Moonhunter

April 18, 1991

My name is Adam Moonhunter. My name is what I am. I hunt creatures of the night. I have done it all my life. I will do it until I die. In September I would have turned ninety-seven. It was not to be.

Despite my age I am as fit as a man a third my age. The blood of the creatures I hunt, the wamphyri, the loup garou, the self-righteous immortals, all of them have sustained me against my will. I lived a half-life, not quite human, but not quite one of the Dark Plague either. I am simply the Moonhunter, ancient but unaging.

Only not that has changed. My body fails me. I have been poisoned whether by dark magic or foul science, I do not know. My kidneys have shriveled, my bowels clench. My body no longer processes anything it intakes. I will be dead by the end of the day. I do not doubt it. I have come to terms with it.

For now I seek my final prey, the vampire lord known simply as Retribution. A young member of his race, he still possessed great power do to his sire Dracula. I know my chances at survival are not good. I embrace my death. Better death in combat than wasting away in a bed.

The St. Francis Cathedral is an interesting choice for our final battle. Built in 1879, it crumbled in to the catacombs formed beneath the city back in sixty-five. The vampires have made a haven of it since that time. Retribution is their master now. The leader of the pack would soon die.

Or I would.

I came strapped with sixteen pieces of plastique taped around my body. I had twin detonators wired to the plastic explosive. One was connected to a heart monitor on my chest. Should it stop, or if I press the second trigger on my belt, everything within one hundred fifty yards of me will suffer a painful, fiery death. And just to guarantee a painful death for the damn vampires, I packed each charge with a few flakes of silver each.

I didn’t plan to fail tonight.

The cathedral is a catacomb on the best of days but my supernormal powers gave me an innate sense of direction. I hadn’t been lost for seventy-something years. I didn’t plan to get lost on my last day.

I caught the scent of two vampires just as they caught mine. They charged down a side tunnel and in to the main hallway where I stood. They were nosferatu, the monstrous underdwellers that served the stronger, more attractive vampires.

I pulled my Smith & Wesson from its holster and aimed from the hip. Two shots straight to the heart, two dead vampires. I holstered the hand-cannon. Even that made my gut scream. It wouldn’t be long now.

I stumbled down the hall. I faded in and out of consciousness as I walked, but I knew my destination. Some amount of unknown time later, I entered the main antechamber of the former church. I stood at the back of the room. The remains of the altar sat on the other side of the room. An ornate throne sat framed in the surviving parts of the church. Once hundreds of people gathered for mass here. Now undead parasites wallowed here in their own offal. It disgusted me as I looked around the room.

I saw a few nosferatu scurry in to the shadows as I entered, but of their master I saw no sign. Wherever this Retribution might be, it was not here. My last mission was a failure.

A lone figure walked from the shadows across the room. He stopped behind the throne. He had curly blue-black hair. His clothes were casual, but expensive, designer. I racked my memory for anything about him. I got nothing. I didn’t recognize him. I turned my “third eye” his way. If he was vampire, weren, or some other supernatural creature I would know. Nothing. He was more human than I.

“Who are you?” I said.

He grinned and chuckled silently. His teeth were dazzling white, but even from this distance they seemed to be filed to fine points. His eyes flashed from blue to red. I knew despite my senses that this man was something truly unholy.

Evil.

“Adam Moonhunter. I must say I’m disappointed. I thought someone of your stature would recognize me. Perhaps if you ran in more affluent circles you might recognize me. I am one of the most famous faces of this city. My name is Leviticus Hex. I am the President and CEO of BTI International. If it wasn’t for my company, this city wouldn’t even exist.”

He stepped out from behind the throne and walked to the first row of pews. The Sunday seating was almost totally destroyed, but he still stopped next to it. He rested one hand gently on a half-decayed armrest as he continued to speak.

“Money talks, Adam. May I call you Adam?” He didn’t give me time to answer. “Money talks, and the one with the most money is the one to whom everyone listens. That’s me. From top to bottom this city is mine.”

I staggered forward a step and unholstered the Smith and Wesson. My heart thudded against my chest. My arm felt like jelly. My entire body shook as I struggled to raise the cannon towards this Hex guy.

I reached about two inches above my side before the gun slipped from my hand. It clattered to the ground a few steps in front of me.

”I’m disappointed, Adam. I thought a man of your skills would reach me here long before the poison could take effect. I had hoped to play with you a little bit. I enjoy nothing more than to watch my prey struggle before I tighten my grip and crush its float. Ah, well. Que sera, sera, as they say.”

I stumbled forward and fell to my knees. My hand reached down and grabbed the Smith and Wesson. I summoned all the strength my withered frame could muster. I raised the gun and aimed for Leviticus Hex.

His hands burned black with eldritch energy. Necromantic force, the magic of the dead. Hex was a dark wizard, and I knew now that I would not have a chance in hell today.

The blast ripped through my chest. It felt like my very soul was being ripped from my body. In truth, it probably was. With my free hand, I struggled to reach my belt even as I felt the energy cut through every inch of my being.

I found my belt. Found the trigger at my side. I clicked off the safety, smashed down the trigger button.

The last thing I saw was a blinding flash of light and fire. My body exploded and all was at peace.

*****

July 14, 4179

“And that’s the last thing I remember before you pulled me out of whatever the hell that was.” Adam Moonhunter turned and looked at the strange bubble. Up until just over an hour ago, his body rested inside the bubble surrounded by some kind of fluid. He could still feel the viscous goo on his skin even after a vigorous scrub-down by the trio of young women in the room. They wore what looked like lab coats, but the coats came together in the front only over the women’s chests. They fell open towards the waist line and exposed bare midsections. Each girl was mulatto in complexion but their hair was a rainbow of colors: blue, green, and purple. None looked over twenty.

The only other occupant of the room was some kind of strange robot-man. His body was silver metal, seamless except for the twin wheels at the base of each of his four legs. His face was blank but for two glowing yellow eyes. But his voice was quite human, a soft tenor.

“Interesting, Mister Moonhunter. So you have no memory of being placed in the stasis sphere?”

Adam drew his attention back from examining the copper-colored walls, all as seamless as the robot. “I didn’t even know it was called a stasis sphere until just now. Where am I? What is this place?”

“You are in the thirty-fourth sublevel of the Midsouth City Center. The year is 4179. Whatever happened to you, it left you in storage for well over two thousand years.”

Adam’s head hurt. He had lived a hundred years, fought supernatural creatures, used paranormal abilities. But what this robot was saying just didn’t make sense. Two thousand years in to the future… it just didn’t make sense.

The purple haired girl turned to the robot. “Perhaps you should drop the chat, Doctor Nine. I’ve got cerebral spikes across the board. The patient is in danger of overload until he’s fixed with a cerebral net.”

“Yes of course, Ms. Tann.” The robot, Doctor Nine, turned to the blue and green haired girls. “Ms. Mann, Ms. Gann, please prepare the nanobot injection process immediately.”

Adam looked across the three girls. He struggled to grasp what they were talking about as they chattered among themselves in words that didn’t even sound human. He glared at the robot doctor. “What the hell is going on here?”

Something stabbed him in the neck. Adam started to turn, but the world was already going hazy. Strings of numbers and pictures burst across his vision. His brain was on fire as rows and rows of data streamed through it every nanosecond. He blacked out and felt himself falling, falling, falling in to a great abyss.

Everything was gone, everything was empty. The world was gone. He was alone.

He opened his eyes. “Mister Moonhunter, can you hear me?” It was the blue haired girl, Ms. Mann. “Can you see me?”

He nodded. He still felt a low buzz in the back of his head. “What the hell did you do to me?”

“We inserted a standard nano-computer in to your spinal column. It will allow you to direct download and access any and all information on the Midsouth datanet. Give it a try. Start with the date and time.”

Adam scowled at the request, but reluctantly complied. What time is it, he thought.

20:12, July 14, 4179. The voice in his head sounded like his own. A shiver ran down his spine.

Adam rose from his chair. “You turned me in to some kind of monster!” He kicked the chair to the side. Ms. Tann, Ms. Mann, and Ms. Gann scattered.

“Please calm down,” Doctor Nine said. “We do not have a choice but to implant you. All human life without a data-access implant will be immediately and targeted for extermination by the HK units.”

A schematic of a twelve foot tall robot with a dozen octopus-like antennas materialized in Adam’s head. Each arm ended in a cannon surrounded by three clawed fingers. Its head was large and circular with hundreds of laser-light eyes in all directions. The voice in his head began to rattle off the schematics of an Olmec Hunter Killer unit.

“Stop! Just stop!” Adam took a deep breath. He jabbed a finger in to Doctor Nine’s chest. “You. I want you to explain this to me. Keep it simple for my fragile twentieth century brain please.”

Doctor Nine’s eyes (photoreceptors, the voice in his head said) eased towards Ms. Tann, Ms. Mann, and Ms. Gann in turn. “I do not know if I am the best source for your information but I suppose I will do as well as I can.”

“The Earth Expansion Fleet first left the solar system in the late twenty-third century. Over the next three hundred years they made connections with several intersystem extraterrestrial races. A burgeoning galactic republic with the Earth at the center was slowly forming.

“Until the Olmec returned. They lived on our world two thousand years ago only to travel in to space long before space was even a twinkle in the rest of mankind’s eyes. But their journey transformed them, warped them in to something no longer quite human.”

Adam could see the star-charts appear in his head. The Republic of Terra registered as several dozen systems connected by red lines. Several hundred light years away, connected with gray lines, were over a thousand systems. The Olmec Empire.

“They tore apart any world that got in their way, ravaged it for their own material needs, and left the survivors to mine what remaining resources they could as slaves of the empire. Humanity knew of the threat, but even with alliances, no one could pose a threat to the Empire.

“But humanity tried. And humanity failed. The Olmecs found their homeworld in the process. They conquered Earth, took it for their own, and made it their seat of power. They enslaved the survivors of the battle like they did so many other worlds, and set them to work in the city-states.

“Humankind exists only to serve the Olmec. Or so they would have us believe. Many people feel differently and they have formed a resistance movement. But the resistance is few and far between, and our weapons are weak compared to the Olmec armada. Long has the resistance sought a role-model to lead them in the fight and to inspire others to take up the cause. We needed a metahero.”

Doctor Nine paused and looked at Adam. Adam turned to the women but realized that they were looking at him as well. He could see the puppy dog-like hope in their eyes. He knew what they were thinking, and he didn’t like it.

“I don’t know who you think I am, but…”

“It doesn’t matter who you were back then at all,” Ms. Tann said. “All that matters is your power now. Metagene deactivation began a standard practice back in the twenty-sixth century, and the few metahumans that continued to appear were quickly targeted by the Olmec. But your abilities are different, easily masked. Yet you are strong enough, fast enough, tough enough to bring down any HK in a single fight. With a pair of crush gauntlets and a personal shield, you could do more damage than an entire platoon of resistance fighters.”

Ms. Gann chimed in next. “We have need of you, and you have need of a place in this society. Without us, you will be captured by the Olmec within minutes. As soon as they detect your metagene, you will be summarily executed. I don’t want to sound like we’re trying to blackmail you, but it is what it is. You need us as much as we need you.”

“Please,” Ms. Mann said. “If not for the people, do it for us. My sisters and I can be very persuasive if you give us the chance.” She leaned in close and licked her lips. “Very, very persuasive.”

He pushed Ms. Mann away. “Thanks, you’re very uh… convincing.” He looked at the three women. Three drop-dead gorgeous women. Don’t get distracted, he said to himself. “He looked up at Doctor Nine. I’ll help you, but for my own reasons. For my entire life I have been a fighter. It’s all I’ve ever really done. I went out and I killed all the things that went bump in the night.”

He slowly rose from the chair. His equilibrium immediately fell away. He swayed for a few moments before he could get his feet solidly beneath him. “This world is different from the one I know, but the way I see it, and the way this doohickey in my head sees it, is that the things that go bump in the night just got bigger and badder. I’ll destroy every last one of these bastards. No mercy, no remorse, they’re all going to die.”

The three women and the robot looked at him in silence. He looked between them waiting for them to talk.

“What?”

“We…” Ms. Mann’s words trailed off. “Violence was something the human race put behind us a long time ago, or so we thought. Even in the resistance, your words are shocking to our ears. Savage. Beastly.”

“Well just call me a savage beast then.” He grabbed Ms. Mann by the arm, yanked her in close, and shoved his tongue in to her mouth. Her eyes went wide but it took Ms. Mann only a second to answer his kiss. He broke away after several moments and gave her a devilish grin. “You can find out just how savage a little later.”

Adam looked to Doctor Nine. “All right, Doc. You have me on your side. Where do we go from here?”

“I think the armory would be best. You have a lot to learn before you will be ready to take to the city. The crush gauntlets alone will take you weeks of practice.”

The schematics of the gauntlets popped up in the back of Adam’s skull, followed by a three dimensional image of a device test. His head didn’t ache nearly as much as it did for the computer’s previous invasions. Great, I’m getting used to the violation in the back of my brain now.

He focused back on the demonstration. A young woman wore the pair of oversized leather gloves. Each finger had a strip of metal down to the knuckle, all of which connected to a small diode on the back of the glove. The woman clenched her fists as she stared down a large metal door. A pointed with text popped up to explain that the door was made of alpha-titanium, whatever that might be. Not wanting to miss this, he ignored the description of the metal that popped up a second later.

He focused on the girl and the door. The girl brought up one of the gauntlets in front of her. She clenched her fist tight. Her hand suddenly distorted. It seemed to wave in the air like a piece of cloth or a reflection in water. Adam realized it was some kind of energy field just as the girl drove the fist in to the door. The energy pulsed through the metal. The door exploded in word as if hit by a bomb. The girl walked through the door and the view rotated around to show the twisted and demolished metal.

Adam grinned. He was beginning to think he was going to like it here.