#bugool

[gobbogoo]

We're Looking For Dracula

Count Dracula has physical strength which, according to Van Helsing, is equivalent to 20 men.

Eric blinked, and read the first sentence of the field briefing again. Slowly he leaned forward to catch his commander's eye, seated as she was at the compartment's far end.

"Uhhh... chief?" He asked over the roar of the van's engine, "please tell me our best intel on the mark isn't 200 years old?"

"Is there a problem, Agent Anderson?" Commander Barnes glared at the rookie sandwiched between his kevlar-clad comrades. Eric gulped.

"It's just..." he blundered on, sensing a mistake had been made, "'strength equivalent to 20 men' is pretty vague, right? Are these 20 men physically fit? How old are they? If Van Helsing was using himself as a baseline, wouldn't that mean-"

"That's enough, Anderson." The commander's voice hit like a gavel, "That dossier isn't just our best intel, it's our only intel, so I expect you to have it memorized by the time we arrive."

Eric shrank in his combat gear as his squad-mates sniggered into their masks. Surely he couldn't be the only agent more then a little nervous about what they were attempting, could he? This wasn't just some common demon and/or vampire... this was THE demon and/or vampire!

Being undead, he is immune to conventional means of attack. The only definite way to kill him is by decapitating him followed by impalement through the heart with a wooden stake, although it is also suggested that shooting him with a sacred bullet would suffice.

"Chief?" Eric asked again, "if he's impervious to conventional attacks, how do we cut his head off? And what does Helsing mean by a 'sacred bullet?'"

"Just read the briefing, Anderson."

Eric remembered the collection of priests, rabbi, pastors, swami, and mullah he'd seen that morning in the armoury. A clear sign intelligence hadn't been any more certain on the specifications then he was.

The Count can defy gravity to a certain extent, being able to climb upside down vertical surfaces in a reptilian manner. He has powerful hypnotic and telepathic abilities, and is also able to command nocturnal animals such as wolves and rats.

Eric struggled to hold in his exasperation with every additional sentence. 'Powerful hypnotic and telepathic abilities' could mean so many things... but he could tell from Barnes' expression that another word would mean patrolling the ghoul pits for a week.

Dracula can also manipulate the weather, usually creating mists to hide his presence, but also storms such as in his voyage in the Demeter. He can shapeshift at will, his featured forms being that of a bat, a rat, a wolf, vapor, and fog.

"I'm sorry, he can do what?" Eric couldn't help himself, "even if these bullets work, how am I supposed to shoot fog, commander? And who's to say what else he can-"

"You think I don't know that, Anderson?" The commander's interruption was louder then he expected, her tone a little less controlled, "we're hunting a legend based off hearsay, with untested weapons and unclear threats. You really think I'm happy with those odds, rookie? But if this were an easy mark, they wouldn't have called in P.A.C.T." Barnes gestured to her agents, squeezed together on benches and jostled by the uneven road. "We're here because we do what nobody else can. Central Intelligence may be uncertain about this job, but I am not. I don't care if it's Dracula, Nosferatu, or Satan himself, we are this nation's prime defence against the paranormal and we are damn good at what we do."

A hurrah went up from the squad. There was nothing like a good speech to bolster moral.

"Also," Barnes added after the cheer had subsided, "we've got the mother of all dehumidifiers in the trunk."