ic The Wolf and The Night (IC)

[quotemyname]

"If you insist." Came Lukos' growling reply.

The four men on the loading dock with rifles opened fire once more. Two of them still shaking with fear missed entirely. The other two were right on target. Bullets riddled Lukos' chest, legs, and arms. From Midnight's vantage point, he could even see some of the bullets make contact with Lukos' uncovered right arm. There were bright red holes where the bullets broke the skin. But within seconds, the bullets pushed themselves out of the wounds and the skin closed up right around where they had once been. His skin was left looking pristine, and stranger still, the large man didn't even seem to notice it was happening.

Without missing a beat, Lukos leaped onto the platform. As he came out of the leap, he brought the blunt side of his axe down on one of the men's collar bones. It snapped easily. From there he moved fluidly to where two of the others stood. He used the axe to hook one of their legs and trip the man up. Falling, the man hit his head on the ground. Lukos quickly swung the axe twice more. Two more men were dealing with a nice new set of broken bones.

The man on the ground was in fact still conscious. Lukos kicked the rifle out of his hand and grabbed the man by the collar. Hoisting him up, he slammed the man into the side of the truck. "You ruined my jacket!" Lukos snarled.

[Gizmo]

"Enough." To the remaining gunrunner's horror, a figure of blackest night melted from the the shadows, cinder red eyes burning in the darkness. With inky tendrils of smoke wafting from his sleeves and collar, dancing about to give him an inhuman silhouette, Midnight stalked forward. The mist at his feet made it seem almost as though he were floating forward, propelled by some baleful force, as he drew up within inches of the criminal's face. The glowing eye narrowed, the only feature on an unreadable face. "You will tell us everything, and you will do it now.

[quotemyname]

The man was panting frantically. Between the maniac with the axe, and the spooky smokey figure that scared the living daylights out of him, the man fainted.

"Damn." Lukos swore. "I think you may have overdone it a little. However, I also think it's not going to matter. Something is coming." Lukos flung the man down next to the truck, and turned to face the opening to the garage where the criminals had been extracting the boxes from.

From inside the warehouse, there came a steady, clank clank clank.

A lone figure bled into the half light of the street lamps. He was fully armored in what looked like some sort of futuristic battle suit. The hydraulics in the arms of his suit allowed him to hold aloft a large wooden box that he was carrying. The box was easily the size of the armored man himself, and was wrapped with heavy looking chains, though he seemed to carry it with ease. "How right you are about that, gentlemen." The man spoke. His voice came out with a hint of metallic interference likely generated by his suit. He set the box down in front of them. "I was hoping to get home early tonight, but I suppose having the chance to test out the bosses new toys is just as good." The man in the suit lifted the lock on the chains of the box. He struck it with one armored fist, and the metal of the lock splintered. All at once the chains fell away from the box. "Get'em, Tiny."

For a moment, the box seemed to swell, and pulsate. Then suddenly, it exploded. The explosion did not come from some sort of device. It came from the sheer strength of the creature now standing where the box used to be. Large, green, and hulking, it stood 20 feet tall. Shaggy patches of hair covered the beast here and there, conveniently covering its more private parts. It flexed its muscles as it stared down at the two heroes. Suddenly it opened a large toothy maw.

RROOWAARRRRHHERRRRR!!!

and bellowed a roar so loud it practically deafened Lukos and Midnight. Spittle flew all over their costumes.

Staring defiantly up into the beast's beady black eyes, Lukos wiped the foamy white spittle from his gas mask. "Your breath. Really. Stinks."

[quotemyname]

"Tiny" Growled menacingly at Lukos for the comment about his breath. Somewhere in the chemical befuddled brain of his, hostility registered. That made Tiny mad. The huge creature reared back on it's legs and slammed its fist straight into the concrete - Right where Lukos used to be. The masked hero had evidently rolled into a crouch about ten feet away from where the fist made impact. There was a gleam in his eye.

Answer the challange. Wolf urged him. Fight. Kill.

Meanwhile, the man in the Battle Suit had raised one of his arms and pointed it at Midnight. Some of the armor plating rearranged itself to reveal a wrist mounted gun. Though the barrel was large enough that it could easily have been a cannon. A bolt of energy shot out of the suit's arm and flew threw the air. A very relieved Midnight had only milliseconds to register that that bolt had come quite close to taking his head off. But a miss was a miss.

[Gizmo]

Lesson number one, Trevor reminded himself as he rolled forward toward the man in the armored suit. As he rolled, midnight mist cascaded from his every pore, covering his body, then the entire battlefield, enveloping the gunrunner, his twisted pet and Lukos is pitch black, light consuming darkness. Never let them get a clean shot at you.

Observing the street in red-cast clarity thanks to his mask's lenses, Midnight's voice scraped harshly in the battlesuit wearer's ears. "Can't shoot a nightmare, little man," the echoing intonations chastised him coldly.

[quotemyname]

As the smoke billowed out around Midnight and enveloped Lukos, he smiled under his mask. That mist was going to be a big help in this fight. "You are in our world now, Tiny. Your mine!" Lukos yelled out in an attempt to throw the big creature off.

Lukos charged forward, axe in hand. He brought it down at an angle on Tiny's forearm. In the clouding mist, he watched with dismay as the axe head jarred off of Tiny's big green arm. That is not a good sign Lukos thought to himself as he let the smoke fold in around him.

[quotemyname]

A metallic laugh echoed from the man's armor. "You're going to have to do better than that to scare me, punk. But I suppose your point does hold water. It is more difficult to fight when you cannot see your opponent. Allow me to demonstrate." Midnight and Lukos saw the man press a button on the arm of his suit. Suddenly, he faded from sight completely, and not because of the mist.

Rocket boosters sounded. A moment later, Midnight felt something woosh past the top of his head. Likely a strike aimed by the now invisible man in the Battlesuit.

"TINY NO CARE WHAT LITTLE MAN SAY! TINY CRUSH LITTLE MAN! And so he tried. Bringing the arm that just got attacked by Lukos' axe through the air towards the hero. Unphased by the large creature's volume, Lukos ducked under the large fist, avoiding it entirely.

[Gizmo]

Trevor was momentarily taken aback when the armoured suit disappeared even from the infrared vision granted by his mask. A tap of a button concealed beneath its fabric shifted its spectrum slightly, however, and a hazy outline faded into view. Found you. Unfortunately, his combat training was focused on exploiting pressure points and weak spots which the battlesuit simply didn't have. Guess I'll just have to make some, then. Retrieving a sealed vial of acid from his belt, Midnight silently moved behind the gunrunner and splashed some of the dangerous liquid across the metal.

[quotemyname]

So, lets go over what didn't work. This guy doesn't scare easy. And he's got pretty thick skin. Screw it, I'm hitting him again. Lukos thought to himself, as he prowled through the deep mist. After ducking under the previous attack, he was right in a position to swing at the jolly green giant once more. Don't give yourself away this time. Silently, he brought the axe above his head, and brought it crashing downward as hard as he could onto the creatures foot. Once again, the blade deflected to the side and the haft of the axe jarred his hands.

[quotemyname]

The midnight mist was now in full effect. There was no way either of the villains would be able to see the heroes now, or was there? The man in the battle suit used his jet boosters to charge a shape that he thought he saw moving, only to attack a spot that Lukos had been a short time earlier. His powerful punch went wide.

Tiny on the other hand was lost. The smoke began to cover his eyes now, and he couldn't see a thing. WHERE LITTLE MAN GO? TINY MUST CRUSH!

[Gizmo]

Midnight followed after the gunrunner as he lunged forward. "You cannot hide from your own guilt," his chilling voice informed the criminal. Trevor smashed rest of the acid down on armor, aiming for what looked like the thinnest metal in the suit. He followed up with a vicious roundhouse kick that brought a heavy boot crashing into the weakened spot. He knew he was giving up a sense of his position to do so, but he wanted to take the mechanized monstrosity out of the fight as quickly as possible.

[quotemyname]

The vial smashed right into the area between the shoulder and the helmet where the battery pack connected to the suit's vital controller. Sparks began flying as the suit lost a good deal of protective power. A second later, the roundhouse kick went crashing into the side of the man's head, knocking him out cold. The man flew clear out of the mist cloud and into the wall of the ware house adjacent to the fight.

THERE BE LITTLE MAN!!! Tiny bellowed as he attempted to bring his large fist crashing down into Midnight, who had just exposed himself in the mist.

The enormous fist went crashing into the concrete at Midnight's feet. The reverberating shock and the concussive force from the creature's knuckles sent him flying. He crashed into the side of the ware house wall next to the gunrunner. Both were now unconscious.

[quotemyname]

So blinded by the mist, Lukos could only hear the dull thud that was Tiny's fist impacting the ground and his friend. Not good. A second later, he heard the man crash into the building. Though he could smell Midnight, he couldn't tell that the impact had actually jolted him back to consciousness.

Lukos glanced down at the axe in his hand. Work, damn you. He wound up once again, this time managing to actually break the creature's skin on the underside of the arm that he'd used to punch Midnight. Yes!

[quotemyname]

ROAAAWWRRERERERRRRR! Tiny was visibly angry by the small laceration he'd received from Lukos. Though he flailed his arms wildly, through the mist, he couldn't seem to catch the hero with any of his blows.

Tiny will smash. TINY WILL SMASH!

[Gizmo]

The massive blow sent Trevor flying, and he blacked out for a moment. Knocking against the building wall brought him back to consciousness, albeit with his head swimming. Staggering forward, he instinctively released another cloud of mist, over lapping the concealing cloud already covering the scene, and moved to secret himself amidst it. One of the first things his grandfather had taught him was how to blend into the shadow at a moment's notice, practicing over and over until his body could melt away from sight without his instruction. It gave him the time he needed to clear his head and take stock of the fight.

[quotemyname]

Still unaware of the fact that Midnight had gotten back up, Lukos' anger was growing. As far as he knew, this giant green monster had seriously injured one of this city's protectors. He hoped it wasn't worse.

In the short time that he'd had the pleasure of knowing Midnight, he'd started liking him. He had spunk, and was willing to stand up to anything without even a thought of backing down. Wolf respected him for that. What's more, Wolf was starting to think of Midnight like a sort of extension of a pack. On some base level, they were comrades. To Wolf, that meant they were brothers.

The monstrosity in front of him may have killed that brother. Lukos' anger peaked. "Raaahhhhhhhh!" He yelled, giving up his position, but delivering a mighty, charging attack. Lukos swung his axe over his head, and it lodged square in the creature's lower stomach. Tiny made a sickly noise reminiscent of someone about to be sick to their stomach.

The axe was wrenched from Lukos' hands as Tiny clutched at it. Stumbling, the extremely large creature crumpled to a heap. It was difficult to tell with a creature so alien whether or not it was still alive, but one thing was for sure. It certainly wasn't moving.

Lukos retrieved his axe from Tiny's gut.

Howl. Wolf begged him.

He obeyed.

[Gizmo]

As Lukos howled, Midnight stood from his crouch and wandered over to stand behind him, holding the back of his head where he'd collided with the brick wall. He waited until the werewolf was finished. "Hrm. Live the stereotype," he commented, his tone so deadpan behind his mask that his ally couldn't be sure whether the black-clad hero was smiling or not. "Come on," he continued, walking past as the mist began to clear. "Have to check the warehouse."

[quotemyname]

So he is alive. Lukos observed. He should have noticed it earlier. He could smell the man, he had just been too caught up in what he was doing to figure out that he'd gotten back up. I'll have to watch that in the future. He thought, It could end up getting me in trouble.

"You are right." Lukos answered Midnight, "We should see what they were planning on shipping before we turn them over to the police. We should hope that there was nothing bigger going on here." Lukos approached the man in the battle suit. After a few seconds of searching, he managed to find a switch that would release the locks on the suit, allowing them to extract the man inside.

"I am sure he will have much to answer for."

[Gizmo]

Entering the warehouse, the pair of heroes found a number of stacked crates. One lay open, exposing stacks of automatic weapons nestled among straw. There was enough firepower there to arm all of Freedom City's gangs for the rest of the year, at least.

Before they could inspect the building or weapons more closely, the wail of sirens drifted toward them, growing louder. Midnight assumed the police must have been drawn in by the sound of gunfire. With the gunrunners unconscious and the battlesuit ruined, they wouldn't have any trouble cleaning up.

"Time to go," he told Lukos, melting into the heavy shadows of the warehouse. The werewolf's keen sense heard the firing of a grapple and caught a glimpse of the terse vigilante soaring back up to the rooftop from which they'd observed the gang.

[quotemyname]

Lukos perked up at the sounds of sirens, dropping the lid of the crate he had been searching. He turned his head to the sound, his chin raised like he was waiting to see what those sounds had to do with him. His mind knew, but his reaction was totally instinctive, that of a wolf.

When Midnight made his exit, Lukos commented, "My you are the observant one, aren't you?" He watched as the other hero ascended toward the rafters and exited on to the roof. "Keep yourself hidden." he whispered after Midnight was out of sight. The human part of Lukos wasn't sure what to make of the man, but Wolf knew. Wolf assured him that Midnight was a friend. For two years, he had trusted those instincts. He wasn't about to turn his back on them now. Friend it is, then. he thought.

Lukos turned toward the entrance of the warehouse. He gave one last look over the unconscious mobsters, making sure that none were likely to escape. Then he himself made his exit, bolting down a nearby alleyway into the night.