CONFLICTS AND CURSES

Luke sighed. This was getting to be more than he bargained for. Alright, he thought, first we're stopping the vampire. Then we're arresting the bear and figuring out what he wants the teleporter for. Swapping magazines from the tranquilizers to the silver tipped bullets, Luke brought his rifle to bare on Vlad and fired off a short burst.

A thought entered his head to exit the lab quickly, and he did so as the door shut down behind him. Wait, why did he do that again?

Sugar Shock twitched on the floor and mumbled about 80s movies and Kiefer Sutherland.

"Ow....argh...fucking silver..." Vladimir Victor Vasily Varick Von Valencruz said angrily as he forced the burning bullets out his body. Fortunately, it seemed his oppenents knew little of fighting one like him. He watched them lock the door behind them.

"Oh no, a large heavy door. If only I had just fed and thus was much more powerful than usual..." Vladimir Victor Vasily Varick Von Valencruz chucked sarcastically to himself. He easily lifted the charging bear with one arm and threw him over his shoulder.

"Lesson number 1, you overgrown hairball, NEVER ATTACK A VA..erm...HUMAN AFTER THEY JUST FED ON RASPBERRY JELLY! IT'S PRACTICALLY SUICIDE!" He laughed and taunted the bear while bring his heel down sadistically into it's stomach. Poor bear...

"Now then..for that purple gimp." He walked calmly to the large steel door and RIPPED THAT MOTHERFUCKER RIGHT OFF IT'S HINGES. Not even trying to hide it anymore, he let out another maniacal laugh as he began to hunt down his desperate prey.

"Bwahahaha....MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

However, it seemed like the sunrise should start soon....of course, in his blood-crazed frenzy, Valencruz hadn't bother to take a peak outside of a window...

"Hello, Leukocyte, was it? You're welcome. Had I not... coerced you into leaving, I doubt you would have survived for long."

Suddenly, they head a loud noise behind them,

"looks like one of them broke out. Let's hurry up. You can take refuge in my apartment until the heat's off. I hope Sugar Shock made it out alright..."

Sugar Shock groggily sat up. It had been a long time since she had felt anything resembling sleepiness. However, her usual sugar filled hyper wakefulness was rapidly returning.
Rubbing her sore neck, Sugar prepared to rot the vampire's teeth out, but stopped. Vampires were pretty cool despite the sometimes offputting literature written about them. She instead formed a chair out of gummi bear minions and enjoyed the last blissful moments of restfulness that losing some of her sugar filled blood allowed her. The chair scooted off out of a hole in the wall to places unknown.

Vladimir Victor Vasily Varick Von Valencruz didn't seem his usual self. He seemed...perky. He was always stronger after a meal, sure, but not to these levels. He felt...awake. He could see the dust molecules in the air drifting by. He could hear everything, every step of those running away, he could hear their lungs start to contract before they even took a breath, he could their sweat running down their face as they ran from him, he could hear absolutely everything. He couldn't calm down. He could barely think.

"What is wrong with me?...Is this...a sugar rush? How many decades has it been since I felt this way? I can...almost feel my heart beat."

He grinned wildly. He couldn't hide back his feelings any longer. His hands were shaky and a part of him was worried that he might accidentally kill them when he found them.

Well, almost worried.

"OH HEROES!!" He shouted, "HELP ME! I'M A POOR HUMAN DOCTOR AND I'M SO SCARED! PLEASE! SAVE ME! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" He couldn't help but mock them as he continued his 'search'. With his heightened senses, he already KNEW where they were; and with his speed, he could catch them in a second....
But what fun would that be?

"Alright, Boogie Knight sounds like a plan. I probably could take one of them, but not both at the same time. Especially not a freshly-fed vamp. Let's head to the apartment, regroup, and try to think of a plan. The bear and vamp need to be brought to justice."

Psybear slowly regained it's composure. As everyone else had fled, the bear had stayed. This telelab would be quite useful for achieving his goals. Quite useful indeed.

Meanwhile, in Boogie Knight's apartment...

"So, Luke, was it? Tell me about yourself, and your abilities. You don't strike me as just a regular person, especially if you were going up against the likes of those guys."

"Well, I suppose I'm not a normal person. A few years back I was involved in a project by the military to create super soldiers. I was told it was to make better medicines for soldiers and being a combat medic I was excited to help. The team managed to create a serum that boosted my natural healing to the peak of human ability. But then the project was ended and I was discharged. I've been trying to find answers since then, and I joined the city's PD as part of their Special Task-Force to try and help against all these super-powered villains running around."

I see... you'll have to tell me more about this project. Specifically, any private organizations that offered their assistance..."

Boogie Knight, in a seemingly evil fashion, prodded more information out of Leukocyte throughout the night. By the time the night was over, he had all the information he needed.

"Okay, it should be safe for you to leave now. Good luck in your future endeavors."

"Oh, they got away. Damn. Oh well, I can always just chase after-AAGGGGH" Vladimir Victor Vasily Varick Von Valencruz, in his sugar-blood rush, accidentally stepped out into the morning sunlight, though he quickly ducked back inside.

"Damnit. Next time then." He scowled, and, feeling defeated, walked back to the bear and lady.

"Still those, that was one of hell of a rush. If that woman's still there, I'll bind her and keep her as my personal bloodbank, can't waste blood with THAT sort of power behind it." He grinned to himself as he walked back into the room in which Psybear and Sugar Shock resigned in, no doubt licking the wounds he had inflicted on them earlier. Aware they may not really want to see him and not being able to leave the building until night, he said the only thing he could think of to appease them.

"Sup, wanna party?"

Sugar Shock excitedly looked up from mashing buttons with her sticky little fingers, having returned to the lab once her energy returned to do some more looting and trouble making.
"Party?" she repeated with a manic grin, bearing no ill will towards the man who had bitten her neck. Vampire's gotta eat after all.

Terrence Barkley set out on another journey. He packed his Boogie Knight suit (basically just tacky purple ninja robes) into a backpack and made his way downtown, where he would find the headquarters for the corporation that helped in the development of Leukocyte's super serum.

"I wonder what other secrets these guys have..."

By the time he got there, it was night again. Now donning his costume, Boogie Knight sneaked into the building just before the doors automatically locked themselves.

"The easy part is getting in- the hard part..."
Boogie Knight disabled a guard that spotted him
"...is getting out alive"

The Psybear remained in a slightly more mellow mood, simply letting off a meager snarl at the vampire. Sitting by the teleporter, it continued to poke and prod at the machine, testing things.

"Yeah, party" He repeated, walking towards Sugar Shock, giving the bear a slight pet along the way.
"All I do is party." He told her, giving a quick glance to the holes in her neck. "Nothing personal" he remarked.

Vladimir Victor Vasily Varick Von Valencruz took off his long, black, leather trench coat and absentmindedly draped it over a nearby desk, before lying down atop of it.

"I am...Vladimir Victor Vasily Varick Von Valencruz, choose your favorite one of those to call me" Valencruz said, resting his hands behind his head. "And I....am completely human. So, what do you two do for fun?"

It seemed Valencruz had forgotten his original purpose for stalking them...

The bear continued to play around with teleporter, pressing buttons with his clumsy paws, then throwing things in. He turned to the man, shrugged, and let forth a bellowing "I UNNO."

"I like parties!" Sugar replied to the fanged man. "I'm a human too! Except I'm the kind without pointy teeth." It was obvious to even Sugar Shock that this man was a vampire but didn't want anyone to know. Maybe vampires were sensitive about their condition?
"But aren't parties for night? It's almost morning and you'll melt-I mean turn to ash-I mean not have much fun at the party!" There. She had been so sensitive to his sensitivity about vampirism and he would totally want to be friends now. NAILED IT!

Shifting himself out of bed despite the fact that sleeping was now needless for him, Zealot rolls-face distorted by ennui and arms aching from the rapid growth they've undergone. Pulling himself up and banging his head on the door frame as he walks through it, he fails to notice what he's done until he looks back and finds a chunk of said door frame gone. Hand swings slowly up to his forehead, and he lets loose a sigh. Moving to the couch and grabbing the remote, he turns his ancient television on: "Reports last night of some sort of psychic bear rampa-" The news report cuts off with another click of the remote. "God damn it, fuck this universe." With that, Zealot moves himself back into his room and returns to his bed.

"Just as I thought," Boogie Knight walked towards a cabinet in a R&D room inside the corporation's headquarters, "All of these are enhanced versions of the super serum that gave Leukocyte his powers. The government stopped all production of it, though, and put out a federal mandate banning anyone from trying to recreate it. Typical big business, eh? Thinking they're above the law... well, I'm here to prove that they're not!"

Boogie Knight proceeded to smash all of the test tubes, except one. He stared at it for a moment...

"No, I must destroy them all. Don't be selfish now. There will be chances to be selfish later!" He said, smashing the last of the serum, "This room appears to be secure enough. If I started a fire, it wouldn't spread to the whole building. Perfect. I can remove all traces of this serum from existence- or at least send progress back a long way."

Boogie Knight lit a fire in the room, which quickly destroyed everything in it. On his way out, he took a look at the room straight across the hall, "aha, now... here's my chance to be greedy!"

In the room was a prototype suit of power armor, as well as blueprints to a more complete suit, "This will do for now. Hopefully I can find someone to build me something better than a mere prototype."

Now wearing the proto-armor and stuffing the blueprints into his backpack, Boogie Knight fled the scene as stealthily as he could, but some guards were unavoidable and had to be disabled.

"You should open this door for that nice man in the armor" a voice appeared in the mind of one of the guards in the main lobby. The guard decided to obey, granting Boogie Knight his escape.

"Well... that was easy enough."

"Bwahaha..." Vladimir Victor Vasily Varick Von Valencruz smiled at the girl. Even after being bitten, she believes him! Since Valencruz knew he was not THAT good of an actor, he assumed this girl must just be dreadfully dumb.

"I'm a....night person. I like to pass the time partying and acquiring a den of tanned bitches. Unfortunately, I can't leave this building on account of...a...rare skin condition I have. I, uh, sunburn easily." He watched the bear play with the machine, confused, but as long as it doesn't threaten his food supply he didn't see a reason to intervene. And speaking of food...

"What do...you do? Hehehe..." He couldn't help but glare at Sugar. Her sugar-infused blood gave him such a crazy burst of power, it was impossible not to scheme to control her. Subterfuge was always a fun game for him. And he knew that he HAD to have more of that special blood..

The bear glanced at the vampire man once more. This time, he made more effort at conversation. "WHAT YOU WANT WITH BEAR AND CANDY LADY? YOU AM BLOOD SUCK MAN." his booming telepathic voice roared. The bear, turned, stood on all fours, and looked directly at the man with what appeared to be the bear-version of a frown.

Sugar Shock stood up to her full 5 foot tall height, puffing her chest out in an attempt to look badass and intimidating. Normally liking attention, Vlad's stare made her uncomfortable and it wouldn't do to show fear.
"I'm Sugar Shock and I fuck shit up!" She declared.

Vladimir Victor Vasily Varick Von Valencruz couldn't help but chuckle to himself at the bear. Bears are strong, sure, but a bear, even a psychic one, was still leagues under himself in terms of strength. He thought he'd humor him.

"Whoa, relax. I'm just stuck here for next few hours and thought I'd make the best of it. Besides, I don't suck blood. VAMPIRES suck blood. I am, most certainly, NOT a vampire. So feel free to not wear scarves or turtle necks in my vicinity with the comfort that your necks are perfectly safe." He patted the bear on the head and peered out the window onto the city bathed in the morning sun.

"Night comes....and this sugar lady's blood will make a 100 times stronger than I am now. Those two that escaped from me; something wasn't right about them." Vladimir Victor Vasily Varick Von Valencruz thought to himself. Threats? In HIS city? He wasn't going to stand for that. Until night came along, he wanted to make sure his super-powered food supply was safe, healthy...and nearby.

"Don't worry Smokey, go back to playing with your toys, soon as the sun sets I promise you'll....never see me again..." He shot the bear a horrible grin, making sure to flash his fangs as he did.

"After all, the girl I need...you....you're expendable" He thought to himself. He then turned his attention to Sugar Shock

"Wonderful! Haha! I think I'll like you! So, what are we waiting for? Lets get this party started!" He yelled, as he jumped up atop the desk he was lying down on, throwing his arms out in celebration.

The bear continued to listen. This man thought some very... Very interesting thoughts. It was time for him to help the sugar girl. "LISTEN, CANDY LADY! BLOOD SUCK MAN AM TAKE YOUR BLOOD AND MAKE YOU HIM SLAVE." The bear remained calm physically, hoping to keep the Vampire out of the loop.