Kummer/Crossing Paths pt2
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Ten minutes later, the scuttling began again. Arachnoids, driven by a sense of unease or perhaps even going to wait for whatever signal the Vahzilok doctor convinced them of, shuffled out of the larger room and into the hallways.
In the utility closet, the Longbow sergeant twitched at the sound. Kummer glanced down at her curiously. She met his gaze, slightly embarrassed, then looked away. The man-wolf hybrid frowned, more than a little confused.
He started to ask, but thought better of it. He had finally gotten control of himself within the past few minutes so he wasn’t accidentally ‘prodding’ her with his ‘enthusiasm’. The last thing he needed was her whispering in his ear, starting that all over again. Arachnoids and Vahzilok or no, she might actually start hitting him this time.
Then, as abruptly as the eerie sounds began, they faded out to silence. In their place was the faint, and all too familiar, shuffle step of Vahzilok creations. Buried among that was the footfalls of two normal footsteps.
The ‘keepers’, Kummer mused wryly.
“What can you hear?” the sergeant whispered into his ear again. Immediately, he reacted to it instinctively and stiffened. Nowhere to go, he closed his eyes and braced himself for a punch in the jaw.
However, the punch never came. Kummer opened his eyes, confused. The sergeant was still looking at him expectantly, a bit rattled, but awaiting an answer. When he didn’t say anything right away she leaned in again.
“Ok, look, I was a little harsh a moment ago. I apologize,” she said softly, barely even audibly in his ear, “it’s … odd, I’ll admit given the situation, but really there are stranger things. Like hiding out in a house full of spider creatures who can literally make a meal of you. If you *were* going to do anything you would have, or you would have left me out there a little while ago. So you get excited, it happens. If you can cope, so can I. Now, do you hear the Arachnoids? Your ears are better than mine.”
Kummer, despite his growing instinct-driven ‘excitement’, concentrated. Finally, he shook his head.
“No,” he whispered in the Longbow sergeant’s ear. “Arachnoids go. Just Vahzi.”
“How close?” she asked quickly.
Kummer listened again, “not here. Some on floor. Not close. Maybe two, three room. Won’t see or hear.”
“Good, lets get out of here,” she said.
Carefully, the pair got to their feet. Kummer rose first - who immediately turned away from the Longbow to adjust his leather bodysuit. Behind him, the sergeant got to her feet. Kummer, now more comfortable, faced the sergeant.
“Want know,” Kummer asked carefully, “why you here? Why you alone?”
The sergeant lifted her mini-gun carefully so to not make any sound. “If you must know, patrol and a little investigation,” she replied. “Some people have gone missing, Longbow command is obsessed with Arachnos, so … I suited up on my free time to … check things out for the locals.” She shrugged, “real, real stupid to go out alone here in the Isles, I know. Its not like I expected to find all this, them … or you, y’know?”
Kummer blinked, stunned. He gave her a brief lopsided grin, as if he heard the funniest joke in a long time. “You hero.”
She frowned at him. “Hell no, I work for a living.”
The man-wolf looked at her suspiciously, “you no villain.”
“No, I’m just Sergeant Baker,” she replied wryly slipping the mini-gun strap over her shoulder and across her back. “But for you? Just Samantha. Now, lets get moving, we gotta get out of here.”
Kummer eased to the door first, naturally moving ahead as if Samantha was a Delta. At the door, he realized what had happened, and the danger of it all. She wouldn’t know the commands, or have some idea of what he should be doing. Worse still, he only had the barest idea of what he was doing. Already he could imagine Fehral pinching his ear for being stupid. He turned around and whispered, “Kummer scout. Be back. No move.”
The sergeant nodded briefly, then flipped a switch on her mini-gun. Kummer couldn’t read the words, but he hoped the motion meant something good. Turning back to the door, he crouched down low, wrapping the shadows around himself. The next, he slipped through the doorway and into the hall.
It was quiet, with only the occasional dust flowing on the still air. The hybrid glanced up and down along the hallway. It was nearly empty save for one lone Abomination at the very far end of the hallway. Luckily, it had not moved. Kummer assumed its keeper was elsewhere and left this one as some sick version of a ‘proximity alarm’. However, there was plenty of room for Sam to join him and not be spotted despite her garish red and white spandex outfit.
Kummer eased back to the door, showing himself just slightly so that the sergeant could see him. She was right where he left her. He smiled slightly, though he wasn’t sure why.
“Come, we go now,” Kummer explained, “one Vahzi down hall. Too far to be threat.”
“Lead the way,” Sergeant Baker replied. “You take care of me, I take care of you and we get out fine, no worries.”
Kummer smirked again, then frowned more unsure of his instincts than ever. He shoved the thoughts aside, he would mull it over later. Right now they had to survive.
The hall became a room, which was fortunately empty. From there, Kummer led Sergeant Baker to the emergency stairs leading down. Carefully, he opened the door, marvelling at their luck.
Which was exactly when it ran out.
“Clear the building!” A rasping voice croaked in the distance. “Bring it down! Don’t need any evidence to tie us to the cargo job!”
Before Kummer and the sergeant could step inside the walls rattled as if the building had been physically struck!
No, no, no, no! Kummer screamed in his mind. Not again! What is it with Vahzilok and buildings?
The man-wolf hybrid pulled open the door, but in his haste pulled too quickly and the hinges shrieked. The methodical hammering abruptly stopped. Kummer and the Longbow sergeant froze.
“Intruders!” the voice screamed from the bottom of the stairwell.
“Wrong door!” Kummer said aloud, shoving the door back into place.
“No kidding!” Samantha replied. The sergeant snatched up a chair and rammed it under the door latch just hard enough that the fatigued metal turned, and the latch jammed into the frame. She turned around, just as Kummer raced from the alcove to check the hallway.
Fortunately, the Abomination was like most - as stupid and responsive as a brick unless directed to do something or provoked. Neither had actually happened so it stood stoically facing away from them.
Samantha frowned, looking one way, then the other. “Is there another set of stairs?” she asked.
“No get,” Kummer said with a shrug. Quickly he grabbed her hand without thinking, “we find.”
The sensation was intense, the heat from her hand raced through his, practically stunning him to immobility. He let go instantly as if she was on fire.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, completely oblivious.
“‘Splain later, not now,” he said hurriedly, a flush rushing to his cheeks. In another alcove he spied another door. “Door found!”
The pair raced for the emergency door. Just before Kummer could touch the handle, it flew open! On the landing stood one ‘Vahzilok intern’ also known as a Reaper. Behind him was two Abominations. The Reaper’s eyes shone with an insane light on seeing the man-wolf and the Longbow sergeant.
“Oh, so delicious! You two will do *so* nicely!” The lunatic exclaimed, while Kummer back peddled, “I’ve been wanting to work on parts like yours!”
In the blink of an eye, the man pulled a butcher knife and swung. Kummer dodged, the rusty blade dotted with ichor missed his leather-clad arm by mere inches. The hybrid recoiled, drew upon what kinetic energy he could, then hammered at the Reaper, and missed!
The Reaper kicked Kummer in the mid-section, sending him sprawling to the floor. The man-wolf coughed, then immediately rolled over, when Samantha planted her feet and thumbed the safety.
“He’s with me, nutcase!” The sergeant growled, squeezing the trigger, “Back off!”
Instead of the usual mini-gun rounds Kummer expected, the customized mini-gun boomed a series of explosions like a rolling thunder. To his amazement, small bean bags exploded out of the weapon then careened into the Reaper! At the moment of impact, the bags split open and dozens upon dozens of electrified pellets showered the target in a loose electrical net. Caught in the taser-like grip of the net, the Reaper collapsed to the floor, shivering.
Kummer immediately looked around, a grin plastered on his face. His grin turned to horror when he saw an Abomination backhand the sergeant off her feet and into a dessicated potted plant. The ceramic pot shattered under the weight of the woman and her mini-gun.
Abruptly, a red haze swam over Kummer’s eyes, before the next few moments turned into a manic blur. Kummer howled a challenge, the threw himself at the creature when it turned towards Samantha to finish her off. The Abomination never took the next step. The next few seconds were abrupt, explosive and brief.
The Abomination collapsed to the floor like a felled tree, battered a dozen times about the head, ribs and shoulders.
Kummer spun around, baring his fangs and putting his back to the sergeant while he cast about for more challengers. Behind him he heard the sergeant’s mini-gun roar again and yet again, this resulted in a satisfying sound of the last two Abominations crashing down the stairs.
Sam lightly touched Kummer’s arm, “easy Hero, we’re clear. Lets blow this place before they send backup.”
Kummer panted, his rational mind taking hold once more. He blinked, then nodded, not entirely aware of what just happened.
“Yes, must go, far too bad now. No stay,” he agreed.
Racing down the stairs, the pair heard the makeshift barricade give way on the floor they had just left. Kummer held his breath, when they reached the emergency door to the first floor. He glanced at the sergeant. She nodded with a small smile.
“You lead, I follow,” she said firmly, confidently, “that’s how we roll. Let’s do it.”
Kummer jerked the door open with one hand, the other he drew in a mass of kinetic energy, ready to use.
However, they found nothing.
Slowly, Kummer eased out of the stairwell, the sergeant not far behind. The first floor was oppressive: a stretch of rotting carpet, a forgotten painting hung limp on one wall, battered lights over head and mysterious stains dripping down on wall that Kummer didn’t want to think about.
“No get,” he said quizzically, looking around while the hackles rose on the back of his fur-covered neck.
“I don’t like it either,” Samantha replied, “but the door’s right over there, lets hit it and be gone.”
They made it no more than two steps before explosions rocked the building!
“Run!” the sergeant shouted.
Kummer needed no encouragement. Racing ahead, the man-wolf hybrid tore across the carpet, kicking up tufts of moldy fabric in his wake. A few steps behind, the Longbow sergeant raced after, sprinting with her mini-gun at the ready.
Halfway across the room, the columns cracked, then fell in on themselves. At three-quarters, the ceiling fell in, large chunks hammering the floor around them. Dust belched down then out, turning into a deathly fog. Kummer willed his power to life, drawing in all the kinetic energy he could spare from his muscles, his motion, just anywhere. Ten paces, then five, followed by two and Kummer unleashed a blindly flash of yellowish energy that ripped through the cracked exit door. The door buckled, exploded outward revealing a blinding white light that engulfed his senses.
It was the last thing he remembered before a section of roofing tiles struck him on the head, robbing him of consciousness.
