Predators and Prey

The crowd was thick tonight, and as shoulder after shoulder bumped into the cannibal, he smiled and continued to chew on the lump of meat in his mouth. Nobody even bothered to notice exactly how the man shambled, the soft chuckle under his breath, or the way his fingertips brushed up against those who got too close to him. To the masses, he was just another strange New Yorker, perhaps even a homeless man judging by the filth on his clothes, the sway in his stride.

Through his mind ran the memory of the man he had just murdered about ten blocks away; how way his blood ran, his throat bubbled and groaned as his life slipped out with his hemoglobin. With a bittersweet feeling, Jericho swallowed the by now well-chewed flesh of the man before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a severed finger, lovingly nibbling on it like a child would a lollipop. Around him, the crowd parted with screams and frightened lurches, scrambling over one another in an effort to escape the unknown threat that the man possessed.

Jericho simply met all of the cries of horror with a blank stare, his mouth filling with with the potent flavor of uncooked meat and what little blood hadn't drained out from the severed appendage. The pedestrians around him bellowed in fear, concern, and a primal rage at the atrocities they somehow knew he had committed, and would commit again. If anyone had cared to look, they would have seen the brief flash of sanity that came across his face, the look of childish loneliness and need for some sort of connection with his fellow man. Before anything had a chance to anchor itself within him, it was replaced with anger. His free hand pawed at the inside of his jacket, sliding deftly along the grip of the metal claws he kept with him before he flourished his newly equipped weapon to the crowd, sending another pulse of fear and apprehension through the crowd. Resentment and cold anger filled his veins, hating the nonexistent judgment that he perceived to be emanating from every single one there.

''Come on, pretty ladies.'' he muttered, his teeth pulling off a sliver of meat before slurping it down noisily.''Gimme a kiss.''

(Can I join or is this closed?)

(( Closed! ))

Corvin had been walking down the street of New York once again out and about on a sunny day his mind drifting back to the old days as he thought of the high peaked mountains, the frozen lake, ice fishing with his dad and laughing as he pulled up a fish about the same size of his bait. The day was sunny and bright without a cloud in the sky and the rays of the sun were golden beams of light from the heavens. His bare feet thudded on the stone pavement as he walked and a sudden longing for the cold snow and icy winds he had never felt appeared in his chest but it was a nonexistent wish since he couldn't go back there without talking to Pain and that could be years away. Noises ahead of sirens and screams made the Young up and coming hero look around as a cop car shot down the side of the road.

Corvin had been in New York for a month now and though he had seen cop cars none had been moving that fast and it was towards the screams and shouts. Deciding to take a look Corvin began to sprint down the road following the noises of the masses. One thing he had learned while here was people panicked too easily and he began to wonder if it wasn't just some rabid dog attacking people, He would not do anything about that since he couldn't hurt a animal. People ya no problem if they were doing bad but a dog didn't know what was right or wrong especially with rabies as it shut down all but the most vicious of instincts.

Corvin came to the problem and was surprised to see a large group of cops with guns drawn and even S.W.A.T. armed and ready and all the guns were pointed at a single individual who didn't look to be that dangerous....deranged maybe if the finger in his mouth said anything. Corvin walked through the group and lifted a hand pushing a cop car to the side as easily as he would push a swinging door. The large man stopped and folded his powerful muscled arms and looked the guy up and down. "Ok eating a finger, normally I say to each there own but dude that's just going to far. Why not steak or a burger hell raw meat if that's what your into is cool we can go to the nearest store and get you a big pot roast or some raw chicken. But human just can't be good for the Digestive system. Now I got to stop you Punk since your causing a ruckus...now we can do it the easy way which is to cuff you and take you to a mental hospital and to stand trial for murder. Or we can do it the hard way which involves me hurting you. So which is it gonna be Freddy?" Corvin smiled looking the man up and down.

Corvin knew he was bigger but that didn't necessarily mean stronger even though his powers were in the strength and endurance part he didn't know what this guy could do. He looked around spotting innocents and sighed hoping this battle didn't spread out that way and realizing he might have to take some blows to keep him away from civilians.

It didn't take long for Jericho to lose interest in what the over-sized man was saying, causing his brow to furrow and his teeth to dig into the flesh of the digit until it hit bone. He barely listened to every word with thinly veiled contempt, holding the finger in his mouth as his other hand grabbed the metal claws in his jacket, holding them tight in his fists out in front of his chest. Policemen screamed at him, pointed their guns, but the cannibal just let his head fall forward, the chewed appendage falling onto the ground.

''You talk too much.'' he bellowed to the man, sprinting forward through the firing guns of the officers. Every bullet ricocheted off of him, but would undoubtedly leave a considerable bruise in its wake, and by the time the hero could blink, Jericho was mere inches away, smiling like a smitten young boy that had just spotted his school sweetheart. ''Little less conversation, a little more action?'' he giggled, slipping through the cars and policemen like an eel, mind shutting out the biting pain of each bullet. The fear around him was a potent drug, honing his skills and need to feed. If Jericho could kill this superhero, he would definitely eat well tonight.

Corvin watched the guy his eyes on his chest and the movement of his body shot him forward, his body loosened and just as Jericho appeared he leaned down aiming to grab the guy around the waist and pick him up into the air. Once he had that done if connected he would drop down with a spinebuster with enough force to break the ground a good five feet down with the mans spine. He wasn't too worried about the mans weapon it seemed like a crude design so he didn't worry about his flesh being penetrated when bullets bounced off him without even a welt. The landing blow would be enough to severely hurt the man and may even break ribs or his spinal cord.

Corvin was amazed by the guys speed he barley saw him coming and only the cars slowed him down enough to give him time to react the way he did, The guy was obviously good at what he did and once again the thought of why people didn't use there powers for good entered his mind. Cheesy and sentimental possibly but true. "And you need a lesson in manners twerp" He replied.