Rain fell from black clouds high above, pattering on the van below.  Small holes puddled with muddy water along the old, weather-torn street.  The road was dimly lit by the occasional streetlight, some sputtering out with a flicker, only to turn back on for a few more moments and then flickering out again, repeating the endless cycle.

Eddie stared out on the gloom cityscape; burned down buildings next to apartment complexes, in need of massive repairs, sat on age old foundations collecting dust.  Windows were boarded over and walls were covered with graffiti, some of which were complex murals, others just gang tags quickly placed to cover their territory.

A lighter clicked on next to Eddie in the driver’s seat of the antique van.  The shaggy haired hippie lit the rolled substance in his mouth and took a deep breath in.  Eddie rolled down his window as the smoke trail started to drift his way.  Rain started splattering against the inside of the car door.

“Do you have to do that?  That stuff fries your mind.”  Eddie scooted closer to his window, the side of his leg started to soak up the rain.

“Don’t you mean it FREES your mind, man.”  Kregg set the joint down in his ashtray.  “Why are we here anyway?”

Eddie looked back out his window.  Several homeless people were taking shelter under an awning.  Eddie couldn’t help but think how they ended up this way.  What happened to traumatize them so much to end up on the streets?  Or was there some other reason he couldn’t understand.

 

“Hey!”  Kregg snapped his fingers a few times, “You inhale to much smoke, man?”  Kregg waved his grimy hand in front of Eddie’s face.

The techno wizard slapped it away, “I placed a GPS tracking device on Braeburn’s car.  It led to that abandoned warehouse over there.”  Eddie pointed across the street to a large building with a chain link fence surrounding it.  Several holes were rusted throughout the metal roof after years of neglect.

A small gravel yard was encompassed in the fenced off area.  Random machinery and large piping was strewn across the yard, leaving a large roadway in front of the sliding gateway entrance.

“Sam wanted us to follow Breaburn and see what he’s up to.”  Eddie pocketed his GPS unit in his coat.  He pulled out a bag of gadgets.  Inside he had stored and array of items he had invented over the years.  He pulled a UV grenade from his bag and attached it to his belt.  He grabbed his plasma knife.  He would need it for cutting into the compound.  He flipped his hood over his head and turned to Kregg, “You ready?”

Kregg was squinting as he stared off into space.  He turned to look at Eddie, “What?”  He shifted back and forth in his seat a bit, “This is crazy, man.  Breaburn can annihilate us in an instant.”

“Annihilate us?  He’s not some god, you know?  He can, and will, die just like the rest of us.”  Eddie opened the door.  The sound of rain filled the two men’s ears.  “You coming?”

Kregg smiled awkwardly, “Let’s do this.”  Kregg stepped out into the rain.  His hair became soaking wet in an instant.

Eddie chuckled to himself.  This was probably the closest thing to a shower he’s had in a while.

The two made their way across the street to the warehouse.  Some homeless people watched them move through the rain.  Eddie ignored them and kept moving onward.  His heart started to beat rapidly.  He knew that adrenaline was beginning to take its hold on his body.  He took a deep breath and let it out in a gust of fog.

Eddie and Kregg crouched next to the chain link fence and peeked through the holes.  Neither of the two could see any movement on the outside of the warehouse.

“I can see his car.”  Kregg spoke up just enough for Eddie to hear.

Eddie knew Kregg was just as nervous as he was.  He couldn’t tell what was going on in the head of the hippie, especially when he was high.  This whole experience must have been more intense.

“But I don’t see Breaburn, or any guards.”  Kregg turned to Eddie, “How do we get inside?”

The Techy pulled the plasma knife from his coat.  He pressed down on the power switch.  The knife buzzed to life and the edges started to glow.  Eddie pressed the knife to the chain links and they broke apart with ease.  Eddie cut the chains in a long arc, just wide enough for the men to fit through.

Eddie stepped in first with Kregg following.  Lighting arced through the sky, dive bombing to the ground, with the familiar sonic boom following close behind.  Eddie’s eyes caught the majestic act of nature.  It was so simple, yet so powerful.

“He must be inside.”  Eddie crept along a long set of pipes up to the side of the building.  He checked to see if Kregg was still behind him.  The hippie was searching for something on the ground.  He was on his hands and knees feeling around in the dark.

“What’s the hold up?”  Eddie whispered as loud as he dared.

“I dropped my lighter.”  Kregg said aloud.

“Shh.”  Eddie held his finger up to his mouth and looked around to see if anybody heard.

“Oh, I found it.”  Kregg held it up in front of his face and joined his partner.

Eddie checked out the side of the building.  A loading door seemed like the only way in on this side of the warehouse.  It was most likely where Breaburn entered.  Eddie scanned down the wall to a part of the building that had started crumbling apart.  A large pile of debris was scattered downwards, frozen where it had crashed.  Eddie crouched his way up to the rubble and started to press down on a large chunk of concrete.

The chunk held tight and the Tech Man started to climb up the rubble.  He surveyed the wreckage to see if there was a way into the warehouse.

“Is this safe?”  Kregg pressed down on the concrete.

“Just get up here already.”  Eddie turned back to his climb.  It might be dangerous, but he had a mission to fulfill.  Sam had gone halfway around the world for him.  He would do this for her.  If there was a conspiracy about the Institute, Eddie needed to find it and expose the truth.

Eddie made it to the top of the rubble.  There was a doorway with a landing on the other side.  This section looked like it may have been stairs at one time.  From the looks of things, they would be on the second floor.

Eddie reached his hand out for Kregg to take.  He hoisted the hippie up onto the landing with him.  The shaggy haired man was soaked head to toe, but his spirit remained strong.

“Whew.  This is some tough climbing.”  Kregg was taking deep breaths by the boatload.

“Maybe if you stopped smoking, your lungs could handle a ten foot climb.”  Eddie shrugged.

Kregg straightened up his back and grunted, “Naw, ‘sall good.”

Eddie pulled out his plasma knife once again.  It was his only weapon, and he didn’t know what to expect here.  He wished he could have brought his shotgun, but the gun was too clunky for a reconnaissance mission.  He was too unwieldly to use any other gun at his disposal.  He made a note to take shooting lessons once he made it out of here.

“From here on out we need to be silent.  There’s no telling what is inside there.”  Eddie’s face was stone cold.  He gulped hard and turned into the building.  He took smaller steps, making sure to walk on the flat of his foot to minimize noise.

Kregg slumped down next to a wall.  Both men were dripping with water.  “I’ll stay here.  Watch our backs, you know.”  Kergg pushed his back up against the wall and popped his back.  “I’ll leave the sneaking to you.”  Kregg nodded.

Eddie was about to object, but he hesitated.  That probably wasn’t the worst idea ever.  It was actually a great idea, whatever the reason might be.  “Alright, if I’m not back in twenty minutes, take off without me.  I don’t want you getting caught here.”  Eddie took two steps into the building and then stopped.  He turned around, “And if something does happen, make sure you tell the Free Agents to get out of the Institute while they still can.”

Kregg nodded.  His face gloom and his eyes tired.

Eddie remained a few seconds.  This could be it for him.  For some reason this night was getting to him more than any mission he had gone on before.  All the times he had risked his life, and now he gets the jitters.  Eddie sighed and pushed himself into the building, one step at a time.

The rain had yet to penetrate this part of the warehouse.  Eddie had to pull another gadget from his bag.  It was too dark to see in the building.  He procured a device from a scientist bent on nuclear destruction of the world.  The device illuminated the entire passage up to six feet away in a sphere.  With the scroll of a wheel on its side, the device retracted its light a little closer to Eddie.

He marveled at the device.  He wanted to deconstruct it and reverse engineer it, but he was afraid he didn’t have the parts to recreate it.  If he couldn’t reconstruct it, it would be a heavy personal loss.

The second story had several offices filled with old chairs, desks, antique electronics, and more graffiti, tagged all over the walls.  Eddie shook his head.  It was abandoned to the chaos of the world.

Eddie pursed his lips and his eyebrows moved together.  There was one thing a place like this was missing.  There were mats made of paper and cardboard.  Old blankets covered stained mattresses while clothes hung about desks and doorknobs.  Empty liquor bottles lay scattered across the floor.  Even with all these, there were no people to fill out the rooms.  None of the homeless were in sight.

Eddie paused when he saw some red goop stuck to the side of a wall.  He touched it with his finger.  The substance was dark and sticky.  Some of it had dried up and caked over.

“Blood.”  Eddie whispered to himself.  He had seen enough of it for a lifetime twice over.  There was no mistaking it, but it could be from an accident or a fight amongst the vagrant residents.  He tried to reason something more logical than monsters or other supernatural creatures, but it was the feeling in his gut that told him there was something evil at work here.

Eddie came to the end of the offices.  There was an open doorway, which looked like the door was ripped off the hinges.  It led to a metal catwalk that overlooked the open floored warehouse below.

Water poured in from the holes in the ceiling, cascading downward onto the age old concrete floors.  Puddles formed here and there, while others streamed off to some other part of the warehouse.  Boxes were placed here and there, but mostly they were broken into piles of wood, most likely used for fires.

Eddie’s heart skipped a beat as his eyes scanned over a person standing in the warehouse.  He fell down to the ground, his legs almost collapsing on instinct.  His chest was heavy.  He thought he was having a heart attack.

Did it see me?  His thoughts kept coming back to this one question and once his heart started to slow down, he decided he could risk a look.  He turned his light off and stuffed it in his bag.

Eddie crawled on his stomach across the doorway and onto the catwalk.  He poked his head over the edge and saw the figure again.  It was standing at the far end of the warehouse, gazing out of an open loading bay door.  The rain had picked up and was falling even harder than before.  The occasional flash of lightning would bring some detail to the figure, but not enough for Eddie to see for sure.

The Techno Wizard rifled in his bag and pulled his phone out.  He started up the camera and zoomed in on the figure.  It was definitely holding something.  Was it eating?  It was still too dark to tell.

The lights then flickered on, pulling Eddie’s attention from his screen.  Several of the lights attached to the roof had flickered on without provocation.  Eddie checked around to see if anyone could see him.  The lights above him were shattered, so darkness still blanketed the spy.

Eddie looked back at his phone and lost his breath.  The creature was something else.  It was humanoid, standing on two legs.  It was dressed in a suit of black with small white pinstripes running down its length.  That is where its resemblance to human stopped.

Its skin was pale white, almost translucent.  Veins could be seen on its skull, branching out across the blank tapestry of skin.  Horns jutted out of the sides of its head, curling around like an adult ram ready to battle its rival.  Long fingers gripped the coat of a poorly dressed man.  The Ram Thing was biting into the neck of the homeless person.

Eddie gazed horrified at the scene.  As he examined it more, he could see a pile of the homeless, most likely the ones that used to inhabit the building.  There were at least a dozen bodies piled in a merciless slump.  This creature didn’t care about its victims in the slightest.  They were just food, cattle for slaughter.

Footsteps echoed throughout the chamber.  Eddie glanced down beneath him.

Breaburn was walking, his back stiff as always.  He placed a phone into his pocket and approached the creature without fear.

The creature pulled its head from the homeless man and tossed him on the heap of bodies.  It grabbed a scarf from one of its victims and wiped its face clean.  It turned Breaburn and straightened its suit.

Eddie hit the record button on his phone and zoomed in on the encounter.

The creature forced a smile.  Its teeth were all sharpened to a point, creating a menacing bone white smile.  Its eyes had large black pupils surrounded by a small circle of white.  Its deep voice rumbled throughout the cavernous building.

“Breaburn!  Your promptness always amuses me.”  The creature held his arms out wide, “Just enough time for me to grab a bite.”

Breaburn looked down to the pile of humans, their necks torn out and their blood sucked dry.  “Your appetite is almost as appalling as your visage, Ra.”  He rolled his shoulder and set down his briefcase.  “At least you’re not drawing attention with your killings.  No one will look twice for these…filth.  Even their own people leave them to die.”

Eddie held back his breath.  Ra was the cousin of the vampire lord he helped kill over a year ago.  Horus was a monster, but from what rumors Eddie heard about Ra, Ra was an even bigger evil in this world.  A shiver shot down Eddie’s spine.

Ra chuckled at Breaburn’s comment.  “I am always careful with my kills, human, don’t worry about me.”  Ra took a few steps closer to Breaburn.  “Shall we get down to business then?  You should save these pleasantries for the peasants.”

“Indeed.”  Breaburn nodded, “I hear you have a problem holding your own territory back home.  The rebels are making you look weak.  The other Vampire Lords laugh at you behind your back.”

Ra gave a devilish grin.  Breaburn was always a sport when it came to conversation.  “The other Vampire Lords laugh behind my back because they are too cowardly to laugh at my face.  They all still fear me, and they should rightfully so.”  Ra cocked his head to the side, “I hear that you sent a death squad after the girl human.  Sam, was it?  And how did that turn out?”  Ra turned the newly found information on the human in counterattack.  “Maybe it is I who should be concerned about your kills, hmm?”

Breaburn’s mouth pursed slightly with distaste, “I was informed that they had not been successful in killing the girl.”

“And the Brit?”  Ra turned his head slightly.

“He too, was able to walk out alive.”  Breaburn’s eye twitched.

“Then it seems we both have our bad days.”  Ra started to pace around Breaburn, “I thought we agreed to not go after the girl until we can secure enough resources to finish her once and for all?  The death of my cousin, Horus, if you remember, brought about this pact.  If it weren’t for you, I would have finished her a long time ago.”

“And I am certain you would have been slain.”  Breaburn retaliated.  “I had to act on impulse.  The arrival of Lord Blud was an unexpected addition to our plans.  A death squad should have surely killed them all.  I suspect the Blind Man has more to him than meets the eye.”

“But it seems fate is on the girls side, no?”  Ra held his right finger up in the air, “It seems she is something more than just a mere mortal as well, this is something we should remember in the future.”

Eddie furrowed his brow again.  Something more than mortal, what were they talking about.

“Agreed.  For now, like you said, we should put her to the back of our minds and focus on our real intents.  The plan must move forward at all costs.  We have already lost two of our members.  It is amazing that our plans still progresses with such ferocity.”

Ra circled Breaburn, “Yes.  It is amazing we have yet to be found out.  We must watch our backs with even more fervor now.  The loss of Mr. Bartlett was to be expected.  He is too much of a wild card.  He played his part before he left.  The spirit inside him seeks its own means, while the loss of my cousin was the act of a fool.”  Ra stopped next to a stream of water pouring in from the hole above him.  He ran his hand under the water a few times.  “Horus thought he could push his schemes ahead without error, and it cost him his life.”  Ra continued walking his circle and stopped dead in front of Breaburn, “And what of the Prophet?  From what I see in the news, he is quite successful.”

“He holds to his end of the deal with a fire I have not seen in some time.  He and his people have much to lose if this plan fails.  He knows it, and he fights every day to make sure this does not happen.”  Breaburn stared into the dark pits of Ra’s eyes.

“I would wish to send a message to the Prophet.  I need his help in dispatching of these rebels squatting on my land.  I have my best man seeking them out, and I doubt he has yet to find there hideout.  I have few soldiers to spare at the moment.”  Ra bent down with incredible speed and scooped a rat from the floor.  He held it firmly in his hand as it squirmed about, trying to break free.

“I’m sure the Prophet would be happy to oblige you.  He is eager to raise the status of his mutants to higher levels.  If he is hesitant, I will…persuade him into doing what you need.  You should have all the soldiers you need.”  Breaburn grabbed his briefcase from the floor and wiped the bottom of it clean with a handkerchief.

“Good.”  Ra smiled, “I will destroy these rebels like the rats they are.”  Ra squeezed the rat until its head exploded in a fountain of blood.

Breaburn sidestepped some of the gore that splattered in his direction.

Eddie couldn’t believe how big the conspiracy was.  He thought Breaburn was just trying to muscle himself to being the Boss of the Institute, but this ran much deeper.  Breaburn was involved with the Prophet, who was stirring the mutants up all over the globe, and he was also cohorts with the worst Vampire Lord to date.  All this information was pilling up in Eddie’s mind.  It was too much to comprehend all at once.  What were they planning?

Eddie took a deep breath through his mouth as a musky stench cam about him.  He had to tell Sam, she was the only one he could think to turn to.  The smell was stronger now, and Eddie turned his head at the sound of some coughing.

Kregg.  Eddie’s eyes shot wide open.  He started to fumble with his phone as he stuffed it in his bag.  If he could hear him, let alone smell him, then Ra and Breaburn could too.

Eddie began army crawling backwards to the door behind him.  If he could get to Kregg in time, the two men could escape without anyone knowing they were there.

“Someone’s a little too nosey.”  The deep voice of Ra echoed about the warehouse.

The words set in Eddie’s ears like a lead brick dragging all his fears from his mind into reality.  He had to get out now.  Eddie turned and started to move as quickly and quietly as he could.  He passed the offices filled with the random items owned by the homeless who were devoured by Ra.

A loud clang of metal under stress shot through the building.

Eddie looked around for somewhere to hide.  If Ra was anything like his cousin, he had incredible speed and strength.  The only weapon Eddie had was his plasma knife.  He wasn’t a fighter like Sam, he needed to hide and hope for the best.

Eddie darted behind a desk in one of the office rooms.  It reeked of piss and dirty, unwashed clothes.  Garbage was scattered about and grime covered just about every surface.  Eddie ducked under the desk, trying to breathe from his mouth as much as he could.  He let out a small cough and held still.

Eddie waited under the desk for several seconds, but each second stuck over him like endless hours.  His heart beat rapidly in his chest.  His breathing felt heavy and loud.  He risked a glance under the opening in the bottom of the desk.

The Tech Master could only see out in the hallway.  There remained the graffiti on the walls, the blood stains, and the dirty floors.  He felt a little relieved.  Maybe the conspirators didn’t hear Kregg.

Then a foot came into view.  Exquisite Italian leather shoes fell onto the floor with purpose.

Ra was here.

The ram like horns sprouted from his head, twirling outwards as he sniffed about the air.  He ran his fingernails across the wall; a high pitched screech accompanied the strips of plaster that fell to the floor.  Someone had been here.  He could smell the distinct aroma.  Ra had heard a cough from upstairs.  Anyone who saw him needed to be eliminated, even if it was just a bum camping out in the abandoned warehouse.

Ra looked around the offices.  He could smell the presence of something.  It was faint against the soiling of the human filth.  The Vampire Lord stepped into a nearby office.  Creatures that lived in such an environment were meant to be stamped out.  His cousin Horus was right to be an avid killer of human kind.  His one mistake was thinking they were all mindless cattle.  There were plenty of humans capable of slaying vampires around the world.  That is why the humans have inherited the Earth, and the vampires hide in the darkest corners, picking up the scraps like wild dogs.

Ra snarled and slammed his fist on the desk in front of him.  An indent shaped like his fist was left on the surface of the desk.

Eddie held his knife close.  Ra was just on the other side of the desk.  Sweat beaded down his forehead.  This could be it.  This was the end.  He wouldn’t go without a fight.  A thought soon spiked its way to the top of Eddie’s brain, a lightbulb just flicked on.  Eddie pulled the UV grenade from his belt.  If Ra was a vampire, then he would go down easily.

Eddie’s finger hovered over the button to activate the grenade.  Ra didn’t look like normal vampires though.  Would the grenade affect him?  If it had no effect, then he would die quickly.

The putting of an old engine could be heard in the distance over the rainfall outside.  Ra turned his head and sprinted out of the room as fast as the lightning outside.  Ra came to the edge of the warehouse that had crumbled under its own weight.  He leapt down to the ground with one jump, water pattering all over his exquisite suit.

Ra watched the red van putter away down the road with his wide eyed gaze.  The van would be too far gone for him to catch up, even with his speed.  A figure soon joined his side as lightning struck not too far away.

Mr. Breaburn stood with an umbrella covering his head.  “Worry not.  I know that van.  I will take care of it.”

“You better.  We have too much vested into our plans to fail now.”  Ra turned and stormed off into the rain.  “I will send  word when we need to meet again.”

Breaburn turned and headed for his car.  The Vampire Lord was becoming a thorn in his side.  Ra would need to be removed if he continued his cavalier attitude towards their goal.  Breaburn stepped into his car and brushed the water from his pants.  Soon, he would have all the power in the world.  He just needed to be patient.

Breaburn drove off into the night, rain splashing down against his windshield.  He smiled.

 

Eddie had waited thirty minutes before he dared move from his hiding spot.  He slowly stood and inspected the halls of the warehouse.  The building was void of life, no one to be seen.  Eddie sighed with relief.  This mission was too close for comfort.

He checked his phone and reviewed the video.  It was daunting stuff.  He needed to get this to Sam right away.  He tried to send the video, but his phone had no connection to the network.    After a few minutes of walking about, his phone held high, Eddie stuffed it back into his bag.

First he would get somewhere safe.  Then he could get ahold of Sam.  She told him to go to the GriGri if he was ever in trouble.  He had met Mr. Scott on a few occasions when he had business with Mr. Bartlett.

Eddie walked out to the destroyed section of the building.  He carefully stepped down onto a ledge he used to climb up.  He carefully turned around to lower himself down when he slipped up on the wet concrete.  His chin smacked down hard on the wet stone. “Shit.”  He managed to gasp out as he fell backwards, twisting to his side as he landed hard on his arm.  A sharp pain shot up his left arm.  He flipped over and landed hard on the gravel yard below.

Eddie laid on his back, staring up at the night sky, rain coating his face with cold water.  His vison started to fade and with one last burst of strength, he pushed himself to his side and spat blood from his mouth.  His vison finally went black and he lost consciousness.

Lightning struck out again, illuminating the abandoned warehouse for a split second.  The rain continued to fall.