Calgary, Alberta - Canada

[cross_grave]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

Przemek looked at John, eyebrow raised as he visibly considered the idea. "They could have simply lost control over it. Either way, it doesn't matter." He shrugged, focusing his attention on the gun he was given, familiarizing himself with the weapon. "Regardless of it's origins, this creature is aggressive and is likely to pose a lethal threat to anyone who stumbles into it's territory. It needs to be contained or killed. We can figure out whether it was made by those bastards or not later. As for why she's looking for Chris... She used to know him, or so she says."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

John's eyebrow raised ever so slightly at that, though he chose not to comment about how she might know Chris.

"Very well. Happy hunting. Be advised as soon as I pick up Ashley and Clara from New York that most of us are leaving for Tibet. It seems not only is Nikola still alive, but he seems to think he may have a way of curing the Lazarus virus. I'll be going with Helen, Clara, James and perhaps one or two other people. I'll make sure Henry keeps an eye on this one here. If you need anything, I suggest you get in touch with Miranda."

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

"Oh, I'll be happy... Once I get to rip that bug's head off and mount it on a wall in my room..." The ghoul grumbled to himself, stewing in his anger, before one particular bit of information that John shared hit him like a brick. "Wait, what? A cure? For real?" It was a groundbreaking revelation. This could prove to be incredibly useful, if Tesla decided to share. He wasn't the type to do so without having some kind of gratification in mind. "Alright. I'll clean up here and head back. You people do what you want... Just watch out. I don't want to be sent to collect your bits later. It'd be depressing." He added in a sarcastic, but somewhat warm tone, a roundabout way of saying "take care". Przemek wasn't big on this whole "kindness" thing. Taking a deep breath, he scanned the area for any scents that might lead him to the bug - it's own scent, the smell of blood it spilled... His other senses were put to work as well. "Now, let's see where you're hiding..." He set out, a hunter on a prowl.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

John smirked slightly before his face became unreadable again.

"Could say the same for you. Regardless, time is wasting."


With that, he lifted the girl into his arms, and then vanished once again into thin air.




With his senses now fully tuned to finding the bug, the ghoul would pick up a faint trail that was identical to the 'blood' they had found earlier. It seemed to lead deeper into the train yard, and then, suddenly it veered sharply back underground.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

'So it returned to the tunnels after reaching the train yard... It probably knows at least several access points it can use to go up and down. Not good.' Przemek frowned. Any alternate path the bug knew was an advantage he needed to neutralize. It could use them as escape routes or to create an ambush, making the hunt much more difficult. With a sigh, the ghoul began to follow the trail, using his smell to keep up with the track while his eyes and ears were focused mainly on looking for traps. Thankfully, his hearing was much better than a human's, and he could pick out sounds others couldn't. This came in handy quite often - people sometimes underestimated how much noise they could make when moving. The bug would have one Hell of a problem to overcome if it wanted to try a suprise attack.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

It wasn't long before the ghoul had tracked down the bug. Strangely though, it was on the ground, though as he realized this, something else struck him as odd. Bugs didn't breathe, yet this one clearly was breathing, and it seemed that either it's injuries had taken root, or something else was wrong with it, for it was laboring to breathe.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

Przemek frowned. This was strange. As far as he knew, bugs tended to breathe through small pores in the carapace. This one was behaving oddly... The ghoul decided to move quietly to a position from which he could observe the creature. Maybe it was something he could take advantage of? He continued, curious but wary.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

As the Ghoul got closer, he could smell something burning. A closer look and he spotted one area on the bug where something very hot seemed to have hit it, searing the carapace. It seemed to still be smoldering, yet there was no sign of any flame.


And that's when he heard footsteps behind him. It sounded like there were six or seven people coming up the same tunnel he had.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

"Tch." Przemek was not very happy about this development. While he was glad the bug was down and weakened, he really hoped that the approaching group wasn't armed with whatever hurt it like that, or that they were out of ammo. He doubted it was anyone else but Cabal - this was an abandoned area, after all. No one had any business in coming here. Those guys probably forced the monster to retreat after it slaughtered the rest and got hurt. The ghoul looked around. He really didn't wish to get caught between the bug and those guys - the creature could still have some power left in it. He looked around, trying to spot any niche or dark spot he could hide in and avoid detection. If he couldn't count on the terrain, he'd have to try to get around the monster quietly and position himself a bit further down the tunnel, so he could observe. The best chance to move unnoticed was to creep around it's back...

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

A look found him a small corner that was out of the way, which he could hide in. No sooner had he positioned himself than the people entered the room. It was here he would get yet another shocker. Two of them weren't even human, but were hulking abnormals similar to the ogre like creatures he'd seen off and on at the Sanctuary. These however were much larger than those.

The other four seemed to be humanoid, but they clearly weren't human. For one their eyes, which he could see from his vantage point, were a shining green, and shaped differently. What really stood out was that they wore clothing that was most definitely not Cabal issuance, nor were the nasty looking weapons the three humanoid males carrying like anything he'd ever seen. Actually, they looked like something Henry might come up with after reading one too many sci-fi magazines if he thought of it.

The last one was a female who was strikingly attractive, and she seemed to be in charge as she spoke.

"Good, it's out cold. We should be able to get it back home without too much trouble, though the other injuries could pose a problem."


One of the guards, or so they seemed to be, replied to her carefully.

"Yes, but what of the presence Vortak detected down here? There was someone else he said, just before we left him at the gate."


The woman replied quickly, and confident.

"I don't forsee any threat at this point. The surface dwellers who attacked were dealt with, and anyone else down here likely is either trying to get away from this place, or is too afraid to come near. Keep your eyes open though for anyone, but do not shoot unless it's clear we are under attack. Our objectives are clear, retrieve the Shobvrin, and return it home. That is exactly what we're going to do. Ideally without giving away the truth about where we're from. This is not our home, and as such, we must ensure we do not contaminate it. Ready the Shobvrin for transport with the devices, we leave as soon as possible."


Nodding, the man motioned to his companions to begin work.

"As you wish Navrina. May the avatars see to our success."

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

'Well well. What do we have here?' Przemek frowned. The appearance of these... Abnormals, he guessed, did not match any kind he knew about. What troubled him further was the fact that several different kinds seemed to be present, and on top of that they were armed with something that looked like Henry's inventions on crack. The female was particularly interesting, not only because of her good looks. 'Let's see... Two bruisers and heavy lifters, if the size is any indication... Tough, but probably slow. Three marksmen... And last... A matriarch, shall we say? Only woman in the group, and their leader. This could be significant. And a sensor of some kind above. Bit too much to take on without backup.' He was somewhat puzzled by the names they used, but didn't dwell on it, focusing on the important facts. The bug was theirs, and they clearly weren't with Cabal. In fact, they lived below ground if the woman's speech was any indication. They probably were dispatched to retrieve their creature after it escaped, the ghoul theorized.

All of this, of course, was an entirely new can of worms he accidentally uncovered. There was, in all likelihood, a third force aside of Cabal and the Sanctuary. This one was located underground and indifferent towards humans if the leader's orders were anything to go by. Przemek wondered where they came from and how they've managed to avoid detection. The way they spoke reminded him of the various alien races from movies and games - the highly developed, spiritual kind. For now, he decided to avoid contact and just observe the situation. He didn't have enough information to make any important decisions on his own. Plus, he was kind of curious how they were going to transport the thing. He didn't have anything against letting them keep it, as long as it wasn't a threat. The ghoul needed to observe and relay his findings back to the Sanctuary. Let Magnus and the rest worry about the results of this incident - altough they seemed to have enough problems anyway...

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

While the ghoul watched, the guardians withdrew several disk like devices, which upon being placed near the bug came to life with a sudden flicker of low yield light. Then he watched in amazement as the bug literally lifted off the ground by nearly a foot, floating in mid air.


After a few moments which seemed to be to determine if everything was in working order, the group began to set out, leaving the ghoul to decide if he should try and follow them, or go his own way.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

'What the...' The ghoul could hardly believe his eyes. Was that some kind of anti-gravity field? Impossible. His curiosity raised to it's limit, he quietly followed the group, trying to move as stealthily as possible. It'd probably be best not to let them know they're being tailed by someone. They were ordered not to shoot anyone, but it was wise to avoid contact none the less. Just observe without disturbing them, and hope they'll leave some clues behind, one way or another.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

He would follow them for several minutes as they wound their way deeper underground, connecting with a set of tunnels that clearly hadn't been used by humans in forever. Then, abruptly the group stopped in front of a stone wall that ended the tunnels.


The woman withdrew a small device, pushing a couple of buttons or something on it, and then the area had a strange, barely audible hum to it. It was here things got really freaky.


The wall in front of them seemed to distort slightly, but this didn't seem to concern the group in front of him. What took the cake though was when the group moved towards it, and then literally passed through the wall like it wasn't there. A moment later they were gone, and a moment beyond that, the hum had faded and the wall was perfectly fine. A quick check would confirm that the wall was solid, probably part of the rock leading into the earth itself. Whatever they had done, they were completely gone and had just literally walked through a solid wall like it was nothing.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

"..."

Przemek stared at the wall for a moment, suspecting the whole thing to be some kind of hallucination. Slowly, he left his hiding spot and approached the wall. Though no one seemed to be nearby, he remained on his guard. He carefully reached out with his left hand and touched the wall with the tips of his claws, hand morphed into combat form for protection. Running the edges of his natural weapon across the surface (to check if it was solid, but also to hear that immensely satisfying sound produced whenever he did that - he had more than several months to get used to them, but it still gave him the right kind of chills), the ghoul wondered what just happened. Was this some kind of space-time manipulation trick? Something akin to the power of teleporter abnormals? Some kind of temporary displacement? He desperately searched for any traces of the group's presence, visual and not. Most importantly, he wanted to memorize their scent and the scent of the bug, to recognize it in case he found a fresh trail in the future.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

Try as he might, he could find nothing physical at all that indicated the group had ever been there, however he did find a few splotches of what he assumed to be the blood of that bug. Beyond that, it was like no one had ever been there.


He did of course pick up scent, though it was strange to say the least. It didn't smell like anything he'd ever come across before, and there was a faint hint of sulfur in the air where the wall had been distorted. He couldn't tell if it was part of them or something else though, but he was certain it hadn't been there until whatever had just happened.


Then, an idea came to him that he might not like. If these people could in fact somehow manipulate solid matter to pass through it, then they quite literally could go anywhere they chose to. This could be how no one had ever come across them before, was because they were so well hidden and chose not to reveal themselves. One couldn't really blame them now though, with the Cabal mucking about it would be a great risk to put a bulls eye on their backsides. One thing he could definitely say though, they seemed from what he had seen with the floating bug, to be significantly more advanced technologically than the Cabal were. Probably more so than the Sanctuary as well.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

Przemek stood there for a moment, pondering the implications of his discovery. Mankind was lucky those guys weren't against them, otherwise their prospects would be grim. This kind of technological superiority would be one Hell of a problem to overcome. Memorizing the last traces of the scents, he let out a sigh and finally relaxed, letting himself return to his "civilian" posture and appearance. He felt angry. This wasn't unusual, but now he had a reason to feel like that. He really wondered how he was going to explain this without having ANY kind of substantial proof. Dejected and feeling more and more irritated with each minute, he turned around and set out to leave, hoping that the strange visitors left some traces on the surface. As he considered that, the ghoul paused. They've mentioned that there was one more of their kind around here, Vortak. He was said to be able to detect people, but perhaps the ghoul could still catch him if he lingered around here. Hope raised, the young abnormal set off, racing towards the surface as he tried to pick up a scent.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

The ghoul hadn't gone very far when he picked up a strange scent that HAD to be his target. Somehow it had gotten back behind him! Perhaps he'd seen the ghoul and simply had chosen to avoid him? Or could it be a stroke of luck? Whichever, he had a target, now it was time to get back to the spot he'd just left in a hurry. As he started to run though, he suddenly picked up another scent, this one though was very much human, and it wasn't far from either him, or the unknown quarry.




Back in the biolab again, Henry looked up from his computer.

"So uh yeah ... looks like they stuck a little venom in there from this worm like creature. I'll spare you the boring details, but suffice it to say I've got the antidote for it in the other room. You uh ... You good for a minute here?"

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

Frowning, the ghoul turned around and moved in the direction the scent came from. He was not going to give up on getting some answers, some proof that there was a civilization somewhere below. Or at least that he wasn't hallucinating. As he closed in on his target, though, he picked up another scent. A human, somewhere nearby. This was somewhat troubling. Who could it be? A wrong person in the wrong place? A Cabal soldier who survived the massacre? Or perhaps someone else, who also had something to gain here? Przemek shook his head. Humans did not disappear that easily. He would go after that one next - his first target could easily slip through his grasp if he didn't run fast. Still, he had to be quiet - it'd be bad if he spooked his quarry.

 

[Bartnum]

Re: Calgary, Alberta - Canada

"Hmm? Yeah, I should be."

Alec idly practices using his power by making his hands glow.