New breeds and old tricks

From the tall woman's response, Fyedka began to second guess his memories, but if that was the case, how in the world did he get out here? He glanced at his arms and saw the tell-tale markings, albeit faded, of chains. No, those were definitely real. His pondering was interrupted however by the presentation of a large pile of extremely delicious-looking (and even better smelling) food. Fyedka's eyes went wide before he could stop himself and his stomach threatened to digest itself if he didn't put some of it in immediately. Abandoning pretenses of politeness, he dug in like the animal he was. It had been so long since he'd seen this much food. Living on the streets on top of being out-cold for this long had shut off some of his consciousness. Unfortunately, in that time, one's stomach tends to morph in response and he slowed down about as quickly as he'd started. As he slowed and the food began to digest, its nutrients creeping into his system, his brain absorbing the energy, the memories became more clear. They came in broken clips in no particular order: The sound of chains being snapped, the feel of them ripping apart and stinging his skin. A throbbing in his leg along with a sickening crack as his brother's foot snapped his leg bone. Subtly, Fyedka glanced down at his leg. It was better . . . obviously, he'd walked on it . . . but there was still the tell-tale coloration of a serious injury there. Briefly, his mind wandered to the future of his dancing abilities before setting its priorities right. Another memory passed through his mind, this time the sensation of moving upward, the strain of using his powers, the nose-dive into the water.

Setting his fork carefully down on the plate, the young man slowly raised his eyes to his caretakers. The woman was unnaturally tall, but that was no reason necessarily to support the thought in his mind. Still, either these memories were real or he'd been given some horrible drug to create fake ones and that wasn't Mikhail's style. The man and woman took a moment to feel his gaze and they peered over to him, nonchalantly with a look that was smoothly innocent. Fyedka couldn't ask directly. If he was wrong, he could incriminate himself, but he didn't want to sound accusing either. He decided to play by their rules.

"So, this is a really nice boat," he said, conversationally, "where are you guys from? Do you just sail around all the time?"

Jennifer watched the young man. There was brains in that head of his, no doubt. She could tell by the way she watched his eyes as he thought everything through he could remember. Rather he believed her or not she wouldn’t ask but she had a good idea. Just as long as he didn’t ask her certain questions, that was fine. They would come to the unspoken agreement between them and let that sleeping dog lie.

As he mentioned the house, she glanced around and let a smile ease onto her features as she spoke to him.

”My parents built this. Took them years to get it all done but they loved the Amazon so much, they wanted to make it their home. With the advancement of green technology and energy, we were able to do it without disturbing the natural habitat by cutting down trees and what not. They only thing we do is keep the indigenous plants from taking over completely.”

She looked back into his dark eyes.

”I have a few places I can stay when I travel but this is where I like to stay. City life can get too busy and life in the country can get a little boring. Here….there is always something to do. If not taking care of things there is time to sit and enjoy the sun. Of course you have to always be on your toes. Around here, we aren’t the top of the food chain.”

Katarina waved to the other two waitresses as she left the small diner and headed for the little motel where she was staying. She'd only been in the small town of Craig, Colorado for a few weeks and was enjoying it. She'd found a job at the small diner within a couple of days and had made friends with Heather and Lucy. So far, everything was peaceful.

The motel was only 5 blocks from the diner and it was dark, but she wasn't too worried. This was a pretty quiet town and besides, she was different but she didn't let anyone know that. She'd received a few whistles from some of the men the day before when she'd walked to the grocery store but that was about as bad it got.

She smile, lifting her pixie face to the dark, starlit sky and took a deep breath of the fresh, mountain air. One could get use to this quickly and she was doing exactly that. Now.....if RAID didn't show up and nothing happened to cause her to have to use her ability, perhaps she could stay here for more than just a few weeks.

Hyde had grown quiet by the window, the small man had one hand holding his oxygen mask tight to his face. Blue glanced at Hyde and then looked back out the window. A small group of officers were standing near the entrance to the apartment building. Blue looked back at is friend, he was shivering furiously now sweat was dripping off the kid. "Easy, buddy..." Blue said. Blue had noticed that Hyde's hand seemed larger, either that or the oxygen mask was smaller than it had been just a moment before. The small meta's hand was darker too, the skin hand grown splotchy and rough. Blue knew what was coming if he did not do something.

Blue rushed to the small kitchen and made an ice pack from a sandwich bag and an entire tray of ice cubes. Blue went back to where Hyde was sitting and pressed the ice pack to the kids head and face. Hyde's hair was darkening, it seemed longer now. Hyde's breathing was shallow and quick. "Reel it in, Hyde." Blue said quietly as he held the ice pack against his face.

"Stop telling me what to do." Hyde said, the kids voice had grown deeper.

Hyde's wheelchair creaked, Blue could help but notice that the small kid seemed heavier now, beefier, thicker. Hyde's thin arms were thicker too, muscles were now pushing against the kid's pale skin.

Blue wondered if enough time had elapsed that the officers and agents were on their floor now. Would they go to every door? What were they looking for?

"Blue." Hyde said in between shallow breaths. "Get me to the bathroom."

Blue went to his friend, the kid's shoulders were broader, Hyde's hair was almost black now and muck longer that it had been. Black whiskers covered the young man's face, his eyes had grown darker. Blue pushed the wheelchair to the bathroom. He put his arms under the arms of his small friend and hoisted him out of the chair.

Hyde wrenched free of Blue's gasp and planted his feet on the floor. "I can do it, I'm not a baby." The young man said, his voice was almost a growl. Blue rushed to the tub and turned on the cold water and jammed the rubber stopper into the drain. Cold water washed onto the old tub, Blue was careful to keep his makeup covered hands from getting wet.

"Get in, Hyde." Blue said nervously, as his friend stood on his own in the center of the small bathroom. Hyde was as tall as Blue now, his arms and legs had filled out. Hyde's shirt had ripped at the neck and sleeves as his neck and arms had grown to look like a bodybuilder's.

"And if I won't..." Hyde said menacingly. The small meta had grown to six feet tall, his eyes were large and dark now, his hair as black as night. Hyde sported a days worth of five o'clock shadow and looked 20 years older than he was. Hyde looked at his thick arms and healthy legs. The meta shifted his weight, happy to be standing on his own.

"Get in or I'll put you in." Blue said.

"Make me." Hyde said grinning.

Blue brought his foot up in between Hyde's legs, the large dark haired meta flopped backwards into the ice cold water that was filling the tub. Water splashed onto Blue soaking his arm on one side. Blue went for a towel and held it against his skin hoping to blot the water off and save his makeup.

"You son of a bitch." Hyde growled as he clutched his bruised crotch. Hyde twisted in the tub, the cold water soaking him. Hyde did not make much effort to get out of the water, the blow to his balls and the cold was slowing him down. Hyde closed his eyes and lay still in the filling tub.

The doorbell sounded in the other room.

"I'll get it." Hyde said sarcastically.

"Don't you move." Blue said.

"Police.  Open up.  We are conducting door to door checks."

The voice on the other side of the door seemed to be growing frustrated.

"Hello?  I can hear voices.  Let me in or I will break the door down."

Of all the places she ended up, this was the last one she thought she would.  Of course it wasn't easy to go anywhere else when you are considered a traitor to your own kind.  She didn't necessarily LIKE hunting down these Meta's but it paid her bills.  So what if none of her fellow team members liked or trusted her.  She didn't sign up to become any ones friend.  She signed up to learn how to handle herself, learn how to fire weapons and learn the weaknesses of those not like her so she could exploit it one day.  Unti lthen.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Her fist hit the door again.

"You have until the count of three to open this door......One.....Two....."

Blue walked to the front door, taking the hand towel away from his wet arm as he walked. The makeup on his left hand and forearm had run revealing his dark blue skin beneath. Blue's stomach knotted up tight as he tucked his arm into the deep side pockets of his work coveralls. A policewoman was counting down as Blue tossed the makeup covered hand towel across the room where it landed out of sight behind the couch. Blue turned the door handle and opened the door.

"Can I help you officer?" Blue said with a smile attempting to be charming and flirty, Blue was leaning on the door, his left arm tucked into his coveralls hidden behind the open door.

Behind him no sound but the sound of running bathwater was coming from the bathroom. Blue could only hope that the cold water was doing the trick. Now was not the time to have to deal with Hyde in one his 'turns'. If the small kid in the wheelchair was not stopped from 'turning' his other personality would be almost impossible to deal with. Blue had dealt with this personality before and prior to learning about using cold temperature against it had learned the hard way how hard it was to try to go toe to toe with it. The personality demanded to be addressed as 'Mister' and was everything that Hyde was not. Where Hyde was kind, meek and physically weak Mister was cruel, unreasonable and freakishly strong. Mister had broken both of Blue's arms in their first encounter. The bones had healed quickly (they always did) and within minutes they were almost as good as new leaving behind more dark blue stains on Blue's arms. It was on a winter's day that Blue (Elliot Lang to the non meta world) had discovered Mister's weakness. It was a quick lesson, Hyde had become very ill and Blue was taking him to the hospital when the stress of the many illnesses that plagued him forced Hyde to give in to his other personality. Mister had come and just as quickly went away in the cold winter air as Hyde fell from his wheelchair and into the snow. Blue had never forgotten that, it was his best chance of defeating Hyde's dark side and had worked like a charm so far.

Hyde's wheelchair was sitting empty in front of the bathroom, it looked out of place. From the corner of Blue's eye he could see water starting to puddle near the wheelchair, panic was threatening to take hold as Blue smiled at the female officer.

She was about to three when the door suddenly opened and she had to look up into the face of the man who opened it. Taking a step back away from the open door, she gave him a quick look. He was not bad on the eyes, she mentally assessed, then cleared her throat.

”ID, please. Didn’t you hear me knocking? And I thought I heard voices. Are you alone?”

She moved slightly so she could lean to the left and peer around him. She gave a quick assessment of the apartment and was about to let this one alone when something caught her attention. She thought she saw what looked like the handle and part of the wheel of a wheelchair. Furrowing her brows, she looked up at the man again. He didn’t appear to need any such contraption.

”Is that water I hear running? Did I interrupt something?”

She was being highly observant right now, which is what she was paid to do. Training taught her to listen and to look for anything that may seem out of the ordinary. She could have pushed her way into the apartment and demanded things of him but she had learned it was easier to get what she wanted easier by being at least half way decent and not so stiff necked as the rest of her team.

Blue pulled his wallet front the pocket of his coveralls and handed it to the agent. "Hi, I'm Elliot." He said still managing to smile. "This is not my place, a friend of mine lives here." Blue looked intently over at the bathroom door.

"He's in a wheelchair and sometimes needs help."

"I live five units down in 208. I just came by this morning to see how he was doing."

The bathwater stopped running in the bathroom. "You alright, Hyde?" Blue said loudly still leaning against the open door of the apartment.

"Yeah, I'm good." Hyde said

"Thanks for the help..." The kid added.

Relief washed over Blue. At least Hyde would not be a problem. They were not in the clear but it was something.

"Who are you looking for?" Blue asked. "Are you here for the weird old lady in 212, she has like 40 cats. You gotta be here for her right?"

Oscuro steered his van past the Raid vans and police cars that were clustered in front of the old brick apartment building. The carpet cleaning van handled poorly with the huge robot in the back of it but Oscuro managed to parallel park it two buildings down from the apartment building on the same side of the street as the cops had pulled up. The masked man turned the vehicle off and turned to face the robot. "Status Report." Oscuro said, clearly excited.

"Power cells charged to 82%, weapons fully operational." The machine hummed.

"It's fun to meet new people, isn't it?" Oscuro said to the machine.

"I am not programmed for that information." The machine stated.

"You stay here here until I call you." The masked man said patting the back of the robot's massive head.

"All systems are online and awaiting directives." The machine assured him.

"You're the best." the villain said.

Oscuro was wearing plain one piece coveralls that bore the name of the carpet cleaning company. He was also wearing black tactical gloves, his usual black ski mask and black welding goggles. Oscuro's coveralls were only half zipped and beneath them he was wearing full upper torso body armor. Under each one of his arms a pistol hung, at his waist he carried several T handle push knives and last but not least in the chest pocket of the coveralls he had a small wireless detonator.

Oscuro exited the van and calmly walked towards the small group of officers that were talking amongst themselves. At first glance no one would be alarmed by a man in work wear approaching the front of the building. Oscuro walked on the street side of the police vehicles using them as cover so that he could get very close to the group of 5 agents and officers before they could asses him as a threat.

Oscuro pulled his pistols and shot twice, his shots found their marks and he shot two rifles out of the hands of two of the officers. The guns clacked on the sidewalk all the two officers had time to do was to stare dumbfounded and shake their startled hands angrily.

The sun was still low in the east as it was early and it cast a long block of shadow from behind the apartment building. Oscuro was moving towards the shade as he shot at the officers. His timing was superb, just as he shot the rifles from the hands of the seasoned SWAT men he vanished like a ghost into the shadow of the building. The masked man was there in the sun one moment and then he simply disappeared at the edge of the building's shadow.

Marissa was humming as she walked along the sidewalk. She was smiling, relaxed and for a change so was Lycana. The meta was enjoying the day. She'd seen the young man with the kid in the wheelchair again but all she gave them was a smile, unsure if they noticed her or not. She was just being friendly as she was to everyone. It had been a good day......all in all she was pretty happy. Then she stopped, seeing the RAID vans. Her good mood vanished and Lycana was suddenly alert and ready to protect her if needed. She struggled to act normal, heading for the entrance to the apartment building.

"Hold up there, ma'am. What is your purpose here?"

Marissa looked at the RAID officer and gave him a sexy smile. "I live here, officer. In unit 310, up on the third floor. Is there a problem?"

"No, ma'am. Just door to door to door checks."

Marissa hid the dread she was feeling at his words and kept smiling at him. "Oh..well then, do you want to follow me up or shall I wait for you to knock on my door?"

"I'm here checking ID's what does it look like I'm doing.....Elliott?"

She looked at his ID then looked back up at him then past him once more when she heard the voice call from the back of the apartment.  As she handed the tall man back his ID, she was about to say something when she heard the unmistakable sound of gun fire.  She practically shoved him back into the apartment and grabbed the door handle.

"Stay down! And don't come out!"

She pulled the door shut and took up a tactical position as she started creeping her way through the hallway, weapon up and ready to fire.  Knees bent and moving along with one foot in front of the other she would keep her eyes moving all around and check behind her from time to time as well.  Reaching the stairs of the apartment complex, she checked through the window before she slowly eased her way out onto the landing and stayed close tot he wall as she slithered down the stairs to assist her fellow team members as they assisted RAID.

The police out front of the building stared at Marissa through tactical face covers. The dark tinted lenses of their face masks made them look inhuman, made them appear like dark blue clad robots. they moved slowly towards the girl with the dog as she approached.

She told them that she lived in the building and teased them about allowing her to enter her home.

"We'll need to see some ID." One officer said.

"This is your dog, then..." Another said, it was more of a statement than a question.

The 5 men were focused on Marissa and her dog as Oscuro walked out from behind their own parked vehicles. He moved swiftly and shot twice at the men striking their rifles (as per the last post). The men crouched low immediately the others drawing their weapons up to eye level. One officer gripped marissa's arm and tugged hard.

"Get down!" The officer barked as he tried to pull Marissa down with him in an effort to save her from being harmed.

Marissa could see Oscuro walking calmly past the men and nearer to the entrance to the building. Oscuro was not known to Marissa, she did not recognize the masked meta. As the tip of Oscuro's boot made contact with the shadow of the building he vanished from view as if he just ceased to exist. Oscuro was now hidden in the darkness of the shadow, he was not simply hiding or lurking in the darkness of the shade he was one with it. Oscuro could move as quickly as he wished in shadow and darkness and as long as he hid in the dark he could not be seen or heard unless he wished to be. Bullets, blades and blunt objects could not harm Oscuro when he was using his powers in darkness but plenty of other things could.

The SWAT officers turned their attention away from Marissa and were moving towards the shady front of the building. The two men Oscuro had shot at had retrieved their weapons. They duck walked towards the buildings entrance sweeping back and forth with their weapons looking for any attackers.

"Any eyes on target?!" one officer shouted nervously.

"I don't see him anywhere." Another said.

"He was just here." A third said.

"He must have entered the building." A forth suggested.

"Regroup inside." Another one said.

One of the SWAT men radioed their encounter to all the other police and RAID personnel in the building.

"Two shots fired... One suspect, most likely male..around 5'7"...wearing light blue coveralls and a ski mask...dark goggles...suspect is carrying multiple firearms." The radio transmission went on.

"we have no eyes on suspect, repeat suspect is no longer in the open..."

The men made their way in to the shade.

Blue jumped back as the woman shouted and pulled the door closed as the gunshots sounded outside. Blue ran to the window and saw the police crouching, near them was the dark haired girl and her exotic dog. Blue recognized her as a tenant on the third floor. Sometimes she even got her coffee at the same place on the corner. Blue thought they were detaining her but they moved away from her quickly and were closing in on the entrance to the building.

Blue hustled to the bathroom to find Hyde drying himself, his wet clothing and fumbling with his oxygen mask.

"Were those gunshots?" the kid asked as he strapped on his small green oxygen mask.

"Let's get you in your chair." Blue said as he helped his friend into the chair.

"I think someone shot at the police." Blue said.

"Shit..." Hyde said shaking his head.

"The girl with the big dog was with the cops but they seemed to have let her go." Blue added wrapping a dry towel around Hyde's shoulders.

"Let's get out of here." Hyde said, a small hint of fear in his voice.

"We can't leave Hyde, they're coming in..." Blue said frowning.

"We could leave, Blue." Hyde said motioning towards the window.
"You could carry me, you've done it before." Hyde said raising one eyebrow.

"I can't expose us, Hyde. Someone could see."

Blue was then remembering a few months back when a trio of muggers tried to jump Blue and his wheelchair bound sidekick. Blue had gotten ahead of the three men with ease pushing Hyde's wheelchair all the way but they soon had Hyde and Blue cornered at a pedestrian bridge. Blue had lifted Hyde in his wheelchair into his arms and jumped 20 feet below landing gingerly on the concrete walkway below, the muggers did not follow. They had escaped an urban beating but Blue had exposed his meta nature. Blue did what he had to that night but revealing himself to a half dozen cops and just as many RAID agents was a whole different story.

Marissa was thankful that Lycana had kept her natural instinct under wraps when the RAID agent had grabbed her and pulled her down out of the line of fire.  The great Timber Wolf 'spirit' had even followed her down and laid down beside her.  She'd seen the masked man and watched as he disappeared, what looked like into the building.  ~A meta...well, well, well~, she thought to herself.  ~And not one of the decent ones either it would seem.~  She thought quickly, debating on whether or not telling the RAID officer what she'd just seen that they clearly had not and decided against it.  To do so would possible endanger those in the apartment complex, especially if any were metas.  

She rose slowly, looking like the scared woman she normally would have been if she'd been normal.  Lycan was acting the same, staying close to her and looking up at her from time to time whining.  Seeing that RAID was now ignoring her she made her way into the building and headed for the stairs instead of the elevators.  She usually took the stairs anyway as Lycana didn't like closed in spaces and neither did she.  When they came to the second floor, her wolf spirit stopped, growling low in her throat at the door.  

"What is it, my sister?  Another RAID agent?"  She sighed, wondering where her good day went.  She knew where it went.  It had gone straight out the window.  That was when she wondered if the guy with the wheelchair bound kid were doing.  Were they okay with all the shooting going on?  If there was anything she had a weakness for it was animals and kids, especially kids with special needs.  "Well...I don't even know which apartment they are in, only that they are on the second floor.  Do you think you could sniff them out, Lycana?"  At the wolf's 'hrumph' and a dirty look as she'd just insulted her and her abilities, she smiled at her ruffling her fur in between her ears.  "Sorry, of course you can sniff them out.  What was I thinking?"

She cautiously opened the door, peeking in, making sure to act like the scared woman should she run into whomever was there.  Lycana raised her nose and sniffed then staying close to Marissa she started down the hallway. Lycana took her towards 208, sniffed at the door then moved on. That was when she saw the female RAID agent and made sure to jump when the agent yelled out, "HALT!!! HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!"

Marissa jumped and raised her hands, quickly telling Lycana to calm down at the sound of her growling. "I live here...in this building. Please don't shoot me or my dog. We just want to get back to our apartment where it's safe...cause someone shooting out there on the street." When asked what apartment, she told her that it was 310 looked over at one of the doors and looked as if she were about to cry. "This is the second floor isn't it? Oh no.....I thought we were at the third floor. Do you think it's safe to take the stairs up another level?"

Harley was used to being on her own in these sort of situations but something about this didn't feel right.  The perp was shooting at the cops but not killing them?  At least she hadn't heard the 'officer down' call go out so she concluded no one was hurt yet. What was up with that.  As the com in her ear went on to explain they had lost sight of the perp she let out a soft 'shit' as she continued down the stairs.  She had just hit the landing for the second floor when she encountered a woman and a rather large looking (and somewhat intimidating) dog with her.  Calling for her to halt, Harley approached slowly.  As the woman explained where she lived in the apartment building, Harley quirked her brow holding the weapin steady on the woman.

"310, huh?  What's the name of your roommates?"

Harley kept looking from the woman to the dog and back again as she waited impatiently for the woman to answer.  All the while she was on edge as her training kicked in knowing there was an armed intruder in the building who didn't mind taking his aggression out on the authorities.  Those were the most dangerous kind.  If they didn't care what they did to the cops, what did they care what they did to anyone else?

Just as she was getting ready to say something to the woman because she was taking too long to answer, the lights in the stairs went dark.  Harley let out another soft 'shit' as she quickly moved close to the woman, grabbing her by the hand and hauling her towards the door to the second floor.  Thankfully her eyesight was just as keen in the dark as it was in the daylight which made her the ideal candidate to take the night shift with the police.  She spoke in a hushed but harsh whisper to the woman.

"Get through the door.  We're sitting ducks in this hallway.  And keep quiet.  It may be a few minutes before back up gets here and I don't wanna have to explain how you got killed on my watch.  Got it?"

As soon as the woman was through the door that lead to the second floor hallway, she motioned for the dog.

"You too Rover...move it."

The dog growled menacingly at her but she paid the thing no mind.  If it had issues with her then it had issues with her, she had bigger problems to deal with right now.  They no sooner reached the hallway when the lights were killed there as well and Harley swore under her breath and pushed the woman into the nearest doorway of the closest apartment.  Once again she whispered harshley to her.

"Stay down and don't make a peep.  Make sure you keep Rover with you and quiet too."

Weapon at the ready, she peered out in both directions of the hallway then waited.  If anyone came around the corner or up the stairs she was ready to take a stand.  Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that but if it did....she was not afraid to pull the trigger.

The police entered the building, inside they found the lights off and the emergency lights not functioning. The officers went to turn on their tactical lights but Oscuro was quickly on top of them. Oscuro pulled the rifle from one of the cops hands, the agent had the strap of the gun slung over his shoulder. Oscuro used this to his advantage swinging the man into the cop next to him. The men collided face mask to face mask. Oscuro pulled the rifle over the head of the second man effectively lassoing the two cops together. With a powerful kick the two entangled men tumbled back towards the entrance of the building. They tumbled outside down the stairs of the front entry and onto the sidewalk where they tried in vain to free themselves.


The other three officers fired into the darkness trying to shoot what they could not see and to hit what they could not hit. The flashes of the gunfire in the dark made Oscuro's eyes sore, good thing he always wore his dark goggles. As the officers fired they caught glimpses of Oscuro in the light of their muzzle flash, the villain seemed like a monster in the dark but when things were all dark again the masked man was nowhere to be seen. There was nothing but darkness and silence. In between gun shots Oscuro stayed close to the cops. Oscuro approached one that was ahead of the rest, he had his pistol drawn and at his side in an effort to not accidentally wound his fellow cops. Oscuro grabbed at the man's gun and pointed it at the man's own foot and squeezed his hand until the cop fired into his own foot.

The wounded SWAT man fell to his side grunting in pain. Oscuro quickly cuffed the man with his own cuffs and left him in pain. The two other cops moved quickly to the small staircase just inside the hallway. They were back to back in the dark and had turned their gun sight lights on. The lights illuminated three or four feet in front of them in whatever direction they pointed their weapons. One of them was on his radio.

"Suspect is in the building...shots fired...officer wounded." A hint of panic was in his voice.

"Suspect is a possible meta...he may be using the darkness...be advised use tactical lights or flares."

The men moved up the stairs afraid to go back towards the entrance and worried about their fellow cops and RAID agents in the building. Oscuro stayed close to the men just beyond their small lights so he could remain unseen or heard. The man on his radio was requesting more officers and hardware at the scene.

"Too many cooks spoil the soup." Oscuro said to himself. The masked man did not want anyone else to spoil his fun.

"Papa bear to baby bear, you there baby bear?" Oscuro said to his robot utilizing a small two way earpiece he had designed himself.

"I am online and awaiting directives." The robot replied.


"Do not let anyone leave or enter the building. Initiate combat mode. Non lethal actions only." Oscuro said clearly excited.

"I will comply." The robot droned.

"Apprehend and detain anyone who tries to enter or leave." Oscuro added.

"Have fun but don't make things too messy." He joked.

"I am not programmed for this information." The machine said.

"Of course you're not but I love ya anyway." The villain replied.

Oscuro stalked the cops as they ascended the stairs to the first floor (the ground level was just an entry way, mechanical rooms and tenant mailboxes). By his count there were two K9 teams (two men two dogs), 2 or 3 more cops and 4 or more RAID agents still inside the building. Oscuro despised cops and RAID and if they were looking to haul off a few metas from this building Oscuro was going to make it as difficult for them as possible.

Marissa went along with the RAID agent, grateful that her attention was now on whatever was going on on the other side of the door. She leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Just fyi, I don't have any roommates. They were all afraid of my big baby."

She heard the snicker from the agent, but ignored it as Lycana stayed close to her, her nose and ears constantly working while she passed information to Marissa. She could smell the faint hint of K9s through the smell of gunpowder and was instantly concerned for her canine cousins. Marissa laid her hand on her head, letting her know that she got the information. ~We'll do what we can, sister. Have a care on how we handle things.~ The great wolf nudged her hand, indicating that she would be patient. A wolf's forte.

Playing the part of a frightened, young woman with a large wolf-dog, she thought for a second and then proceeded to lean in to the agent again. "Ummm.....ma'am, there aren't any dogs with you guys are there? I mean....they'll be okay, won't they?" She could feel the agent stiffening up, knowing that she was aggravating the agent but to keep Lycana from bursting out she had little choice. "It's quiet now and we are in the stairwell....could we head on up to my apartment now?"

Sometimes Harley wondered how the hell some women made it out of bed in the morning. As the woman asked about the K9’s, Harley looked over at her like she had grown a second head. She was getting ready to say something but the sound of more gunfire erupted and her com was going nuts with the news being passed along to the agents and officers. When the woman asked if they could move on to the apartment, Harley looked over at her and furrowed her brows.

”Lady, if you think I’m moving you right now, you are nuts. Those pops you hear aren’t firecrackers. They happen to be gun fire.”

Harley turned back to the stair door as she heard the sound of boots on the stairs and muttered under her breath.

”Some people…”

As the agents and officers came through the door, she stood up and quickly identified herself before she moved closer to the door.

”Officer Harley Parks! This floor is clear, except for me and this woman and her mut.”

The lead agent shined his gun light on her face and she winced as the light hurt her eyes. While she could see perfectly fine in the dark, light shine on her face had a tendency to screw her up royally. She squinted and turned her face slightly away before she raised her left hand to shield her eyes from the light. The agent finally lowered his light and Harley blinked several times to get her eyes to adjust once more.

”Very well, Officer. Keep this floor secure and make sure she doesn’t interfere with anything.”

”Yeah….sure….”

As the agent ordered his group back into the stairs to head up to the third floor, a couple of the cops who knew her made sure they flashed their lights in her face just for good measure.

”And they wonder why I wanna work alone…..jagoffs….”

Now she had spots in her vision that should not be there and it was difficult to get her eyes adjusted back to the proper sight for the darkness that would soon engulf her again. She was just getting ready to turn and go back into the hallway once the last of the group passed by when she thought she saw….something. Blinking a few times then squinting she tried to get a better look at it but it was difficult without her eyes being fully adjusted yet. Still, she pulled up her weapon and spoke to whatever she thought may or may not be there.

”Identify yourself”

Marissa gritted her teeth together to keep from snapping back at the agent. She couldn't blame the woman, she was the one portraying a idiotic woman. But still. At the same time she was thinking about this, she heard the commotion and got out of her way so that she wasn't in the line of fire when the other agents came through the door. Again she gritted her teeth at the clear treatment the other agents showed this one female agent and wanted to unleash all of her's and Lycana's fury onto them. For now, she would keep still. For now.

Turning back, she chose to stay with the lady agent instead of head up with the others, trusting them even less than she did the woman. She scratched at her left side, ride under her breast as Lycana nudged her, whining softly. The wolf spirit wanted to reform to her in her usual place. Her left side, beneath her breast. It was where Lycana usually stayed, but at times like that morning, the spirit felt the need to take a corporeal form for a bit. Now she was stuck in it until it was safe to rebond with Marissa.

When the two were as one, Lycana could give her strength, speed, sense of smell and hearing and vivid eyesight to Marissa. But when they were separated like they were now, all she could do was relay information to her. And right now, Lycana could sense that she would be of better assistance to her 'sister' by giving her her strengths instead of standing next to her.

~Patience, my friend. Soon, you can rebond with me and we will move on~, Marissa mentally told the great wolf. She too was anxious to have her spirit friend back on her body lending her what strengths she had. But she could also sense that this particular RAID agent was a little more than she seemed and until she knew why she felt like that she wasn't going to risk exposure by having Lycana rebond with her in the darkness.

She looked around while standing there, then jumped when the agent spoke. Lycana lifted her nose, sniffing and then growling low and deep in her throat. "Easy, girl....I don't think you'd be a match for whatever is out there", she whispered to the wolf. "Maybe we should follow your friends up or down instead of staying here", she whispered to the agent. The sooner she got away from her the sooner Lycana could rebond with her and she could do what she did best.

Oscuro stayed a pace behind the cops as they ascended the stairs, when they made their way onto the next floor they encountered the lady officer and the woman with the wolf dog. Oscuro moved silently along with the cops as they finished their brief exchange with the woman cop. Every one of the officers seemed to shine their lights in the woman's face on purpose as they filed past her. "He man woman haters club" Ocuro thought to himself as the cops shuffled down the hall past the women. Oscuro walked slowly past the two ladies studying them as he went along. The wolf dog growled as Oscuro passed very near the women. The dog looked right at the masked man. It's eyes tracked him as he moved. "Impossible" Oscuro said. "You can see me, can't you, doggy?" Oscuro shuffled slowly to his left, the dog tracked him with it's eyes. Oscuro took a few short steps backwards trying to give more room in case the dog pounced. Oscuro took a lot of pride in his meta talent, a talent that allowed him to be almost completely invisible in total darkness and unheard as well unless he chose to be otherwise but sure as it was near totally dark in that hallway the wolf dog was looking right at him.

"identify yourself!" The lady cop demanded into the darkness. Her eyes were hard as she swung her weapon left to right. Oscuro opted to stay silent for the moment.

Oscuro held his gloved hands up at chest level, in an attempt to show the dog that he was not currently holding a weapon. If indeed the dog was seeing him as it seemed it was. He was crouched in the darkness about 8 feet in front of two women.

Fascinated at the prospect that the strange dog could possibly see him the masked villain lingered near the women. There was something strange about the dog, were there such things as meta animals? Oscuro wondered as he studied the animal.

Marissa felt the 'tug' at her mind and instantly looked down at Lycana who was staring at a spot at the opposite wall and was growling low in her throat. She sent what she was 'seeing' to Marissa and the woman quickly raised her eyes from the wolf to exactly where the shadowed meta was standing. She reached out a hand towards him as if to try to touch him then lowered it and smiled to 'him', letting him know that she knew he was there. ~Good work, my friend but he is one of us. I hope. Don't attack him yet~, she sent to the wolf spirit.

Turning to the agent who was also looking in that direction but not right at him she whispered to her, "Something doesn't feel right, officer. I think we should get out while we can." She could only hope that the agent would listen to reason and leave. While she didn't like RAID one bit, she absolutely hated the way those so called men treated the female agent. Again, she cast a look at the 'man' hidden in the shadows, able to 'see' him through Lycana. She raised a hand to him, indicating to him the not do anything to the agent. Hopefully he would understand and let her try to get the stubborn agent out of his way and hopefully out of the building. But, if not...well, then....the agent was on her own cause she was determined to get out of there and somewhere where Lycan could rebond with her.

Harley still wasn’t certain she was seeing anything other than some sort of shadow. The assholes shining their lights in her eyes as they moved by didn’t help matters. All she could see were random spots before her eyes and that pissed her off more than anything. The dog was certainly alerted to something but she thought maybe it was only because she suddenly went on the defensive.

As the group of officers started getting further and further away and still there was no attack, identification called out or for that matter, the sound of anything else moving along, she finally lowered her weapon and turned back towards the hallway.

”C’mon pup….must have been my imagination.”

She turned to look back towards the darkened stairwell just to make sure she was right before she walked back over to the doorway and the lady.

”We gotta get the hell outta this hallway. If anything were to go down, we’re sitting ducks here. C’mon…I know a place we can go. Make sure you stay directly behind me and keep Rover secure and quiet.”

Harley’s eyesight was coming back to her and she was finding it much easier to see in the darkness. The spots were not as noticeable and they were interfering with her vision less and less. As she raised her weapon at the ready she nodded to the woman then began slinking along the wall. It didn’t take long, but long enough, to reach the door of the apartment she had been at when the shit hit the fan. Looking both way up and down the hall, she knocked on the door and called out to the occupants inside.

”Elliott. Hyde. It’s Officer Parks. Open up. I have a lady and her dog that needs to get outta the hall until this blows over.”

As she waited for the door to open she kept looking up and down the hall to make sure there was nothing out there coming for them.

Elliot drew in a deep breath and opened the door, the small apartment was well lit compared to the dark hallway. "Do come in.." Blue said nervously. Hyde was sitting near the big window, the thin young man seemed depressed.

"The shooting has stopped hasn't it?" Blue asked parks as she, the long haired woman and her dog filed in to the living room.

Blue's hands were still uncovered, they were dark blue as if he had been working at an old printing press.

"Hi, neighbor." Elliot said to the woman with the dog with a smile.

"Keep the dog over there." Hyde said from across the room. The thin man had turned his wheelchair towards the group and was wiping his nose with a tissue. "I'm allergic to dogs." He said tersely.

"You're allergic to everything..." Elliot said sarcastically.

"Yeah, screw you." Hyde said with a grunt.

"The power's still out..." Elliot said as he flicked the light switch near the door for the third or fourth time. Elliot dropped his hands quickly aware that he had neglected to cover them before he let the ladies into the apartment.
Did you guys cut the power?" Blue asked officer Parks.

The door was still open, Oscuro stood just beyond the light coming from the naturally lit living room and spilling into the hall. To enter the light was to reveal himself and the masked man was not ready for that trick yet. Oscuro saw the tall dark haired man in the coveralls and of course noticed the blue skin of his hands. Just down the hall the RAID agents were returning having found the halls clear of any suspects. The men thundered single file down the dark hall towards the open apartment.

Elliot gave the open door a small nudge and it snapped closed. The hallway was dark again the agents were walking right towards Oscuro who was just standing with his back against the opposite wall in an effort to give them a small amount of room to pass.