8. Three minutes to Midnight.

'Red Fox One to Chicken Coop, we have eyes on the prize. Standing by for go. Three minutes to Tango!'

'Red Fox One, Roger that, hold for go. We still have a man on scene. Repeat hold for go!'

'Red Fox One copy that. Holding for go. Red Fox One out.'

The huge screens at Chicken Coop showed the fighter jet's instrument display. The abandoned prison highlighted in red squares.

A triangle bobbed almost imperceptibly dead centre. The legends Target Locked and Weapons Armed glowed beneath.

The top brass gathered in the command centre looked questioningly at the Commander in Chief.

'Madam President, do we have Go, ma'am?'

'Three minutes, we still have three minutes. Hold on Go!' She looked at the screens and prayed softly, 'For God's sake, Steel, and for the sake of humanity, if you're going to do something, do it now!'

The central courtyard of the prison, invisible in the pitch black but clear on the infrared, teamed with milling creatures.

Thousands upon thousands of vampire warriors waited for the Master's orders.

Thirst and bloodlust reached unbearable levels as the tall, pale figure appeared on the gantry.

The female half- human struggled pitifully in his vice-like grip, she would be the first to turn that night; many thousands more would follow if the horde reached the mainland.

Each death adding to the vampire army. Humanity was surely doomed if they weren't stopped. Now. Whilst still confined to the island prison.

She peered into the night, hoping, praying,

Where was the one person who could stop this slaughter?

Where was the one person who could give her release, stop the blood hunger building as her body turned vampire?

Where was the one brave soul who could destroy the Master and his minions?

Where, oh where, was Windsor Steel?

9. Double Trouble.

'Where the hell is Henry Letterbox?' Steve Swann sat on set whilst the cast and crew milled around aimlessly.

The final scene was burning thousands of dollars with each minute of delay.

Hundreds of extras stood in the central courtyard, leaning on weapons, picking at the prosthetic fangs and murmuring in bored-sounding Romanian¹.

The Master stood, pale and thin on the gantry, playing Kandy Krush and picking at a thread on his cape, much to the dismay of the wardrobe mistress.

Crew stood around eating doughnuts and checking equipment for the umpteenth time that night.

Swann lit another joint. He hated night shoots, hated the cold set, hated bloody Henry Letterbox!

'OK dudes, take, erm, another five!' Ignoring the groans, Swann bounded rather unstably off set and set off back to the hotel.

Henry was freaking dead when he eventually found him!

'I'm bleedin' dead!' Henry thought.

One minute he was preparing for a smooch with his co-star, the next he was irritably flinging the hotel room door open to tell whoever to bugger off, then found himself face to face with..erm...well with his bleedin' (and rather bloody) co-star!

'Please Henry, ask me in?' She breathed...again?

Henry looked over his shoulder, sure enough, there on the bed, his bed, lay Sonia, night gown pulled up, flashing gorgeous legs, waiting for him to resume his smooching.

But there, at the door was Sonia too, Sonia two?

'Wha...?' Poor Henry was caught between ardour and confusion, 'How, who...?'

'Come to join the party, sister?' Tonya smiled, showing rather pointy teeth.

Sonia licked her lips, marveling at the two sharp fangs suddenly protruding.

'You took your time turning, girl, we've been waiting!'

Henry still stood holding the door, a puzzled look on his face.

Sonia joined her twin on Henry's bed.

'I've missed you so much, sis, mom and pops, too.'

'I knew you'd be back. I've waited for you. Now we can be together again, forever this time.... now you're one of us!'

The sisters embraced.

'One of us?' Henry was disappointed, 'So you're a bleedin' lezzer, too?'

'Oh, Henry, you dumbass, I'm going to really, really enjoy killing you!'

Both girls went from sexy to sexy but bleedin' horrifying in an instant, flying off the bed and attacking Letterbox in a hail of sharp teeth and sexy nighties.

Henry stumbled backwards through the still open door, into the arms of a rather irate and slightly stoned Steve Swann. Both went down.

'Jeez, dude, where've you been, man?' Swann got to his feet and slapped the silver cross into Henry's outstretched hand, 'Back on lot, now! We've got a full freakin' crew waiting for yo...'

He stopped, slack-jawed, as the scantily-clad vampires burst into the hallway, hissing and spitting.

'Whoa dude, twins, cool! Kudos, man, but we gotta split!'

Henry gripped the cross waving it around madly in front of him as he struggled to get to his feet and the vamps closed on him.

One foot stuck out, catching Tonya's bare toes.

She fell forwards.

Henry flung his hands up to protect his face and was rather shocked that he was suddenly covered with burning ash as the cross impaled the equally rather shocked Tonya.

Sonia screeched as she bent forward to help her sister, hands grabbing at nothing but ash. She lost balance, momentum forcing her to stumble over Henry's feet.

Letterbox was still looking blankly at the cross in his hands as Sonia disappeared in a rather ashy explosion.

'Dude,' breathed Swann, 'That was...freakin'... awesome!' He looked around wildly.

'Jeez, I hope this dump has CCTV running, what a freakin' cool promo!'

10. Man of Steel.

Windsor Steel stood atop the flaming guard tower. Below him, the prison burned.

All but one of the creatures had been slain, the Master dead, really, truly dead after an epic battle.

Steel, scarred and bleeding, climbed higher, silver crucifix clamped between perfect teeth.

On the roof, the monster that was once his beloved Cassandra waited, screaming hate as the two jet fighters flew overhead.

'Not yet, boys, not yet!' Steel managed a handsome smile despite a mouthful of ornate silver as he pulled himself athletically up onto the tiles.

Red Fox One and Two each dipped a wing in salute to the brave Brit and headed off home, disarming the tactical nukes with grateful sighs.

'I'm sorry, darling, but this is goodbye! I love you, Cassandra!'

And Steel pounced.

Somersaulting through the air, he twisted up and over the vampire, landing perfectly and impaling her with one fluid movement.

Cassandra gasped.

'I love you, Steel, I'm glad you've saved the world!' and with that she exploded into a cloud of burning ash.

'Just doing my job, my love, just doing my job,' Steel smiled sadly into camera as the music boomed and the credits rolled.

The End.

Freewayriding

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