The wolf regained its posture and was now growling menacingly at Erik. The albino did nothing but stare, eyes relaxed and mouth set in a thin and narrow line, his face still as carefully blank as always. He probed the Wolf's mind, and immediately ran into a problem. This Wolf already had something controlling its mind, and it was MUCH stronger than any influence Erik could hope to exert. It would most likely be impossible to mesmerize, dominate, or confuse.
'That leaves me with telekinesis.' Erik thought. He coulld not hope to hold the beast with his telekinetic powers, however. He could only manipulate passive objects that did not offer immense amounts of resistance, like the wolf most likely would in that situation. So...
The fallen eight-balls from around the port suddenly arose into the air and started pelting the wolf, which suddenly lunged at Erik and entirely ignored the projectiles smashing into it. Erik performed a smooth, almost lazy sweeping step that covered an abnormally large distance quickly, but that did not get him out of trouble. The wolf landed heavily where he had been, and immediately whip-lashed its entire body towards the albino in a massive body slam.
Erik swept his umbrella in front of him. As mentioned earlier, it was made of a light-weight, flexible yet durable material built to withstand various impacts, and Erik had some telekinetic armor hard-wired into his reflexes, which he could channel into the device as well. As a result, the umbrella was very tough and could protect him from most forms of injury.
But not from momentum. Seven hundred pounds of wolf smashed into the umbrella and sent Erik staggering back several feet, almost falling over. The wolf was not fazed at all by Erik's sudden defense, lunging once more for the off-balance albino.
The ceiling fan overhead fell as Erik severed it from the ceiling with his telekinesis, and it smashed right into the wolf, which collapsed under the apparatus and howled like a demon. Erik backed away to the far side of the port as the wolf angrily got up, shoving off the fan with only a few cuts that were not even visible below its fur.
'I may be in trouble...' He thought.
Crestfallen sat straight up in bed in what would have been a cold sweat... that is if Demons could sweat. Instead his deep blue-grey skin took on a clammy quality. Slowly he rested his downward curving horns in his hands as he focused on recalling what had startled him. He wandered through his mind before recalling the event. He had heard screams and saw a very large wolf and Alex, Blake, Erik and countless screaming teens fleeing from a local hangout. This was not the first time he had had visions of his neighbors in varying degrees of peril, as he tended to unwilling form connections to those around him.
He drug himself out of bed, took a moment to focus as he morphed himself from a 5ft 8 red haired, red horned, blue skinned demon into a black haired 25 year old Caucasian male. Crestfallen was a large believer in secret identities, so much so that his secret identity had it's own secret identity.
As he pulled on his costume, cape and mask he mused at how tired he was. He had learned how to sleep from her, and now he could barely function without it.
Shaking off his nostalgia he locked his door and teleported several blocks away. By day he was known as Soren Chell, by night he was The Dark Defier. Only alone in his room did he become Crestfallen again.
Finding the scene wasn't difficult, even if he hadn't know where it was, the terror in the air was like neon signs pointing the way. He took a moment to wrap himself in darkness before making a giant leap towards the distressed pizza parlor.
He landed with a painful thump before the building. Most of the teens had cleared out, but he could sense life still inside so he wrapped his fists in nether energy and prepared to fight as he walked through the door.
((Sorry about the choppy intro, trying to catch up 
Great thread so far, I hope there is room for 1 more ))
((I'm back now, with internets 
))
As the wolf leaped Blake lunged. The beast landed on him and pinned him to the ground, Blake's sword having the effect of singing a couple of hairs. As it reared it's head back to strike an eight ball smacked it hard in the head, causing it to jump off and chase someone else. Blake, thinking it was a hero that was more fit to handle the situation and wasn't Alex, lay back and sighed his vision blurry.
As he tried to stand up a wave of nausea overfilled him and he fell back down with a thud. "Ow..." he muttered drunkenly, rolling onto his stomach and attempting to get on his knees. Blood dripped from his head in monotonous drops, causing a small puddle. He did his best to ignore it and stood up, leaning against a nearby chair for support. He caught the sight of Alex running out the door and Erik throwing pool balls at the wolf without touching them. Blake's first immediate thought was That's pretty cool , but he mentally shrugged it off.
The teen's hands lit up with a small bang, just as Soren walked in. Blake ignored him and threw a ball of orange flame at the wolf, the thing shrugging it off like an annoying bug. Blake's shoulders fell as he saw the effect, and tried to think of anything that would help. He scanned the place quickly and saw toppled chairs, tables, the counter, games. He quickly snapped his head back at the counter and thought for a second before half running and half stumbling over to it, going in and looking at the ground. He caught sight of a small hatch and opened it, revealing a small ladder down into the kitchen.
Blake slid down and looked around desperately for what he wanted, finding it almost immediately. He emerged back onto the main floor with a bucket in his hand. He slid over the counter and stumbled towards the wolf, praying he didn't drop the bucket in his hands. As he was within range, he leaned back and threw the bucket forward, cooking oil flying through the air and splashing the wolf.
It cocked it's head back and glared at him, growling deeply. Blake snapped, a small orb of fire erupting between his thumb and forefinger. He threw it at the wolf, hoping that with all the oil it has covering it, it would be burnt to a crisp.
The fireball hit the wolf dead on, and it immediately burst into open flames that would have previously ben instantl suffocated by the wolf's coat. A tremendous howl filled the Port, cracked the windows and reverberated throughout the block. Crestfallen got very short-lasted glimpse of the wolf as it shot past him faster than a bullet and on fire, charging blindly down the street until it fell over and suddenly exploded violently, scattering its innards all over the street.
Apparently, something within it had been explosively combustive.
Erik deigned to show a very rare display of emotion and raised a solitar eyebrow at Blake.
"Despite your flaws and troubles, I can no longer deny that you are One Smooth Operator, Blake." He said. The teenager felt like a soothing wind had suddenly passed by, like he had suddenly been embraced by a lover, and he may have noticed that all of his wounds and decided to up and vanish. Erik's empathy was powerful stuff.
Crestfallen threw himself to the side as he nearly got ran over by a giant flaming ...wolf? He watched as it ran off, and then exploded.
Turning back to the two inside the building. "So... This place gives gas eh?" With a much more serious tone he starts to ask if everyone is okay then stops and nods slightly to Erik.
"So, anybody know the what and why of that thing?"
Alex immediately recognized Ramon and his Vanguard company; she headed straight toward him, her eyes slightly moist with tears.
Ramon! She was relieved to see him, The Pizza Port was attacked. Blake is still in there with the big wolf. Erik arrived too, but Im worried about him. Hurry to them, please, make sure Blake is safe.
By this time, however, the giant flaming wolf could be seen sprinting outside of the Port exit down the road, then after a few moments of escape it exploded in a burnt, gory mess. Alex just stared in shock at the unusual phenomenon and held her arms close around her middle, not really paying attention to those around her. Then she began running back to the Port to see the others.
Blake shielded his eyes from the explosion of the wolf, although smiling. As the wolf dashed out of the Pizza Port, the teen sighed in relief. He flashed a smile, saying "I'll take that as a compliment" to Erik. As Erik's powers washed over him, Blake closed his eyes and smiled. "And thanks, for that and the backup" he added, then looked out into the street where several burning parts of the wolf could be seen.
He nodded at the newcomer who had just missed the action, saying "Yeah, who do you think it is this time? Crey, maybe?" Blake loomed around the trashed place, his eyes falling on the now broken Freedom Phalanx game. His head snapped back towards Erik "Hey, did Alex get out o-" he had started before Alex herself ran in. "Hey," he said, smirking "Fancy meeting you here"
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"So, anybody know the what and why of that thing?"
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, who do you think it is this time? Crey, maybe?"
[/ QUOTE ]
"I would not know." Erik lied. Crestfallen, if he was using his telepathy presently, would discover he could not read or otherwise perceive Erik's mind or thoughts. Presumably they were carefully shielded. "We cannot stop yet. I sensed something very much like this wolf expressing urges of hunger and violence in this district earlier. This was not it. There is still another one of these, maybe more, prowling around in this district..." He paused, and visibly tilted his head to gaze out the nearest window.
As he felt about the atmosphere of the city, Agent Smith shotgunned the second wolf.
".....Hmm. Disregard that. It has vanished." Erik remarked off-handedly. "In any case, there is not much more we can do here. Good day."
And then the albino walked out of the Port, umbrella returning to its proper position, seeming to loom over him like some kind of monster as he walked down the street back towards the apartment.
After hearing the news Ramon looked at Sgt. Brite and nodded "You two say with Alex and any other civilian." Sgt. Brite said as he and Ramon ran toward pizza port. As they got there they looked around "Is everyone alright ?" Ramon ask as he looked around "Awwww man not the Freedom Phalanx game. I love that game." Ramon said in a said voice. "Anyway" as he looked around and noticed that everything was taken care of "What happened here?" Ramon said as he looked around. "Looks like the council threw a party or something?" Ramon said as he looked at Sgt. Brite. "Sgt. Brite take the recuits and inform our "commander" on the information that just took place." he said as Sgt. Brite quickly replied with a standard "Roger" and left taking his two recuits with him as they came near the pizz port with ran in. "Well can someone inform me on what just happened" he said as he dropped his bags and looked around.
[ QUOTE ]
"Hey," he said, smirking "Fancy meeting you here"
[/ QUOTE ]
Well duh, Alex quickly ran up to Blake and wrapped her arms around him, thankful that he was alive, Youre right where I left you after I saved your butt! And you still owe me a pizza. She joked, after what just happened that was the last thing that needed to be addressed.
A brief strike of fear hit her when Erik mentioned that there were more in Galaxy, and she turned toward him as he was exiting the wrecked Pizza Port. Do you know what they want? she stammered, I mean aside from eating people and causing havoc
just some random evil? Though something like that wouldnt be completely out of the ordinary in Paragon City
Erik had not stopped to answer Alex's question as he left, but she heard his voice in her head.
'None of those. These creatures are nothing more than unfortunate victims.' Erik's calm and windy voice echoed. He did not elaborate further on this statement. 'Be careful. As I said before, Galaxy City is getting more dangerous every day.'
Crestfallen, As the Dark Defier, exited the Pizza Port shortly after Erik. He walked over to the charred spot of concrete where the wolf had spent it's final moments. Very slowly he circled the spot as if waiting for it to make a move. Finally he spoke, to no one in particular.
"I've got a bad feeling..."
Blake returned the short hug and laughed. "You saved my butt? Aren't I the one that told you to go and then blew the thing up?" He sighed and nodded "I do owe you a pizza though. Gimme a call and we'll go somewhere that's not trashed" His good mood was temporarily ruined when Erik announced that there were more wolves, but corrected himself as one evidently died.
When Alex asked Erik her question, Blake got slightly mad that he didn't answer. He mentally shrugged it off, thinking he was slightly put off by the wolf attack, Blake knew he was. "I might head home and chill out. Unless you want to head to another pizza place where we can face off with a giant wolf, because that was so fun" He smiled and started for the exit.
Nyte alighted upon the sidewalk in front of the apartments several hours after leaving the site of Hunter's wolf attack. As she landed she realised it might have been wiser to use the fire escape again - the better to avoid certain people..but Mabel was old and it was late...here's hoping the old coot was sleeping.
Nyte was to tired to check, she was so tired even her wing's hurt she and her comrades had been run ragged attempting to uncover the source of an unknown plague in an alternate dimension for Portal Corps. She was just about to push open the apartments main doors when a wave of anger and torment washed across mind, a low snarl issued from the alley beside the apartments. Nyte wanted to bang her head on the glass door.
"You've got to be kidding me.."
She stated in annoyance before slowly turning away from the door and cautiously moving towards the alley.
[u]Elsewhere[u]
A distinct yawning noise filled the air, shortly followed by the shifting of viscous matter such as tar. 28 giant wolves directed their attention away from chewing, sleeping and eating and towards the source of noise and movement. A voice spoke, and though it was in a familiar tongue, it had a heavy accent of black speech.
"So the sun has set and the moon has risen thirty times. Joy. And let's see...Yes. YES. I HAVE GAINED WEIGHT! This new diet is FANTASTIC! Hysssahahahahaha..." The voice uttered a dry and rasping laugh filled with mad and mocking tones. By now, all the wolves had suddenly dropped what they were doing and assembled in a perfect circle around the originator of the voice, lying down with ears perked and eyes focused, as if listening intently.
"So lessee what I have left in the proverbial pantry, eh? I count 27 of you mangy things. Ok, good, now onto...Wait a tick..." The voice paused for a brief moment, mentally recounting the wolves assembled around it. "Yes. There are 27 of you. Huh. Something tells me that I'm missing something here. Gimme a second." The wolves continued to stare, and did so for approximately a minute before the voice spoke again. "AH! THAT'S IT! There are supposed to be 30 of you! There we go! I was actually worried for a moment the...Wait a tick." There was another very long pause, the voice's owner apparently thinking things over thoroughly. And when it spoke, what very little that was not wrong with its voice had added themselves to the ghastly symphony of speech. Somebody was angry. "Where are the last 3...?"
There was another long pause.
Ah well. The voice said, rescinding from the even more threatening tone it had taken on just a moment before. All that means is that now there will only by 26 of you. Hysssahahahahaha
***
[u]The Apartment[u]
Erik got off the phone and went back to his laptop computer to resume writing the follow-up report Vanessa had neglected, as well as a new one regarding his recent encounter. He had just sent some people to locate and clean up the scene where Agent Smith had killed the second wolf, and to figure out just what had happened there. He nonchalantly felt around the apartment one last time before getting to work, and he immediately noticed Nyte at the double doors of the apartment.
Odd. Why is she just standing there? There isnt anyone else there
He focused his attention and searched the area around her thoroughly, but she was alone. Hmm. Her anxiety and exasperation are a skootch higher than normal. Erik thought for a moment, and then dismissed it and went to work. He could have read her mind, but that would have been rude and intrusive, not to mention risky if she had mental defenses in place, and would probably have not been too important regarding the current situation.
Now, just because Erik couldnt see anything with his empathy in the alley meant nothing
Aside from that if something was there, it was very stealthy indeed, and in more ways than one
Crestfallen, slightly disturbed at the happenings, decided it was time for him to go.
Within a few great leaps he found himself a block away from the complex. Rather than fuss with porting inside, he removed his mask and overcoat, tucking them under his arm.
As he rounded the corner he spotted someone moving slowly toward the back of the building. Glancing about, he ducked into an empty doorway and re-donned his getup, how he hated disguising himself... Back around the corner he went, following the figure at a distance, watching.
Nyte was more then slightly annoyed as she rounded the corner, about halfway there she had realised what or rather who it was she had sensed - and thankfully it wasn't a giant rabid wolf, that had merely been jumping to conclusions, couldn't really blame her however - it'd been a hard day.
Leaning against the alley wall and no doubt waiting for her was Maury - one of her - or rather Grif's more annoying contacts, he was an arrogant little cuss and after figuring out Nyte could see through his lies had dropped quite alot of cash on a nice little magical artifact which muddled her empathy. What Nyte had sensed was his dog - a foul tempered mutt that the man dragged with him everywhere. Given half the chance Nyte was pretty certain the dog would eat Maury...Maury must have though so too since the beast was muzzled.
"what are you doing here Maury?..scratch that..how exactly did you find me?"
nyte asked him before the man had a chance to open with his typical crude statement. She was far to tired to deal with that. Maury must have taken note of her less then plesant expression because for once he didn't waste time verbally sparring with her.
"Our mututal friend told me to bring this to you, said he would catch up with you about it tomorrow"
He stated holding out a small package which Nyte took and tucked under her arm without opening.
"So your running his errands now are you, it better be important...this is my home not my office Maury...now scram someone's close"
Nyte stated before turning and walking out of the alley - no doubt Maury would make himself scarce..the man was slightly paranoid. Stopping at the corner she let her gaze rove over the area searching for the pressence she felt watching her.
((Eep, sorry for the long delayed response))
Well Super Pizza is just down the street, Alex smiled at Blake, If we get there soon enough, we could set up an ambush for the wolf. She punched him lightly on the arm before heading across the Port to the door, though her brow crinkled when she noticed a pair of cop cars with their sirens on speeding down the street.
Um, Alex started walking faster toward the exit, Unless you want to be delayed for who knows how long answering boring questions, I suggest we let the cops clean up this mess alone. She turned out onto the sidewalk and paced her way back to the apartments.
Crestfallen watched quietly as the figure stopped and talked with another. After realizing they obviously knew each other Crestfallen retreated back around the corner, once more removing his disguise and packing in duffle bag quickly. He stepped out of the doorway and nearly right into Nyte.
"Oh, excuse me, I didn't see you there."
Nyte stepped back as the man exited the doorway, feathers ruffling slightly as she shifted her wings, eyes appraising the man before her, her empathic mind connected the fact that he was the only one around and so was most likely the one who had been watching her exchange with Maury but as she sensed no outward hostility from him she greeted him with a smile.
"Thanks quite alright,I've done the same thing many times, I don't think we've met yet..I'm Nyte"
She answered offering her hand to shake as she introduced herself.
"Ow" Blake said, smiling "Don't need to punch so hard" He rubbed his arm teasingly before following her and walking out, the relatively nice day ruined by the police cars rushing down the street, sirens blaring. "It's the fuzz" the teen said, frowning before keeping pace with Alex back towards home, praying the cops didn't stop them and not looking back.
"Don't know why Paragon even has cops" Blake said, the sirens making him nervous "The heroes always do the work anyways"
[ QUOTE ]
"Thanks quite alright,I've done the same thing many times, I don't
think we've met yet..I'm Nyte"
[/ QUOTE ]
Crestfallen smiled softly and took her proffered hand shaking it as he introduced himself.
"I am Soren, Soren Chell. It's a pleasure to meet you." He pauses momentarily, looking up at the apartment building before asking. "Do you live here as well?"
If Nyte Shaide made an attempt to read Crestfallen's emotions/mind she would find his mind under severe duress and seemingly under dark pressure though the cause kept buried deep within.
Nyte smiled a the man shook her hand although thier touch sent a shock through her - it was as though suddenly a wounded animal stood before her..though the imagry soon faded she was none the lsss aware that Soren wounded in some way..although not physically obviously. Her brows furrowed slightly..but long expirience with such things made her careful...people tended to close down when you confronted them to swiftly. With some effort a smle returned to her face as she withdrew her hand and followed his gaze to the building.
"Yes..just moved in actually, still getting to know everyone I'm afraid"
((Aiight, Imma give this a shot, see what happens. 
))
[ QUOTE ]
"Don't know why Paragon even has cops" Blake said, the sirens making him nervous "The heroes always do the work anyways"
[/ QUOTE ]
If the increasing distance from police presence had any calming effect on Blake, this likely evaporated quite rapidly on the way back to the apartments - for as if they hadn't faced enough monsters today, they ran into yet another not a long way from their destination.
Unlike the first two, however, this one was neither frighteningly large (only just over two meters tall), nor lupine in nature. Instead, it could've been described as some manner of bipedal, scaleless reptilian with a leathery, deep-green hide - which interestingly enough had plantigrade feet. Not that this in any way degraded from the monstrous look, the five toes of said feet home to vicious claws, as were the same number of fingers, and the raptor-like head held enough teeth to knock out four out of five dentists on the spot.
Furthermore, the reptilian stood practically covered in blood, splotches and streaks of crimson standing out exceptionally well against the green hide, not to mention where it stuck to claws and teeth, and while the creature looked hurt and angry (at least judging by the 'and what do you want?!' glare out of the corner of those ice-gray eyes), it was easy to see that most of that blood wasn't its own. Something had been torn apart in that alley the reptilian had come from...or someone.
And that frigid, sideways glance gave good reason to the belief that Alex and/or Blake may have very well been next on the list...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Ramon, Sgt. Brite and the two recuits made it to Galaxy City. "Over here." Sgt. Brite said as he lead the two recuits two the direction of people running their way. Ramon quickly followed as he ran he saw someone who looked familar running toward him. "Alex is that you?" he shouted as he headed toward her.