Hail to the Victors (after HH)
Stefan: "The last time I felt that kind of sting was when your mother kissed me."
Chase: "It's the Rachel school of seduction."
Raveena: "I guess he wasn't up for my moves."
Shannon: "Sorry you played the human cannonball."
Deaver: "That's okay. The table broke my fall."
Deaver: "I was trying to help, but then I started racking up the Frequent Flier miles."
Stefan: "That was one drunk driver."
Geoff: "How many of these guys are smart enough to lock their lockers?" Chase: "How many of these guys are smart enough to take the combination off the back of the lock?"
Chase: "Gabe is wearing khakis and a sweater, so we should kill him. Did I follow that correctly?"
Deaver: "This ritual was done by a rank amateur. I know they were rank, because I smelled them."
Chase: "You can trust me - I'm the press."
Stefan: "This is some good shit."
Our stalwart heroes are about their daily business, and we get a peek via a montage of scenes:
Gabe's closet comes into view, with his usual trench coat hanging forlornly on the rack. He slides the mirrored door into place, and we see him in khakis and a sweater.
Raveena is doing her usual patrol, staking ickies.
Stefan, a little lonely for home, is cooking is favorite dish.
Deaver is in his lab, working away on his latest experiment. As usual, the thing in front of him accidentally catches on fire.
Geoff is glued to a microscope, completely absorbed in something, well, microscopic. He comes up for air long enough to jot down a few notes. Behind him, a morgue assistant is trying to get his attention, gesturing at the three bodies that have just been wheeled in. Resigned, Geoff goes to work, leaving the more interesting stuff for later.
Chase is coiled up in a desk chair, frowning over her checkbook. The numbers look perilously close to negative. In disgust, she wads up a sheet of figures and aims for the trash can. She misses, but the crumpled ball then floats up off the floor and lands gently in the trash. Chase smiles and shakes her head, turning back to her desk.
The camera focuses on a lone candle. It pans out to reveal that a small dark room is full of them, surrounding some kind of shrine. There is low chanting in the background. The camera pans over a small table full of football paraphernalia - a ball, a helmet, a jersey, and a little stuffed husky dog. A man whose face we don't see holds a dagger, and he slices his other palm. The chanting grows more intense. Blood slowly drips over the items on the shrine and the chanting rises to fever pitch ?
* * *
It is a Friday night at Lone Star, and the gang is collected at their usual table. They give Gabe a little crap about his unusual attire, and make small talk. Deaver fills the gang in on the news he heard over the radio on the way - apparently the Phillipi football team just won yet another game. No one at the table is a particularly big football fan, but the turnaround is remarkable, as the Phillipi Huskies have been the doormat of Division III for years. They're suddenly winning games by forty points or more. Just then the topic of their conversation walks in. Apparently the Huskies have decided it is time to celebrate, and they didn't even stop for a shower; their hair is still wild and they even have their eye black on. The players tumble in followed by the cheerleaders, and they immediately start causing trouble. A few of them haul their smelly bulks out onto the dance floor and start sending the other patrons flying as they groove to the music. Some of their buddies take over the bar area and start giving Shannon a hard time. She won't serve the underage players, and they start raising their voices. Concerned, Geoff goes over to the bar area and settles himself purposefully on a stool near Shannon. He casually insults the players, but uses so many syllables that he completely loses them. As they get more and more aggressive, he quietly tells Shannon to call Richard. He also asks for the pair of handcuffs he knows Shannon keeps behind the bar. [I know what your thinking. But after all, Richard is a cop. No really.]
Chase decides that something needs to be done about the dancing 300-pound white boys who are upsetting Shannon's patrons, so she moves in to try to get them off the floor. Raveena goes with her to help.
When Chase (being a cute blonde type) gets within five feet of the dance area she is immediately assailed by a mobile mountain of smelly football player. He tries to get her to dance, and she resists, aiming to throw enough of a scene to draw him away from the other patrons. It doesn't really work.
Raveena also attracts a lot of attention when she gets to the dance floor, and another player descends on her. She starts "dancing", trying to get in a good head butt or knock him out or something in the process. The guy dancing with Chase makes a grab for her and she slaps him across the face. Deaver starts to intervene, but the giant picks him up and tosses him across the room where he hits a table with a loud "crack"?
A full-on bar fight ensues. Geoff drops one of the guys and cuffs him to the bar railing. Raveena keeps using her "dance moves" on her unfortunate partner, finally knocking him out flat on the floor, where the other dancers scatter like abused bowling pins. The hulking dancer reaches for Chase again, but suddenly goes flying across the room himself. Gabe winks at her from their table, where he is still casually lounging.
A tall all-American type (Dallas Palmer, the quarterback) finally stands up and shouts to the other players, breaking up the fight. He says they're obviously not wanted here, and directs the linebackers to pick up their unfortunate teammates. He reaches down to his pal who is handcuffed to the bar, and grasps the cuffs in both hands. They snap with minimal effort. The players leave.
By this time the patrons have all left the building, and the gang starts to help Shannon clean up. As they do, they make plans. After all, these guys could be causing serious problems in town tonight. Geoff wracks his brain for a drug that can juice someone's strength enough to snap a pair of standard police-issue handcuffs, but nothing comes to mind; whatever it is, it isn't a typical steroid. Raveena says she'll do a quick patrol and check out Cura's to make sure they aren't there. Geoff, Chase, and Stefan head for the stadium to search the locker rooms. Deaver and Gabe take off for the library, hoping to find something that might help.
* * *
Raveena does a fast tour of campus and the surrounding areas, but nothing turns up except a cute puppy dog. There hasn't been a sign of them at Cura's either, which seems strangely welcoming and calm after the Lone Star, in spite of its demonic patronage and abysmal kareoke.
* * *
At the stadium the party is still raging. The band is on the field playing away, and the coaching staff is just now starting to clean things up. Geoff, Chase, and Stefan make their way to the locker room unnoticed. It's locked, but Geoff takes care of that pretty quickly [apparently some old habits die hard]. Geoff and Chase search lockers, while Stefan checks out the coach's office. Finding nothing in lockers or the laundry bin, Chase crosses to an unmarked door - probably a supply closet or something. Naturally, it's locked. She pulls out a credit card and jimmies the lock [like we said, old habits], opening the door to reveal some kind of ? shrine? Uh-oh. She calls Geoff and Stefan over. There are gutted candles, and a slew of football related items, many of them bloodstained. It's hard to tell for certain, but Geoff and Chase would guess it is a few weeks old. They find a Big Chief tablet with some really poorly formed archaic writing on it and one name they recognize - Morrigan. Celtic goddess of war and death and the like. They call Deaver to get an occult expert in to check out the shrine. Geoff is suspicious of Gabe's latest preppy fashion choices and their oddly timely correspondence to this football mystery, so at his urging they tell Deaver not to bring Gabe with him.
Deaver and Raveena show up at the same time, and take a look at the players' foray into the occult. Deaver tells them the ritual looks like a three-year-old performed it - there is no way it WORKED. It's hopelessly amateurish. Digging around in the shrine, Chase finds a jersey for #1, Jordan. Francis R. Jordan - that would be the kicker, according to the roster in the locker room. The guys on the radio also told Deaver that he is the one guy on the team who still sucks. He's never kicked so much as an extra point. They decide that it might be best to try to talk to the head coach about the players' recent behavior, so they head to the field to look for him. Unsure of the best way to get info from the coach, they send Raveena to fake being a school reporter. It doesn't go well, so Chase intervenes as another school reporter. The conversation goes slightly better (despite Geoff's howling laughter in the background), although it reveals little of interest - Dallas Palmer is the heart and soul of the team. Jordan perennially stinks. And the turn around is even more of a triumph for the Huskies because the roster hasn't changed much since last season. The coach also can't help noting that his boys certainly don't practice at the same caliber that they've been playing. The water boy brings Coach Flippin a cup of water from the coolers, and looks very nervous at the sight of our scoobies. Suspicious, Chase and Raveena head for the water coolers like they own the place, curious to get a sample of whatever is in there. The water boy, Vann McCarthy, desperately tries to stop them, claiming that the water is exclusively for the team. Geoff sees the commotion and starts towards them. Chase pours a cup of water, chatting with McCarthy and trying to distract him with an "interview" long enough for Geoff to show up, grab the goods, and book it back to the group. McCarthy frantically goes after him, so rather than risk not finding out what the water is spiked with, Geoff takes a swig. It's a little fizzy and a little sweet. McCarthy finally breaks down and tells them the truth: that he has indeed spiked the water. With Perrier and passion fruit juice. The coach and team are raving about the refreshing taste, but if they ever found out what they were really drinking, they'd kill him. They assure McCarthy that his secret is safe with them, and are stuck with another dead end. The only person left that they haven't approached is the team's trainer. Geoff, Deaver and Stefan go to the weight room to find him, while Chase and Raveena hit the girl's locker room, just in case. After all, the cheerleaders were at the bar, too.
* * *
In the weight room Jim Webster, the trainer, is securing the last of the equipment. As professors, Geoff and Deaver start chatting with him about the team and what is different this year. Jokingly, Webster motions to the eye black he's holding and mentions that he's just started picking this stuff up this year - locally made and really cheap. Curious, Geoff questions him about it. Stefan asks Webster if he can have a closer look, scoops up a blob of the goop, and smudges some of it on his face. He suddenly hears the blood rush into his ears and feels as though he could move mountains. Geoff sees Stefan trying to control his reaction to the eye black (with only moderate success), and asks if he can have the tin. While Stefan is zipping around the gym picking up REALLY heavy things and putting them down again, Geoff queries Webster about who is selling the eye black to him. It turns out it's a Phillipi Chemistry/Pre-Med major named Will Tulley. Geoff knows the guy - he was one of his Chemistry students the previous year. Smart and talented. He thanks Webster, and he and Deaver get Stefan to drop the several hundred pound bar he is benching, hustling him out of the weight room.
* * *
The women's locker room is already unlocked when Raveena and Chase arrive. Several of the cheerleaders have returned to pick up some things they'd forgotten. Veena and Chase take the opportunity to chat up Kristy Fitzgerald, the head cheerleader, who is dating Dallas Palmer. She admits that after the Friday games this season Dallas has been pretty moody. Like, throwing stuff. But she manages to ? calm him down with some fun tricks in the shower. She blushes a little. Convinced that they've learned all they can, Veena and Chase take their leave.
They meet up with the boys outside the locker room, where Geoff quickly explains what happened during their chat with the trainer. He tells them he is going to take the eye black to the lab to do a quick analysis. Raveena and Deaver handle damage control with Stefan, planning to take him out to do some vampire hunting until he can work this stuff off. That leaves Chase to track down Will Tulley, the Chemistry student, and get him to Geoff's lab as quickly as possible.
* * *
As a sophomore, Will Tulley still lives in the honors dorm, so he is pretty easy to find. He is surprised to find a gorgeous, older blonde at his door. Even so he keeps looking back over his shoulder nervously into his darkened dorm room as she tries to persuade him to come with her. With enough batting of eyelashes, he eventually agrees to follow the girl who so desperately needs his help over at the Chemistry building.
* * *
Deaver, Veena, and Stefan, having destroyed all the vamps they can readily find, head to the Chemistry building to see if Geoff has come up with anything and to make sure he isn't disturbed by any hopped up football players or other baddies. They wait outside until they see Chase enter the building with Will, and then Deaver goes in after them. Veena and Stefan remain outside to keep watch, and to keep Stefan out of as much trouble as possible.
* * *
In the lab, Will is crestfallen to see Geoff. His nervousness comes back to the forefront and he tries to escape, but with Chase at the door and Geoff taking him firmly by the shoulder, there isn't much he can do. Geoff guides him to a lab bench and shows him what he's working on. By now, Geoff has discovered that the compound contains traces of blood that isn't human. As soon as Will gets a good look in the microscope, he bolts away and starts stammering out an explanation. There was this demon that approached him and said he'd be rich once the Phillipi team won every game. Apparently he had a lot of money riding on it in Vegas. He didn't give Will his name, just some of his blood. The eye black is the fruit of the chemist's labors. Deaver walks in to the lab in the midst of the confession.
Geoff, Chase, and Deaver don't have to worry for long about tracking down the demon, because he knocks the door off it's hinges on his way through, with Stefan and Raveena firmly attached to him. He's green, muscle-bound, and mighty ugly. A big fight ensues, with a lot of shattering glass, despite Geoff and Chase's efforts to get stuff out of the way. They eventually take him down, doing him in permanently with a long drink of sulfur [which I guess they happened to have sitting around for some reason]. Chase urges Stefan and Veena to get the body out of the lab before the fumes do them all in, and Geoff reads Will the riot act and promises to get him kicked out of the department if he ever pulls a stunt like this again. Suitably terrified, Will bolts, and the scoobies go home to well-deserved rest.
The Phillipi Huskies actually eke out a win the following week ? by a field goal.