Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Start over, from the beginning. We just want to be sure we got everything that we understand what happened to you." A voice asked.

"Ok, so…I was on patrol, there were a few calls made to the police and the PRT hotline that there was a suspected Cape in the area. People saw cars flipped over, something moving fast, climbing the edges of buildings. So, I went to the site of the most recent sighting to be called in and radioed over to me."

"And that took you where?" The voice asked again.

"It was...the SeaSide Apartments Complex, near downtown. Someone called it in saying there was a sighting of something climbing on the walls of the complex, on the dark side, so they could just barely see whatever it was. I went inside to investigate, the first…I want to say 5 floors were normal, with nothing to note some people were spooked when they heard something outside of their rooms. Like a big dog growling."

"But…on the 6th floor, a few people were worried. Someone shined a light on the thing as it climbed by their window. They said it was…they said it was a monster. Big yellow eyes, snarling teeth, claws that were big. It leaped up a vertical surface with a single leap, it moved fast."

"And that was when the sounds of fighting were heard?" The voice asked again.

"That's when I saw a TV being thrown out a window from an upper floor, yeah."

"So what did you do?" The voice questioned.

"I rushed up the stairs, it was on the top floor, or maybe the second-to-top floor. I wasn't sure it was a bit of a blur."

"Well, what can you recall?" The voice pushed on.

"I got up there and it was like a fight between brutes had torn through the floor. Walls had massive holes in them, I could probably see through nearly a half-dozen rooms. There were huge claw marks in the wall like claw marks the size of a bear, doors were broken or outright torn off their hinges, furniture thrown in every direction. I thought it might have been Hook Wolf and Storm Tiger attacking someone, but….I was wrong. I saw…whatever it was, and it…I don't know what I saw, but it was not Hookwolf, it was, I don't know it looked human I think? But also too…Animalistic. The lights were damaged so I couldn't make out a clear picture outside of its general shape. I then just saw it leap into the hall like it was hunting something because it stopped. I think it looked at me, or maybe it was…smelling the air before it charged and pounced on me."

"And that was when you passed out?" Inquired the voice.

"No, I was able to use its leap against it and throw it over me. I swear, I heard it crash through the stair's metal railings so I thought that maybe I knocked it."

"Yet you didn't, did you." The voice stated.

"No…cause as I stood up I heard this…this deep growl, like the kind of growl you'd hear from a bear or maybe even a large cat, a growl that just…I don't know how to describe it other than it literally caused this fear to take hold of my body."

"Was there anything else you could tell us of what happened?" The voice inquired.

"I just turned and all I saw was. No were these two golden eyes and then teeth, teeth larger than I had ever seen before in my life coming at me faster than I could dodge…then this pain shooting through my body like the kind of never felt before, and then…nothing. I honestly thought I died till I woke up to responding officers and PRT troopers lifting me into an ambulance."

The medical cast around the arm was lifted, making them wince slightly.

"We were able to have Panacea look you over, you had a few hairline fractures across your body, but ulna and radius were nearly broken. Whatever it was that attacked you when you were out of it, had bitten you and nearly broke your arm." The voice informed them before they paused and added "What's more due to the size and shape of the bite it's believed to have been done by a large K-9 or some form of species similar to it. So until further notice, we ask that you come in every so often for a check-up on the progress of your arms healing, maybe even some blood work just to be safe."

The one asking questions stepped out, looking at their two other compatriots.

"Does that mean it was Hellhound? It may fit with her abilities, but not her MO."

"Unless she was hired by someone, or is working with someone."

"Not likely to be the Empire, unless she suddenly is ok with their dog fights. Maybe…could the Empire have a master that they have been hiding all this time?"

"Not likely, with a power like that, they would use them as much as possible."

"Maybe it's a new cape…fresh triggers tend to be more reckless. It could just be that."

"That could be an option we need to consider."

"It may be a Case 53, they aren't common but with Faultline technically being present in the city, this may be a new member of her group."

"There is a chance of this being an animal that triggered. There are discussions, even theories about this, maybe that's what this is. One of the dogs had a forced trigger event in a dog fight. It could just be so rare that it's like a 1 in a million event."

The group had a moment of silent contemplation of the implications and opinions presented until one voice spoke up among the group.

"I think we're missing a key aseptic here. The color of the attacker's eyes. If this was a regular dog then the report would have said reddish or even a deeper color of red glow. Not yellow."

"Ok so the eyes were yellow instead of red, why is that important?"

"It means the difference between a domesticated animal and a wild beast."

"Fair…But I think there is a much more dangerous thing we need to consider."

"That being?"

"Who's going to tell Assault that his wife was attacked and hospitalized while working?"

There was a great silence as they all stared at the person who asked the question.

Armsmaster sighed, turning away from Dauntless and Miss Militia who knew that if anyone could remain calm with a livid Assault, it would be him.

Across the city, the dying howl of a wild beast was silenced by the clawed strike of another beast. It towered over its now dead rival as its breath hung in the cool air, blood dripping from its body, claws, and teeth. The one who ended the other looked down before their head turned, with a gruff snarling voice, giving orders to those nearby. Jerry cans filled with gasoline were poured on the body of the dead beast, and fire was set aflame.

With the flame slowly consuming the corpse of the foe, an understanding of what needed to be done could be understood by all those who gathered around. They needed to send a message out to various parties of the Bay.

A secret had nearly been uncovered. Someone who disregarded the code had come and almost revealed the Masquerade to those who were not ready to discover the world that lay within the shadows.

The flames burned the body down to the bones, leaving only the charred remains of the one who intruded upon the delicate balance that kept so many safe from that which they could not understand.

The beast stood over the remains until another walked towards them and with a bow said in a deep bestial voice "Elder, there might be a problem."

The beast tilted their head towards the smaller one as he commanded in a deeper, older voice "What? Are sworn enemies here as well?"

With the shake of a head the smaller beast informs the now-named Elder Beast "No, the curse was passed onto one of the costumed humans." With a head held low in respect, they could not see the look of anger which was now adopted by the Elder beast.

The Elder beast reached down, grabbing the skull of the dead outsider, "A final bane that you left us." was all that was said, before the blackened skull was cast away, and stomped on with an audible crunch by the Elder, before his form returned to that of an older human dawned in a large leather duster which blew in the night air as his piercing eyes stared out towards the bay with a deep scowl upon his face as his pack form up behind him also looking towards the city below them.

The Sanctuary this place once provided may devolve into yet another battlefield of the forgotten war. Long forgotten by the tapestry woven by those for whom have attempted for the veil of normalcy to protect the normal mortals to go to and from their lives ignorant of the war which has been waged eons by those cursed by god and those blessed by the devil.

Chapter Text

Days till Full Moon: 11

Armsmaster reread the medical report going over the injuries that Panacea found and healed in Battery.

51 fractured bones that were regenerated
3 bones fully rebuilt
Extensive bruising of internal organs 30% of her musculature was bruised
Regrowth and rebuilding of the Extensor muscle group together

What caught Armsmaster off guard was the destruction of a tumor that had been found in her body. She had been able to have healthy cells target the tumor, it wasn’t very big and was initially mistaken as a broken fragment of the Ulna. Maybe in a few days, Panacea could check on her again, and make sure everything was fine.

Armsmaster set the report down, he needed to talk with Ethan. Stepping into the private room, Assault nervously bounced his leg before standing up, Velocity was next to him. The married man got up and looked at Armsmaster.

“Is Jane okay?” Ethan asked, using Battery’s real name. He was worried and serious.

Ethan only got the report as Battery was recovered by the PRT squad, mostly because they didn’t even know how bad it was. He rushed to the hospital as fast as he could, Armsmaster was worried that he would burst through a few walls on his way to the hospital.

“Jane is going to be ok. Panacea was able to heal the damage that was done. We still don’t have a solid idea of what it was that did the damage. The bite mark looks like it was made by some sort of animal. I was able to have a scan made, and will be cross-referencing it with known animalistic changers and data involving animal-controlling capes who have been quiet for some time.” Colin explained to his friend.

“Good, good. I’m just-” Ethan was silent as he tried to collect his thoughts. “Are we sure this wasn’t Hookwolf? If this was him, we could finally authorize a kill order on the bastard, and then maybe we can-” Ethan was cut off as Colin placed his hand on the mover’s shoulder.

“Ethan.” Colin spoke with a firm tone of voice. “I know you are angry, I know you want to find who did this. I do too.” Colin was trying to recenter Ethan’s focus, away from what he would do, to what he needed to do. “This may be a confused kid for all we know. We need to be rational.” Colin told Ethan.

Ethan, looking at Colin with a worried expression, sighed.

“You’re right. You’re right.” Ethan exhaled as if he just dropped a massive weight from his shoulders.

“Do we have any leads?” Robin asked.

“Currently, Jane says that what she saw was animal-like, large, and seemingly strong, by the description of the destruction of the floor that it was able to do.” Colin listed the information off.

“That doesn’t narrow it down much. We can try and find out if it is Hellhound, maybe it’s a new dog. She has a trio, maybe she’s going for a quartet now.” Ethan pointed out.

“It may just be a new changer. Ethan, maybe you can take a few days off and stay with your wife. We can handle whoever or whatever this is.” Robin explained, trying to reassure his friend as well.

Ethan took a few deep breaths before his head dropped slightly below his shoulders.

“You’re right. I’m guessing the standard week away for injuries?” Ethan asked, looking at the leader of the ENE Team.

“Yes. If Jane is fine after a week, you both can return to the duty roster.” Colin explained.

Colin walked out of the private room and left the hospital. He had asked Dragon if she could have the scans of the bite indentations compared to those of known animalistic capes. Comparing Changer and known animal minion Master Capes, along with the few Case 53s that have a potential, would help determine if this is a known or unknown cape. If it wasn’t a known cape, and his college theories proved right, a whole new type of animal-based trigger altogether.

Coming to a stop at a light, Colin watched, the street light down the road flickered a few times, the bulb must be going out. While he technically used his position in the Protectorate to have the light changed, it was a petty use of his authority. The light changed green and Armsmaster drove off, he was still working on establishing an early stage of a warning system against the Endbringers, going over the history of Endbringer attacks.

There was a small trend that Armsmaster was detecting, though he hadn’t brought it up to Dragon or anyone else. If he had to guess, there was a strong likelihood that Behemoth would be next, just from how the previous attacks went. Dragon was attempting to monitor him resting. The timer was nearing, the attack would be around the 20th, cause there were times they attacked earlier, or later than expected. The Simurgh seemed to mix it up the most, holding the record of the 3 for delaying her attack by nearly 3 weeks.

Pulling into the PRT’s garage, Armsmaster examined his surroundings, something felt off. Maybe it was his own paranoia, the attack on Battery left him on edge, so he likely was going to be on edge for potential attacks on his other team members.

Across the city, in a small pub, the mood was very different to the heroes of the city. The joyful music of the musicians in the corner played a soft and welcoming tune that let patrons talk and drink. In the corner, a group sat, all having drinks. The 3 men looked at each other.

“There was a packless in the city. He was hunting and I do not know where.” Spoke with the oldest of the 3 leaders.

Another who was a woman of darker complexion huffs as she sips from a beer “So why call us? Why not go to the hunter with this information? Or did ya already kill the mutt and you're telling us as a courtesy call?” Her accent was clearly from the Bronx of New York.

“The mutt was put down. They however did leave a lineage with those who wear costumes.” The oldest member explained.

A deathly silence fell over the two as they stared at the older man before the youngest, a rather stocky-built gentleman, exclaimed “Bullshit!” His voice was clearly in disbelief at the information.

“Sad to say, it is true. We followed his scent back, and we found the Police and the PRT at one of his sites. The pup found it on the radio, one injured individual, a code 9.”

“Injured cape” the woman softly whispered, in disbelief.

“Damn it.” the stocky man growled, grabbing his glass and taking several large swallows of the drink, then slamming the cup on the table.

“Indeed. We need to find who this cape was injured, preferably before the full moon.” The eldest of the trio stated, as his hand wrapped around his glass, and he took a sip.

“Speaking of new breeds, have you found your successor old man?” the woman asked.

The old man chuckled, “My successor will be announced when one shows that can lead with more than strength. My family is large, but it has many fools, just as yours has.”

“I guess my pack will be keeping an ear to the ground, if it’s the empire, I’ll listen to see who’s caught. Doubt it’s any of the bridge idiots.” the stocky man pointed out.

“My pups in the BB and with the snake will say if it’s connected to them.” the woman stated.

“That is all I can ask of you both. Now, if you excuse me, I will need to take a trip and speak with our mutual friend.” the old man explained, getting up from the booth and heading to the bar, paying for his drinks.

The stocky man couldn’t help but huff as he said in a condescending tone of voice “What? The cripple? What's one cripple gonna do for us?” This caused the old man to stop in his tracks before calming walking back to the booth and in a swift motion, a blade was stabbed through the insulting man's hand.

The music all stopped as a hand gripped the man’s face, muffling the scream of pain.

“You do not know her as I do. I witnessed her beat many of our kind and the vile blooded before your time. You do not have the prestige to speak down when I know you didn’t become your pack’s leader by right of combat.” His voice was leveled and laced with calm rage as his eyes stared into the man's own as if he were staring directly into his very soul.

“That ‘cripple’ as you call her could, can, and most likely easily will be the reason for your death if you believe she is prey.” The old man yanked the silver knife from the man’s hand, leaving before much more of his form transformed. “You do well to remember that next time you dare insult her.” The old man said over his shoulder as he made his way towards the door.

In a quiet neighborhood, a dark 1967 Chevrolet Impala pulled up to an unassuming house, it was a simple two-story building. The passenger door opened and with slow movements. Climbing the simple ramp to the front porch, the doorbell was rung. A few moments of waiting was all it took before the door was opened by a man, thin, dark-haired, balding slightly with prominent green eyes. He wore a simple pair of workmen's jeans and a flannel shirt.

The man looked at his visitor and his face went from slight surprise to a controlled mask of zero emotions as he stood there silent staring at the man standing before his door. “Joshua.” He said evenly after a long moment of silence between the two.

The now-named Joshua gives a curt nod as he replies “Daniel.”

“I need to speak with your wife.” Joshua requested in a calm tone.

“She's retired from that life. You know that Joshua so give me a reason why I should let you talk to her.” Daniels' voice was calm but his eyes showed he was anything but calm.

“The great game is at risk of being uncovered, and we will need her…expertise to make sure it is not.” Joshua elegantly phrased.

Daniel shook his head, annoyed, and looked to the ground.

“God damn you and your need to be cryptic. In plain English.” Danny grumbled as he looked back at the old man.

“A cape was infected.” Joshua said to the point.

Danny’s face paled as his eyes widened ever so slightly and before he could say anything or even retort a woman's voice broke through their staring at each other and the seriousness of their conversation “Are you sure of this Joshua?”

Both men looked into the house as a woman in a wheelchair rolled up towards the door.

“As sure as one can be. The law enforcement called a Code 9, the pup heard it, and the hounds tracked the mutt’s trail back to the scene. If not, then I will bet the Beaujolais I stole from the bootleggers back in my youth.” Joshua explained.

The woman sighed, backing up her wheelchair in the hall and going to the kitchen through the living room.

“Come in. Danny, make sure Taylor is in bed. I want to make sure she doesn’t hear this.” Annette asked her husband.

Danny walked upstairs, as Joshua and Annette sat across from each other at the table in silence. A silence was only broken by the ticking of the clock over the sink.

Joshua’s aged features didn’t tell the full story, nearing 110, his appearance would make one believe he was only in his 70s and still quite energetic. Annette was still young, a decade past her prime maybe, but still someone in the better years of her life.

“You could always tell her. Let her know.” Joshua spoke softly.

“No. I moved here, to escape that life. If Taylor knew…I would be leading her down a path that my parents led me down, one that I had to let Danny know about, one that took away my ability to ever walk again, and…I am not wanting that for her. She deserves to be a normal girl, not like me.” Annette answered.

Danny came down and nodded, Taylor was asleep, not acting as if she was asleep but fully, properly, asleep.

“I am hoping that you could potentially uncover the identity of the injured cape. I know you have links to the Cape side of society. If we can make sure their first night is controlled, then we can-” Joshua was cut off.

“That isn’t an easy favor to ask. I can’t just learn who it is, I barely have any connections left. Most of them are gone, they were found. I burned those bridges as they became ways for them to harm my family Joshua. I can try and figure it out by seeing who’s active this week, but much else, that’s on you.” Annette spoke to the older man.

Joshua sighed, looking down at his hands, and then up to Annette.

“That is all I can ask then. I wish your family well, I will see you Sunday…hopefully.” Joshua stood up, walking to the door.

“You as well padre.” Spoke Danny as he walked the man towards the door before softly closing it then rejoined his wife as he took her hand softly to give her comfort.

Annette sighs as she looks at her husband and she speaks softly towards him “You know I feel a little like Robert De Niro, cause I tried to leave, I tried to find peace away from all of this, only for it to come back and pull me back in.” Resting one hand on her other hand, she sighs “Why can’t our family just have fucking peace for once in our lives. Danny? Why can't we just be a normal blue-collar working middle-class family?”

“Because…we know that the world isn’t normal and we are anything but a normal family.” That was all Danny said to his wife with a soft caring smile.

Chapter Text

Days till Full Moon: 9

Jane lay in bed, groaning in discomfort. Being back at home on paid leave was good, however, the muscle cramps, fever, shivers, and shakes shook her body violently, and other symptoms like she had the flu were making her go crazy.

“This sucks! I’m a week early!!!” Jane shouted as she slammed her good arm on the bed before bringing it back to her stomach as she groaned in pain “Damn it Panacea!”

Jane was miserable, still wearing the cast, she ate a few of Ethan’s hoagies, she needed the extra food to help with healing according to Panacea, but she couldn’t have done anything about her period?! Grabbing the remote by the bed, she turned the TV on. There were the normal shows, dumb action movies about capes, dumb urban fantasy tv shows, cooking shows, home renovation tv shows, and hallmark movies, it was fucking November do you only have Christmas movies?!?!?! Detective show, a talk show hosted by a Thinker. News channel. Nothing worth watching.

Ethan walked over and smiled.

“How are you doing, puppy?” Ethan questioned, kneeling by the bed.

“This is so boring. Have they gotten anywhere with the thing that attacked me?” Jane asked in a bored tone mixed with a whined groan.

“Not yet, the Blue Halbadier said that if he figures anything out, he will call us. We just need to be patient, and you need to rest. Later today, I’m taking you to the hospital. Panacea is to look you over and make sure everything is doing fine, and the cast will be taken off of you.” Ethan explained.

Jane rolled her eyes, the stupid nicknames Ethan gave everyone on the team made it hard to take him seriously on a good day, but now was not the time for that considering the pain happening in her stomach.

“Fine.” Jane groaned out and rolled her eyes.

Her stomach growled again, why was she so fucking hungry? It was terrible. “What can your jolly good boy fetch you this time madam?” Ethan grinned as he shot to his feet.

“I don’t know, I think I want something spicy. Or…maybe salty.” Jane answered.

“Chili-fries?” Ethan asked.

A growl from her stomach seemed to be the only answer he needed before he rushed off. At least he didn’t use his powers in the house. However, this hunger did confuse her considering the last time she had this sort of pain and hunger was when she used up a lot of her power in a fight and needed the calories.

But now? This? It was almost like she was pregnant, which she knew she was NOT since both she and Ethan agreed they were not ready to have kids yet, so the only she could think of was that little miss healer fucked up and caused this.

She paused after that thought. Could Panacea make someone pregnant? She was a healer so she didn’t think that was possible. That was weird, she normally wasn’t this agitated so easily. Jane slowly got out of her bed, and walked to the kitchen, seeing Assault seasoning some french fries and shaking his hips like he was listening to music.

The man felt like an unending reservoir of happiness. If only she could take a portion of that and use it for herself for a while. Maybe she should go to the bathroom and grab some over-the-counter fever medicine and take it. That sounds like a good idea.

Going to the bathroom and opening the mirror cabinet up, she grabbed the generic medicine and got the two pills she needed. Going to the kitchen and grabbing a glass of water, she took the pills and sat down at the table.

“I am a bit curious, do you think you can recall any more details about what happened.” Ethan asked.

Jane looked down at the cup on the table just staring at it as all that could come back were golden eyes and a deep animalistic growl which caused her to place a hand upon her head.

“I got up there, and a door was thrown open, but it wasn’t what attacked me. It’s like something opened the door, and then that thing attacked me.” Jane stated, her hands shaking as she tried to steady them.

“You mean like someone else was there?” Ethan asked, sitting next to her and holding her hands.

“I…I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense. I’m sorry, but…I’m not ready to go back to talking about it yet. It’s just too much right now.” Jane looked into Ethan’s eyes.

“Alright puppy, I understand.” Ethan leaned in and kissed her forehead softly, causing a small smile to spread across her face.

“You are such a goober.” Jane chuckled.

“I’m your goofy goober.” Ethan teased, making Jane groan, the dumb song from the SpongeBob movie that Ethan sang for the Christmas karaoke party was one thing he wasn’t letting her forget, no matter how much she wanted to.

She took in a deep breath and could smell the seasoned fries in the oven. Now she was hungry and annoyed. Maybe after she ate she would feel better.

— — — — —

Joshua stood before the doors of Brockton Bay Medical North. His third stop of the day for his side of the investigation. There was no sign of anyone injured by an animal attack in the other 2 hospitals he visited, and there wasn’t anyone talked about in that way that he overheard from the staff. Walking inside, the staff who looked, and who knew him smiled and waved.

“Hello, Father Joshua. We weren’t expecting you today.” one of the receptionists stated.

“The lord guided me to come and pray with those who seek God's aid in their healing.” Joshua gave a warm smile.

“Ever the caring soul. We don’t have any risky surgeries, but if the cancer ward has a few who could use hope. We can ask if they’d like a prayer session to help in their recovery.” the receptionist explained.

“That is all I ask. How have things been here?” Joshua asked.

“Oh you know, same old same old, merchants nearly overdosing, people who might be members of the gangs getting stabbed, beaten, or shot come in and go out. Some days I just wish all this cape stuff went away and we had more normal issues.” the receptionist sighed.

“Then you’d wish for a more unique world. One monotony changed for another.” Joshua joked.

“Maybe. Anyways, is there anything else you wanted?” The nurse smiled.

“I do not. May I go towards the cancer patients?” Joshua asked.

“You can go to the ward entrance, but we can’t let you in until we have someone who wants to see you for prayer.” the receptionist explained.

“That is fine. Thank you for letting me visit them.” Joshua smiled softly before he started to walk towards the area of the hospital that held most of the cancer patients.

He found a bench to sit down on and rested. Slowly closing his eyes. As an old priest, he was one of many who provided spiritual healing to those in the hospitals. The rise of parahumans did change spirituality, many saw parahumans as those created by God and Scion as a form of him.

Some groups made spirituality bend to their will, the Fallen were one such. Some more radical packs spoke of the desire to attack them for heresy or for worshiping a false god in a weird way; it was much like the relationship between the Catholics and Protestants of the past. The most violent of packs want to raze their strongholds to the ground and kill every member as a form of ‘divine judgment’. Joshua, didn’t fully support this course of action, don’t get him wrong he understood why many of the more faithful packs felt this way, but a plan was made in case they ever needed to fight.

He prayed that they never needed to fight while he feared a repeat of the crusades would erupt someday between the fallen and the true followers of Christ.

He knew that their true enemies needed to be focused on those who lurked within the dark, not those who saw a god where one does not exist.

As he vacantly stared into the middle distance, more trapped in thought than focus, Joshua was pulled from his internal debate, by a woman in white, and a bit of red.

“Oh, hello Father Joshua. This is unexpected.” Amy Dallon’s voice broke the last bit of Joshua’s silent contemplation.

“Oh, Miss Dallon, an unexpected arrival. How have you been?” Joshua smiled.

“Fine, busy with trying to help with my powers.” Amy sighed.

Joshua looked at Amy, she looked a bit rough.

“Your power is a miracle, but even saints need their rest and to care for themselves.” Joshua told her.

Joshua was aware that if allowed, poor Amy would work herself to near death before she stopped caring for others. It was admirable, but also self-destructive, and a combination that didn’t go well.

“I just feel like I need to use my power to help.” Amy explained.

Joshua looked down, “Young miss Dallon, what you do now is more than what even the hospitals ask of you. It’s admirable that you are so willing to be a force for good in a city with so much evil, but you need to understand, that you are only human. You have limits. You have done more than 100 doctors could do at the same time.” Joshua pleaded with the girl who had a miracle touch.

Amy sat down next to him. She looked tired.

“I just feel useless.” Amy sighed.

Joshua nods as he pulls an example from history: “So did Mother Teresa at some points in her life. But much like you, she did strive to save all she could. Yet she did not do so at the expense of her own health, both physical and mental.” He says to Amy with a voice full of wisdom and age.

Amy looked at Joshua, seeming to try to remember the person he was referencing. “Isn’t she that nun who worked in India?” Amy asked.

“Yes, many believe she is a saint, others as a woman with a kind heart. She has many critics and many supporters, but she didn’t work herself to death. But enough about saints and their actions. I want to know, how is your life at home?”

Amy looked down and paused as she looked at the ground, she held her hands and sighed. It took a minute before she looked up.

“It’s rough. I know that Carol cares, and wants me to be the best hero I can be, but I feel like I’m the one who’s being pushed to be the best hero I can be and doing everything I can.” Amy explained.

Joshua nodded, “And what about your sister?”

Amy looked up and sighed.

“Vicky is Vicky. She’s destructive and plays loose with the rules about her powers in the house. She’s supportive but she doesn’t listen when I talk about not being interested in dating.” Amy explained.

Joshua simply nods as he listens to Amy talk about her problems, how she felt like she was doing too little and often called upon too much to fix problems with heroes. She felt just more and more tension building up in her, and no matter how she used her powers to help, nothing made it go away.

A nurse came over and smiled at the two of them.

“It seems our best healers are talking to each other. Father Joshua, if you would come with me, we have a patient who would like to speak with you.” The nurse smiled and led the older man into the cancer ward.

Amy stood up, about to go in when a new nurse approached and smiled.

“Miss Panacea. We have a patient who says that they wanted to see you today. They are from the PRT.” The nurse stated.

Amy sighed and followed the nurse to see Jane and Ethan, or as she knew them, Assault and Battery. Battery no longer had the cast on her arm but she looked miserable. Wearing a coat that was meant for winter even though the weather outside was pleasant and warm showing she was still having a fever if the sweat on her forehead was anything to go by.

“Hey Panacea. Thank you for helping us, you’re a miracle worker.” Ethan smiled as she walked over to Jane, offering her hand out.

“May I conduct your examination?” Panacea gave her standard request for permission before using her powers on someone.

Jane nodded, taking the healer’s hand.

Panacea saw the biology of Jane and was confused, her body wasn’t attacking any foreign pathogens, no signs of her white blood cell count being down or anything since she could see her white blood cell count being normal. A small note was an accelerated growth of keratin, mostly nails, and hair. Even the bite mark was healing faster than she expected not having made her body forcefully heal that injury beyond the skin, yet what confused her was the clear signs of a rash happening around the chest area which shouldn’t be possible after she had already healed her. There was an increase in the density of the muscle fibers across her body as well. Maybe it was related to her powers with extended charge time?

However, this thought was dashed as she spotted a new foreign body that was now in the bloodstream, and what truly confused her was that the white blood cells were not attacking it. If anything they were almost trying to be assimilated into this new cell. ‘New form of rabies possibly? The bite mark was canine in nature so possibly…’ She thought deeply when she tried to recall her medical studies on the subject matter.

Ethan looked towards the healer with slight concern as he asked “Everything alright doc?”

Panacea was frozen for a second before she let go of Jane’s hand and looked at Ethan.

“Have you kissed her recently?” Panacea asked directly, worried about the possible spread of an unknown mutated form of rabies or even a new viral pathogen.

“Yes…why?” Ethan was now confused by the sudden questioning of his intimacy with his wife.

Panacea walked over and grabbed his hand, breaking her normal requests. Now doctors or those in the medical field can break the normal practice of asking permission if there is a threat of a possible viral outbreak due to those of the past, the most recent being the Pertussis outbreak that the CDC was currently fighting at the moment.

Panacea examined Ethan’s biology, expecting to find a similar pathogen in his bloodstream, but found that he was perfectly ordinary for a man of his age group, build, and lifestyle. With a relieved sigh, she thinks ‘ok so this isn't spread via droplet transmission.’ But that caused more questions until she came to one conclusion. “You're a patient zero” She mumbled out with slight fear in her voice.

“What was that ?” Ethan asked confused as Jane also looked confused considering neither of them knew what was going through the healer's mind. Which in her mind was standing at ground zero for another outbreak as she had the source and a carrier in front of her.

“I believe that your wife may need to be quarantined for a few days sir just further observation. I would like for you, as well, just as a precaution to be put under observation.” Panacea explained calmly while the two capes in front of her just looked at each other confused.

She would need to reach out to the PRT to tell them that Assault and Battery were infected by an unidentified strain of rabies. She could only hope that they could find the source or the carrier, in medical terms, so she and the medical staff could create a cure for it in time before any more possible cases develop. If that happened, she wasn’t fully sure they could contain it and would have to call the CDC for help. If that happens then all of Brockton Bay would be put into a city-wide quarantine.

— — — — —

Annette rolled her chair along the boardwalk as the sea air blew gently against her hair, smiling slightly as she observed the people just going about their lives with smiles and joy.

Coming to a stop at the railing she watched the sea with a content smile, closed her eyes, and listened to the gentle waves crashing about the beach and supports of the boardwalk, only to hear an all too familiar voice of her past.

“Figures I’d find you here. You always did like the ocean.”

Opening one eye she glanced towards her right to see a woman in her late twenties leaning against the railing with her hair in a bun, sporting a dark trench coat covering her body.

“You know I find comfort in it.” Glancing down slightly Annette couldn't help but chuckle softly “And paranoid as ever I see.” Jerking her head towards the shoulder holster under the trench coat.

“Well with the Merchants and Empire around, having a piece on hand is a nice sense of comfort to have for one's safety in this lovely city of ours.” The woman said in a mix of joking and sarcastic tone.

“But you didn't call me out here to catch and hash out politics or our right to bear arms. So that brings me to asking. why did you call in the first place after all these years.” She asked her wheelchair-bound friend of hers.

“I was hoping to talk with you. A friend said there was a wild animal loose in the city. Heard it caught a cape by surprise. So I was wondering if you heard anything in the circles you travel in?” Annette asked which caused the woman to now turn and put her back against the railing with her arms crossed as she scanned the crowds that passed.

“Nothing official has come out. Maybe it’s something to catch a certain blender with legs. Maybe there’s a new Merchant who got high on their supply. Or maybe the pencil-pushing bureaucrats in the PRT don’t want people knowing that one of their precious heroes got hurt by some dog who got off its leash.” She shrugs her shoulders slightly as she glances back towards Annette to ask. “Yet now I'm curious, why are you asking? Something goin’ down that I should know about?”

“No, I don’t think so, at least I hope. But…There’s more than just capes and police that make me worry. I’m stuck in this  damn chair and out of the loop on such things.” Annette hissed out slightly as she patted her legs.

This caused the woman to raise an eyebrow and smirk as she said with a smirk “Oh my, should I suspect the good husband to come by and browse my wares?” She chuckled softly as yes she had done business with Annette and her husband in the past.

“I do not know. And I hate not knowing.” Annette sighed before she turned her chair to look at the boardwalk to watch the people passing by. “However, that doesn't mean I won’t come to you for possible protection options you might have to offer.”

“My doors are always open to you and your husband, you know that. After all, you and your husband were my best customers. Well…minus our man of the cloth and his congregation of course. Are you ever going to tell me what he needs that much firepower for?” The woman says before she asks in a comical Irish accent “Am I helpin arm our local branch of the Irish Republican Army?”

“You know your policy. A job, a job, no questions asked. Or are you changing your rules for little old me?” Annette teased back.

The woman laughed now as she softly pushed away from the railing “Well, I'll do some digging and see if I can find anything for you. For old times' sake, I won't charge you much for the information.”

Annette nods grateful as she watches the woman walk away before looking back at Brockton proper, taking in the city as a whole as she thinks to herself bitterly ‘I pray to god that this city will survive the coming storm. For a storm is coming.’

And with that storm, comes war.

Chapter Text

Days till Full Moon: 7

Danny knelt down and undid the lock on the storage unit. They haven't been here for a bit and needed to make sure everything was still in working order. As the door slid open, Danny and Annette moved inside. Annette placed herself by a wall, looking at the clipboard that had an itemized list of the special tools they had.

They had the silver tipped arrows, crossbow bolts, silver bullets, and a few silver coated knives. Containers of Mistletoe oil, wolfsbane extract and belladonna oils were also still good.

The pressurized can connected to a dog whistle was there.

"Ok, so the emergency gear is still good." Danny nodded, as he looked at the vest that could provide some protection in case the new werewolf attacked him when he got close.

On the other wall were weapons for the other threat Annette worried about. Stakes from Hawthorn trees, a jar of saliva from werewolves, he had actually helped with that…weird night. Containers of holy water, and a heavy duty UV flashlight that had silver inlay on the length, in case it needed to be used as a weapon.

"Did Kelly have anything to say?" Danny asked.

"Nothing more than normal. She wants to know why we are armed for war, I didn't tell her cause she likes her secrets, I like mine. They don't have a solid in. So it looks like we are waiting till Joshua's people get back with any information they have." Annette explained, shaking her head as she turned and wheeled herself over to a filing cabinet. Sliding open the drawer, she finger walked the files and nodded.

"We need to make sure that Taylor is safe." Annette stated, as she looked over the list of known collaborators to her cause.

Danny slowly walked over and knelt down, so he could look Annette in the eyes.

"What if she finds out? What if she learns of the horrible truth that we've been hiding from her on her own. I know you want to keep her safe, but…I think it's safer if she knows what is actually out there." Danny explained, he was worried, some threats were more than what they couldn't deal with.

Danny and Annette may be the only people in the city that knew what was going on in the city. Those who understood "The Great Game" as some called it. But they didn't know half the players in it.

"No. I can't let her. I'll protect her, and make sure she doesn't. If she did…and someone figured out she knew, they'd come after her. I can't lose her. We can't lose her." Annette stated, as she closed the file and slid it back into the cabinet, closing the drawer.

"Everything looks to be in order. We should head home." Annette changed the subject quickly, as she rolled out of the locker.

Danny slid the door shut and locked up the storage unit. If you want to hide an arsenal of weapons to hunt monsters, where better to hide it than in plain sight.

Danny sighs slightly "Let's hope to god we never have to use half of what is in there." He says mostly to himself as a means to try and hope for the best, but he knows that he and his wife as well as their allies have prepared for the worst.

Danny helped Annette into the truck, before he put the wheelchair in the back, then drove back to their home. On the way, they chose to drive by the SeaSide Apartment Complex, seeing that the area had a few PRT vans stationed nearby. Apparently that was where the fight was, somewhere in the multi-story complex. 9 dead people in one attack according to the news.

Everyone suspected it was a cape that was targeting someone specifically.

"It's always the wait that bothers me." Annette said as she watched the building pass by.

"I thought it would be the inaction." Danny shrugged as he drove.

Annette's eyes turned to the road, scanning the sidewalks and intersections. Years of training and habits that she had learned and made second nature.

Danny turned on the radio. The song "Rhythm of Love" was playing as the radio came to life.

"That was Plain White T's Rhythm of Love. Now, let's talk about some news. It seems that Brockton Bay's SeaSide Smasher has yet to reappear according to the PRT and police. Let's hope this was a one off stop in their trip. The PRT ENE and BBPD are asking if you know anything or spot a parahuman, that you call the Brockton Bay Cape Hotline.

We also have news from Brockton Bay Medical North. Due to special circumstances, ER services will be redirected to General, East and Medhall. The rest of the hospital will be accessible. The shutdown of the ER wing is only temporary.

And finally, with the cookie cutter call out, the bad news, let's hear something heartwarming.

Infamous killer Acid Bath, real name Tom Moss, has been placed inside of the Bird Cage. This makes him number 548 to be sentenced to the most secure prison on this side of the ocean. Just a little bit safer knowing that the PRT and Guild were able to take them down.

Locally we can look forward to a nice Thanksgiving in the next 2 weeks. The temperature is going down but snow should be held back till the end of the month. Malls are prepping for Black Friday and we are glad to let everyone know that Weymouth shopping center will be having all stores having a minimum of 40% off on Black Friday, 50% off Saturday the sales will slowly get less as November ends." The Radio Host explained.

"Christmas is coming up. We do need to think of some gifts for Taylor." Danny pointed out.

"I think we could go and get her tickets to that musical in February." Annette suggested.

— — — — —

Armsmaster was scanning the destroyed floor. Every detail was being taken into account. Of the 10 people who lived on this floor, only 1 survived, they were out of the building when it happened.

"This is rather interesting." A distinct voice stated.

Armsmaster turned, seeing one of the PRT's investigation team coming down the hall, carefully avoiding any marked areas.

"Armsmaster, have you determined any indications of who this may be?" the lead of the team asked.

"No, right now it's still too early. We have found traces of blood, so there was a fight, but with who; I have yet to determine." He explained.

"Very well. If you uncover potential DNA samples, we would like them right away to be tested and logged by the PRT. The faster we can create a case file the better." The team lead pushed.

"While I can appreciate the effort. I want to be thorough. Have we interviewed anyone who claimed to see the cape climbing the side of the building and had them compared to Battery's testimony?" Armsmaster requested that information.

"We have. What details do we have on this subject, timeline of events specifically." One of the investigators asked.

"Calls came in at 11:33, that was the first call, 3 more followed. The cape, who we have given the temporary codename of Baskerville came into apartment 104 at 11:35. They smashed through several walls, damaging apartments 104-101, before crossing into the hall, and repeating the damage to the rest of the apartments. From what we can tell, it seemed to have gone in a loop, bursting through doors several times, shattering walls, doors, and leaving claw marks all over the area. By 11:42, Battery arrived on the scene and after a short fight, was unconscious with minor injuries.

PRT forces arrived at 12:02, and found Battery injured, but mostly unharmed. We believe they jumped from the balcony in apartment 109, judging by the claw marks on the ground, the other side of the balcony's baluster and shattered top railing." Armsmaster completed the summary of events.

"So, that's roughly 20 minutes of time where they could have left. Very well. My team will begin to collect any potential DNA samples, it was requested by the PRT due to a situation at Medical North, apparently they have quarantine procedures active and want to see if it's connected to this new cape or whatever Baskerville is." the investigatory team leader explained.

Armsmaster paused, that was dangerous. He would need to be tested, it wasn't hard to figure out that if Battery was possibly infected by this new cape, she may have passed it onto him during the interview he conducted.

"Anyone else working on this investigation?" The team lead asked.

"Dragon volunteered, she is having the environment scanned fully so we can reconstruct a perfect replica digitally. This is to examine any details we may have missed. I will need to be tested in case I was exposed." Armsmaster nodded, closing his face guard and walking to the stairs, using his grappling hook to descend down quickly.

The team spread out, finding traces of fur left by the cape. Taking the samples and placing them in evidence bags. They were also able to find some still drying blood soaked into a carpet. Getting a knife and cutting a 2 inch by 2 inch square having most of the spot covered in blood taken as a sample. The team worked to find clues, when one member reached 105, and paused, noticing it was ever so slightly too small.

Walking to the edge of the room, running a hand along a baseboard, a subtle 'click' was barely heard and the wall section could be slid out, just slightly, to access a pocket cabinet that contained contraband.

"The boss will not like this." the team member stated, as they quickly began to pack the contraband away into a bag and slid the hidden cabinet back into the wall, seamlessly hidden.

Was this one who left the greater clans? How were they found? Was it a chase? A hunt that lasted days? The Duke will not be pleased to know how close this came to being discovered. Getting up and walking to the team lead.

"I will be taking the samples to the PRT and have them run through the system." The member indicated, talking in code, just in case there were the listening ears.

"Have the results sent to people that need to know as soon as they are compiled." The team lead instructed.

"Understood." The team member nodded, before leaving the site.

— — — — —

If one word could describe Amy at this moment. It would be a full on five o'clock panic attack.

Why? One might ask? Simple.

It was because no matter what she did or what the team of doctors did or even the virologist did they couldn't seem to decipher the enigma that was what they were calling pathogen K9-6 because when Amy first discovered it and the story they were all told of how Jane got the virus all assumed it was a version of rabies so they treated it as such.

Over the near 2 days of trying to create antibodies, or even an anti-virus, retrovirus, or just affecting this mysterious strain of rabies, were all but negated by how strange the nature of the virus.

In the last days, Amy has tried various options, from her simply modifying the virus to attack each other. It didn't work because it attacked everything. She tried to modify white blood cells to target the affected cells by detecting the altered RNA structures. That failed as the white blood cells just attacked everything. She tried to modify the Common Cold virus and use that to attack the K9-6 virus, and like every other expectation, the k9-6 virus killed the modified Common Cold viruses.

'This is utterly absurd. How is it able to react to everything I try?' Amy wondered as she scratched her head.

'This has to be tinker made, that's the only logical explanation for it behaving like this.' Amy thought as she took a sample from a blood sample drawn from Battery, they had only a pint so they needed to use it carefully.

Looking at the blood through a Spectrophotometers and sadly that theory was thrown out the window as all the telltale signs of a biotinkering having been done weren't there. 'What are you? What are we missing? What are we not seeing?' Amy's mind continued to panic before a doctor came in wearing a mask and gloves, "Patient 2 is requesting to speak to you about his wife."

Amy grimaced considering that for the past two days neither patient zero nor her husband have had any contact as per CDC protocol when involved with an unknown virus.

"Can we give them something like walkie talkies?" Amy asked to which the doctor stroked his chin and seemed to like the idea but before they could say anything both hers and the doctors radio blared to life "Patient zero code blue! I repeat Patient Zero code blue!"

Without a word both her and the doctor rushed to the secured wing of the hospital along the way putting on hazmat suits before they entered into Janes room where she seem to be having an extreme seizure as her body twitched, jerked, foaming at the mouth with her eyes almost rolling into the back of her head while her monitors were beeping like it was on speed.

"Shit!" Amy exclaimed as the team tried their best to steady Jane. One doctor was thrown back by Jane as she thrashed. They didn't crash into anything, thankfully, but Jane was jerking harder, getting more violent, before she suddenly stopped as her vitals dropped back down to safe levels.

The doctors backed away, "We contact the PRT for bed restraints, right?" one doctor asked.

The head doctor all but glared at the younger one as he exclaimed "YES! Someone get in contact with them and get me the strongest restraints they have! We can not let the patient hurt herself or medical staff. This should have been done day one, people!"

Turning his head to Amy he asks as they walk out while nurses draw new blood samples "Any updates on a retrovirus?"

"Everything I'm trying is just being countered by the K9-6 Virus. Any progress I've made isn't anything I know about. Just the samples I've examined have died off after 5 minutes of being examined, I'm using maybe 5 drops of blood with each test." Amy sighed, it was annoying

The head doctor nods before he asks the important question "what of the K9-6 infection vector?"

"K9-6 blood secretes proteins in the plasma that will travel into the protein gates of blood cells. They aren't proteins however, they match the connection to hemoglobin, and hide as proteins." Amy began, already this was a new vector of transmission that they've never seen before.

"I placed a few skin cell samples in, to see if that would show how it reacts, and I found that when the delivery of nutrients to the cells, primarily the false-proteins, is where the virus spreads, as the proteins infected the nucleus of the cell and caused mitosis, changing the RNA of the cell." Amy finished her explanation.

The head doctor, now out of the hazmat suit, looked pale as he asked "Infection rate should this get out and spread?"

"If it was airborne. This city in hours, the state in a matter of days, the country in weeks, maybe months, after that, Nothing could stop it. Thankfully it isn't, Patient 2 is so far still clear of any signs of infection, no signs of the process anywhere in his body. The PRT troopers, patients 3-6 who brought her in were also cleared, but are in quarantine with Patient 2."

The doctor nods as he strokes his chin again in deep thought "That's good. Still doesn't answer the question of HOW the virus becomes active. All we know is its like rabies in nature due to transmission being via bite so our only working theory is it has to be introduced into the bloodstream and not regular transmission via oral exchange."

Amy groans "So we have a virus that is a mix between rabies and HIV, wonderful. Just." She couldn't finish as she rubs her eyes out of frustration.

"Has there been any luck with finding the source of this? If this is like Hookwolf's cousin, I am going to personally neuter that man when he's captured." Amy stated in annoyance.

The doctors were aware that she was creative in her threats to villains, often making them 'personal' to what was known about them.

— — — — —
Days till the full moon: 5

"Target has been located. Moving in to take down." the cop said as they moved to each side of the door.

2 other teams were at other entrances, a back door and a balcony. The target was alone, they couldn't simply not use the opportunity to target one of the few threats to this city that they could. Having the door opened quietly, the teams moved in at the scheduled time.

The plan was to sedate the target, move to a separate location, then kill, that way they could blame it on one of the gangs.

The building was a 3 story townhouse that had been suspected to be a safehouse for the target. Taking out the target would weaken the enemy. The target was likely on the first floor, the rest of the tenants of the building were regular humans, a clever way to hide, but not good enough. Slowly creeping inside, careful to not be heard as they moved on the door to the target's room.

A snake camera was slid under the door, scanning to ensure there were no traps on the other side, and the area was clear. The point of entry looked clear, and the shield was brought up, as the breacher prepared the battering ram.

They needed to be quick, loud, overwhelm and take them down before they could transform. The sedation gas grenades were prepared.

"Ready?" the team lead asked.

As the breacher moved to the door, a gun blast came the other side of the hall, shooting the officer from behind. Through the far wall the swat officers were shot by automatic gun fire, some barely able to get down before they were shot.

"CONTACT!!" one shouted, as they shot through the walls, hoping to shoot the gunmen.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Was shouted as everyone stop looking at where the bullets came from before they began the process of reloading which the door on their right bursts open as a darker skinned woman, their target, jump out into the air sideways and began unloading into them with two Beretta 93Rs which caused the team that didn't run for cover to drop to the ground dead.

Combat rolling to a pillar she slowly stood up as the SWAT members that weren't dead began firing into the corner of the room which caused plaster to fill the area as she calmly reloaded her two auto pistols.

A sedative grenade was thrown towards the target, hoping to take them down, before from a door rushed out a transformed werewolf that grabbed the swat officer furthest back before ripping him in half by the waist.

"We're Surrou-" the cry was cut short as a powerful clawed hand tore the throat of the man open in a single slash.

"You dare come into my den and attack me. You are a foolish ghoul. I could smell you outside. Your stink can't be hidden by much, now, who is your master." The target demanded, as she walked over and grabbed the surviving swat team member's vest, knocking away the helmet as she cut the strap of the helmet with a claw before she quickly brought one of her auto pistols under the ghouls chin.

The balcony team was already likely dead, how could they have missed this wasn't a safehouse, but a DEN!? They weren't equipped for Dens! How many of these monsters were hiding inside of this building? Shaking in fear, the last ghoul of the swat team looked up at the target, the pack leader, Caterina.

Glancing around with his eyes, he saw at least 2 more fully transformed werewolves, at least 2 women toating kalashnikovs with magazines taped together.

"Pack up ladies, we gotta burn this place." With a nod those inside the building began moving weapons crates and even started dumping gasoline and planting charges before Caterina looked back at her prisoner she had at gunpoint. "Now, names, I want them." the leader demanded, pressing the underside of the man's chin.

"F…F….Fuck you mutt." He stated, unable to remember the names out of fear.

Just staring at the man with a deadpan face and a burst of gunfire after she drops the dead ghoul as she barks out "Move it people! I want this place to look like a raid gone wrong three minutes ago!"

Moving Dens was annoying. Caterina liked this place, it was close to several spots she liked, and was in the middle ground of her main hunting territory. Maybe the old fallout shelters would be used for a while, before they could find a new den.

Fires were set on the bottom floor, as everyone moved out. A burner phone called 911, to let the fire department know that the building was burning. They were werewolves, but not monsters.

Chapter Text

Hours till Full Moon: 10

Taylor was smiling with her 2 friends, Ellis and Luna. Taylor honestly felt that when Emma had turned her back on her, she would be socially distraught, but Ellis and Luna had been there when she came to Winslow.

Ellis was a bit of an ‘I act upon my own whims, no one controls me’ that usually leads to a wild story. Apparently one time, he and his friend, who was named Keith, decided to take some old shotgun shells, take the gunpowder out of them, and light it on fire inside an empty yogurt cup. It almost ended with a fire because they decided to do this in a barn where they housed their hay bales because it was raining outside. Keith lost his eyebrows cause he stood basically point blank to the Roman candle they accidentally made.

Luna on the other hand was patient, didn’t speak a lot and when she did, she was always saying what everyone agreed was accurate, if not crude at times. Luna liked things that were ‘Satanic’ because her parents were strict Roman Catholics, so everything fun was satanic to them. Go figure.

Ellis was your stereotypical country boy from down on the farm if Taylor ever saw one, but seems to be the picture-perfect example of an inspiring GQ model, how he looked as good as he did and dressed the way he did would be something Taylor shall never know the answer to in her lifetime probably. However, she’d also seen him come in wearing a cowboy hat, boots, a poncho, and jean shorts in a blizzard, then complain when he got dress code violations for not wearing long pants in a blizzard. Another time, he came in wearing a torn-up shirt covered in stains and smelled like an outhouse. He had to wrangle ‘a mamma who decided it was better to run through the shit creek before she dropped the baby that was flopping out of her ass’.

Luna however was the tonal opposite as she was the goth girl that hung out with the other goth kids… or she really liked the colors black, grey, and the color of blood. But Taylor can't really complain considering that she did introduce Taylor to some metal bands that she does enjoy alongside her from time to time. Luna also wore various headbands that had ‘dog ears’ on them. Her style varied, from fishnet and leather ‘punk goth’ to baggy open-legged chaps with neon pink and black tanktop with a fucking neon gasmask or as she called it ‘cyber goth’. She even had various collars with spikes on them that she occasionally wore. ‘It keeps the pests away.’ she said when asked.

However, the one thing both wore on all their clothes, or to be exact the upper arms was an armband showing their support for a group who to this day within and outside of Brockton Bay was a huge question mark of what they actually were.

That group was the ‘Wolf-Pack’ which she asked Ellies to support them he responded “They’re an all-American Militia that shows the second amendment is strong an kickin! That Johnny law, the government, them fed bois Protectorate, villains, or gangs ain't gonna take our guns except from our cold dead hands!”

“Ellis, what you described are anarchists or possibly a hostile group who could overthrow local governments.” Mr. Gladly stated.

“Like the CIA!” Ellis shouted in response.

“That’s not-” Gladly began, only for Ellis to stand up.

“You know that it is exactly like that! When was the last time someone reasonable was drawn into acting like a madman and labeled evil, only for it to be years later turns out, Oh He was pressured by the CIA, or the ATF, or the PRT? Or even the DOA. Nothing good comes from people with power thinking they know what’s best for a good honest man. Honestly, that’s what most of what the people who founded this country stood for, and I mean the people who fought, not the men who built the state. Like Casseus Clay! Or Samuel Whittemore, or Daniel Morgan. Even John Paul Jones works.” Ellis listed off, a “Bunch of people who did more than people sitting in offices ever did.”

Everyone just stared at, honestly the only open, and non-racist, redneck in school, like he was more insane than void-cowboy.

Luna then took advantage of the silence and spoke up, “I’m surprised he didn’t list anyone who wasn’t a menace to everyone on their shitlist.”, before she took a drink from her water bottle that had a satanic cross, and not an inverted one.

Mr. Gladly just groans as he pinches the bridge of his nose before saying “Thank you…for yet another…interesting speech Mr. Ellis.” The young man sat down like he won a debate while their teacher looked at Luna “Miss Luna how about your counterculture viewpoints on the subject?”

She shrugged and stayed silent, reading from the textbook.

“Anyone else have comments to make on the….subject of the Wolf-Packs, or similar groups?” He asked.

“They are obviously Empire sympathizers, Hookwolf and his loyal dogs of war.”

Taylor raised her hand and was called upon.

“Ok, so the Wolf-Pack militias were actually a group that came from around in 1973, 9 years prior to Scion’s arrival. The original groups were made up of Reservation Native Americans and Native Canadians, after the Wounded Knee Sieges. To most of their history, with only 5 major exceptions, the Militias have always been against Governmental corruption, and have actually been a major supporter of Civil Rights and what they call ‘The Liberated Citizen Movement’, which started in ‘84, when the Alabama Wolf-Pack’s representative argued that the Government was using this to suppress native, african american and Latino communities while ignoring white communities with the same legal pressure. That led to the overturn of the Ban by the Supreme Court, as a violation of the 2nd amendment, as it would restrict a militia from defending themselves in case of tyranny of the government.” Taylor explained.

“Oh, that is actually quite an interesting bit of history on the group. Now, who can tell me how Wolf-pack and similar groups have impacted the world in recent years?”

Someone in the back raised their hand, “Nearly 10 years ago they were partially attributed to the Teeth being pushed out of the City.”

“They bombed warehouses and cars, they were a gang that-”

“The Wolf-Pack targeted the Drug storehouses and members of the teeth who were broken out of prison! They were working with the Butcher 1 and 2!” Ellis shouted, interrupting the person.

“Enough, moving on!” Gladly clapped his hands to stop that argument from occurring.

“However Mr. Ellis is right on one aspect people tend to forget, the local Brockton Bay Wolf-Pack are not a gang, they are as written out by the document which founded our nation a ‘well-regulated militia’ that is not just made up of locals but also military Veterans.” Leaning on his desk with his arms crossed he continued as he began his own lecture on the events that happened ten years ago “While they do have a maintained ‘group identity’ they are closer to that of neighborhood watches, rather than a gang, they do not break any laws, establish territories, and whenever they do get involved in conflicts, they inform local authorities of their action, and are often joined/monitored by said government entities. Something else to add is that because of their actions ten years ago, they are considered a ‘State Militia’ or in the case of Brockton Bay a ‘Town’ or the modern day a city militia.” Gladly explained, adding to the known subject.

“Does anyone have anything they remember from that period of time?” Gladly asked.

Luna raised her hand, “A cousin of mine was a part of the militia, he actually helped organize safe zones in the turf war that the Teeth and Empire had, he saw Skaldi get taken out by one of the Teeth, He thought it was Marrow who did it.” Luna stated.

“Thank you for that. Anyone else?”

“Yeah, Kaiser hospitalized the holy man with a gun by impaling his legs with his spikes.” Someone shouted, an Empire junior gang member.

Gladly crossed his arms. As much as he tried to be the “cool teacher” he had little acceptance for anyone who supported the gang in the city.

“Yes, he did.” Gladly started before he began to show why he was a history teacher “But do you know what afterwards?” He asked rhetorically.

“I believe it was 17 warehouses burned down with 3 capes actually being mobbed and arrested by Militia groups who worked with the PRT and the, at the time, Brockton Brigade. Oh and our own homegrown version of the Irish troubles with firefights, and if my cousin remembers correctly even one of their gang meeting locations being rigged with IEDs that killed a good portion of their non-powered leadership getting axed.” Luna added as she turned the page of the book she was reading.

“Being a bit more talkative today on this subject.” Taylor noted from her normally 'friend of few words'.

“Mom claimed she shot Kaiser in the ass with a .22” She shrugs her shoulders.

Gladly nods his head slightly “However she does bring up something that is very important to take into account. Many things are considered off limits, one of those being men and women of the cloth or in this case as one of your fellow students so put it ‘a holy man'. That specific attack led to a small fracturing of the Local Wolf Pack and had the more militant elements leading the more vicious and deadly attacks. The more passive members did their best to mitigate the damage, however the damage was done. By the end of the turf war, there were 37 arrests of Wolf Pack members for acts of domestic terrorism. And did lead to a change in federal Militia laws, and gun laws, which limited the sale of-” Gladly was interrupted not by Ellis but by Luna.

“Not to mention the massive protest in Boston due to many believing the government was not only trying to suppress peoples’ right to defend themselves but also that many claimed that said politicians were being bribed by influential criminal organizations or ‘villainous gangs’ like the Empire, The Elite, Triads, etc., etc., etc.” She boredly explained as she once again flipped a page of her book.

“Ok, now, let’s move on to the wider impact these groups had. For classwork, I want everyone to list at least 5 impacts these groups had. They can be good or bad, it can be any example of such a group, not just Wolf-Pack Militias.” Gladly explained, coming to the end of the discussion.

Of course, the bell rang showing their class ended which caused many to begin leaving as Taylor stuck with her two friends, one of which was being very vocal “That no good, low down government stooge of a snake! I swear he’s just here to pump us full of that government propaganda!” Ellis exclaimed as Luna shook her head slightly clearly not caring one bit as the irate hic.

“Ellis, you think tap water is a government conspiracy.”

“Water is water! Why does it need fluoride in it! Besides, there was a case of the government making frogs gay with chemical runoff.” Ellis crossed his arms as he looked at Taylor.

Luna just huffs as she says in a clearly sarcastic voice “Oh wow, cousin fucker actually has a moment of not being an ignorant hic, stop the presses.”

“Luna, my dear lady in black. 1. Do I look like I'm from Georgia? And 2 do I look like I support the Empire?”

Taylor smiled, “Do you want her to actually answer that, or do you want to move on from that class?” Taylor asked.

“Good point. Anywho, what are you planning to do this weekend?” Ellis asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe go to the mall, and see if any new books seem interesting.”

“Oh, the lonely girl who reads cape smut. Never a good daddy to be found.” Luna teasingly ‘fainted’ against Taylor as they walked.

“I don’t read that filth. I meant like an action, or maybe a fantasy story. I don’t know where you’d even find that.” Taylor defended herself.

Luna could only chuckle as the three begin to walk towards their lockers as Taylor couldn't help but have her mind return to the topic of the last class, or to be exact the topic of the Wolf-pack.

The way Taylor personally sees the Militias is regular people who are just fed up with society, or the government as her friend Ellis would always point out, allowing villains or in some cases, domestic terrorists to go unpunished because of ‘unwritten rules’ due to the shooting that happened related to New Wave a few years back.

Taylor can still remember one of Ellis's famous rants about the whole thing claiming it was a government conspiracy to put down and take away rights for ‘law-abiding Americans’ to defend themselves, but really anything to Ellis when it came to the government either was a government conspiracy or his extreme libertarian beliefs that one day some three letter agency is gonna come take away his family’s and everyone else’s guns. It was kind of endearing in a way how his simple country mind revolved around two things when it came to the federal government.

Luna however, honestly Taylor wishes she had that ‘I don't care’ attitude she had some days, like seriously she wishes she was as good as Luna when it came to witty and sassy comebacks that she comes up with on some days. Like seriously Luna in Taylor’s mind is cool. In that, she can make wearing blood skull earrings and a slipknot t-shirt with knee-high spiked boots kinda cool.

Of course, for every shining light in Taylor's life, there are those small moments of a storm cloud coming to rain on her parade, like the voice of her former friend snarking up around this time “Well, well, well, well, well. If it isn't the Satanist, the hillbilly, and the loser.” Looking over her shoulder Taylor just groans as Emma stands not too far away with Sophia and Madison flanking her on either side while Luna on Taylor's right just raises an eyebrow boredly while blowing a bubble from the chewing gum she was chewing before it popped showing her disinterest.

Ellis however just crossed his arms as he stood close to Taylor looking ready to throw down should hands get laid on anyone.

“Well if it isn’t Moe, Larry, and Curly.” Ellis shot back.

“Don’t you have some shithole to dig or is your uncle-daddy cooking meth in the current one?” Sophia asked.

“Sophia, I thought you were buddy-buddy with the Merchants.” Ellis smiled, standing a bit taller than Sophia, he probably only had 50 lbs on her, but Ellis was one thing ‘a very determined idjit’, if he fought, he didn’t give up. Honestly, if he doesn’t have a specific target, his instincts are ‘default aggressive’ meaning anyone he doesn’t like is a target to him. That was how Mr. Johnson got a concussion, cause Ellis threw a trash can in a brawl he got mixed up in. Somehow he was the only person without a concussion at the end of it all. The joke is he has a skull so thick that nothing can touch his brain, just short of a brute, and even then, it’s a coin flip.

“So, how’s it feel hanging around the bloodsucker?” Emma questioned.

Luna just slowly blinked, staring at Emma, she cleared her throat and said “Mea tibi infectum tibialia.”

“She, probably trying to curse us and drink our blood.” Madison pointed out.

Luna rolled her eyes, before grabbing onto Taylor, and then Pinching Ellis’s ear, dragging him away from the staring contest that he and Sophia had.

“Where do you think you are going?” Emma demanded.

“Next class, as you should.” Taylor answered.

Honestly, Emma betraying her was painful, she tried to isolate her, however, Ellis and Luna didn’t seem to like Emma or her group all that much. Luna didn’t talk much but she always was there, a second set of eyes that countered the trio’s stories they tried to spin. Ellis was most of the time causing some sort of scene and was animated enough that he served as an unintentional distraction, or sometimes took the victim role of pranks for Taylor, the only payment he ever asked for was some Lasagna that Taylor brought for lunch some days.

Apparently, Emma’s larger pranks were thwarted thanks to the pair, when they tried to steal her Mom’s flute, Ellis found it in their locker and showed the teacher. Luna had apparently gotten one of their phones and showed Blackwell the text log they had for coordinating the bullying, though due to it never naming Taylor, or directly stating they were attacking/harming, the trio only had in-school-suspension for 2 weeks, because of course, but the Teachers kept an eye out for bullying more often now at least.

Taylor would stop at her locker and grab her books, Luna and Ellis grabbed their books, and Ellis went to his next class, while Taylor walked with Luna.

When it came to the Wolf Pack in the school, they had the fewest people who ‘flew their flag’ as Ellis stated. Taylor in all honesty could understand wearing the Brockton Bay Wolf-Pack Armband, which had a logo where the central ‘paw’ was shaped like the Bay itself, but she didn’t feel fully comfortable with the idea of being mistaken for a gang member.

But that didn’t mean it wasn’t hard to spot them, the most obvious was their supporters or even members wearing military surplus. Combat boots with camo pants, military jackets, and caps, it didn’t matter the combination of the clothes because that's how one could spot someone either supporting the militia or being a part of it.

Granted that's if you were really looking because most of the time it just seemed like people wearing what they thought looked good, or as Luna would tell her ‘They are conformists to rich assholes who claim they know fashion’ which was another interesting way to phrase she was a counter culturalist.

— — — — —

Hours till Full Moon: 0

Amy fell into a chair, she was handed the report, K9-6 had been studied to the point where they knew every vector it could be transmitted through, and thankfully, there was only 1 true way to contract the virus, having it directly transmitted into the bloodstream, it joined the ranks of HIV, and Hepatitis B and C as blood pathogens.

“So now we just need to somehow make an anti-virus, I trust you can deal with that, I don’t want to be around that for a few days.” Amy looked at the CDC representative who had come down to Brockton Bay after the discovery of K9-6.

“We will certainly be putting effort into that. Along with general studies, I bet the NA twins will be glad to deconstruct and understand this new virus.” the representative stated.

The Twin Capes of DNA and RNA, a Tinker and a Thinker, who were directly working to make potential cures for diseases that could be replicated without Tinker Tech. Their recent project was a cure for Aids, and they were very close when they were interviewed last month on National TV.

Amy however was not so optimistic “I think we're popping the cork a little early here boys and girls.” She spoke with a clearly tired voice as she was handed a pack of Marlboro Reds before taking one and lighting up said cancer sticks to calm her nerves, passing the pack to another doctor. “K9-6 is a whole new strain we have never seen before. While thankfully not an airborne virus vector, it doesn't mean it could be weaponized if it falls into the wrong hands.” Blowing out a drag of smoke she continues “Hell! We haven't even found the thing that gave Miss Zero the virus in the first place! The damn source!”

“Panacea, we have been able to determine the majority of the information that we could, not we just need to run a few more tests, likely it is just an unusual disease that jumped the special line.”

“A virus this responsive isn’t natural. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was some early-stage bioweapon in origin made in a secret government facility that used dogs or wolves as test subjects and one escaped.” Amy stated as if it was a matter of fact as she was glaring at those around the table.

“If this was a bioweapon, which I'm not saying it’s not, the US banned such things during the Cold War. Even if this is a bioweapon in origin it would have had to have come from outside the US.”

“Tell that to the people of Tuskegee.” Amy spoke under her breath as she blew smoke from the cigarette. Amy then groans at such an idea “So what? This isn’t just some kind of bio-weapon that some terrorist or the CUI can just create and release with no clear overall plan. They released one carrier and expected it to just create an outbreak?” She clearly wasn’t onboard fully with such an idea but they had little else outside of it just being an undiscovered strain of a virus no one had ever seen before, some even giving theories that it's been around for so long people forgot it over the generations.

“We will be monitoring hospitals across the state and country for any other similar cases to the signs that were shared and uncovered by your efforts.” the CDC representative noted.

“Fine, I just need a nap. I’m heading into the breakroom. I’m behind on my other healing thanks to this mess.” Amy stated.

“We aren’t going to fault you for heading home and taking a few days off.” one doctor stated.

“I have a duty to use my power to help as many people as I can. Me being tired isn’t an excuse to not save more lives while I can.” Amy repeated the lesson she had drilled into her by Carol when she got her powers.

Before any more could be said alarms began to blare throughout the wing as the site of personnel began to rush towards the room that housed patient Zero, Amy, and company in tow. The restraints that had been rated for brutes were broken, and they were slamming themself into the wall, the wall made with cinder blocks. Cracks spread across the wall after yet another throw of their body against it.

“Call the PRT!” Amy ordered looking at the stunned doctors who were frozen, as if they were dazed by witnessing the sudden power this person had. No one moved, however.

The reason even caught Amy in such an awed terrified shock as well as she watched Battery’s body had changed, she had grown maybe half a foot, and the skin literally began to split as muscles underneath the skin began to be exposed, with exposed muscles getting covered by skin that quickly grew into dark patches, almost leathery looking patches. Then Amy noticed a more significant change, the face which also seemed to morph as pain was evident along with the very clear sound of bones breaking, regrowing, resetting as the body's very skeletal structure changed into something that Amy and others present thought impossible outside of bio tinker trickery fuckery.

Because right before them what was sitting as an average woman now, was being forcibly changed into something, something that had piercing golden eyes, and was definitely more muscular and seemingly monstrous. The Wall finally broke and the changed Battery ran out into the city.

“CALL THE DAMNED PRT! WHERE'S THE OTHER PATIENT?!” Amy shouted, slapping one of the stunned doctors, finally breaking them from being statues.

“The-he was taking the back exit out.” the doctor stated.

“Fuuuuuuuck!” Amy groaned as she ran by, the doctor fumbled to get his phone out and began to enter the number.

Amy ran through the halls, wishing she was a bit more athletic than she was. Going down 2 flights of stairs, nearly falling over twice as she dodged nurses and other people, she spotted Ethan talking with an Ambulance driver.

“Hey! Privacy. Need to - to tell - tell him -something -confidential.” Amy gasped, nearly falling over as she was out of breath.

The Ambulance driver nodded and walked away. He walked so damn slow that she grabbed Ethan and pulled him down so she could whisper in his ear.

“Your wife turned into a monster, she’s heading west. Hurry, follow her.” She could see Ethan's eyes go wide before he became a blur as he ran in the direction his wife did to which she smiled slightly and right as she turned around…She awoke in shock on a hospital bed…Confused.

— — — — —

Ethan was struggling to keep track of his wife, who was apparently turning into a monster. He had spotted her a few times. She certainly was bigger now, and definitely faster at times. He was barely able to not lose her as she ran through the streets. She ran on the rooftops, so when she leaped roads like it was nothing, Ethan had to admit he was annoyed.

Getting out of the city, Ethan felt like he was likely to lose track of his wife as she ran through the woods like it was 100% natural. He thankfully found her standing in a clearing, the only indication that this was his wife was the ripped scraps of clothing that clung to her now-transformed self.

Now standing probably a foot and a half to 2 feet taller than she was, covered in a thick pelt of brown and dirty blonde and brown fur, she looked like a werewolf. Ethan honestly had to ask himself, ‘Was he ok with a monster wife?’ he was trying not to have a mental breakdown, and that was probably the only thing stopping the camel’s back from breaking.

Jane slowly turned her gaze onto him and snarled. She crouched down with teeth bared as she growled deeply ready to attack.

“Puppy, it’s me, Ethan. You know me. Jane….” Ethan pleaded as he took a few steps back, not wanting to break eye contact with his monstrous wife. “I know you're still in there, please come back to me.” slowly walked backward so as not to cause her reason to attack him.

Jane then charged him, her fur seemed to become electrified as she leaped, clawed fingers outstretched forward with her maw open wide so all Ethan could see were claws, teeth, and golden eyes barreling down onto him as he brought his arms up in a defensive stance as fear took over for his common sense of flight.

He expected to feel pain, but a howl and snarling followed by the sounds of a fight-filled the area. Opening his eyes, he spotted another larger werewolf, one with grey and black fur clawing, punching, and throwing Jane to the ground, with more prowling the edge of the clearing.

Ethan fell back as he crawled backwards into a fallen tree watching stunned at what was unfolding before him.

“She may yet recover. Do you know who this is?” a man's voice spoke.

Ethan turned his head, seeing an older man dressed in a nondescript coat, his hands in his pockets. His face was hidden by the shadows of the trees, but Ethan could spot others, more people following, one was carrying what was clearly a hunting rifle with the bolt open, ready to load in a bullet whose tips seemed to shine in the moonlight.

“What? Who? What do you mean? What is she? Did you do this to her?” Ethan got up on his feet, ready to fight if he needed to, they may be the ones responsible for what happened to Jane, was this a new gang trying to enter the city? Who were they? Ethan’s mind was racing with questions. He heard a howl that could almost be described as distress, turning he saw Jane being pinned to the ground by the other monster.

“What your friend is, can only be called first mooner. Inside of their mind, they will either fight control back or lose themself to the beast. It all depends.” The shadow figure stated as the other man holding the rifle closed the bolt which chambered a round to show what would happen if she lost to the beast.

“On what?” Ethan demanded, his eyes glancing between the two men.

“Their will.” Was the only answer given.

“Who are you?” Ethan asked, voice shaking.

“You don’t need to know that.” The gun-carrying man stated as they kept their eyes on the struggle between the beasts.

“I think I should! That’s my wife you have fucking made into a monster! I deserve some answers or I’ll-” Ethan began before he spotted two beasts crouching to either side of him like they were preparing to attack.

“What we are can simply be called the Shepherd Dogs of God’s Kingdom. We protect his flock from those who crawl in the shadows on the edge of the pasture of civilization, making sure those who do not wish to see what lies in the dark stay safe, not knowing what lies beyond the woodline.” The mysterious man says toward now, a clearly scared and confused Ethan.

Ethan looked back to Jane, who was struggling less, more beasts came out, pacing around his pinned wife, as the one holding her down opened their maw and placed their teeth on the back of her neck.

“What is he doing to her?” Ethan questioned.

“It is to show he has won. That the monster is weak. To those who have lost themselves, it is like being collared, it makes them submit. It gives the mind of your friends a chance to suppress the beast. She may revert soon enough.” The mysterious man stated.

Ethan watched, as 4 pacing, circling wolves stopped, as Jane seemed to stop struggling finally as if she seemed to finally regain some form of mental function as instead of growls and snarls she began to whimper like a wounded dog.

Slowly the one who pinned her down brought its large head up looking towards the sky as it released a powerful howl that was followed by those around it showing victory.

The man slowly lowered the rifle, before approaching Ethan.

“This will be very confusing, but I’m going to tell you this. Your friend there is now a lycanthrope. She can turn into that form, but she can’t be seen, and it can’t be known, because there are worse things out there that will harm her if they know what she is now.” He explained.

Ethan looked at the man, seeing he was kind of average, green eyes with dark hair, and a beard that looked a few days unkempt. He adjusted a set of glasses he wore. Ethan noted he had gloves on and a leather jacket. A bandanna hung around his neck like a scarf.

“What? No, my wife can’t be a werewolf, this just has to be parahuman related, that's what it has to be, cause werewolves aren’t real.” Ethan shook his head in disbelief.

The man smirked, “I thought the same, but there’s more out there that you think are just stories.” He removed the magazine and ejected the round from the chamber before placing the rifle on his shoulder with the sling.

“What do you mean?” Ethan questioned.

The man just looked Ethan in the eyes, “Once you know, there is no going back. Are you sure?” The man asked.

“Yes, I do.” Ethan hesitated, then nodded.

Chapter Text

Ethan looked at his new…acquaintances and felt like he was being buried under so much…everything, that he didn’t know what to really do first. Werewolves were real, they worked with the Catholic Church, they weren’t the only supernatural thing out there, and he couldn’t let anyone else know because if he did, he would likely be killed by said supernatural forces.

BECAUSE WHY NOT!? Endbringers, Nazis, and now everything he thought that was fake which went bump in the night is real is just TOTALLY A NORMAL THING NOW!

“If it’s any consolation, there are worse ways to find out about this kind of thing.” The man explained, resting his hand on his shoulder.

“If you’re about to tell me that your wife is one of those things, I doubt that.” Ethan shook his head.

The man chuckles “ Nope.” Popping the P as he continues “She was a badass who hunted down the rogues and other things that went bump in the night…well. Till she had to retire, but that's a story for another time cause right now you look like you need a stiff drink.”

“I’m going to need a lot of things. But….is this…reversible? Like, can I get her things that will stop her from becoming…that? Or do something that stops it? She’s a hero, this could jeopardize her if someone connects her not being contactable when the wolf-man is out and about.” Ethan was worried.

A few wolfish eyes lingered on him, mentioning ‘reversing’.

The man looked at him “They say they were cursed by god to fight those blessed by the devil, one monster to fight another.” He walked next to his partner.

“Besides. This is actually the first time I’ve seen this happen. Those with the condition are, at least to my knowledge and their networks, incapable of triggering. Anyone who could trigger and become one never has, so a cape becoming part of the chosen is new territory.” The woman stated.

“Good, so I don’t have to worry about vampire capes?” Ethan felt even more tense, would this take away his wife’s powers?

“No, their mind slaves on the other hand, that’s a different story.” The woman stated.

“Please tell me that you can just knock ‘shave and a haircut’ and trigger them off.” Ethan almost pleaded.

“If only it was that simple. No, most of the time, they will only activate if the nature of their master is uncovered. They won’t even know until it happens, or they are given some command.” The woman in a wheelchair explained, the shadows hiding her more distinct features.

Ethan wanted to cry. Shout. Scream. Yell. Curse. UNLEASH THIS COCKTAIL OF EMOTIONS! That he was feeling at this moment, yet he knew his paranoia would trigger every M/S protocol in the book.

The wolves slowly moved back, showing Ethan his wife laying on the ground, human once more. He ran over, sliding to a stop next to her and slowly lifted her head up, scanning for any injuries. Her bare body illuminated by the full moon showed no scars anywhere on her. Ethan was relieved that she wasn’t hurt.

The woman passed a blanket that was in her lap to the man, who stepped out. Ethan got a good look at the men now, average, if a bit rough, stubbly beard with messy light brown hair, and a set of glasses that showed warm green eyes.

He held out the blanket to Ethan, who took it and covered Jane up. She was sleeping, until she wasn’t, and Ethan only found out when he got punched in the jaw by Jane who forced her way into a sitting position.

“What's going on!? Where am I!? Ethan? What are you doing here!? AND WHY AM I NAKED!?” Jane asked in a series of rapid fire questions, looking around, then there was the fact she was naked with the exception of the blanket, that she held onto, and was surrounded by wolves who were slinking back into the woods.

“Puppy why you gotta hit so hard” Slurred out Ethan who was rubbing his lower jaw. “Did you always hit so hard? It felt like you were gonna break my jaw.”

The man laughs a little as he makes himself known “That would be the new bout of strength she's granted by her new condition, so you can bet that hugs and other activities going forward are gonna result in either a broken back or broken well, anything until she can get that under control.”

“Are you telling me I triggered?” Jane questioned, confused at the statement of ‘new condition’ and not wanting to reveal she was a parahuman already.

“Miss Battery, I already know who you are. I don’t plan on telling anyone, believe me, I have more secrets than having powers. But you are now a werewolf.” He Explained in a deeply serious tone of voice. “Thankfully, you aren’t feral, unlike the one who likely infected you who was. The packs have already put them down.” The man finished.

“You seem to have us at a disadvantage.” Jane pointed out, before seeing one wolf help the wheelchair bound woman into the clearing by carrying her on its back.

“You can call us Hunters. As much as I wish we could share names, it’s something we aren’t willing to do anymore. A few of my old friends were hunters and they exposed most of the cell when they were caught. It was a bloody night then, only a few of us got out.” The woman spoke in a solemn tone which caused Jane and her husband to be both confused and horrified slightly.

“But right now there are two things that are going to happen going forward.” Spoke the man with the rifle who now fished out a smoke and lit up before pointing towards Jane “One is the fact that you can never go back to the life you had before, the fang heads probably got a good cover story all cooked up to make you either disappear or be seen as a walking germ bomb which will give them reason to paint you as persona non grata and two.” He shakes his head now as he adopts a sympathetic look “I'm afraid any ideas of normal, any thoughts or even an inkling of going back to the way things were before you became a wolf is no longer an option, because like it or not Dorothy. Kansas has gone bye bye.”

“Any other things?” Ethan asked, still rubbing his jaw, he was definitely going to need to get Panacea to make sure it wasn’t broken and fractured later.

“Aye.” Spoke up the older man who walked forward and both Jane and Ethan could now see clearly had a Clerical collar who was walking towards them “Know now child that you have been now tasked with a mission from the all mighty God to be one of his many cursed soldiers in a war that has lasted since the devil unleashed his blessing upon the world of man.” Now kneeling before Jane he held out simple clothes which amounted to that of a simple overly large shirt and sweatpants with a drawstring. “You have the right to run, hide, or even try to start a new life and we will not blame you. For you are scared, Lord knows I was the first to learn of all this.” Jane accepted the offered clothes slowly as both she and Ethan listened to the old priest in front of them.

“All of us here are those who accepted the fight. But not everyone accepts it. Some never do. Just…know that there are those who will help. You took up this calling once, we only hope you answer this call as well.” The woman spoke towards the couple with a soft smile of understanding.

Ethan held up the sheet, as Jane got dressed. She pulled Ethan close and whispered, “We can’t trust these people, they could be just trying to trick us to move into the bay and we caught them early. We should bring them in.”

“I don’t think we should. If…and this is as big as they say it is. IF they are telling the truth about this, then maybe we should consider what’s happened and maybe we can…help this city. If we were infiltrated, we need to take out those who are using us to their own ends.” Ethan whispered back.

“But werewolves!? Ethan this has to be something we can explain with logic not…not fucking myths and fairy tales and” A firm clearing of the throat caught the couples attention as the man from before looked at the two “Let me guess, having a hard time believing this right? Think it's cape stuff? Can be explained away with logic right?”

Both slowly nod as the man nods back in understanding “I was in the same boat till they showed me something to believe in.” Bringing up his rifle he ejected the magazine and pulled out a single cartridge which he held out towards Ethan “touch the bullet towards your wife's skin.”

Ethan slowly takes the cartridge as he looks at Jane who looks at the bullet weirdly “What is this going to prove? It's just a simple AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” During the whole time she talked she had grip the bullet which caused her hand to feel like it had acid poured on the palm before she drops the cartridge and once she open her hand she saw honest to god third degree burns, and with shock she stared wide eye as her skin slowly began to regrow and the pain subsided before her hand was like before, as if it was burned in the first place.

Ethan was just as shocked and wide eyed as his wife as both looked towards the man who picked up the cartridge from the ground as he held it up for both to see. “Pure silver, deadly to those cursed with lycanthropy. Even worse in a liquid, fang heads love that method but the point still stands. You can never have anything silver on ya ever again.”

“Is there anything else I should avoid now?” Jane asked, voice shaking as she realized this wasn’t some complicated lie.

“Wolfsbane, silver, open flames, magic, good news is you don’t have to worry about being drained of blood, your blood is basically acidic to those with fangs, and it won’t be a good trip for them.” He explained all while loading the cartridge back into the magazine before loading it back into his rifle.

“How do we know what to look for?” Jane asked, looking up at the pair.

“You won’t see the signs until they want you to. To be honest, you could probably pass this off as a second trigger, just use it carefully, like a pseudo changer state, your body will adjust, but don’t bite anyone. You capes always seem to know how to pass secrets off without letting them be known.” The woman on the wolf smiled, as she patted the back of the wolf and pointed back towards the path, the old priest followed her, as the man with the rifle looked down at them.

“If you decide to help. There’s a place to meet up. The others hate it, has some old magic from back in the day, sacred ground they call it. To the others it's neutral ground.” He turns around slightly looking towards the woman who was riding on the wolf. “For now you young lady will have to stay with the good Father, he helps the recently turned.” Looking back at Ethan he shakes his head slightly “As for you my friend, you'll have to not be around her for a couple of days, your safety more than anything cause for some reason women are more aggressive than men when they first turn.”

Ethan looked confused for a second, “What does that mean?”

— — — — —

“We have Dauntless flying over the outer edge of the city. Have any Patrol cars reported any dog attacks? No…where did they go. This is bothersome, most bothersome…What about any sightings of the packs from our agents in the police? They must have moved…unless they don’t know…Oh interesting, most interesting…This could be rather-” The person on the phone stops as he listens.

“No, we haven’t had any reports of them going to the ABB territory but if they did we both know we can’t even step foot in their territory if it relates to the packs due to the old treaties with the yokai…yes I know it would be bothersome if they do seek their help and escape to the oriantent.” The person said to the person on the other end of the phone.

“Those old treaties are becoming more and more of a pain If only the old heads didn’t agree to them…We could hunt without worry if the old scions didn’t fear those damned spirits.” Only to cringe slightly as the person he said it to seems to scold him from the other of the phone for his slight disrespect.

“Multiculturalism has become a bastard to deal with now that people move around and bring the old things with them.” A person in the room stated, as they ran a metal file on their razor-like nails, tilting their head to the side looking annoyed, the nails turning into long claws and then back to simple finger nails.

“It has however brought many unique flavors to the feeding grounds.” An older man stated, his pale skin nearly as white as his hair, as examined a glass of wine that was from around the time of the French Revolution, mixed with blood of the noble class, a rather rich flavor, if not a bit sour.

“However this will raise concerns with the council should this new specimen escape to them, ve vill lose our only example of a cape now turned into a lycan. Yet breaking the treaty vill bring those who can match us against us in a conflict our kind have tried to avoid for centuries. The last vorld var damn near did it if not for ze Americans dropping ze bomb on their homeland of course.” Spoke a man with a German accent as he seemed to be scrolling through his phone.

“You do not speak so openly of what we already know thrall.” The woman growled, having a claw pressed against the throat of the man, placing just a little pressure drawing a single droplet of blood that rested on the claw, before she pulled it back and licked it off.

The German didn’t seem phased at all as he spoke with a slight smirk “I vould not do that herr frau, for I am of the council woman's favorite after all. Ve Vould not vant to make her upset, ja?” The woman from before just growled before she backed off and simply crossed her arms glaring at the German.

“We still need to make sure that when she is found, we bring her back and make sure we can study the effects. This is not a chance we are allowed to miss. If we solve the mystery of powers, we can harness it to rule without fear any longer. We may even be able to conquer the sun with this knowledge.” The old man spoke firmly as he looked around the room, setting down his glass of bloodwine.

The woman huffs as she asks “That's well and good but how do we find this bitch? The woods belong to the packs, Asian towns belong to the Yokai, and we can't even step foot on sacred grounds so what the hell do you expect us to do? Just sit and wait?” Frustration is clear in her voice.

“Of course not. We just need to bring out the right bait to make her come to us. She is married after all.” The sentence trailed off as the implication was made without needing to be said.

— — — — —

“‘He will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery.” Spoke Ellis as he looked at his audience before he exploded with energy “How in the good lord's name does that not mean a rifle! I mean think about it. The modern day rod of iron is obviously a gun! And the government is trying to take away our guns! Our god given right as stated in the good book! How can none of y'all see that!”

“Ellis, last time you said that, the proposed idea of guns being the rods of god, your only evidence was that barrels were straight. And Luna then used plumbing as another example so hygiene could be the rods of iron, and they are better at ruining pottery than using a gun to ‘dash them to pieces’.” Taylor used finger quotes as she talked to her redneck friend,

“But I am not wrong! Why else would they try so hard to disarm us?” Ellis voiced in a very conspiratorial tone.

Luna, who was reading a book, went to say something only to stop and shake her head. “Nope, not touching that topic.” As she turned a page in her book of Poe's collected works.

Taylor sighs “Ellis, I love you like a brother I can’t see because of legal reasons, I support the right to bear arms just like any other sane person, but sometimes I fear I might turn on the news one day and find you arrested for trying to bomb the IRS building like that one guy in Florida.”

“I ain’t that crazy, besides, if I had to choose a building, I’d hit the federal reserve, which is not, in fact a federally integrated institution.” Ellis sounded almost proud that he knew that.

Coming up from behind Taylor, silent like a ghost, a hand gently rested itself on Taylor’s shoulder, and made her stop as she was pulled back by it.

“Why do you not simply ditch the crazy. It ruins how people will see you. He may drag you into some crazy idea, like how the illuminati are running the PRT.” a rather smooth, calm and commanding voice stated.

The owner of the voice was Haytham, a year older than Taylor, he was among the popular students with the refined features, voice, piercing eyes, and even with how he dressed in a style of clothing which raised a few questions of why he went to Winslow and not some private school.

His designer jacket was zipped up, as he gave a small, cocky grin as he looked Taylor in the eyes.

“I…I…I-” Taylor stammered, not able to respond as her brain was seemingly short-circuiting from the attention.

“Darling. How about you join me and I can make you someone people strive to be.” Haytham more so ordered than suggested, he rarely accepted a refusal from anyone for anything.

Of course Luna wasn’t having any of it as she stood up and placed herself between
Haytham and Taylor “Hey bud, ya ever hear of a little thing called personal space? Or better yet the word called consent? Cause right now you're giving all sorts of red flags that I personally am not liking so do us both a favor and fuck off with your conformist money bag having capitalist society supporting ass.”

Haytham glanced at Luna, “If you wanted to be the center of attention, I am more than willing to provide you a fun time, just later. Ok? I’m not into goth girls, try adding some color to your pallet and I might consider donating to your diet.”

Neither Luna or Taylor could respond, as it was Ellis who made his response, in the form of a solid shoulder check into the guys chest as he now stood in front of both girls “The ladies asked you politely to get. Now either yet get or I'm gonna show ya what happens when you don't learn that no means no.” He brought his hands up into a boxers stance as he declared “So go on and get!”

Haytham growled, annoyed, “You inbred Mutt! I should throw you in the bay for that!” He slowly got up and clenched his fist.

“FIGHT!!!!!!” Was shouted by someone, probably Greg, and that was when chaos broke out as Ellis got sent into another group of kids who caught him as one of them yelled out “LETS GET THAT RICH KID!” Showing that Ellis may be the local southern nut case, but he was loved by some people.

Which resulted in Haytham getting socked as he landed in the popular kids who then charged back and somewhere in the mix Ellis declared proudly “YEEEEHAW! A FIGHT!” Which was why Taylor, Luna, and anyone who didn’t want to be involved in the new full blown brawl was watching from the windows they attempted to escape being drawn in.

As they got close to a way out, someone grabbed Luna’s hair, pulling her a step back before she turned and with a hard strike across the jaw the person collapsed like a sack of potatoes. Taylor had a suspicion that they lost a tooth or two with that punch due to the fact Luna had a pair of brass knuckles on when the punch landed. “Really Luna? Brass Knuckles? Here I thought you’d have spiked knuckles.” Taylor couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh please. I have standards, besides, the spikes break off and can be traced back to you if you aren’t careful.” Luna answered, in a line that felt way too rehearsed.

Taylor and Luna were able to get away from the fight with a few other students, right in time for the sound of sirens to fill the air all while the full blown fight continued as Taylor shouted as loud as she could “RUN ELLIS! RUN!” As she noticed Ellis head butted someone before he took off running like a bat out of hell.

“How he has not been arrested will always be a mystery to me.” Luna watched him run into a locker and fall down, before getting up and running down the hall.

“Think he will be caught?” Taylor asked.

Luna clicks her tongue as she says “naaaah” Before adding “Depends actually.”

“On?” Taylor probed for more information.

“If they got the locks on the door near the parking lot fixed. And if the police are there already.” Luna explained.

Taylor and Luna both looked at each other before they turned their heads towards the direction of where Ellis was running only to hear clear as day “DAG NABBIT! LET ME GO! I KNOW MY RIGHTS AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN! LET ME GO! This is America! I thought this was America!” Ellis was being carried by 3 police officers as Ellis was trying to worm his way free of the many hands grabbing his arms and legs.

— — — — —

1996: Brockton Bay

Stalking the dark streets of the coastal City, Annette stayed low, crouched as she was close to cornering the subject of her hunt. She had found that there was a vampire who was over feeding, hoping to become powerful, or was just a sadistic bastard that wanted to overfeed. Staying low and dashing across the street, Annette readied her weapon, a suppressed SR3 which she would have to thank her friend for getting due to the fact that the black markets were filling up with former com-bloc guns which were cheaper then what she would normally use.

Slowly she scanned the area with a UV flashlight attached to the weapon ready to flash the fang-head before hitting them with 9x39 hollow points which should slow them down enough for her to finish them off.

Looking around she spots a shadow moving as she unleashes two shots from her suppressed weapon before giving chase down the alleyway only for the bastard leapt down from the roof to try and catch her off guard.

Before Annette brought up a steel plated boot which connected to the side of the vampire's head, sending them away Annette and as they landed the vampire aimed their Remington 870 towards her before firing.

The shot rang out through the alleyway, unlike Annette's suppressed weapon which she quickly brought up and returned fire. The Vampire hissed in pain as blessed silver penetrated their body. They scrambled away, leaping off walls and fleeing up the stairs with Annette giving chase after getting back to her feet.

Annette approached the stairs cautiously, watching the railing for where her target might be as she slowly moved up them, weapon raised and at the ready with her thumb on the pressure pad of the UV light as she scanned her surroundings.

“Come out you bastard. You’re running out of places to hide.” She muttered under her breath as she kept her back pressed to the wall slowly moving with purpose but her body tense as she listened to her surroundings.

Annette watched as she reached the last few steps, making sure there wasn’t a trap at the landing of the stairs, before she moved slowly towards a hallway, two open doors on opposite sides of the hall.

Waiting for a few seconds, she listened, taking a step into the hall between the two rooms. Being too close to the walls could allow the vampire to break the walls and grab her, so staying in the middle was a good option.

“You think you’ll get stronger? Feeding? It’s just going to make you slow, fat. Lazy. Easy for more ambitious, smarter vampires to catch and kill you. All your hard work drains from you as they relish in their victory.” Annette spoke loudly, hoping to infuriate the ego of the vampire, make him slip up.

She slowly slid the light up towards the ceiling, making sure they weren’t hiding just past the doorway.

“Or maybe you’re a clan breaker? Feeding cause you’ll starve when you have to run and hide for a long time. Won’t know when you’ll eat next. That’s what you are, a clean breaker, no blood cattle to feed when you want.” Annette spoke again as she swept her weapon around the hallway.

The wall burst open just a few steps where she was, “THEN WHY DON’T I MAKE YOU ONE YOU ARROGANT BITCH!” The vampire shouted, hands out as it seemingly planned to grab her before she quickly turned around and all the vampire could see was a bright burning light which caused him to hiss before a burst of suppressed fire followed sending ten silver blessed hollow points into the blood sucker.

The vampire collapsed, hissing in pain as it struggled to breathe, its lungs penetrated, if not eviscerated by the hollow point rounds. They grabbed at their chest, before with a kick, knocked their arms away, a steel toed boot stood on them, pinning them down.

“I want names. Who’s the head vampire in the city?” Annette produced a glass vial from her belt before grabbing the cork with her teeth as she rips it out and spits it out “Tell me or so help me this is going down your throat.”

The vampire laughs a bit as he glares “You don't have the fucking balls bitch, you know who your fucking with? You got any fucking clue who controls this city?” He taunted.

She let a few drops splash into the eye of the Vampire, steam rising as he screamed in pain.

“Tick, fucking Tock. Answers, not threats, Maybe I’ll take you back to a lock box and see what holy water does when used as enema fluid does to you.” Annette threatened, remembering some old tactics Lustrum used to threaten people back in the day.

“Fuck! AAAAAHHH! I don’t know, he sends proxies out from Med Hall! I don’t know, they didn’t deem me ‘strong enough’ to know.” The Vampire cried out.

Annette began to tip the vial more, “Who was?” She threatened as a little splash landed next to the head, the droplets burning the face of the vampire.

“I don’t know, some school bitch or something. She’s on the boards of some school, I don’t know any more.” the vampire pleaded.

Annette was silent before she stood up with a slight nod “Alright, I believe you.” Before she brought the silence barrel of her rifle to his head and sent two shots through it as she added with venom “Now go meet your god in Hell.”

Chapter Text

Danny and Annette meet with Jane and Ethan in private, entering a pub named the Singing Banshee, and sitting down in a booth. The Bartender nodded to Annette, who nodded back.

“So, what is this all about?” Jane nervously asked.

“Since you both don’t know about what’s going on, what’s truly going on. Annette thought it would be a good idea to give you the crash course and some knowledge.” Danny explained, as he took a folder out and slid it over to the pair.

“Don’t let anyone else see that.” Danny insisted.

Opening the folder, Ethan and Jane saw typed up sheets of paper.

The Bartender came over and set down a few cups, water, decaffeinated coffee, tea with lemon. 

Ethan looked at the man, and felt like he’d seen the man somewhere before, but he couldn’t place it.

“Thank you.” Danny nodded, as he sipped his coffee.

The Origin and History of the Hunters. 

Annette with a cup of tea in hand sat across from the couple as she began her lecture like she would with any of her own college classes. 

“ The origins of the Hunters date back roughly three thousand years ago. We are not the same organization. The old myths, Heraclese, Perseus, Theseus, people you hear as mythical figures. They were once people. Not all powerful beings, but they did kill monsters, they were real. Some details got added, some lost. They were normal people, who killed monsters. Most likely the figures who became gods were once people, who used monsters to seem as though they had impossible powers.” She began before continuing.  

“Our organization is the culmination of 5 groups and bases of knowledge from around the world. There are 5 important groups who we drew much of our knowledge and techniques from. The Far North, current day Scandinavia, under the name of the Wild Hunt, the Far East, China and Japan through merchants and those that would become known as ninjas, the Middle East as the Janissaries, the kingdoms of Europe as the Crusaders, and here in the Americas, the shamans who protected the tribes’ souls.” 

“A lot of big name groups from history.” Jane commented.

“The groups served multiple roles. History only remembers so much It can also be said that when it comes to certain actions, they were not seen and could not be written into history.” Danny explained.

“There were others of course, families who made it their mission to collect knowledge on monsters, to understand how to defeat them. Some claim they saved the world from disasters stopped before they grew uncontrollable. “

“Officially, The Hunters Lodges formed in 1603 in England, but the members spread out, creating lodges from groups, families and communities across Europe. We gathered knowledge, sought out the monsters that hide in the dark corners of the world. For a time, we had some success, we were able to contain the monsters, but….something changed.”

“By the 1800’s the old monsters threats were gone, but a new one rose. Our enemy changed from that of simple beasts and creatures of the dark, to ones who have learned and could counter what we could throw at them. When the Wars of Napoleon, the Ottoman’s wars on the Janissaries, the Opium Wars and War of 1812, where our lodges were systematically destroyed across the world did we realize that we had fallen victim to our own hubris. We became the hunted.”

“It was only later did we discover that the nature of our prey had changed. The Vampires had developed a technique. One that would control the mind of a person, they used this to infiltrate governments, create revolutions that would undo the Lodge’s supporters, and hunt down the members.”

“But it was also when something else formed…it is called the Masquerade. The creatures that once terrorized the world now began to rule. They grew their influence, their power base, and well…you get it.” Annettee waved her hand off handedly.

“That is when we began to hide who we are. Meeting in secret, we no longer proclaimed ourselves those who stood against the dark. We now made it our home. We had to learn new tricks, ways for us to stay hidden, stay sane, stay ourselves. We survive, small groups of us in cities and towns, meeting in secret, hunting only when we know we have a target.” Danny added from his seat. 

Annettee however sighed “However that all changed in 1983…”

“Scion…” Ethan stated.

“Yes. When Parahumans began to appear, the Hunters would be the first to study the nature of them. Deals with the devils are one thing, they could grant some power, ones that defied the natural world. But Parahumans, they were far from anything we’ve ever encountered.”

“It should be noted we’ve never encountered or heard of a Vampire becoming a parahuman. We speculate it’s because whatever is necessary for the effect, it doesn’t work with Vampires. We’ve never heard of a parahuman Lycanthrope either, however-”

“I’m the exception now.” Jane nodded.

“Now, before we get too close to the current time. There are things you need to know about the local…shadow world.”

Main Prey/Predators of the Hunters in Brockton Bay

“ Primarily the threat in Brockton Bay are the Vampires. The story goes it was a union between devils and man that created the first true vampires. They do not sustain themselves as a mortal, they need the life of others, and that life comes from blood. More were born from a coven, and spread, until one day, a child was born, a Vampire who was the son of Satan himself. One who could control all other vampires with just a thought. He was stopped by a family of monster hunters, one that spent generations learning everything they could, in the hopes to find a way to kill an deathless monster.” Danny explained the history of the vampire

“We know there is a cabal of them in the city, however, we have yet to determine any of the leaders, just the ones who are disposable to them. They probably are connected to the hospitals and blood banks in town, feeding on the old blood and rats in the city. Stuff that won’t be missed normally and just ignored. However, the council likely are somehow connected to the human trafficking rings in the city, and some abductions .” Danny began to explain.

“Great…just…how would we even begin to try and counter them?” Ethan asked.

“ If you want to identify them, your best bet is silver, the purer- and more reflective the better. They don’t have reflections in it. Garlic is an irritant for them, makes them cough and sneeze when around it for a while. Sunlight will only really harm the higher generations, lower generations will just have irritation, and look like a bad sunburn, they can still be killed by it, but you need full direct sun exposure to do so. Most vampires you’d ever encounter can be considered low rated brutes, movers, strangers and occasionally masters if they are lucky. If you ever encounter one of the court. Then all bets are off. Run, hide, and pray .” Annette explained to the heroes.

“So, what can you tell us about the vampires in the city? And you said something about mastering, any way to tell us how to identity them?” Jane questioned.

“ We don't, we only really encounter the Thralls, and the only way to know if someone is a thrall is to find them meeting the one who they are enthralled to to feed, or when they are in the Thrall state, a mindless puppet more than a person. They typically need some blood from their master to remain healthy, or else they become erratic. ” Danny explained 

“ There are 4 clans of Yokai, spirits of the Eastern world, that migrated with the people. The clans of the Dragon, the Phoenix, the White Tiger and the Tortoise. They lead the various Yokais in the city. There is a…strangled peace that has kept them isolated from the conflicts of the hunters, but also prevented us from learning much about them. They stick to the shrines that were built in the North of the city mostly. ” Annette stated.

“ Then we have what you are now, the lycanthropes. They are our tentative alley in the city. Mostly because Annette was able to beat the old pack leaders, showing she could match them in the ways they respect. The Lycanthropes are the main enemy of the Vampire. There are 3 main packs, we can share some of that later on, or at least introduce you to the pack leaders.” Danny explained.

“ According to their own beliefs. They were created in response to the growth of the Vampire threat. They are resistant to the mind control and enthrallment, their blood is a poison to vampires. ‘They were cursed by God to fight those Blessed by the Devil.’ That doesn’t make them all allies to humanity. People still will be terrified of a lycanthrope, it’s part of the transformation effect, it radiates pure terror to those who witness it”   

“Ok. So…I get that, but what about the Hunter people like you?” Ethan processed everything.

“Do you mean our history, or…do you mean Hunters?” Annette looked at the hero, she adjusted herself, seeming a bit nervous at the question.

“The…hunters.” Ethan clarified.

Annette was quiet, she turned around, wheeling away.

“There are no other Hunters. Just us. Most got caught…some were worse off than others. Not all by the vampires either. There was another couple. They got caught by All Father, last we  heard they were in Germany…not by choice.” Danny stated.

The implication was clear.

“We’ve lost a lot of friends. Even some of her students became hunters. It’s not an easy life. We rarely hunt, we have people we are looking out for now. Once we can’t risk getting caught in all of this.” Danny continued to explain.

Jane and Ethan both nodded.

— — — — —

A child will be born on a thrice blooded moon

From their vein, born of mortal womb.

A cure to conquer the  constant foe

And Unleash a plague of unending woe.

From lines of man and devil, the last of the line

The true heir to the throne of all vampire kind.

Chapter Text

Taylor and Luna waited for Ellis’s family to pick him up from the police station, the crazy bastard had gotten pretty close but wasn’t looking where he was running, and ended up running into a police car, where he tried to climb over and escape. He was tackled and it took 3 grown men to carry him to a car to arrest him. He was one of roughly 10 people arrested for the fight at school, and tried to escape.

“Hello Officer Rodriguez.” Taylor and Luna both cheerfully waved at the desk officer.

The latin american officer looked at the pair, and smiled, “Hello Taylor, Luna. I take it you’re here to collect your friend?”

“Yeah. Ellis was brought here.” Luna admitted.

“I swear, that kid is like my aunt’s Chihuahua going to the vet. He bit Roberts while he was being carried. They thought he was on drugs when he came in, we almost broke out the poles.” Rodriguez explained.

Taylor shook her head. “I honestly have no clue why he’s like this.” Taylor sighed.

“Something about that boy isn’t right i tell you what. Just needing the final approval of his release, then you can go on your way.” Rodriguez explained, typing away on his computer.

The door opened and out strode Ellis, who saw Taylor and Luna, and ran at them. The pair sidestepped, realizing he wasn’t slowing down, and Ellis tripped, falling just past the pair.

“Did you learn anything?” Luna asked in a deadpan tone, looking down.

“That Roberts needs to wash his hands more, I could taste the leather product he uses on his belt.” Ellis stated.

“Anything else?” Taylor prodded.

“That Haythem is a bastard who can’t fight worth shit.” Ellis sounded too proud of that as he stood up smiling.

“We can still put you in holding, you’re in earshot.” Officer Rodriguez spoke up and chuckled a bit.

“Later Bernard.” Ellis waved, as the trio left the police station.

“Thanks for coming and meeting me.” Ellis thanked his friends as they walked out.

“No problem, well, little problem, your dad is not pleased to know you were caught by the police.” Luna told her friend.

“Shit.” Ellis almost sank a bit as he realized he’d have to explain why he was arrested for running from the cops, and technically biting an officer.

Taylor looked over at Ellis, “You know, as long as I have known you, I still don’t have a clue what your father does.”

“He works for a living.” Ellis responded.

“Yeah….but what does that mean? Where? You know my dad works at the docks and my mom is a tutor now. I know Luna’s dad is a private contractor of some sort.” Taylor began.

“He runs his own business where he is hired by clients to accomplish various jobs.” Luna corrected.

“Private. Contractor.” Taylor emphasized both words.

“It’s not much, he goes into work, does his job and leaves and is back by 5 normally. It’s pretty standard, and most of the time, I barely know what he’s talking about. Typically I just get back from school, I go out back and I do my chores at the barn.” Ellis explained.

The trio walked along the road, before Ellis looked at his phone, someone demanding to know where he was.

“We can go to the mall, your parents can pick you up there while we window shop.” Taylor suggested.

“Will the Window shoppin’ turn me into a bag boy?” Ellis questioned.

“Only if there is the new yaoi Chevalier x Armsmaster visual novel at the bookstore.” Luna joked.

“I still don’t get why you collect that stuff.” Taylor shook her head.

“Nothing is more beautiful than an artfully rendered depiction of graphic man on man love that also gives a middle finger to copyright law.” Luna explained, giving a distinctly in character response.

Taylor had seen her collection…There was so much porn…She even spotted one featuring Crawler and the Simurgh, it was titled ‘Crawling into your Mind’ Taylor hadn’t wished for someone to be killed, but…she really hoped that whoever made that stepped on a floor covered in legos, thumbtacks and lube.

“Just don’t make me listen, cause I refuse to read any of that.” Ellis shook his head.

“Uncultured swine.” Luna jokingly insulted.

“Freaky witch.” Ellis argued back, smiling.

“What does that mean in this situation?” Taylor smiled.

“Someone my nana’s gonna stuff till there’s meat on dem bones.” Ellis answered first.

“A girl who my dad wouldn’t suspect I’d date.” Luna joked.

“So sweet.” Taylor smiled, knowing that Luna was…something…Taylor didn’t know, and Ellis wouldn’t steal most of the food anyways.

The three would go to the mall, so that Ellis’s parents could pick him up and they could take a look around. Taylor stopped in a new shop, it was a shop that opened in the mall, which was a bit weird. The fact it was dark with only dark lights illuminating the place made it distinct too, she almost thought it was closed at first.

“Come in, come in. Welcome to Curios and Oddities. If you find something, let us know.” the man behind the register stated.

Taylor looked around the store, the items highlighted by spot lights hidden by the shelves. It was kind of interesting to look through. As Taylor went through the store, she spotted a necklace that had a pendant, it was a long central shaft that split into 3, the sides on the right and left still angled down and going out, before bending and turning back in, nearly touching the central part of the design.

Luna might like it. Taylor picked it up and brought it over to the counter.

“Oooh, nice choice. Felt drawn to it didn’t you?” the cashier joked.

“It certainly caught my attention.” Taylor admitted.

“That’s good. I’ll ring that up for you.” the cashier sounded happy, Taylor couldn’t see if he was smiling under the face mask he wore.

It cost roughly 5 dollars, Taylor paid and left. She would keep the pendant for a bit. Wandering over, she spotted a shop that she had some familiarity with, just because her dad went there on occasion.

Nick and Nate’s knick knacks, a novelty shop that had protectorate and other hero teams, even a few more unique rogues. Nick happens to make crochet plushies of capes and sells them. They can’t technically label any of the ones they make, they are just ‘cape plushes that resemble X cape’

Taylor walked in, seeing Nick and Nate lounging in a pair of recliners behind the counter. They both gave her a wave, before Nick sat up. He paused and looked at Taylor for a second, confused.

“You’re Danny’s kid right?” Nick questioned.

“Yeah?” Taylor asked, with a bit of worry.

“Everything…ok…you got that…feeling that something is off.” Nick stated.

“Not really, I just went to pick up my friend who got arrested after a fight.” Taylor shared possibly too much.

Nick looked a bit concerned, before he looked over at Nate. The two looked to each other, “Well, just…keep an eye on your surroundings. There’s a pick pocket in the mall.” Nate explained.

“Ok, thanks…is there anything my dad had delivered here?” Taylor asked, knowing her dad for some reason got packages from Nick and Nate for something he did on the side. Mom knew and assured her it wasn’t drugs or anything related to the gangs, but she’d learn about it when she was older.

“Nah, nothing.” Nick answered.

Taylor left the novelty shop, seeing 3 people walk in. As Taylor got about 3 stores down, someone was thrown through the front of the novelty shop, the 88 gang tattoo clear to see.

“WE ARE NOT PAYING THE EMPIRE TO HARASS US!” Nate shouted, before the other two ran out the door, picking up their friend and running away.

— — — — —

Ethan and Jane were placed in Master/Stranger containment for a while, being observed by Dragon, Armsmaster and Miss Militia.

“So far they passed everything, however the fact that Battery had a second trigger event that turned her into a changer is worrying. She seemed very…firm in her identity.” Armsmaster stated.

“Typically we don’t see the hidden issues until they happen. I’m just…a bit confused. Hell Hound is suspected to be in the city, we have to consider if she would be able to Master battery in her changed form.” Miss Militia asked, worried about the idea of one of her team mates being mastered by a villain.

“I think it may have been caused by the virus she encountered. According to Panacea, the virus was changing her DNA, the stress of learning this could have led to an identity crisis and the secondary trigger to stabilize the changes in her body, allowing her to revert back into her original self, and a self that she believed she was changing into.” Dragon theorized.

“There is quite a bit to worry about. Ethan said he followed his wife and she passed out in a clearing in the woods outside of town. Then he carried her back into town. I’m still trying to find the cape that attacked Battery, they haven’t made a second appearance yet, which is what has me worried.” Armsmaster moved onto the next subject.

“Do you think that one of the gangs picked them up?” Miss Militia questioned.

“There are stranger things that have occurred. The Wolf Packs may have found their wolf for all we know.” Armsmaster suggested.

“The wolf packs… I thought they didn’t have any capes.” Dragon pointed out.

“That’s been debatable. The gym on 7th and grand street certainly pushes the limits of possible brutes.” Miss Militia muttered under her breath.

The 3 heroes continued to talk, before the door opened and Rennick strode in.

“Hello Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Dragon. How are the duo doing?” the deputy director asked in a chipper tone.

“No changes noted in behaviors or the tests for Master Stranger evaluations. Assault seems to be a bit more skeptical, but his partner did just suffer a second trigger event so it’s in safe parameters of behaviors. We will conduct a more thorough evaluation of him towards the end of the holding period.” Miss Militia explained.

“Well, that’s good. It would be a shame to lose two good heroes, when we are already struggling so much. Armsmaster, any luck finding the culprit who attacked the apartments?” Rennick questioned.

“Still no luck. There’s suspicion that a gang may have picked them up and have them lying low for the time being.”

“There was also a rather sizable fight at Winslow earlier. Sophia is fine, it was apparently between the empire and wolfpack individuals.” Miss Militia added on.

“I don’t see why we have Shadow Stalker at Winslow. It is a rather dangerous place for a girl of her…appearance to be at. I’m just worried for her safety.” Rennick responded.

Miss Militia was also resistant to the idea of a ward being alone at a school, especially one known to have gang inside, she also knew that Sophia was less than suited to be at Arcadia, both for her academic scores, which were a bit lower than Arcadia's acceptance standard, but she was a bit too aggressive and confrontational for the school’s liking. The PRT was working on curbing that aggression, but it was a slower process than they’d like.

Rennick had been a bit more hands-on with the support, attempting to understand Shadow Stalker and her issues. He gave her a challenge to push her limits. If she could be a contributing factor in, or primarily responsible for the capture of 2 villains, he would submit an application for her to have some of her probationary terms lifted or eased upon. This was in addition to a year of good academic and behavioral standing to the school.

Rennick pushed all the wards to have this exceptional effort, most didn’t need it, and if they did accomplish it, it would lead to an end of the year bonus reward for their efforts. Vista got it twice in the last two years.

While Rennick watched the screen. He focused on Battery’s screen for a moment. She was awake, curled up in a ball and just sitting on the floor, not really odd, she had 2 more hours of being monitored and occasional random questioning to see if she was being Mastered or influenced by a stranger.

Rennick left, he had other duties to return to.

— — — — —

Taylor, Luna and Ellis were waiting outside, Taylor holding onto the necklace she bought, Luna had a paper bag from a bookstore, usually given out to keep what was bought hidden, Taylor had a feeling it was cape romance/smut. Ellis looked down the sidewalk, trying to spot the car that he was going to be picked up in.

“They said they’d be at this entrance about now.” Ellis checked his phone again, reading the text message.

Luna nudged Taylor's arm to get her attention. Taylor looked over to where Luna pointed and spotted a Bentley limo pulling up. People spotted it and came to see who was coming, Ellis walked over with the others, as the driver stepped out.

“Master Ellis, I must apologize, but the traffic in town had delayed me.” The driver looked directly at Ellis and apologized.

Everyone paused, confused, as Ellis walked to the back of the Limo with the driver, who opened the door and let him in.

“Hold the fuck up! Ellis. Why does your family own a limo?” Luna demanded, confused and maybe a little offended.

Ellis rolled the window down and shrugged. “Ain’t nothin special, ya'll should see what ma and pa ride in.”

“I refuse to believe that this is nothing special. Ellis, you came to school with a lunch box that had more dents than a demolition derby car. Your clothes smelled like shit and I don’t even think they were made in the last 5 years.” Luna pointed out.

Ellies just shrugs as he offers “Well why not come on down to the home, ya’ll haven’t met my folks yet so why not come on down to the homestead.”

Taylor was still processing the fact that the guy who she had never once seen do a smart thing, was somehow rich enough to have a limo, a BENTLEY limo, and act like it was nothing. Luna grabbed her arm and pulled her into a Limo that had a mini-tv in the back, and a built-in minifridge along the opposite side of the seats.

The drive took a bit, and led them out of town, until they pulled into a driveway that was guarded by a metal gate. Looking out, she spotted a massive yard that led to a large mansion that had a mix of antebellum southern and modern design. She spotted the raised patio that wrapped around the house’s front. They pulled around a fountain, and once parked they were let out.

“Ellis…what the hell do your parents do?” Luna demanded.

Ellis looked at Luna, “I mean, we operate the largest horse ranch in the state and happen to have owned north port. Dad leased it out to the city. Mom mostly stays home. We own about 300 acres of land that stretch into the forest, so we let people camp and horse ride on the trails. Not all that special.” Ellis explained.

Taylor simply fainted, being caught by a butler who seemingly materialized.

“Thank you Tenaka.” Ellis nodded at the elderly looking japanese man that caught Taylor as she fainted.

When Taylor came to, she was laying on what she could identify as a fainting couch, several pillows placed under her. Looking around, she could see elaborate carved and white painted trimmings that ran along the top of the walls. Large windows with curtains were open, letting sunlight shine inside of the room. On a table near by the couch was a glass of water and a few muffins.

Taylor took a sip of the water and then ate a muffin, being careful to not spill too many crumbs on the couch. Taylor reached the door on the other side of the room, and found it was a slide door. Opening it, she saw Luna, Ellis and a woman in a dress that just screamed filthy rich.

“Oh well hello dear. Tenaka was shocked when you fainted. You must have been so overwhelmed. How was the muffin? Your darling of a friend Luna was just talking about how you thought my boy was some such country bumpkin who lived in a trailer with 8 siblings.” The woman’s laugh even sounded like it could cost money.