Send in the Marines... er, Clowns.
Had Kel been able to garner more solid intelligence on the Brood, Tanner might've kicked Saturday night off by stealing a truck and plowing it into a building... but there just wasn't enough to justify something so extreme. Naturally, he went to the Shilling to see who was about.
Eventually, he saw Sophia with Cullpepper in tow, collecting Preston to go do something.
"What's up?" Tanner asked.
"We're going off to Mercer Island to kill Brood," she answered glumly. "Wanna come?"
Tanner looked at her for just a moment, feeling pretty blank about it. At least he had his medic's bag and AK-47 in the car this time. "Let me grab my stuff," he said.
They were well on their way before anyone told Tanner that Roland wasn't coming to his own territory. Mercer Island was the one territory whose holder he could name--and whom he had no doubt could defend it just fine by himself. They didn't explain it, either, which struck Tanner as very, very odd.
But at least they warned him about the animated, blood-eating trees. Well, shit, if I had blood-eating trees on my turf I'd hardly ever be there myself!
Tanner was the only one in the group with the decency to stay low as they came up near the south treeline. Preston was about the worst; it was like he was afraid to get dirty. But, according to Nathaniel, Preston could flip out and murder everyone in Seattle at any given moment, and plus Tanner owed him one, so he didn't say anything about it. He just went back to doing good recon.
Seven bodies, six of them with shotguns. The same six also had the telltale moisture coming from their mouths of people who still breathe. Tanner rolled back and tried to sign it to the others.
They looked at him blankly. He tried using straight American Sign Language. They still looked at him blankly.
So much for noise discipline, he thought before whispering the info to the others. It was the same issue he came to with many Carthians; he could teach them the things he knew, but then he'd just be making them even deadlier monsters. Assuming they had enough respect for his "puny human" skills to learn anything.
The three with him weren't the snobbish sort, though. They had their own skills, each of them certainly more accomplished at fighting Kindred than he was. Preston and Cullpepper briefly conferred, and Cullpepper produced a large, modern crossbow.
Didn't I just have a long conversation with Eduardo about how unreliable staking is? Tanner blinked. Then he rolled back into position, taking solid cover behind a tree. At least this one didn't move like Sophia said they would.
Cullpepper waited on Preston, who was likely doing something woojy. The vampire among their targets staggered, and then Cullpepper shot. The bolt struck him squarely in the chest... and didn't put him down. "Damn," the Dragon muttered in disappointment.
Flashlights winked on among all the shotguns. Their position clearly compromised now, Tanner popped off a single shot into the Brood leader to keep him off-balance. The return fire came in solidly enough, naturally peppering Tanner as buckshot is wont to do.
He glanced at the others. Sophia was gone, probably off to flank the bad guys. Cullpepper was reloading his crossbow. Preston was taking off his nice leather jacket and putting it behind a tree where it wouldn't get any holes in it.
More shots rang out. "You want me to supress 'em?" Tanner asked Cullpepper, who had given up on his crossbow and pulled out a pistol.
"No," Cullpepper said between shotgun blasts. "Cops."
Cops, Tanner thought. More buckshot ripped into the tree beside him and the roots around him. 'cause all the shotguns won't bring 'em running, he thought.
One of the mortals made to help the vampire limp away, staggered as he was by Preston's woojy-work. Still no sign of Sophia, though she would doubtlessly be out there soon. One of the other mortals fell down in the clearing, brought down by something other than physical trauma. The group was getting away--all nicely lined up, but getting away.
Annoyed, Tanner flipped his AK out of semi-auto and let it rip. He hit pretty much everyone in his field of fire... including Sophia, who had suddenly risen out of the grass among them. Oops, he grimaced to himself.
With that, Cullpepper was off in a whoosh of vampiric speed, with Preston close behind. Tanner was very fast for a human, but nobody else was playing in that league tonight. They made quick work of the now chewed-up group--including making an unfortunate mess of the vampire they'd hoped to capture. Tanner scanned the area, looking for more targets...
...and found a half-dozen bodies being drained of their blood by the hungry roots of very animate and unwelcoming trees.
"Oh, fuck this noise," Tanner growled as he charged in.
***
Minutes later, a scratched and bruised Tanner was hurriedly working to save the three people he and the others had managed to pull from the trees. Several other Kindred of the city had shown up to gather clues and mitigate damage to the Masquerade. They were only there for minutes, though, as police response to such an eruption couldn't be delayed for long. Of the second party, only Nina remained; Tanner's own group had long since split with most of the bodies.
"Tanner, we've got to go," Nina implored him.
"I'm not leaving these people behind... Jesus, this guy's a mess," he muttered. Tanner pulled out all the stops, calling up his own Vitae to rush through the nimblest suturing job of his career. He had the briefest flash of vanity: Wish I could see the look on the face of the doc who gets these guys in the ER.
"Tanner, the cops are here," she said over the sirens. It was just the two of them and the three critically-injured bodies in the grass before them. Everyone else had bugged out.
"Then Tony can bail me out," he muttered.
"You think it's gonna be that simple?" Nina scowled.
"Yeah, I do," he said. Either that or I burst into flames when the sunlight hits the windows in county lock-up. It was an acceptable risk.
Beams of light flashed through the woods. A helicopter was on the way. Tanner tied off his last bandage. "Done," he said.
Nina grabbed his arm and hissed, "Hold very still."
Tanner did instructed. It was good to have friends.
***
An hour later, Tanner and Nina were back at the Shilling. He'd washed the blood off at the shoreline before the two grabbed a cab. Wanting answers, Tanner went looking around.
"Huh? Roland? Oh, He's apparently left the domain."
Eventually, he saw Sophia with Cullpepper in tow, collecting Preston to go do something.
"What's up?" Tanner asked.
"We're going off to Mercer Island to kill Brood," she answered glumly. "Wanna come?"
Tanner looked at her for just a moment, feeling pretty blank about it. At least he had his medic's bag and AK-47 in the car this time. "Let me grab my stuff," he said.
They were well on their way before anyone told Tanner that Roland wasn't coming to his own territory. Mercer Island was the one territory whose holder he could name--and whom he had no doubt could defend it just fine by himself. They didn't explain it, either, which struck Tanner as very, very odd.
But at least they warned him about the animated, blood-eating trees. Well, shit, if I had blood-eating trees on my turf I'd hardly ever be there myself!
Tanner was the only one in the group with the decency to stay low as they came up near the south treeline. Preston was about the worst; it was like he was afraid to get dirty. But, according to Nathaniel, Preston could flip out and murder everyone in Seattle at any given moment, and plus Tanner owed him one, so he didn't say anything about it. He just went back to doing good recon.
Seven bodies, six of them with shotguns. The same six also had the telltale moisture coming from their mouths of people who still breathe. Tanner rolled back and tried to sign it to the others.
They looked at him blankly. He tried using straight American Sign Language. They still looked at him blankly.
So much for noise discipline, he thought before whispering the info to the others. It was the same issue he came to with many Carthians; he could teach them the things he knew, but then he'd just be making them even deadlier monsters. Assuming they had enough respect for his "puny human" skills to learn anything.
The three with him weren't the snobbish sort, though. They had their own skills, each of them certainly more accomplished at fighting Kindred than he was. Preston and Cullpepper briefly conferred, and Cullpepper produced a large, modern crossbow.
Didn't I just have a long conversation with Eduardo about how unreliable staking is? Tanner blinked. Then he rolled back into position, taking solid cover behind a tree. At least this one didn't move like Sophia said they would.
Cullpepper waited on Preston, who was likely doing something woojy. The vampire among their targets staggered, and then Cullpepper shot. The bolt struck him squarely in the chest... and didn't put him down. "Damn," the Dragon muttered in disappointment.
Flashlights winked on among all the shotguns. Their position clearly compromised now, Tanner popped off a single shot into the Brood leader to keep him off-balance. The return fire came in solidly enough, naturally peppering Tanner as buckshot is wont to do.
He glanced at the others. Sophia was gone, probably off to flank the bad guys. Cullpepper was reloading his crossbow. Preston was taking off his nice leather jacket and putting it behind a tree where it wouldn't get any holes in it.
More shots rang out. "You want me to supress 'em?" Tanner asked Cullpepper, who had given up on his crossbow and pulled out a pistol.
"No," Cullpepper said between shotgun blasts. "Cops."
Cops, Tanner thought. More buckshot ripped into the tree beside him and the roots around him. 'cause all the shotguns won't bring 'em running, he thought.
One of the mortals made to help the vampire limp away, staggered as he was by Preston's woojy-work. Still no sign of Sophia, though she would doubtlessly be out there soon. One of the other mortals fell down in the clearing, brought down by something other than physical trauma. The group was getting away--all nicely lined up, but getting away.
Annoyed, Tanner flipped his AK out of semi-auto and let it rip. He hit pretty much everyone in his field of fire... including Sophia, who had suddenly risen out of the grass among them. Oops, he grimaced to himself.
With that, Cullpepper was off in a whoosh of vampiric speed, with Preston close behind. Tanner was very fast for a human, but nobody else was playing in that league tonight. They made quick work of the now chewed-up group--including making an unfortunate mess of the vampire they'd hoped to capture. Tanner scanned the area, looking for more targets...
...and found a half-dozen bodies being drained of their blood by the hungry roots of very animate and unwelcoming trees.
"Oh, fuck this noise," Tanner growled as he charged in.
***
Minutes later, a scratched and bruised Tanner was hurriedly working to save the three people he and the others had managed to pull from the trees. Several other Kindred of the city had shown up to gather clues and mitigate damage to the Masquerade. They were only there for minutes, though, as police response to such an eruption couldn't be delayed for long. Of the second party, only Nina remained; Tanner's own group had long since split with most of the bodies.
"Tanner, we've got to go," Nina implored him.
"I'm not leaving these people behind... Jesus, this guy's a mess," he muttered. Tanner pulled out all the stops, calling up his own Vitae to rush through the nimblest suturing job of his career. He had the briefest flash of vanity: Wish I could see the look on the face of the doc who gets these guys in the ER.
"Tanner, the cops are here," she said over the sirens. It was just the two of them and the three critically-injured bodies in the grass before them. Everyone else had bugged out.
"Then Tony can bail me out," he muttered.
"You think it's gonna be that simple?" Nina scowled.
"Yeah, I do," he said. Either that or I burst into flames when the sunlight hits the windows in county lock-up. It was an acceptable risk.
Beams of light flashed through the woods. A helicopter was on the way. Tanner tied off his last bandage. "Done," he said.
Nina grabbed his arm and hissed, "Hold very still."
Tanner did instructed. It was good to have friends.
***
An hour later, Tanner and Nina were back at the Shilling. He'd washed the blood off at the shoreline before the two grabbed a cab. Wanting answers, Tanner went looking around.
"Huh? Roland? Oh, He's apparently left the domain."