Never Thought I'd See You Again

The Big Man stood on his own leaning against a tall oak tree in the middle of a large public park. He wore a simple attire, but it was nothing out of the ordinary, just the same style of shit he always wore. This time he wore black combat boots, blue jeans, and a tight black t-shirt with his logo on the left sleeve. In between his lips hung a thick joint, the tip of it ignited by the red flame from his pink BIC lighter. It took him a few flicks, having to cover his light with his other hand. Yeah, he was probably getting odd looks from everyone, but not like anyone was gonna’ tell him what to do; he did whatever the hell he wanted, he had earned that. Pain inhaled the first sweet drag and held the gray smoke in his lungs. His hand moved to return the lighter to his back pocket before crossing his massive arms over his muscular torso. The big guy hung his head low, staring down at the shady grass beneath him for a moment before closing his eyes and drifting off into his thoughts. Now he was just smoking, relaxing, and waiting for something to happen; something to go wrong. Man he had a lot to deal with right now, he couldn’t shake off the thoughts of S.C.A.R. returning. Pain had run into quite a few super-humans and he couldn’t help but question them all in his head. Now he knew for sure he needed to get G.U.N. back together, but that was no simple task. So many thoughts ran through his head..

Artemis was spending the day as a dog. Well a wolf technically, but surprisingly people treated her like a stray dog, so far she even got a few scraps from it. Yeah, it was a good day so far. She decided to walk into a park, maybe chase some birds. Maybe people here won't be so busy that they realized she is a wolf, not a dog. Then she would do her favorite past time, destroy the animal control, who threw animals into trucks never to be seen from again. But a smell crossed her noise. One she remembered... one she didn't like. She followed the smell until she found him. He was relaxing against a tree. She let out a low pitched growl.

The Big Man continued to puff on his joint for awhile, just lost in his thoughts and ignoring the world around him. It had been shriveled down halfway by now, but he enjoyed every sweet tasting drag along the way. His thoughts were interrupted by the low growling of a canine, forcing him back into reality. His icy blue optics blinked open and darted up from the ground to glare down at the large dog before him. It showed it’s teeth and continued to viciously growl at him. Pain shrugged it off and exhaled a thick gray cloud of smoke through his nostrils before inhaling another puff. He spoke up in his rough muffled voice out of the corner of his mouth. “The hell do you want mutt? Man, go bother someone else or sit down and take it easy like a good dog.” He moved one hand down to snap his fingers at the dog, and with the same hand he waved her over. "C'mere boy, er, Or girl. Never easy to tell with you damn things." He knelt down onto one knee and waved the dog over again; he had a soft spot for animals, especially dogs.

Artemis growled deeper at Pain when his hands got close to her. But she didn't snap at him. She didnt sense a hostile nature. Perhaps he didn't recognized her, really wouldn't surprise her. But once pain started to pet her she calmed down a bit. She didn't know why but she always calmed down if she was being pet. Pain tripped over his words not sure to call her a boy or a girl. He also mentioned that he had a soft spot for animals. Which she personally found amusing considering his past reactions to her. She decided it would be worth it to creep him out a bit. She stood on her back legs as if to lick him. But she transformed back into her normal self, then licked him. "Does that answer your question?" she asked innocently with a hint of flirting behind it.

Pain gently pet the fairly large dog despite its growling, some little mutt showing it’s teeth wasn’t about to scare him. “Eh, shut up.” He said simply to the growling animal in his gruff voice. A bit of a smirk came to his face as he spoke, so it wasn’t a threat at all, if anything it was playful. He moved one massive hand to scratch the top of the dog’s head while the other moved to scratch its chin. “That’s right. Good boy.” He said as he exhaled the smoke through his nostrils, his smirk now completely obvious. The dog was starting to warm up to him, see, he wasn’t such a bad guy if ya’ gave him a chance; most people didn’t do that, but he couldn’t blame them he guessed. He continued to puff on his joint as he played with the dog until it moved onto its back legs. The little guy looked as if he was about to lick him, but before he did, he transformed into that girl! That same shape-shifter he ran into not too long ago! At first he was completely shocked, and was unable to do anything about her licking him across the face; he even nearly lost the joint hanging from his lips. A little weird for a human to do that, but he kind of just shrugged it off; this chick was weird. His hands instantly pulled away from her and moved them to his sides. “Uhh. Yeah.” Pain was obviously a little confused, his hand moved to briefly scratch his head before falling back to his side. “Never thought I’d see you again..”

Artemis burst out laughing. For some reason his shocked face amused her more then she thought it would. After her face turned bright blue from laughing she was able to catch her breathe again. Tears where formed at her eyes from laughing so much. She wiped the tears away. "Never thought i would see you either." said Artemis, her face becoming more serious. "You know you didn't have to pin me down last time for defending my food."

The Big Guy didn’t get why she was laughing at him, or what she thought was so funny. Was this gal just screwing with him? His expression remained calm the whole time, but it annoyed him a little. He quickly shrugged it off and didn’t let something so insignificant get to him; at least she was laughing. He lowered his vision to the ground and moved his right hand to scratch his head again as her laughing started to come to an end. Man it was really weird seeing her again, how the hell does he keep stumbling into people like this? Fate really doesn’t care about plans. His icy blue eyes darted back up to meet hers, speaking up calmly in his rough voice. “You attacked a kid, you call that defendin’? Girlie I ain’t about ta’ let you hurt anyone if I’m around.” He felt a little bad for his aggressiveness against a young woman like herself, but he felt it was necessary; to him she was just another thug looking to hurt the innocent. Though after seeing her again, maybe he was wrong about that; something about her just didn’t seem 'evil'.

I was eating and that girl walked up to my food. I gave her plenty of warning, but she still kept walking. I was just doing what my pack taught me. Otherwise other animals could steal your food. Artemis sighed. "If you don't know how to guard your food how will survive in the wild? Otherwise every scavenger would take your food. " She was trying to get pain to understand but she had a feeling that she just left him confused.

Pain softly shook his head at her, he was finally starting to get it; this gal had to have been raised by animals or something. She sounded like a wild dog or a wolf, the way she talked about guarding her food, and the way she always mentioned her pack. He just questioned how the hell that made any sense; cause to him it made none. The Big Guy spoke up in his rough voice, a subtle and confident smirk coming to his face. “There are other ways to guard the things you wanna’ keep around. Ya ain’t gotta’ hurt everyone, just the punks who deserve it.” He moved to cross his massive arms over his chest, looking down into the young woman's eyes. He hadn't really thought of it until now, but how did she find him here? Was it by accident? Or did she track him down? Today was turning out to be another far from normal one.

"Maybe but there is a certain way you need to keep food." said Artemis. "Defend your kill till it's been eaten. I was defending my kill when that girl approached me to steal it." Pain had crossed his arms and began to stare down at her. She crossed her arms around her chest and stare up at him. "I can do this too you know." she mocked. "How about we start over? You look at me like I was raised by wolves, which means you probably figured out who my pack is."

Pain raised a brow at this gal once again, who knows how many times she’s made him do that. She was a confusing one, but she was also very bold. Whether that was due to stupidity, will power, or something else, he’d never really know, but either way it was something he could respect; even if it did annoy him a little sometimes. “Yeah, but it ain’t the way you handled it. You gotta’ learn who your real enemies are.” The gal proceeded to mock him, which might have gotten to a much younger Pain, but he found things like that kind of funny, and he has for awhile now. He uncrossed his arms and softly chuckled at her, his expression becoming playful for just a moment as he gently shook his head. He straightened himself out and resumed a more serious expression, but a slight smirk still clung to his face. His left hand dug into his pocket before speaking up in his rough voice. “Alright wolf gal, I’m good with a do-over. The name’s Pain, and what about yours?” See, he wasn’t that dumb, just a little slow.

"Well I don't remember my real name, but my pack calls me Artemis." said Artemis. "I've also been called Totem before by people i never met so I guess that's the name others gave me. Either would be cool, but i prefer Artemis." She turned back into a wolf and scratched the back of her head. She then tilted her head to the side before turning back to human form. "Also you may not be able to understand me in animal form but i can understand you."

Pain’s expression became almost playful, a slight smirk clinging to his face as the young woman introduced herself. ”Artemis eh? I like that name, don’t hear it too much. I think I’ll stick ta’ callin’ you that.” When she turned back into a wolf, the Big Man softly shook his head at her, his playful expression clinging to his face. She was scratching the back of her head just like a dog, why couldn’t she just do that in her human state? This gal was definitely a little odd, but she certainly was entertaining. She seemed likable, long as she didn’t get annoying he had no reason not to enjoy her company. He inhaled one final drag from the shriveled joint before spitting it out onto the ground to the left of him. He thought of kneeling down to pet her again, but found it a little odd, and before he could come to a decision she reverted back to her human state. She gave him that curious look again, her head tilted and staring up at him with those big innocent brown eyes. “Interesting power. So you can use the form of any animal eh? How ‘bout ya’ stick with human? Easier on the eyes.” As he spoke in his rough voice, thick gray smoke escaped from his lips, exhaling the final drag. “Raised by wolves eh?” As he spoke, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and flipped it open before withdrawing a single cigarette. He then placed it between his lips and returned the pack to his pocket. "How the hell does that even work?" His voice now muffled by the cigarette hanging loosely between his lips. He brought his pink BIC lighter up to ignite the cigarette before inhaling the first drag.

"Well, it was sort of hard before i could shape shift but i vaguely remember those days. But after that I just stayed in wolf form till i could understand them both in an out of the wolf form. Once that happened I stayed in human form for the most part. Although I didn't have this unconformable pieces on cloth on." said Artemis picking at her clothes. Her nose shriveled at the smell of smoke and she coughed a bit. "Can't you please not do that it smells really bad. My nose is more sensitive then your." Then she called for a very fast subject change. "So how where you raised?

“Yeah, sure.” Pain was a little annoyed that he was asked to put out his cigarette, but it wasn’t a big deal. He simply tossed the cigarette onto the floor and thought nothing of it. “Sounds pretty stupid.” Being raised by wolves, well that was very strange to him; still didn't understand how that worked. She definitely asked him a difficult question to answer, he had a pretty bad history, and he hadn't thought about it in a long time. “It’s a pretty long, and stupid story. Let’s just say I raised myself.” He wasn't about to get into it. “Why are you here in New York?” He randomly asked her, always suspicious of people, especially in his city. Pain was sometimes paranoid, but it usually paid off in the long run.