Two-moon tyrant.

"I'm fine!" Shadow yelled back. The jeeps were getting close, too close for her liking. All she knew was that she was glad that Archangel and Onyx were out of the way.

The jeeps were now at approximately 10 meters from the two. Vladimir knew that the jeeps were here for killing. Killing Vladimir. But Vladimir was more worried about Shadow, if she was searched for too. The people in the jeeps showed their weapons. They pointed them at Vladimir, who instantly took a step back.

Shadow stepped forwards, her eyes glowing in their four-eyed demonic form.
"Cease this cause for a moment of diplomatic desicion!" She said loudly, her voice layered with growling tones of her other side.

A man stepped out of one heavily armoured jeep. A loud thud was heard on the grainy sand as a huge military boot stepped out of the jeep. A black-skinned man with black glasses and a toothy grin appeared somehow out of the jeep. He was humongous, almost taller than Vladimir. It was hard to think that he could fit in the jeep, because his legs were so muscled. The man carried an artillary gun on his back, and was clothed with pale coloured clothing. He wore black army boots, and tons of medals on the shirt. One of his teeth shined gold as he grinned greatly.
'The Cursed Gunman,' he bellowed, 'followed by a mere lady? How useless of him.'
Vladimir stuttered slightly, then caught his breath, 'Nah, I can explain, you see, she... Eh, she...' he said, with an idiotic grin on his face. Damnit.

Shadow turned her four-eyes gaze onto the man who had spoken.
"Beware of whom you call 'mere'" She growled, her eyes narrowed.

Who is this woman? The man thought. Or is this just an illusional trick?
The man put his hand on his back, and took out the big gun he had, and pointed it at Vladimir, who coughed stupidly. Vladimir's face was sweaty. He put his hands up, his gun still in his hand. Vladimir took a step back.
Clink.
Clink? Vladimir thought. Vladimir looked at his feet. A trap door? Vladimir looked up at the guy, and smiled like an idiot before falling down into the dark hole.
Thud.
'Ooowwwww, Damnit!' Vladimir yelled, rubbing his head, 'What the hell was a trap door doing here?!'

Shadow smirked slightly at the man.
"I am Shadow Roth, the hunted half-demon." She said. Her other side was gradually taking over her mind, throwing all thoughts of protection against these men thrown out.

'Shadow Roth?' the man repeated after her, 'You mean, that woman who slayed lots of men?'
The gigantic man laughed. It was more like a roar. He glared down at Shadow. 'Well, men,' he continued, 'Looks like we got two birds with one rock. Get her.'
Two white men appeared from a jeep, and directed themselves to Shadow.

Vladimir was still in the dark hole. He couldn't see anything, and his head hurt. He wondered what was happening up there, as it was hard to see when you are twenty meters deep. Vladimir started poking around, and he felt a ladder.
'Aha!'
Vladimir grabbed it, and when he was about to put his foot onto the first bar, it cracked, and broke.
'Damn, rusty crap.'
Vladimir started looking around, his eyes slowly getting used to the darkness. 'What is this place, anyways?'

Shadow, regaining control over her other side, paniked slightly at the sight of the men. She morphed into a wolf, jumping down the hole after Vladimir. She shook her head as she landed, getting rid of a slightly dazed feeling before changing back.

Vladimir looked up, and received Shadow on his face.
Thud.
Vladimir was folded up into a crashing position. His fingers twitched two or three times. He shoved Shadow off, and looked up. The men were staring down at them, guns pointed. Vladimir opened his eyes wide. He pushed Shadow into a hole that continued, kinda like a hall, and he jumped after her. A flurry of bullets bounced off the cold, metal ground. Vladimir panted quickly.

Shadow had re-morphed into a wolf, bounding a few paces into the tunnel before turning and looking back at Vladimir, waiting for him to follow.

'Hm?' Vladimir uttered as he looked at the wolf. Well, a shapeshifter family. Eh.
Vladimir stood up, and hit his head against the low ceiling. He rubbed his head, grinced his teeth, then opened his eyes again, and followed Shadow into the darkness of the tunnel, crouched, hoping that she knew where she was going, which was unprobable.

The wolf-Shadow trotted along the passage, nose to the ground to predict anything that had recently passed through here. So far, she could only smell the rather unnerving smell of long-deceased desert rat. Not a welcoming scent to her mind at that present moment in time.

ooc// I would absolutely love to join this thread if you would so permit me. I will await either your affirmative or negative answer before I act upon my inclinations.

- Go ahead! -

--We need more people. NAO. C'mon in.--

Vladimir crouched. He smelled a familiar odour. Not the one of the dead rat (but he still smelled that) but an odour his family's lived alongside, and he's always alongside it.
Gunpowder.
Vladimir passed Shadow in the narrow hall, crouch-walking very fast to see what was at the end of this tunnel. His head brought down, he hit a box. He rubbed his head again, and looked at the letters of the box. They formed a word. A word he knew well. Gunpowder.
Soon after that, he noticed that they were in an artillery room.

Shadow loped next to Vladimir, but stopped before she hit the box. She raised an eyebrow, wondering what on earth gunpowder was doing under a desert.

'It's a secret base,' Vladimir said, 'I've already been in one of these.'
Vladimir continued, avoiding all barrels, crates, and such, to go near a metallic door. He prodded at the door, trying to find a switch or so, to open it. He felt all along the door, using his height to reach the top. Nothing. Vladimir looked at the barrels of gunpowder.
Hm.
Vladimir took one barrel, and cracked it open with a heeldrop. A dark sand-like powder seeped through the cracked wood. He took a handful, and started putting it down near the bottom of the door.

Shadow morphed back into her human form.
"If you don't mind me asking, what on earth are you doing? Trying to blow the whole place up?"

'No,' Vladimir answered, 'Just trying to blow the locks up.'
Vladimir finished spreading the gunpowder under the door. He banged twice on the door, at the top.
'As you see, Shadow,' he explained, 'This door is not locked at the top. You can feel it by pushing on the top. Meanwhile,'
Vladimir banged two times at the bottom of the door.
'At the bottom, the darn thing won't budge. There aren't any locks on the sides, as this is a mechanicle door that slides into the walls.' Basically, can you help me push all the barrels and crates away? I'm kinda scared that if I miss my spark it'll go blow up the rest of this damned place.'
Vladimir walked towards the broken barrel, and sweeped the gunpowder away with his hands, while throwing away the broken bits of wood. He toopled another barrel to the side, and rolled it to the wall behind. He tried pushing some crates, which were pretty heavy, and managed to push them about ten centimeters or so without his arms aching.

Shadow used her magic to sweep most of the barrels aside, concentrating hard on not tipping them over or igniting their dangerous contenance.

Once the barrels were removed, Vladimir took another handful of gunpowder, and tried shoving some under the door, as it was thin. He managed, but then it was blocked. He spreaded it near the bottom, then took his gun, and removed the remaining bullets. He approached the security to the gunpowder.
'Stay back,' he warned.

Helicopter blades make a most obtrusive sound when they churn the air to keep the vehicle in flight. It was this noise that could be heard over the little pow-wow of jeeps that just happened to be out in the middle of the desert. The circle of armed men that stood around the hole in the sand, a most interesting feature, turned to watch the approaching chopper. It kicked up sand all around as it landed, its blade still turning. Disgorging a single passenger the machine once again took to the skies and vanished. The lone figure, garbed all in black, stomped over to the military detail, a dark colored scarf obscured its face. A male voice barked out from beneath the veil, "Where is she? The Roth?"

Shadow's ears twitched as she heard her name. Curious, she turned back, morphing into a wolf for the vague camoflague it gave her, and loped back, scrambling up the ladder quickly. She poked her black head out of the hole in the sand, squinting against the glare of the sun.

Dark eyes turned to the motion with the fluid grace possessed by only the most unearthly of creatures. A tinge of red fire flared for a moment before it faded back into the abyss of those deep black orbs. "You," the voice was almost a growl. The appearance of the handgun from within the large black coat was incredibly sudden, but instead of shooting the wolf, the figure dropped and shot at the jeeps, not the men around him. They were close enough for him to put a bullet in one of the fuel tanks. The resulting explosion was phenomenal, spouting both sound and light. It was just unexpected enough to draw the attention of the men away, as the shadowy man lunged for the wolf. Grasping the creature, he dragged it down with him as he fell. The landing was hard, and the man rolled away growling in pain and coddling one of his arms.