Chapter 2: Don't Feed the Animals

"Any chance you'd share? So far the Void, the name of the dimension when translated, defies all known scientific laws. Human and Asadantsu." He added, really perking up.

Before James could even ask Gestalt said flat out No. We were not given the archived, collective knowledge of our creators just so it would be freely shared.

Sighing, Revenant said "Yeah......yeah I'm sorry but that's gonna be a no." Then he got worried, since for starters it was a freaking alien he was talking to. Plus one that had more than likely gained an interest in what was in his head. And to top it off, an alien with control over....well, string theory by the sound of it.

Bella caught herself in a bridge before getting herself back up. She looked to the person she punched and saw Revanant. "Oh god Rev I'm so sorry, I freaked out." She said this and then turned to Marcus. "I thought I remembered you from somewhere. You have not changed much from 15 years old ey." Marcus gave an innocent face before backing away.

"Sorry I didn't.. I didn't know what you would think. I've been dead for for 12-15 years. I came back and saw you. You look just like her." Marcus explained before Bella rambled on.

"Caitlyn, our sister who died in the car crash. Yea The souls Family are known for their deaths, you died trying to stop a robbery. I was thought to have died by falling into a radiation pit and dear Caitlin Died by a car crash. Lets hope she doesn't come back to this hell hole." Bella yelled at Marcus before Storming away but turned her head back to Revanant. "Sorry about the punch. And thank you. you too Zeru." She said before Leaving.

"Oh. That...is very saddening. I hope your change your mind soon." Urthus was very glad his face was obscured so this new human, Revenant, wouldn't see his very apparent anger on his face. "It could lead to my race being saved from...extinction? Is that the word? When a race is wiped out with no genealogy to keep it going."

"far as i can tell" zeru said to urthus before turning to bella"you should go rest you've hade a rough day"

"Yeah I'm sorry but Gestalt is.....sorta adamant about this," James tried to explain. "Look uhm, I need to go. Now. I have my own home to be at, and my own friends probably worried about me." At this point he could see Michael ready to crucify him over this.

"Yea thanks for helping her man." Marcus then turned to Zeru. "We going to have that talk which I'm pretty sure has plenty of questions being fired at me."

"fine but if any of this gets out you will regret it trust me on that"zeru said adding little drop of venom into his voice before turning to shadow and dropping said venom"oh big time"

Urthus nodded his head. "I understand. Well, be safe. I have much to discuss with your AI." He gestured to the door. "I'd offer to help your travel, but so far anything from this planet I've sent through the Void ends up atomized and possibly erased from existence. It's hard to tell without tools."

"Great," James mumbled, "portals that kill what they send......well, thanks anyway." He turned to leave, before stopping, turning to look back at Zeru. "Hey Zeru, I've got no intention of telling anyone about this place, considering that since I've become New York's most wanted, the police will probably shoot first and ask questions never." Throwing his hands up like the girl had, the 'jazz hands' gesture, he followed up with "So why don't you stick it where the sun don't shine pendejo. And Urthus, I get that you want to save your people but I've had a very, very long day so if that 'I have much to discuss with your AI' even hints at what I think it does......don't expect this to end well."

Urthus nodded again, "I meant no harm in my statement. Simply a meeting of the minds. I've never met a successful AI. Most simply imploded upon their own processes."

"Well they would care because they have no love for me.. I'm just going to go to my room. Knock when you wanna talk." Marcus said as he moved to go to his room.

"tsk tsk such foul language"

"Hey I'm being framed for murder. So sue me if I decide to start swearing at a guy who doesn't even know jack about me and decides to make threats," Revenant growled. Fed up, he swung his arms down and left, walking down the corridor to the exit.

zeru chuckled before turning to urthus"guess we can finally call it a day then?" he asked.

"Give him a break man. He's been though hell today." Marcus called out to Zeru as he peeked in though the door but quickly backed away again.

"can I just call it a night and go to sleep. I've been staring into pure white for days..." His interest had faded, and with it, his energy. He opened a portal below him and fell through, using it to drop himself onto his bed not too far away with a heavy audible THWUMP. Something cracked somewhere when he landed, and it wasn't him.

After urthus left zeru made sure the blast door was locked and secured before heading to his own room and going to sleep.

With the recent snowfall the city experienced, the snow is his only way of figuring out where the thieves went. His feet pounding the snow, the audible crunching. He can hear similar sounds coming from further ahead, but where exactly, he would have to leave to his vision.

Suddenly, the footprints begin to look as if they'e doubled up. He stop and looks at them for a second. He's caught in the middle a four way intersection of the alley and footprints look as if they shoot off in the three directions opposite him. His eyes narrow, and the sense that he's being played with pervades his thoughts. He knows he saw two people. So how does this current situation work?

He takes a drag of his cigarette and sighs. Knowing he could be caught in a vice.

Eenie... meenie... miney... mo

He shoots off down the left path, hoping it would lead him to the near murderers.

Bella had thrown a few things in her room, changed into something warm. And sat there, waiting until the noise died down. She waited a few more minutes before leaving, heading though the hallways and towards the door that meant freedom from this underground home. She liked it but she had to get away from them, from Marcus. She trudged though the snow, that she thought was cold. Her body temperature was warmer than most people and she thought she was cold. She smelt at the air for any scents she found disturbing but nothing caught her interest, that or the wind was blowing the wrong way for a scent to come.

He begins to hear the crunch of snow underfoot. Meaning he at least found one. He picks up his pace a bit looking not only ahead of him, but to the sides in case of an ambush. Maybe this was an ambush and they had him right where they want him. There's no doubt in his mind they know someone was tailing them, that's why the footprints diverged.

I've never taken the time to go through the backstreets of this place. From the way they're actin' they've done this a few times. Guess it makes the hunt all more excitin'.

Bella mad a few lunges in the snow, getting her chest filled with snow but the cold sting felt good. She looked about, a new scent appeared but she ignored it right now. "Snow." She said aloud to herself before leaning down to pick up some snow to form into a snowball. She would wait for this scent to get close, it was about time she had fun.

He continues on. Feeling like he's being watched. He begins to hear a heavy breathing not too far from his location. In another little side alley, it seems, as he gets closer. He guesses either the thief got another victim, or he/she had finally decided to take a breather. Of course, he hopes for option number two. Hoping to end this night and get the woman her purse back.

He places his back against the cold wall. He takes a deep breath and takes a quick peek around the corner. To his delight, he sees someone. To his dismay, they've already regained their composure and shot off through the alleyway again. One last drag of his cigarette and he tosses the butt end of it on the ground. Fed up with the cat and mouse game, he shoots off again. If he can't get one, he'll get the other.

Bella kept sniffing the air for the scent she could smell, the crunch of snow she could hear. It was annoying her. At her feet she had many snowballs waiting for someone to be thrown at and a small barrier hiding her feet. "Where are you."

The chase keeps on going. He gets closer and closer. It's very apparent the one he is chasing isn't used to so much running. He can also see it is a man who is slightly overweight. He keeps looking over his shoulder towards Dean. Dean can make out, as the distance between the two closes, the man is scared out of his mind.

"H-HELP... HELP ME! SOMEONE!"

The... thief... cries out.

"Why are ya callin' for help? You're the one who robbed that poor woman!"

Dean calls up ahead and as the distance is closed, He leaps and tackles the man onto the frozen ground.

Bella heard voices, cries for help. Something was happening and it was better then sitting here waiting for whoever that smell was. She held onto a snowball and ran towards where she heard the voice. Soon she found that their was two. One was on top the other and one could only guess that which was the one that called for help. "Hey brute." She called out and threw the snowball at him before moving to tackle him off the overweight man, her increased strength would hopefully help against a bigger man.

He hears a voice and then feels the cold sting of snow hit his shoulder. Before he has a chance to react he is tackled off of what he believes to be the thief, landing back first onto the snow covered pavement. Many feelings begin to emerge. Anger from being so close to bringing in some kind of justice, confusion from this newcomer stripping away this chance and a slight fear that the thief may run and strike again.

"The hell do you think you're doin'!"

He looks up to his attacker and sees a small girl, couldn't be more than sixteen. He's taken aback from this realization. It felt like a different person altogether knocked him down.

"This bastard's gonna get away! Do you even know what he did!?"

He growls

"God bless you! Thank you!" The thief calls out to the newcomer.

She tried to hold him down her hands pushing down on his arm's when she reached for them in the scrabble. "No, I just see a man holding down someone else. Now I see a girl doing it but different." Bella said as she sniffed the air. "Run idiot." She called out to the overweight man and hoped he was, she didn't know if she would be able to hold the man down for long.

The overweight man heeded the small girl's advice and ran. This is most likely the most running he's ever done in his life. Dean looks on as the man runs. He slams one of his fists down, scraping his hand up slightly. He closes his eyes, trying to calm down. Thinking back to the four way stop. If had taken the time to actually investigate how the snow was placed, he would have seen that the footprints on the path he went down had been there for some time.

"Damn it"

He bangs his head onto the pavement and follows it up with:

"He wasn't the one I was after."

Bella felt like slapping sense to him but Took the time to just give off a low growl of that a wild animal. "You mind explaining or do I headbutt you until you decide to speak." She said with a growl and resisted trying to brush her hair back.

After leaving the hideout, James resumed walking the streets back home. The voice was being unusually quiet and refrained from trying to control him. Maybe it was bored. Maybe it was tired. Or hell, wishful thinking, but maybe it left his head. Either way he was glad for the silence as he started to put distance between himself and the submerged hideout. It wasn't exactly late by anyone's standards; hell for New York City, eight o'clock would have been time for everyone to go out and eat, drink, and party.

Sadly though, that would have worked for Manhattan, the city of lights, the new Gilded Apple. Here in Brooklyn though, this part at least.....well when the economy had tanked decades ago and the war shifted in this direction, things changed for the worse. Thankfully though since the war ended and the world had time between now and then to recover, Brooklyn managed to improve from what it had been, though it was still a work in progress.

Which was why the street he walked down was dark with only two solitary street-lamps, one of them flickering, several shops abandoned due to foreclosure, plywood covering the windows to mark them as vacant. Shivering in the cold, James stuffed his hands in his jean pockets, his breath reaching out as a fog ahead of him. As he passed by an alley though a sudden sound caught his attention and since he was already jumpy given the night's events, he twitched fast enough to slip on the snow covered sidewalk, landing on his ass with enough force to make it go numb. "Owww...." he groaned, realizing that if whatever he heard was bad....well he was helpless.

A soft growling sound could be heard, light panting coupled with small footsteps as something approached him though the shadows kept it hidden. It wasn't until it stepped into the light of the street lamp, that James breathed a sigh of relief. The growling thing, was a puppy. A German Shepherd by the look of it. And puppy didn't do the size justice, the dog was probably over a couple months old. "Uh....hey there boy," James said quietly. In response, the pup wagged its tail slowly, hesitantly.

He notices the growl in her voice and opens his eyes and gives her a piercing gaze.

"There was this woman. She got robbed and stabbed. I did what I could to treat her wound and left to find the person, or people, who did it to her. I came across an intersection and chose the wrong path. Ended up chasin' that poor guy"

He moves to get the girl off of him saying this as he does so:

"That about sums it up. The thieves got away and I end up with a bruised ego"

Bella giggled with joy as she got off him. "If you could find the tracks they took I could help find them." Bella said to him as she looked him up and over.

He stands up. His breathing a bit heavy. He didn't expect to be doing this much work tonight. He looks at the girl.

"You some kinda wolf or somethin'? He says jokingly.

"Nah, felt like a damn gorilla hit me." He continues.

He looks back to where he came from and puts his hands in his pockets.

"They'd be long gone by now. Might as well head back to the woman and tell her what happened. Hopefully she called the bank and canceled her cards."

He begins making his way back to where the fruitless chase first started.

Bella decided to follow him for a bit. "little bit of both. How did you heal a stab wound?" She asked with curiosity. He had mentioned he did the best he could to heal her and was now talking like she had a good chance to live. "Don't lie or I will go ape on you."

He looks back to her, noting what she says and chalking  it up to sarcasm, He then looks forward again. He goes for his pack of cigarettes, takes one out and lights it. Wondering if he should reveal part of his hand to a stranger. He sighs and says:

"With all the crazy shit that's been goin' on tonight. I might as well tell ya. I've got a power... I can... heal wounds."

He gives a small chuckle.

"Pretty crazy, right?"

"nah, I can shapeshift into animals, I have friends who can control shadows and I have Revanant. The two vigilantes, Thats crazy." She said in return and was happy the man shared. Someone as weird as her or at least not as weird but still pretty cool.

He stops walking for a second and repeats what she just said in his head.

Revenant

"You friends with him? The cops and the news've been sayin' he went on a murder spree at a shop."

He purses his lips and continues.

"He also wrecked my apartment in his getaway"

"no, that would have been my brother.. The other vigilante. He and I were attacked by these two girls with the ability to control blood and disease. They killed everyone and they almost killed me but I got rid of it.. I hope I got rid of whatever was in that blood." Bella answered to him before thinking again. Marcus was her brother. Her dead brother. She should have seen the looks, the eyes. How he cared for Her like a brother.

He picks his pace back up, they near the intersection.

"So, a couple a girls were the ones who did that insane stuff, huh? Any idea why those two would come after ya?"

All the freaks come out at night, it seems.

They pass by the intersection and keep on moving to the entrance of the alleyway.

"Strange things abode. They were most likely sent to kill us. Could have been Hercules or some other pint up group that doesn't like the fact people with powers are showing up and messing with their control. Who knows." Bella said as she met his pace. She too was faster then most humans. "Where we going?"

"New York, the city of lights and the hotspot for too many cooks stirrin' the pot"

They keep moving, and he takes a drag of his cigarette.

"Well, I'm hopin' the woman is still either up near the start of this godforsaken alley. Or she ran off to the park that's near here and if nothin' else she headed off to the 115th precinct to give her story."

"then it's best to not go meet her again." She stopped in her tracks. "Hey, it was nice meeting you an all but I.. just yea. Don't go to her if you care for your freedom. They might just track you for your ability to heal. They would make you do plenty of things. Just guesses. bye." Bella said as she turned around and started her walk away.

"Yeah, yeah. I can handle myself. You be careful though."

He says as she walks away.

What's the worst that could happen?

He continues down the alleyway, nearing the exit. Even with his confidence, her words gave him a strange sense of dread. What would happen if they ganged up on him? How would they know? The woman was near out of it when he healed her, and he can just pass it off as him using some basic knowledge he gained from the war. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling something could happen.

He walks out of the alley and looks around. From his view, he can see the park and the bench he had sat on. He can see the silhouette of someone seated there. He makes his way towards the person. Hoping it's the woman from before.

The screen in front of the two men showed a pure white room, covered wall-to-wall in tiles. The older man, Mark, lit a cigarette, taking a long puff on it, before slowly exhaling. He ran a hand through his short, black hair and scratched his cheek nervously; even after four years of the same job, this particular part of his work chilled him to the bone. The man next to him, looking to be in his late twenties at the most by the name of Ryan, had only just been transferred to this detail, no doubt bought in by the ridiculous salary that it offered. "Too good to be true." Mark's wife had said, and she hadn't been wrong. On screen, a door opened and a single figure stepped inside and took a quick glance around the room. Mark felt his throat tighten as the girl's eyes paused on the camera, though she lost interest soon enough.

The new recruit was watching intently, no doubt perplexed at this strange show of a mission briefing.
"You smoke?" Mark asked him, holding out the packet to the younger contractor.
"No." He said, tearing his eyes away from the screen to glance at Mark.
"You will." Mark sighed, leaning back in his chair. On screen, two men had entered the room, one armed with a machete and the other a crowbar. Both of them, Mark recalled, were death row inmates, shipped in and offered a less-harsh sentence; but they were never going to see that reward. After a few minutes of deliberation and arguing with himself, the machete-wielder raised his weapon at the girl and stepped forwards to swing. Mark closed his eyes as he heard a scream, followed by a low gargling noise. Mark took a look at Ryan's face, a mixture of shock, horror and morbid curiosity on his face as the girl on the cameras tore into her victim's throat like some kind of animal, blood pooling underneath her.

The second man in the room started to scream and bang against the door he'd entered through, snapping out of his shock-induced trance. He wasn't getting out, and shouting only reminded the girl that he was still alive. She rectified that quickly enough, her hand ripping open his stomach while her teeth went through his throat as well.
Ryan looked at Mark, horrified by what he'd just seen.
"What the fuck?!" He demanded, which Mark didn't see as an unreasonable question. He couldn't answer though, and the 'briefing' wasn't over yet.
"Look." He said, nodding toward the screen where the girl had begun tearing chunks of flesh away from the second corpse. Ryan vomited.

He picks up his pace a bit as he approaches the person on the bench. He begins to recognize the fur coat the woman had on her and he breathes a sigh of relief.

"Sorry to keep ya waitin'. I... couldn't get your purse back"

She turns around, a smile on her face

"Thank you so much... I don't know how you did what you did, but thank you. I've already taken care of closing my cards and reported the incident to the police."

He gulps asking in a very worried tone.

"Yeah, and what did ya tell 'em?"

"I told them that there are people out going to the lengths of murder for some money and someone else who can help those in need."

He blushes, slightly and tips his ballcap down over his eyes.

"It wasn't a problem, really. I'm glad you're alright. I should go."

"I don't get a name or the number from the guy who saved me? You can at least escort me back to my place"

The blood continues to rush to his cheeks and he dips the ballcap down even further, knowing where this could go.

"This is prolly the worst first date ya've been on." He says, trying to break his own tension.

"I mean, your date even left ya for an extended period of time" He forces a chuckle.

"But he did save my life" She says in a very matter of fact tone.

He chews on her words for a second and decides to follow her to her place. He needs a place to crash at, and if she's offering. Why not?

As James got to his feet the pup backpedaled away from him, before making a short, high pitched barking sound. "Hey little guy," James said, "you lost?" At first James thought the pup had run away from its owner, but there was a lack of collar or tag. Still, despite being a stray the dog looked happy, tongue lolled out in an adorable doggy grin. "Damn, no home?" James inquired, rhetorically obviously. Just because he had two voices in his head didn't make him crazy enough to think the dog would talk back. He'd have liked to take it home but.....well, he doubted Michael would want to adopt a stray.

Which was weird considering he did adopt James. Sort of.



"Sorry boy, would like to take you home but.....well, I don't think my guardian would approve," James said, turning to leave. As he walked away, he could hear the sound of light panting and looked over his shoulder; sure enough, there was the dog, following him with an almost happy look on its face. Stopping, James turned and said "No, don't follow me I can't take you with me." In response, the pup sat down, rump planted firmly in the snow as it stared innocently up at James, before barking a few times. Sighing, James turned and walked again, faster this time......only to hear even faster panting as the pup started running after him. "Oh come on!" James yelled, though he grinned slightly, frustration giving way to amusement.

"What the fuck was that?!" Ryan shouted at Mark. Same question as the last time he'd shown this to someone, and the same one he'd asked when he'd taken this job. Nobody had answered him then, and they still hadn't told him. Black Fox didn't like telling anbody anything, and it wasn't his job to know; he just had to make sure she didn't escape.
"That's your job," Mark answered, "That's all anybody here knows, apart from the smart arses upstairs, but they won't tell us."
"This is fucked up." Ryan mumbled, shaking his head.
---

"Come on, Kristen," One of the doctors said to me as they brought me out of that room, "Time for a check-up." I hated my check-ups, especially now that they were pretty much every day. I didn't even believe them when they told me that it was for my own good, it certainly didn't feel like it was for my own good.
"No." I said flatly. I wasn't going anywhere with him anyway. I didn't like him.
"I'll get Jack then, alright?" He said, his voice sweet. I hated it when he spoke like that.
"Alright." I liked Jack. He was the only one who spoke to me like I was a person, or at all.

A few minutes later, Jack came in and smiled at me.
"You okay, Kris?" He asked as came towards me. "I've spoken to the doctors, they said you can go back to your room for a bit, alright?" I nodded and walked towards him. A lot of the guards flinched when I came near them, or reached for their tazers, but Jack never did. As we walked towards my room, I thought about what I was going to say. There was a camera blind spot where I'd started to tell Jack about my own thoughts, and he always listened, even if it was only for a few seconds.
"I want to leave." I said as we walked through, and he looked at me.
"Why?" He asked, looking a little concerned.
"I hate it here." I said, passing back into camera view.

That damn puppy wouldn't stop following James. Even as he kept running the pup continued after him, barking and whining now and then. It wasn't until he crossed the street to the next corner though.....that a decision had to be made.

A four way intersection, there was some traffic there still. He had just managed to get to the otherside before the light turned green, but the pup had followed him and was in the middle of the crosswalk, a car coming in from down the road. He looked back and saw the pup still moving, now in the path of the car and his face was drained of all color, shock and fear spreading over in place of it. He bolted, sprinting like a mad man for the pup even as the car rolled on towards it. Leaping forward, arms outstretched he dove for the dog as the car blared its horn.

Avaelli acted, sending signals down various electrodes of James's brain, forcing his arms to remain outstretched, forcing his body to curl and roll, forcing James over the puppy and leaving it in front of the car.

The sound even made her wince mentally. More horns, a crunch and a squish. A small yelp.In her deepest thoughts, where no-one could penetrate, she bit her lip and fought back the emotion.