| From: | "Brian E. Angliss" <ANGLISS@****.PSU.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Party, Last installment(I hope!) |
| Date: | Tue, 7 Sep 1993 14:04:17 -0400 |
First off, Nex goes off and runs into the same dude(we think) that has been
taking shots at him even during the tour. Now, at the time Roxey and Styx
bundled him off upstairs, supposedly to sleep off the effects of too much beer
and Lager, but I know his capacity and he can keep goin until he's a walking
zombie, and he didn't have that look. I guess they did it to not disturb the
party, but after the party I found out that Nex's fiend(that dude) slipped him
a Hyper cocktail mixed with an aqueus solution of Neuro-Stun and DMSO, all in
a glass of Irist Mist. He hit HARD. No serious damage, but it showed that I
let somebody through the door that could have killed Nex had he wanted to. Not
cool.
But the real fun came when Nephredana showed up to crash the party. She just
kinda gave Roxey and I a nasty look of "I could kill you both before you could
take your next breath and I want you to know it so you will be terrified and
piss you pants every time you think of me for the next 400 years..." and then
shoved by us. Hell, she almost hurt Roxey and Max even took time out from
drinking booze and eating Salish food(Lordy that ally can eat and drink!) to
glare at her. She proceeded to put down several drinks and annoy the living
drek out of everyone before turning her sights on Action Jackson. The whole
first floor got really quiet as she approached. Collussus got in her way. I
guess she figured that her vampire strength would be able to move him or kill
him or both, but you could see the mana glow on her hands as she threw a choph
that would have cut a normal man in half, but not Collussus. You could hear
the ring of flesh impacting titanium reinforced, carbon laced ceramic and poly-
mer skin echoing in your ears for what seemed like minutes(Drek, I wished I had
Hearing Dampers!). For the first time in her life, I would bet, she looked
scared. She even hurt her hand. Collussus even showed me the wound afterward-
He said that she dented him worse than anyone ever had before without the aid
of very large weapons. I guess he was quite impressed...but I digress! AJ
chuckled and then asked Collussus to move aside and let her through, which he
did, but Little Dragon and Diana shifted in closer to protect him if necessary.
But I had this feeling that only the most heavily augmented person in the room
would have been able to stop her if she wanted to injure AJ. The two of them
talked softly, but still loud enough that every one could hear. What follows
is what I heard them say, but other people with audio recorders probably have a
better version...
AJ: I told you not to come to my party. You were not invited. I specifically
excluded you from the "open" invite.
Neph: I decided to meet the person who dares threaten me, and besides, a party
is much more fun to crash than be invited to.
AJ: There are enough of us here to kill you if we wanted too. Looks like you
weren't very smart this time.
Neph: You won't kill me, Dr. Alexander Martin Jackson. You gave that up when
your friend Valentine over there convinced you to go back into surgery. And
you won't order me dead. Many of these folks here in this room trust you only
slightly more than they trust me. You see, we're vampires, and they aren't.
AJ: Yes, we are vampires, but you relish in the power it gives, in the killing
and the pain of your victims, in the physical strength you have, in the virtual
immortality it grants. I, however, do not. I am 54 years old chronologically,
but biologically I am 26, and I hate it. I would much rather be 54 and getting
too old to do good surgery than 26 forever. I don't want to live long enough
to see my daughter and her daughters and their daughters die of old age. I was
drained against my will-I didn't choose this life, it was thrust upon me over
20 years ago. And I hate myself every time I have to drain some poor slot who
doesn't know anybetter and figures that I have power beyond imagining to stay
alive. If I could return to normal, I probably would, but I can't so all I can
hope to do is survive until I can, and like any good surgeon will tell you, I,
like them, am here to help people, not hurt them.
Neph: Ya, right. And if you honestly believe that, you are lying to yourself
and to everyone here. You are full of it...
And at this point, the drek REALLY hit the fraggin fan. It seems that some guy
by the real name of Coffin, a vampire hunter by trade and disposition, had
snuck in several flash grenades, smoke grenades, and a bow with a few wooden
arrows. Well, about this time, I guess that he just couldn't take it anymore
and all of a sudden there were clouds of smoke billowing up from under furnitureand from
plants, and flash grenades were going off all over everywhere. Some
people's guns seemed to leap from holsters, but no shots were heard-yet. All
of a sudden Nephredana seemed to manifest an arrow in her shoulder, or more
properly, through her shoulder. She actually took the time to look down at the
shaft sticking through, coated in blood, and then looked slowly up and said
"Nice try, Alex. Time to die." and lunged at AJ. Well, Collussus had moved
of(damn turtle) off to get a better look at where the arrow had come from,
figuring that she wouldn't attack AJ, so he was caught off guard and away to
stop the attack. But stopped it was: by Little Dragon, the kid. Seems that
stop the attack. But stopped it was: by Little Dragon, the kid. Seems that
(FRAGGIN TURTLE EDITOR!!!!!!!) the kid was in the right place at the right time
to intersect a really nasty blow, break an arm(which does a lot of good on a
vamp...) and toss her slightly away from AJ. Unfortunately for Nephredana,
Coffin had dropped his bow and was charging her with two long wooden spikes in
his hands. He surprised her and had a spike driven up from under her throat
into her brain before you could blink. She fell a lifeless bag of bones and
muscle. But I guess this nut decided to attack AJ too and he charged him. But
Raven was there to stop his charge at least. I could tell by the look in her
eyes that she really wanted to terminate with extreme prejudice, but her shot
went wide and nailed him in th back of the leg. Coffin couldn't charge anymore
so he tossed his spike like a throwing knife and drekkin near killed AJ. I
guess that AJ's mods from when he was a runner paid off as he was barely able tospin out
of the way to avoid a 10cm shaft of wood through the chest. It hit
him in the arm, but at least he's still alive.
But it wasn't over yet. Raven's shot made lots of already wired and paranoid
(myself included in the paranoid part) just go ape. But most were far too
professional to shoot more than a round or two. There were only one or two
bullet wounds, and all were minor and healed magically after flare grenade
fires were put out. But, like I said, Coffin was down but not quite out.
Harlequin's place is really secure as Gossymer sealed the doors magnetically,
and he was NOT thrilled for obvious reasons. Coffin decided to pull a pistol
and try to shoot AJ, who was still well within his sights, until, that is,
Collussus picked him up off the floor and literally threw him into a nice big
table. Fast as the fastest sam in the room, Collussus was there and just about
ready to throw Coffin through the nearest window(2 meters away, 2cm thick
armored glass to withstand LMG fire-and Coffin would have gone THROUGH, not
armored glass to withstand LMG fire-and Coffin would have gone THROUGH, not
(FRAGGIN TURTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) just bounced off) when AJ screamed "NO!
STOP!!!" Collussus brought Coffin over to AJ and he asked why he had killed
Nephredana and tried to kill him. Cool as cucumbers Coffin answered "Because
you are both vampires." Now, this guy looked and acted like the consummate
professional, but there was a crazed look behind his eyes and there ain't no
way he was all there. But AJ had to placate Harlequin and friends who wanted
to wipe Coffin on the spot. And Harlequin went around asking everyone what
connection they had to Coffin. A couple of people only one or two of the
guestsrecognized, but Gossymer eventually unsealed the doors and people drifted out,
many staying long enough to collect a case and drink it before leaving, but
the party was pretty much dead after that. Too bad too. Nex had woken up when
the first grenade went off and knew that something was amiss. H grabbed his
pistol from Roxey, who was still with him(quite a surprise considering how they
have been arguing recently..Ow!) and tore off down the stairs just in time to
see Collussus toss Coffin into the table. After all was quiet again, he came
the rest of the way down and walked slowly through the people until he came
upon Nephredana's body. Not realizing who it was, he kicked it over onto it's
back and smiled up at the crowd. Just like Nex to do it, but he said
"Vollyball anyone?" But it was just what everyone needed to break the tension
enough to get the fires and smoke out of the building before they did any more
damage.
Seems Coffin and AJ are going back with Collussus this afternoon after cleaning
up Harlequin's place and repairing/replacing/fixing in general his place. They
will be at Mil Tech for a couple of days, but that's about it. But you know,
Nephredana's pals don't know this yet, and AJ taking Coffin off to a place that
is damn near a fortress would look really bad...
Well, that's what happened at the party. Nex'll post his stuff later, and any
additional comments from other guests are perfectly welcome.]<<<<<
-- Slash(14:05:33/09-07-54)
