FicWad

Chapter 29



Leo Genoble was now officially worried. It was bad enough that vampires were hunting you, now there was a rouge factor in the mix. He had not heard from Boston in days, and the post in El Paso was hit and hit hard! There was only one communication that came out. He received a call that went, "We are under attack! We can't see them or what they are..."

That was when the call cut off. When he sent spies to check out the area, all the found was a giant crater where the base should have been. There were no bodies, or any trace that anything that had happened save one large explosion. With a military base so near, Leo wondered how it was that they did not want to investigate. However, when he tried to get information on it, he was refused, and it was insisted on that he asked no more questions. Meanwhile, everything east of Paris was also disappearing. He was able to bolster his numbers, but only in his remaining bases. Everyone else was dead. Not all the bodies had been found, and he wondered what the leeches were doing with them. Indeed, it did feel like a noose was closing in around him. After all the losses and gains, there were now only 100 left-50 in Quebec, and 50 in Paris. He was not sure what to do next. All he could do was use his connection in the Quebec Citadel to give the 50 the ordinance that they needed to defend themselves. Despite that, the base itself was almost impossible to detect, and it was hoped that they would be ignored or forgotten, in that, if something were to happen in Paris, they could live on to carry the fight. The cause could not die. The world had to be rid of all the impurities. Once the vampire was vanquished, then they could start to work towards Tomas de Torquemada's original goal of riding the earth of all reformer Protestants, and any other heretics and impurities so that he could prepare the earth to receive it's Messiah when he returned. He could not be stopped. He felt he could not, because he felt he truly had God on his side. He had had some setbacks, but in a war, it was to be expected. He just had to wait for the fools to make a mistake, and then draw them into abattlefield of his choosing. The history he knew told him that this was the Duke of Wellington's thoughts on Napoleon before Waterloo, and Sam Huston's thoughts after the Alamo, and before the battle of San Jacinto. He then pondered on the Alamo, and thought of Quebec. 187 men faced 4,000, but they were well entrenched. The defenders were low on ammunition and they were outgunned and outmanned, but they promised to, and did, kill ten attackers for every defender. It crippled Santa Anna's army, along with the forces that took Goliad, and that was the mistake Huston was waiting for. He then drew what was left into San Jacinto and soundly beat Santa Anna at his own game. He was not sure of the force that may face them, but he felt confident that, with how well the base was situated, the ordinance available, and how entrenched they were, even if they lost, they could at least cripple the leeches enough to finish off their petty army, and then declare open season on the vampire. He would be ready.



One week before Thanksgiving, Jean-Claude, Hondo, Karin, Kenta, and Anjou met with Hartley, Yuuna, and Regan in the Bear's Den as they had planned. They took a booth in the corner and put a table next to it. However, the visitors were surprised to see bats turn up and hang on the Formica above the table, bordering it exactly. Hartley then asked, "What are they doing here?"

"You may not believe this," said Anjou, "but right now, it is as if we do not exist to everyone in the den."

"Now how is that possible?" said Regan.

"I have set a ward around us to keep out prying eyes," answered Anjou, "This information is too important to just have any old eyes come and gawk at what we do."

"Then, how are we going to get our beers?" asked Yuuna.

"Hey," said Jean-Claude, "we're not here for that! There's work to do."

"Look," snapped Yuuna, "Just because you took some silly vow does not mean that we have to!"

Hartley sighed, and said, "We are on official duty right now!"

They all grumbled, and went to work. While they did, the workers could not understand why it was that, when they approached where the back booths were, they suddenly found themselves past it, and standing next to the service closet. The members of Cleric Team saw them pass, and Yuuna asked, "I thought you said they could not see us."

Karin answered that with, "They can't. The ward confuses them as to where they are, and they have no memory of even passing the table."

Hartley took note of this, and he said to the A-team members, "Once this is done, and if you are cleared, you are going to have to give a lecture at the AMS on your abilities and how it works. We could use that."

"Only if you had our blood,"said Anjou "and only if we give it."

Regan was curious to what that meant, and she asked, "What do you mean by 'give it?'"

Kenta chimed in and said, "What she means is if you were to drink vampire blood..."

Regan waved it off, looking ill at the prospect, asking, "Why would I want to do that?

Kenta then said, "It gives you some of the abilities of the vampire, and you can live forever as long as you were to receive the blood."

Having new powers sounded interesting, but the way one got them just did not seem to appeal to her or anyone else on Cleric team as well. However, Hartley chimed in and said, "Still, it would be interesting to know about this. Such information could aid us if we ever had to fight a vampire force that was did not have society's better interests at heart. Knowing how blood abilities worked could save us lives if we ever ran into that."

Jean-Claude then said, "If it were such renegades, know that the Clan would be right at your side, because they would definitely be our mutual foes."

They then got back to work. Hartley then said, "National Security has sent operatives into the old city, but they have been thwarted at every hand. It seems that there is someone in the Canadian military there pulling some strings, keeping them from getting too close to the information we need. All we know is that they are underneath that old battlefield."

Anjou then smiled, and said, "This is because the NSA does not use bats."

"When you said we have power," said Karin, "you were not in error. It's not just that we can use bats in certain ways, but we also have someone with us that can see through their eyes. Well, we all can, but the ones I speak of have a reach far beyond what we have. They have watched our activities whenever they could, but they found this much better, being that what they were looking was much closer."

Karin and Anjou then reached across the table with a pencil and began. Anjou said, "They need air, of course, and they need somewhere to exhaust kitchen smoke, generator exhaust, entrances and exits, and other such things."

"We know all this," said Yuuna, exasperated, "but every time we tried to snoop around the area, we were chased off."

"No one would ever chase off the bats that were watching," said Kenta, "because no one would ever expect bats to be spying on them. We watched as we saw the soldiers chase off the operatives, and found it funny that, despite all that you can do, you would use such conventional means."

"Normally we wouldn't," said Regan, "but we could not just waltz in ourselves guns ablaze, for that is all that we can do for the moment. We have ways, but we are unable to implement them at the moment. For what we are doing, it is not very convenient to do this. It would draw more attention than we are willing to give."

"Worse," said Hartley, "We don't know what's in there, or what our means would do. We could stir up a hornet's nest, and then we would find out what we wanted a bit too late, and not in the way we wanted."

"Stealth is the best way right now," Hondo chimed in, "However, because you have U.S. government connections, I have an idea of how to do this."

Karin then piped up and said, "Our 'sources' told us that they have entrances on the cliff face below the battlefield by the road that goes by it right here."

She marked the spots with her pencil, and then Anjou made about four marks in the trees that surrounded the battlefield saying, "They have trap doors to bring in supplies at these points, but there is another matter."

Jean-Claude then said, "What you said was correct-there is a problem in the citadel. There is an officer that has been going in and out of one spot inside the citadel closest to the battlefield."

He marked the spot where that was, and he also said, "We do not have any pictures, because they are bats, not digital cameras. However his name is Colonel LeFleur. We are certain he has something to do with the Inquisition. If that is the case, we may be facing military ordinance, and things more severe than the haphazard arms that we have faced thus far."

Hartley grinned a happy yet anxious grin, and he said, "Now that's the first solid lead with which our team can work! Trust me; we will have the dirt on him quickly. Is there anything else?"

"Yes," said Anjou, "Now we tell you about the inside."

Cleric Team was stunned at this. Despite their best efforts to find out things, they were thwarted. Of course, they now knew that there was someone operating in the Canadian military in cahoots with the Inquisition, apparently aware that someone was snooping about. There was a worry that the snooping may clue them to something, however, after thought, they realized that this was something that they would probably be looking for anyway, so they were safe for the moment. Yet, these vampires had gotten all kinds of dirt with simple bats and ingenuity. Hartley said, "Perhaps we need a Vampire Team in mix, because it could only serve to enhance things."

"What about that one academy that we know of...where...you know...the day and night thing..." said Yuuna knowingly.

"In time," said Hartley, "Maybe, when this 'unification' takes place, it could happen."

"Anyway," said Anjou, getting back to business, "The hallway leading in from the citadel goes for 30 feet single file, but then funnels out into a six abreast hallway here."

She then drew that onto the map in such a fashion that it would match realistic dimensions. The Clansmen then started to go over the locations of rooms, the armory, chow hall, physical training room, chapel, and other needful things. Then, Hondo said, "Because of what we face, I know that we are going to have to have something more than pistols, swords, and stars."

"Maybe not," said Regan, "You guys are supposed to be shadow warriors. We saw you in operation couple of weeks ago."

"I have to agree," said Hartley, "We use stealth until we engage the enemy. After that, it's full steam ahead. However, your bunch can strike and stay in stealth mode even when engaged with the enemy. That is useful."

Yuuna put her two cents in and said, "To give you heavy arms and armor would actually hinder you. In fact, we could see this fight in the old Japanese war style."

Hondo and Kenta cocked their heads, trying to conceive what was meant, and then they looked at each other knowingly. Hondo then said, "Yes, I see it! On the battlefield, the samurai would strike head on, knowing that it was the honorable thing. However, rear strikes, sneak attacks, ambushes, and such like things was dishonorable. That was left up to the ninja. The samurai would not act dishonorably, but they were not above employing those that could act in the way their code said they could not."

"Therefore we hit them high and low," said Hartley.

Jean-Claude looked at the scheme, and said, "There are four levels. The spot it looks like they defend the most is near the surface where the trap doors are. They must not feel they need as much defense below due to the natural rock barrier below the battlefield. You can hit the surface and keep them busy as we come in from below and take them one by one."

Hartley, liking that Jean-Claude was catching onto the strategy, said, "Then, when they have to split their forces to go down and deal with you, we move in and catch them in crossfire, so to speak."

Yuuna looked at the map, and then said, "If we can pull some strings, maybe we can send some in through the citadel entrance, and HALO the rest in from above. I think we can work something out with the Canadians about use of their airspace."

Regan came over, and said, "I love it: a three-pronged attack," as she caressed a hand across the back of Yuuna's neck briefly before setting it on the table next to her. Regan then asked, "How many are there?"

"There are about 50 in there," said Karin, "and they look ready to turtle up."

"Remember the Alamo!" joked Hartley.

"What do you mean by that," said Jean-Claude.

"They must think that their fortress provides them with the same protection, in that, they expect that we will fling troops at them, and they will kill many before they go," responded Hartley.

"Yes," answered Jean-Claude, "But in that case, all the troops faced the defenders head on. They didn't have units sneaking in on them. If that had happened, the whole thing would have been over before it started."

"Then, when do we attack?" asked Hartley.

"The best time would be the weekend after Thanksgiving," said Jean-Claude.

"Then we can get the information on LeFleur in the meantime," said Regan, "Once we have that, we can concoct something that the Canadian government would love to hear and neutralize him. Then we can move in. We can find out exactly with what they have been supplied, and know how to deal with it."

"We'll work out the bottom assault and let you know what we have planned," said Hondo, and Hartley said, "And we'll let you know how we are going to strike, and coordinate our strikes accordingly."

"However, we cannot bomb the place," said Yuuna, as she put a hand on Regan's,"I don't think that Canada would take too kindly to watching a national landmark collapse into a hole a couple of hundred feet deep."

"We will have the cards ready?" said Regan to Yuuna with puppy eyes.

"Of course," she said as she winked and stroked Regan's chin. By this point, the A-team started to notice this affection, and they began to have their questions. Humanoid curiosity wanted to make them ask, but they also figured that it would be better to let sleeping dogs lie. "Well, I guess we can have those beers now," said Hartley. However, Anjou said, "I think I would like to bowl awhile."

She gave Jean-Claude a knowing look, and then he remembered, "Oh yes, I have acouple of people for you guys to meet. I said that we would meet them in the lanes here in the building."

"Well," said Hartley, "Let's bowl," knowing it could be something to do with the mission. They would look less conspicuous doing that as they met this person.



As they took to the lanes, (and as the members of Cleric Team looked askance at the small balls and skinny pins, being that this was a kind of bowling that none of them had ever seen,) Maki and Wiener came in, with Patrick in tow. They watched for a few minutes as everyone amused themselves, and Cleric Team were growing in frustration due to the difficulty of the game, and then Jean-Claude looked at Maki, saying, "Pretend you are not here."

She had no idea what that was about, but she went over to the large bulletin board, acting like she had an interest at reading the league news, lane records, and so forth. Jean-Claude motioned Hartley over and said, "This is Wiener Sinclair, and this is Patrick O'Malley. Both were vampire hunters, but they have seen the error of their ways, and now they work for us. I figured that they could help you get a better idea of the minds of who you fight."

They shook hands, and they sat and talked between frames. After a time, Hartley said, "What I would like is to take Patrick with us. What we can do for him is give him enough learning in things for him to come with us on the ground assault in the citadel. He won't engage directly because he would indeed get in the way. However, we can keep him in back, having him feed us information on how the enemy will strike, and having him shoot only when he needs to."

"He's all yours," said Jean-Claude, "And we'll take Wiener with us, because he has fought many times before with us, and he knows how to operate, and how we fight as well."

"Then I think we shall get some shoes and join you," said Wiener.

"You just came back, Maki," said Jean-Claude, and she joined them. At this, Patrick then said, "I hope you are ready...Anjou is it? I am pretty good at this!"

She got that look in her eye, grinned, and said quietly, "Bring it on!"

His Irish went up in a good way, as he loved a good challenge. Jean-Claude said, "You guys have fun. I have another piece of Clan business to tend to. There are certain ruggers that have a choice to make."