Crouching Harpy, Hidden Serpent

Boredom was a creeping curse. It seeped in slowly with the coming of the afternoon sun, and only grew worse as the day went on. The air was pleasantly warm, even better against the snake's scales, but still something seemed missing. It was just too peaceful out here.

Ghast slowly pulled himself upright, coils slowly unwinding themselves as he stretched the the kinks out of his back. Once that was through he slithered off of the rather lumpy old mattress he had been half-curled up on top of. It was not the most comfortable thing he had ever napped upon, but he was not the picky sort. After all, the sheer convenience of this abandoned warehouse meant that he could deal with less-than-perfect furnishings. It was out of the way, few ever came out to this area, and those that did usually knew better than to poke around where their noses shouldn't go. And those that did, well...Ghast made short work of the trespassers himself.

He smirked a bit despite himself, thinking about that one. It really had been too long since he had had some good fun for himself, no wonder he had felt so bored lately. He looked through an old shattered window and noticed the sun was starting to go down. Perfect. Shadows could easily obscure even the largest of beasts if one knew what they were doing, and if he hid in the canal or in some dark alleyway no one ever saw him coming. That smirk from earlier only grew now with anticipation urging him onward, he stole out of the back entrance to the warehouse, more than eager to get out for a night of fun, his way. He suddenly turned though, seeing an all too familiar flashing of lights, however.

Cops? He tried to think of why they would be out here, likely attempting to shut down some narcotics operation in teh building across the street. The real question was, were they aware they were in HIS territory? Looks like he'd found the cure for his boredom finally. These were trespassers, and Ghast did NOT take kindly to sharing his space with anyone, much less cops. They were gonna pay dearly for getting so close to his lair.

All she wanted was a damn newspaper. Really, it's true! Her wings were tired from a long day of flying, and she had landed in the streets to purchase a paper from the newsstand and the man running the thing started to scream as the six foot woman with even longer wings and bird legs landed and tried to purchase one of his newspapers. So of course she just took one, because yelling was so rude. She had just managed to get that frail paper open and secured in her feathers when the wind blew it straight out of her grasp!

Long story short she gave chase, perhaps knocked into a few people, perhaps broke the window of a lovely cafe, and then somehow the police got involved. Really, all she cared about was catching that damn newspaper as it lead her on a wild goose chase down the street and into a more shady part of town. Not an easy task while being shot at. They better not shoot up her newspaper!

When she finally had the paper in her talons an unlucky cop shot it to ribbons, "You're DEAD" She screeched as she spun around to face her pursuers, "THAT WAS MY PAPER! I WAS GOING TO READ IT AND HAVE A NICE EVENING!"

Harpy grabbed the closest cop in her sharp talons and ripped his shoulders into little meat chunks. There were funnies in that paper! And sports! And the goddamn humanities page! Not to mention her celebrity gossip! "I HAVE TO MAKE SURE I'M STILL MORE PRETTY THAN THOSE HOLLYWOOD BIMBOS! I CAN'T DO THAT IF YOU DESTROY MY PAPER!" Honestly! How stupid were these cops?

Hospitaller

Martin had been in the area on private business. He wasn't even in uniform, having traded his white BDU and black jacket for slacks and a polo shirt. This week was one of the few out of the year he got to visit his aging parents, who had moved south to escape the chill of winter.

When a meta-human had torn across his field of vision in pursuit of a flying newspaper, he hadn't given it a second thought. Such things happened frequently for him. Being at the forefront of the action meant he had seen "supers" of all shapes and sizes, and despite the circumstances in which he normally encountered them, he had long since learned that such creatures were wont to do odd things from time to time, and they were not necessarily up to something that could cause casualties. No, what set him dashing after the creature was the scream of someone having their shoulders turned into meat chunks.

Normally, this sort of thing was the responsibility of law enforcement and/or the local superheroes. However, Martin was not going to pass up the opportunity to help, not when he was on the scene as it happened. So, off he ran, hoping to catch up to the action and prevent loss of life.

Suddenly, Ghast's day went from borning to potentially very exciting.

He saw some giant bird begin to attack one of the cops across the street. No, it couldn't be a bird, he had never seen or heard of a bird THAT big before. Another flap of massive wings and he saw a peek of something else entirely. The bird was just entirely the wrong shape, and wearing clothing. It took him a moment, but he realized this was not a giant bird attacking people, this had to be another metahuman of some sort. He knew there were others, and he had seen plenty of them before, but this one was definitely new. In fact, she seemed to be holding her own pretty well against them.

Now most in this situation would feel an immediate sort of kinship; a fellow freak on the wrong side of the law was giving others their just desserts. And Ghast truly did feel that...somewhere buried under a pile of hatred built up like layers of grime in the gutter. That fleeting feeling of sameness was just the tiniest spark, not enough on it's own to cause any sort of behavioral change. No, what he saw in this moment was a metahuman in HIS turf. This one was no better than the cops she was shredding, in fact she might have been worse.

Civilian law enforcement could do little to stop him after all, and if this one was anything like him at all, then she'd have no trouble tearing them to ribbons. He hadn't fought another like himself before, but just by comparison he knew that would be a tough fight. It would be worth it in the end of course, to feel himself triumphant over an actual CHALLENGING opponent for once. Of course, he'd ahve to take care of these "minor nuisances" first. Muscles in his back and through his shoulders tensed, itching for action. Finally he chose to oblige himself, slithering over to the scene as fast as he could.

Those who had come to the scene were now caught between an angry Harpy and an angry Ghast. He hadn;t really thoguht much about the strategy of it, but the flanking was ever so convenient for him. They could not run away, not from him now. The snake announced his prescence by grabbing hold of the front end of the nearest squad car. If they only knew what was about to happen. The sheer force behind his grab was enough to dent the steel inward, leaving prominent finger marks as the metal groaned underneath. He snarled under his breath as he began to lift it off of the ground now, a surprised police officer immediately bailing out of the side of it. Without as much as breaking a sweat he hefted it over his shoulders, swinging around as he tossed it down the street.

Ghast was here, and he meant fucking business.

Harpy let our a shrill screech as she tossed the cop in her talons away and with two beats of her long, wings she was high up in the air, and with perfect timing as well for a car went flying down the street below. It did not take long to spot who had done such a thing, and it was a giant snake-man. Not just any giant snake-man, but a familiar one. His face was on one of the files in Dr. Hax's computers, which meant this was another one of the good doctor's experiments! Oh, this was such a treat. She wasn't even mad about her paper anymore.

She swooped down lightening quick, scooped up another cop in her talons and flung him into the pavement before gracefully swooping up once more and circled above. Now, how was she going to introduce herself to him? Hey, new girl in town but I think we have something in common so let's hang out okay? Pretty please? You have such lovely green hair too by the way. Or was that too informal? What if he doesn't like her? Harpy was so pretty it was hard for anyone to not like her, because she was just so beautiful.  

The young bird-woman flew down and perched atop a street lamp close to the snake-man, "Hello! Thanks for the help, by the way. I know this might be a bad time for this but I really must know. Are you familiar with a Dr. Hax? Scientist? Likes to mix human and animal dna? I'm Harpy, by the by," It would be awesome to have some company! And if she dared hope, a friend!

Hospitaller arrived on the scene just in time to watch a squad car sail in front of him and crash to the ground, narrowly missing both him and a downed officer who was already badly injured.

In that moment, Martin had a choice. He could abuse the element of surprise and leap into combat, likely gaining the upper hand from the impromptu ambush. Or he could help the casualties that were already hurt in the melee.

There was no hesitation. America was brimming with vigilantes and heroes, surely the local variant would be on the scene in no time. After all, in this day and age cameras were as common as wallets and purses, and no doubt several blogs, twitter feeds and emergency helplines were already buzzing about this incident. Let one of New Orleans' resident heroes do the punching, there were lives to save.

He rushed to the wounded policeman's side and began healing him. The shine of his healing light glinted off the puddles around them as he used his powers. The cop was frantic, kicking about with his legs and trying to move his arms, although the state his shoulders were in made flailing problematic. As skin and muscles knit back into their proper places, Martin tried to console the officer.

"Shh. Calm down. This works much better if you hold still. Now, what is your name, and what's going on?"

The cop stopped struggling, and his eyes focused on Hospitaller. His breathing, however, remained ragged. This made his speech slightly less than coherent.

"Metahuman, known criminal. Grabbed me. Went that way. Watch her claws. Sharp."

Martin looked up, and saw the winged mutant from earlier, perched on a street lamp like an oversized sparrow. This also brought into view a hulking mass of meat that looked distinctly not on par with the typical American civilian, no matter how badly their athletes pumped themselves with steroids to skew the average. That was probably what was responsible for the flying squad car.

Still, they weren't attacking him or any bystanders this very moment, so he looked around for any other casualties. There was another cop fleeing for the cover of a parked pickup truck, and a scattering of other law enforcement officers in various stages of pointing firearms at the two metahumans, but for now there didn't seem to be any injuries.

Martin frowned. Time to practice preventive healing. Stop the fight before it started again. At the very least, bid for time until enforcers better suited to taking on these two arrive.

Yellow eyes greeted the Harpy perched on the streetlamp. Who the hell did she THINK she was, talking to him like they were already buddies? "I'll deal with YOU later!" If he weren't already distracted by threats from the police then he'd have ripped that pole out of the ground and bludgeoned her with it. But as it were, he had some other things to deal with. He simply ignored her for now, turning to the police.

One brave but stupid soul was staring him down now, or at least he was attempting to.
"Police! Both of you, put your hands over your head NOW!"
This one was well-trained, he gave a look that could kill. But Ghast could see his hand shaking slightly. He knew exactly what that mean. FEAR. No amount of training to deal with "his kind" could ever really help it. They were called "metahumans" for a reason after all, in Ghast's mind. They were beyond their capabilities, beyond normal understanding, and most certainly beyond what some small fry police officer could ever HOPE to deal with.

The snake let a smirk take over his face. Like hell he was going to listen to THAT order.
"You want ME to put my hands over my head? You and what fucking ARMY are going to tell ME what to do?" He taunted the man. "Come on, shoot me in the FACE. I DARE YOU."

The hand wavered slightly, but the grip tightened again, aiming square for his chest.
"I will not ask you two again, hands where I can see them!"
He moved all right, but not exactly in the manner law enforcement wanted him to. His tail wrapped around the pole Harpy was currently perched on top of, he easily wrenched it out of the ground with a metallic snapping noise. He didn't care whether the oversized bird was still attached or not at this point as he grabbed up the pole in his hands. He'd never played baseball before that he remembered, but hey, there was a first time for everything.

Of course shots were fired at him for that, but Ghast hardly even noticed them. Minor annoyances, even less annoying than the ones shooting at him really. With the first heft of the pole he smashed in the car the man had stepped out of. He did not want anyone escaping from this so easily. With the second he smashed in the first gunman he saw, rendering them to a bloodied pulp. One shot grazed his face now, and that REALLY pissed him off. His bludgeon was getting worse for wear, but he swpun around and swung whatever was left of it into them, smirk only gorwing as he felt the slight thudding of metal smashing in weaker, yielding flesh.

"Deal with me?" She asked innocently, one wing placed affectionately on her chest, "I know who YOU are, and I can can help YOU,"

She rolled her eyes at the police officer that told them to put their hands up and even laughed, "I don't have hands! So screw you, dear," Though, when her perched was wrenched away from her she immediately took to the air and hovered above Ghast, just out of reach. My, he certainly was strong! "Hit 'em harder!" She laughed and cheered for the snake man. This was such fun!

Well, until a bullet clipped one of her feathers. She honed in on the shooter and dived for him, her feathers sharpened to fine points and she smacked her right wing into him, cutting him into chunky pieces of meat, "Don't shoot me!" She hissed before taking to the skies again. "Idiots, the lot of them,"

Martin looked down at the mangled lamp-post that had impacted his chest.  

He could feel his ribs where they had broken, his left arm had been smashed against his breastbone, and there was a trickling sensation all over his shirt, which was wet and warm all of a sudden.  He tasted asphalt as his body rolled, and a warm feeling came over him.  

He'd leaped in to save an officer, and he had seen her falling beneath the steel bludgeon's path before he'd taken abrupt leave of the ground.  He could only hope she'd take the opportunity to get herself and her comrades to safety, and that help would be coming soon.  This warm feeling probably wasn't going away any time soon.  

Earlier.


Martin stood by the officer he'd healed, frozen in horror for an instant.  

He had seen carnage before.  He was no stranger to blood.  But this senseless destruction of life and limb stood out.  Wanton rampage and petty, disproportionate revenge was apparently the norm for these people.  Normally there were other metahumans around to occupy anything evil, he was usually there after the fact, at best a quick jet ride from the fight.  

Now, he was in the thick of it.  Unchecked, these two would simply smash and tear their way through the police force like so much confetti.  Peace and dialogue would have to take a back seat, these people were acting like animals.  

The irony and aptness of that comparison was lost as a frown darkened Hospitaller's face.  He looked to the officer he'd just healed.  The cop looked like he'd almost recovered his faculties. That was good.  Much as he'd love to be, Hospitaller could not be in multiple places at once.  

"Rally the others and call for backup; I'll try to contain them."  

Hospitaller chanced a glance at the sky, whispered "Lord, guide my light", and then sprinted down the street towards the carnage.  

Later.  


The warm feeling spread through his body, knitting bones and reforming tissue, and Martin cried out in pain.  The heat felt like it was burning him, gently, but burning nonetheless.  He fought through the agony and looked up.  He was behind the snake man, which was bringing the mangled piece of steel that had once been a lamp post back around for another swing.  

Hospitaller raised his right hand, and, not seeing any legs to target, aimed at something that he hoped would be painful.  

A noise like a thunderclap rang out as a beam leapt from his hand and impacted the base of the brute's spine.

"Ahahahah! Come on, you all had better have more fucking fight than this, I'm betting bored!" The snake man taunted again, wrapping his hand around the pole and brought it over his head to give another crushing blow... And then suddenly, nothing.

The bolt struck with the fury of an ancient god scorned, the thunderclap reverberating through the air and echoing off the building facades as it faded away. He had been struck down, smited in the spot where he had been standing. For a mere instant Ghast remained upright, massive burning hole through his side, his spine. He had not even the time to look down at what had happened, not even a millisecond of time to process it. All he knew was that he felt pain, horrible gut-wrenching pain that overloaded his system and then...nothing.

The beast fell like a mighty redwood severed at it's trunk, twisting and cracking as it fell to the asphalt. There was no damage on the outside, but inside was where the carnage resided. The pillar of his spine had been shattered, segments disconnected entirely and scattered inside him. His ribs were in even worse shape, one or two had even punctured the skin of his torso, blood hissing with teh anger his bosy was currently incapable of expressing. Never had he been dealt a blow like this before.
Unknown to the one who had fired the bolt though, there was still a persistent spark of life within the mangled shell, a tenacious grapsing life that clung stubbornly to his bones, holding on with a grip that not even a blow like that could pry off. Pain had taken over his system now, it was all he could feel now coursing through whatever few neurons in his body were still firing. All power had been cut off to his form now, he had a mouth but could not scream, vision had faded to searing white, and all he could hear was jumbled chaos and the screaming he could not let out.

But that persistent spark did more than hold on. Gently it coaxed latent cells within his being, urging them along on their work. First one tiny strand of muscle grabbed hold of mangled spine, then another. Bone bubbled out as it reformed itself, catching eager strangs of sinew as the body slowly started to twist itself into the correct position.
Ghast was down, but he most certainly was not out yet.

Harpy watched wide-eyed as the beam of light hit the snake man. Suddenly she wanted to go down and rip apart the man responsible. That was her new friend and now he's dead! This was totally unfair! She flew down to the side of the snake-man and almost threw up at the horrific sight before her. Then, and amazing sight unfolded, and she watched as his body literally started to piece itself together. Harpy took a few hopping steps back least snake-man decided to lash out at whatever was closest.

"HA! A tenacious little guy, aren't you?" She teased and laughed as the snake-man pulled himself together, "We can go splitsies on the remaining cops, hmm?" The few cops that were left were either injured or had disappeared into their cars to call for help. Bullets were not going to be enough for this job! "I'll let you have half the livers, and maybe a heart or two,"

Hospitaller watched the winged metahuman alight next to the snake-thing.

He was reasonably sure the police officers would not appreciate being "splitsies". Where were the metahumans? Was every costumed freak in New Orleans asleep? Surely a response unit would be on its way by now.

Without a thought, it was instinctive by now, his hands were aglow, knitting skin and putting organs back where they belonged. He forced himself to one knee. They were still talking. Well, the bird was talking. The point was, they weren't attacking yet. More precious seconds for reinforcements to arrive so he could get back to his job.

Slowly but surely, Hospitaller drew himself to his feet. He needed to keep their attention. They'd cut through the officers like so much wet paper. The snake looked to be almost healed at this stage. He shifted to a ready stance and braced himself as he felt the warmth draw off the last feelings of injury. The aura of his smiting light drew up around his hands. Hopefully this would be enough to draw their aggression.

"Leave the others alone. Your fight is with me."

The was a quiet snapping noise as Ghast pulled himself back upright, his spine finally finishing the job of pulling itself back into alignment. That had fucking hurt, and he was more pissed off than ever now. He heard that familiar voice of the harpy woman now, saying something about "splitsies" with the remaining cops. But he did not care at this point. He could hear her still, but he had sort of blocked that from his mind. No, what he wanted now was revenge for that blow. Never had he fought another metahuman before, much less one who could force him to the ground like that. Rage prevented him from seeing or paying attention to anything else really.

"Leave the others alone. Your fight is with me."
Oh, hohohoho. The taunt made it all the worse now. Ghast turned around to get a good look at just who or what had come so close to killing him, eyes seeing red. he had definitely drawn Ghast's aggression all right. If Hospitaller wanted to be a distraction, he was doing a great job at it, but if he wanted to survive to see another day, well, that was going to be a lot more difficult.

"So YOU'RE the one that fucking did that..." He said, eyes moving down for just a second to notice the glow in his hands. Yes, that had to be it, he remembered something blinding white like that hitting him before he had fallen over. Wait, he had hit this guy before, he was supposed to be dead! Could he regenerate too? There was a small pang of fear buried somewhere in the back of his psyche, but he simply used that to fuel his rage. In terms of flight or fight instinct, Ghast really only operated under one option; FIGHT.

Harpy looked over at the man that had glowing hands. Hmm, so there was another metahuman among them! How interesting, though, it seemed her snake-man had already called dibs. No matter, while he deal with mister glowey hands she'll take out the rest of the police officers. She did not want thme calling help, and she did not want their bullets injuring her.

With a few beats of her wings she was back up in the air and with another beat, dive-bombed the first officer she saw, her talons crashing into him at a frightening speed. It was all too easy for a brilliant individual such as herself.

Hospitaller watched, mesmerized, as the snake drew itself back to its...  Well it didn't really have feet, so tail?  

In any case, the point was that it was up.  He'd hoped he could just fight the bird, but the snake was apparently a regenerator, and a durable one too.  That blast, when he'd thought to use it, had been meant just as a tap to get the creature's attention.  Based on the familiar tingling from his wrist, it had in fact been one of his stronger shots.  So now there were two homicidal metahumans giving him their undivided attention, which was definitely worse than one.  

The snake one seemed angry now.  Martin couldn't really blame him, that HAD sounded like he'd had his spine snapped.  That would leave even Hospitaller seeing red.  As the snake accused him Martin took a step back, never taking his eyes from the mutant pair.  Every foot would likely count in this engagement.  

Then the bird demonstrated that there was something worse than two powerful mutants giving him their undivided attention.  And that was one of them using the other as a distraction to tear into the few brave officers that had stuck around.  He raised his right hand again.  This would just be the equivalent of a hard punch, he was trying to buy time.  

A loud CRACK smote the space between him and the bird-hybrid.  He wasn't really aiming all that hard. Hitting was a secondary concern.  What mattered was that she turned back to him, and that he keep an eye on the snake.  

"That means you too."