The Witching Hour

The Quest:

Natalia stood in her office, a costume hung laid on one of the chairs. It was a reminder of the party that was happening tonight. She had invited some of her closest associates to the party but that wasn't the big draw to the party. She had invitations sent out a random so those in the working class could come and relax like those in the higher class. It was a publicity stunt, but a damn effective one as the news had been buzzing about it for weeks now. But she had her daughter to thank for the idea, she had wanted to throw a Halloween party for her and her friends at home but Natalia took the idea and turned it into a huge Media sensation. Looking at the time it was 6:53 pm. Natalia sighed, she didn't get all the work she wanted to get done before hand but she would have to put it off till tomorrow. The party started in a hour and Opal would be here any second. She got up and grabbed her costume, walking to her personal bathroom she got changed and put on the make up. She emerged from the bathroom looking like a witch. And like clock work Opal bounded into her office like usual, but Natalia questioned the girl's costume choice.

"Really Opal?" asked Natalia looking over her daughter's costume. IT was a nurse costume with a short, frilly skirt and in Natalia's opinion it pushed the bust up a bit to much.

"What? Don't you like it? My friends thought it looked flattering." said Opal, mocking confusion. Natalia knew her daughter was wearing it to annoy her, it wouldn't be the first time it happened.

"Darling if the skirt was any shorter and you might as well just be walking around in your panties." commented Natalia.  "Anyway lets head down and see how the set up is going."

Natalia and her daughter went down to check on the decorations, the party was starting soon.

---1 Hour Later---

The party had barely begun but it was now in full swing. Duval Corp was successfully turn into a haunted looking building. Well at least the first 5 stories that where open to the public. Security was pretty high, Natalia wouldn't want anything to happen to her guests. Opal had gone off somewhere, probably to hang out with her friends. Natalia on the other hand was staying near the door and greeting people.

Natalia's Costume:

Opal's Costume:

Entei stood in the Entrance way of this rather grand estate, and looked around with mild interest at best. It was his first official 'work function' since his sister Chelle had employed him, and he was already dreading it. Add to the fact that Uzma had other, Guardian related, things to take care of, and wouldn't be able to join him, made the whole thing just rather droll. The only good thing was, being half demon, he didn't have to rent a costume. With most control of his powers than he had ever had, he was able to control his demonic transformation at will, and allowed his long, pointed, elf like ears to come out, as well as the small blue orbs of fire above his head that acted as horns, and burned brightly. His tail was also hanging out freely, though, he decided not to light it, for the sake of everyone around him. He knew his fires weren't hot unless he wanted them to be, but no one else did.

"God this is boring..." The young man, in a fitted business suit muttered to himself. Walking over to the refreshment table, he grabbed himself a soda, before trying to mingle with some of the people there. He was constantly being told that he needed to make contact in this business world if he ever wanted a life outside of gambling his life to save people, and what better way to make contact than to impress these rich simpletons with his impressive 'costume. 'Should have poured myself a vodka to deal with these boring people...' He thought to himself. And in all honesty, there was probably not a single person in this room that could enforce that law upon him. But, best not to make a scene while here under the name of his sister's company. With a heavy sigh, Entei leaned against a wall in the back, and just waited for this awful night to be over.

”I'm kinda surprised you got invited to something like this.” His brother noted admiring himself in the mirror, smirking softly while watching the male behind him with a rather serious expression.

”If I do recall, you do keep saying that I need to get out more.” Colin noted with a soft scoff, rolling his eyes and examining his brothers choice in costume.

”Nooo, its just that the hostess is all metahuman hating, and i'm kind of a metahuman.”

”I never did say you had to come, that was your choice and yours alone.” Colin added with a shrug, adjusting a green cap perched precariously atop his head. ”So, whats your costume?” He would venture to ask.

”Weeeelll, i'm a demon, and you are?”

”Link, from The Legend of Zelda.” He answered making sure everything was in order before turning to his sibling, and noticing a smirk playing along his features, as if they were thinking of something. ”What?”

”All you're missing is a princess to save. Might find one at the party.” he added with a wink and a nudge, causing Colin to roll his eyes and adjust the replica master sword on his back.

”Not all of us can be like you, stealing the heart of any girl that so much looks at you wrong.” Colin deflected the question with a shrug, checking his phone and typing out a response, causing his sibling to arch an eyebrow. ”No need to be nosy, my business and kinda my business. Ya know how that Travis guy is, right?” A slave driver for sure, but then again the pay was enough to take off some of the edge.

”Yeah, I know.”

”So lets get ready Owen, we only have half an hour.” With a sigh and a sagging of shoulders, the male would follow command and they would be ready within a matter of minutes. Colin already had his hand on a drink by the time the party started, and his brother was doing what he usually did, which was being the socialite. It was nice however, to see him enjoying himself so much, even if someone else were not doing the same. Sipping on his drink, he would watch all of the guests go about their business, another human in the midst of them. Still, he did not seem to make any moves on the hostesses daughter like was expected, not yet anyway, as that would likely have lead to complications.

Zell arrived on time as he expected, though the party was still all too young for anything else of note to be happening. Zell was dressed as one of his more favorite literary characters. Mephistopheles (removing the pesky horns from the outfit) he grew out his mustache and beard for such an event. The little triangle patch and the isolated wedges on his upper lip. He actually wore a faded eyeliner for such the event as well, his tan serving him well too, complimenting the maroonish-red hues of the outfit to add more of an appeal. Unfortunately, Zell truly did fit the description of the devil far better than he did God, much to his own dismay. He did not enter the front door as many would have expected, rather he discretely made his way around the back, using his phasing boots to trigger a teleportation that would yield him on the other side. He figured this would be a more dramatic way to enter the scene, especially considering his choice of character. By the end of this night his new "partner in crime" very well may have believed he was the devil, and now she had a "lul" in the action of greeting. With no one else to vie for her attention he could slip over and make him impression. How delicious.

    "I don't believe I've had the pleasure." Zell said in his typical oh so suave voice a smirk on his face as he extended his hand. "I didn't realize this was your sort of thing. Witchcraft, not the party. I expected you to take the opportunity to brighten the world a little but I have to say. Spells work wonders." Zell said with a genuine smile as he stepped back and allowed Miss Duval to greet a rather "prestigious" individual, the young woman known as "The Chief of Investigations". She was dressed Maleficent and a younger individual who was dressed in a suit but had a fox styled Masque over his face, a fully animated tail swishing and what appeared to be a fox imprinted bow-tie and a cane. Zell couldn't help but smile wondering what it was the young man was supposed to be, that was until he heard the young voice chuckle at his mother saying something about "Dumplings" Zell instantly surmised that the male was taking on his own rendition of "The Fantastic Mister Fox".

    This is where the story switches. From a Prodigy of untold capability to a little kid who solves murders with his mother. Regal instantly jumped at knowing his mother would be attending. A letter in the mail and everything was upside down from that moment on. Regal was genuinely excited for this evening, not for anything childish like candy or whatever, but because it gave him the chance to use his "Animation" power to bring the fox tail to life and dress up all fancy with a legitimate reason. They were greeted at the door, as Regal's mother handed her invitation over and her and Regal stepped with a rather lively pop in their waltz. Though as Regal passed through some of the guests with his mother he couldn't help but wonder why they were all so over-done in their costumes. Oh that's a cool corpse costume! Oh that's a cool Skeleton-oop! nope, she's just anorexic. He thought to himself as he bumped into a sickly looking pale woman. He then found himself looking to a large man dressed as what be believed to be the headless horseman. With a stomach that size you could have just been the pumpkin. Oh wait- that's right... you can't dress up a crane as a person He shook his head as he looked to his mother, he couldn't help but wonder why she picked a fairytale character, it actually bothered him slightly. Especially when a man with sandy skin approached and poured her a cup of punch and one for Regal. Regal took it with gratitude and malice.

   "Thank you!" as he heard what appeared to be an Arabian accent as the man spoke to his mother. "Such a beautiful costume, so dark and mysterious. Anything like the woman beneath it I wonder?" He would ask. Jessica chuckle and arched an eyebrow, playing it cool and hard to get was always her specialty. "Maybe. Maybe not. If I told you it wouldn't be a mystery, would it?" She asked with a wink, raising the drink in thanks and walking off in no particular direction. The man seemed to continue staring at Jessica leaving Regal to arch an eyebrow and look at the man, his empathic perceptions showing a defined line of lust directed at his mother, causing Regal to hum rather loudly. The man looked to him and Regal smiled and shook his head. "Okay. Ya got me... Are you a pervert, or are you a terrorist?" He asked, the man instantly taken aback by Regal's off-putting personality.

Sixteen was going to a custom party, funny right? Assassin with no personality is going to a party almost of his own will. The contacts sent him an invitation, he was pretty much paid to actually attend all the way through the end. It seems like the host was much more then meets the eye. Sixteen's job was just to observe and gather any information he can passively, not do anything sneaky just be in the area. Unfortunately a normal human being could do this no problem, Sixteen still has yet to experience being normal; normal interactions to him include murder.


He was not going to a party for a fight, but leaving unequipped is more dangerous then most would think, contacts could easily be dirty enough to put him in an ambush - more likely then not he was coming equip and he didn't give a fuck what security thinks. So he decided to go as the one thing he knew best, an assassin. Six feet two, tall dark and handsome showed up in a flash in the immediate area; His looks being more sharp then others literally.


Showing the invitation, the man with high powered gloves, pair of batons on his back using a black strap laced around his chest under his vest. Long sleeve under his vest to avoid tattoo vision. Combat boots were a must, along with cargo pants, color was actually a purple matching his gloves. Vest had a hood, and of course it concealed his identity along with his domo mask over his eyes. His walk was no so confident, but his cologne says otherwise, He stood almost a few yards from the entrance taking in the building. His breathing was normal. Senses were active, his mind was clear and he had never drank a day in his life. He was told the year he was born, but he does not know what age he really is. So he just moved his way over to the fruit punch stand, getting him something light as he watch the costume guest mingle and dance. His main reason their was for the host, to get in on whatever it is he could. He didn't know the night was beginning with him in it.

So far the party had been going on for a couple hours  smoothly. It was slowly approaching the climax of the party. Midnight. But she was happy with the turn out,  some prizes already had been give away. She was only hearing good things about her haunted house section as well. In hindsight she probably should of added some less scary events for those who had children, but maybe it would happen next year. Only one thing had really bugged her so far. One of her security guards told her about a rather bored looking man, who seemed to be in a very well made costume. Normally Natalia would just push that off but it was the fact that the guard said that strangely enough there where orbs of blue fire hovering above this man's head. The guard theorized that his man might be a meta-human and asked if she wanted him to be dealt with. But Natalia declined, no reason to cause a commotion, especially if he received the invitation. That being said, Natalia ordered to keep an eye on this man.

As for other mention able guests, she was glad to see that Zell Atterrius had made it. Although she was kind of sad when he didn't bring his son, she till wanted to meet the kid. But she understood if he didn't want to keep his son out to late. The "The Chief of Investigations" also seemed to of received an invite as well, and it seemed she had a little kid following her around. She had only briefly greeted her before the next guest arrived. Natalia had made a mental note to hunt her down later and talk to her. Other then that she couldn't really think of anyone who had stuck out. Some of the higher ups from The Black Lotus Society had shown up, but they knew better then to act like they knew Natalia. She had made it clear early on that it would cost them dearly other wise. Opal had wandered off somewhere after her friends arrived. But then the clock struck 12 and the bells could be heard across the lobby. Natalia walked up to the podium to address the guests that still remained at the party,

"With that toll it means that it officially midnight! But don't you all slow done just yet because the party is still on for a couple more hours! So enjoy yourselves and the next give away will start in a couple of minutes so stay on your toes!" said Natalia, still somehow full of energy. And then there was a blood curdling scream, coming from the direction of the stairs. It attracted a lot of attention including Natalia's. There weren't any scares planned for down here. And then the woman who screamed came into view, she was covered in blood and a look of terror on her face. Natalia was moving before she knew it, going to see what was going. As well as a few guards.

"Third floor.... third floor." was all the woman was able to say. Natalia looked at the guards and then at the woman.

"Two of you, find my daughter, make sure she is safe, the rest of you. We are going to the 3rd floor. Spread the word to the other guards, don't let anyone out." said Natalia. After that her and couple of guards ran up to the 3rd floor. And what they saw was grisly. A man was lying on the floor, wrapped in vines. Unnaturally large thorns grew out of the vines, puncturing the man in multiple vital areas. Next to the boy was a blood soaked note.

"One dead. Five remain. The blood of the powerful will be the base to my new body. Once during the toll a body will fall. The King of Thorns will rise again."

One of the guard's walkie talkie went off.

"We got a problem, vines have grown out of the ground and seem to be covering the building.  Every time we try to clear the vines they grow back twice and thick, the security room is covered in these vines two, we can't get in!" said a guard through the walkie talkie. Natalia, looked towards one of the guards.

"Remember that meta you saw earlier, capture him and bring him here." said Natalia, she looked directly looked into guards eyes, give a cold stare that could pierce steel. "Now."

Wearily, Michael stifled another yawn. Looking down at the watch the laid on his wrist, he made a quick note of the time. It was just about midnight, which meant he could soon sneak away from the party without causing a scene, or looking bad for his company. After all, he did have to work the next day. Before long, the chime had went, tolling in midnight, and a grateful sigh from Entei, who had already begun the trek across the entrance way towards the front door. That was, until a faint smell hit Entei's nose. It was a very unique metallic scent, that brought back plenty of memories for him. Memories of death, murder, crime scenes, broken families. It was the scent of blood, and from the strength of it, quite a lot of blood. Grimacing, Michael turned just in time to see the woman run up to the hostess, covered in the crimson red liquid. Guards quickly came to the woman, and hostess alike, escorting both of them off.

"Fuck.." Michael muttered out loud. As much as he wanted to leave, his morals now bound him here for the remainder of this murder investigation. With deep remorse, he dug into his pockets, pulling out his phone and sending a quick text message to his girlfriend, informing her of the situation, and why he would be late to getting home tonight, and for her not to wait up. That was one of the benefits of dating an Alien, and fellow hero, he never had to lie about what he was doing.

"Excuse me, sir?" One of the guards had said, placing his hand on Michael's shoulder. That, was his first mistake. Usually, the half demon wasn't so jumpy, in fact, he could be considered abnormally calm under most situations. But right now, in a foreign environment, and the smell of blood and death wafting heavily in the air, at least for him, his nerves were on high alert, screaming off at the slightest touch.

Years of training kicked into action, and before his mind could even process the situation, he was moving. His elbow fired back, jamming into the man's kidney's, while his hand simultaneously grabbed out and latched onto the wrist the laid on his shoulder. As the man began to double over, Entei squeezed his wrist and pulled up, the young demons own body quickly pushing back against the attackers, giving him leverage. Michael's free hand slid up to the pit of the guard's shoulder, while his back leg swept out behind him, causing the man to stumble, and giving Entei the much needed advantage in assisting with the hip toss he now performed, causing the man to slam against the ground on his back with much force than should have been possible for Michael. Quickly dropping his knee to the man's chest, his tail lashed out, stopping an inch from the man's eyes, and igniting with brilliant blue flames.

The entire 'combo' happened so fast the man wasn't even able to keep up, and Neither was Entei's rather slow mind. As soon as he realized what he had done however, he simply glared at the security guard who laid on the floor, and the several more who now surrounded Entei, guns drawn. He looked up at them with mild distaste, almost unable to believe they thought that guns would work on him. To a degree, it was almost insulting.

"So, here's the thing." Entei started, his tail swaying from one eye to the next in a rhythmic motion. "I don't know if you've watched anything about nature, but, the gazelle does not stalk the lion, not unless they want something like this to happen." obviously he meant the situation they now all found themselves in, but he let that information sit with the guards for a moment, before he continued. "In case you still don't get it, put away your guns, before I burn out his eyes and feed them to you."

"Sir, we were told to bring you to the mistress of this manor." One of the guards said, clearly the bravest of the group, which Entei admired a small amount.

"Oh. Well, should have just said that instead of grabbing me." Entei said with a smile that did not fit the situation what so ever, and released the man from his bind. Unigniting his tail, he stuck his hands into the pockets of his suit pants, and nodded to the guard who had spoke before. "You can escort me, the other ones will stay away from me."

For the most part the whole party thing seemed to be going on as it usually was expected to be. Colin mostly hovered around the drinks, and sipped lightly on something his brother snagged, realizing why he was not much for alcohol. Still, he would lightly sip on the drink while people went about socializing and things like that, his brother milling about as well with that typical party boy demeanor of his. Not that Colin wasn't capable of that, but it was just not one of those nights really. Until of course a certain voice caught his attention, sounding as suave as ever. ”Standing here all alone? Mind if I offer you some company?” Travis Masters of all people was here, standing beside him and dressed as some manner of fantasy character, likely some manner of wizard or something.

Colin smirked, and took a gulp of his drink. ”Is Mister Master's offering to be that company?” It was perhaps just an attempt to be coy or something along those lines, but he could tell from the males amused expression that it worked to some degree.

”What if I am?” he asked with a small chuckle, resting slightly against the wall, Colin's brother taking note of the male and appearing rather suspicious of his sudden appearance. ”I do afterall like to think we're friends, so it's only right.”

”Friends? Well if you think that's what we are. Go on ahead.” So the male did, meaning that there were now two people bored at this party...well until the vines sprouted from nowhere. How was this happening anyway? Despite how it was happening, he found himself being pushed away from the wall by Travis of all people before something could impale him. ”Thats....new.” Colin muttered while looking at the strange wriggling vines.