[h2][center][color=brown]Kyle Foster[/color] and [color=lavender]Vertigo[/color][/center][/h2] [center][sub]Written with [@Skai][/sub][/center] [hr] Kyle made his way up the first set of stairs, gun raised. He could see the red shapes of the vampires moving about now, alerted to the commotion. One floor above where he was, two were situated at the opposite end of the building. One appeared to be on the floor, writhing in pain - not Kyle’s doing. Did someone open a window? Who else in this building was fighting these things but him? He stopped paying all the questions anymore of his mind and moved up to the second floor. Hearing footsteps, he took cover behind the hallway corner. Shots from two guards’ handguns rang through, splintering the walls. Kyle took a moment to reach into his coat pocket, fiddling a bit with whatever was inside. He took out a small pouch and- No, no, wrong pouch. Explosives. Not right. He put the pouch back quick and reached for the next pocket down, just as the the two guards had stopped firing. They began moving up. Kyle took out the correct pouch this time, taking out a small marble-like object. He tossed it down the hallway, the two guards reacting immediately, albeit with some confusion as to what the hell a [i]marble[/i] was supposed to do. Then, it gave off a faint, pale-blue glow, and detonated with extreme concussive force. As it was in-between the two guards, one was sent flying back, slamming into the wall at the end of the hallway, while the forward guard came flying towards Kyle, making an impact on the wooden staircase railing, neatly breaking right through it. Slumped on the ground but still moving a bit, Kyle proceeded to kick his nose, putting him out for the count. Just then, another guard lunged forward from the stairs leading to the next floor, armed with a metal bat this time rather than a firearm. He brought the bat down on Kyle, the latter dodging right, now pinned on the broken wooden rail, dropping his pistol on the floor. The guard raised the bat again, with Kyle proceeding to push forward, slamming his own body against the guard’s. He grabbed his hands and attempted to wrestle the bat from him, the two quickly collapsing onto the floor. Kyle managed to free the bat from the guard’s grasp, tossing it aside. Now unarmed, the guard proceeded to repeatedly slam his fist against the side of Kyle’s head. Kyle, after taking two hits to the noggin, flung his right arm back and grabbed the guard’s arm, quickly and repeatedly elbowing his face with his free one. The guard was dazed, with Kyle throwing himself forward and twisting around. A kick to the guard’s face put him out of commission. Kyle took a hurried moment to regain his composure and pick up his gun. He made his way upstairs, in the direction of the two vampires at the other end of the third floor. But before he could get a shot at the one at the end of the hall, someone grabbed him from behind - another female vampire - and threw him forward. Kyle sailed through the hall, landing at the feet of the male vampire across the way, who proceeded to turn around and look down at him. He exclaimed, “Who the [i]fuck[/i] is this!?” His received answer was Kyle proceeding to aim his gun upwards and shoot the vampire a total of five times, the silver bullets turning his head and upper torso into a bloody mess. Kyle attempted once more to regain his composure, only for the female vampire who jumped him to quickly rush forward and toss him against another wall. He landed on the wooden floor, fairly dazed, his vision filled a bright light - not from any serious concussive injury, but from the light from outside flooding into the room. There was heavily burned vampire lying on the sunlit section of the floor. And an unfamiliar female figure standing there, across from the attacking vampire. Eli stood in shock as she looked over the man that had just obliterated her opponent. She lowered the rail a small distance, struggling to decide whether he was friend or foe. [i]Who the hell is that?[/i] She thought. Before she could assume anything about the man, an infuriated hiss sounded in the hallway. Eli moved quickly towards the doorway, swinging the rail around into the hallway in time to connect with the head of a female vampire. [i]Let’s hope this man is quick to draw.[/i] She thought, realizing that she wasn’t under the protection of the light anymore. Upon this discovery, she decided that she wasn’t going to rely on the man’s help. Without another moment wasted, Eli stepped further into the hallway and faced the vamp. She’d retracted a few feet from the two humans and was pushing her wild hair out of her face. “You’ve messed with the wrong vamp, little girl!” She spat with a voice as eerie as the row of teeth in her mouth. She came at Eli with full force, but this time Eli was prepared to react quickly. She focused on the woman’s perception, altering the hallway to appear a foot or two longer than it was. It was a subtle enough distance that the vampire wouldn’t notice, but it gave Eli an advantage. The vampire quickened her pace to reach her faster, and the second she was in spitting distance Eli shoved the rail against the walls. It stuck in place, and Eli slipped underneath of it as the vampire ducked to miss it. The vampire spun around to face Eli again, baring her teeth in a snarl. Kyle was slowly making his way back to an upright position. He had a better overall perception of the room now, the smell of the sunbaked vampire corpse just now piercing his nostrils. Wincing a bit under his mask, he quickly put it past him and stood upright, looking in the direction of the ongoing commotion. He stepped towards the hallway, gun raised. The moment he caught sight of the red shape of the female vampire, he opened fire. Within the two shots he got off before the vampire took action, he only managed to hit her shoulder. Still somewhat dazed, his aim was taking a hit. The vampire jumped upward, clinging to the ceiling with claws extending from both her hands and her bare feet. Kyle shot at her several more times, missing due to her rapidly skittering across the wooden surface. The vampire headed down the hall in Eli’s direction, lunging forward and disappearing down the staircase. Kyle lowered his gun. The red shape quickly darted around the second floor, before moving down another, and then even further down again - out of the goggles’ perceivable range. He could be heard letting out labored breaths beneath his cloth mask. He turned his attention towards Eli, without saying anything. Eli stood straight from her ducked position, looking rather shocked and disgusted after watching the vampire’s escape. She turned to face the man, at a loss for words. She began by removing the rail from the walls, gently letting it drop to the floor. She cleared her throat and looked towards the man. [color=lavender]”Are there any more up here?”[/color] She asked, deciding that it was best to ensure their safety before any small talk began. Kyle paused for a moment before looking upward. He caught sight of another red shape, the vampire he’d followed in here, but only a faint trace. Just near the edge of the range limit. “There’s one above us.” Kyle said, “Other two are below. Basement, most likely.” After a brief moment of silence between the two, Kyle proceeded to ask Eli, “Who are you?” Eli nodded in response to his answers, glancing between the stairs that led down and the ones that led upwards. She raised an eyebrow beneath the mask as the man questioned her identity. [color=lavender]”I should ask you the same, but I suppose we can get to that later.”[/color] She gave the stranger a soft smile. [color=lavender]”They call me Vertigo, but there aren’t many that know me.”[/color] She observed the way the man stood, looking over the goggles he wore on his eyes and the gun within his hands. Her eyes soon returned to his masked face. [color=lavender]”Well, are we going up or down first?”[/color] “I need the one above us alive, so-” Kyle’s response cut off by a distant roar, emanating from several floors down. He looked down at the floor, as did Eli - though she couldn’t see what Kyle was seeing. A faint red shimmer came into view, away from the stairs, as if it burst through the floor entirely. It did so again, coming into clearer view - and its bulk becoming more apparent. Kyle immediately stepped back as the figure lunged upward once more, bursting through the floor between him and Eli. An absolutely massive vampire, riddled with musculature, acting more like a beast than a man, or even a proper vampire. The brute looked at Kyle, roaring with his jagged teeth bared. A ways behind Eli, the female vampire from before crept up the staircase, eyeing her prey. They were in for a fight - all four of them.