chapter 33

Chapter 33:

– Seras –

Seras hit the ground hard, landing on her backside as she shot out of the metal chute and into a cramped prison cell. Pain jolted through her tailbone, making her wince. 

She had only a second to recover before she spotted two soldiers scrambling into position. One of them held an assault rifle, the other had some sort of heavy-duty collar in his hands. The soldier with the rifle lifted it, finger sliding to the trigger. Seras's instincts kicked in. She pulled out her own pistol at vampiric speed, Alucard's old words echoing in her head.

If you shoot like a human, you'll miss like a human. 

She wasn't human. Not anymore.

Two gunshots thundered in the small cell. The echo tore at her sensitive ears. Both soldiers collapsed instantly, blood leaking from head wounds all over the floor. 

An alarm blared and a security camera in the corner jerked to life with a red blinking light. Seras raised her pistol again, firing once at the camera lens. 

She checked the fresh corpses, and she bent down and picked up the assault rifle they'd dropped. Her massive anti-tank cannon was still in the Jeep, but at least this would give her more firepower than a sidearm.

"Valerie?" she called out, stepping into the corridor beyond the cell. The hallway was long, claustrophobic, and lit by dim fluorescent panels. Pipes and wires snaked across the ceiling. Seras never watched much TV, but this place practically screamed "evil villain lair."

She listened hard, straining her vampiric hearing. Most likely, Valerie had ended up in a completely different section when the floor gave out. 

Seras frowned, trying not to worry too much. 'We'll find each other eventually,' she told herself. 'She's tough.'

"What was that?"

"Sounded like gunshots!"

Seras heard nervous chatting behind a nearby cell door. Seras peered through it, spotting a pair of soldiers inside. They stood over a cowering figure. 

One soldier locked eyes with Seras through the glass.

"Shit!" he yelped. "One's trying to escape! She probably killed Andre and Derek!"

A second later, she heard him spit, "Disgusting mutant freak!"

Seras's jaw clenched. She rubbed her thumb along the assault rifle's grip and tried the door. To her surprise, it slid right open without any lock. 'Talk about a design flaw,' she thought with a smirk, stepping to the side immediately because she knew what was coming.

Bullets shredded the air in front of her, ricocheting against the metal doorframe. She kept her body pressed flat to the wall, waiting until their fire slowed. Then she dropped into a low crouch, inhaled sharply, and launched herself into the doorway. Gunfire roared again, but every shot flew over her head.

She squeezed off two quick bursts. They found their marks, and both soldiers went down with strangled cries. The silence that followed rang in her ears.

Seras cautiously stepped inside the cell, rifle still raised. Her gaze flicked around to see who the soldiers had been menacing. 'Oh no,' she thought with a sinking feeling. The figure straightened up with a grin, brushing off his ragged clothes.

"Thanks for saving me, gorgeous," Toad said, giving her a leer. "Knew you ladies couldn't resist my charms."

Seras rolled her eyes. 'Of all the people I had to rescue…'

Pushing aside her disgust, she snapped at him, "Just grab one of their guns and follow me. We need to find the kidnapped kids—and the rest of our team."

Toad's grin widened. "You got it, babe," he said as he crouched to relieve one of the corpses of an assault rifle.

Seras resisted the urge to smack him. Instead, she motioned for him to stay close. "Try to behave," she muttered, stepping back into the hall. "This place is a maze, and I'd rather not waste time babysitting you."

He shrugged, gave her a mock salute, and trotted after her.

– Valerie –

I lifted my revolver, pressing the tip of the barrel lightly to Kitty Pryde's neck, and murmured the incantation. 

"Alohomora." 

The collar around her throat clicked free and hit the floor with a metallic clatter, right beside my own. Not that mine actually did anything, it was designed to block mutant powers, and I'm no mutant.

Kitty swallowed hard, eyeing my weapon like it was about to go off by itself. "What the hell was that?" she asked.

"Magic," I replied, lowering the gun. "These collars only block mutant powers, so I'm still good to cast spells."

She snorted in disbelief, then gave a shaky laugh. "Magic… right. I guess it makes sense magic would exist too. So can all vampires do that?"

I shrugged. "Depends on the vampire. A lot of us pick up... unique skills. I'm a special case." Didn't want to overshare. Maybe it was just paranoia, but I just met her recently and I don't quite know her. 

Kitty tugged off the heavy collar entirely and tossed it aside, rubbing at her neck. "I'm the only one here," she said after a moment, glancing around the cell. "At least in this part of the base. They must've split us up—my teammates, the younger kids."

"This place must be huge," I said, stooping to grab my gun from the floor. "That sort of operation usually means government money, or some crazy billionaire with a mutant grudge." Probably both. 

Kitty's eyes darted to the bodies of the soldiers I'd left on the ground. Her nose wrinkled, like she was trying not to gag at the sight. 

"...We need to find the others," she said quickly.

I nodded. "Agreed." I tried to give her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Storm and Wolverine are here too, and my friend Seras. Also, um… the Brotherhood might be around somewhere."

Her jaw dropped. "Magneto's here? Are you kidding me? Why the hell would he be involved?"

"Beats me. I only met the guy today. One minute he's lifting our Jeep in the air like it's a toy, next minute he's mowing down half a battalion's worth of soldiers."

I didn't bother telling her I suspected that maybe Magneto got himself captured too. I certainly didn't hear any sounds of fighting. 

Kitty and I slipped out into the corridor. I kept my revolver raised. "How'd they catch everyone at the mansion?" I asked quietly while we walked.

She grimaced. "Some kind of sleeping gas. I think they used drones so the Professor wouldn't sense them sneaking onto the grounds. Before anyone knew what was happening, it was in the heating system, and… we went down."

"Bastards," I muttered, checking around the next corner. Nothing jumped out at us, so we moved on. "Don't worry. We'll get everyone back."

Kitty nodded, but worry radiated off her. "I appreciate it. Really. I just—" She swallowed thickly. "I just hope my friends are okay."

"Me too," I said. "I don't intend to leave anyone behind."

We turned another corner and froze. Four guards were stationed in front of big steel doors marked CELL BLOCK A. From behind those doors came the unmistakable sounds of crying and whining—kids. My stomach twisted. 

One of the soldiers smacked a rifle butt against the door. "Shut up, you disgusting brats!" he yelled, voice echoing down the corridor.

I bit back a snarl. Yeah, I'll show him disgusting. I glanced over at Kitty, who looked ready to barf or punch someone, maybe both. "I think we just found where they're keeping the younger kids," I whispered. "Any ideas?"

Kitty's eyes flicked to the wall. "I can phase in, check on them, and get them out of harm's way."

"Do it," I said. I took a second to press a spare sidearm—one I'd picked up from a dead guard—into her hand. "Just in case you run into more of these assholes. I know you don't want to use it, but—"

She looked at it like it was radioactive. "X-Men don't use guns. Professor Xavier's big on not—"

"I get it. But we're in the middle of basically a war zone. I'd rather you have something than be cornered if you run into trouble." 

Storm and Wolverine told me the X-Men's rule about not killing–despite the fact that neither really followed that rule very well. Gonna be awkward if the Professor sees all these bodies once this is over…

Kitty stared at the weapon, then tucked it gingerly into her waistband. "I really hope I don't have to use it."

"Me too," I said softly. "Now go. I'll keep these guys busy."

She shot me one last uneasy look, then pressed her hands to the wall and slid into it like a ghost. 

It was a damn cool power—phasing through solid objects. Part of me was jealous. Alucard did something similar, but that was more a vampire trick than the intangibility Kitty did.

I crept to the corner of the hallway, revolver tight in my grip. The four guards were jittery, scanning every inch of the place with their rifles. 

Steeling my nerves, I inhaled, exhaled, and rounded the corner, my weapon aimed right at the center of the group. I'm probably about to catch a bullet or two…

…

I muttered a quick, "Reparo!" and ran my fingers over the ragged bullet holes in my jacket. The cloth stitched itself back together, thread by thread, until all that remained were faint, uneven lines where the repairs had taken hold. Hey, at least it looked better than wandering around in a ripped-up coat full of bullet holes—especially around a bunch of traumatized kids.

And there were a lot of them. I counted at least twenty, maybe closer to thirty, all huddled together in the cramped hallway of Cellblock A. Kitty stood near the center, doing her best to soothe them. Her voice was calm, but she was shaking, which made sense. She'd had to pull the trigger on some asshole guard who was inside when she slipped through the walls.

I'd already tossed the bodies out of sight, just to spare the kids any extra nightmares.

"Alright, next," I said briskly, turning toward the trembling kid standing closest to me. He was maybe eleven, with scraggly red hair and pointed ears. An inhibitor collar was locked tight around his neck. "Don't worry, this won't hurt."

I tapped my magic revolver against the collar and murmured, "Alohomora." The latch clicked open, and the collar clattered to the floor. It'd worked the same way for the rest of them so far, but each time, the relief on their faces was something to see. Good thing I had plenty of fresh blood around to replenish my magic, or I'd be wiped out. Finally, I got to the last kid. She had scaly green skin and huge anxious eyes. "Here we go," I told her gently. Same method, same click, same heavy thud of metal hitting the floor.

The girl rubbed her neck, tears threatening to spill over. "I'm scared, Miss Kitty," she whispered.

Kitty crouched down next to her. "I know," she said, giving the kid a soft pat on the shoulder. "But everything's going to be okay. We're getting you all out of here and back to the mansion safe and sound."

"Really?" another kid piped up. He looked between Kitty and me like he wasn't sure who to believe.

Kitty shot me a nervous look, so I plastered on my most confident grin. "You bet. Here's what we're gonna do." I took a breath, raising my voice so all of them could hear. "We need to get you to the surface. That's step one." I turned to Kitty. "How many kids can you take with you when you phase through walls or floors?"

She chewed her lip. "I can manage two at a time without risking us getting stuck," she admitted. "That's… quite a few trips."

"Fifteen or so, yeah," I said, doing a quick headcount of the kids. "But once you get them up top, we only have the one Jeep out there. We'll need more transport if we're gonna evacuate everybody."

"Right," Kitty agreed nervously. "What do we do about that?"

I dug my phone out of my jacket pocket. "There's no signal down here, but if you get above ground, you should be able to grab a bar or two. First call you make is to Integra—my boss. She's got connections who can bring in vehicles to haul everyone out. You might get an earful though… She can be a bit loud," I warned Kitty.

"Uh, alright…" Kitty said as she gingerly took the phone from my hand. "I can do that…"

Hopefully, Integra will answer this time. If not… then I told her to call Alucard. Which would make things… a lot more messy. 

…

I ran through the cramped corridor, ears ringing from the endless gunshots reverberating off the concrete walls. Fighting underground was pure misery—especially for a vampire. My hearing was so sharp that every damn shot felt like a punch to my skull, tearing my eardrums only for them to regenerate a moment later. 

The constant cycle was driving me nuts.

"Fucking kill her!" someone bellowed from up ahead.

They opened fire. Bullets smashed into my legs, but I just gritted my teeth and lunged forward, latching my fangs onto the closest soldier's neck. I managed a few gulps of that delicious, hot blood before the rest of his squad started unloading on me. I jerked him around like a meat shield as dozens of rounds slammed into his spine.

"Fuck!" one of the soldiers yelled. "Why won't she die?!"

I shoved the corpse at them. "Bombarda!" I raised my revolver then dropped the gun and quickly covered my ears because I knew what was coming.

"BOOOOM!"

The explosive spell ripped through the corridor, and a shockwave of hot air slammed into me. Concrete dust and bits of metal rained down. "Ow, fuck!" I shouted, ears bleeding heavily and ringing from the impact. 

Note to self: maybe don't use that spell underground anymore… 

Still, it took out at least ten more soldiers. I'd lost count of how many I'd killed so far—Weapon X sure did have a never-ending supply of goons. It was almost impressive, too bad they were all here for a racist reasons. 

At least they were chasing me instead of bothering Kitty and the kids. I pressed on, following a narrow passage that looked like it might lead somewhere important. I turned a corner—

"Bang!"

A bullet seared my chest, right on my left boob. "Ow, fuck!" I hissed. I glanced up, prepared to blast the idiot who shot me, only to see Seras standing there holding an assault rifle.

"Oh my gosh!" she gasped. "I'm so sorry, Valerie!"

I pouted, feeling the bullet pop right out of my skin as it healed over. "You shot me in the tit," I grumbled.

Seras set the rifle aside with a grimace. "I said I'm sorry! I've been getting attacked every thirty seconds for the past hour, and I just—ugh!" She dragged a hand through her blonde hair. "How does this place have so many soldiers? I'm pretty sure I've killed more than triple Hellsing's entire roster."

I nodded sympathetically. "Just goes to show quantity doesn't match quality." I paused to check the corridor behind me, making sure no more goons were rushing in. "Find anyone alive or worth saving?"

She groaned. "I ran into Toad. You remember the creep from earlier. Then I ditched him after he got his dumb ass shot. I might go back for him… emphasis on 'might.'"

That made me laugh. "Yeah, I don't blame you." I holstered my revolver again. "I found the school's kids. Kitty's ferrying them to the surface, so they should be safe by now. I'm looking for the older students and the rest of the X-Men."

"They've gotta be close," Seras said. "I've combed through half these corridors, but it's a damn maze."

We took a minute to piece together what sections we'd cleared and realized there was only one area left for us to search down here. We then spotted a massive steel door at the end of the next hallway. The thing looked at least a foot thick and had a fancy biometric lock panel on the side.

"You want to bet the boss of this whole Weapon X show is in there—and probably the rest of the mutants too?" Seras asked.

I snorted. "That's a sucker's bet." I stepped forward, leveled my magic revolver at the lock, and hissed, "Alohomora!"

The console sparked, lights flickered, and the heavy door swung open with a grinding hiss. Gotta love magic. Sometimes it really does feel like cheating.

Seras and I exchanged a brief nod and strolled into the chamber beyond.

I let out a low whistle at the sight on the other side of that huge steel door. 

Seras peered over my shoulder from behind me. "Well… we found the X-Men," she said, sounding more than a little unnerved.

Standing in a neat row like puppets on strings were Storm, Wolverine, Magneto, Jean, Scott, and Mystique. None of them seemed very responsive and all had blank expressions on their faces.

Obvious mind control or hypnosis…

Off to one side, I spotted a series of metal cages, each one secured with heavy locks. That's where the rest of the older mutants were crammed. Kurt, his vampire girlfriend, Bobby, Rogue, even Professor X himself. All of them wore power-inhibiting collars. I noticed blood trickling down the Professor's temple, he looked like he'd taken a nasty blow to the head and didn't look very responsive.

That wasn't good, he looked like he needed medical treatment immediately. 

"You gotta run!" Kurt shouted. "It's a trap!"

"They're all bein' mind-controlled!" Rogue added.

"No shit…" Seras said next to me.

A slow clap echoed from behind them. 

I'd seen enough cheesy action movies to know we were about to meet the Big Bad. Sure enough, a man stepped out from behind the line of mutants, a smug grin plastered on his face. 

"You two…" he said, gaze raking over me and Seras. "You've done more damage to my organization than I would have thought possible. And you're both somehow immune to my mutant-dampening collars. How exactly does that work?"

I shrugged, forcing my tone to stay casual. "You think mutants are the biggest threat in the world? Is that why you attacked Xavier's school?" I didn't even wait for him to answer. "Because I've got bad news for you, buddy. Plenty of things go bump in the night. The ones who made you sleep under the covers as a kid, convinced monsters were out to get you… well, two of those monsters are standing right in front of you."

"In other words, we're vampires, dickhead." Seras added.

That obviously got his attention. His nostrils flared, but he looked more intrigued than afraid. "Vampires," he repeated. "Interesting. I had no idea such creatures existed. I'll be sure to dissect you both thoroughly once you're captured." He flicked his wrist, and the X-Men all tensed. "Get them!"

Storm, Wolverine, Magneto, Jean, Scott, and Mystique snapped into action. Seras and I whipped up our guns, but before we could even fire, Magneto raised his hands. I felt a sudden wrenching force, and my beloved revolver tore itself from my grip, hurtling across the room. Seras lost her weapons too, letting out a frustrated snarl.

"I guess we're doing this the hard way…" I muttered as my fingers slowly morphed into claws.

– Kitty –

Kitty was panting hard by the time she got all the kids to the surface. She rarely had to push her powers that hard. 

…And wow—there were a lot of bodies out here. 'What the fuck, guys?!' she thought in disbelief.

"Don't focus on the bodies, kids. Just keep your heads down. Help will be here soon," she told them while pulling out Valerie's phone. She quickly dialed the number Valerie had given her, hoping someone would pick up.

"THE HELL DO YOU WANT, VALERIE?!" a woman shouted from the other end, making Kitty wince as she pulled the phone a few inches away from her ear.

"Uh… I'm not Valerie," Kitty said quickly. "She told me to call this number—there's an emergency. She's currently fighting an evil government in a secret base, like, a mile underground..." She trailed off.

Silence. Then a deep breath from the other side. "Of course she fucking is… Now tell me who the bloody hell you are and what trouble has that girl got herself into this time!?"

XXX

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Here is the list of Current Advanced Chapters:

The Fallen Gamer ch 318-322

The Fox Hole 58

The Blood Queen 35

The Fox Hole 57

Thunder and Black Wings 10

The Fox Hole 56

The Blood Queen 34

The Fox Hole 55

The Fox Hole 54

The Titan 26

The Fox Hole 53