Chapter One: This Is Halloween

by Indy McDaniel

Copyright © 2010 Indy McDaniel

The thumping bass line of some euro trash techno song made Nadezhda ‘Nadya’ Valentina’s ears ring.  Her aquamarine eyes sparkled from the complex array of strobe lights and lasers that cut through the foggy interior of the nightclub.  Much longer in the place and she had no doubt that a massive headache would creep up the back of her neck and into her skull.  She scanned the crowd of flailing bodies on the dance floor, trying to spot her contact.  Why did Vlad always have to send her to the most obnoxious meeting places?

Although Halloween was not a traditional Russian holiday, Nadya’s home country had developed quite an interest in it over the recent years.  Instead of the Westernized ritual of sending out their young ones in costumes to go mooching candy and other treats off of dumb saps, Russian Halloween was geared more towards people Nadya’s age.  Drugs, dancing and debauchery in spades.  Despite the differences, carved pumpkins and dangling ghosts still filled the club.  The more things change, Nadya thought, taking a long drag off her smoke.

“The more they stay the same,” a familiar voice finished.

Nadya glanced to the right to see a girl that looked just like her, minus the sour attitude.  On the contrary, the Other Nadya danced happily amidst the other drugged out morons.  She wore hip-hugging shorts that barely went past her crotch and proudly displayed her ass.  Her top sparkled in the strobe lights but the fabric was translucent and it was clear she wore nothing underneath.  Not that anyone else took notice of her.

The Other Nadya was a visual manifestation of Nadya’s own subconscious.  Something that had been happening to her for a little while now, much to her displeasure.  She’d been on meds to get rid of the hallucinations but the side effects were worse than the annoying mental projection.  For the most part, her other – who she’d decided to refer to simply as ‘X’ – was content with remaining an auditory hallucination.  But every once in a while, when X chose to be a real bitch, she showed up in the flesh.  Well, not actual flesh, but it might as well have been.  And speaking of flesh…

“If you insist on showing yourself, would you mind dressing a bit less…”  Nadya struggled for an appropriate word.  “Whoreish?”

“It’s Halloween, darling,” X shot back, flashing a Cheshire cat grin and batting her eyelids.  “The night to cut loose.  The night to be whatever your heart desires.”  She finished the statement by throwing her head back and releasing a loud howl.

“Kinda pointless in your case,” Nadya snarled, refusing to be drawn in by her manifestation.  “Seeing as I’m the only one who can see you.  And I’d rather not see myself like… that.”

X’s cheery attitude simmered down.  She pouted and crossed her arms, covering her small breasts – much to Nadya’s delight.  “You’re really no fun.”

“I’m working,” she replied sternly.  “Which – in case you’ve forgotten – is supposed to be strictly ‘No You Time’.  We had a deal.  You fuck off while I’m on the job and when I’m not you can bug the shit out of me all you want.”

And just like that, X’s grumpy mood disappeared.  The grin returned and she shook her ass as she sauntered over to Nadya.  “Yea, but tonight’s different.  This is – “

“Halloween,” Nadya cut in.  “Yea, yea, yea, quit reminding me.”  She looked for an ash tray to flick her butt into, came up empty and dropped the smoldering cigarette to the floor.  If a fire started, it started.  At least it would bring an end to all the shitty music.  When her hallucination started grinding her ass into the crotch of an equally scantily clad male dancer, Nadya looked away, searching desperately for her contact.  “Don’t see what the point of that is,” she muttered.  “You’re not real.”

“Think of it as a game of Nadya See, Nadya Do,” X giggled, not letting up in her grinding.

“Fuck this,” Nadya grumbled, pulling a fresh cigarette from her pack and lighting it.  “I’m telling Vlad the contact was a no show.  There are so many better ways to spend my night.  Dripping boiling oil into my eyes comes to mind.”

“Kinky,” X replied as she tweaked her nipples through her translucent shirt.

Rolling her eyes, Nadya turned away, heading for the bar.  She decided to wait it out long enough to finish one drink and then take off.  Lonestar was supposed to have been there an hour ago.  Unlike her alluring double, Nadya’s outfit didn’t put out ‘Fuck Me’ so much as ‘Fuck Off’.  As usual, black was the color of the day.  Jeans and a long-sleeve t-shirt with her leather jacket over top.  The jacket was less about style and more about concealing the shoulder holster she wore.  Her Glock 29 fit snuggly inside the holster, filled with fifteen rounds of 10mm silver bullets.  Enough to give any baddie pause.

As Nadya cut through the crowded club, a frail girl with pale skin and long black hair rushed headlong into her.  “Watch it!” Nadya snapped, quickly averting the angle of her cigarette so as not to burn the girl or herself.

Ice blue eyes filled with fear locked onto Nadya’s.  As the girl’s lower lip began to tremble, Nadya had a good idea of what was about to happen.  Her suspicions were confirmed a moment later when the girl started to babble at her about needing help.

“Sorry,” Nadya interrupted, trying to push the girl aside.  “Can’t help you.  Let this be a lesson to you.  Never come to a club filled with a bunch of drugged out, horny men wearing…”  She looked over the girl’s outfit and blinked.  “What the hell are you wearing?”  A white shroud draped over the girl’s boney frame.  By the look of it, she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.  And yet, I can still see less of her body than I can my insufferable double, Nadya thought.

“Don’t be a bitch,” X spoke up.  Apparently, she’d gotten bored of bumping and grinding against people who couldn’t see her.

“It’s not my problem,” Nadya replied to both X and the girl in front of her.

“Please!” the girl shrieked, panic in her eyes.  Her thin fingers clutched at the arms of Nadya’s jacket, tugging at them.  “Please, he’s looking for me!  He’ll find me soon!”

Disentangling herself from the girl, Nadya pushed her back a step.  “Just tell him, no means no.  If that doesn’t work, a swift knee to the balls never hurt anyone.  Well…”  Nadya shrugged.  “Nobody that matters, anyway.”  Glancing over the girl’s shoulder, Nadya spotted what could potentially be her salvation.  Her contact had finally decided to show up.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to see a man about a horse.  Not an actual horse.  But just because the horse is metaphorical doesn’t mean you get to hassle me with your personal bullshit.  Clear?”  Before waiting for the girl’s reply, Nadya pushed past her.  “Awesome.  Have a great night.”

Cutting through the remaining crowd at a fast pace, Nadya hoped the girl would take the hint and leave her alone.  She closed the distance between herself and the squirrely cockney who went by the name of Lonestar.  “Bout damn time you showed up,” she said, crossing her arms at her chest.  “What took you so long?”

Lonestar ran a hand through his thinning, greasy hair, brushing his bangs away from his receding hairline.  His large eyes darted around the club nervously.  “Sorry, love,” he said, trying to simultaneously keep his voice low while still be heard over the music.  “You’ve got me looking into some seriously scary arseholes.”

“I’m a seriously scary arsehole,” Nadya shot back.  “Worry about me.  Now have you got the information I need or not?”

“Yea, I got it,” Lonestar replied, retrieving a folder from his messenger bag and handing it over to her.

Nadya gave a cursory flip through the folder, confirming it was what she was after, before sliding it under her arm.  “Thanks.”

Before Nadya could settle up with Lonestar, the girl returned, bumping her way in between the two of them.  “He’s coming!”  Her level of freaked out had escalated a half-dozen notches.  Her wide eyes stared into Nadya’s, pleading for help.

“Who’s coming?” Lonestar asked, a hint of alarm in his voice.  He looked around the club nervously, already tensing to make a dart for the door if need be.

Nadya rolled her eyes and let out sigh.  “Nobody.  She’s drunk or something.”

Just then, there was a yell.  Nadya looked up as an object flew past her head.  The object was the young man X had been grinding against.  His body cleared the bar and smashed into the wall of liquor behind it.  Shattered glass and copious amounts of alcohol rained down, cutting into the thrown man and the scantily clad bartender.

“Son of a bitch…” Nadya muttered, turning to where the man had been thrown from.  It was easy to spot the perpetrator as he stood a good head or more above the rest of the alarmed partiers.  His red hair curled messily around his face, blending with his thick beard.  His eyes glowed like pits of fire.  They scanned the crowd before him, searching for someone in particular.

“Sashenka!” he bellowed, his voice full of rage and desire.  He backhanded a topless girl.  Her body knocked down several people before coming to a sudden, hard stop as she collided with a support beam.  The sound of bones snapping was audible over the techno.  The girl collapsed and let out screams of pain.

“He’s here!” the frightened girl hissed.  She clutched at Nadya’s arm, pulling at it, trying to get her to do something.

Nadya turned to the girl.  “I take it you’re Sashenka.”  The girl nodded.  Nadya cursed under her breath.  “Why does the smelliest shit always land right in my lap?”  She took the file from under her arm and extended it to Lonestar.  “Don’t lose this.  Get to an exit.  Shit’s about to get gratuitous.”

Lonestar nodded, took the file and disappeared into the crowd of people already rushing for the club’s exit.  Another scream filled the air as the tall man chucked a raver girl into the DJ booth.  Sparks of electricity arced across her body and with a loud pop the techno beats fell silent.

“Stay behind me,” Nadya said to Sashenka as she drew her pistol.  She turned forward and took aim at the menace wreaking havoc on the club.  “Hey!” she yelled to him.  “Quit throwing around the locals and pick on someone your own size!  Which, by the look of it, that someone doesn’t exist so just fuck off!”

The man turned to Nadya but his fiery eyes quickly looked past her to the shuddering girl behind her.  “Sashenka,” he breathed.  He stalked forward, shoving clubbers to the side.

“Of course not,” Nadya muttered to herself.  “Why would he just fuck off when it’s so much more fun to fuck with me.”  She aimed her pistol, lining the sights up with the big bastard’s head and squeezed the trigger.  The gun jumped in her hands.  The sound of the gunshot reverberated off of the walls.  Nadya’s aim was dead on.  She watched his head fly back as the slug struck him above his right eyebrow.  He stumbled back, almost falling.

As he turned to glare at Nadya, she saw the gunshot wound sealing itself back up.  “No, a single headshot would be way too simple, wouldn’t it?” Nadya said, annoyance clear in her voice.  The gunshot was the final straw for the club patrons.  They rushed the entrance, clearing the space between Nadya and the tall man, allowing her to see him fully.

His garb was old and tattered.  He wore a thick belt with a variety of carved potatoes and turnips emitting burning light.  Dried mud and fresh blood stained his heavy boots.  Nadya wasn’t sure where the guy came from but it certainly looked as if he’d travelled a long distance.  With a clear view of the man, Nadya leveled her gun at him and emptied the clip in rapid succession.  Fourteen silver slugs smashed through the man’s torso.  This time he did fall to the ground but only momentarily.

Ejecting the empty magazine, Nadya slipped a fresh one in.  “Okay, who the fuck is this guy?”

“That’s Jack,” Sashenka whispered.

“Okay, well, Jack’s officially become a pain in my ass,” Nadya replied.  “We need to get out of here.  Make for the exit.  I’ll hold him back.”

“How?” the pale girl whimpered.  “He’s too strong!”

“I’ve dealt with these kinds of assholes before,” Nadya said.  Well, maybe not these exact kind of assholes, she thought.  But close enough. “It’s what I do.  Now get the hell out of here!”  She gave the girl a shove towards the exit and turned back to face Jack, who was now back on his feet.

Aiming low, Nadya put a bullet through each of Jack’s knees.  He stumbled, crouched for a moment, then rose again, stalking towards her.  The bullets weren’t doing shit.  She holstered the gun and charged towards Jack.  He swung at Nadya’s head.  She ducked low, hooking an arm around his to pin it.  She drove her knee up between his legs hard.  Jack let out a cry of pain and slammed his free hand into Nadya’s gut.

The strike felt like a sledgehammer.  The air in Nadya’s lungs rushed out of her but she managed to keep hold of Jack’s arm.  She twisted it hard, forcing it in a direction it wasn’t meant to go.  His bones snapped easier than Nadya expected them to.  Twisting his arm more, the shattered edges of his bones punctured through his skin.

Jack howled out pain and rage.  He brought his free arm up and attempted to backhand Nadya across the face.  She ducked back but not fast enough to fully avoid the hit.  Jack’s callused knuckles scrapped across her forehead, sending her falling back.  Even the partial strike was enough to send sparks fluttering in Nadya’s eyes.  By the time her head cleared, she found herself lying on the floor.  Warm blood trickled from her eyebrow into her blonde hair.

Stepping over Nadya, Jack lifted his foot, intending to smash her face in.  She rolled to the left in time to avoid the stomp then flipped to her feet.  Spinning around behind him, she kicked out into the small of his back, sending him forward a few steps.  She took a brief moment to glance to the exit.  It had mostly cleared out.  Nadya saw no sign of Sashenka.

Time to leave.

Whipping her pistol out, she drove the barrel up against the back of Jack’s head and pulled the trigger.  She watched as his face transformed into a blast of blood and brains and almost instantly begin to reform.  Taking the opening, Nadya turned and rushed for the door.  As she cleared the exit, she spotted Sashenka and grabbed her by the arm, leading her into the parking lot and towards her car.

As they got into the little yellow Mini Cooper, a bellow of anger emanated from the deserted club.  Nadya fired up the car and pulled out onto the road.  Glancing in the rearview mirror, she saw Jack emerge from the club and stare after her with his fiery eyes.

“Another fine mess you’ve gotten us into,” X muttered from the backseat.

Night Five: Virus

Chapter Fourteen: Interrogation

by Indy McDaniel

Copyright © 2010 Indy McDaniel

Nadya’s hands were bound behind her back.  One of the body-armored women had made sure of that before the net had been pulled off of her.  Then she’d been stripped of all her weapons as well as her cell phone.  Xenia had taken her katana, examining it.

“You really like this thing, huh?” she’d asked.

Nadya hadn’t bothered to answer.

Now she was standing in containment cell.  To call the walls white would’ve been an understatement.  They were borderline blinding in their whiteness.  There was a table with a chair set on either side.  Nadya remained standing.  Even with her hands bound, she might be able to cause some damage.  Best to stay alert in case an opportunity presented itself.

She didn’t know where Knight or Candy were but she guessed they were probably being held in similar rooms.  She’d only been waiting a few minutes before Xenia entered the room.  She stood her ground as her sister approached.  “I don’t got shit to tell you so you might as well go ahead and – “

Once she was within range, Xenia punched Nadya in the gut, ending her sentence with a cry of pain.  Nadya dropped to her knees, grimacing in pain as she fought to breathe.  She glared up at Xenia, tears of pain in her eyes.  “Fucking sucker-punching bitch…”

“Oh, blow it out your ass, sis,” Xenia shot back.  “You’re lucky that’s all I did.  All things considered, I should’ve come through that door and blown your goddamn head off.”

“What, again?” Nadya said, pushing herself back to her feet.  An awkward endeavor with her hands bound behind her back.  “Didn’t work the last time you tried that.”

“Yea, well, you’re not pumped full of Lazarus Serum this time around, so it’d be a tad more permanent,” Xenia replied before punching Nadya in the stomach again.

Nadya had just managed to get her breathing back to normal when the second punch hit her.  She dropped back to her knees.  “Oh, you whore…”

Xenia punched her across the face and sent her to the floor.  “I doubt any form of physical torture I conduct on you will convince you to give me any information.”

“Couldn’t hurt to try,” Nadya said, spitting out a wad of blood.

Xenia smirked down at her.  “No, I’ll save that fun for a bit later.  I think I’ll go ask your accomplices some questions.”  She turned and headed for the door.

Nadya managed to push herself back up to her knees.  “Look, that Candy Swallows chick.  She had nothing to do with us.  She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Xenia stopped and looked back at Nadya for a moment.  “Well, we’ll see how true that is after a round of electro-shock.”  She pulled a small remote from her pocket and aimed it at one of the impossibly white walls.  “Feel free to watch.”  She hit a button and the whiteness faded into a series of color pictures.

The wall was separated into four sections.  Candy was in the top left.  She didn’t look nearly as frightened as she should.  Beside her, in the top right portion of the wall, was Knight.  He was looking even worse than he had in the lift.

The two bottom sections of the screen contained Zada on the left and her crazy cousin on the right.  They were alive and they had all their limbs.  Beyond that, Nadya wasn’t sure how well they were doing.

The sound of the door clicking shut drew her attention away from the wall.  Xenia had left.  She looked back to the monitors and once again managed to get to her feet.

Things most certainly did not look good.

* * * *

The next time Nadya saw Xenia was as she entered the cell Candy Swallows was in.  Nadya stepped closer and looked up at the monitor.  It was beyond hi-def.  It was almost as if she were in the room herself.

“I always figured with a name like Candy Swallows you wouldn’t be fucking retarded enough to go turncoat,” Xenia said to the young scientist, confirming that the monitors had audio capability.  “I swear there’s a clause in your contract that says if we shitcan you, you have to go be a stripper in a really seedy bar.  Life five dollar lap dance seedy.”

Candy was unphased.  “I did not ‘go turncoat’, as you call it,” she said firmly.  She lifted her bound hands.  “Are the manacles really necessary?”

“Hey, at least you got to have your hands cuffed in front of you,” Nadya muttered to the screen.

“Yes,” Xenia answered.  “They’re absolutely necessary.  Don’t worry, I’ll take them off when your replacement dissects you.”  A cold smirk crept onto her face.

Candy simply shook her head.  “That would be unwise.”

“No, sweet cheeks, unwise is assisting a couple of heavily armed insurgents in their attempt to steal from this company,” Xenia shot back.

“Look,” Candy said, glaring at Xenia.  “I’m no fighter.  I’m a non-combatant.  What I am is a scientist.  No, strike that.  I am the scientist.  The scientist you need if you want the Plutoxin project to be successful.  If you want to see the millions of dollars spent on it go down the drain then by all means kill me.  Slit my throat, shoot me in the head, garrote me with a thin piece of wire.  But if you want the Plutoxin project to be completed on time then I demand you release me immediately and let me get back to work.”

“Well, you’ve got a point but there’s no reason why I couldn’t have some fun of the fatal sort with you.  I’m sure we could have an identical copy with all your useful skills here in less than a day.”

“No,” Candy shook her head.  “You couldn’t.  I’ve never backed up my personal profile.  And even if you tried to recreate my skill set, you’d miss out on the experience I’ve developed over the years.  Frankly, replacement me wouldn’t be up to the job.”

Xenia was silent for a few moments before nodding.  “Fair enough.  But for formality’s sake, why don’t you tell me anything you know about the couple who tried to steal the Plutoxin 7 vials.”

“We’re not a couple, you bitch,” Nadya snarled.

“Until they barged into my laboratory, I had never seen them before,” Candy answered.

Xenia smirked at her and unlocked the handcuffs binding Candy’s wrists together.  “Very well.  Return to the twenty-eighth floor via the lift.  The uppity blonde one rigged a nasty trap for anyone taking the stairs.  I have a security team taking care of it.”

“Thank you,” Candy replied curtly, rubbing her wrists and heading for the door.  She paused as she came to it and turned back to Xenia.  “I was expecting a pizza.”

“I’ll make sure you get it,” Xenia said.

Candy nodded and turned back to the door.

“Oh, one more thing,” Xenia called.  “If I find out you’re lying, you’ll finish your work on the Plutoxin project as a lab rat.  I’ll inject you, wait for you to turn, then so how coordinated a dead chick can be when it comes to giving lap dances.”

Candy paused at the door.  “I never lie.”  Then she tapped in a code at the door and left the room.

Xenia turned to look into the monitor and shrugged.  “Okay, so it wasn’t the most dramatic of interrogations.  Maybe the next one’ll have more of an effect on you.”  She turned and followed after Candy.

“Fuck this,” Nadya muttered before turning away from the wall of monitors.  She dropped to the floor and worked her bound wrists over her ass and up her legs so that at the very least her hands were in front of her.  Hopping back to her feet she headed for the door and crouched in front of it, examining the lock.

It was electronic and pretty high tech.  She’d need the key code to get out.  Sighing, she started to tap in random numbers.  Hey, it was more productive than watching Xenia go about her business.

Nadya glanced over her shoulder to see just what that business was and saw her pseudo-sister entering the room Knight was in.

“Hey there, ladies man,” Xenia said to him, wearing that annoying grin of hers.  “Not looking too hot right now.”

Knight let out a cough.  “Hey, under different circumstances, I’d tell you to suck it,” he said.  “On second thought, I don’t much give a shit about you.  So by all means, suck it.”

“I imagine you say such things cuz you think you’re contagious to me,” Xenia shot back.  “However, I got the cure, asshole.  So I can suck on whatever I care to.”  She moved up to him and reached down, cupping his crotch and rubbing against it.  “Mmm, maybe I’ll do just that…”

“Go for it,” Knight said, seemingly not paying much attention to Xenia’s attention.  “If I’m gonna go out, I might as well go out blowing a load down your throat.”

Xenia laughed.  “If that’s not an invitation, I donno what is.”  Her fingers unfastened his pants and she slipped her hand within for a moment before pulling his penis free, already at half-mast.

Nadya almost gagged at the sight but found she couldn’t look away.  She blamed part of it on the side effects of her medicine.  Mostly she blamed morbid curiosity.  How the hell did Xenia expect to gain information from him through doing… that?

Her sister seemed convinced that the tactic would work, though.  Her fingers wrapped around Knight and stroked him into a full erection.  He let out a groan and Xenia chuckled before lowering her head into his lap.  Her lips parted as she took the head of his cock into her mouth and a moment later her cheeks hollowed out as she began to suck on him.

Turning back to the door, Nadya closed her eyes tightly and shook her head.  That was most definitely not a sight she needed to see.  Ever.  She started tapping in codes on the keypad.  It was only a four-digit code, so maybe if she worked quickly she could get out and find something weapon-like to bash some skulls in with.

0-0-0-0.  Enter.

There was a buzz that clued Nadya in to the fact that 0-0-0-0 was not the right code.

How about 0-0-0-1?

Nope, not that either.  But let’s keep going so we can focus on something that’s NOT your pseudo-sister sucking your cohort in crime’s cock, okay?

Right.  Onto 0-0-0-2, it is.

Nadya heard a loud groan and before she could stop herself, her head turned to look at the monitor.  Xenia was deep throating Knight.  Her hand was cradling his balls, rubbing against them, while her other hand was up under his shirt, racking her nails against his chest.

Knight’s head was tilted back, his eyes closed.  Beads of sweat adorned his forehead and Nadya suspected it wasn’t just from the virus coursing through him.  His arms were still behind him but he was moving his fingers against the cuffs.

The movement caught Nadya’s attention and she found herself turning around and moving back towards the monitor.  She did her best to avert her eyes from the other actions taking place in the room but it was difficult.

Xenia’s lips popped free from Knight’s cock and she looked up at him with a smirk.  “Well, I can tell you’re enjoying yourself.  I’ll make you a deal.  Tell me who’s backing this little operation…”  She flicked her tongue against the tip of his engorged penis.  “And I’ll not only give you one hell of a happy ending, but I’ll share a dose of antidote with you.”

Knight looked down at her, panting heavily.  His hands continued to work at the cuffs.  “Shit, sister, that sounds like a damn fine deal.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any backers.  I am one hundred percent freelance, baby.  I planned to sell this shit to the highest bidder before I got infected.  After that, I was mostly just interested in saving my own ass.”

Nadya squinted at the monitor and spotted the small lock pick in Knight’s hand.  Her expression brightened.  “Yes!  Get free, kill the bitch and come rescue my ass!”

Xenia gave him a disappointed look.  “That’s too bad.  Because I kinda need a bigger fish to feed to my bosses.  And if you’re the only fish in this pond, well…”  Her eyes moved back to his erection.  “I guess you’ll just have to cum and go.”  She leaned forward and dragged her tongue up the underside of his cock and then sucked him back into her mouth.  Her head began to bob up and down his length at a speedy pace.

“I am all about that first bit,” Knight said, letting out a groan.  With a final jiggle, the cuffs opened.  “The second, not so much…”

Nadya had to refrain from literally leaping for joy.  “Kill her, kill her, kill her!” she chanted excitedly.  Not even the sight of her pseudo-sister blowing someone could dampen her spirits.  What had been a bleak and shitty situation was about to become a brilliant escape.

But then, instead of reaching around with his newly released hands, pulling Xenia off his manhood and throttling her until her eyes bugged out and she pissed herself, Knight did something much less lethal.  He moved his hands to the back of her head and gripped two fistfuls of her blonde locks before thrusting up into her mouth and letting out a cry of pleasure.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Nadya yelled at the monitor.

After a moment, Knight pulled Xenia’s head back.  The last of his cum dribbled onto her chin as she looked up at him with widened eyes of surprise.  “Thanks for the happy ending, darlin’,” he said with a smirk before bringing his elbow back and slamming it into her temple.  Xenia fell back, hitting the floor and lying there dazed.

Tucking himself away and fastening his pants, Knight pushed himself up from the chair.  He gave Xenia a hard kick to the gut before stepping over her and heading for the door.

“Nice,” Nadya said.  “Good pervert.  Now get through the door and come find me.”

Before making it halfway to the door, Knight doubled over in a coughing fit.  Nadya let out a groan when she saw him drop to his knees.  He coughed out what could have either been a large wad of bloody phlegm or quite possibly his spleen.  Then he collapsed to the ground.  Unconscious, by the looks of it.

“Perfect,” Nadya muttered.  “Just perfect.”  She turned and moved back to the door.

0-0-0-3?

Nope.

Night Five: Virus

Chapter Thirteen: Self Destructive

by Indy McDaniel

Copyright © 2010 Indy McDaniel

“What the fuck did you do?” Nadya yelled at Knight, who was looking rather perplexed himself.

“I don’t…” he started before looking back into the wall safe the vials had been in.  “Oh, goddammit.  They must’ve had a weight sensor underneath the things.  Fucking Raiders of the Lost Ark bullshit…”

“You now have four minutes, thirty seconds to reach minimum safe distance,” the helpful voice from the loudspeaker told them.

“Shit!” Nadya cursed, heading for the lift.  If they were lucky, they could sneak out with the rest of the employees.  “Let’s get the hell outta here.  You, too, Candy Swallows.”

The woman looked both reluctant and a bit annoyed but she followed along with them.

As they reached the lift, Knight reeled forward and puked all over the floor.  It was mostly liquid with a few indecipherable chunks of something mixed in.  More alarming were the streaks of crimson.  “I’m not feeling so hot,” he muttered before hurling again.

“Son of a bitch,” Nadya cursed, reaching down and grabbing the vials from him before he dropped them.  She slipped them into her jacket pocket then started to drag him into the lift.  She glanced over at Candy, who looked more freaked out by the puke than she had by the machine gun in her face.  “Little help?”

Candy kept her distance.  “What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s been infected by some of that shit in your vault,” Nadya snapped, trying to drag Knight.  “Which is one of the reasons why we came for the antidote.”  She gripped Knight’s jacket and tugged on him hard, managing to get him halfway through the lift doors.  “Goddammit, I’m not exactly Lil Miss Muscles over here.  Are you gonna help or do we all get blown the fuck up?”

Reluctantly, Candy moved forward and took hold of Knight’s legs.  Together they managed to carry him into the lift.  “Plutoxin 7 doesn’t act this quickly unless there’s been a large dose administered.  Where was the point of injection?”

“It wasn’t so much an injection,” Knight said, breathing heavily.  He leaned against the wall, pulled his jacket open and tugged the top of his tank top down to reveal the punctures from the broken vial.  The skin had grown an angry red with streaks flowing out from the wound, tracing along his veins.  “Maybe you can tell me why they put that shit in glass vials.  Seems pretty fucking stupid to me.”  He turned his head as he went into a coughing fit.

Candy covered her mouth and leaned in close to examine the wounds.  While she was playing doctor, Nadya deactivated the emergency stop and hit the button for ground floor.

“You now have four minutes to reach minimum safe distance,” the intercom announced.

“Thanks a fucking bundle, bitch!” Nadya yelled back at it.  She knew yelling at the intercom wouldn’t do anything but it made her feel better.

“How long ago was this?” Candy asked Knight, her eyes focused on the wound.

Knight hacked up a particularly nasty wad of green and red phlegm and shrugged.  “Couple hours ago.”

“Based on the wounds, you should’ve only been exposed to a minimal amount of the virus.  Infection of that degree should take at least a day to get this bad,” Candy said, shaking her head.  “I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I,” Nadya said, looking down at him.  “I thought that shit you took was supposed to keep you amped up and moving.”

“What shit?” Candy asked.  The curse word sounded strange coming from her mouth.  “What did you take?”

“Epinephrine,” Knight told her.  “Virus was slowing me down.  Not a good thing when you’re planning on breaking into a heavily secured building.”

“You idiot!” Candy said, standing up and moving away from him.

“Been saying that all damn night,” Nadya agreed.

“Why?  What happened?” Knight asked worriedly.  His skin had grown a good deal paler and sweat was pouring out of him.  One hand was clutching his gut.  He seemed to be growing weaker and deader with each passing minute.

“That degree of infection would’ve taken a long time to work its way through your system,” Candy explained.  “Your immune system may have even had a chance to fight it off on its own.  The epinephrine you took sped up your heart and allowed the virus to progress much more rapidly.  Judging by your current symptoms, I believe your heart is infected.  All of the blood it pumps out now will carry the virus through your body.”

“How long before he goes walking dead on us?” Nadya asked.

“At the current rate,” Candy shrugged.  “Less than an hour.”

“Really glad we managed to get that antidote,” Knight said.  “I’ve still got a couple syringes.  C’mon, let’s get that shit inside me and put this infection into reverse.  Double fucking stat!”

Neither Nadya nor Candy made a move towards him.

“What’re you waiting for, goddammit?” Knight yelled at them.

“You now have three minutes, thirty seconds to reach minimum safe distance.”

Nadya spoke up first.  “Given the choice between a healthy thief or the antidote, my boss is gonna pick the antidote.  We’re gonna need as much of it as possible to figure out a way to replicate it.”  She didn’t enjoy saying it but it was true.  All things considered, Knight was expendable.  The antidote wasn’t.

“Oh, you miserable bitch,” Knight snarled at her before turning to Candy.  “You.  You’re a doctor.  Do no harm and all that bullshit.  Tell her you’ll show her how to make more.  Just get that shit inside me immediately!”

Candy was silent for a few moments, glancing over at Nadya.  “I’m sorry.  The antidote was meant for rapid response applications.  Once the virus reaches the heart of a subject, it won’t work.”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!” Knight yelled.

The lift came to a sudden halt.  Nadya looked at the floor indicator.  They were at level fifteen.  Definitely not where they wanted to be.  “Shit,” she muttered, tapping at the ground floor button.  After a few moments, the lift lurched back into motion.  The wrong motion.  “Not up, you dumb bastard!”  She kept hitting the button.

“You now have three minutes to reach minimum safe distance,” the intercom announced.

“Okay, fuck it,” Nadya said.  “Rooftop escape it is.”  She hit the Bluetooth earpiece.  “Call Sam.”  The device let out a beep but didn’t respond.  She hit it again.  “Call Sam, fucker!”  Another beep.  Nothing else.  She pulled out her cell and examined it.  “Oh, you little whore…” she cursed at the phone and its display of ‘No Signal’.

“Well, virus or no virus,” Knight spoke up from the floor.  “Looks like we’re all gonna be so much rubble in a couple minutes.”

“Why is it taking us up?” Candy asked.

“Fucked if I know,” Nadya said, grabbing her MP5 and taking position in front of the doors.  “But if there’s anything on the other side when it decides to stop, it’s gonna get a fuck ton of holes shot through it.”

With two minutes to reach minimum safe distance left, the lift came to a stop at level thirty.  The doors slid apart to reveal five lithe figures clad in body armor and gas masks.  If they weren’t the Shadows who’d come crashing through Zada’s windows earlier, they might as well have been.

So Nadya didn’t hesitate in squeezing the trigger on her MP5, spraying from right to left.  The figures stumbled back but she could tell none of her rounds were making it through the body armor.  As the gun clicked empty, she tossed it aside and charged forward out of the lift.

Xenia stepped in front of her holding a shotgun-like weapon with a barrel big enough for Nadya to fit her arm down.  “Down girl,” Xenia said with a smirk as she pulled the trigger on her odd looking weapon.

Before Nadya could attempt to dodge, a net launched from the large barrel.  She felt it press into her and force her back into the lift as it wrapped around her.  Dropping to the ground, she squirmed and flailed in an attempt to get free.  The more she struggled, the tighter the net seemed to get.

She watched as the five masked figures moved into the lift and secured both Knight and Candy.  Xenia had her focus on Nadya and knelt in front of her.  “Gotta admit, I was surprised to find you shacked up with that werewolf bitch and her crazy cousin.  Finding you here, though.  Not as surprising.  In fact, you might even say I was expecting you.”

“Fucking cunt!” Nadya hissed, spitting at Xenia.

“You now have one minute to reach minimum safe distance,” the monotone voice announced.

Nadya smirked.  “Doesn’t matter anyway.  I wonder how long it’ll take your asshole employers to dig your rotting carcass out of the rubble?  Is there a time limit to Lazarus Serum regeneration?  How dead is too dead to bring back?  And are you really worth it to them?”

“All very good questions, sis,” Xenia said before standing up and pulling a small radio from her back pocket.  “CyberWolf Industries President, Xenia Valentina.  Authorization code Echo Sierra Victor eight five two eight.  Terminate self destruct sequence.”

Almost immediately, the intercom spoke up in response.  “Self destruct sequence terminated.  Please return to your previous activities.  Thank you and, as always, have a splendid evening.”

Xenia grinned down at Nadya.  “There.  Now we’ve got all the time in the world for me to answer those questions of yours.  Provided you answer a few for me in return.”

Night Five: Virus

Chapter Twelve: The Vault

by Indy McDaniel

Copyright © 2010 Indy McDaniel

Nadya stopped as she reached the door leading onto floor twenty-eight.  It didn’t explode so she decided that was probably a good sign.

Here goes everything, she thought as she grabbed the handle of the door, twisted and pushed it open.

Moving through the door, she swept the machine gun in front of her.  The meanest looking target she spotted was a bespectacled blonde woman carrying a stack of files.  She turned and looked blankly at Nadya for a few moments.  “Oh,” she said finally, her German accent already evident.  “Did you bring the pizza?  Deliveries usually come up in the elevator.”  Her eyes focused on the machine gun.  “That’s not pizza.”

“No fucking shit, lady,” Nadya snarled, moving forward and taking aim at the woman.  “Don’t fucking scream.”

“That would appear to be highly unadvisable,” the woman agreed, her eyes still fixed on the machine gun.  She seemed more curious than frightened.  “So I presume you’re not here to deliver the pizza?”

“You presume correctly,” Nadya said.

Knight moved through the door behind her and pulled it closed then started to look for something to brace it shut with.

Nadya noted the woman’s ID card around her neck.  She blinked, shook her head and looked at it again.  It hadn’t changed.  “Candy Swallows?”

The woman let out a groan and freed up one of her hands to push her thick-rimmed glasses further up on her nose.  “Yes, that is my name.  Please, do not wear it out.”

Looking past Dr. Candy Swallows, Nadya noted that level twenty-eight was indeed labs.  More specifically, lab.  It was one great, big laboratory.  And by the looks of it – aside from the unfortunately named Dr. Swallows – it was completely empty.

Knight apparently noticed the same thing.  “Where the hell is everybody?”

Candy let out another annoyed sigh.  “Saturday night.  Company party on the twentieth floor.”

“Seriously?” Knight asked.  “I expected to see some fucked up things in this place, but I didn’t expect these assholes to actually give that much of a shit about employee morale.”

“This is no time to ponder the inner workings of an immoral, globe-spanning company,” Nadya snapped before turning back to the lone scientist.  “Hey, Doc Swallows, you know where the vault is?”

“Of course, but you can’t access it,” Candy answered.

“And why not?”

“Because,” she said.  “Only a CyberWolf Industries board member can access the vault.  Also, I am fairly certain you’re eco-terrorists or some such thing.”

“CyberWolf?” Nadya muttered.  That was a new name.  The number of dummy corporations M.A.D. had just kept growing.  “Whatever.  Look, unless you want a series of very fatal holes punched through your ass, you’ll show us where the vault is.”

With a final sigh of frustration, Candy turned and led them further into the lab.  She set the stack of files on the first desk they came to.  “My employers will not be pleased.”

“I bet,” Knight spoke up from behind.  “Hey, who the hell names their kid Candy Swallows anyway?  Who gets married, fucks, has a beautiful baby girl and thinks, ‘Candy!  Candy Swallows!  Have fun in grade school!’  I mean that’s just cruel and unusual punishment.”

“I am inclined to agree,” Candy nodded.

Nadya turned and gave Knight a glare.  “Just cover our exit.”

“Fuck that,” Knight said, moving forward.  “YOU cover our exit.  You’re the professional killer around here.  Stealing shit’s what I do best.  Just leave it to me and the lovely Miss Swallows here.”

Candy turned and gave him a hard look.  “Doctor Swallows, if you please.  My name is bad enough without you demoting me to a lowly Miss.”

“The lovely Doctor Swallows,” Knight corrected, putting an arm around her shoulders and giving Nadya a grin.

“Fine,” Nadya conceded.  “But be quick about it.  And don’t blow up the fucking building.”  Knight and Candy turned to go.  “Hey!  Grenades.”

Knight unslung the bandolier and tossed it to her.  “Don’t worry bout me, darlin’.  The good doctor’ll take real good care of me, I’m sure.”

“Call me ‘darling’ again,” Nadya growled.  “There won’t be enough left of you to resurrect.”

Knight’s grin didn’t falter and the pair of them rounded a corner.  Nadya turned and headed back towards the stairwell.

* * * *

The only reason Nadya could think of to explain why they hadn’t already been swarmed was the party downstairs.  Talk about a stroke of good luck.  She looted a role of wire off one of the desks and pulled a couple grenades free.

Heading back to the stairwell, she rigged the grenades to the door handle.  Anybody who came through that way was going to get a nasty surprise by the name of ‘Ka-boom’.

Once that was done, she turned and headed for the lift.  She hit the call button and kicked over the desk closest to it.

Papers fluttered and glass vials shattered, much to Nadya’s amusement.  She took cover behind the desk and aimed the MP5 at the lift, ready to spray the interior with gunfire if there was anything riding up.

The lift dinged its arrival and the doors slid open.  Nadya’s finger rested heavily on the trigger.

Nothing.  The lift was empty.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Nadya jumped over the desk and rushed to the lift before the doors could close.  Sliding a hand to keep the doors open, she reached inside and pulled the emergency stop button.  A siren began to bleat at her.  She ignored it and headed back into the lab.

No one would be getting to the labs via the lift for a while.  And if they came through the stairwell door, there’d be a very loud signal.  With that done, she headed in the direction Knight and Candy had gone.  She wanted to make sure the thief hadn’t taken a side trip to seduce the doctor.

* * * *

Nadya was relieved to find Knight right where she wanted him.  Working on the vault.  Already, he had the main doors open.  An impressive feat by the look on Doctor Swallows’ face.

“I must admit,” she said as Nadya came up.  “For eco-terrorists, you are highly skilled.”

“We’re not eco-terrorists,” Nadya shot back.

“A rival company?” she asked.  “Corporate espionage?”

“Wrong again,” Nadya said.  “Look, as soon as we get what we came for, you won’t have to worry about who we are or where we came from.”

“My employers would probably like to know that sort of information,” Candy said, crossing her arms.

“Your employers won’t mind you showing us where the vault is?” Nadya asked.

Candy shrugged.  “You’d have found it anyway.  Besides, they know I’m a scientist, not a soldier.  Dealing with you lot is what security is for, which I assume you managed to subdue or evade based on your mere presence here.”

Nadya looked over at Knight, who was working on a wall safe inside the vault.  He had his ear pressed against the metal of it and was spinning the combination lock.  “Hey, not to interrupt you ladies, but this job kinda requires silence.”

Nadya fell silent and went back to staring at Candy.  The woman didn’t seem evil.  She didn’t even seem like a bitch.  In fact, under different circumstances, Nadya might have thought she was an all right person.  She didn’t seem prone to emotional outbursts like most people with a machine gun aimed at their face did.  That alone was enough to earn a bit of respect from Nadya.

The problem was, dummy corporation or not, the chick worked for M.A.D.  And if this really was their main R&D department then she was probably responsible for some pretty horrible shit.  Plutoxin 1 thru 7 and who knew what else?  There was no way she could be so stupid, so blind to what she was doing.  So why did she do it?

Nadya wasn’t the most morally righteous person around.  Far from it.  But as much as she might hate the world, she wasn’t actively trying to destroy it.  Or maybe she was and she was just too much of a small-minded pussy to go about it properly.

Whatever, she thought.  The line of thought was giving her a headache.  Or maybe that was due to her hunger.  Her stomach growled in support of that theory.

“Ha!” Knight proclaimed, pulling the door to the safe open.  “Now… this is where it gets tricky…”

Nadya leaned forward, looking over Knight’s shoulder at what they’d come for.  Inside the safe was a pair of vials.  The one on the left glowed a faint blue.  Plutoxin 7.  The one next to it was glowing a red.  The antidote?  What the hell else could it be?

Knight lit up a cigarette and took a long drag on it.

“Is this really a good time for that?” Nadya asked.

“Trust me,” Knight said before blowing the smoke into the vault.  Bright red lasers were revealed in an intricate pattern around the vials.  “And now we see where I went wrong before.”  He stared hard at the lasers, breathing more smoke into the safe every few moments.

“Got it,” he said before quickly shoving his hand into the safe.

Nadya’s breath caught in her throat as she watched him recklessly reach for the vials.  I swear to fuck, if this idiot gets me blown up cuz he’s fucking high, I will throw him through a window.

And then Knight pulled the vials out of the vault and held them up with a grin.  “Piece of cake,” he said triumphantly.  “Now, which floor’s that party on again?”

For the briefest moment, the thought of kissing Knight crossed Nadya’s mind.  She stifled the urge to gag and blamed it on the psych-meds.

“Warning,” a monotone female voice called from all around them.  “Self-destruct sequence has been activated.  Please evacuate the building immediately.  Self-destruct will occur in four minutes, fifty-nine seconds.  Thank you and have a lovely evening.”

Nadya, Knight and Candy stood in silence for a few precious moments.

“Well,” Knight said.  “At least she’s polite.”

Night Five: Virus

Chapter Eleven: Floor By Floor

by Indy McDaniel

Copyright © 2010 Indy McDaniel

There were thirty-two floors in the building.  According to Lulu, the antidote was on the twenty-eighth.  That meant they were going to have to make their way through four floors before they arrived at the one they were after.

Eh, it beats having to race up from the bottom, she thought.  For a moment, she half-expected to hear the familiar inner voice that had become progressively more vocal over the past few months.  She breathed out a sigh of relief when it was silent.  Apparently, the meds were working.

Things had gotten bad on New Year’s Eve.  It started like it usually did, with the pesky voice speaking up and telling her how she was doing things all wrong.  That Nadya could deal with.  Hell, she was used to it.  But when the voice had decided it wasn’t happy with remaining strictly auditory, it had appeared to her as a full on visual hallucination.  The annoyingly insightful doppelganger – Nadya had dubbed her X – was wanting to have a major heart-to-heart which might very well have lead to some serious life re-assessment.

Nadya had managed to hold off the chat with her inner self and had quickly found the highest grade, most effective anti-psychotic medicine available.  The stuff wasn’t even on the open market yet but Vlad knew a guy.  He didn’t seem too happy about drugging her up and had instead offered to foot the bill for a really expensive psychiatrist.  Nadya convinced him to go the pharmacological route.  Her exact words had been, “I love you like a father, Vlad, but if you send me to a fucking shrink, I’ll send the shrink back to you.  One piece at a time.”

Once that had been settled, Nadya got her very first prescription.  Like all medications, the pills had side effects.  Her already speedy metabolism seemed to have been knocked into overdrive.  She’d started carrying a good supply of power bars to go with her ammo clips, and those just kept the edge off.  When she wasn’t on the job, she was enjoying the perks of living with a powerful mob boss who enjoyed gourmet food.

She’d never given much thought to food in the past.  She liked it, sure.  But growing up half-starved gave her a unique appreciation of it.  She wasn’t picky.  If it was remotely edible, she’d chew it up and swallow it.  That had lead to a very disturbing experience when she’d been homeless and had found some strange looking mushrooms.

But now, she found she was developing a different kind of taste for food.  She had likes.  And even more surprising, dislikes.  If someone put a gun to her head and told her she could have one last meal before getting her brains blown out, she’d request chicken vindaloo without hesitation.  The hotter the better.  The heavily spiced dish was one of the few things that actually kept her feeling full for any length of time.

Of course, if her hypothetical assassin wanted to be a cruel bastard, they’d plop a nice, hot plate of liver and onions in front of her.  In such a case, said hypothetical assassin would be cleaning vomit off their shoes along with brains.  Serves em right for giving me a shitty last meal, Nadya thought.

All things considered, the excessive hunger was the least of the side effects.  Hell, that one was almost a perk.  Especially compared to the others.  She hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in… well, to be honest, she hadn’t actually slept during the night for at least a year.  But she’d always more or less managed to snag a good six to eight hours during the day.  Now she was lucky to stay asleep for more than four.  And even that required about two hours of tossing and turning.

There was a kind of ironic humor in the fact that her medicine, which kept her from hallucinating, had insomnia as a side effect seeing as excessive lack of sleep also lead to hallucinations.  She was trying to get Vlad’s pill prescriber to get her a sleep aid but the guy wanted to let her get accustomed to her psych meds first.  Even the crooked doctors operated under some form of ethics it seemed.

But neither the hunger nor the insomnia were as bad as the third major side effect she was experiencing.  She’d gladly shovel down hamburgers and curry whilst never sleeping again if only to get rid of the damn third side effect.

Nadezhda Valentina, ice queen extraordinaire and proud of it, was horny.

It had to be some kind of cosmic joke.  The number of medicines that caused decreased libido was a mile long.  The ones that caused heightened libido, not so much.  And Nadya just happened to be lucky enough to be on one of the few that did.

It had started subtly enough.  She noticed certain things more than she used to.  Certain things being men.  More specifically, certain areas on certain men.  The areas had always been there and Nadya wasn’t a stranger to seeing them but she’d never had any kind of sexual thoughts associated with them.  Once she realized what was happening, it had been relatively easy to ignore the feelings.  For a while.

Then the dreams had started.

Very vivid, very graphic dreams.  Most of them involved Ulbrecht and all of them left her soaked with sweat when she awoke.  Sweat and another musky wetness that she hadn’t dared mention to anyone.  Not even the quack doctor prescribing the pills.  Not even Vlad.

The dreams alone had almost been enough to convince her to just deal with whatever hallucinations her damaged brain decided to throw at her.  Almost.

Instead, she’d started to become grateful for the insomnia she was suffering through.  Maybe she’d retract her request for a sleep aid.

“Hey!”

Knight’s voice drew Nadya out of her reverie.  She looked over at him.  He had the butt of the AK-47 pressed against his shoulder with the barrel aimed low.  She could see beads of sweat on his forehead.  Whether it was from the virus or the epinephrine, she wasn’t sure.

“Time’s a wasting,” he said, nodding to the door leading into the building.  “We gonna do this shit or what?”

“Let’s go,” Nadya snapped, taking the lead.  She slipped the Blue Tooth earpiece in and dialed Lulu.

“Heyo, soul sistah,” the hacker said as she answered.  “In position?”

“Affirmative,” Nadya said, gripping her pistol in both hands.  “Just about to enter via the rooftop.”

“Right on,” Lulu replied.  Nadya could practically hear her grin through the phone.  “How was the flight?”

“I’m not splattered over the roadside, so I guess it was good,” she said.  “Let’s do this shit.”

“Alrighty,” Lulu said.  “Kick ass.”

Nadya pulled the door open and moved through.  She turned and aimed her gun down the stairwell.  So far, the coast was clear.  She didn’t expect it to stay that way for long.  “They know we’re here yet?” she asked into the phone.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Lulu said.  “I’m not registering any… wait.  Shit, you just opened the rooftop door, huh?”

Nadya sighed.  “Set off a silent alarm, didn’t it?”

“Ohh yes.”

“Goddammit,” Nadya muttered.  “Where on the twenty-eighth floor is this vault?”  She started down the stairs quickly.  Maybe if she moved fast enough, she could get to the antidote before getting swarmed by a bunch of assholes.

“I don’t got an exact blueprint.  Just a general list of what’s on each floor,” Lulu said.  “Twenty-eight looks to be all labs.  Good news, there probably won’t be too many goons.  Bad news, I’m not sure which lab the vault is in.”

“I do,” Knight spoke up from behind.

Nadya reached the landing for floor thirty.  “Finally gonna start earning your keep, I see.  How do you know this place’ll be like the other one?”

“Floor the virus was on was all labs, too,” he answered.  “Sure they weren’t near as fancy as the ones this place has but if the layout’s the same, I know right where the vault is.”

“And if it isn’t?” Nadya asked.

Before Knight could respond, they reached level twenty-nine.  And as they reached level twenty-nine, the door leading onto the floor exploded.  The heavy hunk of metal flew across the landing just in front of Nadya.  If she’d been two feet further she’d have become fatally intimate with the thing.

As it was, the fireball that followed after the door still managed to singe her hair.  But she wasn’t on fire or crushed so she raised her gun and fired three quick rounds through the smoke-filled doorway.  She was rewarded with a yell of pain and return fire that made her hug the wall to the side of the door.

“Lulu?” Nadya asked into the earpiece calmly.

“Yes, Nadya?” responded Lulu with equal calmness.

“What’s on twenty-nine?”

“That would be security headquarters,” Lulu answered.

“Cock.  Sucker,” Nadya sighed.  There was a lull in the gunfire so she shoved her pistol around the doorframe and fired four more shots, swiveling her aim.  There wasn’t another cry of pain so they’d probably taken cover.  How long before they had teams come from above and below and get them totally boxed in?

Just then, Knight stepped past her and chucked something through the doorway.

Nadya looked at him with confusion then spotted the empty space on the bandolier of grenades.  “Shit,” she cursed, shoving him away from the door moments before the grenade blew.  A second fireball shot out of the already scorched doorway.  Once it cleared, Nadya took a chance at taking a peek into floor twenty-nine.

The hall was in shambles and so were the five thugs who’d had them pinned down.  Nadya looked back to Knight.  “Good one,” she conceded.

Knight gave her a smirk.  “Thanks.”

“Now move your ass before more of them show up.”  She turned and continued down the stairs, reloading her pistol and then exchanging it for the MP5.  She wasn’t as convinced as Lulu that floor twenty-eight would be a total breeze just because it was all labs.

And even if it was, machine gun fire worked a whole lot better than handgun fire for destroying precious research.

Night Five: Virus

Chapter Ten: Airborne

by Indy McDaniel

Copyright © 2010 Indy McDaniel

Nadya slipped a Bluetooth earpiece in just as her cell rang.  Tapping the earpiece, she answered the call.  “Yea?”

“There’s a problem with this plan,” Lulu said.

Nadya concentrated on her driving.  “Just one?  That’s a relief.”

“Well, at least one major one when it comes to your brilliant method of circumventing a lot of killing and getting right to the crown jewels.”

“And that is?” Nadya asked.

“The assholes do have rooftop surveillance,” the hacker said.  “Clearly, they’re gonna know the moment you touch down, but that’s not the worst of it.  They’re gonna know as soon as you get within fifty feet of the building, in any direction.”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding…” Nadya muttered.

“What?” Knight asked from the passenger seat.

“I am most certainly not fucking kidding,” Lulu replied.

Nadya let out a long sigh.  “Is Sam at least ready to go?”

“Oh, she’s good,” Lulu said.  “Ready and waiting at the hospital.  Although I’m not sure how much good she’ll be now.”

“She’ll be plenty of good,” Nadya said.  “Thanks for the intel, Lulu.  Tell Sam to get a couple diver rigs ready.”

“Seriously?”

Nadya grimaced.  “Just do it.”  She tapped the earpiece again and ended the call.  “Fuckers…” she said to herself, lighting up a cigarette.

“What?” Knight tried again.

“My fancy plan involving us landing on the rooftop with a chopper just got fucked right in the ass,” Nadya said, taking a long drag of her smoke.

Knight’s eyes widened.  “You’ve gotta chopper?”

Nadya nodded.

“Nice.”

“Yea, it would be, if they weren’t conspicuous as all hell,” Nadya said.  “Now we’ve gotta get even fancier.”

“Fancier than a chopper?” Knight asked.

“Yep,” she said, sucking more smoke into her lungs and letting it rest there for a moment before expelling it.  “Sure hope you don’t hate heights as much as I do…”

“I have a history of not being a fan.”  Knight’s brow furrowed.  “Why?” he asked hesitantly.

Nadya didn’t reply.

* * * *

As much of a pain in the ass as it had been to escape the M.A.D. compound, it had actually ended rather lucratively.  For starters, she’d gotten the chance to kill her pseudo-sister-thing.  Even though it clearly hadn’t stuck, it had still been fun.

Also, it had gotten her a couple new friends who were proving time and again how useful they were.  Lulu, the brilliant hacker with the mouth and looks of a thirteen-year-old boy, and Samantha Bethany Carter, the ex-Hunter.

Nadya had actually worked with Sam prior to meeting her in the M.A.D. compound.  The interaction had been brief and had ended with Sam’s head getting knocked off by a big bastard of a werewolf.  Nadya had figured that would be the last she’d see of Sam until she’d been taken to M.A.D. and gotten her lesson in the miracles of Lazarus Serum and how it more or less made death obsolete.

Handy stuff, Lazarus Serum.  Only problem was, it was in the hands of the biggest group of douche bags Nadya had ever had the misfortune of meeting.  Not that they were unwilling to sell you a dose of it.  It’s just that they charged a metric fuck-ton of money for it.

And being a valued member of the Hunters Guild, Samantha was deemed not-quite-so-expendable so they footed the bill to have her brought back.  The regeneration process was supposed to make Sam a blank slate with only the tools of the trade she needed to kill monsters embedded in her brain.  But something didn’t go right and Sam remembered Nadya.  Which led to them teaming up and causing some serious pain to M.A.D. and their lackeys.

All of which was just another day in the life of as far as Nadya was concerned.  As it turned out, though, the Hunters Guild bosses weren’t as thrilled by their employee’s way of treating her host.

“They’ve terminated my employment,” was how Sam had put it, in her sophisticated British accent.

“Shit-canned your ass,” was how Lulu had re-iterated.  And Sam hadn’t disagreed.

So what was an ex-monster hunter to do, now that she’d pissed off her old bosses and had a whole organization of well-armed, well-informed cocksuckers who didn’t take too kindly to her?

Like Lulu, Nadya had convinced Vlad that Sam would be a useful asset.  Not only did she have all the pre-requisite skills to kill a whole slew of different monsters but she had inside knowledge on both the Hunters Guild and M.A.D.

And besides… she knew how to fly a helicopter.  Which was generally regarded as a pretty sweet skill.

That led to the third nifty thing that had come from Nadya’s brief stay at the M.A.D. compound.  She and Sam had made a truly cinematic escape into the sunrise in one of M.A.D.’s very own choppers.

Instead of dumping the high-tech vehicle, they’d had Lulu go over it from top to bottom and yank out anything that could possibly be a tracking or self-destruct device.  Once they were sure the thing was clean, they gave it a fresh coat of paint and let it blend in with the rest of the choppers on top of a hospital Vlad had donated a significant amount of money to.

Sometimes it really did pay to be charitable.

* * * *

Pulling into the hospital’s employee parking structure, Nadya spotted the first open spot and took it.  It was reserved for a ‘Dr. Clayton Forrester’.  Nadya had no idea who the man was but she imagined he was probably high-strung and full of himself.  The scene of him finding someone else in his parking spot would probably be pretty amusing, especially when he found out it was a stolen car.  Too bad she wasn’t going to be around to watch.

“Uh… this is a hospital,” Knight said as they got out of the car and slung the duffle bags over their shoulders.

“No shit,” Nadya said, adjusting the strap of her duffle and then heading for the elevator.  “Where better to hide a chopper?”  Tapping the up button several times, she stepped back and waited for the lift to arrive.

Knight moved up beside her, sliding the bag so the weight of it rested more evenly across his back then leaned against the side of the wall.  His breathing was already labored from the small jaunt from the car and his forehead was covered in beads of sweat.  “You really think they’re gonna let two heavily armed felons go for a stroll through diagnostic medicine to get to the helipad?”

“First of all,” Nadya said to him.  “Shut up.  You’re winded already, which means you need to save your energy.  We haven’t even done anything yet, so it’s a good bet you’re gonna be useless when the bullets start flying.”

Opening his mouth to respond, Nadya cut him off.  “Second of all… shut up,” she said with more force.  Knight closed his mouth and gave her a hard look.  “And more to the actual point, I’m no felon.  Heavily armed, sure, but not a felon.”

“Move to America for a couple months,” Knight interjected.  “You’ll be a felon in no time, way you operate.”  He chuckled.  “See what I did there?  We’re in a hospital… and you operate.”

Nadya gave him a humorless smirk as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.  “Pillar of wit, you are.”  She stepped into the lift with him and hit the button for the top floor.  “Third of all, shut up.  Starting to get the picture?  Again, more to the point, we’re not strolling through anywhere.  This lift will take us right up to the helipad.  No fuss, no muss, no screaming nurses in need of a good sedative.”

“That’s great, really,” Knight nodded, examining the list of what each floor of the hospital contained.  “There’s just one problem.”

“And that is?”

Knight hit the button for level three, where the pharmacy was.  “I need to pick up a prescription.”  He unslung the duffle and tossed it to the floor as the elevator reached the third floor and stopped.  “Don’t worry.  It’ll only take a minute.”  He set the AK-47 down as well.  “Just keep the elevator running and be ready to get it moving again.”

The doors dinged open and Knight rushed out.  Nadya watched him go and for a moment heavily considered hitting the ‘close door’ button and going ahead on her own.  She had to admit, though, she was curious as to what it was he was planning on getting from the pharmacy.

Vicodin… morphine… Demerol…  Something to take the edge off of whatever the virus was doing to him.  If it helped clear his head and made him able to move better then she was all for it.  If it looped him up and made him even more unbearable, she’d just have to shove him off the helicopter on the way to their target.

Nadya kept a hand firmly placed over the door to keep it from closing.  She heard a commotion down the hall.  Yelling, something glass smashing to bits, the sound of feet skidding on the floor.  Somehow she doubted a patient had just gone code blue.  Her suspicions were confirmed when Knight darted around the corner and jumped into the lift.  “Go go go!” he yelled.

“Code grey in the pharmacy,” a flustered voice called over the intercom.  “Code grey in the pharmacy.”

Moving her hand, Nadya hit the button to get the elevator moving again.  A security guard rounded the corner and came at them.  “Shit…” Nadya muttered, seeing that the guard was going to get there before the doors closed.

Knight had a handful of syringes and a couple of vials of liquid he was trying not to drop.  He still managed to get one of his hands free and yank is revolver from its holster.  He brought the gun up at the security guard and fired a couple of rounds over the man’s head, causing him to dive to the ground and giving the doors enough time to slip closed.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Knight leaned back against the wall and put his gun away before starting to go through all of the items he had pilfered.  His breathing was even more labored than before and he let out a wet cough.

“What the hell was that all about?” Nadya yelled at him.  “You just caused a huge scene so you could score some drugs?”

Nodding, Knight slid a couple of the vials into his pocket, keeping one out and ripping open the package on one of the syringes.  “Correct.”  He stabbed the needle into the top of the vial and filled the syringe about halfway.  “See, you’re right about me being winded.  Shit, holding up that pharmacy should’ve been a piece of cake.  And I definitely should’ve been able to outrun that lardass rent-a-cop.  The fact that it was such a pain in the ass is bad news for the both of us.”

He pulled the needle out of the vial and held it up, looking at it and tapping the syringe to get the air bubbles in it to rise to the surface.  After that, he pushed the plunger a little, ejecting the bubbles and a small amount of the liquid.  “I might have a deadly virus rampaging through my system, slowly shutting it down, bit by bit, but that’s no reason for me to be dragging ass.  The plus side is, so far, it’s not hurting.  Actually, feels more like a bad case of the flu.  The down side is I’m slowing down.  And when the bullets do start flying, it’s a lot harder to dodge the fucking things when you’re dragging yourself across the floor cuz you don’t have the energy to stand.”

“So what’s your fucking point?” Nadya asked, hoping that the hospital wouldn’t be sending more security personnel to the helipad to cut them off.  Knight tossed her the little glass vial.  She caught it and read the label.  “Epi-what?”

“Epinephrine,” Knight finished for her, smirking.  He pulled off his belt and looped it around his arm, just above his elbow, tightening it.  “Artificial adrenalin.  It’s what they give people when they’re having an allergic reaction or their heart is shutting down.  Ever had a Red Bull?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, it’s like if you drank a whole six pack of Red Bulls in five minutes,” he said, smacking at the underside of his arm to palpate the vein.  “Only way better.”

“You’ve done this before,” Nadya said, watching him work.

“Eh, couple times,” Knight said, taking the needle and guiding it to his vein.  “Never for an actual medicinal reason though and never to this extent.  Hopefully, it won’t kill me.”

“Yea, that’d be a real fucking shame,” Nadya said sarcastically.

Knight injected himself, pumping half of the epinephrine in the needle into his arm.  “One-fourth of a syringe…  Sounds like a good start.”  He tossed the needle to the ground and unfastened his belt, looping it back into his pants.

Nadya watched him, raising an eyebrow.  “So?”

“Nothing so far,” he said.  “Might take a couple minutes to get to my heart and kick things into gear.”  He reached down and grabbed his duffle, slinging it back over his shoulder and then snatched up the AK.  ”How tall is this fucking building anyway?”

When the elevator stopped, Knight was through the doors before they even finished opening.  Nadya moved after him.  Whatever the shit was, it was working.  And if all it did was speed him up then he could shoot himself up with as much of it as he wanted.

Of course, a speedy idiot was almost worse than a slow one.  “Wrong way, asshole,” she called to him.

He turned around, giving her a blank look for a moment, then headed back to her.  “Sorry.  Just had to get moving.”

“That shit better not screw up your ability to aim,” Nadya said, leading the way.  “If you shoot me in the back, I’m going to be very angry.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said.  “You’ll be fine.  Hey, you are fine.”  He reached down and gave Nadya’s ass a smack.

Spinning to face him, she grabbed hold of his neck, squeezing hard and pulling one of her pistols free.  Pushing the barrel against his temple, she glared up at him.  “High as a fucking kite or not, fucking turning into the walking dead or not, I don’t give two fucks.  If you EVER fucking touch me like that again, I will rape your cock with one of those needles and then skull-fuck you with my gun.  Got it?”

Knight stared down at her and for the first time since they’d met, she actually saw real fear in his eyes.  “I got it,” he said, his voice soft.  “I’m sorry.”

He seemed sincere but Nadya was still considering shooting him in the head and being done with him.

“I see you’re still a hit with the gentlemen, Valentina,” Sam’s voice called from behind her.

Sighing, Nadya lowered her gun and let go of Knight’s throat, happy to see she’d left a mark.  Turning, she saw Sam leaning against the helicopter, puffing on a cigarette.  Judging by the small pile of butts at her feet, she’d been waiting for a while.  “As usual, they don’t know how to keep their fucking hands to themselves.”  She nodded to the chopper.  “We ready to go?”

“Fueled up and primed,” Sam nodded, dropping her cigarette to the ground and crushing it under her heel.  She motioned to Knight.  “Who’s your handy friend?”

Knight moved past Nadya, going up to Sam, offering her a grin and a hand.  “Knight.  Jimmy Knight.  Very pleased to meet you.”  The effect Nadya had on him seemed to have faded quickly.  Next time, she’d have to try something that hurt for a longer period of time.  Kneeing him in the groin sounded good.

Moving after him, Nadya elbowed him in the side.  “Cut the charm, dipshit, and get in the chopper.”  She turned to Sam.  “He is most definitely not my friend.”  Knight turned to look at her and she could tell he was about to spew out some sort of witty retort.  She narrowed her eyes and glared at him, promising more pain if he said anything.  He got the message and got in the helicopter.  “Lulu call you?”

Sam nodded, heading around to the pilot’s side of the chopper.  “Two diver rigs, ready to go.”  They each got in and Nadya unslung her duffle, setting it down on the floor and then picking up one of the diver rigs.  It looked a bit like a backpack, only with wrist and ankle attachments.  “Have to admit, I was a bit surprised when she told me to get them ready.  Thought you hated heights.”

“I do,” she said.  “There’s just some things I hate worse.”

* * * *

The helicopter’s white paint job was highly visible against the night sky.  “You could’ve gone with a more conspicuous paint job,” Knight yelled into the headset, trying to be heard over the thud of the chopper’s blades.

“There’s more to camouflage than just blending in with the background,” Nadya yelled back.  “Anyone who sees us will just think we’re a hospital vehicle rushing to the scene of an emergency.”  She finished slipping into the diver rig, tightening the straps.  The last thing she wanted was to slip free of the thing en route to their target.

“We’ll be within range in five minutes,” Sam called from the front.  “Might want to prep your boyfriend on how to use the rig.”

“Not my boyfriend!” Nadya yelled louder than she needed to in order to be heard then turned to Knight who was smirking.  “Keep giving me that look and I push you out now and see how fast a learner you are.”

The smirk dropped away quickly.  “You have to admit, though.  We do look good together.  She’s not the first one to make that assumption.”

“I don’t care if the entire Netherlands population was polled and the majority thought we looked good together,” Nadya replied.  “It’s never fucking happening.  So shut the hell up and let me explain to you how this thing works.  Unless that shit you injected yourself with can make you fly.”

“Kinda doubt it,” he shook his head, fastening the straps around his ankles.

“Alright, so here we go,” Nadya said, stretching out her right arm and using the left to point out the details.  “What we’re currently wearing is affectionately referred to as a ‘diver rig’.  From the name, you might think it has something to do with scuba gear, but you’d be dead wrong.  This is what truly psychotic individuals use to base jump without a parachute.  You notice there’s a little red button on the front chest strap.”

She pointed to the button just above her left breast.  Knight eyed it with more interest than was necessary for a little red button.  Nadya kicked him in the shin.  “Keep your ears open and your eyes away from my body, pervert.  When you hit the button, it’ll deploy the rig, which is essentially a hang-glider that can fit into a schoolchild’s backpack.  They’re only good for short distance jumps and if they go wrong, you fall until you hit something hard enough to make you go splat.”

“This sounds… really stupid,” Knight said.

“That’s because it is.  It’s also the best way we’ve got to get into their high-security, bad-guy-infested building.  So we’re doing it.”

* * * *

As she pulled the side door of the chopper open, Nadya’s internal voice was sounding a lot like Knight.  This is really, incredibly, irrevocably fucking stupid, she thought.

She let out a long sigh.  “Let’s do this shit,” she said, attempting to shove aside the fact that she was scared shitless of the thought of leaping out of the chopper.

It worked.  Sort of.

She leapt out anyway.  Triggering the diver rig, the glider fins extended and her rapid decent was quickly transformed into a not quite so rapid decent.  At least now she could steer.  More or less.  Shifting her body, she headed for the top of the M.A.D. building.  She had an urge to look back and see if Knight had followed but fought against it.  The building was coming up fast.

As she drew within range, Nadya flexed her arms and legs.  The change in angle let the gliding panels catch the wind and stall out her forward momentum.  She dropped in a relatively straight line to the rooftop, landing hard and rolling forward.  She came up in a crouch, hitting the button to retract her diver rig and pulling one of her pistols free.  She didn’t see any bad guys.  Yet.

“Oh, fuck!”

Nadya turned her head and saw Knight coming in hot.  “Break, you fucking idiot!” she hissed at him.

If the fucking idiot heard her, he made no sign of it.  The plus side was Knight didn’t come up short of the building or go flying over it.  The downside…

Nadya attempted to move out of the way but Knight’s decent was too fast.  He collided with her and the pair of them fell to the ground hard.  Nadya reached to rub the back of her bruised head.  “Oh, you’re such an asshole,” she groaned.  Then she felt the bulging hardness pressing against her stomach.  “Ew!  What the fuck, man?!”  She started hitting and kicking at him until he rolled off of her.

“Sorry,” he said, sitting up.  “Side effect of the epinephrine.”  He grinned at her.  “Or is it?”

“I will seriously shoot your dick off,” Nadya snarled, getting to her feet and picking her gun up.  “Now quit fucking around.  If they don’t know we’re here yet they will soon.”  She started towards the door leading into the building, gun at the ready.

Night Five: Virus

Chapter Nine: The Pick Up

by Indy McDaniel

Copyright © 2010 Indy McDaniel

The fact that he was slowly transforming into the walking dead didn’t keep Knight from continuing to hit on Lulu while they waited for Vlad to call back with word on the weapons drop.  Neither did the looks Nadya was giving him that promised some severe pummeling if he didn’t cut it out.  Lulu was also oblivious to the looks.  Either due to her attention being focused elsewhere or because she was ignoring them, Nadya wasn’t sure which.  She was just relieved when Vlad finally called back.

Hanging up her cell, Nadya looked over to Knight.  “C’mon, Romeo.  We’ve got some weapons to collect before we go about saving your perverted ass.”

“Hey!” Knight said in a mock offended tone, looking over to Nadya.  “I resemble that remark!”

They headed for the exit until Lulu called after them.  Nadya stopped and looked back, expecting some kind of extra bit of intel the young hacker had managed to scrounge up.

Instead, she was holding a black leather jacket, which she offered to Knight.  “Gets a bit chilly in these parts.”

Knight gave her a smirk and accepted the gift, slipping it on.  “Thanks, babe.  I owe you one.”

“Damn right, you do,” Lulu replied, grinning.  “You can pay up when you bring it back to me.”

Knight nodded.  “Count on it.”

Rolling her eyes, Nadya let out a groan.  “Hey, Soon-to-be-Walking-Dead-Man.  Are you coming or not?”

“Yea, yea…” Knight said, turning back and following Nadya out of the heavily fortified shop full of fancy tech gear.  “Y’know, anyone ever tell you you’ve got some serious issues with patience?”

“Tick tock, motherfucker,” Nadya shot back as she exited the shop.  “The more time we waste the closer you get to being even more brainless than you already are.”  She headed back towards where they’d parked the car.

Knight followed just behind her, taking the opportunity to survey his new partner’s more feminine assets.  “What’s the matter?  Jealous?”

“Yes.  I’m jealous of the fact that you’re not anxiously attempting to infect me with whatever the fuck STD’s you’ve got crawling all over your skanky cock.”

“Harsh,” he muttered.  “And I’ll have you know, Plutoxin 7 aside, I’m totally clean.  I’m a firm believer in the ‘don’t be a fool, wrap your tool’ philosophy.”

Reaching the car, Nadya let out a sigh of relief.  The sooner they got the job finished, the sooner she could get away from him.  Or shoot him.  Whichever felt like it’d be more gratifying.  “So glad we had this insightful conversation.  Get in the fucking car.”

“I’m driving.”

“The fuck you are,” Nadya snarled.

“Hey, I stole the goddamn thing.  I earned the right to drive,” Knight said, crossing his arms.

Nadya glared back at him.  “How long you been in this country, cowboy?”

“A week.  What does that matter?”

“It matters cuz I’ve been roaming these parts my whole fucking life.  Which means I know my way around better.  Which means, if we get into a situation where we need to drive fast and precise, then I’m less likely to drive us down a goddamn dead end.”  She extended her hand to him.  “Keys.”

Knight sighed.  ”Fine.”  He tossed her the keys and moved around to the passenger side.  “Jealous or not, it’s my professional opinion that you need a good orgasm.”

“Fuck off, asshole,” Nadya muttered, unlocking the car and getting in.

* * * *

Nadya headed to the address Vlad had given her.  A bakery.  Knight looked out the window at the place with an uncertain expression.  “What’re we gonna do?  Bake ourselves into a goddamn cake and mail it to them?  Surprise!”

“Something like that,” Nadya said, smirking.  She shut off the car and got out, heading into the bakery.  She’d never been to this front before and she didn’t recognize the man behind the counter.

“Pick up or delivery?” the man asked in thickly accented English.

“Pick up,” Nadya replied.  “For Valentina.”

The man nodded, looking bored, and turned to head back into the store room.  Nadya looked around the place.  To the untrained eye, it looked like a legitimate bakery.  She didn’t doubt that the guy running the place actually did know how to bake and even sold it to housewives and small children and whatever other legit customer happened to come through the door.  Hell, the goods might not even be half bad.  But that’s not what the place was truly meant for.

Still, she thought.  While we’re waiting…

She snagged a pastry and started to dig in.  It was good.  She scarfed it down and reached for another.  Her hunger level had been steadily rising all night.  Better to solve the problem before diving headfirst into a hornets nest full of bad guys.

The proprietor of the establishment returned with a pair of duffle bags that were most definitely not filled with dough.  He set them on the counter and nodded to her.  “Check it.”

Nadya finished off her fourth pastry and moved forward, unzipping one bag and fishing into it.  She pulled out a fresh pistol, checked the mag and saw the silver tipped bullets ready and waiting.  Slamming the mag back in, she racked the gun and slipped it into her waistband.

Slipping off her jacket, she pulled out an ammo bandolier with plenty of extra clips for the handgun, which she slid over her shoulders.  She found a second pistol, identical to the first, and went through the same routine before placing it next to the first.

Turning back to Knight, who seemed pretty impressed with the arsenal so far, she motioned to the open bag.  “You want something a bit better than that busted piece of shit revolver?”

He actually looked offended by the comment.  “No way.”  He pulled the gun out and held it up.  “This baby’s gotten me outta more jams than I can count.”

Rolling her eyes, Nadya reached into the duffle again and came out with a box of .38 silver rounds, tossing them over to him.  “Figured you might say something like that.  Load em with that.”

As Knight went about changing out his ammunition, Nadya moved on to the second bag.  Opening it, she pulled out an MP5.  “Nice…” she muttered, checking the chamber and slinging it over her shoulder.  A second bandolier joined the first, this one with extra machine gun clips.

Then she found one of two of the extras she’d requested.  Grinning, she pulled the bandolier of grenades out of the bag and turned back to Knight.  “Heads up, hound dog,” she said, tossing him the grenades.  “Keep these close and don’t go pulling any pins before I tell you to.”

Knight caught the grenades and looked them over.  “What’s the plan then?  If we don’t trigger the goddamn self destruct we blow up the building ourselves?”

“Something like that,” Nadya said, nodding.  She turned back to the bags and double checked them for extra goodies.  Nothing but extra ammo clips.  She looked up to the man behind the counter.  “There should be something else.”

The man’s brow furrowed.  “This isn’t enough?”

“Probably not,” Nadya replied.  She extended her arms apart.  ”Something about yay big.”

The man shook his head and reached under the counter.  “All this firepower.  All this silver and fucking explosives.”  He came back up with a narrow cylindrical container.  “What the hell good is this gonna do?”

“What is it?” Knight asked.

Nadya took the container from the man.  “You’d be amazed how handy this old thing is.”  She unscrewed the top and pulled it off, taking hold of the hilt and pulling the katana free, holding it up to examine it.

Knight laughed.  “A fucking sword?  I’m with old man baker over there.  The fuck good’s that gonna be?”

“Do you know how many werewolves I’ve killed with this thing?” Nadya asked.

Knight stared blankly at her.  “No.”

“Me either,” Nadya said.  “But it was a fuck of a lot.”  She pulled the sheath for the sword out of the container and opened up her belt, pulling it free enough for her to slip the loop of the sheath into it before fastening it back up and sliding the sword into it.  She turned back to Knight.  “Sure you don’t want something more than that six-shooter piece of shit?”

Looking at the heavily armed blonde girl for a minute, Knight sighed.  “Well… maybe if you’ve gotta extra machine gun handy…”

Turning back to the shop keeper, Nadya gave him an expectant look.  Sighing, the man reached under the counter again and came up with an AK-47, handing it over to Knight.  “You Russians sure do love these things, don’t you?”

“If you’re gonna bitch about it, you can hand it back, you fucking racist,” the baker shot back.

Knight lifted his hands in surrender.  “Hey, man, I ain’t knockin’ em.  Just making an observation.”  He checked the weapon over.  “Got any extra clips for this one?”  The baker didn’t look very pleased but he still handed three more clips over to Knight.  “Thanks, comrade,” he said, slipping them into his jacket pocket.

Nadya zipped up the duffle bags again and handed one over to Knight, shouldering the second one herself.  “Thanks,” she told the baker, then headed for the exit.

“Time to do some major damage to some angry assholes?” Knight asked, stifling a wet cough.

“Not just yet…” she said, starting up the car and hitting the gas.

Night Five: Virus

Chapter Eight: Intelligence

by Indy McDaniel

Copyright © 2010 Indy McDaniel

Nadya had met Lulu in person just after escaping the M.A.D. base.  Despite the continuous poor attempts at flirting she made, Nadya couldn’t help liking the girl.  She was friendly, up beat and extremely good at what she did.  It hadn’t taken much persuasion to convince Vlad that they needed a good hacker at their disposal.

And that was how Lulu got herself on the very lucrative payroll.  Although she flirted with everything within earshot and was able to describe various sexual acts in graphic detail, Nadya was fairly certain she was a virgin.  At least in the physical sense.  Who knew what she got up to on her computers.

Nadya’s feelings towards Lulu could have been accurately described as like a little sister.  Except, Xenia had kind of soured her on the whole ‘sister’ concept.  So she decided to think of her more as a slightly naive, overly ambitious friend.  Which, in a very literal sense, was exactly what Lulu was to her.

Regardless, Nadya felt compelled to protect her friend from certain things.  Certain things, in this case, being personified by a horn dog thief.

So as soon as they’d gotten into Lulu’s living area, where they had some privacy from the young hacker, Nadya gave Knight a hard punch to the chest.

“What the fuck was that for?”

“She’s young, inexperienced and lonely,” Nadya said, pointing a finger at him sternly.  “I’m not gonna let you take advantage of her.”

“Hey, she might look like a twelve-year-old boy on the verge of puberty but she curses like a sailor, plays ultra-violent video games from the early 90′s and watches hardcore interracial gay porn,” Knight shot back.  “I think she can handle the likes of me.”

Nadya glared at him.  “Just leave her alone.  We get through tonight, I’ll drive you to fucking Amsterdam and you can bang all the whores you want.”

Knight’s eyes lit up.  “That a promise?”

Letting out a disgusted groan, Nadya turned away from him.  “Men…” she muttered in Russian.

It took less than Lulu’s projected twenty minutes for her to come looking for them.  She didn’t look very happy, though.  “Well, the good news is, it was easier to find than I thought it would be,” she said.  “The bad news is… the location it’s in is even more guarded than the place you hit earlier.”

“What’s so bad about it?”

“Okay… y’know how there was a whole buncha guys with guns in that office?”

Nadya nodded.

“Yea, think kinda like that… only there’s gonna be a mix of vampires and werewolves.  And you’re gonna have to fight your way through the whole fucking place to get to the twenty-eighth floor, which is where they keep the shit.  Better yet, it’s got the same self-destruct feature as the last place did, so as soon as the security system registers that the virus or the antidote are being tampered with, the place blows.”

“Jesus,” Knight muttered.  “They must seriously not want this shit getting out if they’re willing to blow whole buildings up to keep it in check.”

Nadya opened her mouth to ask a question but Lulu cut her off.  “I can’t hack into the self-destruct system.  It’s deadlock sealed.  Only some really high up motherfucker can even access that shit, let alone shut it down.”

“How long after the self-destruct triggers before the building blows?”

“Eh, roughly five minutes,” Lulu said.  “Give or take…”

“Beautiful,” Knight said, lighting up a cigarette and letting out a nasty sounding cough.  Looking over at him, Nadya saw he was looking a bit paler.  The virus seemed to be doing its job.

Nadya looked back to Lulu.  “Just tell me how to get there.”  Turning back to Knight, she could see the hand he was holding his cigarette with was trembling slightly.  “You should probably stay here.  I work faster alone.”

“Hey, me, too,” Knight replied.  “But like I said, you’re gonna need me to even get into their vault.  Besides… I can probably deactivate their self-destruct mechanism.”

“No way,” Lulu shook her head emphatically.  “I just told you – “

“Look, kid-o,” Knight interrupted.  “I triggered the last one, I know how I did it.  Which means, next time around, there’s a good chance I can sidestep that little shit storm and avoid it entirely.”

Lulu didn’t say anything but Nadya could tell from her face that the ‘kid-o’ comment had stung.  Knight, as usual, was oblivious.  In Nadya’s opinion, that was probably a good thing.  Maybe their rendezvous had been successfully derailed already.

“Whatever,” she said, holding up her hands.  “You want to come with, come with.  You fall behind it’s your own damn problem.  You turn into an undead slave, I’ll shoot you myself.”

“Kinda figured as much,” Knight said before starting a coughing fit.

Ignoring him, Nadya moved over to Lulu.  “What sort of distractions can you give me?”

“Not many,” Lulu said, giving a worried look to Knight.  “Is he gonna be alright?”

“Forget about him,” Nadya said sternly.  “What CAN you give me?”

Lulu’s eyes lingered on Knight a few moments longer before she looked to Nadya.  “This place is like their major R&D department.  Seems like the samples in the other building were just a lucky break.  They weren’t really supposed to be there.”

“So why were they?”

Lulu shrugged.  “Fucked if I know,” she said.  “The R&D’s system is locked up tighter than a homophobe’s asshole.  Finding the location wasn’t too hard, but finding out exactly what they’re doing in there is a real pain.  If you ask me, the whole goddamn thing stinks of a trap.”

“Like the stuff isn’t really there?”

“No, like they wanted me to find it there,” she said.  “Like they’re putting out just enough intel to lure you in.  I donno, call it paranoia.  Us hackers are bad with the paranoias.  Course, that doesn’t mean we’re wrong about it.”

Nadya was agreeing, the whole thing didn’t feel right.  But if she had a line on where the antidote was being held, she had to check it out.  Of course, that didn’t mean she was going in completely blind.  “You said the vault’s on the twenty-eighth floor, right?”

Lulu nodded.

“What about rooftop access?”

“Nice try,” Lulu smirked.  “But unless you’re fucking Spider-Man or some shit, there’s no way you’re getting all the way up there.”

“I wasn’t thinking about climbing.”

Lulu’s brow furrowed and she gave Nadya a blank look for a moment before she realized what Nadya was getting at.  “Ohhh, you sly fox.”

Nadya smirked.  “I have my moments.  What I need is some firepower if I’m gonna be heading in that place.  And plenty of silver bullets.  I’m running low.”

“Want me to call up Vlad and see if he can schedule a drop off?”

Shaking her head, Nadya reached for her cell.  “Nah, I should do that.  After all, I’m technically supposed to be grounded.  What, after being at the scene of an exploding building and all.  I figure he’ll change his mind after I let him know what all’s going on.”

Lulu nodded.  “I’ll head back to my command center and see if I can break through any firewalls.”  She turned and headed back the way she’d come.

Nadya dialed Vlad and put the phone to her ear, waiting for him to answer.  After the second ring, he did.  “I told you to lay low,” he said.  “Since you’re calling me, I take it you’re finding that to be difficult or you’ve come up with an urgent reason why you can’t.”

“Little bit of both,” Nadya said.  “The asshole I was sharing a car with earlier.  Turns out he’s into some pretty heavy shit involving our angry friends.  Put simply, really nasty virus that’ll turn whoever gets infected into an undead slave.  In other words, not something very nice.  I’ve already got a line on an antidote to the shit that, in my personal opinion, would be a very nice thing for us to have.  Problem is, it’s in a pretty heavily guarded building.  So, I’m gonna need some weapons and silver.”  She paused to take a breath.  “How’s your night been?”

Vlad laughed at her last comment.  “Clearly not as eventful as yours.”  He paused for a moment.  “Is there a reason why this has to be such a rush job?”

Glancing over at Knight, Nadya could tell he was feeling like shit despite the tough guy act he was putting on.  “The asshole’s infected with the shit.  And although he is, without a doubt, an asshole, he does seem to have quite a few useful talents.  Besides… you know me.  I don’t like to wait.”

“Fair enough,” Vlad said.  “The usual assortment of toys and trinkets?  Or would you like something special?”

“Surprise me,” Nadya said before hanging up the phone.

Night Five: Virus

Chapter Seven: Hack’d 2 Pieces

by Indy McDaniel

Copyright © 2010 Indy McDaniel

Nadya and Knight entered the parking garage attached to Zada’s apartment complex.  Nadya kept her gun in hand but held it low, ready to bring it up at the first sign of anything hostile.  She looked for a car they could borrow.  Something fast but not too conspicuous.  Looking around, she noticed that Knight had disappeared.  Cursing, she kept moving through the garage.  Either he’d decided to try to find the antidote on his own or he’d gone off to curl up and die some place.  Regardless, Nadya wasn’t going to stick around and see if he was going to turn back up.

The sound of tires screeching came from behind her and she turned.  Bright headlights shone in her eyes as a car raced towards her.  “Shit…” she muttered, bringing her gun up.

Before she could fire, the car skidded to a halt and Knight stuck his head out of the window.  “Goddammit.  Put that thing away and get in,” he said.  “I’m driving this time.”

Letting out a sigh, Nadya got in the car.  “You don’t even know where we’re going.”

“And you do?”

Nadya thought about it.  “Who knew about this place?  Aside from you, the wolf-woman and the wolf-woman’s total nut job nephew.”

“Nobody, far as I know,” Knight said, starting the car moving again and heading for the exit.

“Then it’s a safe bet those assholes know about even more stuff they’re not supposed to.  We need to get to Lulu’s.  They might try to hit there next and without her our chances of finding an antidote to that shit go right down the drain.”

“Lulu’s it is, then,” Knight nodded, pulling out into traffic and putting some distance between them and the complex.  Overhead, Nadya could hear the sound of a helicopter fly by.  “Just tell me where to turn.”

Once she got her bearings, Nadya told him how to get there then spent the rest of the trip keeping an eye on the road behind them, making sure they weren’t being followed.  She thought it was a bit odd that Xenia hadn’t put more effort into capturing or killing her.  That she hadn’t meant Xenia must’ve not known she’d be there.  And since she hadn’t much cared about grabbing Knight or keeping Zada alive, that left only the nut job that had come knocking and babbling about being chased by Shadows.  The black clad strike team could have very well been mistaken as shadows.  The insane kid might’ve gone and lead them right to the apartment.  Which meant that maybe Lulu’s place wasn’t compromised.

Still, that was a pretty big maybe.  And as good as the hacker girl was at breaking into secured mainframes and throwing out foul language, Nadya was fairly certain that she wouldn’t be all that handy in a fight.  Potentially as a decoy or a human shield, but her big brain was better suited behind a computer far from the fighting.  So Nadya wanted to be there just in case the Shadows did come calling.

Besides… she still needed a place to lay low and Lulu’s was as good as any.

“That’s the place,” Nadya said, pointing to a shop on the left called Multitronics.  A steel gate was pulled down and the place looked abandoned but Nadya knew otherwise.  The inside was much different, filled to the brim with all kinds of high tech computer gadgetry.  “Park around the block and we’ll double back.”

Knight looked over at her.  “Y’know, I have actually avoided being tailed before.”

“Whatever,” Nadya muttered.  “Just do it.”

After they were parked and she was certain nobody had followed them, Nadya called Lulu.  Once again, she answered swiftly.  “Hey, you do realize it’s gonna take a bit longer, right?  I may be the goddess of cyberspace but even I require some time to do things right.”

“That’s not why I’m calling,” Nadya said.  “I’m out front.  Come let me in.”

“Two seconds.”  The phone went dead.  A moment later and the steel gate began to ascend.  Behind the gate were a set of bars lain over bullet proof glass.  There was a buzz as the door’s lock released and Nadya pushed it open, Knight following along behind her.  The door clicked shut again and the gate immediately started descending.

They stood in a small hall with a heavily armored door in front of them.  “I assume you being here means something really fuckin’ lame went down.”  Lulu’s voice came from a small speaker next to the door.  “Who’s the guy?  Kinda cute…”

Knight smirked and leaned towards the small lens of the camera Lulu was using to survey them.  “Name’s Knight,” he said.  “Jimmy Knight.  And, trust me; I’m a whole lot cuter in person.”

“Well, then,” Lulu said.  “I’m sold.”  There were a series of clicks and clangs as the armored door’s numerous locks disengaged.  Once that finished, the door swung open.

Nadya rolled her eyes and pushed passed Knight, moving into the flat-turned-bunker.  “No time for love, Lulu,” she said, making her way through the stacks of motherboards and hard drives.  “How soon till you find that antidote?”

A metal ladder led onto a raised platform where Lulu’s command center was stationed.  Nadya was sure if she were more computer savvy, she’d be utterly amazed at the amount of hardware the young Canadian girl had set up.

Four flat-panel monitors were angled in a semi-circle around her, all showing different things.  From what Nadya could tell, two of them were currently working at cracking into M.A.D.’s mainframe.  The third displayed a paused game of Doom 2, while the final monitor was displaying a well-endowed black man forcing himself up the ass of a skinny white guy.  Nadya averted her eyes from the scene and was just thankful that the sound was muted.

“Ok, I don’t care how much lube is used, that can NOT be pleasant,” Knight said from behind Nadya.

Spinning her chair to face them, Lulu gave him a grin.  “Hey, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, yo.”  Her face was unnaturally pale.  The only light her skin had known coming from the four monitors.  Her hair was cropped even shorter than Nadya’s, like a boy’s.  The majority of it was dyed bright pink with toxic green swirls criss-crossing through it.  She was wearing baggy clothes but even so it was clear she was flat-chested.  One leg was curled underneath herself while the other dangled downwards, her bare toes almost touching the floor.  “Wow, you’re right,” she said, her French-Canadian accent giving her voice a unique sound.  “Way more cute in person.”

Glancing back to Knight, Nadya could see that he was a bit disappointed by the androgyny that was Lulu and couldn’t help smirking.  Turning back to the hacker, her face turned serious again.  “Plutoxin 7.  Antidote.  Time frame.”

“Shit, girl, I donno…” Lulu said, waving an arm and spinning back to the computers where she unpaused the game and began to shotgun blast demons.  “Check back in a couple hours.”

“Not good enough.”  Nadya walked around behind the computers.  “Which one of these cords resets your game?”

Having Nadya poking around the sensitive back area of her computer system was an effective way of getting Lulu’s attention.  She quit the game and jumped up out of her chair, moving around to where Nadya was jiggling wires.  “Ok, ok!  If I set aside my ADHD and focus, I might be able to get it in like twenty minutes.  That fast enough for ya, speedster?”

“That’ll do.”

Lulu moved back around the computer terminals, shaking her head.  She stopped next to Knight, who was a good head taller than her.  “Geez, she’s always in such a rush…”  Looking up, she gave him a smile.  “What bout you?  You in a hurry or can you chill for a bit?  I got some high grade ganja in the other room, along with some wicked awesome mood lighting.  Could put on some Alien Sex Fiend and just… groove till dawn.”

Looking at Knight, Nadya could tell he was actually considering the offer.  Somehow, she wasn’t surprised.  Walking up, she punched him in the arm hard enough to get his attention.  “Hey!  There is a bit of a time issue.  Remember, Zombie Boy?”

“Right,” he said, looking down at Lulu with an apologetic half-smile.  “Sorry, babe.  I’m sure it’d be great fun but if I don’t get some of that antidote relatively quickly I’m gonna be a brain-dead sack of shit.  Maybe some other time.”

The possibility of a later hook up seemed to appease Lulu.  With a wide grin on her face, she spun around and plopped back down in her chair, this time focusing on the two computers in the process of getting into M.A.D.’s databases.  “Dude, just so you know, as soon as you’re not turning into the walking dead, I’m totally holding you to that shit.”