The Wild Hunt

Thunder rolls, and a storm brews...
or is that Hoofbeats in the sky?
Above the howling blizzard and the long night,
a hunting horn sounds,
followed by the Bay of cruel hounds....

The cold night of the winter solstice begins for Chicago, the long tendrils of winter seeping into every nook and cranny of the city. It is unusually cold, and indeed dark, and many shadowy things were afoot in the unseen places and back streets.

Ellie takes this time to test out her suit and her newly repaired body, using the armor's strength boost to let her launch herself across the tops of two apartments. She rolls into the landing, a rough start, but she was satisfied with the results. Though it did feel a bit unfair to her at first to use military grade hardware on common street troubles, Ellie decided she could use a relatively 'safe' setting to test her new toys. Environmental adaptation, visor technology, weapon systems were all online. While she wanted to test them with her metahuman ward, she figured Xia could use a break during Christmas- they'd meet up on Christmas Eve anyway.

The anomalous weather only barely concerned Ellie, something she half-relegated to global warming. She looked down on the quiet streets, and was only partially pleased that it was without trouble.

Her motion sensors tripped. Three tangos, four meters behind, suddenly appearing from out of nowhere. Ellie could hear the snarls and growls, and for a moment thought about what they might be...


Elsewhere in the city, near or farther from where the first skirmish began, more of the Hounds come to ferret out the worthiest prey within the city. Almost as if from the very shadows or snow, they came, wolfweres, in trios, with claws of steel, fur black as night, snapping jaws hungry for flesh. Their eyes were ablaze with the yellow of the fey realm, and no tongue of modern man would reach their ears. They begin their terror, attacking the weak, so that the strong would be drawn out. None are safe from them, be it innocent or wicked, homeless or sheltered, man, woman or child...

Griswold lit himself a cigarette and exited the stately hotel, making sure to tip the valet for no particular reason. There was an unseasonably cold chill in the air in the the chasms between Chicago's skyscrapers. His signature red coat and Turkish cigarettes kept him well insulated enough to enjoy a casual stroll in the night, and the cold would be a deterrence for most paparazzi. Carefree, Griswold strolled down the street.

"Mr. Fairbanks!" The voice came from the other side of the silent Chicago road, "Mr. Fairbanks! Can I talk to you for a minute?!"

Griswold dropped his cigarette and stomped the burning end with the heel of his boot. He watched the young man as he carelessly sprinted across the street, taking pictures with his camera as he sprinted.

"Mr. Fairbanks," said the young man as he caught his breath, "Are you here on business?"

Griswold smirked, "No, I'm on a little vacation. Right now I'm going to my favorite little cafe in town."

The pseudo-journalist hastily scribbled down notes in between sporadic camera shots. The bright flashes were beginning to give Griswold a migraine.

"Listen kid I'm going to leave you now," Griswold slipped a piece of paper in his pocket, "That should help you with your student loans."

The paparazzi took the hundred dollar bill out of his pocket, checked its quality, and placed it into his wallet. Griswold lit another cigarette and slowly began walking away. For a moment, Griswold figured his distraction would be enough to put him on the home stretch for a cup of espresso and a slice of cheesecake; but in typical paparazzi fashion, his curious companion began following him again, snapping pictures and asking question after question. Griswold felt his slight annoyance grow and fester into full fledged anger. By the time he turned to face the young man with a full clip of curses on the tip of his tongue, the journalist had his attention wholly fixated on the alley to his left.

"Kid?" Griswold asked before taking a drag of his cigarette.

From the alley came strange noises, like a beast that lurked deep within Griswold's dreams. It was a snarl that was much deeper and more outlandish than any stray Chicago dog could ever hope to produce, and it sent a pang of fear down his spine. Before Griswold could reach for his stashed Mauser, a feral shape as black as onyx pounced from the alley onto the paparazzi. Despite the shrill screams that the reporter produced, the black shape swatted away his camera, tore away his clothes, and clawed off strips of flesh. By now Griswold had managed to pull his pistol, and proceeded to unload a clip into the beast. Where Griswold expected the monster to fall dead, it yelped like a dog and scuttled back into the alley instead.

Griswold ran to the aid of the reporter. His chest and torso were riddled with deep lacerations which spurted deep crimson red. The poor bastard was dead, and Griswold felt a sense of remorse which momentarily overpowered his fear. He closed the young man's eyes, and loaded another clip into his Mauser. In the distance he heard howling mixed with screams. Strange happenings were going on in Chicago, and Griswold would do his damnedest to help the citizens of the besieged city.

The crimson witch stirred upon her throne, feeling the restlessness in the barrier between worlds. It reminded her of something, a chill that she knew once, and its touch did not sit well with the sorceress, the feeling associated with one that she hated more anything. The red haired female growled lowly, Michael slightly stirring from the nap he was in, head leaning lightly against her shoulder. Her very magical aura radiated with anger, agitation seeming to come off her in waves. ”Something bothering you.” Michael pondered, with a tired edge to his voice, running slightly thick fingers through dark hair. It took the female a few seconds to calm down, ruby eyes looking upon her husband kindly.

”Its something crossing into this realm.” She stated simply, one foot taping lightly against the floor, echoing hollowly around the throne room. ”The Fae if I know that feeling correctly.” Marie noted stepping from her throne, perhaps to go see what it was herself. Michael howevered grabbed her wrist softly and forced the female to sit down on her throne, eyes widening for a moment.

”If it is him, I would not suggest you going to him. He already has your soul, can’t have him using that to his advantage. He has nothing on me however.” Michael noted standing to his feet, letting a strange looking crystal roll between his index and middle finger. ”Now where is this strange feeling coming from?” He asked standing to his feet, katana within sheath next to the seat he sat upon. He was dressed already it would seem in the simple black combat gear, Kevlar body armor over a black undershirt with sleeves that reached to the elbow. Black cargo pants that served only to hold more weapons really, and a few small blades strapped to his legs, along with a holstered pistol at his side, and two fragmentation grenades hung from his belt. It seemed that the male was more than ready in case anyone attempted to attack him or his beloved.

”If you’re so sure, it’s somewhere in Chicago.”

’Why am I not surprised.” Michael muttered with slight distaste as he rapidly approached the transportation room, and with a spoken word he was gone. It had already been programed where to go, if only by link to the mistress of the palace, taking the male exactly where he needed to go, which was the location of this strange energy. With a flash of light Michael was gone, and within that same second he found himself in the windy city, a breeze whipping past his hair as he landed within the alleyway. Even from here he could hear the sounds, that which sounded much like those of wolves, or even dogs. Something was stirring within the darkness of the night, and the living arsenal would deal with it, or attempt to. That was when they appeared, glowing red eyes within the darkness that sought out prey, perhaps with a mouth that was slathering with teeth ready to devour.

A shot rang out within the darkness not far from him as something yelped in pain. It was in a blink of the eye that the canine creature leapt from the shadows, and within that moment Michael was on movement, leg jerking upwards as the smaller blade attached to his leg slid from its sheath and fingers gripped around it. In a blur of motion, empowered steel easily bit through the things flesh as blood spurted from the wound, large furry body rolling limply along the ground as something else seemed to slam against the wall before falling. Blood spurted from what appeared to be a neck stump much like a fountain while the remaining hounds seemed to avoid the new hunter. Michael however had no intentions of simply letting them run away with proverbial tails between their legs, slinging the blade into the darkness as he heard a yelp, and then nothing.

Something told him that didn’t make the kill, so the male ended up chasing them inot the darkness, only to end up coming upon the scene of a mauling, man with a gun standing over the corpse. So it seemed he could not stop all of the killings.

It was cold that night. Real cold. Well it was the winter season and all. It should be cold this time of year. It was december. The people of the world were celebrating the many holidays that occured near the end of the year. The winter solstice seemed like a time to celebrate anything other than the solstice itself.

Inside an apartment complex in one part of the city of Chicago, Illinois, John Capore sat in his own room, doing homework. This sucked so, so much. Yeah, he was one of those kids that hated doing homework. The good news was that he was almost done. The thing was, he had only one thing left to do, and it was for his absolute worst subject. English. Good old english. He actually used to be good at this subject. If only he still was. This would be a lot easier. John had been at all of this for a couple of hours by now. He had left some of the stuff that the students had been given a few days to complete unattended for some of that available time. Now it was all due tomorrow. The last day of school before the winter break. Procrastinating on this stuff certainly had come back to haunt him for it. At least he was almost done though.

About ten minutes later he had finished and was organizing everything together. John let loose a sigh of relief as he put all of it away. He laid down on his bed and closed his eyes thinking that he would probably fall asleep instantly. Not happening. Not even close. John remained alert and focused. He wasn't even that weary either. Now what? He was not even remotely sure of what to do right now. He turned the television on and started flipping through the channels to find something to watch. He did not keep up with television enough to be invested in any shows or know much of what is on. Absentmindedly he flipped through the channels, pausing only when he saw something that somewhat caught his interest. Then he heard screaming. Lots of screaming. It was not from his tv set though. It couldn't be. This was a car commercial. John turned off the tv and looked out the window. He couldn't see anything, but could still hear screaming not too far from here.

John moved from the window and to the spot where he kept the one outfit of his that he kept secret. It sounded like there was way too much chaos going on outside to be left unnoticed. John grabbed his superhero outfit and snuck out the window. Minutes later he was out in the street with his outfit under his jacket, mask in a pocket and supplies in a sack. Off towards the direction that the terrified screams were coming from. He turned a corner and saw something run across his path before it noticed him and turned towards him. Some large creature stood on four legs and growled at him before letting loose a mighty cry. The cry was met by others in the distance. It had seemingly signaled to others of its kind, but what was it? It looked like a wolf or coyote perhaps, but huge and kind of mutated. It suddenly lunged at him. He ducked under the incoming teeth and claws and saw it pass over him and continue running after it had landed. It had seen someone else in the distance and began running after them. John put the mask on and chased after it. Then he heard some shots fired nearby. He looked in that direction and saw another one of these things lying on the ground, and someone standing over it. Forcewave then saw the thing running back towards him angrily. He pulled the tonfas out of his bag and used them to defend himself. The creature struck at him and he deflected it and struck it in the side of his head. It staggered and ran into the wall due to its own momentum. It was still conscious, tough disorientated.

Griswold's gaze was still fixated on the young reporter's corpse. Steam from the fresh blood began to rise from his slowly cooling body. Griswold detested paparazzi, but in this one instance, he wished that his trigger hand was a fraction of a second quicker. Nobody deserved to be torn asunder by some hellish beast. Griswold made a silent oath to himself, justice would be had before the sun rose on the windy city.

Griswold's focus was interrupted by an instinctive feeling that he was being watched. Somehow he knew that the eyes looking at him were of a man, not a beast. Griswold turned to face the silent observer with his pistol cocked at his side. The man who watched him looked to be in town on serious business. Griswold noted the black blood dripping from the edge of his katana.

"I don't suppose you have any dog treats handy do you?" Griswold smirked.

Ellie couldn’t draw her weapon in time, reflexes still sluggish from the surgery. Instead, she runs and leads her pursuers into a well placed trap; she leaps off the building’s edge, but had a wire connecting her to her take off point. The wolfweres followed and leapt towards the adjacent, abandoned apartment, only to watch as their prey wall-walking the first building with the aid of a harness.

Realizing the duplicity, they quickly scramble to jump back, but hidden in the snow were remote explosives, and with a button press on the detonator on Ellie, explosives rip up the roof, sending the monsters into rubble and debris on the top floor. Ellie slowly reeled herself up, keeping an eye on the ruined top floor and wary of any movement... and saw none.

She lowered herself into the streets, unknowingly coming across Griswold. Her armor quickly activated its urban camouflage, encasing Ellie in her grey Coat and Fedora ensemble, appearing like some kind of hard boiled private investigator. With a high tech mask to boot.

“...Lots of stray dogs. Wonder who let em out.” She stated the obvious, hopefully to deflect any unnecessary questions about herself.

Michael’s remaining quarry fled the scene, leaving their dead companion. The large, monstrous humanoid wolfwere reverted to human form, the headless body wearing a business suit.
The other Wolfweres lashed out against Forcewave, intent on kill or be killed; their behaviour was under the control of an otherworldly force, their minds and bodies enslaved by magic.

Up in the dark clouds, three figures silently and wordlessly galloped across the dark winter sky. Pale, almost invisible in moonlight, their mounts took the form of ghostly reindeer, while they observed their quarry with the aid of magical mirrors. Soon, the real hunt would begin....