Moon Shadow Issue #1 "The Opening Gambit"
Moon Shadow Issue #1 "The Opening Gambit"
A full moon shines down on the warehouse district as a weird figure walks out of the shadows on the rooftop of one facility where Italian Americans in hooded sweat shirts wielding assault rifles patrol the perimeter and watch from the rooftop but they don't know yet that they have a visitor. Four Mafia wise guys stand on the roof with M-16s at the ready to shoot at a moments notice with one wise guy near the helipad and the other three looking over the edges onto the streets and alley below. The interloper is a black furred wolf man in a black armored jumpsuit with a moon symbol onto which is super imposed a stylized wolf's head as a kind of logo; he wears a kind of cowl and mask over his face and head that allows his ears to poke through but protects his senses.
The night creature rolls pellet balls into the middle of the platform that billow smoke and sleep gas that fills the area before he moves. He attacks the man in the middle first, snapping his neck before drawing twin hand cannons to take out two of the edge watches with head shots before bringing both to bear on the last wise guy. All three crumple to the ground, dead before they hit the gravel as the wolf sets up a sniper's nest.
Alley man is the first to die with a head shot before he gets the two guys guarding the entrance to the ware house in the same manner as alley guy. The loading dock in the back has too many to take out as they take in a shipment of drugs intermixed with plush toys. He places a seal with the same logo on his chest on the one he killed by twisting his head before going to the metal door that leads to the stairway downstairs.
The metal door opens suddenly as a heavy set man with a shotgun bursts through only to get shot through the cranium by the sniper rifle. Another seal is placed over the bullet hole and the wolfman relieves the corpse of his shotgun and shells to move downstairs. Skillet's "Monster" can be heard through the grated floor that causes the werewolf to smirk as he makes his way to the office of the building.
Soldiers wearing night vision goggles approach the creature in the low light with silenced rifles. The wolf man tosses down flash-bang pellets that add ambiance to the illegal rave going on below before blowing away the humans with the borrowed shotgun. A security camera turns its gaze in the wolf man's general direction only to get hit with a boomerang that returns to the wolf man as he makes a run towards the main office hanging from the ceiling by steel girders overlooking everything.
Mister Wolf-Man sings along as Shinedown's "Cry for Help' plays next in the rotation while he leaps across a huge gap that the Mafiosos traverse via a drawbridge that is currently up and scares the guards by the ease he gets into their cage as well as his very presence as he strikes a threatening pose. Before they can react the werewolf finishes the shotgun on them. People stare from below as he kicks down the door into the office.
Luigi Vespucci, a capo of the Vespucci crime family is getting a blow job when the wolf comes in. The fact that the senior made man is startled is obvious as he watches his sanctum sanctorum invaded. An up and coming thug rises from servicing his master only to get wasted when the werewolf's rifle paints his bosses shirt with his brains.
"Who? What are you?" Capo Vespucci demands to know of his intruder. "Some kind of vigilante?"
"Something like that," he responds as he undoes the mask and cowl to let his red hair and gray eyes be seen clearly. "You and your buddy Moreau set me up, Vepucci."
"Detective Jaeger?" Vespucci inquires with amazement. "Is that you? No wonder they can't find your corpse."
"Detective Michael Jaeger might as well be dead, Vespucci," Jaeger growls with anger, "I'm no long human; I'm a freak. But that's alright, your son always chided me for being a furry, now I'm my own persona."
"So what are you here for?" Vespucci demands to know with a growl. "Even when you were still you were too fucking honest a cop to take a bribe."
"I cam for information," Michael answers honestly; "How was I set up? Who was involved? I know I was getting close..."
"Yeah, too fucking close," Vespucci confirms, "I contacted Moreau to volunteer you for his experiments. He's killed most of his subjects..."
"Chalk me up as a "success" then," Jaeger jokes, "I thought you were involved somehow." He breaks out the fire axe from its case. "Now the real work can begin. Who else?"
"Go fuck yourself, Jaeger!" Vespucci spits defiantly, to which Jaeger just smiles and laughs. "What's so funny, freak?"
"I was hoping you'd say that," Michael says as he swings his axe and cuts off Vespucci's left leg. "It's more fun this way."
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" Vespucci inquires angrily through the pain. "Your life..."
"Ain't worth shit now," Michael says as he chops off the gangster's left arm, "I know but this gives me a lot of freedom." He lops off the rest of the Capo's limbs. "There, now let's see, you have five boys right?" The terrified stare is confirmation enough. "I see three of them now. The other two are under age."
"You can't be serious!" Vespucci pleads pathetically. "Do what you fucking want to me."
"But this is the best part of it," Jaeger says as he sets up his rifle. "Killing you is too merciful. I'm going to destroy you, your family and your organization but leave you alive and helpless to do anything but watch. You see how much better that revenge is?"
"You don't have the balls!" Vespucci challenges as the music changes to Cat Stevens's classic song: "Moon Shadow", "What the fuck?"
"I always liked this song," Michael explains as he kills the eldest Vespucci boy by making his cranium explode like an over ripe melon hit by a sledgehammer as the song mentions being stalked by the titular entity, "I think I'll make it my code name." He then gets another headshot on the youngest son in attendance painting a nearby wall with his gray matter, juice and blood. "Not that anyone would believe you about who I really am." The last son gets his fatal head injury while yelling at the DJ for playing this tune and his brain pieces splatter all over the equipment and the DJ himself. "Three down; two to go, have a nice life, boy."
Before he leaves, Moon Shadow uses the ax to castrate the capo as if making this a parting shot and injury to the gangster's pride. The Police arrive minutes later to raid the place and find the carnage. Luigi Vespuccu tells his tale and is just laughed at by the cops on the scene until the evening news shows up.
"This is Wendy Wu reporting live from the warehouse district where an illegal rave has just been shut down by the police," A youngish Asian woman reports to the camera as a black Winnebago goes by, "Rumor has it that three party goers were shot and killed. Office Maria Salvatore! What can you tell us?"
"We're still IDing the bodies," Officer Maria Salvatore, a Latin spitfire of a cop states.
"Curse you, Moon Shadow!" Capo Vespucci yells as he's loaded into an ambulance with one of Moon Shadow's seals on his forehead.
"Moon Shadow?" Wendy asks but gets no answer as the police begin cordoning off the warehouse. "Maria?"
"I got no idea," Maria lies, "Maybe that ghost you news people keep saying is prowling the streets gave itself a name."
"Wasn't that one of Detective Michael Jaeger's favorite songs?" Wendy asks; trying to provoke Maria.
"You know that as well as I do, Wendy!" Maria snarls, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do!"
"And there you have it, Bastion's very own mysterious vigilante has apparently given himself a name. More when we know more to report, this is Wendy Wu signing off."
When the cameras go off Maria and Wendy apologizes and hug. They were both intimate with Detective Jaeger before he disappeared. However, neither one is willing to entertain the idea that the brutal vigilante "werewolf" that has been reported to the police and the media is their boyfriend who is still missing.
The black Winnebago stops at the American Pie drive in diner and for those in know, underground brothel. Brother X the self styled preacher, proprietor and pimp runs the joint well with waitresses willing to do anything for a good tip including prostitution. More than a few cops come here for a little something on the sly which is one reason Brother X is still in business.
Michael "Moon Shadow" Jaeger requests Angel Candy as his waitress for several reasons, her discretion being one and her appetite for kinks being another. He orders coffee, buffalo chicken strips and an All-American Cheeseburger with mushrooms, barbecue sauce that comes with Brother X's world famous "soul fries" with a side order of fish taco to followed by apple pie. Angel serves everything quickly and in Styrofoam except the taco; that one comes special delivery.
Angel almost bolts when she sees hat the one ordering her services is a werewolf but she recognizes Michael's voice, the voice of a cop she'd done many times before and sheltered her when Brother X was drunk and/or high and looking to beat one of his white girls for any feeble excuse he could legitimately find or invent in his twisted mind. She's an addict but gives good head, among other things, which is why he keeps patronizing her. He's someone Angel thinks might one day "save" her still pretty blond head and take her away from all her problems.
Brother X wouldn't exactly let Angel do Moon Shadow if he knew what he was but Angel does have a Little Red Riding Hood fantasy so she's more than willing to keep her mouth shut about Michael's new condition. Michael still uses a condom to fuck Angel and he still tips her generously. But now the Winnebago is home and headquarters so Michael is a lot more mobile than he was before, which Angel appreciates when she goes home to her appointment.
Angel misses the last bus near work after her shift is over so she is left to hitchhike, reasoning that worse comes to worse she'll give the guy a quickie as payment. Michael ends up taking her in, as Brother X secretly watches from his pink Cadillac and follows them. Exactly what he was going to do to Angel is put on hold when Maria stops him for a traffic violation; which causes the African America illicit entrepreneur no end of consternation only partially mitigated by the fact that the cop pulling him over is Hispanic and not white; the fact that Maria rooms at the same boarding house giving him reason to behave gives him reason to behave since she can and has called other departments down on his head and given him trouble in the past.
The windows of the Winnebago are tinted as Michael was making this into a surveillance van before he underwent his change. Now it's very fortunate because folks can't see that it's being driven by a werewolf which Mike know would cause a panic. On the way to her place Angel gets on the floor to perform fellatio on her savior which makes driving a bit more difficult for him.
She's in a weird mood now and playing with Michael's scrotum as Angel blows her male friend and sometimes gentleman caller is just one thing on her mind. How to explain Michael is another as both Maria and Wendy room with her. The land lady has a no gentleman callers rule which means Michael has only seen the inside of the building once or twice and then only when all three girls were sharing him as the made it a point to keep an eye out for Misses Grumple so they could take turns while getting stone drunk.
Misses Grumple is sitting on the porch smoking when the black painted class "A" recreational vehicle pulls up to the house and lets Angel off. Wendy is up stairs and takes note of the vehicle as she could swear she saw it earlier tonight. Maria arrives shortly thereafter as Angel sings "Moon Shadow" in the shower.
In a trailer park over looking the river, Moon Shadow parks his mobile home and gets some sleep. The news of last night's attack and its aftermath is the talk of the town as Capo Vespucci died during the night, supposedly due to massive blood loss. Moon Shadow knows better as Luigi's grandfather Mario, the so called "Godfather of Bastion" probably ordered his kin slain and some orderly was only too happy to comply or Doctor Angelo Mortix, known in underworld circles as the "Angel of Death" himself did him in while the gangster was in the care of the assassin as his presiding physician.
Using his laptop, Michael accesses his email accounts and the one he uses for role-playing has an interesting message waiting for him:
To: [[email protected]](%5C)
From: [[email protected]](%5C)
Subj: What did you do?
It would seem your plans for vengeance have started, Michael, do they include me?
There is no signature but there is no need. Michael knows exactly who wrote him: Professor Einstein Moreau, mad geneticist extraordinaire. A response is made
To: [[email protected]](%5C)
From: [[email protected]](%5C)
Subj: Hit list of a Prowling Wolf
My top targets have been eliminated; not by you I'm sure. You are on the list but I'm saving you for last. Enjoy the show.
Moon Shadow
Michael then checks his bank account on-line. The money he stole from the Mob is sitting in his savings that he quickly transfers to his credit cards including on opened under the name of his new alter ego: Moon Shadow. Ironically that one is registered with a mob bank so in effect the little bastards are getting their money back, even if nobody knows yet that the money to pay it off is stolen from their own coffers, which causes Michael to chuckle to himself.
Wendy and Maria are going over footage from last night at the station Wendy works for when the black Winnebago is seen. They didn't get the license plate and Maria doesn't catch the significance of it until Wendy mentions that Angel was brought home in on just like it and she was singing Michael's favorite song or one of them any ways as Michael has diverse tastes in music. Maria knows Mike was talking about making a surveillance van like that but she doesn't know if he really built it.
"If Mike is this, Moon Shadow," Wendy speculates, "Something like this would make a great mobile headquarters."
"We have no proof he is this wolf man the media is calling Moon Shadow," Maria says with annoyance, "This is al speculative, Wendy. Angel is one of Brother X's girls. She's fucked up in the head. It could have been a series of random coincidences."
"You would rather find his corpse wouldn't you?" Wendy accuses. "Better Mike be dead than some freakish vigilante."
"As a matter of fact, yes!" Maria shouts back. "Wendy, no matter what good this monster may do he's still killing people. Bad people I'll grant you but he; it will still be hunted down and killed. I've heard that somebody is getting prices on silver bullets, Wendy, Silver Bullets!"
"They think this is a werewolf?" Wendy asks with a giggle. "If this happened at Moreau Labs than that may be unnecessary."
"Off the record, Wendy," Maria says matter-of-factly, "We've had reports of the thing getting away and then getting up a minute later to take down its would be killers."
"It can regenerate its wounds?" Wendy asks incredulously. "I wanna hear this story."
"Hector, my big brother, lives around MinuteManMemorial Park," Maria starts to explain, "I know what most of the city and the media calls it but in any case it's a war zone where a lot of gangs settle their differences. One of the gangs, a bunch of Cubans calling themselves Los Banditos Diablo, was getting a really aggressive as if they wanted the Shooting Gallery as their turf. Moon Shadow got involved and the Bandits shot with enough bullets to take out a precinct. A minute later he got up and killed all the gang member one by one to get his stuff back after they stripped once they thought they'd killed him. You covered the night the Disciples were slaughtered."
"Don't remind me," Wendy growls through a shiver, "That abandoned cathedral and how Moon Shadow left his victims, assuming it was Moon Shadow."
"It was, the cuts were made by butterfly swords," Maria stats, "He uses them when the guns will attract to much attention. The Disciples were caught with their pants down, literally in some cases, which means he was looking to wraith the place; leaving only bodies behind as his calling card."
"Qualities very important for a super soldier," A voice states behind them in a wheeze.
"Professor Einstein Moreau," Maria growls at the morbidly obese man devoid of hair behind them. "What are you doing here?"
"And why?" Wendy inquires with great annoyance. "May I assume you sought out either Maria or myself?"
"You may assume whatever you please, my dear child," Moreau wheezes coyly, "I only came to relay a piece of information. Off the record of course." The two ladies look at him expectantly. "I see you are looking at footage of the rather brutal vigilante we have running around committing murders willy nilly. The truth of the mater is that certain persons delivered a certain police detective to me for my experiments; a process that unfortunately ends up killing ninety-nine percent of those men and women that undergo it. The detective in question became part of the ten percent who not only survive the process but gain significant abilities as a result."
"So what can he do now?" Maria asks.
""Well, in addition to the obvious physical attributes," Moreau reports, "He can leap twice as far as a normal human, regenerate wounds very quickly, enhanced senses, I understand he has gained an immunity to disease poison and some temperature extremes, as well as greatly enhanced running ability and reaction time. Oh, I do believe he has some shadow walking ability as well. In addition to stealing an advanced suit of armor, guns and general equipment."
"So he's quick, able to heal really, really fast," Maria says as she ticks off points on her fingers, "Can't be poisoned and is well armed. How does that shadow walking thing work? Do you mean he can step into a shadow outside a building and say step out of a locker that closed, empty and unlocked inside a building?"
"Ostensibly that is somewhat accurate," Moreau admits. "Moon Shadow has a ready escape route should that prove to be necessary."
"You have plausible deniability in all this," Wendy growls to which Moreau just smirks. "I can't go forward with a story like this; I'd be laughed out of editor's office let alone the producer. Outside of the Halloween aspect of it there's only some weird entertainment value to the story. He might as well be an alien!"
"Yes," Moreau says simply as he starts to leave and then turns to Maria. "Oh, by the way, as a civic service I would advise against those silver bullets to deal with him. His metabolism will heal damage from them just as rapidly as standard issue ordinance."
"Creep," Maria growls once the fat scientist is out of earshot, "A good load of nothing is what he told us. Michael's case files are gone so there's no way of piecing together what he knew."
"Maybe we could ask, Mike himself?" Wendy asks coolly as she looks at her gmail account. "His role-playing account is still active to say the least."
"You're kidding!" Maria challenges but Wendy just shakes her head and shows the other woman an email from Michael.
To: K1ts00nQT
From: FenryxZavaj
Subj: The rumors of my demise
Are only slightly exaggerated. Hi, Wendy, it's Mike. Got a news story for ya: The furry monster running around taking out the trash? Me. I'm living out of my Winnebago I call "Sneaker Peek" Maria knows why. Give her my love. I love you as well. I may need to get in touch with you later.
Mike
:"Kitsune Cutie?" Maria asks with a giggle. "Really, Wendy, aren't we a little old for that sort of thing?"
"Hardy, har, har," Wendy grumps. "At least he contacted me. Maybe he knows you'll go ballistic on him."
"I never gave into his sick little fantasies," Maria preaches, "The man is an incurable geek freak. I love him but he's even more of a weirdo now that he was as a human."
"So you have no desire to fuck him again?" Wendy asks point blank to which Maria just stares in shock. "I'm serious!"
"You have serious issues!" Maria counters. "I don't know, really, God I want to talk to a priest about this but I don't want to cause a panic."
"Didn't Father Quixote use to be the Templar?" Wendy asks.
"Yeah! He was a cape before becoming a priest!" Maria says as she rushes out to see him. "Thanks, Wendy!"
"What have I done?!" Wendy yells in exasperation to no one in particular.
To: FenryxZavaj
From: K1ts00nQT
Subj: Expect the Inquisition
This may be paranoia but I just reminded Maria that the Templar is now a RC priest. She's NOT OK with you current condition. I think I might be. What's it like?
Wendy
PS: Moreau was at the station telling us about your powers (Maria and Me)
Maria drives up to the Cathedral of the Sacred Martyr which is almost a castle overlooking MinuteManMemorial Park. The noon time mass, having just been concluded, is letting out with Father Quixote standing at the doors talking to random parishioners and waving to everyone else. Maria asks for and gets a private consultation with him; she finds the fact he makes her take her clothes off odd but she trusts him as a man of God.
"What seems to be troubling you, child?" Father Quixote asks of Maria.
"I'm at a quandary, Father," Maria freely admits, "My boyfriend is now the monster terrorizing the city."
"The demon they report about on the news?" Templar asks.
"He's still human," Maria says in defense of her man; standing up and making her rack juggle in just the right way. "He was altered to silence him."
"His voice is silent," Quixote says in all seriousness, "He is no longer a man but a beast. I do hope you have not been intimate with him since his debasement."
"Not since before he was transformed," Maria says as she sits back down and plays with her own groin. "I miss him, though."
"I know, my child," Cid says as he stands over her and combs her hair with his fingers to calm her. "He is dead now. Accept it and move on."
"But he still acts for justice, in his own way," Maria says as she breathes in his musk and despite herself gets somewhat aroused. "He kills evil men."
"He has become a thing of evil himself," Cid states as he begins to get hard. "He should be destroyed and soon. How powerful," Maria begins to perform fellatio on the priest, "Good girl, taste the blessings of our blessed Lord." He rolls his eyes in back of his head and his voice deepens considerably. "Open your mind to me, child, so I can see ho to defeat this demon in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."
Maria says nothing but continues to service the Priest as the Templar probes her mind. Throughout his career, the Templar has clained his abilities were heaven sent as would read the minds of evil does and those not of the Roman Catholic faith. He gains the information Moreau gave her moments before and mentally suggests she open herself fully to him.
In her mind, Maria is doing penance by having sex with the priest and gives him all he wants and more. Eventually she kneels nude before a mini altar says prayers as Quixote takes out an automatic pistol and kills her execution style; cremating the corpse in an oven kept in the basement to inter the remains of the faithful. After cleaning up he gets on-line to talk to a member of the Damned, a branch of the Inquisition dedicated to questionable activities to promote the church and protect it from all who would take it to task for the indiscretions of it clergy among other things.
T3MPL4R: I have a local target for you.
D4MN3DINQU1S1T0R: What do you have?
T3MPL4R: The werewolf demon in the news. We have a name for who he used to be.
D4MN3DINQU1S1T0R: What sort of powers?
T3MPL4R: Shadow walking, Regeneration, Supernatural Quickness and immunity to poison. Silver not necessary; just make sure the body is completely destroyed.
D4MN3DINQU1S1T0R: Where does it lair?
T3MPL4R: Mobile home; arrange ambush
D4MN3DINQU1S1T0R: Understood, we'll take care of it. What does it drive?
T3MPL4R: Black Winnebago
To: K1ts00nQT
From: FenryxZavaj
Subj: Re: Expect the Inquisition
Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep an eye out for them.
>This may be paranoia but I just reminded Maria that the Templar is now a RC priest. >She's NOT OK with you current condition. I think I might be. What's it like?
>
>Wendy
>
>PS: Moreau was at the station telling us about your powers (Maria and Me)
Nineteen year old Carrie Baker sneaks back into her home at two in the morning to discover a weird kind of church service going on. A hooded priest conducts a very private mass with Mommy, Daddy and Zack kneeling in the living room and masked soldiers in black armored uniforms holding silenced pistols to their heads. Zack was raped by a priest while serving as an altar boy and her parents are currently suing for that act.
Carrie can't hear much but it sounds like they're from the church and they want Zack to recant his story as it is a "Sin against God and his church" in their words. He is having them pray for God's forgiveness for their mortal sins and the capital offense they have made against God and his church. She gives herself away when she screams as the soldiers waste her family; painting the priest red with their gore.
A female masked soldier, they are all masked as angels in militarized priest and nun uniforms, blows her away as a black Winnebago drives down the street. One of the other soldiers targets the RV with an RPG when a bullet hits his brain. Lights go on in a few houses as a werewolf slips from the mobile home.
The nun sees the wolf and reports it to the priest. He smiles and tells them to prepare an ambush for a demon. Behind their masks the Damned smile and wait for the Moon Shadow to reveal himself.
A typical squad of the Damned is thirteen including the priest and this is a very typical hit squad. The girl is lying down face first on the front lawn; Moon Shadow has no illusions of her condition. Smoke pellets are thrown to confuse his position as he leaps up onto the deck in the back.
Hidden under the glass table with its umbrella canopy fully unfurled out back, Moon Shadow keeps a sharp look out as to who might be where. A black van sits at the top of the driveway below him while the hooded priest just stands there in the living room making himself a tempting target; a little too tempting for Moon Shadow's tastes. In Moon Shadow's mind taking out the priest right now would give away his position and open him up for attack so he decides to take out his support before going for the man in charge.
Sneaking out from his position, Moon Shadow gets under the van in a blur. He rigs explosives into the van's engine and then slinks under daddy's SUV. Upon crawling forward he sees two of the squad in the garage as look outs.
There's a third on the small platform just up from the garage on the stairs into the house. All three are wearing night vision goggles but the smoke is just now clearing. Moon Shadow admires their discipline but they are the enemy as he as no illusion as to what kind of killers they are.
It's difficult to see but he thinks there are at least two of more in the van which will explode any second now Moon Shadow plans on the exploding van to be a distraction. He lines up a shot for platform guy and waits for the fireworks.
Even with the fact that his presence is known the van blowing up is a complete surprise. Both inquisitors die instantly as a third gets shot in the head by Moon Shadow as the noise of the explosion masks the sound of his rifle going off. Switching quickly to his butterfly swords, he slices open and through the throats of the other two to fully decapitate them before hiding in the shadows.
One of the other six finds the dead guy on the platform and goes to check on her compatriots when Moon Shadow strikes from hiding. She is already cut into ribbons when her lifeless body falls to the floor. Three men with assault rifles charge down the stairs and start strafing the garage.
When the shooting stops a nun with a shotgun turns on the lights and comes down to find three headless bodies, a shot filled room but no bullet filled corpse. A blood trail leads to a large metal cabinet that she shoots until she runs out shells before opening it to find it empty save for the heads of her companions. Her own head soon joins them as Moon Shadow rises from her own shadow to decapitate her.
Moon Shadow crawls out of the shadow underneath the glass table with its unfurled umbrella canopy over head to take a sniper's position as the priest is barking orders to the last nun. When she goes down to the basement he takes his shot. He bolos the last nun and the crap out of her but leaves her alive to tell the tale.
To: K1ts00nQT
From: FenryxZavaj
Subj: So much for the inquisition
Inquisition just killed a family whose son was the victim of a pedophile pries. I left one alive to warn the rest: The Moon Shadow is beyond their capability to handle. Have an exclusive on me.
Moon Shadow
The Templar is drinking beer and watching the Early Morning News when Wendy Wu comes on the screen.
"This is Wendy Wu reporting live from the 1800 block of Paladin Avenue in the Saint George neighborhood of Bastion," Wendy states with a grim expression that causes Cid to smirk, "As the we see the grizzly remnants of what is purported to be a rogue faction of the Vatican calling itself the Damned," Cid's eyes go wide as the operation should have concluded with a wraithing as Wendy continues, "Twelve member of this Hit Squad for Jesus were killed by the mysterious Moon Shadow. Police have taken a lone female survivor into custody but she hung herself before she could give any information other than confirming that Moon Shadow beat her up and killed her comrades as well as the family that lived here. Police are discounting that last bit on the murdered family as they had a lawsuit pending against the church as their son was the victim of a pedophile priest. It would seem that the Moon Shadow is setting himself up as some sort of Avenger."
Cid glowers at the television. "My, what a clever little demon you are. You've only upped the ante you know. We will kill you, Michael; the Devil has a special place for fiends like you. I may have to see to it personally that you are sent to Hell."
Around noon that day Wendy steps into Sneaker Peek with Chinese take out.
"I got you're favorite, Mike," Wendy announces. "General Tso's Chicken, Pork Lo Mein and Teriyaki Beef."
"What do I owe you?" Mike asks as he gives her a kiss. "And I hope you got yourself something."
"I did, and you owe me some sausage and cream," Wendy says as she kisses him back, "By the way, did Maria ever contact you? She went to see the Templar to discuss you and never came back home."
"I haven't even had her yelling at me," Michael sighs, "And right now I'd be glad to have that."
"The poor beast misses his beauty," Wendy teases, "But I am worried. Misses Grumple just cares about the rent. I've sent the bulk of stuff to Hector for safe keeping but I am worried for her. Maria is a lot of things, but a party girl is not one of them."
"I do hope you got me a pork or cheesesteak egg roll," Mike pleads, "Pure veggie anything plays Hell with my digestive tract now. I suspect it's due to the infusion of wolf DNA."
"Yours came with a pork egg roll, I think," Wendy says as she goes through the bag. "Yup, pork, that swat comes in mine too." She takes out the plastic containers of their meals. "But speaking of where the line of what function is what," she smirks and undoes his pants. "Human or canine cock?"
"Still my joy stick, Wendy," Mike says as she suckles his shaft, "You really can't wait can't you?" Wendy just giggles and continues to perform fellatio. "And I thought I had it good as a human."
Moon Shadow moves them into the bedroom portion of his mobile home so they can do a 69 position. Wendy moans into her suckling of Michael's member as she thoroughly enjoys her folds being licked by his tongue. Michael manages to eat her out to orgasm which surprises Wendy even as she gets him hard enough to ride his very human shaped cock and unlike Maria who would get embarrassed when Mike would induce orgasm in her before she got him off Wendy is less inhibitive as she moans like crazy before impaling herself along his length.
Wendy rides Mike's pole to a second orgasm which coincides with his own. As they lay in bed in he after glow, Wendy gets a phone call from the station telling her to go to the American Pie and report on it getting bombed as Michael licks and suckles at her tits. She doesn't want to but she gets off of her male friend and gets dressed.
Mike drives her to her car but when Wendy keys in the remote it explodes. The recreational vehicle receives some minor damage but Wendy's eyes go wide as the blast could have killed her. When the mobile home arrives at the ruins of American Pie Wendy is in a kind of daze from shock.
Fire fighters are just beginning to get the blaze under control as police are interviewing witnesses. Brother X is nowhere to be seen as Moon Shadow looks for familiar faces. Wendy breaks out of her daze when a bal African American man approaches the Winnebago.
Thomas Benedict approaches the custom recreational vehicle with a dark expression on his face. Even before his transformation Mike and Tom merely tolerated each other with Maria coming between them before their debates go too heated. Now Wendy steps out of the cab to deal with the detective so Moon Shadow can remain hidden.
"You got here before the news van, Wendy," Tom growls, "Who's your driver?"
"Not important, Tom, has Maria checked in yet?" Wendy asks. "She hasn't been home and I'm worried."
"No, she hasn't," Tom replies curtly, "Like her crazy boyfriend Mike Jaeger she's MIA. What do you know about it?"
"She left my studio yesterday for that fort church overlooking the Shooting Gallery," Wendy answers honestly, "That's the last I've heard from her."
"The one run by the ex-cape? Tom asks to which Wendy just nods. "I'll check it out. Now, who's the driver?"
:"Just a friend," Wendy says before Tom just rolls his eyes and goes past her. "Hey!"
Tom barges in to find nobody in the recreational vehicle, and not even a spent condom for DNA analysis. Michael looks around the burning building via his shadow walking ability. He finds Angel's body along with others that have been killed before the place was torched.
He finds the body of a member of the Damned as a matter of course. Mike sighs and shakes his head before he gathers up all the food and drink he can carry and shadow walks home; just missing is old sparring partner. Wendy makes her report as Michael eats his meal after putting the groceries away.
Using his laptop, Michael does a little digging on the Damned and is horrified by what he is able to uncover. Asking a question in the right manner on the right search engine can yield some surprising results. Knowing a very experienced computer expert can't hurt either.
CrackerJane: I see the ninjas have failed again.
FenryxZavaj: Very funny, I'm doing some research on a bunch of RC jerks calling themselves "The Damned" What I've seen makes the Church Lady look like a church mouse.
CrackerJane: I'd watch out for those altar servers if I were you. They're Xtreme nutjobs of the Inquisition given their own dept.
FenryxZavaj: Great; I've already killed a dozen of them.
CrackerJane: WHOA!!! Back up. WTF? You're this Moon Shadow loser on the news?
FenryxZavaj: Sorry to spoil you high opinion.
CrackerJane: OK, how the fuck did this happen? And when?
FenryxZavaj: you know the 411 I had you dig up on Moreau?
CrackerJane: You actually went after his ass?
FenryxZavaj: Yup
CrackerJane: You are crazy. So you ended up on the fucker's slab or something?
FenryxZavaj: Something like that, I now look like my one furry persona permanently. With a few other abilities.
CrackerJane: Like something out of the Crooks and Crusaders game you sometimes run?
FenryxZavaj: More or less
CrackerJane: Know any Johnsons jonesing for some of Moreau's data?
FenryxZavaj: Now who's talking crazy? I survived and got the brass ring but I have to have Wendy get me Chinese so I don't spook anyone. The only saving grace is that I'm mobile unlike the classic quartet.
CrackerJane: >:D
FenryxZavaj: What are you contemplating, Pinky?
CrackerJane: Nothing
FenryxZavaj: *crosses arms & taps foot*
CrackerJane: WHAT!?!
FenryxZavaj: I know you
CrackerJane: Orly?
"Who are you IMing?" Wendy asks as she comes in after making a report.
"Irma," Michael answers honestly, "She called Moon Shadow a doofus."
"Oh, I gotta talk to her," Wendy says with mock indignation.
K1ts00nQT: OK, Irma, what are you up to?
CrackerJane: U2? Come on, Wendy!
K1ts00nQT: I might be able to arrange a ride for you...you can even wear the red cape.
CrackerJane: I want to try a Moreau brand power drink.
K1ts00nQT: R U FUCKING NUTS!!! Mike was one of the lucky few it didn't kill! And you wanna chug it like zurge?!
CrackerJane: Yeah, don't tell Mike *puppy dog eyes* please?
K1ts00nQT: Do you have a death wish?
CrackerJane: Consider my life for a sec
K1ts00nQT: Your dad would kill you and you hate Lola! I'd bet you anything that's how you'd end up.
CrackerJane: More like Sly's daughter! I'll make a bet with you. If I don't become a bunny or die, you drink too.
K1ts00nQT: Fine, we'll break in tonight. I'll send Mr. Vigilante on patrol.
"What are you two discussing?" Mike asks with a glower.
"Oh, nothing much," Wendy says with a smile. "Don't you go on patrol or something? I still need to eat lunch."
Michael sighs and shadow walks out to roof top near Mosey's Point and SentinelIsland where Moreau's lab is located. A little further down the river near the ocean is Huntsman's Lighthouse which his family owns, even though the actual lighthouse is automated which is just as well. Locals call it "Raper's Isle" since few who visit it for any reason come back alive and fewer still of these come back sane and unmolested sexually.
Nobody knows what dwells out there and nobody goes unless they have to. Beyond routine maintenance it's entirely abandoned and even then the workers do what needs to be done and leave as soon as possible. Rumors abound of what lurks out there and why but music either attracts it or keeps it at bay depending on who you ask.
For shits and giggles Michael shadow walks over to its top and takes out an ocarina to play. He plays a random tune that comes into his head that starts out jovial and then turns mournful. That's when something weird happens.
Tentacles from some huge sea monster grab purchase on the rocks before lifting something that could have troubled Lovecraft in his slumbering. Moon Shadow kept playing as if his life depending on it and the music he played disturbed the dreams of those who slept within ear shot. By the end of the performance the thing slipped under the waves and Michael got out of there as fast as he could.
Wendy picks up Irma and together they take the Winnebago to SentinelIsland to break into Moreau's laboratories which is for the most par its own metal and concrete island tentatively attached to SentinelIsland. She never speaks of it but Wendy's family at one point was a fairly skilled ninja clan. Irma found out and has been blackmailing her with the info with limited degrees of success, for months.
At first glance a ninja news reporter sounds suspiciously like a paparazzi and at least one cousin of hers makes good money doing just this but Wendy prefers to use it to get evidence to support a good story, often making it extra juicy but a girl's gotta eat and pay rent somehow and these skills are also where she is now. Irma is more into data piracy but what she's learned from Wendy helps with that quite a bit. Unfortunately neither of them is better than Moreau's surveillance system.
Fortunately for the girls, Moreau is amused by their efforts and is content to merely watch them for the time being. He makes things difficult but not impossible for them as they look through his files and computers for his serum of transformation. Upon learning what they are after he seals the room and turns on the gas.
The gas he releases into the room is the same type that transformed Michael. As Moreau reasons; he's only giving them what they want and if thy end up dead then he was within his rights in any case. But like those that wanted Michael dead the idea that the interlopers might somehow survive never really occurred to him.
Imagine the look of surprise on Moreau's face when the smoke clears and the room they were in is: empty. It's only when the ninja vixen and her bunny girl companion show up to kick his ass that the idea that maybe, just maybe, the results that produced Moon Shadow could be duplicated by folks of a similar mind set to his is entertained by his brain. Of course the now transformed Wendy and Irma giving him a sound thrashing confirms this hypothesis which is why when the paramedics arrive to take him to Golgotha Hospital for treatment Moreau has the biggest, most stupidest grin on his face that you could imagine, but this is after the girls are long gone.
"My dad is gonna kill me!" Irma says as they get back Mike's recreational vehicle. "I love the feel and all..."
"You still got a place to maybe go back to," Wendy snaps back. "Mike will give me a tongue lashing, which I deserve but still, but I'm not ready to replace Maria, assuming we can't find her, he's not ready and I'm not even sure if I want to," Then she catches Irma giggling hysterically. "And what do you find damn funny out of all this?"
"I'm a bunny, you're a vixen and Mike's a wolf," Irma giggles back, "You do the furry math."
"Oh, fuck me!" Wendy yells as she laughs. "You had to point that out, didn't you, Rabbit Ears?"
"Hell yeah!" Irma shouts back. "This could be fun! I wonder what powers we got?"
"I don't know; FUCK!" Wendy screams as they get back into the recreational vehicle. "I just realized something; how am I supposed to continue as a news reporter?"
"Uh, Wendy, are your temporary?" Irma asks in all seriousness as Wendy reverts back to her normal self. "Or did you some kind of morphing ability?"
"Lemme check," Wendy goes through a bunch of personalities eventually turning into a carbon copy of Maria. "I can morph myself?" Then she turns back into a vixen. "Hmmm, in some ways I am a kitsune now. But I can't shadow walk like Mike can?" She tries diving under the Winnebago. "Nope, maybe later."
"Can you drive me to a workshop some place?" Irma asks. "I got an idea in my head."
They drive to an electronics place that Irma works at. She makes a collar that allows her to turn back into human being as long as she wears it. A dumb bunny she is not.
After dropping Irma off back at her home Wendy waits for Michael to come back and face whatever her wants to say and do to her. As expected, Mike isn't very happy with her, especially since she allowed herself to be manipulated by Irma. But he isn't about to wash his hands of her either.
Wendy goes into the office building the media company she works for owns and uses her morphing ability to fool the guard. Michael shadow walks in and together they do a few experiments of their own. As it turns out, when Wendy morphs into a human being it's not an illusion that video equipment can dispel which bodes well for her ability to keep working as herself even though she has been transformed in what she really looks like now with the fox woman form being her new default or natural form. But it is something she has to concentrate on in some fashion so that she does not revert back to the fox woman shape which will alarm people to say the least.
Once it's confirmed that she can resume her former form indefinitely, as Wendy can be quite the actress when she wants to be, her work situation is no longer in jeopardy so she can relax. However, their transformation is know to Professor Moreau and while he doesn't know who invaded his lab as both women were careful enough to hide their identities by dressing like ninjas, he does know their gender and what they turned into. So it is to Michael that he contacts to boast in away as well as complain if in facts his interlopers were in league with him.
To: [[email protected]](%5C)
From: [[email protected]](%5C)
Subj: New Playmates
I hope you enjoyed you celebrity, my friend, you won't be the sole act in our local freak show for very much long. My lab was invaded tonight, and in defense of my home I gave a pair of ladies the same gas I gave you with strikingly similar results. Depending on your orientation, you have some competition or a pair of targets for more amorous intentions. The show is about get more entertaining in any case. I wonder if we'll have clowns too in addition to the animal acts. I do so love the circus.
To: [[email protected]](%5C)
From: [[email protected]](%5C)
Subj: A Petting Zoo
This is not, at least not for you. I know I will get to pet the pretty vixen. As for the costume parade, who knows, the show has only just begun. Who the players will be in the final act has yet to be determined.
Moon Shadow
To: [[email protected]](%5C)
From: [[email protected]](%5C)
Subj: Freak Show
What an intriguing choice of terminology, if we need to give our little club a name that moniker is well worth considering. I'm not interested in the lime light as much as my lover is but there is a reason people fear the darkness. Monsters dwell there.
Glitter Shade
PS: Just for your edification: The vixen that kicked your can? That was me.
"Well, there is that light effect when you use your morphing ability," Michael teases as he gropes her breasts while looking over her shoulder. "But what will I see in my bed tonight?"
"That depends on my mood," Maria says with Wendy's voice that draws a glare from Michael that causes her to revert back to her vixen form in shame. "I'm sorry; we heed to see what happened to her.:"
"That we do," Michael says and then leads her to the bed. "But later, now I have a fox to break in."
Wendy smiles and nods as submitting to Michael is something she has done often enough. She isn't tied up but the edge of their bed she does kneel and quite willingly performs fellatio on his phallus. He keeps her hair out of her eyes as she does this and together they share a great big smile.
Once she gets him hard enough, Wendy gets on all fours on the bed with her head down and ass up to present herself for his pleasure. Michael's long schlong invades her womb, passing through the lips of her labia easily. He pounds her pussy with his penis as he has done countless times before with her.
Michael reaches around her body to grope at Wendy's breasts as he takes her with authority. Wendy moans into the pillows as she enjoys it when Mike takes her roughly. He howls when he climaxes and they both collapse onto the bed.
They lay in be in the afterglow exhausted by not only the act of lovemaking but their adventures tonight. Nox Arcana plays on Michael's iphone as they start to drift off to sleep. Just before they finally drift off, Wendy switches to Michael's playlist of exotica tunes so they can dream of more sex on Hawaii on a tiki beach.