Sky High | Complete
WHO: Alucard [ toothsomehound ], Rhode Kamelot [ dolcezzamacabra ], Squalo [ sharkycantfail ]
WHAT: Not everything goes according to plan while setting up an explosion of massive proportions.
WHERE: In the catacombs beneath Soiree Meira's booking agency
WHEN: Late at night, December 4
As much as Rhode loved dragging massive bags of ANFO around a tunnel, it was even less fun to do it by oneself. The girl hadn't worn nice clothes, by any means, but it was ridiculous that she was getting so many rips from crawling around down here. Her hair was falling out of her ties, and she was breathing heavily. This was the place, though- The catacombs beneath the booking agency. She'd come and tagged it ahead of time, because every tunnel in this place looked the same.
"Hey, are you going to do this or what?" Rhode sighed, looking over her shoulder to make sure Squalo was with her. As much as she didn't want to be working with him, she knew better than to just ditch him. Someone would probably get mad if she lost him down here. "Let's get this done and get across the river."
Squalo had been on nerves edge all day. The forced seperation from Tizziano wasn't sitting with him well at all. Even if they had amble back up, he had taken to fidgeting and agitation since the mission had began. He feared he might be too twitchy to actually do the job. That and he absolutely despised his current company, who had done nothing but bust his chops since the mission began.
"Oh fuck off, alright? I can barely think in this place," Squalo snapped back, blaming his edginess on the environment rather than his own damaging thought processes. "This is the place...all we need to do is crack the main foundation support and the whole thing will come tumbling down."
"Bite me." Rhode shrugged off his excuses, sauntering down the length of one side to look at the tunnel wall that was holding up the building.
"The really strong parts are at the corners. We just have to line things up, and then I can get into these smaller holes that actually run under it and put some in there." This was going to be an amazing explosion. She could tell she was going to enjoy this assignment.
"Alright. I'll set up the fuses then. There's a failsafe in these charges, though, so fuck up and you're getting a face full of boom, alright?" Squalo sneered back, fishing all of the fuse wires out of their pack and handing her the charge as well as the exlosives. They looked small, but backed more punch than one could imagine. Even for their type, they were strong. Vescovo liked to do things bigger, after all.
"You wish. Don't try anything stupid, or I'll tell Kris you fucked up again." She disappeared around the corner, checking out the holes she would be climbing into for any sign of spiders or other unappealing company. It looked clear enough, so she went to put the big bags of explosives at the corners.
"If you screw up, I'll kick your ass." Rhode hissed the warning, really wanting to avoid dying today.
"If you screw up, you won't have a leg to kick with," Squalo snapped back, tightening a length of fuse wire in his hands as if it were a choke twine that he desperately wanted to put around her neck. Of course he'd been wanting to do that all day. A shame there was no fluid around for him to use. Damn Brando could afford some nice plumbing.
"I don't need a leg to kill you." She smiled, a rather creepy expression in the dim lighting, grabbing ones of the smaller bags of ANFO and shoving it into the hole ahead of her. She crawled in, glad for once that she was small, pushing her way to the far end of the tunnel and setting the explosives up. That would work just fine; crawling back out was just as easy, and she slid out into the main catacomb with a sigh as she dusted off her front. "Three more. Work faster, stupid."
"Hey, I can't fit into the holes, genius," Squalo snapped, though he was trying his best to position them just right so that he could just push them into place without too much effort. Thankfully, he was a bit on the gangly side as far as his legs were concerned. "Jesus this place stinks...it's like the shit of accountants smells worse that normal people"
"It's dead people." She didn't sound very disturbed by the idea, walking around to get to another hole. "There were crypts down here, way back, so it's all still dead air. The sewers are separate, but some of the gasses still get through, I'm sure." Rhode hoisted herself up again, crawling in and pushing the bag ahead of her.
The sound of voices had attracted him at first, but, watching these two young people plant what looked like a bomb, he was glad it had. Baring his teeth in a smile, he aimed casually at the flashlight one of them was holding and fired once. The light vanished in a burst of sparks. Moving from the shadows to the central darkness of the crypt, inserted himself between the boy and the girl, blocking the girl's escape. "Hello," he smiled into the dark, watching the boy's expression. "What are you doing?"
Two words went through Squalo's head. Oh and Shit. And very quickly he reached for the gun at his side, but in his fumbling only managed to cause the holster to fall off of his belt entirely. Well fuck. "Rhode! Company!" he shouted, dodge rolling away from his satchel.
Rhode had a feeling there was something weird when her light disappeared from the opening of the tunnel. She sighed, finishing shoving the bag of explosive to the back before strarting to crawl backwards. "Did you bring extra batteries, or are you just going to-" Oh, a gunshot. Company. She sped up her crawl, realizing there was a problem when her feet hit something solid. Someone was standing and blocking her exit. "Well, shoot them!"
"That won't be an option, cute little miss," He purred, recognizing the voice finally. It had been bothering him, who they were- finally he recalled. A rival mob? It must have been. The gun holster falling off made Alucard sigh, and he fired close enough to the boy's face to snip off some of his weird-looking hair. It was a warning. "Go away, boy."
"Like hell I will, you creepy fuck!" Squalo defiantely protested, barely avoiding the bullet as he flailed for his gun. "Rhode, kick him or something!" he cried out in vain, his cool thoroughly lost as he let out slight whining sounds as he couldn't find the holster in the dark
The girl sighed rather loudly,pulling out her own gun and aiming it behind her. It was going to echo and hurt her ears in this small space, but she pulled the trigger twice, one ear covered with an arm as the other stung from the blast. God, that hurt, but it didn't feel like she'd blown it out. Good things, if the shots got this idiot to move.
Alucard prepared himself for two bullet wounds but received none. Hah. Amazing! He hadn't expected his luck to hold in such close quarters. He had just taken some pain tranquilizers before venturing over here, though, so he hadn't even been particularly worried.
The little whines of anxiety the boy made, scrabbling in the dirt of the crypt, excited a part of him he'd kept fairly well-tamped down lately. "Little boys should listen to their elders," Alucard hissed, shooting the holster further away from the boy and then shooting at his arm.
"Fuck fuck FUCK FUCK!" Squalo shouted, giving up on the gun for now in fear of losing his hand. Plan B was Clash...but it was sickeningly dry in the area around him. He found fluid in the pipes above, but there was no way he'd be able to get any of that in here... "Rhode! Is he bleeding!" he shouted, hoping that at those shots he had heard worked in some way.
Rhode was kind of pissed that she'd missed, but she kicked at the man's back as hard as she could. "No!" She couldn't risk wasting more bullets until she was sure they'd hit. She couldn't even reach him with a knife, stuck in here like this, and that-
She remembered her advantage rather quickly, closing her eyes and drawing out Massacre. One candle was all she needed, and she sent this one at the man low- Not the middle of the back, but low and to the side.
Oh, Alucard mentally growled, that was it. He shot at the boy's joints, aiming to make him dance so he would have no time to find his gun. He aimed rather vaguely, reaching down and jerking the stake- no, it felt like a candle, how odd- out of his side and casting it aside. His aim improved and moved up, but first- he pulled his second gun from the holster and aimed it behind him, into the hole. "No more of that, cute little miss, or you'll be shot to death inside that miserable little hole."
And there, in that moment, Squalo was presented with his chance. From the bleeding wound leapt a small yet vicious Clash, his jaws clamping down hard and strong onto the hand that held the gun pointed at Squalo. He couldn't help but smirk, even as a bullet clipped into his arm.
Rhode stilled when she heard the click of a gun cocking, hissing a curse. Not good. If she could turn around, somehow- She edged forward slightly, testing the height of the tunnel. There was no way. She'd get stuck.
Alucard snarled wetly, twisting his hand and firing dead on at the boy's gut several times. "A shark?" He exclaimed, looking oddly at the thing for the barest instance before backhanding it against the wall of the crypt. He felt Rhode move a little in the hole and slid the safety back. The sound echoed horribly inside the hole. "Which one of you was in charge of this little operation?"
Squalo attempted another dodge, his reflexes trained well to respond to the sound of gunfire. Unfortunately, he still caught a few shots in the arm, the opposite this time. He also cried out in pain as Clash was bashed against the wall...the shark refused to release, though, it's teeth digging further into Alucard's hand and allowing more blood to flow freely to the ground below.
The girl froze at the sound of the gun, biting her lip as she tried to think of something to do. She was stuck in this hole, ready to get shot- Squalo was fumbling in the dark. This didn't look good.
"We're under orders. We're just the errand runners." Rhode managed to keep her voice calm, somehow, puzzling together some way to get this mission done without getting herself and Squalo killed. Blow up the building, or don't come back.
She snapped her next words, hoping she was loud enough for him to hear.
"Squalo. Get out of here and take care of it! " She had a feeling that was going to get her shot, but she braced herself, covering her head and getting ready to kick out if she heard the trigger.
Aha, the cute little miss was in charge, then. He fixed the shark with a dour gaze, teeth slowly revealed as he contemplated just biting the damned thing off him. He decided to wait to make up his mind until the boy had made his decision. "Best to follow orders, boy," he clipped his words out, sounding more animal than human for a moment, his fangs snapping horribly, "because the ones above you certainly don't like a hound that slips its leash."
This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. Where the fuck was Tizziano? Why had he been made to go alone? He couldn't handle this! Not on his own! If he left Rhode behind...Kris would surely do far worse than break his fingers. She was his favorite, he thought. He couldn't think, and his arms were useless....
"I...I...,"
Rhode sure as hell wasn't in charge here; She just wanted to make sure this went through. She had no intention of dying here. She just had to get out of this hole, first. "Get out of here! Thirty minutes and I'll be clear!"
Alucard chuckled darkly to himself, giving the boy a suddenly luminous stare. Thirty minutes? Really? He had a few things to show the leader of this operation. Mostly he was irritated with Integral's opinion that he was timid or what have you. But he was also very... vexed... at the idea of a bomb being planted somewhere without anybody noticing. An idea about what to do with the cute little miss started to take hold in his mind. Oh, yes, that would do just fine.
"Thirty minutes....IF I DON'T SEE YOU THEN, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENS!" Squalo growled, kicking up the gun and holster that was on the floor and having Clash grab onto it with his teeth, resting it in his nearly limp hand before he took off in a run out of the area. This was no good...has Tizzi been his partner, this never would have happened....
"Fuck you!" Rhode snarled the words, though she breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the sound of his running steps. Now she had to get out of here; Hopefully this idiot would drag her out of the hole for some face time instead of playing her disadvantage and shooting her where she was.
Alucard paused to put one of his guns back into its holster, then turned around and seized one of those skinny little ankles, pulling the girl out and throwing her to the floor. "My my, cute little miss, what a mess you are. So scraped up." He leveled his gun at her, close enough to her face that she could even see it in the pitch black of the crypt.
Rhode had seen that coming, but he threw her down a bit harder than she would have considered necessary. That kind of hurt. She was reaching for her gun when she saw the barrel in her face, stopping and looking up it carefully. "What do you want?" Thirty minutes. She had to get out of here before Squalo got to the surface.
Alucard smiled broadly, teeth glaring faintly white and in a far broader, far sharper smile than should have been possible. "You seem to like doing bad things after all, cute little miss." He saw her hand going for her gun and reached down, taking it for himself and inspecting it. "Hmm. Small. I would think they would have given you more firepower."
That was her chance. Rhode had a knife out in a second, slamming it straight through his lower arm and jerking herself out of the way of his gun. She pulled at the blade, hoping to get a good rip out of his flesh as she rolled.
Alucard caught her movement, though, and went with it, forcing the knife in deeper in order to avoid major muscle damage from tearing. "What a bad little girl!" The noise was more of a howl as he spun his gun on a finger, standing and watching her scrabble away. He eased the knife out and flicked it away, listening to hear it on the stone. "Your manners leave much to be desired."
Rhode had more than one knife, thankfully. She just had to get him close enough to use them. Running would be her best bet, really, and she was moving, even as she watched the dark where he was. He'd seen them. Witnesses were not something they needed. If she just had her gun...
"I'm much nicer when I'm not working, I promise." She was getting ready to use Massacre, though she didn't make any unusual motions as she kept stepping backward.
Alucard followed faithfully, teeth still bared in what might have been mistaken for a grin. It was very much a baring of teeth, though, and it was a reaction to her retreat- primal, very animal. "I see. But you are somehow in charge of the boy, yes? So you must be a nasty little thing." He kept talking. He'd given her the disadvantage by shooting out the light, but if she was clever, she'd be able to find him by sound.
"No. I'm just the smart one." She wasn't joking, either. Squalo was an idiot. She fully intended to tell Kris how edgy he'd been, and how much use he'd been when they'd been attacked. "You can't exactly mark me down for having a brain."
There. The tunnel was lit up suddenly, the candles from Birthday Massacre hovering as Rhode threw one of her smaller knives at the man. Hopefully the sudden light would blind him, at least for an instant.
Though he wasn't blinded by the sudden light, he was surprised enough to find himself well-acquainted with another knife, this one in an uncomfortable position under his ribs. "Well!" He eased it out, keeping his gaze fixed on the girl. That was an unusual... ability. Candles? Hmm. Hadn't that first stab wound of his been from one of the candles also? ....Interesting. "You do know what they used to say about women with brains, yes, little miss?" Alucard rushed forwards, closing the distance between them. The floor was already speckled lightly with his blood.
Oh. Well, if he was running at her- She reacted automatically, weeks of practice snapping into place as she twisted and ducked, using his momentum to get him over her and onto the ground. It actually worked. That was something to remember. Rhode had a knife out already, though, aiming for his throat as she dropped to one knee.
Alucard was- oh! on the ground suddenly. The force of the impact made his stab wounds throb interestingly, so he snapped around, snakelike, avoiding a throat slash and instead getting a knife stuck rather firmly into the space above his collarbone. He reared up, bringing his gun sharply across Rhode's temple with a sharp crack. He'd leave that knife in, he decided. And.... who was that odd girl standing there? He frowned at her.
Rhode's vision went white for a moment, the force of the blow sending her off balance to the floor. Not good; defenseless. Or was she? Massacre was bleeding from the temple, just like her master suddenly was, but the candles slammed toward Alucard while Rhode was still trying to recover. All it took was a thought, after all.
Now it was Alucard's turn to fall to his knees, and he did it well, temporarily blanking out from pain. It was as if he saw it through another's eyes: two shots to the girl in the corner, who had been near all the candles that were currently embedded in his flesh. His head dropped back, rolling loosely on his neck as he gave a shudder of pain. He forced himself to stand, looking down. His movements were positively zombie-like.
Alucard's gaze slid from the multiple injuries to Rhode, and this time when he lunged, he did it teeth-first, burying them in her neck and ripping to get the blood flowing. He drew back for a moment to look at her, eyes wild, teeth covered in blood and gore, and smiled horridly. "You are a very bad girl after all," and he was purring this into her ear, grip iron-fast, "no wonder that doctor did what he did." His mouth went back to the wound he had caused, swallowing the blood with gusto.
She was smiling, relishing this- He'd be finished, she could run, and tell Kris this was job well done, and the witness was finished. It was going to be just fine. But then he was on his feet, staggering like it was his final attempt, and then-
Rhode screamed. He was biting through her neck, he was going to tear her throat out, and all she could do was try to get another knife in him. It went in, but she was bleeding, and he was still attached to her- God, she was going to bleed to death.
His words made her freeze, entire body recoiling from him as well as she could. The horror in her expression made it apparent that he'd hit a nerve, though she knew she shouldn't have let it get to her. "Get off of me-" She choked the words, twisting the blade she'd managed to dig in.
Her screams made him grin more. He could taste the fear coming through in her blood and stopped swallowing- no need to make himself sick after coming this far. But sometimes (and here he bit a little further, enjoying the way she howled like a cat being drowned in a sack), it was worth it- just a little fun, just a little excitement. He'd been growing restless lately with nothing to sate his bloodlust on. This, oh, this was heaven, this hellish crypt and this little she-demon wearing the face of an angel. He loved it!
He released her when she started trying to tear herself away, feeling the way her entire being recoiled. Oho! A sore spot. "A filthy little bloodletter like yourself," he cooed from the floor, gathering his legs under him even as he kept his gaze on her face, the knives she'd stuck into him and the gore around his face matching awfully, "I can understand why he wouldn't worry about sullying you."
Rhode started crawling, as well as she could, dragging herself back and trying to get out from under him. He should have been dead, with all of those knives, with the candles, but he wasn't- She was fighting her own panic, terror rising in her gut as he continued to speak. Not here, not now- She couldn't afford this. He was going to kill her if she didn't kill him, but how? He wouldn't stay down.
"Shut up!" She had a hand at her throat, trying to make the bleeding stop, voice shaking even as she shouted. "He didn't-" Anything to ruin you. Not here. Not now. It was over, he was dead. "He can't hurt me now!"
Rhode shrieked the words, not sure where they came from, or who they were for. It was true, though; He couldn't. It helped steady her nerves, if only for a moment. She was still here. She would win this. She would go back to Brian's, and have a drink, wait for him to be back from his assignment- Think of a way to kill Caiman in the morning.
But she had to figure out how to kill this man, first. She scrambled backwards, feeling along the floor for any purchase to get onto her feet.
Alucard followed after the girl, grinning broadly, psychotically, as he did so. There were too many candles in him to pull out safely right now, and besides- his bloodlust, that terrible thing, was rising, rising. It was flooding out all reason and replacing it with the shifting desire to make this little girl break. She had the nerve to attack him, so she had best also have the nerve to deal with the consequences.
"He can't? Why," Alucard stood, still smiling, eyes sliding into a terrible blankness. His expression and posture screamed of nothing but terrible, cunning intent to rip and rive and destroy. "The dead have terrible ways of coming back to haunt us." Stalking towards her, he lunged sharply, testing to see how skittish she was. "Perhaps through some sort of medium," he lunged again, dancing back.
She gasped at his sudden advances, arm going up to defend herself as she skittered backwards, but he didn't attack. He was playing with her. She'd done it to enough people to know how this game went. Intimidation. Good to know it worked, she thought rather wryly. She had to get up.
Rhode slid her feet under herself, finally. She had two knives left. She had to make them count. Somehow. Her hair was hanging in her face as she stood, pulling a knife from her boot as she rose. "Mediums are liars and frauds. Just like any man who can pretend he's not hurting while he's bleeding to death in a sewer."
At her snappy little retort, Alucard arched backwards and roared with laughter. The crypt echoed the sound back, changing it until it was a chorus of wolves howling for blood. He righted himself and holstered his second gun, holding out his hands in a broad shrug. "I care not what a damaged little girl thinks of me. Why, who knows what you let that man sully you with."
He was drawing from his own rage concerning certain trespasses, but redirecting it with cruel bile to score deeply upon her tender 'maiden's' heart. "Besides," and suddenly the cast of the light shifted, making his eyes glow hellish cinder-hot red, "you may yet join the dead yourself, if I was incautious." His tongue snaked out to sweep some blood from the corner of his mouth.
Alucard lunged forwards again, but this time followed the movement through. Taking advantage of the fact that she expected him to draw back again, he swept her up by her arms, pinning them above her head with a wrist and slamming her, hard, to the crypt wall. Using his spare hand and ignoring her scrabbles and struggles, Alucard slowly drew out a candle from himself, growling almost imperceptibly.
Rhode twisted as he slammed her back, taking the force to one side instead of the back. Though it hurt like hell, it kept her from having the wind knocked out of her, and she kept her grip on the knife. He didn't seem very worried about her attacking while he took care of himself, so she took advantage. She pulled her knees up, feet landing against his chest as she pushed herself up. She sank her teeth into his wrist with a determined crunching noise, the taste of his blood assuring her of success. She locked her jaw down, doing her best to tear through as far as she could.
It surprised him a little, that she was biting back. It was kind of cute, in a way- her tiny little human teeth trying to dig in, a pale imitation of what he'd already done to her. To keep her from damaging his tendons, though, he pressed his bleeding wrist back against her teeth, locking her head to the wall. It left her hands free to do whatever she desired (stab him, like as not). He hefted the candle, grin growing as he leaned forwards with it, spinning so that the sharp end poked under her bottom rib just so. Oh yes, that was the perfect angle.
The girl hissed as he held her head to the wall, tightening her jaw even more in some attempt to make him release her. She wasn't wasting any time, though. The knife in her hand was thrown as hard as she could manage, slicing into the side of his stomach at a rather odd downward angle. At least it had hit; She fumbled with one foot to find the blade, putting all her weight down to shove it in.
Alucard snarled at the girl. He was a little beyond wondering about how and where she kept her knives, but perhaps later he'd actually start to wonder. "Such a lewd little thing," he tucked himself close to her, feeling blood from her throat seeping into his own, already tacky, shirt. He dug the candle in a little more, humming briefly to himself in thought and adjusting the angle a bit more. Then, slowly, he began to presssss it in, up towards her lung.
She had run out of knives, unfortunately. The only one she had left was in her boot, and she couldn't get to it in this position. Having the man pressed so close made her stomach turn, some sick feeling as she realized what his intention might have been. The thought was quickly forgotten, however, as she felt something pierce her skin. Oh, god, he wasn't just stabbing her quickly. This was a different sort of pain. She gasped, doing her best to struggle out from his grip. She could feel it, ripping into her skin and muscle, and it hurt. One hand found his face, shoving back at it, nails digging in as she pushed.
The fluttering throb of her heart made Alucard frown- as if there was something he had forgotten. Snatching at her hand with his teeth to keep his eyes from being targeted, he bit down there, too. He didn't like being this close to anybody either, despite Rhode's fears, and so he drew much satisfaction from sloooowly grinding the candle in, forcing it up and up at such a tortuous pace that it was almost irritating to do. He thought for a moment, then paused- let go. Let her stand there, pale and shaking and doe-eyed, terrified, pinned to the spot by her own body's shock. He drew his guns out and pistol-whipped her, once, twice, hard. Very satisfying.
Shit, her hand. She needed that. She was about to try and tear it loose, but she felt the air leave her body with a crackling sound, pain shooting through her chest. It was dark again. Breathing.
He'd hit- something. Her jaw released its grip on his wrist as she gasped, trying to breathe, but it hurt to inhale, and when she exhaled-
blood came up her windpipe with a rattling hack, dripping from her mouth and stinging her tongue with the bitter taste.
Rhode felt her entire body shudder, a wave of pain centered where the stake still rested inside of her ribcage. She didn't realize he'd set her down until she started reeling backward, but then her vision exploded in color, head snapping aside as the metal cracked against her skull. Twice.
She went down hard, a wet choking noise in her breaths as she collapsed to the floor of the catacombs.
Alucard breathed heavily for a moment, checking the stagger that threatened to overcome him. He needed- to get out of here before the place blew up. Oh, yes! He'd almost forgotten about that. Checking his watch (the face of which was now smeared in blood), he decided that he had best hurry if he was going to be able to live to finish what he'd started. Rhode was prone on the floor, her cute little face spotted and smeared with blood. "Vicious girl," he crooned, picking her up by the throat and dragging her with him, "very impressive." He shook his head and picked up the pace. The last thing he wanted, after all that effort, was to get crushed. He would finish his task (and he knew exactly, precisely, and very appropriately what to do) and stagger back to Integral's home. (He had the lurking suspicion that if she found out he'd gone back to his house in the state he was in now, he'd die by her hand.)
His master would like as not be pleased with him. He was interested to see what she would think. The various things stuck in him might throw her off a bit, but, and here Alucard finally lost his mad grin, because there had been a deep crack behind them and he was running,
he had done his duty.
WHAT: Not everything goes according to plan while setting up an explosion of massive proportions.
WHERE: In the catacombs beneath Soiree Meira's booking agency
WHEN: Late at night, December 4
As much as Rhode loved dragging massive bags of ANFO around a tunnel, it was even less fun to do it by oneself. The girl hadn't worn nice clothes, by any means, but it was ridiculous that she was getting so many rips from crawling around down here. Her hair was falling out of her ties, and she was breathing heavily. This was the place, though- The catacombs beneath the booking agency. She'd come and tagged it ahead of time, because every tunnel in this place looked the same.
"Hey, are you going to do this or what?" Rhode sighed, looking over her shoulder to make sure Squalo was with her. As much as she didn't want to be working with him, she knew better than to just ditch him. Someone would probably get mad if she lost him down here. "Let's get this done and get across the river."
Squalo had been on nerves edge all day. The forced seperation from Tizziano wasn't sitting with him well at all. Even if they had amble back up, he had taken to fidgeting and agitation since the mission had began. He feared he might be too twitchy to actually do the job. That and he absolutely despised his current company, who had done nothing but bust his chops since the mission began.
"Oh fuck off, alright? I can barely think in this place," Squalo snapped back, blaming his edginess on the environment rather than his own damaging thought processes. "This is the place...all we need to do is crack the main foundation support and the whole thing will come tumbling down."
"Bite me." Rhode shrugged off his excuses, sauntering down the length of one side to look at the tunnel wall that was holding up the building.
"The really strong parts are at the corners. We just have to line things up, and then I can get into these smaller holes that actually run under it and put some in there." This was going to be an amazing explosion. She could tell she was going to enjoy this assignment.
"Alright. I'll set up the fuses then. There's a failsafe in these charges, though, so fuck up and you're getting a face full of boom, alright?" Squalo sneered back, fishing all of the fuse wires out of their pack and handing her the charge as well as the exlosives. They looked small, but backed more punch than one could imagine. Even for their type, they were strong. Vescovo liked to do things bigger, after all.
"You wish. Don't try anything stupid, or I'll tell Kris you fucked up again." She disappeared around the corner, checking out the holes she would be climbing into for any sign of spiders or other unappealing company. It looked clear enough, so she went to put the big bags of explosives at the corners.
"If you screw up, I'll kick your ass." Rhode hissed the warning, really wanting to avoid dying today.
"If you screw up, you won't have a leg to kick with," Squalo snapped back, tightening a length of fuse wire in his hands as if it were a choke twine that he desperately wanted to put around her neck. Of course he'd been wanting to do that all day. A shame there was no fluid around for him to use. Damn Brando could afford some nice plumbing.
"I don't need a leg to kill you." She smiled, a rather creepy expression in the dim lighting, grabbing ones of the smaller bags of ANFO and shoving it into the hole ahead of her. She crawled in, glad for once that she was small, pushing her way to the far end of the tunnel and setting the explosives up. That would work just fine; crawling back out was just as easy, and she slid out into the main catacomb with a sigh as she dusted off her front. "Three more. Work faster, stupid."
"Hey, I can't fit into the holes, genius," Squalo snapped, though he was trying his best to position them just right so that he could just push them into place without too much effort. Thankfully, he was a bit on the gangly side as far as his legs were concerned. "Jesus this place stinks...it's like the shit of accountants smells worse that normal people"
"It's dead people." She didn't sound very disturbed by the idea, walking around to get to another hole. "There were crypts down here, way back, so it's all still dead air. The sewers are separate, but some of the gasses still get through, I'm sure." Rhode hoisted herself up again, crawling in and pushing the bag ahead of her.
The sound of voices had attracted him at first, but, watching these two young people plant what looked like a bomb, he was glad it had. Baring his teeth in a smile, he aimed casually at the flashlight one of them was holding and fired once. The light vanished in a burst of sparks. Moving from the shadows to the central darkness of the crypt, inserted himself between the boy and the girl, blocking the girl's escape. "Hello," he smiled into the dark, watching the boy's expression. "What are you doing?"
Two words went through Squalo's head. Oh and Shit. And very quickly he reached for the gun at his side, but in his fumbling only managed to cause the holster to fall off of his belt entirely. Well fuck. "Rhode! Company!" he shouted, dodge rolling away from his satchel.
Rhode had a feeling there was something weird when her light disappeared from the opening of the tunnel. She sighed, finishing shoving the bag of explosive to the back before strarting to crawl backwards. "Did you bring extra batteries, or are you just going to-" Oh, a gunshot. Company. She sped up her crawl, realizing there was a problem when her feet hit something solid. Someone was standing and blocking her exit. "Well, shoot them!"
"That won't be an option, cute little miss," He purred, recognizing the voice finally. It had been bothering him, who they were- finally he recalled. A rival mob? It must have been. The gun holster falling off made Alucard sigh, and he fired close enough to the boy's face to snip off some of his weird-looking hair. It was a warning. "Go away, boy."
"Like hell I will, you creepy fuck!" Squalo defiantely protested, barely avoiding the bullet as he flailed for his gun. "Rhode, kick him or something!" he cried out in vain, his cool thoroughly lost as he let out slight whining sounds as he couldn't find the holster in the dark
The girl sighed rather loudly,pulling out her own gun and aiming it behind her. It was going to echo and hurt her ears in this small space, but she pulled the trigger twice, one ear covered with an arm as the other stung from the blast. God, that hurt, but it didn't feel like she'd blown it out. Good things, if the shots got this idiot to move.
Alucard prepared himself for two bullet wounds but received none. Hah. Amazing! He hadn't expected his luck to hold in such close quarters. He had just taken some pain tranquilizers before venturing over here, though, so he hadn't even been particularly worried.
The little whines of anxiety the boy made, scrabbling in the dirt of the crypt, excited a part of him he'd kept fairly well-tamped down lately. "Little boys should listen to their elders," Alucard hissed, shooting the holster further away from the boy and then shooting at his arm.
"Fuck fuck FUCK FUCK!" Squalo shouted, giving up on the gun for now in fear of losing his hand. Plan B was Clash...but it was sickeningly dry in the area around him. He found fluid in the pipes above, but there was no way he'd be able to get any of that in here... "Rhode! Is he bleeding!" he shouted, hoping that at those shots he had heard worked in some way.
Rhode was kind of pissed that she'd missed, but she kicked at the man's back as hard as she could. "No!" She couldn't risk wasting more bullets until she was sure they'd hit. She couldn't even reach him with a knife, stuck in here like this, and that-
She remembered her advantage rather quickly, closing her eyes and drawing out Massacre. One candle was all she needed, and she sent this one at the man low- Not the middle of the back, but low and to the side.
Oh, Alucard mentally growled, that was it. He shot at the boy's joints, aiming to make him dance so he would have no time to find his gun. He aimed rather vaguely, reaching down and jerking the stake- no, it felt like a candle, how odd- out of his side and casting it aside. His aim improved and moved up, but first- he pulled his second gun from the holster and aimed it behind him, into the hole. "No more of that, cute little miss, or you'll be shot to death inside that miserable little hole."
And there, in that moment, Squalo was presented with his chance. From the bleeding wound leapt a small yet vicious Clash, his jaws clamping down hard and strong onto the hand that held the gun pointed at Squalo. He couldn't help but smirk, even as a bullet clipped into his arm.
Rhode stilled when she heard the click of a gun cocking, hissing a curse. Not good. If she could turn around, somehow- She edged forward slightly, testing the height of the tunnel. There was no way. She'd get stuck.
Alucard snarled wetly, twisting his hand and firing dead on at the boy's gut several times. "A shark?" He exclaimed, looking oddly at the thing for the barest instance before backhanding it against the wall of the crypt. He felt Rhode move a little in the hole and slid the safety back. The sound echoed horribly inside the hole. "Which one of you was in charge of this little operation?"
Squalo attempted another dodge, his reflexes trained well to respond to the sound of gunfire. Unfortunately, he still caught a few shots in the arm, the opposite this time. He also cried out in pain as Clash was bashed against the wall...the shark refused to release, though, it's teeth digging further into Alucard's hand and allowing more blood to flow freely to the ground below.
The girl froze at the sound of the gun, biting her lip as she tried to think of something to do. She was stuck in this hole, ready to get shot- Squalo was fumbling in the dark. This didn't look good.
"We're under orders. We're just the errand runners." Rhode managed to keep her voice calm, somehow, puzzling together some way to get this mission done without getting herself and Squalo killed. Blow up the building, or don't come back.
She snapped her next words, hoping she was loud enough for him to hear.
"Squalo. Get out of here and take care of it! " She had a feeling that was going to get her shot, but she braced herself, covering her head and getting ready to kick out if she heard the trigger.
Aha, the cute little miss was in charge, then. He fixed the shark with a dour gaze, teeth slowly revealed as he contemplated just biting the damned thing off him. He decided to wait to make up his mind until the boy had made his decision. "Best to follow orders, boy," he clipped his words out, sounding more animal than human for a moment, his fangs snapping horribly, "because the ones above you certainly don't like a hound that slips its leash."
This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. Where the fuck was Tizziano? Why had he been made to go alone? He couldn't handle this! Not on his own! If he left Rhode behind...Kris would surely do far worse than break his fingers. She was his favorite, he thought. He couldn't think, and his arms were useless....
"I...I...,"
Rhode sure as hell wasn't in charge here; She just wanted to make sure this went through. She had no intention of dying here. She just had to get out of this hole, first. "Get out of here! Thirty minutes and I'll be clear!"
Alucard chuckled darkly to himself, giving the boy a suddenly luminous stare. Thirty minutes? Really? He had a few things to show the leader of this operation. Mostly he was irritated with Integral's opinion that he was timid or what have you. But he was also very... vexed... at the idea of a bomb being planted somewhere without anybody noticing. An idea about what to do with the cute little miss started to take hold in his mind. Oh, yes, that would do just fine.
"Thirty minutes....IF I DON'T SEE YOU THEN, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENS!" Squalo growled, kicking up the gun and holster that was on the floor and having Clash grab onto it with his teeth, resting it in his nearly limp hand before he took off in a run out of the area. This was no good...has Tizzi been his partner, this never would have happened....
"Fuck you!" Rhode snarled the words, though she breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the sound of his running steps. Now she had to get out of here; Hopefully this idiot would drag her out of the hole for some face time instead of playing her disadvantage and shooting her where she was.
Alucard paused to put one of his guns back into its holster, then turned around and seized one of those skinny little ankles, pulling the girl out and throwing her to the floor. "My my, cute little miss, what a mess you are. So scraped up." He leveled his gun at her, close enough to her face that she could even see it in the pitch black of the crypt.
Rhode had seen that coming, but he threw her down a bit harder than she would have considered necessary. That kind of hurt. She was reaching for her gun when she saw the barrel in her face, stopping and looking up it carefully. "What do you want?" Thirty minutes. She had to get out of here before Squalo got to the surface.
Alucard smiled broadly, teeth glaring faintly white and in a far broader, far sharper smile than should have been possible. "You seem to like doing bad things after all, cute little miss." He saw her hand going for her gun and reached down, taking it for himself and inspecting it. "Hmm. Small. I would think they would have given you more firepower."
That was her chance. Rhode had a knife out in a second, slamming it straight through his lower arm and jerking herself out of the way of his gun. She pulled at the blade, hoping to get a good rip out of his flesh as she rolled.
Alucard caught her movement, though, and went with it, forcing the knife in deeper in order to avoid major muscle damage from tearing. "What a bad little girl!" The noise was more of a howl as he spun his gun on a finger, standing and watching her scrabble away. He eased the knife out and flicked it away, listening to hear it on the stone. "Your manners leave much to be desired."
Rhode had more than one knife, thankfully. She just had to get him close enough to use them. Running would be her best bet, really, and she was moving, even as she watched the dark where he was. He'd seen them. Witnesses were not something they needed. If she just had her gun...
"I'm much nicer when I'm not working, I promise." She was getting ready to use Massacre, though she didn't make any unusual motions as she kept stepping backward.
Alucard followed faithfully, teeth still bared in what might have been mistaken for a grin. It was very much a baring of teeth, though, and it was a reaction to her retreat- primal, very animal. "I see. But you are somehow in charge of the boy, yes? So you must be a nasty little thing." He kept talking. He'd given her the disadvantage by shooting out the light, but if she was clever, she'd be able to find him by sound.
"No. I'm just the smart one." She wasn't joking, either. Squalo was an idiot. She fully intended to tell Kris how edgy he'd been, and how much use he'd been when they'd been attacked. "You can't exactly mark me down for having a brain."
There. The tunnel was lit up suddenly, the candles from Birthday Massacre hovering as Rhode threw one of her smaller knives at the man. Hopefully the sudden light would blind him, at least for an instant.
Though he wasn't blinded by the sudden light, he was surprised enough to find himself well-acquainted with another knife, this one in an uncomfortable position under his ribs. "Well!" He eased it out, keeping his gaze fixed on the girl. That was an unusual... ability. Candles? Hmm. Hadn't that first stab wound of his been from one of the candles also? ....Interesting. "You do know what they used to say about women with brains, yes, little miss?" Alucard rushed forwards, closing the distance between them. The floor was already speckled lightly with his blood.
Oh. Well, if he was running at her- She reacted automatically, weeks of practice snapping into place as she twisted and ducked, using his momentum to get him over her and onto the ground. It actually worked. That was something to remember. Rhode had a knife out already, though, aiming for his throat as she dropped to one knee.
Alucard was- oh! on the ground suddenly. The force of the impact made his stab wounds throb interestingly, so he snapped around, snakelike, avoiding a throat slash and instead getting a knife stuck rather firmly into the space above his collarbone. He reared up, bringing his gun sharply across Rhode's temple with a sharp crack. He'd leave that knife in, he decided. And.... who was that odd girl standing there? He frowned at her.
Rhode's vision went white for a moment, the force of the blow sending her off balance to the floor. Not good; defenseless. Or was she? Massacre was bleeding from the temple, just like her master suddenly was, but the candles slammed toward Alucard while Rhode was still trying to recover. All it took was a thought, after all.
Now it was Alucard's turn to fall to his knees, and he did it well, temporarily blanking out from pain. It was as if he saw it through another's eyes: two shots to the girl in the corner, who had been near all the candles that were currently embedded in his flesh. His head dropped back, rolling loosely on his neck as he gave a shudder of pain. He forced himself to stand, looking down. His movements were positively zombie-like.
Alucard's gaze slid from the multiple injuries to Rhode, and this time when he lunged, he did it teeth-first, burying them in her neck and ripping to get the blood flowing. He drew back for a moment to look at her, eyes wild, teeth covered in blood and gore, and smiled horridly. "You are a very bad girl after all," and he was purring this into her ear, grip iron-fast, "no wonder that doctor did what he did." His mouth went back to the wound he had caused, swallowing the blood with gusto.
She was smiling, relishing this- He'd be finished, she could run, and tell Kris this was job well done, and the witness was finished. It was going to be just fine. But then he was on his feet, staggering like it was his final attempt, and then-
Rhode screamed. He was biting through her neck, he was going to tear her throat out, and all she could do was try to get another knife in him. It went in, but she was bleeding, and he was still attached to her- God, she was going to bleed to death.
His words made her freeze, entire body recoiling from him as well as she could. The horror in her expression made it apparent that he'd hit a nerve, though she knew she shouldn't have let it get to her. "Get off of me-" She choked the words, twisting the blade she'd managed to dig in.
Her screams made him grin more. He could taste the fear coming through in her blood and stopped swallowing- no need to make himself sick after coming this far. But sometimes (and here he bit a little further, enjoying the way she howled like a cat being drowned in a sack), it was worth it- just a little fun, just a little excitement. He'd been growing restless lately with nothing to sate his bloodlust on. This, oh, this was heaven, this hellish crypt and this little she-demon wearing the face of an angel. He loved it!
He released her when she started trying to tear herself away, feeling the way her entire being recoiled. Oho! A sore spot. "A filthy little bloodletter like yourself," he cooed from the floor, gathering his legs under him even as he kept his gaze on her face, the knives she'd stuck into him and the gore around his face matching awfully, "I can understand why he wouldn't worry about sullying you."
Rhode started crawling, as well as she could, dragging herself back and trying to get out from under him. He should have been dead, with all of those knives, with the candles, but he wasn't- She was fighting her own panic, terror rising in her gut as he continued to speak. Not here, not now- She couldn't afford this. He was going to kill her if she didn't kill him, but how? He wouldn't stay down.
"Shut up!" She had a hand at her throat, trying to make the bleeding stop, voice shaking even as she shouted. "He didn't-" Anything to ruin you. Not here. Not now. It was over, he was dead. "He can't hurt me now!"
Rhode shrieked the words, not sure where they came from, or who they were for. It was true, though; He couldn't. It helped steady her nerves, if only for a moment. She was still here. She would win this. She would go back to Brian's, and have a drink, wait for him to be back from his assignment- Think of a way to kill Caiman in the morning.
But she had to figure out how to kill this man, first. She scrambled backwards, feeling along the floor for any purchase to get onto her feet.
Alucard followed after the girl, grinning broadly, psychotically, as he did so. There were too many candles in him to pull out safely right now, and besides- his bloodlust, that terrible thing, was rising, rising. It was flooding out all reason and replacing it with the shifting desire to make this little girl break. She had the nerve to attack him, so she had best also have the nerve to deal with the consequences.
"He can't? Why," Alucard stood, still smiling, eyes sliding into a terrible blankness. His expression and posture screamed of nothing but terrible, cunning intent to rip and rive and destroy. "The dead have terrible ways of coming back to haunt us." Stalking towards her, he lunged sharply, testing to see how skittish she was. "Perhaps through some sort of medium," he lunged again, dancing back.
She gasped at his sudden advances, arm going up to defend herself as she skittered backwards, but he didn't attack. He was playing with her. She'd done it to enough people to know how this game went. Intimidation. Good to know it worked, she thought rather wryly. She had to get up.
Rhode slid her feet under herself, finally. She had two knives left. She had to make them count. Somehow. Her hair was hanging in her face as she stood, pulling a knife from her boot as she rose. "Mediums are liars and frauds. Just like any man who can pretend he's not hurting while he's bleeding to death in a sewer."
At her snappy little retort, Alucard arched backwards and roared with laughter. The crypt echoed the sound back, changing it until it was a chorus of wolves howling for blood. He righted himself and holstered his second gun, holding out his hands in a broad shrug. "I care not what a damaged little girl thinks of me. Why, who knows what you let that man sully you with."
He was drawing from his own rage concerning certain trespasses, but redirecting it with cruel bile to score deeply upon her tender 'maiden's' heart. "Besides," and suddenly the cast of the light shifted, making his eyes glow hellish cinder-hot red, "you may yet join the dead yourself, if I was incautious." His tongue snaked out to sweep some blood from the corner of his mouth.
Alucard lunged forwards again, but this time followed the movement through. Taking advantage of the fact that she expected him to draw back again, he swept her up by her arms, pinning them above her head with a wrist and slamming her, hard, to the crypt wall. Using his spare hand and ignoring her scrabbles and struggles, Alucard slowly drew out a candle from himself, growling almost imperceptibly.
Rhode twisted as he slammed her back, taking the force to one side instead of the back. Though it hurt like hell, it kept her from having the wind knocked out of her, and she kept her grip on the knife. He didn't seem very worried about her attacking while he took care of himself, so she took advantage. She pulled her knees up, feet landing against his chest as she pushed herself up. She sank her teeth into his wrist with a determined crunching noise, the taste of his blood assuring her of success. She locked her jaw down, doing her best to tear through as far as she could.
It surprised him a little, that she was biting back. It was kind of cute, in a way- her tiny little human teeth trying to dig in, a pale imitation of what he'd already done to her. To keep her from damaging his tendons, though, he pressed his bleeding wrist back against her teeth, locking her head to the wall. It left her hands free to do whatever she desired (stab him, like as not). He hefted the candle, grin growing as he leaned forwards with it, spinning so that the sharp end poked under her bottom rib just so. Oh yes, that was the perfect angle.
The girl hissed as he held her head to the wall, tightening her jaw even more in some attempt to make him release her. She wasn't wasting any time, though. The knife in her hand was thrown as hard as she could manage, slicing into the side of his stomach at a rather odd downward angle. At least it had hit; She fumbled with one foot to find the blade, putting all her weight down to shove it in.
Alucard snarled at the girl. He was a little beyond wondering about how and where she kept her knives, but perhaps later he'd actually start to wonder. "Such a lewd little thing," he tucked himself close to her, feeling blood from her throat seeping into his own, already tacky, shirt. He dug the candle in a little more, humming briefly to himself in thought and adjusting the angle a bit more. Then, slowly, he began to presssss it in, up towards her lung.
She had run out of knives, unfortunately. The only one she had left was in her boot, and she couldn't get to it in this position. Having the man pressed so close made her stomach turn, some sick feeling as she realized what his intention might have been. The thought was quickly forgotten, however, as she felt something pierce her skin. Oh, god, he wasn't just stabbing her quickly. This was a different sort of pain. She gasped, doing her best to struggle out from his grip. She could feel it, ripping into her skin and muscle, and it hurt. One hand found his face, shoving back at it, nails digging in as she pushed.
The fluttering throb of her heart made Alucard frown- as if there was something he had forgotten. Snatching at her hand with his teeth to keep his eyes from being targeted, he bit down there, too. He didn't like being this close to anybody either, despite Rhode's fears, and so he drew much satisfaction from sloooowly grinding the candle in, forcing it up and up at such a tortuous pace that it was almost irritating to do. He thought for a moment, then paused- let go. Let her stand there, pale and shaking and doe-eyed, terrified, pinned to the spot by her own body's shock. He drew his guns out and pistol-whipped her, once, twice, hard. Very satisfying.
Shit, her hand. She needed that. She was about to try and tear it loose, but she felt the air leave her body with a crackling sound, pain shooting through her chest. It was dark again. Breathing.
He'd hit- something. Her jaw released its grip on his wrist as she gasped, trying to breathe, but it hurt to inhale, and when she exhaled-
blood came up her windpipe with a rattling hack, dripping from her mouth and stinging her tongue with the bitter taste.
Rhode felt her entire body shudder, a wave of pain centered where the stake still rested inside of her ribcage. She didn't realize he'd set her down until she started reeling backward, but then her vision exploded in color, head snapping aside as the metal cracked against her skull. Twice.
She went down hard, a wet choking noise in her breaths as she collapsed to the floor of the catacombs.
Alucard breathed heavily for a moment, checking the stagger that threatened to overcome him. He needed- to get out of here before the place blew up. Oh, yes! He'd almost forgotten about that. Checking his watch (the face of which was now smeared in blood), he decided that he had best hurry if he was going to be able to live to finish what he'd started. Rhode was prone on the floor, her cute little face spotted and smeared with blood. "Vicious girl," he crooned, picking her up by the throat and dragging her with him, "very impressive." He shook his head and picked up the pace. The last thing he wanted, after all that effort, was to get crushed. He would finish his task (and he knew exactly, precisely, and very appropriately what to do) and stagger back to Integral's home. (He had the lurking suspicion that if she found out he'd gone back to his house in the state he was in now, he'd die by her hand.)
His master would like as not be pleased with him. He was interested to see what she would think. The various things stuck in him might throw her off a bit, but, and here Alucard finally lost his mad grin, because there had been a deep crack behind them and he was running,
he had done his duty.