her, so that she would be able to determine just where they're presently hiding," Uncle Dio growled, glaring down at whatever lay on the table in front of them.

"Oh, like the Trojan Horse!" he exclaimed. "That's brilliant!"

Aunty Alice grinned, even as Uncle Dio turned that scathing glare on him. Joseph grinned shamelessly back, since there was no way in hell that Aunty Alice wasn't going to get her way, and he wasn't enough of an idiot to be the one trying to keep her from doing what she felt was right.

"Your idea does have merit, Alice," Gramps said, though even he sounded rather disapproving himself. "Still, do you truly think that the remaining Pillar Men would be deceived so simply?"

"If we can play this right," Aunty Alice said, nodding sharply, a look of satisfaction on her face that contrasted perfectly with Uncle Dio's increasing frustration.

"Oh? And just how do you think you're going to be able to escape them in order to let the rest of us know just where it is that the Pillar Men are hiding?"

"That's where this comes in," Aunty Alice said, indicating the small thing on the table before them whose purpose Joseph was beginning to suspect he knew. "It's a radio-transmitter. Really, brother dear, did you stick gum in your ears the first time I explained it to you, or are you just being deliberately obtuse?"

Joseph snickered as Uncle Dio subsided, grumbling, and Aunty Alice, Gramps, and Stroheim turned their attention back to making plans for what was clearly going to be some kind of elaborate trap for those last two Pillar Men.

=BT=

Frau Brando, having clearly had enough of her brother's increasing – in frequency as well as simply in raw volume – arguments, had given him an ultimatum to either cooperate with the plan the rest of them were forming, or to find something to do besides complain about it. Herr Brando, clearly not having expected to be overruled so completely, had departed quickly, with not even a word or a look back. Frau Brando had been rather exasperated with the man, but as he'd expected the vampire had quickly returned her attention to their current task.

They'd naturally moved the operation out of her tower and away from all of the humans within the city it presided over, and were currently riding at the head of a convoy making its way into the Swiss countryside; the farthest place from both the war and from too many uninvolved people that might have otherwise found themselves caught up in what would doubtless become a battle. Looking over at Frau Brando as she drank from a small container of what she had informed him was sheep's blood, Rudol found that she seemed to be ruminating upon some subject or other. Leaning back in his own seat, Rudol turned his attention back to the road.

Thus far, there didn't seem to be anyone following them; neither of the two remaining Pillar Men had made so much as a cursory appearance on the road, and Rudol hadn't seen any indication that Frau Brando had caught sight of them, either.

Still, simply because he hadn't caught sight of either of them, that didn't mean that they weren't being followed. He knew that vampires such as Frau Brando were capable of moving faster than the human eye could track, so it stood to reason that Pillar Men – who hunted vampires for sustenance – would be capable of moving faster than even that. So, Rudol had resolved himself to simply watch and wait; it wouldn't do anyone any good if he allowed his own misgivings to interfere with the plan that Frau Brando had constructed.

If nothing else, the vampire had proven herself more than adaptable enough to cope with any plan that went awry.

=BT=

Smiling with distinct satisfaction as he made his way through the darkened streets leading down from the mountain range, Kars reflected on the glimpses he'd caught of his dear, clever little pet. Yes, she'd been traveling in the company of more of those meaningless humans, but that was ultimately of little importance. It would be very simple for him to deal with them, and then to lay claim to his clever pet so that he could begin making his final preparations to shape her into what she truly deserved to be. At this stage, as a mere vampire, she had more in common with an uncut gem, rough marble, or a lump of clay: all raw potential in need of refinement.

And, while it was true that the world only needed one ultimate life form, having that clever pet of his close at hand would make even an eternal existence such as the one the two of them shared all the more palatable.

And so, Kars continued on his way through the darkened streets, following the tracks that the humans' vehicles had left in the packed soil of the road. He followed them up to the wide expanse of packed soil, where the humans had parked their vehicles in a pair of neat rows, organized as well as a human could have hoped to manage, then turned to make his way up to the modest, two-storey building where the humans had clearly taken shelter from the cold that had such a pronounced effect on their weak bodies and yet meant less than nothing to him, Wham, or his clever little pet.

When came to stand in front of the back wall of the building, in front of the room where he'd detected the fewest human lifesigns, Kars was just about to place his hands on the wall when he heard the echoes of what had clearly been some kind of sharp, sudden impact. He wondered at its cause for a moment, before recalling something that he'd observed some time ago. Bats used a distinct pattern of sounds to determine where they were in relation to both their potential prey, as well as to each other.

The sound he'd just heard, therefore, might very well have been his clever little pet's way of seeing through the wall that would have served to shield him from anyone with more feeble senses.

Grinning as he pressed his hands to the wall, feeling another presence within the room, warmer than any vampire could have been, Kars' grin shrank slightly as he realized that there was a human in the same room with her. It was rather annoying, seeing more evidence of just how much latitude his clever pet was willing to give the humans beneath her, but it was also merely a habit that could be corrected with proper training. Grin widening once more, Kars extended his Brilliant Bone Blades and cut cleanly through the thin, wooden wall that stood between him and the prize he'd been seeking.

=BT=

Turning at what sounded like a small chainsaw boring through the wall she'd sensed Kars standing on the other side of, Alice narrowed her eyes as she watched the Pillar Man tear through the wall. She'd signaled to Stroheim as soon as she'd become aware of Kars' prowling around, so their robotic Deinonychus were already up and attacking just as Kars had made a hole large enough to step through. Standing up, Alice forced herself to glare at the Pillar Man standing framed in the door so that she could resist the urge to smirk at him.

He really didn't know what he was getting into.

Their battle spilled out into the streets, just as she'd been expecting it to, but Kars seemed far more inclined to make for the small settlement they were just on the edges of rather than the mountains. There were probably multiple reasons for that, but she suspected that, for the most part, Kars probably thought he'd have some sort of an advantage on that kind of terrain. He was in for more than a bit of a surprise, of course.

Leaping easily up to the rooftops, Alice fanned out her ponytail as she caught sight of Kars out of the corner of her left eye. The pair of them alighted for a moment on a pair of neighboring rooftops, before the Pillar Man took a flying leap in her direction and the chase was on. The pair of them traded blows, on and off, as they crossed paths from rooftop to rooftop, and Alice narrowed her eyes slightly as she considered her current situation.

On the one hand, she was aiming to be captured, so that her people, and Stroheim's, would be able to determine just where it was that the last two Pillar Men had hidden themselves; on the other, she also had to take care to make sure that Kars believed that he was the one who'd beaten her. And yeah, he did seem arrogant enough to buy it, so that could only make things easier. Now, all that remained was to keep Kars' attention on her.

It wouldn't do, after all, to have him running amok through a town filled with sleeping people.

=BT=

Grinning as he watched his clever little pet try – in vain, it had to be said – as she might to evade him, Kars continued after her. He only had to choose the right time, and the little vampire would all but fall into his arms, his to be shaped and molded as he pleased. Staying close on her heels, pressing her just enough to keep her fleeing, like a hawk under the gaze of a mighty eagle, Kars grinned all the wider as the little vampire glared defiantly back at him.

Glancing down, he smirked at the impotent fury of the humans beneath him; they'd no way of keeping pace outside of their vehicles, and even those who could have climbed to the lofty heights that he and his clever pet now stood upon were far too slow to have even dared to attempt to challenge him. Grinning as he returned his attention to the little vampire who he had allowed to lead him on such an amusing chase, Kars lunged.

Because, while it had been rather entertaining to allow his clever pet the illusion that she would be able to escape him, he was more than prepared to claim his prize.

Driving the Brilliant Bone Blade on his right wrist into the back of her neck as the pair of them fell toward the rooftop he had been aiming for, Kars neatly severed the nerve connections between the little vampire's head and body. Carefully removing the longest bone in his left thumb, Kars placed it so that it would interrupt the growth of nerves when the little vampire's body began attempting to heal itself. Without a way to restore the full functionality of her body, his clever pet would fall into a state of torpor until she was given blood to sustain and replenish herself.

It was one of the more interesting things that he had observed, during those times when he'd been exploring the capabilities of those he'd transformed through the use of his stone mask: that those who had transformed into vampires were capable of preserving themselves even in a state that would have killed a lesser being. It was simply more proof that his creations, even the ones he hadn't ultimately intended to create, were far superior to any other kind of living creature.

Turning a glare at the steadily-pinking form of the eastern horizon, knowing better than most what it meant for his kind and those like him, Kars ducked into a nearby building. Looking down at the little vampire in his arms, Kars felt his good mood returning, even as his frustration with the inactivity that daylight inevitably forced upon him remained at the back of his mind.

Sliding his right hand down through the place where the two halves of his clever pet's elegantly styled jacket met, Kars tore through the buttons that held it together, letting it fall to the ground, even as he set about making his way back to the large estate where he and Wham had settled themselves while ACDC had searched for either signs of the Red Stone's whereabouts, or else the little vampire who had proven herself to be so very interesting. True, it seemed as though his old friend had ultimately been forced to give up his life in pursuit of such, but Kars would not allow his old friend to simply be forgotten.

He would make certain that both Wham and the little vampire would understand what kind of sacrifice that ACDC had made for them, and he would make certain to tell his clever pet all about the kind of man that ACDC had been; that way, at least something of his old friend would live on.

As he continued to discard the various articles of clothing that the little vampire had been wearing, Kars found himself smirking all over again as he saw how – like a lizard, shedding its tail to escape the grasp of a predator – his clever pet could have escaped from one of her own pursuers, leaving them with nothing more than a useless piece of cloth for their trouble. It was simply one more reason that this little vampire belonged with him: in nearly every way, save for age and experience, his clever pet was a clear match for him.

A snap of his fingers severed the ribbon that bound the little vampire's hair, spilling out a wave of silken gold that Kars quickly draped over his right shoulder as he continued on his way to the large, empty building where he and Wham had sheltered themselves. It was a rather annoying reminder of this one's male counterpart, but also one that would be easily dealt with once he'd gathered the proper materials to begin their respective transformations.

Making his way into the building at last, Kars ran his right hand underneath the high collar of the final layer that his clever pet had devised to shield herself from the sunlight that would have otherwise killed her, and tore it open in the same way that he'd done to the other garments that hadn't been amenable to simple removal the way her secondary layers had been. Smiling as he felt the rough touch of the thin metal strands rubbing against his fingers, Kars turned to signal one of the vampires he himself had created to follow along beside him as he made his way deeper into the building.

"Ooh, who's that? Did you bring her for dinner?"

"She's mine," Kars said, giving the vampire walking next to him a stern look. "And, if you tried anything, I doubt you would survive it," he said, gently prying open his clever pet's mouth in order to display her own fangs.

After that, things proceeded a great deal more smoothly.