Still Human at The Core (OPEN)

Lindwurm had done it, and finally, he was ready to get out of this boring country and go elsewhere. Right now he was leaving the little town he'd come from, nameless due to its location, but the townsfolk jokingly called it "Bergburg", mountain town, after the legend it carried so proudly. The mutated, rough looking metahuman was currently walking along the road, his clawed feet meeting the soft, luxurious grass. For so long he'd hidden himself away in the cliffs of his locale, however, unable to stay forever. In his possession was no more than a family heirloom, a passport, and a wallet with an ID and a few hundred Euros to get into a flight and out of this place. In some sense, he felt sad, in others, he was proud.

What, oh what, would dad think seeing him now? A full grown man, embracing his draconic blood, and his powers. Dad would be proud. The thought put a smile on his rough face, taking this long journey on foot until he could effectively spread his wings after mutation, and fly away to the nearest travel checkpoint. He wanted to go overseas to America, and as far away from home as he could. The grief of being here weighed too much onto his soul. He dared not to be talked to, and was able to pose as a non-English speaker to tourists who were too curious for their own good. He spoke basic English, but not much more, so it was easier to play out.

Perhaps company wouldn't be so bad right now, but perhaps it wouldn't do Otto much good.

Knightfall had been working in Austria just inside the border, in Eisenstadt, for about a week now lying low and working as a local bartender on weekends. One night as he was serving drinks to the already wasted patrons a live news report interrupted the game on the television. A commercial airline was hurtling down to Earth a hole ripped open in the side of it. Under his motorcycle helmet his face was contorted in both rage and frustration, as he watched the plane make contact with the ground below. A drunken customer, not happy that his favorite show had been interrupted, threw his empty glass at the television. Knightfall reacting quickly shot one of his grappling hooks and latched onto the glass swinging it in an arc so it smashed into the back of the man who'd thrown it. Shards of glass stuck out all over his back as the man coughed blood onto the bar. The drunken man his eyes wide open said with a warbled voice, "Ritterfallen!" That was all that escaped the man's lips as a shard of glass was then forcefully shoved through the back of his head. Yelling and screaming issued throughout the bar as the patrons panicked. "Jemand ruft einen Krankenwagen an!" Knightfall's boss was at the phone glancing back and forth between the phone and him. Knightfall knew he was no longer welcome here. He ran outside hopped on Nocturne and set his coordinates to the area around where the plane had crashed. Maybe there could've been some survivors, he doubted it but it was still possible.

Fire, screams, and horrid agony ruminated from that plane. It would hurt, and definitely strain him, but Lindwurm HAD to do something. He let out a powerful, and prominent roar, signifying his presence as he drew his body forward, large wings jutting from his shoulder blades. The massive, membranous appendages flapped powerfully to launch Lindwurm skyward, and out he flew like a missile, furious and strong. He was not going to let these people die.

Those powerful wings threw him to the wreck, and just in time as they began to wear off during his descent, landing with a powerful 'thud' on the outer hull of the burning contraption. Fire fighters had yet to arrive, or with any medical teams. Sore in his back and worn out, but still not yet out, Lindwurm began using his bare, scale-hidden hands to tear the very wreck piece to piece, starting with the outer hull. His beyond human strength allowing him to use the faults and breaks he could get his hands in to open the passenger area.

He dropped in, FEELING the smoke hit him. "KOMMEN SIE AUS! ICH BIN EIN METAMENSCH!" he called out, hoping the knowledge that he was a meta-human would goad survivors to his voice as he looked through the wreck, coughing as the smoke billowed out. At this point he could hear sirens in the distance, thank goodness! More help was on the way. He rummaged passed dead corpses, trying to find any signs of survivors. His hand shook Uzma, enough to stir even giants from their sleep. He felt a pulse, saw a breath. Without words, he tore her from her seat, and began furiously moving out of the wreck. Once outside, he set the poor girl down against a nearby stone outcrop, sitting up. He then crawled back up that plane, ready to dive in once more to find any other survivors. Unknown to him, she'd be the only one at the end of this night to survive.

Knightfall arrived at the crash site parking his motorcycle against a tree. Looking upon the scene with dismay, smoke billowing from the wreckage, he heard someone call out and started walking towards the source. Lying on a bed of stones was a woman probably from the wreckage, as to how she got this far out of the plane or managed to escape in the first place he had no clue. He crouched down next to her body his helmet's visor reflecting the crashed planes flames. "Hey, it's going to be okay I'm here to help." Then he reached up and took off his motorcycle helmet, the scars on his face outlined in the flickering light.

As the last of the injured were freed, and by the time Knightfall arrived, so too did the paramedics and other such personnel, who very quickly brought more in to tend to the wounded. The last to be brought out was the small child, the infant, who suffered such a tragic injury. Lindwurm felt like he had failed, but succeeded at the same time. He could not save every single individual that had boarded the plane, but those lucky six survivors he'd managed to, and that's all that mattered to him. Handing off what he could to the professionals, the dragon man steadily approached the now conscious woman and Knightfall.

It was clear the beastman didn't quite trust the newcomer, but he was wary of any relations between the two as-was. He spoke up, looking to biker-helmet wearing guy, such an odd getup, to ask "Kennst du sie? Oder nichts?" his bellowing words flew out like thunderclaps, each syllable given a powerful vibe. Otto's voice was deep, for sure. It was clear he was exhausted, panting when he wasn't talking directly or getting ready to speak.

Knightfall put back on his helmet quickly as the supposed "monster" strode up to the two of them. It or he Knightfall wasn't sure what to call the figure standing before him. Knightfall stood up to stand face to face with him as soon as he started asking questions. Looking to Uzma, Knightfall responded briefly, "He's speaking German, probably doesn't know much English." He then turned back to this dragon man and crossed his arms before replying harshly. "Das ist mein Geschäft und meine allein." Then he turned back to Uzma motioning a paramedic over to them then leaning down to her speaking quietly. "I apologize if you don't like hospital's but that gash needs to be looked at," looked at the makeshift tourniquette she'd made. "Properly anyways."

Hospital. He knew that word, and Lindwurm quickly understood what Knightfall was saying. "Du, braucht sie einen Krankenhaus?" he asked worriedly, examining the woman's wounds. "Augh... Ihr Kopf ist... besorgniserregend." The paramedics came over, and gave the same analysis before offering to help the woman up. She seemed to not need a stretcher, so they simply were ready to get her into an ambulance, labeled 'Krankenwagen' in the native tongue. Perhaps it would be best for Knightfall to accompany given his knowledge of the two languages. Lindwurm seemed dead-set on doing so anyways.

The wreck itself disturbed the dragon-man, as it seemed deliberate. The way it fell wasn't struck by something. Was there a hijacking? Was it sabotage? This was getting him not only worried, but angry as well. What insidious individual could do such a thing to innocent people?!

Knightfall suspected that she wouldn't take kindly to the paramedics and he wasn't mistaken as she twisted the joint in their wrist. Then she quickly took off into the forest, she was fast, but not faster than him. Knightfall thought he recognized her from somewhere before though he couldn't remember exactly where. Knightfall had managed to overtake the woman and ran past her expecting her to stop in a clearing up ahead. He sat up in a tree and watched her as she entered the clearing. His eyes narrowed under his helmet as he struggled to remember who she might be. Then the woman burst in a ball of blinding white light shrouded in an iridescent white glow. That's when Knightfall finally remembered her, they'd fought together before back in Tokyo. "Uzma." He whispered under his breath as he jumped down form the cover of the trees. Knightfall slowly picked himself up off of the ground and took a step towards her. "Hey, I apologize for earlier with the paramedics," He took quick note that the gash in her head had disappeared. "I'm Knightfall I fought with you back in Tokyo, but you can call me Nathaniel if it makes you feel any better." Taking another step forward he added. "I'm not here to hurt you, but I won't be dropping my weapons either." Knightfall opened his trench-coat slightly revealing the Deagle hidden inside.

"Well I did have a job not too far from here. But I decided to drop the steady source of income and go investigate the plane that had fallen out of the sky." he said a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I see that your wound healed. And again my name's Nathaniel but you can call me Knightfall whichever you feel is better. Just don't call me that around these parts, they tend to not take too kindly to my presence." Smiling slightly under his helmet he put his hands into the pockets of his trenchcoat. "So... you know anything about the people who hijacked your plane or must it remain a mystery to us both? I mean it's not everyday that planes just come crashing out of the sky, no?"

Lindwurm, initially, would have engaged in a chase, but providing an accurate report of what happened was the first thing the police questioned him for. Taking his time to do so, and with a bit of hesitance in his way of talking, the draconic man described the incident of the plane the best he could to the police. When they attempted to tell him he needed to follow them for further questioning, the response was simply to take off like the others. Of course, he did it in his own manner of escape. Instead of initially on foot, the man's back contorted and cracked, his vertebrae loosening and his shoulder-blades pushing back to make way once more for his wings to spread aloft.

His mighty roar to the moon signified his presence, and with gallant flaps of his wings, he took off, sniffing the air for various signs of the others. He could smell the strange man in the coat, sure, but some other presence mixed with blood was with him nearby. Perhaps some enemy! The cause of the crash? Not on his watch, he'd stop them immediately. The manbeast began to fly overhead of the two, divebombing towards the two! As he barreled through the air, he retracted his wings, slowly, trying to disband them before he fell, and cracking the earth as he put himself between Knightfall and Uzma. "Du." he slowly rose, extending a finger to accuse the alien woman. "Du hast dieses Unfall verusacht, hmm?"