Chapter 13: Pray For Me

[Peter "Levitas" Barak]

Peter felt the second bullet glance through his field and away. He was seriously pissed at alot of things right now. He saw Alexei limping away, and he could see the sniper now, making a run for it.

He growled to himself. One of him, two of them... Alexi was hurt and had to go down the building, he could catch him later, before he got away.

Moving with liquid grace he normally didn't possess Peter rushed at the shattered, melted window, tossing a half hearted bolt of lightning towards Alexei as he did. He didn't have the time or focus to make another proper shot like the last one, but hopefully it would slow him down.

He reached the open air and kept running, his crackling aura whirling into a roaring storm, lifting him off of his feet and into the air, straight ahead and onto the rooftop with inhuman speed. Raising over the edge he could see the sniper rushing for the door.

Spheres of white light gathered in his hands, though his right arm was more or less hanging limp at the moment. "It was Sharon, right?" Feet not touching the rooftop, Peter rushed forward and threw up his left hand, another half powered, but better aimed, bolt lancing for the woman. His overall voltage was dropping with each blast but he still had enough for a few more shots.

[Bambi Engel]

Bambi had brought her arm up again as another flash of white filled the room and the window shattered. She waited for the pain of glass, but upon lowering her arm she found Aubrey protecting her at last. She was then grabbed and dragged toward the door.

After being shoved toward the door as Aubrey let go of her to grab the pistol, she simply continued on. She made it as far as reaching toward the door knob before Aubrey was with her again. She was basically dragged down the street before a Manala pistol was shoved into her hands.

"Easy enough, pull the trigger." She stated, surprisingly calmly as she nodded. She was getting a major headache, but she knew they were out of harm's way yet. Taking the gun, she held it in what she thought to be the proper position.

Ready to continue on, she begun moving once more with Aubrey toward the teleportation booth. She wasn't sure of its location, so she had to let Aubrey lead. That wasn't too difficult considering Aubrey was much more fit than her, being an android and all.

[Sharon Anderson]

Definitely not the first impression she wanted for one of the people responsible for the resurrection of America, but eh, what can you do? Sharon heard the sound of Peter moving through the air toward her but she continued toward the door until she felt the air shift. Turning, she tossed her bag toward the sphere of white before it reached her.

The bag and bolt collided, a spontaneous combustion resulting from both the live ammo in the gun and the Manala crystal in the other. As this was happening she pulled one of her handguns, shifting around to fling the door open with her other hand. This was going to be tricky.

How long could that walking bolt of lightning stay powered for? She fired off a round from her handgun toward his direction, this time not being so careful to purposely miss. She may admire the guy, but it wasn't enough to stay so neutral about not injuring him when he was probably fully intent on killing her.

[Peter "Levitas" Barak]

Peter threw his arms up to cover his face from the blast. The shock wave was floating him back so his altered his field, dropping so his feet hit the tar and gravel of the rooftop. Resourceful little scamp she was...

He lowered his arms, gathering the power for another blast. "Look I've got a guy I'd really much rather be boiling alive than you, so if we could hurry this along I'd be greatful." He slid to the side, the handgun round skirting the edge of his aura.

"Look, if this put an end to you, great, if not, just piss off and we'll call it even, alright, baby?" Peter raised his hands and spread his fingers out towards Sharon and her door shield. A sphere of blue energy left his hands, larger than the last and rather slower. "Don't know if you've ever seen ball lightning before. Really cool stuff. Have fun!" The glob was like a bolt of lightning rolled in on itself. Once it made contact with something, the eletric current would go everywhere. Kind of like an electric grenade.

As the ball moved across the roof Peter stepped back, dropping over the edge before adjusting his field to hold himself up. Now to chase down Alexei...

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei was thrown to his stomach again as a slightly less affective bolt of lightning struck him. It didn't burn him so much as knock him down to the floor once more. He groaned and cursed over and over in russian.

"Next time I bring a shotgun..." he murmured to himself as he slowly and shakily tried to get to his feet, and failed. Peter might kill him in order to avoid his being witness. Maybe in order to avoid war between the mafia and Allmart.

When Peter was gone he took out his cellphone, which other then the plastic being slightly melted, miraculously still worked. He dialed Kaschei and left a message.

"Allmart..fucking doublecrossed us." He said, pausing to cough furiously, "Peter fucking Levitas helped the acountant to fuck us. That bastard!"

And with that Alexei hung up and simply threw his phone away. He lay on his stomach as unconciousness began to take him.

[Aubrey 16]

Aubrey shrugged. "Sure, thats the basics." She wasn't concerned about it. Seeing how Peter had handled Alexei, the android doubted that anything was going to get past him. And anything that did, she'd be able to take care of. There was still that sniper to be concerned about though...

She linked her arm through Bambi's and continued in hauling the woman down the street, however she did so slightly more gently now. "That boyfriend of yours certainly does have a few special features." She said as they approached the teleportation booth. "I assume he has the Genetech engineers to thank that for."

Aubrey was totally unaware of the events unfolding behind the two women. The flighty creditor was uncommonly focused at the moment. She had a mission. An important one. And she guessed Bambi was something of a friend...maybe an acquaintance? Whatever she was wasn't important all that was important was that she arrived back at the Global Bank HQ safe and sound, which was definitely going to happen, especially since they were nearly to the teleportation booth.

"We'll go back to Global Bank, and wait for Peter. If he's got any sense he'll be on his way shortly, if not, you can report or do whatever you have to do without him." She stated, once they were in arms reach of the booth. "This Alexei shouldn't be a threat to you any longer."

[Bambi Engel]

Bambi was glad of Aubrey's slower pace. She was far too concerned with other things to worry about the Creditor still calling Peter her boyfriend. "Heh, I suppose so."

She wanted to rub her temples, but one arm was slung in Aubrey's and the other hand was holding a gun. With the danger behind her, she was beginning to feel fidgety again. People were staring at them.

She couldn't blame them.

"I guess not." She replied as she entered the booth first, punching in the code once Aubrey had entered also. He was probably going to be killed, along with that sniper. She sighed as she moved out of the teleportation booth back in Switzerland.

What could she have done? It was that guy or her. Still, the thought didn't offer much comfort.

[Sharon Anderson]

Sharon raised her eyes at the ball of lightning that was different from the one he had tossed at her before. She didn't know how exactly it was different, and she was too keen to find out. Turning, she shoved her gun back into its holster.

Her boots hit the metal stairs with loud bangs. She heard the lightning as it hit the door, causing a crackling noise to echo. Feeling the vibrations of the electric current moving through the metal, she cursed, swifting as she purposely fell forward.

She rolled down the stairs, hitting the end of the first flight with a smack against the wall as the electricity followed. Thankfully lessened, it hit her as an after shock, probably a bit worse than the jolt one got from sticking their finger into an outlet.

Groaning slowly, she laid still, ready to jump up if Peter decided to take a peak down the stairs and toss another bolt at her. He had said he was going after Alexei again, but people changed their minds often.

[Peter "Levitas" Barak]

Peter floated back through the broken window, putting his feet back on the floor. The aura died down to a blue haze as he walked across the mostly ruined room to where Alexei lay. "Shit outta luck, eh Boris?" He knelt down, giving the Russian a quick pat down and not finding his phone. "Musta lost it in the blast..." Peter muttered to himself. Well, that was perfect, he had Alexei and the man wouldn't been able to make any calls. Nobody would even know about this.

"Piss poor luck you had to be born a ruskie, Boris. We could'a been buddies." Dropping back, Peter more or less fell into a sitting position. Now that everything was slowed down the pain in his arm was so much more difficult to ignore. And the burning feeling in his lungs when he breathed. And the wet, empty feeling in his side. Peter coughed and tasted pennies.

"Oh damn... forgot about this part..."

He fumbled in his pockets for his phone. Things inside the small area of space between his aura and his skin it stayed protected from the lightning, that was way all of his clothes didn't burn off, just the baggy stuff.

He couldn't feel tired, it was physically impossible between the drugs and the genetic modifications, but he knew, more or less, his endurance limits. His phone rang and then clicked when the connection went through. "I need a pick up... me and a prisioner... I don't know, just follow the S&M thing in the phone... what?... GPS, whatever, just get over here!"

[Judith Kalischer-Zinn]

Judith unpacked her belongings for the next few days. Allmart hadn't bothered to let her know how long she'd be at this location, so she hoped they had a washing machine, or at least a clothes iron for her to use. Their polyester blend uniforms were nearly indestructible, but that didn't mean that they didn't get dirty.

The situation that led her here was curious to begin with. She hadn't been informed what she'd be repairing or running, just that it was top secret, very hush-hush. Perhaps it was some billionaire's electronic sex doll, or the regional manager's personal computer. She hoped it was the latter since that was always an easy job; often enough he'd just forget to plug it in.

Allmart liked her for these sorts of jobs since she kept secrets. She didn't have many friends, and the company could always blackmail her with information about her husband or son if things got out of hand. Judith didn't dare complain.

The room she had been given was bare, but clean. There was a camp bed with worn Allmart sheets, and a small, barred window. She wondered if this room had ever been used as a cell, or if the bars were meant to keep something out. Both situations seemed plausible.

All she had to do was wait for the call to go to work. In the mean time, she took out a book to read. She had a Spanish language volume of the love poems of Pablo Neruda, and thought it would be good reading for her first visit to South America.

[Peter "Levitas" Barak]

Peter counted minutes, watching his blood leak out. It took longer than most, his blood had congelled quite a bit thanks to GeneTech's adjustments but it still didn't feel great. He considered breaking some of Alexei's fingers or toes but the man was out cold, there was no fun to be had there really, aside from the great snapping noise. Everyone had cleared out by now, he and the Russian where all that was left.

"You know, Boris, life can be funny sometimes. You make plans, you do your best, and you still end up in a fuckin' french coffee shop floor full'a holes... or burn wounds," he added, glancing at the man's exposed back. "Nice tats, by the way, real original. Look like prision jobs, I'd find a new guy if I where you."

He could hear thumping down below, car doors slamming, men shouting things. "Sounds like my ride is here," he said aloud, looking at the broken window. "And your's too. I can't wait until we get to meet up again. I have so many pressing questions I want to ask you, Boris." He needed patching, right now, and he couldn't keep Alexei in personal reach while doing so. A holding cell would keep the Russian in place for a day or two while Peter got himself some new blood.

[Judith Kalischer-Zinn]

Eventually, Judith was called into what looked like a hospital room. Seemingly random medical and mechanical implements were laid out, as well as machines that she had never seen before. A man in an Allmart uniform stuffed a heavy manual into her hands before almost bolting out of the room. She looked at the cover.

?מה לוויטס, she wondered.

Judith wandered over to the bed in the center of the room, and her eyes went wide. She dropped the manual. There was a man in the hospital bed.

"Are you bleeding?" she asked in English, her hands flying over her mouth in shock.

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei lifted his head and looked at Boris, but his face remained blank. He knew he wasn't going anywhere right now, and no escape route came to mind. He glared hatefully at Peter as he was dragged away. This wasn't over.

[Peter "Levitas" Barak]

Peter breathed slowly. He'd feel better with new liquids flowing into him but the booster dose of his meds had helped. He'd popped the pills and was currently waiting to let the life giving drugs fload his system.

His side burned and his arm felt like someone was drilling for oil in it. They hit him with some basic pain meds but they didn't last, he burned through them at alarming rates.

He sighed as the current attendant rushed out. Something wasn't working right and that pissed him off to no end. His drug machine wasn't drugging him, that was all he knew of the problem but that was a very big problem for him. He was riding the 32nd hour since his last full dose plus he'd burned alot of it off in his little fight. All of which was putting him unpleasantly close to bad times.

And now someone was dropping books and staring at him. That was helpful.

"What?" He asked, looking the woman in the face. His hair was disordered and shock white (he hadn't had the chance to recolor it), they'd taken away his glasses so his crimson eyes where in full effect, and they'd had to cut off his v-neck so his torso (which was almost as pale as his hair at the moment) was exposed because they'd only covered up to his waist with the blanket. All in all, he looked less impressive and much freaker than he normally liked.

And yes, he was still oozing blood. He had the distinct impression that if he could be tired he'd be close to passing out right now. "Well, what do you know, I am! Thanks so much for reminding me. Would you mind, terribly, if maybe I could get a little back inside me!?" He slowed himself down, he was closer to panic than he'd been in a long time.

Something was very wrong here... why wasn't he getting more blood? Why weren't the machines on? And why was there a bald woman staring at him? Was she supposed to be helpful somehow.

"Look... um... who are you, exactly?"

[Judith Kalischer-Zinn]

"I'm Judith. I'm sorry, they didn't tell me..." she stammered. She hadn't expected to find a human being, and especially not one that was bleeding. On second thought, she wasn't sure if he was human. He was so pale, and had such strange, red eyes. Judith swallowed, bent over, and picked up the manual. "Are... Are you Levitas? This manual says that it's for something called Levitas. No, that's silly. I'm a technician, not a doctor!" She laughed nervously. Ordinarily she was cool and collected, but this was quite a shock. She straightened her Allmart uniform and began flipping through the manual. As she moved closer to the bed, what little hair she had stood on end.