Night Terrors (Closed to Frost and Noir)

Chicago, 1920

Antonio stepped into the boss' office before taking off his hat and addressing him "So what did you call me in for boss?". The boss simply beckoned towards the chair opposite of where he was sitting at his desk "Take a seat Antonio, we got some work to do". The giant of a man pulled back the chair and sat down, causing it to audibly creak from the weight of the man. "We got quite a problem involving some operation downtown. Some boys there are trying to get into the business. I need you to pay a visit to the brewery they set up to have a nice chat with them, take a couple guys with you". Antonio stood and fixed his tie "Don't worry boss, I'll make sure it gets done". With that, he turned and opened the door, before putting on his hat and turning to the boss "You know what they say, no one lives forever".

Chicago, Present Day

It was an average night in the city of Chicago, the dark streets filled with a cold breeze. In some dark alley, a group of five young men were violently beating a homeless man. "What, you think you can fuck with us, old man? Do you even know who we are?". The old man fell to the ground and spat at the leader of the group "I know exactly who you are, just a bunch of punks that think they're tough" the leader responded to that remark by kicking the man in the face, sending blood spewing out of his mouth. One of the members of the gang heard a noise and tapped the leader on the shoulder "We should just kill the old man and go, I think I heard something" "You scared or something? Knightwatch never comes around this part of town, they know it's our turf". The entire gang heard the noise this time, it was louder and was slowly becoming even more clear. The leader pulled out his revolver and pointed it at the general direction of the sound. Out of the darkness came a tall looming figure. "Mind your own business, asshole. Can't you see we're in the middle of something?". This threat did not stop the figure, and as it got closer it's features became more and more clear. "I said get the fuck back!"

As the figure appeared out of the shadows, everyone recoiled in shock at it's disgusting appearance. It looked as if was completely decomposed, and the smell of it was even worse. The leader emptied his revolver at the creature, in a vain attempt to kill it "Die you metahuman freak!" As it became apparent that the gun did nothing to stop it, the other four members of the gang pulled out their own weapons and fired at him. The creature suddenly dashed towards the leader and grabbed his head, crushing his skull before he could even scream in terror. The other members could only watched in fear as their leader was killed. The monster threw the mangled corpse of the leader at two of them, instantly killing them from the impact. It approached another one of them who pulled out a knife and attempted to stab the monster. "Die you fucking freak!", the knife simply snapped in half and fell to the ground. Thrusting it's hand into the man's chest and lifting him up, it tore through the rib cage and chest before it finally reached the heart. The monster ripped it out, letting the lifeless body of the man to fall the ground.

The last member tried to flee, but was suddenly stopped when a bar of metal went through his back and out his chest. He stared at the wound in shock before collapsing, dead. "Can't..run". The monster went over to the body and sunk his teeth into the corpse of the recently killed gang member. Unbeknownst to the creature, the old homeless man had snuck off as soon as the gang was distracted and had watched the entire scene. He ran off in terror not even looking back at the horrific scene. He did not know this, but the monster's reign of terror had just only begun.

The cold Chicago air tickled at Martin's nose as he strode home from his Chicago office at MWN. It had been a long day with a surprising lack of metahuman stories. They had scrounged and searched for anything they could get, eventually being forced to revisit a few older stories and running one new one on a voice altering metahuman who called herself Wendigo. It was an interesting story, but the girl was young and understandably reluctant to share much about her past or the origin of her powers. She even went as far as to threaten break Martin's jaw if he kept pushing the issue. That had concluded their interview. And now here he was, wandering distraught back to his small apartment, his handheld HD camera slung over his left shoulder swaying back and forth with each step. He always had the little device on him. As an experienced journalist, he knew to always be ready when a story presented it, regardless of the time or the place. Deep inside himself he hoped he'd come across something exciting before he got home. Something beyond the mundane interviews and rehashing of old stories. He wanted excitement, a chance to really dig into some dangerous situation and get the footage no one else could. Maybe he'd catch Knightwatch in a fight with a super-villain. He chuckled aloud at the thought. It was a silly notion, but he could hope couldn't he?

As Martin turned the corner he sighed, "Three blocks left and not so much as a mugging..." By this point he had all but excepted the fact that he'd get home empty handed. Then suddenly an old homeless man came bursting out from an alleyway two blocks ahead. His head swiveling back and forth between the sidewalk before him and the place he had come from. He was panicked and running full force towards Martin. Quickly Martin reached to undo the velcro on his camera case when the homeless man came careening into him, knocking the two of them to the ground. 'Sir what's wrong!? What are you running from?" Martin asked, a mix of concern and glee in his voice. He continued to reach in and prep his camera as the homeless man spoke. "Its a monster I tell 'ya! Get out of here kid c'mon run!" The old man tried desperatley to get Martin to his feet and tugged at his white sleeve to try to get him to move. "Kid what are you doing!" Martin shrugged off the old man who gave a confused stare and took off in the opposite direction. A monster? If what that old hobo had said was true, then Martin had just found his next story.

With his camera prepped he slowly made his way toward the alleyway where his frightened friend had come from, making sure that his footsteps fell silent against the pavement. His heart raced as he neared the alley, mere feet away. Honestly, he couldn't tell if he was excited or terrified, maybe a mix of both. What if this thing is faster than me? What if it tries to eat me? What if there's nothing even there? Thoughts raced through his brain as the gap between him and the alley narrowed to inches. With a lightly trembling hand he flipped open the LCD screen on the small camera and hit the record button. A minute beep made its way from the device as it switched from standby to record. Shit! he thought to himself as he stretched the camera into the mouth of the alley, the rest of his body hidden behind the wall at its side. He gazed intently at the small LCD screen trying to see what exactly was lurking in the dark of the misty alleyway. There was something there, moving in the darkness he could see it, but the camera was having a hard time get a detailed image of it. It was dark after all. With no other choice than to get closer Martin silently inhaled a deep calming breath and crouched into the alley.

His eyes quickly adjusted to the low light, allowing him better vision than what his camera had allowed. At the back of the alley was a man crouched over what appeared to be a limp body. Dear God he's eating him... timidly he crept closer, the crunching sounds of bone cracking and flesh being torn all making their way into the built in mic on the camera. At about 30 feet from the creature a foul smell wafted through the air into Martin's nostrils. It was like death and Martin gagged at the overwhelming odor. The sound bounced throughout the alley and Martin knew that that would mean trouble for him. As quickly and as silently as he could he ran to the mouth of the alley and ducked again behind the wall which he had hid behind earlier. What was that thing?! He screamed in his head. He breathed heavily as he listened intently to for any sound escaping the concrete corridor. Look at the bright side Noir, he jested to himself as long as you don't end up eaten as well, this thing'll be making the headlines tomorrow. It was a slightly morbid thought but it was the kind of thing that kept him going. Once more he forced his arm and the camera into the alley, trying to see if the monster had followed him or not.

A solitary exhale filled the air around Daniel. The breath that left his mouth was white, before it turned into a gradient of light blue and then spread out into nothing. It was one of Daniel's favorite type of nights. It had everything, It was cold. Cold enough for snow to fall in the gentle dancing way he liked. It was dark enough that everything had an aura of mystique around it and things were just the right amount of... creepy. He had been stood in the same place for roughly around 40 seconds just taking it all in. The chilly air, his pretty breath and just how generally nice Chicago looked this time of year. This particular block that he'd taken a rest in seemed quiet enough: Which probably made a change, since usually Chicago was filled with muggers and crime. But right now it was like the entire city had taken some sort of winter wind down, and decided to relax. Which was fine by Daniel. It gave him a chance to finally warm up to the city.

Biting his lip he looked up into the sky and tilted his head ever so slightly. What would make this night even... cooler... Daniel pondered, sucking in air against his teeth causing them to turn a rather bitter form of dry. I know. Daniel straightened out his neck and his Iris's painted over with a paler blue. The clouds above altered into a rather brighter shade of white, which was pretty much invisible against the blanket of dark known as the night. They silently began to ooze out snowflakes which drooped to the floor like flour through a sieve. "Perfect..." he sighed, before a smile formed on his lips; snowflakes landing on his face, without melting. He allowed his arms to stretch into a yawn. I wonder if anything will happen tonight. he thought, he was enjoying the quiet and everything, but the lack of any form of excitement was growing quite... numbing.

Of course, speak of the devil and he shall soon come: Moments after he thought that a rather scruffily dressed gentleman came screaming around the corner. Bumping into Frost he just screamed and carried on with his desperate display of terror, running on. "Hey, wait!" Daniel tried to call after him, but he was either unheard or ignored. Hmm... I wonder what he was running from. Probably nothing important, considering a screaming person was as common as a lamppost with all the scum flooding here from New York. Nothing like London, he thought. Taking another breath he slowly approached the street that the man flung himself from. There was only one place on it that seemed conspicuous and that happened to be a lovely dark and frightening alleyway. Wonderful.

Looking to both his hands, he manifested a light form of blue mist and slowly ran his fingers through his mohawk. Ice clung to his hair and caused his mohawk to become much more spikey and fearsome. His eyes began to glow an emissive pale blue and he walked down the alleyway; completely missing the presence of Noir who was crouched in the darkness. Stepping into the large area, Frost took a single inhale and nearly coughed. "Jesus' he said, nearly choking 'what crawled up your arse and died." he jabbed, looking to the figure crouched in the black. Squelching and crunching came from the shape and Frost couldn't help but notice the corpses strung around the place. "Ahhh!' he yelped, before calming down a tad 'Holy crap, dead people! And they smell... Oh that is just, gross." he sighed, turning away from the corpses in an attempted to take his mind of them. However this caused him to look towards the um... other corpse. Extending a single hand, his fingers taking the form of a gun similar to that a child would make; with his thumb sticking up. "Hey, fuckface..." he said, and extended a chill which caused the puddles of blood on the floor to crystallize into red shards, with snow slowly beginning to accumulate on to them from the sky. "Freeze."

Chicago, 1920

Antonio paced around the darkened basement cleaning a bloodied scalpel, his face covered in shadow. In front of him were three blindfolded men tied to chairs. Blood dripped from the cuts and holes on their faces and chests. Who they were did not matter at the moment, at least not anymore. In between the two men was a rack, full of different instruments that only God knows what they were used for. Pulling out his gun, an M1911, Antonio put the gun to the first man's head and pulled the trigger. Bang. He slumped forward. Antonio went to the second man. Bang. He did the same. Going over to the third, Antonio did much of the same, putting the gun to the man's head and pulling the trigger. Click. Click. Click. "Shit". Antonio simply put the jammed gun on the rack, and pulled out a knife. Walking behind the chair, Antonio grabbed the man's face before suddenly forced the knife into the man's throat. The man struggled for a while, making gurgling sounds until Antonio ripped the knife out through the neck. The blood gushed out onto the wooden floor, which greedily ate it up. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but Antonio was smiling the whole time.

Chicago, Present Day

The creature gorged itself on the flesh of the recently killed gang member, reveling in the joyous feeling that it got out of it. For once the pain it always felt was gone, though it knew it would come back, but it would still enjoy the moment while it lasted. As it let out a low groan, it suddenly heard something near the exit of the alley. Disinterested with it's meal, the creature dropped it to the cold floor. It stood up to it's full height, some bits of and drool spilling out of it's mouth. Another noise came out, this time much more clearer, the sound of it echoed through the alley. The creature stared at the exit of the alleyway, waiting for another sound. This went on for minutes before it realized nothing was there, and it crouched down and went back to it's meal, once again slobbering loudly.

It was in a state of bliss when it was once again interrupted by another sound. This time something was speaking to him. "Jesus, what crawled up your ass and died". The creature turned in the direction of the person that said. The youth pointed his finger at the the creature "Hey, fuckface...freeze". The creature once again stood, this time it was slouched. It let out a heavy chuckle before opening it's mouth to speak "Fresh...meat". It let out a fierce roar at the youth. He was going to be it's next meal.

Noir's heart pounded as he peered into the LCD screen. The figure loomed at the end of the alley, still devouring its macabre meal. It was great footage he was getting, this cannibalistic beast in the middle of Chicago! HA! If it weren't for the fear he was feeling and the chill in his spine he'd be just about wetting himself over just how spectacular this footage was. Speaking of a chill, Noir began to realize that the chills he was feeling weren't from fear. No the temperature of the night air had dropped considerably. So much so that Noir began to shiver, regretting only wearing a long sleeve dress shirt and vest without a coat. Where was this coming from? he thought. The temperature had dropped so dramatically that it couldn't be natural. Immediately he scanned the street for the source of the change. And sure enough, a leather clad meta human with an icy mohawk was making his way right the exact same alley. A small squeal escaped Noir's lips at the excitement. When two metas meant up like this it could only mean one thing, a super powered throw-down was about to break out. Lady luck had to have been smiling on him tonight. What were the odds that he'd be right on the scene when two supers clashed? And as a bonus, he was rather sure that the monster in the alley's attention would be focused on the incoming metahuman and not the man holding the camera.

Confident that he could move into the alley safely now he inched his way forward, the camera held prone by his face. "Hey Fuckface..." the ice metahuman bellowed at the monster. I'll have to edit that out for TV. "Freeze". a blast of cold worked its way down the alley, freezing the pools of blood down its sides as it moved. It even frosted over the LCD screen on Noir's camera. "Damint" he muttered under his breath, bunching up his sleeve and wiping away the frost from the screen and the lens. Once clean and clear, he shot the camera back up to peer into the alley. Hopefully he hadn't missed too much while clearing the lens. Mentally he made a note of getting frost proof lenses in case this situation ever came up again as he continued filming.

From behind the hunched beast looked rather fearsome. An orchestra of squeltching and crunches came from the fleshy mound beneath it, meat being torn between it's jaws. To a normal person such a sight would be very intimidating; scary almost. Goodthing Frost wasn't a normal person. He's dealt with far more scary sights, he'd fought a 60 foot long lizard before: Sure he had help with that one but this thing was only like what? Seven feet? Easy. He hoped. Besides, he had superpowers, what did this thing have? Super bad body odour?

The hulkling monster turned around: It's face was half-decomposed with teeth like the garbage disposal. And it was ugly. It was ugly more than you could believe. The dead man; he hoped it was a man, no woman deserved to look like that, turned around and began to slowly walk towards him. He held his finger gun towards it without fear, and smirked whenever it growled out two words at him. "Fresh.. Meat." it groaned and it was met by nothing more than a smirk on Frost's face. "I thought you'd say something like that." and with the smirk frozen on his own face Frost bent the thumb at the top of his finger gun down sending a jet of freezing air with the qualities of liquid nitrogen at the monster.

The boy that was in front of the creature was stranger than most of the people that it had encountered. The air seemed to turn colder around him, and the pool of blood that stained the floor froze into crystal. Despite the fact that most people would scream and run or attack him straight away, it was surprised at his bravery. There was not a single bit of fear in his eyes as far as the creature could tell. When the creature spoke, the youth answered back with a smirk "I thought you'd say something like that". The remark was followed up with a jet of what looked like ice. Surprised by this display of power, the creature managed to hold up it's left arm to shield itself from the shower of ice. Though it did not feel pain from it, it could still feel it's whole arm freezing. Pushing itself through the onslaught of ice, the creature managed to grab the arm the boy was using to shoot the jet with his intact right arm. As the boy's eyes widened with shock, the creature suddenly flung him out of the alleyway and caused him to smash into a parked car.

The boy that was sprawled on the floor struggled to his feet as the car alarm blared loudly. The creature simply slowly approached him, a smile on it's face as it lifted it's frozen arm up it's face and ripped the frozen portion off with a roar. It started to chuckle as the stump at it's elbow slowly grew a new arm, as if nothing had happened.