Blood Trafficking

Joshua stared straight ahead, mind alight with scenarios. All of his energy was dedicated to figuring out what to do; moving was not an option right now. His entire world had just taken a turn down a very dark alley. Granted, he hadn't been in this world of superpowers and heroic deeds for long, but he hadn't expected this. He figured that he would probably be put in harm's way, that was evident from the first time he got his ass whooped, but he never imagined that the people he cared about would be dragged into this.

"Josh?"

James was worried. Joshua knew him well enough to decipher his voice even through a gruffness that was uncharacteristic for any 16 year old. But he couldn't answer him, how could he? His life was in danger because Joshua wanted to be "Seismic." But fucking with the wrong people had consequences, he could see that now.

"Joshua!" James was more stern now; demanding his best friend's attention now. "Look man, what's the next play? What are we doing? I know what you're thinking, but we can't just let them keep kidnapping people. You know we can't."

He was right. He wouldn't let him just quit, even if his life was in danger. James had been in this neighborhood far too long; he cared about these people. And after a couple of years here, Joshua was starting to see why. He stood, mind as unsteady as his stance, but slowly clearing. "Ok ok...they've been ramping up their kidnappings recently. That's probably because I stopped them at the docks and they have a deadline to meet, otherwise, they wouldn't risk drawing attention. ."

James nodded and started pacing around the room. "Yeah, that makes sense. And...." James's head drifted up and to the left. "Actually, that makes a lot of sense. The reason they came to threaten me is because they're about to make a shipment tonight...and probably at the same spot on the docks."

"Why would they--?"

"Think about it! It's hard, expensive, and risky to just change plans like that. They'd have to pay a different set of guards and maybe some of them can't be bought off. There's a lot of moving parts. So they just threatened me just to get you to back off. And they wouldn't risk you going back to crime fighting after you think about it, so it's probably going down tonight! They're probably all hands on deck at the dock right now."

Ice flooded Joshua's stomach; James was right. With deep breath to thaw the ice sitting in his stomach, he strode over to his closet and began digging in. His joggers and shoes were suitable to go out in."Ok, I can take these guys. But I need to know that you're ok. Do you think you can stay with May?"

James shifted. He wanted to go, but he wouldn't be much help against so many bad guys. "Yeah," he muttered.

Joshua pulled on a tattered hoodie adorned with his carefully drawn logo. "Ok, we'll leave at the same time, so if thyey're watching the house they'll pay attention to me...You'll hear how it goes in the morning I guess," he chuckled as he walked towards the window, pulling on fingerless gloves.

"Josh..." James had packed a survival bag incredibly quickly. He was standing at the door, ready to go. "Be safe bro, please."

That had surprised Joshua. James was never very forthcoming with his emotions, but facing down a deadly gang has a way of dragging emotions out of people. Josh simply nodded at him, a silent promise to return to his friend. He turned back towards the window and deliberately put on his domino mask. He was ready to do this, to put a stop to this kidnapping spree.

He slid out of the window onto the fire escape and, instinctively at this point, unleashed a powerful burst of seismic energy beneath him, propelling him to the adjacent rooftop as he headed towards the docks.

The Crime Syndicate was one of if not the largest underground criminal organizations in the world. They operated everywhere and had their hands in just about everything you could imagine. Except for kids, those that knew them knew that if you messed with kids in their territory you wouldn’t live to tell about it. Sure, if some punk ass kid went snooping around where they weren’t supposed to they’d scare them off, or if some idiot kid decided they wanted to play at being a hero then the kid was beaten. Never killed, never drugged, and definitely never targeted. Just dealt with enough to get them to give up and go home. Their last operation had been ruined by one such kid and thus they threatened his buddy. A few calls to the right people, a couple bribes here and there, and they were able to track him down.

Phantom had of course elected not to share the true identity of the boy under the mask with anyone but his inner circle, and thus the men sent to intimidate young James were simply following orders. This was done so in case the secret needed to be kept for use at a later date. No reason to ruin the poor boy’s entire life just yet at least. The illusive leader of the Crime Syndicate was no fool, he knew that tonight’s operation was not going to go as smoothly as it should. Murphy’s Law stated that anything that could go wrong would go wrong and in the Windy City there were a certain number of costumed vigilantes and so-called heroes that would attempt to disrupt their operation, to stop the Crime Syndicate and other made up goals that heroes so often had that made them believe they were better than everyone else.

It mattered little, The Phantom was prepared tonight. He knew his threat would not be taken lightly but he also knew how the mind of little heroes worked. The boy would still come and if not him someone else. Therefore, he had beefed up security. More men were stationed around the site, more eyes were on the perimeter and Number One was overseeing the operation himself. Had to make it look like the leader of the Crime Syndicate cared about what was going on. Additionally, their business partner had been fed up with his shipments being delayed. So much so that the Lord of Shadows himself had made an appearance at the docks along with a handful of his own ‘men’ to make sure the shipment went along smoothly. Lucifer almost pitied the poor fools who attempted to stop them tonight. Almost.

Now, actually on scene at the docks a crew of twenty men were seen moving big black boxes from eighteen wheelers onto a boat. Back and forth they went, ten of them to each box having to lift it up and slowly and carefully move it from the trucks to the boat no one daring to make a sound. No one wanting to shake or rattle the box. No one at all wanting to be the one who messed up. Was it inefficient? Could they be moving this shipment faster? Definitely. But they all knew what was at stake here tonight, and at least some of them knew what sort of shipment was moving tonight. That and they did not want to piss off their employer and his ‘men’. Even some of the armed guards were looking a tad uneasy as the Lord of Shadows stoop above on top of one of the boats with his arms crossed and watched, his ‘men’ stalking around in the shadows. The only one not unnerved was of course Number One as he issued out silent commands.

Vampires,  Samael had dealt with them before in multiple ways. Those that thought they could turn people into convenient blood banks, now those were the ones that pissed him off more than anything else. Despite his disdain for humanity, something about people being used like that made him shiver. Not having Adam to help him out in this meant he would have to be a little conservative in how he functioned. Lurking in the Windy City was nothing new to him either, which made returning to it nice in some sense. Slipping into the docks in the dark of night would be easy, armed to the teeth with weapons was just a nice addition.

”Are you sure this is the place.” He whispered under his breath into his cellphone, the voice coming across low but audible to his senses. Slipping into the shadows, Samael made sure to keep the darkness heavy upon the area. Making anything lower than pure vision in the darkness unable to keep track of him. The scent of something was on the air, vampires if he could tell. His lips curled into an expression of disgust, canines breaking from beyond their imprisonment. A low hum came from him as he hung up from the silent call, and settled it back into his pocket. Already forgetting about the device as he  pressed his back against the wall and knelt into a crouch, moving along it it with near absolute silence.

Peering around the corner he took note of the massive eighteen wheelers, likely carrying prior mentioned human slaves for sustenance. There were a few armed guards but nothing that he couldn’t deal with, which came down to dealing with a guard, perhaps going from there. That was when he waited for one of them to break off from the group, grasping them into the darkness and dispatching them with a twist of the neck. Settling a glamour rune over an article of clothing after removing their outfit to keep the body out of sight, he slipped into it and made sure his eyes were covered by some kind of visor. Making himself look and sound like the male, that just required another glamour, something to cover things up.

Hefting the weapon in his hand, Sammy let a small sigh slip back and into the flow of things. Gathering information about whoever these people was difficult, but they likely did not require too much from their armed guards. There was a certain methodical nature to what he did, down to the weapons enhanced with runes should the vampires prove annoying and even silvered weapons he had hidden upon himself. Preparation was something that Samael prided himself in, even if he in the end had to escape from someone like The Lord of Shadows. Letting his eyes look to the imposing figure and then looking away, that just sold the act in his own mind.

Joshua hadn't been shot at yet. While that was beneficial for his overall well being, it also meant that James's intuition was probably correct. The docks were probably swarming with hired muscle right now. Hired muscle that were probably loading people on a boat to be shipped across the ocean; fucking people that the Syndicate took from their loved ones in order to sell them for money. As a black person, that struck him way too deeply. Thick, viscous resentment boiled in Josh's gut. They had to be stopped, they couldn't be allowed to keep ruining lives like this, not in this neighborhood.

Joshua unleashed another seismic burst beneath him to propel himself from the roof of a block of commercial buildings onto the warehouse overlooking the docks. The metal protested mildly as he rolled to a stop.

Shit!

He forgot to release another seismic burst right before he landed to reduce noise, and his mistake came at a poor time. Two men turned to locate the source of the noise, one at the edge nearest to Joshua and the other only a few yards away from him. He had to make a move.

He lashed out with his arms instantly just as they opened their mouths to shout. Precise seismic bursts struck the two men in their heads, knocking them out. Joshua dashed as quietly as he could to catch the one that was slowly tipping off of the roof. He inwardly pat himself on the back for handling that situation as well as he did.

Joshua then crouched as he peered at the docks below. A massive crane loomed over the whole area, serving as the ever present monitor. Multicolored shipping crates were piled in rows along the length of the docks with the occasional guard wandering through. An area had been cleared of crates, however, and that's where the activity was most concentrated. A huge, white 18-wheeler was parked with its rear open and facing the water. What looked like a score of men were methodically unloading large crates and carrying it onto a ship. That must be where they were keeping the people. Now to come up with a gameplan on getting them out. But someone caught his eye. On top of one of the boats was a man with his arms crossed, watching everyone below him. Joshua had a bad feeling about him, he stood like he was in charge, like he would be trouble.

One would be correct to assume that the individual standing atop the boat, as if he was an overseer looking down at all those beneath him, was going to be a problem should they attempt anything. The infamous Lord of Shadows had taken a personal investment in tonight’s shipment. He was there to make sure that everything went according to plan and that there were no disturbances, however, he was not there alone. In addition to the guards and men brought by the Crime Syndicate he had some of his own there to assist, accept unlike the men of the Syndicate they were not moving the boxes or standing nearby with machine guns and assault rifles. Besides the four brutes who stood at the exit of the 18-wheeler and the entrance of the boat. The rest did what they did best and stuck to the shadows, watching for any sign of an intruder, listening to the world around them and even flying above to make sure that they had eyes and ears everywhere.

The best thing about being in the air was that despite all the people in this world that could fly or take to the skies in some sort of way the age-old statement was still true. People never looked up. Even those that propelled themselves through the air themselves thought they were alone in the skies. When Joshua propelled himself onto the roof and landed with a clang he was able to take out the two Syndicate guards with little problem. If they were the only ones there he would have been in the clear, made it past his first set of guards undetected that night. Alas they weren’t the only ones and above him in the air flew a flyer who under his breath relayed the information straight to Cain and Number One. They had an intruder.

The two designated leaders of the operation continued what they were doing, neither giving away any sign that they knew anything was wrong. They had planned for this, expected it even. It seemed the boy wasn’t smart enough to stay away and thus would have to be taught a lesson.  The flyer that had spotted Joshua landed behind him, not at all trying to hide his presence as he was joined a top the roof by a tracker and a Syndicate member shimmering into existence with a machine gun pointed at the young boy. “Just don’t know when to quit do you kid?” the Syndicate agent, who suspiciously had a broken nose, asked as he turned the safety off on the gun. The vampires simply grinned, flashing their fangs before rushing forward.

Back down on the ground where the shipment was being moved and where the other ‘hero’ was currently disguising himself as a Syndicate Agent, it would simply appear as if nothing was going on. The Syndicate agents going about their business, moving the cargo under the silent directions of Number One. Everything still moving as if clockwork. Yet for a being with enhanced senses the false Syndicate Agent could probably tell that something was not quite right.

Samael fell into line with the other pawns, always the pawns to someone else higher than them. Chessmasters rarely looked into their pawns until the game fell apart, and he so enjoyed that about them. Their scents however smelled off, though what he could not for the life of him figure out. A train of thought quickly broken by a resounding boom not too far away from where he was pretending to work. Muttering a curse under his breath as if this was the worst thing that could happen in a situation like this. Someone was going to stir up the hive, but second thoughts gave perspective. This meant less attention would be on him when he began his little bid to save some people being made blood slaves. Still, before hand he helped move the box and cursed the weakness of humans until he felt he was out of sight, not even seen by those flying leeches.

Without wasting his time, he drove an elbow into the nearest one with all the force he and the rune that allowed him could. Slamming someone into a wall, with a loud crack and a thud. Another flash of motion to slam another in the stomach, proving their armor to be useless as they flew back and rolled along the ground. ”That works.” He muttered, turning to rip off the side of a crate to toss it aside, people within still alive from the sounds of their heartbeats. ”Shhhh, i’m not with them. Just...follow my lead and i’ll get all of you out of here.” He said low enough for them to hear, hearing the sounds of weapons being raised and quickly snapping backwards.

Breaking distance between him and one of the people with the agility of a cheetah, knocking a weapon from their hand and kicking them down. A flurry of motion kicking weapons and people down, before returning to ripping people from their crates as the first step of his plan.

His reconnoitering was interrupted by a second crash emanating from right behind him.

What the fuck?

What could that possibly be? He definitely examined the roof thoroughly enough to know that nobody else was up here. And on top of that, how could something be crashing down on the roof right behind him? The jump he made was impossible for any other person.

He whipped around, arm extended, to a sight he didn't believe. Three figures, who must have just materialized behind him, were now advancing on him. And to add to the unlikeliness of the scene, one of them was flanked by a pair of powerful, leathery wings.

Ok, now really...what the fuck?!

Stupid! Joshua chastised himself for the mistake he made. He'd only been doing this for a couple of weeks but this was a vital mission; he absolutely didn't need to fuck up and now he was apparently facing the supernatural because of his blunder.

Joshua wanted to say something witty back to the man with the gun, but his nerves had bolted his mouth shut, plus he wasn't sure if his mind had the capacity to construct a witty statement and battle plan at the same time. His eyes roved over the three of them. The man with the gun looked normal enough, though Joshua still didn't know how he missed him when he first landed on the roof. The other two had an inhuman quality about them, not counting the wings that swayed lazily behind the one in the middle. He obviously wasn't dealing with just some mobsters anymore...this was in the realm of the superhuman. This almost overwhelmed Joshua, but he chose to keep a laser focus on the plan; it would keep him alive, not worrying.

In a movement reminiscent of a snake strike, Joshua's right hand snapped up and fired another precise seismic burst at the man's head, aiming to knock him out like the other Syndicate members. Meanwhile, his left hand, which was already raised, fired a much more wide and powerful seismic burst at the chest of the vampires. This was hopefully enough to knock them both down so that Joshua could vibrate his body to increase his speed and striking power and knock them both out with precise punches to their temples.

Samael’s tactic was effective, he was faster than the Syndicate members could react and thus negated the numbers advantage they seemingly had over him. They’d turn their guns on him only to be knocked unconscious or have their guns stripped from their hands before being knocked unconscious while he attempted to free the people from their almost literal steal cages. Or, well it was effective. It was working fairly well until he would slam into a slightly bigger looking individual, and upon doing so it would feel to him what it felt like when a normal person ran into a brick wall. The brute of a vampire grinned looking down at the shorter being and sniffed in with a sadistic grin. “You smell good. I eat you first.” It said slamming his fists down at the half-demon, attempting to slam both of his fists into Samael’s shoulders.

With this happening and the suddenness of it all and Samael not being sneaky anymore he easily attracted the attention of other individuals. One of the flying vampires from above would land down behind him sending a kick out at his head. While that was going on at the same time a vampire best identified as a tracker would step out of the shadows holding onto two chains, both of which were attached to giant grey and black mangy wolves. These wolves were no ordinary wolves of course as a semblance of intelligence perhaps slightly above bestial could be seen in their eyes. With a sadistic grin on his face the Vampire let the werewolves off their chains and they took off towards the Cambion.

Up on the roof with Joshua’s initial rapid strike or burst out against the Syndicate agent did indeed have the desired effect of knocking the man out in quite the same way that it did with the other two members of the criminal organization. However, unlike the other two it had unforeseen consequences. See, when the man had turned the safety off his finger had rested upon the trigger and upon being hit in the head and thrown back off his feet by a seismic burst his hand involuntarily squeezed down on the trigger. Thus, a stream of bullets were fired off, first of course heading downstream at Joshua and then, up in an arc until the member fell on the ground. It was then of course that his hand fell limp and the gun dropped to the side. The vampires raced forwards both being knocked down on their asses by the young meta-human’s power. The one without the wings getting up quicker due in part to his regenerative healing factor. Thus, was able to dodge around the man coming to strike him in the temple. The flying one not so much. Snarling the Vampire struck his hand out towards Joshua’s stomach going for the popular gut punch.

Back on the ground Number One watching the chaos ensue around him raised his hand in a sort of halting motion. The Crime Syndicate members stopped what they were doing and started to regroup on him, helping pick up their downed members that didn’t have broken bones or weren’t unconscious. Done with that they lined up in a sort of half-crescent pointing their guns at the attacker and simply waiting for the creatures of the night to either deal with the man or fail to do so. This was a slight hiccup but they were not the world’s largest underground criminal organization for nothing. One always expected things to go wrong and planned for it accordingly. Up on top of his boat Cain simply grinned, watching the fight with fascination. It had been some time sense he had a real fight and he was very hopeful he would be able to get one tonight.

Samael moved through the air with grace, knocking out the goons that had been tasked with selling their fellow man as feed. Offering no real challenge to him until he spun into a kick, slamming into a wall of muscle that felt as if he were hitting a brick wall. This sent a reverberation through him, a lance of minor pain that he worked through as good as he could. Not wasting any time, he stepped to the side to avoid the massive fists that had come to swing down on him, feeling the wind pressure from their mere existence. One had come behind to attack, given away by the woosh of the air that came with their movement, managing to brush along his head, and send Samael reeling, nearly falling over.

Enhanced senses made this fight a little less than one sided, but still not favorable. ”Need to try a little harder than that big guy.” he growled, reaching onto his back, breaking through a thin veil to produce a short sword, breaking through with a ripple. There was sudden attention upon him, and so he did what he thought would work within the situation.

His power reached outwards to affect the area around him, rapidly snuffing out all light even to the point that not even the faintest remained. This stretched outwards for a good hundred feet, keeping the brute and flying one within absolute darkness that he saw as if it were perfectly bright. With a motion he moved towards the brute, attempting to hamstring it with a slash of the silver lined weapon, and then go for the head. They didn’t seem too smart, but that was all that mattered; he could out smart it.

His first attack was successful; the Syndicate member had been knocked out and, despite his last ditch attempt to riddle Joshua with bullets, Joshua was already well on his way toward the trio. He felt something slam into the very top of his shoulder, provoking a quickly spreading burning in his clavicle area and nearly knocking him to the side. But his forward momentum allowed him to maintain his balance as he continued his blitz and managed to successfully knock out another vampire. However, he didn't account for the winged abomination recovering as quickly as it did.

His second strike soared into thin air and before he could reset his stance, he felt something powerful drive into his gut; His feet left the roof. The blow didn't send him flying, but if it wasn't for his durability, he was sure he'd  be nursing a broken rib. Instead, once his back hit the roof, he rolled with his momentum into a crouch and drove both of his hands forward, unleashing two wide and powerful bursts of seismic energy powerful enough to punch through metal. He didn't have time to tango with this guy and they were already alerted to his presence but if he could hurry and defeat this guy, he could retreat into the maze of shipping crates long enough to recover from that last, powerful attack.

The flying vampire grinned watching as the kick was more or less successful while the Brute whose direct attack missed simply snarled and went to slam his right fist into the little man’s stomach. Except that didn’t quite happen. He brought his fist back and before he was able to throw it forward the lights went out. Or rather the already darkened place, as they were already working under the cover of night, became pitch black. “Hey, who turned out th-Ah!” The silver lined blade cut through his hamstring bringing the brute down to the ground with a howl of pain. Slamming his fists into the ground a small earthquake and shockwave reverberating outwards from where they connected before his head was sliced off. Effectively silencing and ending the beast.

The Fling vampire feeling the effects of the silver but unable to see the being holding the blade cursed his luck and flew straight up. He was smart enough to know he had no business being in the endless abyss of darkness. The werewolves however ran straight into it. They may not have been able to see the being they hunted but they could still smell it. Using their other senses, they charged forward. The first beast going high intending to sink its jaw around the prey’s throat, the other going low in hopes of knocking it off its feet and bringing it down to the ground. Which would make it an easier target to sink its teeth into and feast upon.

The tracker’s punch connected and sent the boy onto his back. A smile upon the undead night walker’s face it stalked forward, almost toying with its prey. What it didn’t expect however was for the boy to roll off its back, onto his feet, and throw his hands forward. The seismic blast ripped into the tracker, sending it flying through the air, landing on the rooftop with a loud thud. The middle of its body ripped into, unconscious, as its wounds slowly but surely started to heal. For now, it was down and out. Unable to make any movements until its wounds healed and it woke up. Thus leaving the roof free of any remaining threats. From Joshua’s vantage point he’d notice the skirmish happening on the ground, if he cared to look, and the two flying vampires in the air above watching and waiting.

The Crime Syndicate members were still waiting for the next order. All their guns now trained on the area of darkness. A look of confusion on some of their faces. They were the best of the best sure, but even they weren’t really ready to deal with whatever was happening. This was definitely above their pay grade but until the boss man said they could leave than they had to stay. Do what they were told and get the job done. All the weapons off safety, their trigger fingers itching and pointed down at the area of darkness while some of them had their guns trained up on the rooftop that Joshua was currently at. None of them however making any movement. Number One instead holding them there, as if waiting for something.