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It's early. About two hours before dawn when the hidden door to Gam's underground bunker opens and a guy walks in. His whole uniform is black, with the exception of a giant red X on his chest, and a skull with a red X on it on his full face mask. On his utility belt are a pair of red night-sticks. His step into the bunker is met with some excitement...
Actually, it's not exactly excitement. Liadan is floating in the air, her eyes glowing with electric warning as static snaps around her outstretched hands. Paladin had a duel pair of magnums pointed straight for him. A few other started waking up and picking up various weapons. The mysteriously dressed man took a small step back, only to feel yet another gun pressed against his back.
"Mon ami, dat would be a very bad move."
"I'm looking for Gam. This is HIS place, if I remember correctly."
Paladin looked to Liadan, who shook her head, and then he said, "Oddly enough, none of us know you, yet we're some of his closest friends."
"Name's Velis. And for his closest friends, I don't remember seeing any of you in California about five years back, when he was staying with me. But that's not the point."
"What is the point?" Liadan asked, still floating in the air.
"Well," Velis said, "We get the news in California too, you know, and I know that this city is getting jacked out. Thought Gam could use some help, and I come down here and find you all in one of his places... Seems like something's up, and frankly I'd like to know what."
"And why, mon ami, should we tell you what is up?" Ripper asked him.
"Because, Ripper, I know all about you... And you Liadan, and you Paladin. And before you ask, it's because I have access to Gam's database, and you each have a file in there. And no, I didn't hack it, I have a username and passcode just like the rest of you. I have a file too, but guessing by the warm reception, I'm guessing you guys don't spend too much time in his database do you?"
Liadan floated down to the ground and said, "He's telling the truth."
"How do you know?" Paladin asked.
"Magic, how did you think?"
The men lower their guns and lead Velis into the bowels of the bunker.
"Sorry about the greetings at the door, it's just that Gam never talked about you," Paladin said. "And you're right, with Gam around, we seldom have ever had to even log onto the database."
"It's no problem, Paladin."
"So, Velis," Ripper asked, "How do you know Gambit?"
"Well guys," Velis answered, "it was something like..."
((Insert wavy lines and a flashback, in interest of the story being a touch more dramatic))
It's about nine at night, with a full moon, and one hell of a heat index, and you can see a man with long dark hair gets off of the trolly. He walks for a few miles, and turns down an alley. Unfortunately, he's being followed. The man turns around to see his pursuer. Then turning into the alley comes four more guys.
"You the guys I'm supposed to be meeting?" The long haired man asks.
"Yeah, that's us." Says the guy who followed him down the alley.
"Well, do you guys have the stuff?"
"We've got something alright." With that the five men growl and expose fangs.
The long haired man flips his jacket open and attached to a web belt are a series of stakes. He grabs one in each hand and says laughingly, "My pointy things are bigger than yours!" The first vamp leaps at him, and in an instant he's dust. A second runs at him, but the man leaps into the air, and comes down onto the vampire's back, thrusting another stake into his heart. Unfortunately, the other three had been smarter, and shot him with a series of tasers simultaneously. He dodged the first couple, but the electric lines created a web that he simply couldn't evade. He was hit with one, and went down. He awoke to no light, hanging with his hands handcuffed to a pipe overhead. A light switched on, immediately blinding him. He heard laughing and snickering. And a voice that said, "Heard you will killing us by the droves. Tracked down your description, and lo and behold, it ain't even real." The man felt as his wig was thrown back at him, and he could feel the looseness of his latex facial disguise.
His vision was starting to come back when a black haired vamp walked up and grabbed him by the face saying, "You've been rap rap rapping on our cellardoor, and I say, nevermore."
"Okay," the man said, "You want to beat me, bite me, torture me, hell even lick me, fine, just do it. But if this misuse of Edgar Allen Poe is going to go on much longer, just kill me now!"
"My pleasure," the vampire said as he leaned in to bite the man's neck. But before he could, something crashed through the skylight and landed on the pipe the man was handcuffed to. The vampire looked up and saw Gambit balancing on the pipe, just before Gam gave him a swift kick to the nose, sending him flying back into his companions and breaking his nose.
Gam slid a pick into the handcuffs and picked them before the vamps could even get up.
"How?" asked the man.
"Harry Houdini... long story. Feel battle ready?"
"Sure, but I'm gonna need a stake." Gam tossed him one and the two men went to work on the vamps. The three were dust when a group of ten walked in.
"Um, we're gonna have a problem here." The man said.
"Oh, hell, I'm too tired for this." Gam said in response as he pulled a canister from his belt and tossed it directly at the vamps. Just before it reached them, it popped open and unfurled into what appeared to be a web made of liquid metal. The vamps were netted in the web, and as much as they struggled against it they could not get out.
"What is that stuff?" The man asked.
"It's an electrically condensed liquid metal polymer," Gam answered. "I call it impact webbing."
"Nifty stuff. Why didn't you use it earlier?"
Gam used a grappel line to anchor the group of webbed vamps just to the west of the skylight so that the rising sun would dust them all.
"Because it has never been tested. Can't use it on humans, who I usually go up against, because it's too strong. Makes it so they can't breathe, and I fight non-lethal."
"Admirable. Well, anything I can do for you, given that you just saved my life?"
"Sure, got a place I can hang my hat for the evening?"
"No problem."
Back at the man's place, the two were sitting down, Gam in his underarmor, bandaging a sprained wrist, drinking a beer, the man in similar underarmor applying a soothing ointment to the electrical burns on his chest. "So," Gam started, "Why the latex mask?"
"Why do you wear yours?"
"Anonymity."
"Me too."
Gam took off his mask, something he seldom does, and tossed it to his companion. "Check out the technology in that, and tell me that you don't see some advantages over latex. You got a name by the way?"
"Friends call me Velis. You?" He replied as he put on Gam's mask.
"Gambit, but they call me Gam for short. What do you think of the mask."
"I hate the design and it's really uncomfortable."
Gam laughed and replied, "It's made specifically for my face, that's why it's uncomfortable. As for the design, there are as many possible variations as there are people in the world." Gam reached over and shut out the lights and before Velis could say anything, the starlite lenses in his mask kicked on.
"Sweet!" Velis said.
"Yeah, it works pretty well." Gam turned the lights back on and the lenses shut off. "Now about your armor." Gam said.
"What about it?" Velis asked.
"Interwoven ballistics and blade proof kevlar, right?"
"Yeah."
Gam smiled and said, "Tech's improved. Get some lightweight webbed kevlar, plus a nomex core and a gore-tex layer and you'll be much better protected, plus fireproof and anti-electrical."
"Seriously?" Velis asked. "That's awesome!"
"So, should I hook you up?" Gam asked.
"Hell yeah!"
((And the flashback ends))
"Gam spent about a month helping me improve my armor and design some new weaponry. Then we hunted vampires and fought some crime and stuff. Good times." Velis said.
"So why the red X?" Liadan asked.
"Well, when we were experimenting with a weaker version of the impact webbing, it sprung up on me and crossed over my chest. The webbing is red, and it kind of stuck in my mind. So it ended up a design element on my chest and facemask."
"And the skull?" Paladin asked.
Velis laughed, "I thought it looked cool."
Actually, it's not exactly excitement. Liadan is floating in the air, her eyes glowing with electric warning as static snaps around her outstretched hands. Paladin had a duel pair of magnums pointed straight for him. A few other started waking up and picking up various weapons. The mysteriously dressed man took a small step back, only to feel yet another gun pressed against his back.
"Mon ami, dat would be a very bad move."
"I'm looking for Gam. This is HIS place, if I remember correctly."
Paladin looked to Liadan, who shook her head, and then he said, "Oddly enough, none of us know you, yet we're some of his closest friends."
"Name's Velis. And for his closest friends, I don't remember seeing any of you in California about five years back, when he was staying with me. But that's not the point."
"What is the point?" Liadan asked, still floating in the air.
"Well," Velis said, "We get the news in California too, you know, and I know that this city is getting jacked out. Thought Gam could use some help, and I come down here and find you all in one of his places... Seems like something's up, and frankly I'd like to know what."
"And why, mon ami, should we tell you what is up?" Ripper asked him.
"Because, Ripper, I know all about you... And you Liadan, and you Paladin. And before you ask, it's because I have access to Gam's database, and you each have a file in there. And no, I didn't hack it, I have a username and passcode just like the rest of you. I have a file too, but guessing by the warm reception, I'm guessing you guys don't spend too much time in his database do you?"
Liadan floated down to the ground and said, "He's telling the truth."
"How do you know?" Paladin asked.
"Magic, how did you think?"
The men lower their guns and lead Velis into the bowels of the bunker.
"Sorry about the greetings at the door, it's just that Gam never talked about you," Paladin said. "And you're right, with Gam around, we seldom have ever had to even log onto the database."
"It's no problem, Paladin."
"So, Velis," Ripper asked, "How do you know Gambit?"
"Well guys," Velis answered, "it was something like..."
((Insert wavy lines and a flashback, in interest of the story being a touch more dramatic))
It's about nine at night, with a full moon, and one hell of a heat index, and you can see a man with long dark hair gets off of the trolly. He walks for a few miles, and turns down an alley. Unfortunately, he's being followed. The man turns around to see his pursuer. Then turning into the alley comes four more guys.
"You the guys I'm supposed to be meeting?" The long haired man asks.
"Yeah, that's us." Says the guy who followed him down the alley.
"Well, do you guys have the stuff?"
"We've got something alright." With that the five men growl and expose fangs.
The long haired man flips his jacket open and attached to a web belt are a series of stakes. He grabs one in each hand and says laughingly, "My pointy things are bigger than yours!" The first vamp leaps at him, and in an instant he's dust. A second runs at him, but the man leaps into the air, and comes down onto the vampire's back, thrusting another stake into his heart. Unfortunately, the other three had been smarter, and shot him with a series of tasers simultaneously. He dodged the first couple, but the electric lines created a web that he simply couldn't evade. He was hit with one, and went down. He awoke to no light, hanging with his hands handcuffed to a pipe overhead. A light switched on, immediately blinding him. He heard laughing and snickering. And a voice that said, "Heard you will killing us by the droves. Tracked down your description, and lo and behold, it ain't even real." The man felt as his wig was thrown back at him, and he could feel the looseness of his latex facial disguise.
His vision was starting to come back when a black haired vamp walked up and grabbed him by the face saying, "You've been rap rap rapping on our cellardoor, and I say, nevermore."
"Okay," the man said, "You want to beat me, bite me, torture me, hell even lick me, fine, just do it. But if this misuse of Edgar Allen Poe is going to go on much longer, just kill me now!"
"My pleasure," the vampire said as he leaned in to bite the man's neck. But before he could, something crashed through the skylight and landed on the pipe the man was handcuffed to. The vampire looked up and saw Gambit balancing on the pipe, just before Gam gave him a swift kick to the nose, sending him flying back into his companions and breaking his nose.
Gam slid a pick into the handcuffs and picked them before the vamps could even get up.
"How?" asked the man.
"Harry Houdini... long story. Feel battle ready?"
"Sure, but I'm gonna need a stake." Gam tossed him one and the two men went to work on the vamps. The three were dust when a group of ten walked in.
"Um, we're gonna have a problem here." The man said.
"Oh, hell, I'm too tired for this." Gam said in response as he pulled a canister from his belt and tossed it directly at the vamps. Just before it reached them, it popped open and unfurled into what appeared to be a web made of liquid metal. The vamps were netted in the web, and as much as they struggled against it they could not get out.
"What is that stuff?" The man asked.
"It's an electrically condensed liquid metal polymer," Gam answered. "I call it impact webbing."
"Nifty stuff. Why didn't you use it earlier?"
Gam used a grappel line to anchor the group of webbed vamps just to the west of the skylight so that the rising sun would dust them all.
"Because it has never been tested. Can't use it on humans, who I usually go up against, because it's too strong. Makes it so they can't breathe, and I fight non-lethal."
"Admirable. Well, anything I can do for you, given that you just saved my life?"
"Sure, got a place I can hang my hat for the evening?"
"No problem."
Back at the man's place, the two were sitting down, Gam in his underarmor, bandaging a sprained wrist, drinking a beer, the man in similar underarmor applying a soothing ointment to the electrical burns on his chest. "So," Gam started, "Why the latex mask?"
"Why do you wear yours?"
"Anonymity."
"Me too."
Gam took off his mask, something he seldom does, and tossed it to his companion. "Check out the technology in that, and tell me that you don't see some advantages over latex. You got a name by the way?"
"Friends call me Velis. You?" He replied as he put on Gam's mask.
"Gambit, but they call me Gam for short. What do you think of the mask."
"I hate the design and it's really uncomfortable."
Gam laughed and replied, "It's made specifically for my face, that's why it's uncomfortable. As for the design, there are as many possible variations as there are people in the world." Gam reached over and shut out the lights and before Velis could say anything, the starlite lenses in his mask kicked on.
"Sweet!" Velis said.
"Yeah, it works pretty well." Gam turned the lights back on and the lenses shut off. "Now about your armor." Gam said.
"What about it?" Velis asked.
"Interwoven ballistics and blade proof kevlar, right?"
"Yeah."
Gam smiled and said, "Tech's improved. Get some lightweight webbed kevlar, plus a nomex core and a gore-tex layer and you'll be much better protected, plus fireproof and anti-electrical."
"Seriously?" Velis asked. "That's awesome!"
"So, should I hook you up?" Gam asked.
"Hell yeah!"
((And the flashback ends))
"Gam spent about a month helping me improve my armor and design some new weaponry. Then we hunted vampires and fought some crime and stuff. Good times." Velis said.
"So why the red X?" Liadan asked.
"Well, when we were experimenting with a weaker version of the impact webbing, it sprung up on me and crossed over my chest. The webbing is red, and it kind of stuck in my mind. So it ended up a design element on my chest and facemask."
"And the skull?" Paladin asked.
Velis laughed, "I thought it looked cool."