[center] [img] http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/9d5d5248650f4551ab77b5d78ed5d4600e915b22/c=0-445-1536-1603&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/Tallahassee/Tallahassee/2014/05/29//1401357860000-CRime-scene.jpeg [/img] [/center] 

[i]

Michael Lopez 

Duncan Garcia 

Taylor Moore 

Joseph Lee

[/i] 

SSPD captain Teddy Hall went over the names of his targets once last time, scrolling methodically though his memory bank. All pawns of the Nyctari family, using the Hunter's attack as cover to close down a deal with some rouge Matrovanni pushers. 


His whole squad sat in the back of a reinforced truck; each member clad in bulletproof body armor, and clutching an automatic rifle. A cold silence had fallen over the SWAT team, as they dutifully prepared themselves for the oncoming battle. 

Once, not too long ago, the squad themselves had been puppets of the Nyctari, paid for by the deadly night lords, but since then they had shaken off the greasy chains of capitalism, and found a greater calling. They had answered the call of the Cannoness, and Captain Hall had sacrificed everything to become a part of the army of the people. His wife, his brother, and his children were all gone -a testament to his undying devotion to the disciples-, but his faith an resolve had only been strengthened. 

"Ready, sir?" Walden, a young member of the team, asked eventually, breaking the calm before the storm. 

"Move out." He instructed his squad. 

"Today we deal another blow against the dominion of greed." Walden grinned proudly, his bright blue eyes sparkling from beneath his tinted visor. 

The squad burst out of the back of the truck in a blur of militaristic swiftness, stampeding out onto the streets. Hall's eyes fell upon the faces they had been assigned to destroy. The dealers had been laughing and joking mere momments earlier, unaware of their ensuing fates. They sat in the cafe, seated at a round table, a flimsy sheet of glass separating them from the outside world. 


Hall's heart thudded and pounded like a beating drum in his ear. [i]For the Cannoness[/i]. 

[b]"TAKE THEM OUT!" [/b]

A rattle of gunfire ripped through the night, as the hailstorm of bullets burst forth. They cut through concrete and glass alike, raining down upon the startled criminals. Blood erupted in a brilliant burst of vibrant crimson, splattering the walls and staining the floor. The dealers fell limply from their chairs, tumbling to the floor as flesh and furniture were ripped to pieces. Smoke was thick in the night air, and shards of glass littered the streets, twinkling with ethereal radiance as they caught the moonlight.

A mangled pile of bodies littered the cafe. They had done well. 

Suddenly, the corpses began to twist and jerk, thrashing about wildly amidst the haze of smoke. The squad exchanged frantic looks, gazing on in horror as the hole-ridden bodies slowly shambled to their feet. 

A pale figure, dressed in a dark suit which matched his slicked back hair, walked forth from the cafe, striding out into the street, rows of bloodied bodies standing sentinel behind him. 

"Your timing is impeccable, officers."  Henning Maddirish said with a dark smile, his calm voice carrying out into the streets. 

[b]"Get down on the ground! NOW!"[/b] Hall barked, his eyes flicking worriedly back and forth between the figure and the risen corpses which stood in the blown-out husk of the cafe. 

The figure fixed his gaze upon Hall, regarding him with a soft, blank look. His sunken eyes burrowed into the captain. seemingly devoid of even the most faint spark of life. Hall suddenly became very aware that his own raspy breathing was considerably louder than he was comfortable with. 

[b]
"GET DOWN, OR WE WILL SHOOT!" [/b]

An icy twitch of a grin crept at the corner of the figure's lips, sliding up his mouth's cold edges. His lean frame was shrouded in the misty haze of the night, but the moonlight seemed to be somehow drawn to his pale, deathly features. 

The figure took another step out into the street, and his lines of risen drug dealers came stumbling out after him, limping forwards on broken and twisted limbs, shambling at odd angles. 

The squad moved to fire, seemingly as one entity, but found themselves frozen in place, rooted in an icy stasis. Hall tried to open his mouth to scream, but his jaw had sealed itself shut. 

"Tear them apart," Henning instructed his undead minions "But leave the captain alive, atleast for now."