World of Darkness World of Darkness: Attrition - Night Shooting [Complete]

[William Rose]

Two days ago

Antoine looked at the cell phone, a shadow of doubt passed over him as he looked at the entry; Adrian (v) 555-354-8792. Call him, you could use the help, he was investigating something before, that means he's probably good at it. Better than you and your sorry excuse for research skills. Antoine sighed and pushed the little green button. Putting the phone to his ear he waited for the vampire to pick up on the other end. After three rings Adrian did pick up. "Adrian, it's Antoine. I need to talk to you about something ... abnormal. Can you meet me Friday night?"

"Sure, where?"

Antoine thought about it, a club would make conversation difficult and he didn't really care much beyond being able to pick the vampire's brain for more information and sharing what he had learned about Crimson. "Somewhere we can discuss stuff, beyond that I don't much care."

"You shoot guns at all? I was going to get some target practice in and I can bring a guest if that works for you."

Antoine brightened, "Actually that's perfect, I'll be picking up the guns I bought that day, it'll be nice to get to know them."

Adrian gave Antoine the address and they agreed to meet at ten o'clock. Antoine hung up with a stab at the little red button and closed his phone. Target shooting with a vampire, totally a trap ... it'll be fine, he could have killed me had he wanted any time in the past week, he's trustworthy, at least as much as their kind can be...

*****

August 22nd, 10 pm

Antoine got out of his car, newly working again, and went to the back. He pulled out a gym bag that held the shotgun and revolver he had purchased and walked over to where Adrian was leaning against his car. "Glad to see you showed up and didn't bring friends. I was hoping I could trust you, I've got some stuff to ask, some stuff to tell, and some stuff to discuss." Antoine's expression changed from serious to a smile, "Also a bunch of bullets to shoot! ...Anyways, you're the member, lead on!"

[Adrian Moss]

For once it was Adrian's turn to calm someone down.

"Chill, Antione," he began. "If I meant you harm, I would hardly ask for you to show up with a gun ... in a place were everyone else had a gun too."

He took Antione's arm and angled him toward one of the doors. He fished out a wallet with one hand and fingered a laminated membership club for the Beverly Hills Gun Club. Adrian took the lead and walked up to the door first. He handed the man the card.

"Howdy Fred. This is Antione. He's my guest for tonight. Rookie."

The man looked at the card than back at Adrian.

"Mr. Moss," he said no commitally. "Your guest needs to sign in here." He offered up an electronic keyboard.

Antione signed in and the man gave Antione a clip on ID. The two of them were than allowed to walk into the complex. The soon were escorted by another employee to a private shooting range, given the basics of pistol saftety then left on their own.

Adrian pulled out a Glock-22 from its carrying case. He slammed a magazine in and took aim.

"So, what do you want to meet about? These places are video-taped but have no sound recording - obviously."

[William Rose]

Antoine was relieved, I guess I really can trust him, that's good, I'll need help and I suspect that he and Amber don't share the same kind of "Help Antoine" profile. Antoine opened the gym bag and pulled out a Winchester double barreled break open shotgun. "They uhh, they gonna let me use this here? I got a forty-four as well but I'd like to take a few with this puppy first." Adrian nodded and Antoine plopped a box of shells onto the counter. He broke the weapon open and slid two shells into the twin barrels. "Where to start ... well how about the fact that I was jumped by ... a something, which I can best describe as a zombie with an allergic reaction to shellfish." With a snap of his wrist Antoine brought the barrels up and locked. He thumbed down the twin hammers and put the gun to his shoulder. BAM! BAM! Two blasts from the gun sailed down range, the first perforating the target and the second tearing it clean off the hook. Yeah, that'll do at short range ... hmmm, wonder what the twin blast looks like.... As he reloaded he described the creature in as much detail as he could muster.

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian smiled at the use of the shotgun.

"I carry a Mossberg myself, but the Winchester is good."

He drew the pistol up carefully and squeezed of ten quick shots ... clustered very lethally around the center of the head.

He looks at the tall Football Star with those dead eyes,

"Water balloons with gasoline, plus a flare work pretty well. Holy Water is crap. If you are going to use a shotgun, we should try and get you a few Dragon's Breath rounds. Now, any particular Kindred you want to kill?"

"I've been shooting since I was twelve, Antione," Adrian says with eeriely distant voice. "I grew up on these LA streets.

He cheers up slightly, "Now I've enver seen a zombie, but I could believe they exist. Were did you run arcross it? How did you take it out? And by Zombie I'm assuming some form of person, and not a creature. Is that right?"

"For that matter," he pesters, "why are you bringing this up?" he adds with a grin. "What do you want from me?"

[William Rose]

Antoine snapped the reloaded shotgun shut again and brought it up to his shoulder, "Yes a person, well kinda a person. It was half bloated, like blown up like a balloon on one side and that arm was more like a tentacle. It also had this crazy mouth, opened three ways and had a tongue that looked like ... one of those eels, lamprey I think?" He took aim and fired both barrels. *KABOOM* The paper target disintegrated. "I was wondering if you knew anything about that kind of thing first of all, my best weapon is going to be information about this stuff. And I didn't exactly take it out. There was ... a werewolf." Antoine reloaded, Boy this is great I forgot how much fun it could be to shoot.

[Adrian Moss]

"A Werewolf?" he says. "That's interesting."

Adrian empties his clip with similar accuracy. While he stops to reload,

"A week ago I would have told you to avoid Werewolves because ... because I didn't know them. Now I know one and I find my experience has broadened my horizons. Sure, they are different from us - kindred - but" he looks down range, "I don't know what to think of them anymore."

He points the gun at the target. Instead of shooting, he looks over at Antione.

"Did this creature save your life? Did you save it's life? Did you tell it of me? The fact that you know of and are known by a Kindred?"

[William Rose]

Antoine reloaded as well, "I mentioned I knew a vampire but I didn't name you, I'll do the same favor to my furry friend. Only if I need you both for something or you need to talk to them will I reveal you identities to each other. Hell for I all know we know the same werewolf." God I kinda hope so, there's can't be that many of these ... people, out there can there? Antoine volleyed another blast down range and then put the shotgun aside and drawing out the .44 revolver. "We kinda ... fought together ... I sorta fed it dinner ... it was in wolf form, and I just thought it was a big dog. Anyway... here's the kicker. Afterwards we found an ID and from that an apartment. We checked it out and I found what I think was a vial of Crimson. Was hoping to pick your brain about the stuff. Maybe share my own findings. My gut tells me this is not a coincidence." Antoine loaded the revolver carefully and then closed the cylinder. Taking aim he started to shoot down range and made a face at the horrid accuracy of his shots.

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian grimaced.

"The problem with secrets is that you want to know someone elses while keeping your own."

"As for Crimson, I could probably get you some. I'm good on the streets, but ... but I tend not to borrow trouble were it's not needed. Crimson is a serious designer drug, but ... borrowing trouble," he mutters.

Adrian empties a clip down range. As the echoes die down,

"Give me what you have on Crimson and I'll ask around. I've currently got some trouble myself. I looked into a matter of some kids getting murdered and now some people might be looking for me. Might not, but that's the risk you take when you look into bad people - or bad things."

Adrian puts one Glock down and pulls out another from a shoulder holster.

"Tell this werewolf I would like to meet and see it is okay for me to be looking into the matter. I'm asking permission. They are territorial and might not like one of my kind taking a look see. Tell him/her that my name is Adrian. Can you do that?"

[William Rose]

Antoine nodded as he dropped empty cartridge shells into a basket on the floor. "I can do that. And I can be discreet, don't worry about that. As for crimson, I don't want any, I think that it may have made that girl into ... that monster. Or maybe it made it easier for the creature that did so. The werewolf told me that spirits can do that sometimes. Maybe you and I need to open a ... new case file?" Corny much? Book 'em Danno! Shit... "If this drug is more than just the next new thing, if it has some kind of ... supernatural effect I think we need to figure out what, why, and who stands to gain.

"If you want my help with whatever your other issue is, just ask, I know I'm ... green?... but I got to learn this shit sometime. Now that my eyes are open you'd better understand that I'm not going to close them and hum, I'm going to do what I can to protect people from the bad shit. You seem OK, you're safe from me so long as it stays that way. But anything that hurts or kills my kind, the normals, is gonna get a taste of my wrath." A bit melodramatic but not bad...

[Adrian Moss]

"Taste your wrath?" Adrian asks speculatively. "Be careful about making promises, okay? To some people they carry weight."

"Well, if I could find a street dealer, we might be able to move one step up the food chain. Find out who they are getting it from, and so on to the source."

Adrian gives Antione a shy smile,

"But then there are the people looking for someone doing just this and they have the power to make people into monsters. I don't know about you, but I'm weak on the whole Supernatural detection front."

"Frankly, I would feel better about having your werewolf along with me, or us, when I was looking into this. Going up the food chain is going to be tough. Then again, finding out the chemistry in this would be useful as well, seeing as we could go after the supplies with less notice."

"The who, the how, and the why are a bit beyond us now. We need to know one of them to have a clue to the others. We - you have some of the drug. We need to find a lab that can analyze it for us. That would give us the How."

"I guess that is what we should start with first then: finding a lab we can use to determine what Crimson does. You can also tell your Werewolf I want to be working in their territory. Okay?"

[William Rose]

I nod to Adrian, "Sounds good, I was going to ask a friend at school but that seemed like it might have been a bad idea so I waited hoping you might know somebody. And I'll talk to the werewolf, maybe we can get some help on that front. As for what I found out, well lemme try and remember everything." Antoine thinks for a moment and then between rounds of shooting he lays out the minimal information that he had gathered about Crimson thus far. After perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes he concludes, "That's all I got so far, it's not much but it's plenty enough to get me thinking that this ain't no normal designer drug. What do you think?"

OOC: Antoine's Crimson research can be found HERE.

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian looks grim.

"Well, I think my first plan is down the crappers then. Finding the lab isn't going to do us anymore good than the cops."

He rubs his forehead, thinking. Twice he raises his gun to shoot then stops himself and lowers it again.

"Someone in the lab has to know what the active ingredient is, but how do we determine who it is and how do we get them for interrogation?"

He looks at Antoine.

"That could get messy. I'm not good at breaking people down," Adrian smiles feebly, "as you can attest. It would fall more on your werewolf pal to do the breaking. I don't know how he would feel about that."

"Anyway, I have a nasty matter on my plate right now. People dying for another ugly reason. I can't talk about it, but it's important too. When it resolves, I can help you full-time. We can canvas the streets and find a lab before the cops do. In fact, there is somebody I know who might be willing to help on this ... though they hate my guts."

The gun pops up and Adrian pops off several well-placed shots.

"I wish life was simple. Good Guys - Bad Guys - and innocent people in need of saving ... but it's not going to every be like that is there?"

Adrian pops off the rest of the clip.

"Contact your Were. Tell him/her/whatever that I'm asking all polite-like to work with them and you on this matter. If they say no, I will give you what help I can from the outside, but I'm just can't cross any more Weres right now."

[William Rose]

Antoine shook his head, "Not sure that the cops don't know more about the makeup of the drug. We've got a sample, lets pursue that lead, if it doesn't pan out what do we lose? Besides, all I was able to search were magazines, newspapers, and online stuff. There has to be more out there I couldn't get a hold of. We need an information broker, or a way into the LAPD files." Antoine fires off another cylinder from his .44, the heavy rounds evenly spaced in time if not on the target. "Also I seriously need more practice with this thing. If you need help with your ... whatever it is case, let me know, I'll help how I can. There has to be times that a non freak, no offense, would be better suited than one of you folks."

Antoine mulled it over, "OK I'll talk with my werewolf and you talk to you guy or guys and we'll get together later next week. Sooner if something comes up. I'll call you when I get an answer about your being with the furry folk. And if you need me let me know." As if to punctuate the last he fires a blast from the shotgun down range that tears the target paper into ribbons.

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian nods. After the detonation,

"The biggest problem with that hand cannon, or shotgun is the size. You have to figure out how you can hide it, or keep it out of sight until you need it. Likewise, if you can't get to it, it's not much use."

"Do you want me to see if I can find you a sawed-off shotgun - same brand and model - for you? Also, do you have a shoulder holster, and plenty of deoderant. It gets hot for you living types and you sweat in those jackets."

Adrian is grinning at him with that kind of younger kid-older kid smile.

"Maybe I can get you some knuckle dusters too. Oh, do you have a bullet proof vest? I can probably scrounge one of those up in a week or two."

Adrian goes on for a bit, talking about things like a good cell phone, pocket flashlights, and lighters (though he fails to show him one of those). It turns out Adrian has some ideas honed on the streets that might help Antione a bit, maybe.

[William Rose]

Antoine listed to Adrian's suggestions, "Yeah that sounds, good. I'm not really like, rich and stuff, but some of that might be worth the price. I was planning to shorten the shotgun myself, I'm handy enough to work the stock and cut the barrel down. But if you know somebody who could do it for me, that'd be fine too. Knuckle dusters? You mean like brass knuckles? Yeah that'd be sweet too. I'm gonna need something, and I don't expect to find somebody to teach my to go all samurai. Plus I already know how to beat people down. Do it every Sunday ..." Antoine appreciated the advice and the help getting the kind of stuff that Antoine either didn't think of or had no clue how to find. Yeah this will work out ok.

"So, tell me about this other thing. Maybe I can give you a hand. I'd hate for this relationship to be all take, take, take, on my part."

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian looks at Antione for a long few seconds. It isn't the look of the somewhat confused young man he has mostly been talking to. It is the look of the Monster he really is. Cold, emotionless, and sinister.

"When you help out people who really need it, you will be paying me back," he says in his best voice from the grave. "That's what I want to do. Don't get me wrong. I know what kind of creature I am. It is with me every night and its never going to change."

He looks away, down range.

"But, if I can make a difference, either through my own actions or through you, I make this world a little more just and fair. I would like to think that is what really matters to me."

Adrian looks back at Antione again, but the boy is back,

"I guess if I was really your friend, I would tell you to turn away, because what you are doing is going to lead most likely to your death, but ... well ... I haven't."

"Maybe if I can believe in you, I can believe in something else."

[William Rose]

Antoine nods, "I appreciate that, and I hope that I can do some good. I know it'll be dangerous, I'm probably a fool for even thinking about doing this, but I've seen too much to ignore it all." They shot some more and then Antoine started to pack up his stuff. "If it matters for anything, I think you're doing the right thing to try and keep yourself from becoming a real monster... that's got to count for something. Maybe the big guy upstairs is looking to see what you do with yourself now, maybe it's all a test. If a murderer can be redeemed and forgiven there must be a way for you to do the same."

Antoine finished packing his stuff and hoisted the bag over his shoulder. He leaned over and put the empty shotgun into Adrian's bag. "Shotgun's in there, I appreciate the help with that stuff. I'll talk to the fuzzy and get back to you. Meantime it's getting late for me and I got practice tomorrow." Antoine offer Adrian his hand. "Take care with whatever you're huntin'."

[Adrian Moss]

He shook the big man's hand and watched him leave. Adrian had to hold himself back for a moment from telling him - warning him - of what was going on. The problem was not only what he knew, but what if the Werewolf he was warming up to was the one they were hunting? Was that even possible?

Adrian shook his head. He liked Antione and thought highly of his innate sense of justice ... and compassion. Antione could never be fooled like that.

Could he?

There was trouble on Adrian's mind as he walked out and made his way to his car. He needed to feed. It was getting toward midnight and the partying would be in high geer. Things would be easy.

If only things with the people he liked were that easy.