RPG Armageddon: Afterworld

[Inuyasha Fandom]

Chris tapped on the hologram display of his wristband portable computer, not paying much attention around him. He'd come to this abandoned city because he'd heard the University once located here had a vast treasure trove in the form of books in its library. In the chaos of the aftermath of the coming of the rifts almost two centuries ago, libraries had usually been left to decay alone and forgotten. Chris was hoping that the Colorado State University Library would still prove bountiful.

A sound came to his ears, like that of a building collapsing. From his vantage point on the abandoned street, he could see a heavy dust cloud drifting from the west and onto the street. Waiting until the dust settled, Chris made his way to the source of the disturbance. The library could wait.

After walking along the desolate streets and rotting hulks of buildings for about five minutes, he came to a massive civilian complex. The name on the wall surrounding it named the place the "Smile Time Ice Cream Factory." Looking around, he realized the garage of the facility had finally succumbed to age and neglect. He noticed a rusted out hulk of an ice cream truck sitting beside the building, and in the rubble he could spot others. In fact, the only vehicles he saw were ice cream vans in varying stages of decay. Different makes and models littered the area but they all matched with their fading pink polka dots and giant ice cream cones mounted on the tops of them. Some of the decorations had long since fallen from their mounts and lied shattered on the ground.

Then it came to him. There was something else here. Something that was far from human. And whatever it was it wasn't a good entity. Pure, inexplicable evil perferated this entire area.

Looking back down to his wrist computer, it flickered on with a map of the area, and some building schematics for the complex. Whatever was housed within these walls needed to be dealt with, although he hadn't anticipated on this. Smiling slightly, he started working his way to the massive offices building, ever cautious lest he be attacked by something.

"See the invisible. see the intangible." He muttered to himself and closed his eyes for a second. "May it be so."

Opening his eyes, they were changed from the normal hue to bright orange. There was nothing new for him to see. Kicking in the door leading inside, he peered in through the gloom and unsettled dust. The floors were carpeted, but they were heavily mildewed and rotted where leaks had sprung long before. Trudging through the dark hallway, he sighed. "Flashlight." he said, and a small flickering flame appeared before him, illuminating the darkness. Passing multiple rooms filled with wrecked cubicles and decimated furniture, he eventually came to what appeared to be a cafeteria that had the far wall destroyed by an ice cream van ramming through the wall. The damage was recent, judging from the debris. The ice cream truck in the cafeteria had driven through the entire room and smashed through not far from him. It was a rather boxy looking van, with the sides remodeled to serve its products to the local boys and girls in the city. The vehicle was facing away from him, so he couldn't see any real damage caused by the truck ramming through several walls. However, it was in rather good condition, with rust having only just begun to take hold. It was dirty, and speckled with dried red splotches. The tires looked okay, though well worn. The once bright white had yellowed slightly in spots, and the pink polka dots had faded some as well.

What concerned him was the red splotches. He knew that color well. It was dried blood.

[i]So... a killer ice cream truck. You've got to be kidding me.[/i] Chris thought. As if to answer him, the ice cream van suddenly started up. It sounded as if it had multiple blown gaskets, and that it was on its last days. Fortunately, it was now that Chris had arrived.

The killer vehicle slowly rumbled, taking its time to reemerge from the room it had crashed into. The engine revved up as the truck rolled forward. Chris could see now that the front of the truck was covered in dried blood, though undamaged from wrecking through walls. The inside of the truck seemed to glow faintly with an unholy red light.

"Come on then you big lug!" Chris shouted, bracing himself to attack. "Come on! Or are you scared of a little human?"

The engine of the killer vehicle roared as the ice cream truck came barreling at Chris. His mouth parted in a sinister smile as he launched himself into the air, using the hood of the van to help him raise himself above its lethal charge. [i]Wow... it's so cold to the touch...[/i] he thought to himself. Lashing out with his feet, he took the decoration on top of the truck completely off. It smashed to the ground as he landed and then took off through the hall again, heading back to the front of the complex. Seconds later, Chris could hear the ice cream truck rumbling behind him and quickly catching up to him as it picked up speed. Chris threw himself through an open doorway once the ice cream truck was nearly on top of him, a frigid blast of air helping send him further into the room. The ice cream truck screeched to a halt, blocking the hallway to the outside. It began to reverse, the engine getting louder the closer it came. The room he was in had no other exit, and he wasn't going back into the hallway.

"Looks like I'm blasting my way out." he commented to himself. Snapping his fingers, he conjured a small spark which quickly grew into a massive fireball. He launched it at the doorway where the Ice cream truck was trying to push itself through. The fireball blasted through the windshield and exploded inside, lighting it on fire and sending metal shrapnel flying everywhere. Turning around, Chris repeated the same move on the wall and it met much the same fate.

Chris leaped through the hole in the wall and took off running for the ruins of the garage. At least he'd be in the open now, and there was more room to fight. Behind him the killer truck blasted through the wall into the open air, swerving once on the ground to aim itself at Chris. It turned its headlights on, and in the setting sun they glowed a furious red. Thick black smoke poured from the broken windows as the fire raged inside it.

"Regretting that decision to take me on?" he chided while grinning like a madman. The vehicle responded by charging once more. Chris raised his hand, palm out and fingers splayed. "Lightning!" A massive, blinding bolt of electricity blew forth, hitting the truck. It had tried to swerve, but it hadn't been fast enough. It crackled with electricity, though it definitely wasn't out of the fight yet as it turned once more on Chris.

"You know, for a bathtub on wheels, you sure handle shitty." The van revved once more, and then came straight at Chris. He sighed. "I've had about enough of you." Waving his hand and pointing at the van, and massive spikes of earth rose from the ground, at first slowing the truck down and then completely impaling it and raising it into the air. The crunch of metal and the sheering of plastics accompanied the van in its last moments. The wheels spun helplessly as the earthen spikes took it further into the air and wreaked havoc on it slowly destroying the damned thing. Heavy choking black smoke was coming from the grill, and the truck struggled in vain to escape."You're finished. Your days of killing people are over." The accompanying roar from the disabled truck told Chris it was furious, and it was not giving up.

"Incinerate the wicked." Chris turned as the flames began to consume the vehicle, its death throes wild and violent. The wheels blew out, sending burning rubber flying in all directions. The already pitch black smoke coming from the grill increased tremendously as the engine began to sputter between roars. The flames burned hotter and hotter, and higher and higher. Eventually, the truck stopped attempting to escape and seemed to all but accept its fate.The engine sputtered once and then died. The headlights lost their red tinge, dimmed to nothing, and then melted, molten plastic and metal oozing from the hulk of a wreck. Soon, even that was consumed until nothing remained of the ice cream truck serial killer.

"Now that that's been taken care of, on to that library...No more idle threats today." He paused for a second, realizing what he had said. "Heh heh... I said 'idle'." And with that he giggled some more and continued on his way.

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A quiet yet throaty gutteral purr sounded from the ancient squad car as it sat in front of a red light. It was a calm night, and it was rather relieved to find it to be so.

The light changed, and the car continued through the city. Here, people had come together again on the Great Plains. It was nice, and somewhat refreshing from the ruins the vehicle usually drove by. In fact, this was rather a mini-vacation for the car before it headed out west once more. It had recently caught wind of sightings of the major enemy.

Black Death was on the roads again, and this time it seemed to have picked up a male passenger that hadn't wound up dead yet through multiple sightings over the course of the last two months.

A vampire must have made it happy enough to stick around. Or so Grave Justice thought, anyway. But it was going after Black Death once more. This time, the car and whatever ally it had were going to meet with a deadly two for one special as far as Grave Justice was concerned. It visibly trembled slightly thinking of the destruction of the hearse. The car parked outside a local police station, and tuned into the dispatcher in the building. A police car with a working radio wouldn't arouse much suspicion, and the car tended to be overlooked when amongst others of its like.

Black Death it seemed, wasn't to be the topic of conversation. Apparently, someone had been kidnapping children and encasing them in plaster. The car, though silent in its parking space, let off a visible spark shower in anger. Preying on children. How cruel. The car turned its engine over and backed out of its parking space. It roared down the road, heading for the nearest park it had seen advertised on city attraction signs. Where there were the hunted would be where one would find the hunter.

A rather large park only a couple miles away was a nice change of scenery, though the goings on around the park were much more interesting. Performing arts were happening all around, and it was rather amusing for a time to simply drive around and observe for a time.

Grave Justice pulled into a spot near a large playground. Watching the children, the car could feel a sense of disturbing familiarity. Long ago, before the Rifts, it had been on a case similar to this, and the car recalled the imprinted memory as if it were yesterday. The case had no leads, though children were disappearing at an alarming rate. Between twenty and thirty children a day. And so for months, no bodies were discovered until one day a park ranger discovered a mound of bodies belonging to many, many children and a few adult bodies deep in the woods. Hundreds of decomposing bodies. But even though the bodies of all the missing children had been discovered, the disappearances didn't stop. In fact, they increased once the discovery was made public.The case then began taking on a different turn, and one all the more gruesome. Some of the children that had gone missing and hadn't been found at the dump site were found encased in plaster and disguised as statues. Only once the bodies inside had started decomposing and started to smell were they found. In some cases, the statues began to bleed through the plaster. In addition, it seemed now that even the parents were being targeted now. But, the case didn't end there with a capture. Apparently, the company hired to do the sculptures had hired someone in return, and he hadn't provided any information to them. Even the name given was found to be a fake. And so the police were no closer to catching the monster.

It was some time later, and after discovering more body piles around the city, that there was another break in the case. Police arrived at a house located just outside the city to search for some screaming neighbors had heard. In the basement was a large walk in freezer, where the bodies of ten people were discovered. Three women and seven children were in the process of being turned into plaster covered corpses.

In all, over three hundred people were killed by the owner of the house, and killed himself once discovered to be the killer before the police could capture him and force him to pay for his crimes.

This crime before was disturbingly similar to the one now. Even the circumstances. Indeed, more 'statue corpses' had been discovered all over the city. However, the man responsible for those crimes had been dead for centuries, so it was impossible he was responsible for the current crimes.But one thing was for sure. Now that the car knew about it, it couldn't very well leave things as they were. The police were no making no headway on this case by themselves, so it was up to Grave Justice to help them. No one else was.

The vehicle sat in the parking lot until well past dark, biding its time before going on the hunt. The old squad car once again started up, and began a patrol of the area. Whoever or whatever was taking the kids had to have some sort of transportation to take them to where ever they were performing whatever nefarious act upon the children.

Being how the world had changed much since the Rifts, anything could have been behind the disappearances and statues this time around. Maybe a copycat killer? Or just some whackjob. Or even the supernatural might have been responsible. It was hard telling.

A sudden tinge in the air caused the cop car to halt in its tracks. There was something evil lurking within the shadows of the park. Very evil. And it wasn't human. Rolling slowly forward, the car seemed to almost become translucent and then completely disappeared. But a few seconds later, the car had completely silenced itself as well. But it was there, watching. Listening.

Soon, the car stopped altogether in the empty parking lot of the park, feeling the evil presence coming closer. And it wasn't disappointed when a dark figure appeared in the gloom. The vintage vehicle had a positively charged feeling of excitement.

This would be fun, and justice would be served. Edited December 6, 2012 by Inuyasha Fandom

[Darks Anthro]

Vector Alpha was flying at three thousand feet above ground level over Yuma, Colorado. Though normally she would be cruising at 341mph. Vector decided to loiter at a slow speed of 184mph using only the left engine. Yuma was like most of the human cities. Abandoned and forgoten as rubble from collapsed buildings. Yuma's airport lays in ruins. Hangers roofs have caved in from years of rust and gravity. Any plane or vehicle that the Rifts did not revive and given life lays in it's resting spot where it was left. Rusting into a pile of junk. The runway cracked and worn from years of neglect. Vehicles litter the airport's runways. It seems that not all lifeless hulks of man made things came to life. Vector came up with the conclusion that only forgotten or abandoned things came to life. It's been almost a hundred and sixty years since she was brought to life. Since then she's learned how to use her ability to hover in mid air perfectly. She even came up with attack patterns for hover mode.

She's kept a distance from humans. Remembering her life before being alive. Though she has helped out humans before. If it's one thing she can not stand it's the many picking on the few. From other forgotten and abandoned military vehicles she has been upgraded in a sense. From a spy drone lost during a test flght she has learned how to watch visually via camera pods the size of baseballs attatched to the underbelly, top, front, and rear of her body. From a VTOL fighterplane she learned how to control her ability to hover more effeciently. Surprisingly from an armor personal carrier she learned how to detect magic users. Though anything that fires a weapon or magic spells at her is considered hostile and unleashes death by cannon or bombs upon them. Solitary life seemed ideal after being given life at the begining but after so many decades of flying the skies alone. After so long it dragged on her. A question that's plagued humanity since it could think. What's the purpose of life?

As she ponders in the skies above Yuma, CO. Something was pegging her armored body from below. It was small arms fire. More then likely assault rifles and pistols. The camera pod mounted directly underneath in a spot where it could look anywhere below her scanned the area. Using normal visual sight at first. The rubble however was making it difficult to track the gun fire. So she switched to thermal. There where alot of humans and other humanoid creatures below. Nato standard rounds wouldn't even ding her armor as she flies lower. Loitering around 640 feet as she focuses on the one barking orders. It was a large creature and judging by it's massive heat image. It was big. Out of no-where a missile warning popped up and she narrowly dodged it as it passes near the left wing rudders. Flooring her single engine hard till she was a bit ways out before making a reverse turn and heading back towards the gang of thugs. Heavy fire was still being thrown at her but what she was paying attention to was the smoke trail from the missile launcher. It came from a building a few blocks away from the airport.

Appearently it was just a blind shot. They aren't familiar with missile launchers seeing as the person who fired it was trying to reload but is failing. She started to scan in a wide area with her thermal sensors and found a large spike in heat signitures in the nearby school. She flew over and saw kids running into the building. A few of the adults where firing at a building across the way. The same group that attacked her at the airport where attacking kids. She put herself into hover mode above the school and lit the building across the way with 30mm API ((Armor Piercing Incendiary)) cannon ammo. Shell cassings landed ontop of the school roof as the building she was firing at started to collapse. Taking all the lives inside it before taking off back towards the airport. but making a pass at the building that was surely their ammo depot. Three Mavrick missiles ((Air to Ground missiles)) into the decaying building.

The building exlpodes and sinks down into the ground. Ammo exploding caused a large fireball from the rubble as she heads back to the airport. Again she was greeted with small arms fire as she gets close to the ground. Lighting the ground with her cannon in straffs. Anyone caught in the straffs are blown into pink mist before dropping incendiary bombs. What ever remains of the thugs where running away from her while the leader continues to fire with his riffle at her before she started to do her last run. Dropping bomblets from the cluster pods all over the place. Anything left was surely dead before a large pitch black smoke cloud due west towards Denver caught her attention.

With the airport destroyed and the hostiles neutralized she flew off towards the large smoke plume with both engines roaring. Within a few hours she got to Denver or what's left of it. Seems like Denver was decayed more then the city she was in. The heat signature left from what ever caused that large plume of pitch black smoke died off. A few large earth spikes still glowed from the intense heat in the middle of a collasped garage. It was strange. Too strange for her as earth spikes and intense heat aren't "normal" phenomanon. Meaning a powerful spell caster was sure to be close.

Again she circled the skies in search of any living thing to see what happened in the collasped garage. Her thermals came up negative of life around the imediate area. Then on long distance scans a lone heat signature pops up. It was one single person and heading into the town. She decided to hover and stay behind anything that could hide her but still give her good view of this lone person. Maybe it's someone that would peep her intrest. Who knows. She might fire off a warning round to get this person's attention.

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Along a dusty road in the Great Plains drove a armored up pickup truck. The windshield had a slit about 6" wide and was half way between the roof and the hood. All the windows had this slit. The bed had a large lockbox and a small work bench to make ammo and what not. Inside was Liz. Listening to the lastest hard rock songs on the radio. It's been hot summer this year. It's also been a busy summer. mostly she's hired as security for a wide range of things. The world had stabalize somewhat since the rifts and mankind was finally getting back on it's feet. Most of the cities man once lived in where falling back into the earth but some where restored somewhat. Beacons of hope that all living things can live together in peace.... A town was coming up and Liz was eager to hit the local bars for a drink.

"Time to kick back and down a few drinks at this town." She says out loud as her right hand grazed the scare on her face before pulling the hair behind the ear.

She stopped at the gas station though she modified her truck to run off fuel cells to get information. The local gas tended was reading a magazine. The guy was about in his late fourties, slightly overweight, shaggy short black hair, and wasn't a good looker. He was married judging by the ring on his finger but soon as she walked into the station. He'd imediately watch her. Acting like he's reading the paper but she could feel eyes on her.
Unfortunately the outfit Liz was wearing didn't do her any good either. All she had that wasn't torn or dirty was a dark sports bra, short black skirt, and thigh high boots. Normally she wouldn't wear this kind of outfit but with no clean cloths to wear. It's all she had left. She walked over to the coolers and opened the door. Letting the cold air rush against her skin before grabbing a drink. Then walking up to the counter to pay for it.

The clerk scanned it and the price came to two dollars and eighty-six cents. "That'll be $2.86 girl." The clerk said. He was checking her out. She could tell.

"I'm not a girl and yea yea I saw." ~She pulled out three dollars and handed to him. Getting fourteen scents back. "Know any good bars around here?"

His eyes focused on her chest. He licks his lips as he reaches out to grab. She grabbed his hand and twisted it. He screams in pain before yanking his hand back. "What the hell *****? Information like that costs money."
He says rubbing his hand. "And I want something better then money."

She grunted and grabbed her drink before heading towards the door. A few items fell from the counter as the clerk scrambled to stop her. "I don't think so old man. Besides I don't mess around married men anyways"

"Come on! You are dressed like a whore. Don't you want some cash?" He says getting infront of her. This pissed her off even more. Just cause she takes care of her skin, keeps in shape, and is only nineteen doesn't mean she's into sleeping with any thing that pays money. He places a hand on her shoulder before she grabbed his arm by the wrists.

"I told you. I don't think so. I have plently of cash so you can piss off." She used his large heavy body to her advantage and being taller then most. She used her height as well. She pushed him back while yanking on his arm. Her right knee landing on his chest as he lands on the floor with a loud scream of pain. "Bar now! Or I'll break your arm in thirty-seven places."

He screams and sees that she's serious. A glint of fear came into his eyes as she slowly applies pressure on his arm by twisting it. "Ok ok! Don't break my arm for christ sake! Down on Lakers street there's a bar near the town's park. Called Neitherwolds. Just let me go damn it!" Liz gave the arm a jerk before letting it go. Grabbing her drink and looking down at the old man holding his arm.

"Stick to your wife and stop guessing at every girl that comes into your station. Next time it might not be a human being." Liz kicked the guy in the gut before walking out and climbs into her truck.

Driving down main street in the middle of the day she spotted a white cop car. Weird seeing a white one but just drives on by it till a laundry matte. Finally she could get her cloths washed so she parked and grabbed the sacks of dirty cloths and headed inside. Bars wouldn't be open till later in the afternoon so best get some clean cloths. So most of the afternnon and about a hundred dollars in quaters was wasted washing cloths. It was near nightfall when she finally got all her cloths washed but since it was late. The only thing she changed out of was the damn skirt. Putting back on her old style military pants before tossing the sacks of cloths into the back seat of her truck. The bar was only two blocks down and there was no sign saying she can't leave her truck here.

So she grabs an assault rifle, a few grenades, and her trusty desert ealge hand gun before lucking her truck up and walking to the bar. The night went without any more problems though she got drunk by nine pm. She was smashed and decided to leave. She was walking by the park when she spotted that same white cop car. Though the alcohal didn't agree with her stomach and she went face first into a nearby trash can. When she came out of the trash can and wiped her mouth after throwing up. The cop car was gone. She might be seeing things from the booze but she was sure there was a car there a second ago.

Pucking felt good and it made her a little bit more sober. As she stumbles back to her truck she felt this chill. A cold wind running up her back then this warm breath on her neck. She grabbed her handgun and spun around. Holding it with both hands and aiming down the iron sights. Nothing there but she swore there was something behind her. She had this strange feeling ever since she got into town that something was watching her. Not like that creep in the gas station but something sinister like her parents forcing her to do all the chores at home while her older siblings get off scott free because they could use magic. All work when she was a kid at the house was done by her. Even the creepy basement cleaning or the crawl space cleaning.

Liz looked around for a bit. Not a thing or person was outside. It felt so...creepy. A town this big would least have a few night lovers out in the park. but there was absolutely no-one or thing outside. Placing her pistol back into the right thigh holster. She turned around to get back to her truck. The feeling came back again. Feeling even closer, sinsiter. She curses her luck with the creatures and men on this earth. Humans without magic seems to be perfect pray for those that do. Edited December 6, 2012 by dragoonreaper

[Inuyasha Fandom]

Chris heard the steady roar of a familiar sound; The twin engines of a plane. And it was approaching fast from a long distance away.

Unconcerned, Chris continued making his way through the abandoned city. Many of the buildings still stood, dark and silent. In the fading light of the setting sun, Chris gazed down the abandoned street. Unfortunately, the street lights wouldn't be coming on, so he'd be keeping his little Flashlight spell handy.

He noticed that the sound of the plane had stopped growing louder, and looking around he didn't see anything. Around him, to his east, were many tall buildings that still stood, and he suspected that whatever had been coming closer was now observing him. But, it wasn't attacking, so he wasn't too threatened. Looking back to his wrist computer, it flickered to incandescent life. Pressing buttons and using the high tech scanner in it, he sighed. A large aircraft was hovering exactly where he had suspected. The airborne craft didn't seem to be on the assault, though there was no telling what it could do as he wasn't familiar with them, or just what weapons it might have had as he couldn't get a direct lock on it to identify it.

"Whatever." He said to himself and returned to making headway.

An hour later, he'd managed to reach the former University. It stood silently, watching the times pass. Looking around the main entrance, Chris could still hear the plane off in the distance, though he still couldn't see it.

"Overweight stalker..." he muttered, commenting on it to himself. He was content to let it be. More than likely, it wasn't a normal craft or it would have approached him and made contact.

Again relying on his wristband computer, he brought up a map of the university and then began walking across the desolate campus to the main buildings. The library was off on its own, but was absolutely massive. He came upon the front doors, and tried to budge them. Rust had long since fused them together. Trying to shake them open, little flakes of rust flittered to the ground.

"Damn it. I was hoping to avoid this..." Placing his pointer finger on the former crack between the twin metal doors, a brilliant aura appeared around the tip of his finger. Using this light, he began to burn the doors apart, in a sort of reverse wielding job. As he separated the doors, the plane was moving around the library, flying in circles.

"Stalker." he said again. "Hope they don't have a crush on me... they are so not my type." Soon, he was finished with his work and tried the doors again. This time, they creaked open, fighting all the way to keep their reserves of knowledge hidden and protected from the world.

As he entered, the sound of the plane died away and Chris found himself walking through shelf after shelf of books. History, fiction, non-fiction, science books, geography... Chris was having a good day. There weren't any obvious leaks in the roof, and all the books -although yellowed with age- appeared to be in excellent condition.

He brought up his computer again, searching for the back-up power generators that should have been in the building somewhere. A beep and a blueprint of the building popped up on the screen. A flashing red dot signaled where he needed to go. The dark hallways would be so much nicer if he could start up those generators. Even then, it wasn't a guaruntee that the lights would work again, or that they wouldn't blow out once the electricity was flowing again. Either way, he was going to try. The structural integrity of the building wasn't compromised, so he shouldn't have to worry about a potential fire, either.

Reaching his goal, he positioned his hands along side one another, almost as if he was praying. A crackle of blue colored electricity shifted around his hands, and he slowly separated them, the electricity growing in intensity. He removed one of his hands from the position, and slowly reached to touch the cold metal of the generator.

With the generator suddenly surging with power for the first time in a century, the building suddenly hummed with power. Ancient lights flickered, and grew from a dull shine to a light bright enough to read by. Some lights continued to flicker, while others remained dark.

"So much better." Chris remarked.

Heading back to the library proper, he rummaged around for anything he might have found a use for. Unfortunately, the geological maps were about the only thing he found a use for. Setting them down one by one on a long wooden table, he lifted his wrist to them. "Scan. Reference. Complete and enhance existing maps."

There was a dull vibration as a green scanner bar appeared on the table, and Chris began to sweep over the maps, the computer doing exactly as he had asked. Once finished, he headed over to the fiction section. He found a book series about dragons and magic dating back to before Magic had returned to this world. Still, they looked like a good read.

Chis, now finished with his task and feeling quite happy with himself, began to walk back outside. In all, his little excursion had only taken him about half an hour. On exiting the building, he turned around and blew a kiss back into the building. All power slowly dissipated, returning the building to its dark and dormant state to guard over its knowledge. Unfortunately for the library, Chris was probably going to be the only visitor for a long time to come.

A sudden blast rocked the ground not ten feet away from him, surprising him. He rolled away and raised his hand to defend himself, his hand alight with a golden flame.

It seemed the plane had been waiting for him to come out.

"Who goes there?" Chris demanded, ready to attack. However, the plane didn't attack, nor did it make any other motions other than hovering in place. Looking through the windshield, he could see no one at the helm. The flames around his hand died as he lowered it to his side. It didn't appear that the plane was hostile, though perhaps it was just trying to get his attention. He observed it for a few more seconds before speaking again.

"You know, if you're wanting to make new friends, shooting at them isn't usually the way to go about it." Crossing his arms, and smiling a little, he looked on at the plane. He wasn't familiar with its type at all, and he wasn't sure what exactly it wanted. If it was trying to be friendly, he'd return the courtesy.

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid I don't speak 'plane' so I'm curious as to any other means of communication you might have..."

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The car had paid little attention the well armed female, though her puking into a nearby trash can was moderately humorous. The shadow didn't seem like it was all that enthralled by the drunk woman, but it was watching as she climbed into her armored pick-up. The figure disappeared in a wisp of smoke, though the evil presence didn't leave. It was still around.

The woman cranked her old truck over, and pulled away from the curb. Grave Justice felt the presence growing in intensity. Another engine cranked over, and a rusted out Winnibego pulled out of the alleyway where the figure had been. It was in terrible condition, as rust had completely destroy sections in its lower panels. It sounded horrible, like the thing should have been junked long ago and it was a strange event for the Winnibego to even be capable of moving. It shook violently just rolling along. In the driver's seat was a definitely male figure, with eyes as black as coal and even blacker intentions.

This woman had been chosen as the next victim. As the ruined monstrosity of a vehicle rumbled past the invisible squad car, the car began pursuit. Silent, unseen, and contemplating what to do. It had the element of surprise, but the monster in front of it was probably being controlled by its driver and was far from normal. Grave justice noted the sickly green wisps coming from the Winnibego's exhaust. Unfortunately, the windows had all been blacked out so the car couldn't see inside.

Stopping at another red light, the Winnibego seemed content to bide its time, and the woman seemed none the wiser as to just what was behind her.

Grave Justice was hesitant to begin attacking with the woman around, and it didn't want to put her in danger. The light changed and the woman continued on her way with the monster vehicle behind her as well as the invisible squad car. The woman drove on, until the Winnibego saw its chance to strike. It revved its ruined engine and began pulling forward. It over took the truck surprisingly easily, and then pulled in front of it. The woman honked her horn, visibly angry at the obstruction.

Now was the time. Becoming fully visible once more, Grave Justice began to flash its lights and sound the siren. It was ready. The ancient RV gunned the engine, and sounded like it was wrecking itself. But the RV kept going, unwilling to let its unnatural existence end. The Winnibego swerved into the opposite lane and slammed on its brakes. The cop car rammed into the back end, sending metal sheeting, broken glass, and dry rotted wood raining down onto the blacktop. Once the back of the RV was destroyed, the car could see clearly into the vehicle. The entire backside of the vehicle was a refridgeration unit. Large buckets of unused plaster littered the floor, as well as sculpting utensils. Unfortunately, the RV was also piled high with corpses. Men, women, and children.

The woman in her truck had dropped back, allowing the squad car to run up along side the abomination. She seemed content for the moment to watch the highway battle.The car's light bar lit up with crackling energy, before the cop car began to blast the RV over and over.

Unwilling to concede, the RV rammed the squad car away, sending it into the cornfields. But in seconds it was back on the road and returning a devastating blow. With a loud roar, the car skipped over the ditch and flew up into the air, slamming through the side of the RV and out the other. The killer swerved wildly, nearly losing control. Bodies fell out and flopped on the road, being quickly left behind. But the RV kept its course and managed to stay on the road. After regaining control completely, it began to speed up, the old engine sounding like it couldn't take the stress.

The car had to do something to end this fight, but it wasn't going to be easy.

The RV began to shimmer with the same sickly green emitted from the exhaust pipe. The ruined hulk began to let loose, sending acidic blobs raining down on the squad car. The paint fizzed and then the metal underneath began to hiss and smoke as it was dissolved. The police car began sending blast after blast of electricity into the RV. On and on the two raged war, destroying portions of one another. The squad car then rammed the RV again, this time aiming for the wheels. A ripping of metal sounded and the police car back off to the other side of the road, its front fender completely ruined. However, the RV was not so fortunate. The wheel bounced down the highway, and the RV let off a shower of white hot metal shavings as the front driver's side hit the pavement. It carreened off the road and into the ditch with a horrific grinding and crunching of metal. The RV was now immobilized, try as it might to escape.

Flames flickered under the hood of the squad car as it unleashed a pillar of fire at the demon RV. The smells of diesel fuel and burning corpses drifted on the air as the RV was burnt to a rotting hulk. The gas tank of the RV exploded, sending flames roaring everywhere. In the smoke, a demonic visage appeared, and it screamed in defeat and was dispersed to the winds. The remains of the RV crumbled to nothing but a smouldering wreck and the deed was done.

The squad car backed away, though was blocked by the woman in her truck. The squad car rolled to the side of the road and began to regenerate the damage inflicted on it. It would take a day or two to fully repair itself, but for now it was at least capable of being mobile. The squad car sat there, contemplating what to do with the woman who hadn't yet left the scene. It shut itself down, wondering what the woman would do. In a display of friendliness, the car popped the trunk open and the trunk lid swung up with a slight creaking noise. If the woman approached, she would find what appeared to be a normal trunk with a box of Bavarian creme filled donuts sitting inside, as well as some bottles of cola and a nice styrofoam container with a roast beef and cheddar cheese sandwich and some potato chips. It was the least the car could do to be comforting, considering what had just happened.

[Darks Anthro]

Liz groaned climbing into her truck. That creepy feeling went away as she closed the door. Liz reached over to her right and grabs some sanitary napkins and cleans her face from the splattered puke and garbage juices. The locals where sure as hell light weights. Reaching into one of her large cargo pockets. Liz pulled a large roll of mixed labeled bills. Mostly tens and fifties from the drinking game which she won. A nineteen year old girl beat five older men in a drinking game. Though she had a forged ID to get into bars and to get drinks but still. She tossed the large roll of money into the center console before starting up her truck. The engine cranked and whinned before getting up to idle rpms.

Liz was considering just pulling the truck into an alleyway or a public area like a 24/7 store to just sleep the booze off but she just had this uneasy feeling since driving into this town. It would be best to get the hell out of this town. It's too perfectly quiet for her taste so she put her truck in reverse and pulled away from the curb. Her truck was a bit loud seeing as she retrofited an ancient v12 desiel engine to work with fuel cells instead of desiel. Even with her loud engine, she could hear another vehicle start up. It's engine has long been past it's life. The cylinders where missing completely and the strain on it was obvious.

Liz wasn't too happy hearing that kind of noise especially since she had that really creepy neck breathing feeling a few moments ago so she locked her doors. Liz flipped on the review camera that overwatched the bed and sees this hulking junk struggling to stay behind her truck. The windows where completely blacked out and the only area not blacked out was the driver side window and windshield. The figure was sure giving her the creeps even from just the camera feed. Liz stopped at a red light as the hulk did as well. Every turn she made that hulk followed. After two red lights and four turns. It was for sure that thing was following her.

The light changed and Liz started to drive foreward again. Soon as Liz started to gain speed on the open straight road due west out of town. That hulk of a vehicle's engine screams as the thing over took her truck. She hammered on her horn. Honking at the winnibego as it starts to slow down. This was the last straw. She couldn't even have one night free from psycopathic thing. As the winnibego slowed down. She pushed her truck faster and slams the grill guard into the back of the winnibego. The light metal skin of the hulk crumpled and got pushed inwards towards the cabin. She looked in the review camera again and sees that same old cop car tailing her.

Has it been following her the whole time or was it tailing this piece of junk that tried to cut her off? The cop car started to flash it's lights and use it's siren. Liz slammed on her brakes. Pulling away from the winnibego as it gunned it's engine. Then the winnibego swerved into the opposite lane and slammed on it's brakes. The cop car slams into the back of the winnibego. As the cop car slams into the already weakened rear end of the winnibego. The back shatters from the inpact. Liz was a bit farther back as pieces of glass and rotted wood hit her truck. The glass shatters as the wood splinteres off and the metal just dings of the 4" thick armor plating that makes up the skin of her truck.

Liz had to dodge all the corpses of men, women, and the poor children that fell out of it. Then it dawned on her. That thing was after her since she got into town. Maybe it got tired of the local flavor and wanted a new taste. She was unique to the town so it made since to attack her. She's a stranger just passing threw town and wouldn't be missed.
Liz watched as the cop car comming up beside the rv before the car's siren bar builds up energy. The car stricks the RV repeatedly with electricity before the rv slammed the car off the road and into a cornfield.

Soon as the car was forced into the cornfield. Liz slammed on the gass and rams into the back of the rv. Preventing it from slowing down while forcing it to speed up.
The car that was forced into the cornfield came roaring back. Using the ditch as a ramp. It launched itself into the side of the RV and out the other end. The rv swerves around on the road wildly. Bodies falling out of it's passenger compartment and rolling all over the dark pavement. Somehow after all the damage the rv has taken. It manages to regain traction and picks up speed again. The engine of the killer rv was burning. It was at even magic's limits as the road battle continues.

The rv glowed green as Liz cursed at it. Gripping the steering wheel hard as it starts to throw off green blobs of goo. Liz was far enough back to dodge the blobs easily but the cop car got hit a few times. Liz could see smoke rising off the car as the green goo was eating at it. The two went on and on. The rv slinging the acid blobs and the car ramming and firing off electric bolts. The cop car took serious damage to the front end but was still operational. The rv on the otherhand wasn't so lucky. It's front left wheel was rolling and bouncing away while white hot sparks of metal from it's rotar took it's place. Without it's control, it carrens off into the ditch. The crunching and grinding of the rv echoed in the empty air.

The cop car started to unleash a long pillar of flames at the rv. Liz pulled up beside the cop car and got out. Walking behind her truck and climbs into the bed. Opening up a lock box and pulling out a bazooka. The rv was engulfed in flames before it Liz launched her bazooka at the wreck. Just before her weapon impacted. A demonic visage appeared before it disappeared. Sending the rest of the wreck into dust. She reloaded the bazooka before setting back in it's lock box. It wasn't till the cop car rolled off to the side that Liz notice she was blocking the car's reverse path. The car was self-repairing but the amount of damage taken. It would take a while and in it's weakened state. It would deffently need protection. So Liz walked over to the car. Of course she would hold her trusty side arm to investigate the car's opening trunk lid.

The doughnuts didn't interest her nor did the sandwhiches. Though she did take a few sodas and the bag of chips. She walked around to look inside the driver seat to see an old fashin cb radio. Though it didn't seem to be working like the rest of the stuff on the car so she opened the door and climbed inside. She took out her multi-tool knife and popped it open. It looked to be just in need of some maintance. Soon it hummed to life. She sat in the cop car just checking everything to do some repairs.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vector Alpha finally reached Denver just as night was starting to fall. It was good for her since her paint job helped her blend into the night sky. Denver was dorment. No power what so ever. So with almost complete darkness. Vector switched over to night vision. It also helped her track the only light source made by the lone figure walking threw the decaying ruins of Denver. She also cut her engines down to minimal power and shut down one. Loitering around in hover mode would make her almost undetectable until it was too late.

There where a few standing buildings the quakes didn't take down and was a perfect place to observe. Vector was observing the person via visual sight. She noticed someting odd. Her old ground proximity warning popped up for a moment before setting back down. She was scanned by the intensity. If it was strong enough to trigger the GPW. It must be something high tech. Vector kept her distance though. Everytime he moved, she moved too. Vector keeps seeing her GPW pop up once in a while. This person keeps scanning but appearently couldn't get a lock on her. Good for her she guessed.

An hour later, the stranger made it Denver University. The campus was in ruins. Most of the buildings where falling apart or was not able to support more weight. Vector moved in as close as possible to pick up audio tones. She picked up his words: "Overweight stalker..." That kind of comment ticked her off. She couldn't help it if she was a multi-ton kill death machine. She loitered around the campus.

She watched as the person now comfirmed as male blast the rusted metal doors by reverse weilding them. Again he comments about her being a stalker then groans.

"I'm no stalker human. Even if I was. I wouldn't be stalking you." Vector says watching him enter the library.

The entire bulding started to glow. The silent hum of an emergancy generator echoed in the still air. She switched from night vision to thermal. The thermal penetrated the building and she keeps an eye on the him. He seems to be looking at books and maps. A small thermal blimp occurs near him so he must scanning things. It only took him about a half hour. The guy blew a kiss at the building as it died back into it's eternal slumber.

Soon as he came out. She fired a rocket near him. She took pride she managed to get rouse out of him as he rolls away and gets back up into a defensive stance. His hand glowing with golden fire. She hears him ask: "Who goes there?" as she just hovered in place. He obviously spotted her empty cockpit with glowed with green light from the displays inside.

She extended her landing gear before settling down on the campus lawn. Her front wheel strut light popped on though she dimmed it down so it wouldn't blind him nor impare his vision. She could tell he was having a hard time trying to pin her make and model down. The barely visable nose cone art smirked a little bit as he says he doesn't speak plane.

"The name is Alpha. Vector Alpha. I'm a Fairchild Republic A-10C Thunderchild II. I'm a relic from centuries past." She says over a loud speaker. "And if you have a radio. Tune to channel Beta-Delta-Echo Niner Niner Five and go for secure. Oh if I wanted that rocket to land closer. I'd be happy to launch another one." Vector laughed. A slight evil in her tone that was mostly a feminest computer voice.

She waited to see if he had a radio and got on her secure line. This human peeped her interest and she wanted to find out what the smoke was all about anyways. Who better to ask then the lone human in a decaying city?

[Inuyasha Fandom]

"Wow. Aren't you showing some love to this old gal."

"Wha-d-OW!" Was the woman's reply as she hit her head in surprise.

"Oh. My apologies. I didn't intend for that to happen." The woman's voice crackled again over the radio. "Thanks for the interest in me."

"Yeah... apology accepted. ****, this hurts."

"Well, It's still nice to meet you. I'm Justine. Justine Graves. I suppose people are calling me 'grave justice or some such. Not a bad nickname, if I do say so myself. And you, ma'am?" Liz smiled in response. "Liz. You got a nice car here. A bit worse for wear, but nice none the less."

"Thank you. I rather like the behemouth you're driving. Much tougher than most. Like it should be."

"I'm sure it would appreciate that. And me, too, for that matter." Liz smiled, still rubbing her head and sitting up on the seat. "So, why are you on the road?" the car asked. Liz shrugged. "Wandering."

"Really." The car paused, thinking for a second."I suppose as well. Though, I suppose I like to kill bad things too much too stick around one place for too long."

"That, amigo, we can agree on. I suppose I should thank you for saving my life. Thank you. Nice trick with that ditch, by the way."

"You handled things pretty good yourself. I loved the rocket launcher." The car laughed. After a second of silence it spoke again. "Want to go kill something with me?" It suddenly asked exuberantly.

Liz cocked her head, perplexed at the sudden excitedness in the rather dark question. "That depends. What are we killing?"

"A killer hearse." The car responded, anger seeping into her voice. "That bastard has gotten away from me too many times. It likes to prey on humans. And it's been seen again. I'm going to end that son of a ***** once and for all. I could use some help from another vehicle."

Liz looked at the roof, allowing her head to tip back. "Well, I suppose I can get food out of the deal, and I do like something far from boring to do with my time. And it'll be my good deed for the year. Sure. I'll help."

"That's good. I should tell you, you'd be amazed at the selection of food I can make."

"Good to know. So, where are you headed?"

"West. Specifically, the former state of New Mexico. I can handle the gasoline for you." Liz blinked in shock. "Wow. Not needed thanks to modifications, but thanks. Now, What can't you do?"

"Lemon custard. It's always burnt."


----------------------------

Chris made his way to the plane, taking in the sight of the old relic. The plane was fascinating. Not to mention... it was a plane! The visible facial expressions on the nose of the plane was intriging as well. "No needed to show me, I'll take your word for it. My given name is Chris. Do you mind? It's my refresher time for my persisted spells. Do you mind waiting about five minutes?"

"If you can answer a question. All of the smoke. What was responsible for it?"

Chris smiled. "If you'll wait I'll tell you all about that. I'll even give you a start for it. It was a vehicle, a pre-rifts relic much like yourself that was the cause." The plane was silent for a few seconds. "I approve of your plan to wait. Five minutes, correct?"

"Yes. I've timed myself before, so I've known what my best time was." Chris walked fifty feet from the plane, and he could feel it watching him. He closed his eyes, and held his hands out. Appearing next to his outstretched right hand was a glowing, shimmering hour glass. From his left came a multi-hued mist, shimmering and flowing into the hourglass and changing the sand. Once the sand had filled the bottom, the hourglass turned, and began to tick away the hours. "There we go. Remembering all the energies required for that at the same time is so much easier now that the school has trained me some."

"That was thirty seconds." the plane retorted. "Is there more?"

"Of course." Chris smiled again, and turned back to concentrate. Spinning in place, a shimmering, twinkling mist-like force began to form from a clear circle at his feet. Lines began to appear below him, and he floated gently in the air above the swirling mass of golden glowing lines. An emblazoned sun symbol counterbalanced an equally ornate moon, and then it all faded and he returned to the ground.

His next ritual involved him turning back to the plane."Do you mind me studying you for one minute? As long as we're together, it couldn't hurt things for me to better understand some of the energies of you to better help you however brief our time might be. I can promise I'm good enough to limit myself as to just how deep I go. If you're opposed, then I'm done early. I'll still tell you what you want to know."

The plane was silent for a few seconds, considering things. "Fine. Do as you wish, human."

"I am Chris. Keep calling me human, and I'll come up with a nickname for you."

The plane smirked. "I'm sure you have one in mind already. I'll be sure to keep [i]that[/i] in mind. I overheard your lovely comments."

"Well, you were watching me. What do stalkers do? They watch. I'll admit, up close and personal so to speak I'm rather liking you."

"And I you." The plane responded.

Chris looked on at the plane, his palm outstretched now, aimed at the plane. He closed his eyes, and he concentrated. As he opened them, his eyes were again bright orange. To him, he could see the tangible energies of the plane, looking like wisps of fog rolling off of it and fading off.

As he concentrated, he could feel the planes various systems functioning, and the energies animating it as well. Then, he felt the plane as a whole. Even at rest, it was still a faintly glowing entity to him now to his enhanced sight.

"Let's see here... Magical enhancements... that's good." Chris went a further in the direction he wanted, to its abilities, not it's 'personal space' in the craft.He didn't want to go into its past, or into any personal things. That was none of his business, and the plane could speak of such things if it wished. Suddenly, the plane felt Chris grazing gently at it's mind, though never venturing further than the surface, that of the body. Information leaked into it, but was not taken from it.

"Your spells... To defend yourself over time. I know what you did. Interesting.""

"A side effect." Chris replied with a faint smile.

"I know exactly what you're doing now. I can read your thoughts. You knew this would happen should you be allowed this opportunity."

"You have a problem with me continuing?" Chris hesitated in his probe into the plane. He looked at the eye of the nose art. "I will stop at any time."

"I find this all very intriging, and I know exactly what you are doing and why. I do not take issue.. And I thank you for your respect. Will this persist with us?"

"No. Once this spell is done, then it is over. I will, however, be able to have a complete lock on you with my HandyGadget." Chris's bracelet glittered in the faint light. "And any effect I might be able to bestow on your weapons thanks to this little lesson in history with you might make things more fun in the near future." A nasty smile flittered across his lips and his eyes narrowed.

The magic allowing the mental bond between the two caused the known effect in place. The plane's eye widened with surprise at the surprisingly grotesque and numerous (and disturbing) new ways Chris could help it kill. As Chris stared at the plane and let the plane see the things he could do, he could feel it becoming more and more excited at a prolonged partnership. It's mouth turned more more into a smile. Chris's fantasies were surprisingly creative and detailed. And very, very dark by most people's terms. With a giddy undertone. Paired with impressive leaked memories of similar events in the past with artillery. Pirahna machine gun bullets were a particular favorite of Chris's. Unfortunately, Chris had some rather awkward thoughts, like rubber chickens having been implored in some completely legitimate designs.

The spell ended, with small webs of pure magical energy which the plane could disperse at any time of it's own will, The didn't interfere, they were just a connection to the weapons and then connected to the pilot seat. Even those with magical powers would be hard pressed to see them.To have any effect at all on them, he had to sit in the seat.

"Good to know you can't ever do that again." The plane said once he was finished. "Repulsive energies and such operating at accustomed opposite wavelengths." The plane seemed to enjoy this time with its present company. "You fascinate me. I think we shall get along fine. And the answer is 'No,' to your question." The plane watched as Chris climbed up to it and into the cockpit. "These temporary energies are easily sustainable, and do not make me uncomfortable in any sense."

"Good." Chris looked around the cockpit. "So. Because you don't yet know where I'd like to go, I'll tell you. And why, if you're interested."

"Speak. I shall ready for departure. We'll leave on your word once I'm finished."

The plane began firing up, and Chris spoke. "Well, we're headed to the south western part of the United States, to New Mexico." Chris was silent for a second. The plane caught quickly and spoke. "Because there's something to destroy there."

"Yes." Chris was silent some more, and removed a small item from one of his many pockets. In his hand was a half burnt photo of a man and a woman with an infant child. Thankfully, only a small corner of the picture was burned, the lower left. The man was dressed in a wide brimmed hat with a shiny 'Sheriff' badge.

"What we destroy is related to those people?"

"Yes, yes it is." Chris said darkly. "This was my mother and father a few days after I was born." Chris looked at his parents smiled, but then he sighed. "I've heard that an organization associated with the entire destruction of the town has surfaced there. Some fuckers called the Coalition. Apparently, it's their synonym for brothers in crime."

"What exactly happened?" The plane asked. Chris shrugged. "Genocide. They like to do that a lot."

"Well. I suppose we can do something about that."

Chris smiled. "This should be fun."

The plane had a smug tone as it spoke next. "Now, about that smoke..." Edited December 14, 2012 by Inuyasha Fandom

[Darks Anthro]

Liz was focused on fixing the old radio. Reattatching a few broken or loose wires. Some old tubes that got bent out of shape and replaced a few fuses as well before the CB radio hummed to life.

Liz was proud of herself for fixing the old CB radio without any spare parts to be seen. As Liz started to climb out of the old cop car. The CB radio changed from a static hiss to a female voice.

 

"Well aren't you showing some love to this old gal." The voice boomed from the dashboard mounted speaker hooked into the CB radio.

 

This caused Liz to jump up from the surprised voice coming from the radio. Banging her head against the drive side door frame. Cursing loudly from the head trama before sitting back down in the care.

 

"Least I could do considering you fought that unnatural RV more then me." Liz says rubbing where she hit her head. "Fuck this fucking hurts."

 

"It's nice to meet you. My name is Justin Graves." The car introduced it's self to Liz. "I suppose people care calling me Grave Justice or something of that nature. Not a bad nickname if I do say so myself. And what's your name Ma'am?"

 

Liz gave off a smile then responded. "Name's Liz. Most call me Liz the Destroyer count on of my truck." Liz pointed at her tank-like truck. "Your a nice car Justine. A bit worse for wear but in far better condition then the cars I find in junkyards."

 

"Thank you and I do like your truck. It's a behemouth of a truck. Looks very tough." Justine chirps back. Liz decides to adjust the CB radio to find the correct frequency of Justine's voice so it's not staticy and choppy.

 

"I'm sure my truck would appreaciate that if it was alive Justine. And thanks. I put most of my early life on the road into him. He's the toughest, most durable tank reborn as truck on the road. I doubt that RV could of ran me off the road. He weighs 18 tons alone." Liz laughs before wencing and rubbing the back of her head. "That's going to sting for a while.

 

"So Liz. Why are you on the road?" Justine asks.

 

Liz only shrugged and said only one word as a reply. "Wondering."

 

"Really?" Justine asks. A long pause occured between the two before Justine spoke again. "I supose I am as well. I like to kill bad things too much to get bogged down from place to place."

 

"That I can agree on Justine. Though it's not the killing of bad and/or evil things that keeps me from getting bogged down in one place and I don't feel comfortable talking about to a car right now. Nice trick with the ditch Justine. That rv didn't see it coming." Liz says trying to change the subject.

 

"Thanks Liz though you handled yourself pretty good. That bit with the rocket launcher was particularly entertaining." Justine laughs then goes silent for a moment. "Want to go kill something with me?"

 

The sudden question caught Liz offguard and nearly hit her head again. "Well that all depends Justine. If it's another stalker rv filled to the brimm of dead people and I'm the bait. I don't think so. I got enough of the being live bait bit over with." Liz laughs at her reply.

 

"A hearse that's been killing humans like prey." Justine's voice had anger seeping into the tone. "The bastard has gotten away from me too many times and it's been spotted once more. I'm going to end that son of a bitch this time and I could use some help from another vehicle....erm.."

 

Liz crossed her arms as Justine calls her a vehicle. Liz leans back in the driver's seat to look at the old tacky roof padding. "I don't really need food seeing as I got enough MRE's to last me a year though I could use some water to refill my water tanks. Getting kind of low and finding a pure water pond or distributer is getting to be a pain in the ass. Besides it would help me by giving me something to do. Not much out west for me. Eh why the hell not."

 

"That's good and I should tell you." Justine says. Liz's curiosity peeps in to listen to the rest of the sentence. "You'll be amazed with the selection of food I can make."

 

Liz shrugged and stretched out. "That's good to know when I get tired of the taste of MRE's. So where are you heading exactly?" Liz says pulling out a large fold out map of the USA.

 

"Out West, but to be more specific to the former state of New Mexico." Liz was checking the roads from where they are at to New Mexico. Marking the old capital as the end point. "I can handle the gas or desiel for you."

 

Liz blinked for a second but shook her head in a no fashion. "Those are very complex hydrocarbons and very volitial liquids Justine. Best not to make them anyways. I've gotten my hands on a few fuel cells and thanks to my modification of my truck's V12 engine. Don't have to use old fuel types ever again. Ok so far you say you can clone food now fuel for combustion engines. Now the question is. What can't you do?" Liz smirked.

 

"Lemon custard always comes out burnt." Justine replies as Liz bursts out laughing.

 

"Well that's interesting but Justine. Your in bad shape and by the look of your body. I say you can barely reach road speeds of 47mph as you are. There's a junkyard I've been traviling too for spare parts about a two to three hour drive are your current road speed that would be perfect for a pit stop. I can fix you up better then new." Liz says flexing her right arm while her left hand covers her right bicep.

 

"By fix me up. What do you mean exactly?" Justine asks cautiously.

 

"You know. Engine tuning, some rewiring of things, upgrades to the engine and powertrain and suspension." Liz counted her fingers real quick. "Exhaust could be checked and new tires would help along with replacing the old drumb breaks with state of the art breaks. Not to mention replacing the old gear and transmission with military grade would help dramtically. If we make it there by lets say noon. I could have you souped up by the following morning. You'll look the same on the outside but on the inside. You'd feel like a whole new car." Liz says getting a little excited to a possible heavy work ahead in repairing and upgrading Justine. "I'll let you decide Justin."

 

Liz would let Justine think about this as she runs plans in her head about what could be replaced with stronger tougher military parts.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Vector kept a close eye on the human as he approached her. Seeing his face in fascination of her. The human tookhis time looking at her nose art which emulated mouth expressions.

 

"No need to show me. I believe you." The human says abruptly in reply to her comment about firing another rocket at him. "My name is Chris and do you mind to wait for five minutes?" Vector's nose art frowned at the request as the human called Chris explains. "It's time for me to refresh my persisted spells."

 

Vector answered back. "Only if you answer my question. The smoke during the day that caught my sensors. What was responsible for the massive pitch black smoke cloud?"

 

"Well if you'd have a little patience. I'll tell you. Hint it was a pre-rift vehicle like yourself that was the cause and the effect." Chris says. Vector is used to getting answers fast but he wants her to wait. Close to him where he could strike at her and she couldn't return fire without taking off to get a line of sight with her cannon. Worst comes to worse. She could always start to take off before using her hover ability to clear the decaying buildings. "Your request for five minutes is granted. You have T-minus 4 minutes and 59 seconds left."

 

Chris walked 50 feet infront of her as he talks. "Yes I've timed myself before so I know what my best time is." The human made the mistake of standing infront of her. She no longer needed to take off in order to get a bead on him. He was standing right infront of the 30mm vulcan cannon gun. Chris held out his hands as he closes his eyes. Obviously performing his magic as the lights coming from Vector's landing gears and running lights started to show the fog starting to roll in from his left side. Whatever the human is doing was just a light show for her. The mist soon filled the hour glass. Charging the sand up before it tipped over and started to drop the grains of sand into the empty bottom. "There we go. That's much easier now that I've got a little schooling under my belt." Chris says.

 

"That took thirty-five seconds." Vector says bored like. "Is there more or is that all humans can do?" Vector says retortedly.

 

"Of course there's more." Chris says smiling again. Turning back to concentrate before starting to spin in place. The mist reappearing to form a cirlce at his feet. All this light was pretty but to Vector. It was a waste of time and effort to put on a razzale dazzale performence. Especially with all the creatures hungry for human flesh. Once the performence was done and Chris returning to the ground. Chris turns to her. "Do you mind me studying you for one minute? Long as we are traveling together, it wouldn't hurt any of us for me to better understand the energies that bind you to this world. I promise not to go into places that aren't ment to go. If your not going for the idea then that's all I need to do. Still will tell you about the smoke though."

 

Vector kept silent for a few seconds to analyze things. "Fine but don't go too deep. Just a light look at my systems and that's all. If you start to dig into my black box. You'll be a disgusting pile of human flesh and bone. Or what's left of it after a few hundred 30mm rounds pass threw you human."

 

"My name is Chris. Keep claling me human and I'll come up with a nickname for you." Chris says though he's already came up with a nickname for her. The overweight stalker he said a few hours ago.

 

"I'm sure you've already gave me a nickname human. I've overheard your lovely comments about me being overweight." Vector says with a slight anger hinted.

 

"Well you where stalking me. That's what stalkers do. Though I'll admit. Being up close and personal. I'm rather liking you." Chris says as Vector smirked.

 

"So far you've peeped my interest Chris so I like you but don't count on me liking you to the point where I let you take me apart for research." Vector laughed a little.

 

Chris closed his eyes then stretched his palm out towards her before concentrating. The strain is evident from the blood vessels tensing up before opening his eyes. Which are glowing bright orange. In her powered down standby mode. Her power level was very low so he wouldn't see the amount of magical energy flowing around the steel armor plating of her body. His concentration improved as more of her vital functions began to manifest itself in Chris's enhanced sight. Though to Chris, her entire body was a complex and highly orginized transfer of energy from the power houses of her engines to all over the various systems in her body. Most of the standby power was going towards the cockpit monitors and the lights over her body. From his expression on the human's face. He was still having a hard time seeing anything else besides the dimn glow of her magical powers that keeps her alive.

 

"Hmm....lets see...magical enhancements...that's good..." Chris says as he dives deeper into her magical blue-print so to say. Looking into her abilities which wheren't that much. Vector never really needed to have a ton of a bilities. The ability to hover was more then enough for her. Vector felt a chill as Chris grazed her mind. She responded by spinning her cannon up slowly till the main barrel was making one revolution every fourty-five seconds. Though she could also peek into his mind. Turn about was fair play in her books so she took a peek into his mind.

 

"I see you developed your spells into defensive types but you also have agressive forms as well. Clever." Vector says. "Seems this dive can work both ways human."

 

"A side effect." Chris says with a faint smile.

 

"You've planned this haven't you? Reading my mind but at the same time allowing your own mind to be read." Vector says in a sort of smart tone.

 

"Got a problem with me continuing?" Chris says as his mental probing stops. Vector could tell he's staring at the nose art. "I'll stop anytime."

 

"This still intriges me plus knowing what your are doing and why puts me less on edge. Just don't go any further into my mind or you'll end up with memories you'll have burned into your brain forever." Vector's tone was dead serious this time. "So will this continue even after your done with your refresher spell thingy?"

 

"No, once the spell is over then this is over. Though I will be able to get a complete lock on you with my handygadget." Chris's bracelet glitteres a little as he sast handygadget. "Also any effect I might be able to bestow on your weapns thanks to his little history leason might make things more fun in the near future." Chris had a nasty little smile across his lips while his eyes narrow.

 

Vector didn't like the images of the grotesque, numerous new ways Chris could 'help' her kill was utterly barberic. Her main weapon, the vulcan cannon, span up to full power as well as her engines. If it wasn't the strong picking on the weak that pissed her off. It was the way humans always think of ways to off themselves or others. Chris stared at her while he lets her see the things he could do. However he is feeling about a prolonged partnership, dispite his mouth going from a filthy smile to a normal smile, was not settling well with the human's thoughts on how he could help her kill others. Though the leaked memories of experience with artillery was a slight insightful. The MG was completely useless to her seeing as the ammo type would never be compatable with hers. The rubber chicken part made her laugh though cause she thought it would be funny to drop a JDAM in the middle of a crowded area so it can shoot rubber chickens all over the place.

 

Now it was her turn to show how helpful she could be at killing things. She used the battle from when she was first revived nearly two centuries ago as an example. No body was left recognizalbe. Either completely shredded from the cannon or blown to bits by her AGMs or Bomblet launchers or left completely chared by the incenderary bombs. Any building they attemped to hide in was destroyed by JDAMs and dumb bombs. Then shows examples from her two century plus life on the earth. Though his fantasies are well thought out and detailed. Her's where more like day dreams of returning to her mission of taking out America's enemies and of Dash. A more simpler time for her then the world's current state. Though she was getting tired of the connection and was relieved once it was over. The webs of energy left on her body ticked her off and she started to rock left and right to shake them off as her cannon slowed to a stop.

 

"Good to know that you can't do that with me again." Vector says. "The way you functions is completely incompatable with the way I function so don't get any funny ideas. So you can climb into my cockpit but don't get any funny ideas. One false move in there and you'll be catching sky without a chute." Vector says as her canopy slides open while a ladder unfolds on the left hand side of the cockpit. Allowing a more easier entry. Soon as he climbs into her cockpit and was seated. The canopy slams shut and seals tight. The canopy provided the best view around for a pilot.

 

"Good..." Chris says looking around the cockpit. The buttons and toggles where moving on their own while the display screens where flashing different data streams. Their are five in total. The left pannel displays the plane's altitude and level while the right pannel displays weapon systems. The top pannel shows compass direction as well current GPS location and current air speeds. The bottom pannel shows a map and has several forms of radar and other types of FoF detection software including missile lock hazard or warning and engine temps. The center screen is the largets of them all. It shows the visual path infront of them. The HUD basically with options to switch to infared, thermal, nightvision, or live camera feed. There are a ton of switches and buttons that Chris wouldn't be able to even have a chance to understand what they all do. Most of the little letters labeling them have either faded or peeled off. Though the pedals at his feet where in great shap as well as the flight stick and throttle control stick are in great shap. Landing gear, running lights, and landing light switches where the only things left barely readable. "Wow...lots of buttons and switches. There are enough to drive a man mad not to mention what all the things do for the screens. Anyways, since you don't yet know where I'd like to go. I'll tell you and why if your interested." Chris says.

 

"Well while I'm doing a preflight check do to the fact that I've been still for too long and that you basically probbed me." She says as the pedals and flight stick move on their own. The tall aviators and flaps move around in a preflight check routine. "Just say where to and we'll take off once I've gon threw my pre-flight check."

 

As Vector began the build up of engine power to get enough to use her hover ability to take off. he speaks. "Well we're heading to New Mexico." The Map/Radar screen flashed a few seconds before a cut out of the US appeared on the screen. Showing their pressent location in relevance to New Mexico.

 

"Because something that needs to be killed is there. Isn't it." Vector says as she already put two and two together.

 

"Yes..Chris says as he pulls out a slightly burnt photo though she couldn't really see anything inside her cockpit. After all. That is her nerve center after all.

 

"So what we seek to turn into ashes is releated to those people your after?" Vector takes an educated guess given her experience fighting pointless battles of revenege then avenging the counter attacks.

 

"Yes...yes it is." Chris says looking at the photograph in his hand. "This was my mother and father a few days after I was born." She could hear him sigh. Her turbines have built enough power to start lifting her straight off the ground before rising further into the air to clear the buildings nearby. Chris went on about some organization that might be responsible for his family's death.

 

"Well violence is a weapon used to control those who fear the violence. Those who have the power to weild fear over the weak are not worth the air they breath. So what does this coalition do?" Vector asks as she turns her nose towards New Mexico.

 

"Genocide. They like to do that alot." Chris says.

 

"That can't be overlooked. We are going to do something about this coalition." Vector says pushing her engines hard foreward soon as they cleared the collage's clock tower. Zipping threw the air at 232mph.

 

"This should be fun." Chris says.

 

Vector wasn't happen that Chris still hasn't explained the strange pitch black smoke cloud from earlier. "Hey now that we are working together. How about you tell me about the smoke trail from earlier...unless you like being a human pancake on the ground." Vector could eject Chris at anytime she wanted to now.