“Right,” I thought back through what we’d been told. “So is everyone in Detroit’s Syndicate L a vampire now or just a few people at the top or something?”
“Don’t know,” Working Man said. “It’s definitely not everyone, but there are a lot. If I had to guess, it’s at least half of them—which is worse. The vampires can’t come in unless invited, but the regular humans just break down the door.”
Mateo’s indrawn breath was audible over the comm, “We’ve seen three completely different types of vampires so far. I wouldn’t assume they all follow the same rules, so it might be that some vampires don’t care about invitations either.”
“Dammit,” Working Man sighed. “It’s been that kind of day. Do what you can to hold the base. I still think you’ll be better off staying in there at night than somebody’s apartment. Stay safe and keep us updated. I can’t promise that we can help you, but we’ll try.”
With that, the call was over.
A few minutes later, Mateo walked into the lab, “You said you wanted a lot of holy water? I don’t know if it’s enough, but we’ve got a water tank in case something happens. I think it’s at least 200 gallons.”
I stared at him, “Wow. That’s huge. I mean, I’m not complaining. It’s good, but why do you have a tank that big?”
He shrugged and leaned against the doorway, “I don’t know. It could have been Working Man being paranoid about the city water system after what happened in Flint, but it also could have been V8 needing a lot of water to make something.”
“Is it full?” Filling a tank that big wouldn’t be quick.
Mateo grinned, “As of a minute ago, it’s not only full but full of holy water. I blessed it, looked it over with the mask and I can see it’s different somehow. Don’t ask me how.”
“Great, I’ve made some progress too. Give me a couple more hours and I think I can get the majority of what I want to do done.”
Then I paused, considering another issue, “How are we going to work sleeping? I’m figuring we’re both stuck here and we could rely on the base’s alarms and hope there aren’t any vampires that can sneak in, or we can post a watch. We won’t get as much sleep, but we might not get surprised in the night.”
Crossing his arms across his chest, Mateo said, “I think we should stay in the same room. In some stories, they can change form and go through the vents as a rat or something. So we wouldn’t even know they were attacking someone in another room.”
I raised an eyebrow, “Huh. There’s only barely enough space for one in our rooms. Do you want to sleep in the lab?”
Letting out a breath, he replied, “Not really, but the beds fold up and you’ve got the space.”
I nodded, “It wouldn’t be the first time I slept in the lab, but that was usually in a chair.”
He laughed. “I noticed. Do you want to take first watch? You tend to work on things until late in the night anyway…”
Mateo wasn’t wrong. “I’ll do it.”
Turning to look down the hall, Mateo said, “Then I’ll set the defenses on high and start rolling my bed.”
“I’ve got a few defenses of my own to set,” I said.
* * *
The first sound I heard when I woke was the whirr of the humidifiers. The second was Mateo’s voice, “Nick, wake up. They’re here.”
The third sound was a metallic crash that shook the room. I opened my eyes and pulled myself up in bed, reaching out to the cube I’d placed at the foot of my bed. It flowed around my body, dressing me, and reforming into V4’s costume, including the helmet.
By the time my feet touched the floor, I was already wearing boots.
Glancing away from the screen next to the metal door that shut us off from the hallway, Mateo stared at me, “Is that how you get dressed all the time?”
“Yes, but not in front of people here.”
Looking me up and down, he said, “No kidding,” and turned his head back to the screen. “Is that something I shouldn’t tell Working Man?”
I shrugged, “I don’t think it’s a problem. It’s not one of the Rocket’s known powers according to the Villains and Vigilantes database.”
Whatever had made the first metallic crashing noise hit the base again, creating a clanging noise that I felt in my bones and set the parts on the shelves wobbling.
“What was that?” I asked, but I didn’t wait for an answer. My implant connected to the security system and I checked the cameras—all of them simultaneously.
Despite how close and how solid the crashes felt, the creature wasn’t outside our door. It stood outside the tower itself, hitting against the big steel doors on the first floor of the tower.
And “creature” felt like the best way to describe it even though it was shaped like a human. With its gray skin, bloated flesh like that of someone who had been dead for some time, and black and blue bruises on its face, I didn’t even consider the possibility that it was alive. The pointed ears and nine or maybe ten foot tall muscled body opened up more questions about the thing’s origin than it answered.
Here’s one: did Andre the Giant go back in time and have sex with elves? The idea didn’t make much sense, but on the whole, the creature’s existence didn’t make much more sense than that.
Well, I did manage to get it up by the end of Monday even if it was only by a minute or two. I’m fine with that.
Thanks for everyone’s well wishes. I’ll start the job in November assuming that the background check goes well (it should). I’ve been amused to notice that the title indicates that I’m an “IT Manager” even though I’m not aware that I’ll be managing anything beyond computers. I’m not complaining about that by the way. I’d much rather manage computers.
Anyway, here’s the Top Web Fiction link:
http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=the-legion-of-nothing
I’m glad we’re getting to see the holy humidifiers in action, though I wonder how Nick has kept how he gets dressed hidden from everyone including V8- does he work in the lab while wearing his suit and only change in his room?
I’m imagining he treated them as if they were clothes and put on his pants one leg at a time like a normal person.
Did…Did working man (or v8) have thesame idea as nick and called a priest?
No, I’m pretty sure it’s meant to be that Mateo just blessed the water himself a couple of minutes before coming in. He stated in previous chapters that he can “make” holy water, and when talking about the tank in this chapter he said:
“As of a minute ago, it’s not only full but full of holy water.”
That means that, prior to “a minute ago”, it wasn’t holy water, just regular water. Given that there’s no mention of another priest showing up at the base, I think we can safely assume that Mateo is one who did the blessing.
I believe the reference to Working Man being paranoid was talking about why the heck there was a 200 gallon water tank in the base in the first place. His paranoia would’ve been in regards to Detroit’s general state of urban decay, and not specifically about the current vampire problem.
Hg
Hg has it right. I’ve edited for clarity.
The internet is a wild place, the first time I learned of the vamp type from a few chapters ago with the detached head was here, then found it just now in a polygon video.
Small world
I first ran across one version in one of D&D’s Monster Manuals or maybe the Fiend Folio? I’m not sure.
I like your clarification. I am from Michigan and I had wondered if the crap situation in Flint was the reason Working Man had it.
Oooh, Nosferatu?