A hero's work is never done (open to one person)

As usual, the night was cold in the windy city. Andree, in her costume as Mockingbird, decided to go out for a bit tonight for her first time doing her"job". As she glided over the windy city of Chicago, she could hear a sound in a nearby alley. "Hey little girl, we're going to have some fun with you." She looked down to see what was going on and could see a man threatening a young girl. He was pressing a knife to her cheek and was trying to get her to remove her shirt. He did all this with a nasty, wicked grin on his face. Quickly and silently, she climbed down to ground level. Quickly, she grabbed the man by the collar and pulled him towards her. She shot up a grappling line so that the man couldn't see her when he turned around. As he began to run, he was met by a grappling line around his ankle. It hoisted him up into the air so that he was hanging upside down in front of her face. "Having a nice night?" She growled, not giving him time to answer "Do you think you're tough? Huh? Do you? Picking on people half your height and age that have no way to defend themselves. Does this make you feel like a man? Do you get a kick out of it? Well, do you?" She snarled at him. She could see the sweat forming on his forehead and running into his brown, greasy hair. She pulled the grappling line over a metal bar to keep him hanging a while longer. Before she could leave though, she couldn't resist kicking him in the groin. "Like that?" She asked, with a moan coming out as a reply. "I didn't think so."

Mockingbird jumped over the side, her cape slowing down her fall. She landed in front of the girl. "Are you okay?" She asked before noticing her cuts. "Do you want me to help you to the hospital?" All she got was a nod for a reply, the girl was too frightened to speak. Hoping it meant to the hospital, she let her get onto her back and she started running. The pair eventually arrived at the hospital. Mockingbird showed her into the emergency room and explained the situation to the doctors inside.

Leaving the hospital, she went to the roof of another sky scraper nearby. The glass building would be impossible to scale for most people but she was not most people. Her gloves and boots allowed her to stick to any surface available. No matter what, there always seems to be a crime in this city. Better keep on the look out. She began to tune into the police radio signal and heard them say, "I repeat we have visual on the top of The Bank of Chicago building." Looking down, she saw that was the building that she was on. Above her, she heard the sound of helicopter blades coming closer. Me? Are they after me? She asked herself as she waited to see. The searchlight from the helicopter directed it's self right at her. What jerks! I'm cleaning up their streets and they go and do this.

Seeing as she was stuck to the side of the glass building, thanks to her gloves and boots, she was unable to be reached by the cops that burst out the door and onto the roof. "FREEZE! Put your hands in the air and step down."

"I don't think so. You see, then I wouldn't be able to do your job for you." She cried back before jumping off the side. A few bullets came close to hitting her but nothing actually made contact. Her cape aloud her to glide around, faster that the helicopter or its searchlight could track her. Silent as the night, she landed on a rooftop hidden from their sight.

Mockingbird wasn't the only one looking out for trouble that evening.

They were in Chicago following one of his sister's leads; naturally, this meant that Sierra was holed up in the shitty motel room they'd gotten, with her nose stuck in any of a dozen books that may or may not have been magical. Sam wasn't very inclined to care. It was boring as fuck, and even if there had been something on TV, she would've gotten on him for having it on too loud. For a seventeen-year-old, she could be a terrible stick-in-the-mud when it came to her magic books.

So Sam had left, saying, of course, that he was just going for a walk. Why he even bothered lying like that was a mystery; Sierra knew full well how he would spend nights like this, though they never really talked about it.

An hour later, he'd already stopped one mugging and a couple of gang members who'd been harassing a man on his way home. It wasn't usually hard for him to break up things like that; he was in the form of a wolf with thick grey fur, the size of a great dane, even if most people didn't recognize his species. The collar he wore helped him look a little more domesticated, but his yellow eyes tended to intimidate anyway. A low growl, a hard stare, and a lunge with some snapping of teeth, and most guys went running if they didn't have anything better than a knife on them.

It was a smell that caught his attention, a foul, acrid odour that he was already familiar with: the scent of cocaine. And a lot of it, judging by the whiff he'd gotten. He stopped under a streetlight and sneezed, shaking his whole body as if to shake off the taint of the drug; then with a low growl, lowered his head and trotted off in the direction it had come from.

When he finally saw the warehouse the reek was emanating from, he hunkered down behind some trash cans; whichever gang was behind this was out in force, probably to ensure that the big shipment they must have stayed safe until it could be distributed. The smell was awful; he didn't know how anyone could stand being in the same room as it all, let alone use it. But busting something this profitable would be a pretty major blow against these scumbags, to his understanding.

In his head, he knew that any normal citizen would leave and call the police to make an anonymous tip about this place. But who knew how long it'd take them to get here. Besides, Sam didn't exactly have any change on him for a pay phone at the moment.

So he circled around the place instead, looking for any weak spot in their defenses. They were well equipped with firearms, and although Sam was leery of those weapons, he wasn't afraid. Eventually, he found one door that seemed promising: it had two guards standing on either side of it, and was more or less out of sight of the other goons patrolling the area. There was no way to sneak up on them, but that didn't mean he couldn't get close. Most people didn't raise the alarm when they saw a stray dog hanging about.

Maybe they were dog people.

Trotting out from behind another dumpster, Sam stopped just where he was fully visible to the guards, tilting his head at them in a friendly manner with his tail wagging idly behind him. One of the thugs spotted him immediately, and, elbowing his partner, pointed him out; he barked, and trotted a bit closer.

The one who hadn't seen him at first scowled, spat something at him that was probably Spanish for "go away you damn flea-bag" (only worse), and grabbed a rock off the ground and threw it at him.

Alright, time for plan B then.

Sam ducked the projectile and lunged, moving impossibly fast to slam into the asshole; he hit the wall of the warehouse, cracking his head, and went down. The other goon swore in a language the dog actually could understand, and immediately swung his gun up to fire off shots at him. Most of them went wide, but the one that hit his shoulder stung like a bitch; he kept going though, spinning around and leaping at him to grab his gun arm with his teeth. He bit down until the man dropped the gun, shrieking, then twisted and knocked him into a stack of crates. They all came crashing down on him.

Welp. There went any hope of a quiet infiltration.

Prowling the rooftops, Mockingbird stopped as a smell reached her nostrils. Due to her heightened senses of hearing and smell, she tracked the smell to a warehouse. The smell didn't seem normal. Familiar, but not normal to her. The neighborhood she was no in was a place she hadn't gone in before, but then again, most were. She hadn't ventured off too far from her typical route so this was going to be a first for her. She dropped in via a skylight, which she pried open slowly to avoid making any noise. Climbing across the ceiling, she waited for the right moment to strike. Eventually, she could hear banging outside. With the men distracted, she dropped down and wrapped Her bo staff around one's neck. The man slowly slipped into unconsciousness. Smiling to herself, she launched a grappling line back up to the ceiling so she disappeared. One of the guys turned around and saw their partner, gang member or whatever he was to them, on the floor. "Hey! Guys, he's out cold, he won't wake up." The men began searching for her, looking around at ground level. She decided to turn her attention to the odor coming from a couple of blue bags. The fools had left only one guy watching it. Idiots.

She moved silently across the ceiling to just above the man. Her feet were making no noise against the cold ceiling because of her boots. She lowered herself down, upside down so that she could get him in one easy move. Quickly, she lowered down the grappling line and wrapped her cape around the man's face and upper body. It muffled his screams as he was pulled up to the ceiling. She grabbed the man's throat and choked him until he was unconscious. There we go. Two down, five more to go.

It was at that point that the source of the ruckus outside came crashing in through the doors.

He skidded to a halt, nails clattering on the concrete, and the remaining gang members were startled enough by his appearance that for a moment, they just stared at him.

Then one of them shouted, ”What the fuck! Shoot it!” and they all opened fire on him.

Sam had just enough time to take a flying leap over a pallet of crates, giving himself some cover; crouching behind them, he growled, trying to figure out how he was gonna handle this. Maybe he should’ve tried to convince his sister to come with him after all; she was far better at planning than he was.

There was a brief lull in the gunfire as the leader of the group shouted at one of the others to go see what happened to the guys outside, and as that one took off towards the doors Sam had just come in through, the canine took the opportunity to launch an attack. He raced around the boxes and leapt straight for the leader, grabbing his arm between his jaws like a champion schutzhund. He landed on all four paws, spinning the screaming man around. ”Get it off me!” he shrieked, but Sam was latched on tight and using his weight and strength to spin him about; his goons couldn’t fire off a shot without risking it landing on their leader.

Mockingbird was so startled by the sudden intrusion that she almost dropped the man she was holding. She lowered herself down so that she didn't kill the man when she dropped him. Moving back across the ceiling to where the men had gathered, she spotted the dog holding up one of them. Quickly, she adapted her plan to the new situation. Take out the guy in the back. Pull him up to the ceiling and out of sight. Next, drop down behind one guy and start playing with him a bit. She smiled a little bit as she sprung her plan into action. The man didn't see it coming. In one, swift move he was pulled to the ceiling. Sadly, this ones screams of terror broke through. Man, he's a loud one. She thought to herself as the man slipped into an unconscious state in her grip. One of the three men who were dealing with the dog turned and spotted her as she lowered herself to drop the man off at ground level. He opened fire on her, bullets raining across the roof. Ugh, do they really think that they can win this. Nice delusion. Time for reality to send them tumbling back to earth. She quickly hurled a shruiken at his leg. It clipped his thigh, making him keel over. Suckers, serves you right. This is my town. She thought to herself before hiding in a shadowy corner of the room. As the man got back up, she quickly sprinted out and attacked him. Her bo staff hit him in the chest as she sprinted by. The other two guys turned around and began firing off more rounds at her. Oh, fun. She thought to herself as she hid around a corner. I need an upgrade, this cloth isn't exactly going to help me against bullets.

Sam was just as startled when the newcomer dropped in; he couldn’t help being grateful for the distraction, though. While the goons were busy shooting at Mockingbird, Sam finally forced the leader to drop his weapon and, that done, swung him one last time before letting go, sending him sprawling right into the side of a truck. He batted at the gun with his paw, sending it skittering under a pallet of crates, before turning and leaping at another of the goons, this time going for his leg to return the favour of acting as a distraction; both he and his pals were thoroughly distracted by the dog that was dancing around their legs and snapping at them with sharp fangs.

As Mockingbird kept running, she noticed a lighter lying on the floor next to one of the men she took out. Picking it up, she kept running to avoid enemy gun fire. She ran directly to the pile of whatever that was so important. Flicking the lighter on, she threw it at the pile of duffel bags. She picked up speed, running at speeds that normal humans could not. "HEY! Crazy bitch! Guys, she burnt the drugs! Skin her!" Shouted an angered man. Angry guy plus a gun equals not good. Her feet were moving towards the door as flames began to engulf the building. Wait. I can't leave them. I'd be responsible for killing them. That's not how this is supposed to end. Prison, that's how this ends. She turned around and ran back towards the gunmen and unconscious bodies. She dragged the unconscious bodies of two men out the door before returning for the rest. Only one of them and the dog were still left inside of the building. The last man who was stuck in the room offered little resistance as she pulled him to safety. Once outside, she knocked the dealers unconscious to make this easier. Then she turned her attention to the dog. "Come here boy." She encouraged.

He was dragging the very last of the men, the one who'd fallen nearest him, out of the danger zone with his teeth around the guy's leg, when he heard Mockingbird call him. Sam let go to look at her, ears perked, then tilted his head and did the doggy equivalent of raising an eyebrow at her. He'd been at this long enough, though, to be used to that treatment, so he turned and trotted towards her.

Once in front of her, he sat down and looked up at her curiously. She was definitely a hero, but not one he'd ever seen before, and he'd been doing his damnedest to keep up-to-date on all the heroes that popped up, in case he ever got to meet any of them. Still, she'd definitely helped him out; while he doubted any of these guys could've killed him, he probably wouldn't have been able to wrap this up so neatly without shifting.

That, and she seemed really cool.

So, he did his thing: he wagged his tail happily, barked a sufficiently dog-like greeting, and raised his paw in the air like a well-trained pet that had been taught to shake when meeting humans.

Mockingbird removed her hood and smiled at the dog in front of her. "Awww, who's a good boy?" She asked as she shook it's paw. Her hand was rubbing it's head, she had always been a dog person. She pulled some of her brown hair with blonde streaks out of her hood so that it flowed over her shoulders. "Come on boy." She said as she walked towards a payphone. Dialing the police station she said to the man on the other end, "You may want to get some guys down here at the warehouse on 14th and 7th. There's a couple of unconscious bodies and a burning warehouse full of drugs. I recommend the police, fire department, and by the look of these men, an ambulance." Hanging up the phone, she walked away calling the dog after her. She entered the nearby apartment building and called the dog to follow her up the stairs and to the roof.

Yeah, that's right, I'm the good boy.

Hey, he was allowed to enjoy the attention a little. It wasn't like he ever got to hang around women when he was human anymore.

Listening on the phone conversation was entertaining to say the least, and following her was primarily out of curiousity; she was the first real hero he'd ever met, after all. Maybe she had a cool hide-out she was taking him to—though that thought made him feel slightly guilty, since she would be trusting a regular dog who couldn't tell anyone about it, not a shapeshifter who could blab.

He was confused, though, when they got up to the roof. He looked around, sniffing curiously, but couldn't detect anything out of the ordinary; then he looked up at Mockingbird and cocked his head questioningly.

"So, what's your name big guy?" Mockingbird asked it as she rubbed his neck. She rubbed it's belly as it sat next to her. The dog gave her a quizzical look and she answered what she thought he was thinking. "I find it easier to think up here. No one to disturb me. I always used to come back here during high school usually after getting bullied. Hard being the only 12 year old in the 11th grade." She didn't like those years and suppressed the memories. It wasn't like her to talk about her feelings to anyone outside of her family, even then it was tough. She didn't even talk about it to things that didn't listen or talk, like this dog. Her eyes looked up at the dog as if it would answer before she slapped herself out of it. Of course the dog isn't going to talk to you. You would be lucky if it was a smart one and understood what you were saying. Her fingers were fidgeting on her lap as she sat there. "Well, good night boy. Maybe I'll run into you again." She said hopefully as she made her way to the stairwell out of here. The dog could get out itself because she had placed a rock by the door to hold it open. She did the same with the door in the small, cramped lobby. Exiting the red brick building, she sighed as she began her journey back home. Maybe I should open up a little more. Nah, much too awkward. I don't want everyone knowing everything. Maybe I can open up a bit more to Dad. Definitely not Mom though. I hope I never see her again, that murderer. She scowled as she walked, How could I be related to a murderer? Ugh, ignore her, she's not important. I'll just stick to Dad. Maybe he'll believe me soon, he doesn't seem to yet. Well, I will get him to believe eventually. Maybe I could get us a DNA test? That could work. Maybe just get him to ask me questions about him? Or better yet, just randomly tell him stuff that only people who know him really well would know. she shoved this endless discussion out of her head and focused on the rest of the journey to her newly acquired apartment.

(End of Topic)

Wolf and Red WC=1,479. 2 EXP gained, 479 left over words, 5 posts

Mockingbird WC=2,025. 4 EXP gained, 25 words left over, 6 posts