The Feral Four File
Eighth of the Savage stories, if you conside this a story. Someone's been watching the Four and keeping careful notes. This can't possibly cause problems for anyone.
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From the files of [REDACTED], as forwarded to U.S. Special Operations Command
This file is classified SECRET and is protected by the National Secrets Act.
The Feral Four
The Feral Four are a group of animal-themed vigilantes who operate in the slaughterhouse district of Kansas City, Missouri. They are registered vigilantes in compliance with the Carson Act, based in a disused garage on Riverfront Street and Tenth.
The group consists of group leader Savage the tiger, Couatl, Ratbat and Technocoon.
_ Couatl _
Real Name : Hector Alonzo
Education : Bachelor's degree in business administration
Age: 39 Height : 6'1" Weight : 165 Hair : Black Eyes : Brown. Slender build.
Couatl form : 18' long, 25' wingspread, 260 pounds
Hector is a second generation American of Guatemalan descent. He possesses the power to turn into a version of the mythological/game based "couatl", or winged serpent. How this form relates to the Mesoamerican deity Kulkulkan/Quetzalcoatl is not known. It is possible that his meta-power to become this creature was inspired by his knowledge of either games or mythology.
In his human form Hector is a successful businessman who owns several used car dealerships, the first of which he inherited from his father. He is a divorcee with two children, a son and a daughter. His serpent form possesses brightly colored feathered wings but is otherwise white scaled, with amber, slit-pupiled eyes.
Powers: None in human form, as far as is known. In serpent form he possesses multiple powers to include at least the following:
Animal Senses: Couatl's heat sensing pits and tongue allow him to find and track opponents by body heat and scent respectively.
Flight/Levitation : Couatl can fly at roughly 60 miles per hour. He has been observed to hover in midair without flapping his wings and to carry his own weight while flying.
Intangibility and Invisibility: Couatl has been observed to pass through solid objects. It is not known if he can carry items while doing so, or pick up items while intangible. A possibly related power is his ability to fade out of sight.
Constriction and Venomous Bite : Couatl's fangs inject a powerful numbing agent which can cause paralysis. It has not been observed to be fatal. He is a strong constrictor able to easily overpower a human, but is not super-strong as far as is known.
He is large enough in serpent form to swallow a human of slight build, such as the average woman, but this is a lengthy process and is unlikely to be attempted in battle. It is thought that he cannot shift back to human form until such a meal is digested and excreted, which takes roughly two weeks.
Mental Powers: Couatl is a mind reader and has a limited ability to force his wishes upon weak-willed opponents. He can communicate with those he knows well (such as the Four) and act as a "switchboard" for secure communications within the group. He can sense unusual psionic activity in at least a city-wide area. The full extent of his mental powers is unknown, but is not thought to exceed Class 3.
Magic: Couatl is a spell caster of moderate ability. He employs protective spells to shield himself from bullets and energy weapons, and various offensive spells to attack from a distance. He often attacks while invisible. Couatl can sense magical activity much as he does psionic, save that he needs line of sight to the source.
Weaknesses: Couatl is no tougher than an actual snake of his size if his spells are not in effect, and must use warming spells to operate outside in cold weather. He has not been observed to wear protective gear like the rest of the Four, possibly because it would be impossible to adequately armor his wings.
Revealing his vigilante activities to Child Protective Services would likely cause him to lose visiting privileges. The threat of this could be used to manipulate him.
While not a habitual carnivore like Savage - he does most of his eating in human form - he does appear to have a taste for human women. If provided with secrecy and a suitable victim he might choose to feed, allowing for charges to be brought.
Ratbat (formerly "The Rat")
Real name : Gary Evans
Education : High school diploma
Age : 26 Height : 5'11" Weight : 175 pounds. Hair : Brown Eyes : Brown. Good physical condition.
Rat form: Variable size. Previously only seen as a normal-sized rat, but recently he's appeared as a rat up to, or larger than, a human.
Were-form : Roughly the same height and weight as his human form, but has the form of an anthropomorphic rat.
Gary is an unemployed store stocking clerk who now "works" full time as a member of the Feral Four. Since joining the group he has received some training in maintaining high technology equipment and is known to work "under the counter" for various local businesses, repairing electronics and doing menial work. In this manner is makes enough money to eat and pay his minimal expenses.
Powers: None known in human form, but Gary is in good physical condition and is quite strong and fast even as a human.
Were-Powers: Gary is a were-rat with the usual spectrum of powers observed in Weres.
Shape Changing: Gary can assume human, normal-sized rat (c. 1-3 pounds in weight), and hybrid (Were-rat) forms. He has recently been observed assuming non-anthropomorphic rat forms up and exceeding his normal weight. Historically this leads to larger than human hybrid forms in Weres and associated increased strength. (See: Capwolf: Powers)
Animal Senses: In feral and rat-man form, Ratbat has good night vision, hearing, and an excellent sense of smell. In human form he wears glasses to correct nearsightedness.
Super-strength: In hybrid form Ratbat is roughly five times as strong as a man of his build.
Combat Skills: Ratbat is a skilled (and still improving) hand to hand combatant with good melee weapons skills.
Weapons and gear: Originally Ratbat fought with his claws and feet, but he has recently begun using melee weapons. As of this writing he favors a straight bladed two handed sword some four feet long. He has been observed to attach a mace-like weight to his tail.
He frequently wears armor consisting of solid panels surrounded by flexible mesh. This is thought be a repurposing of gear captured from various opponents and it is known to be highly bullet resistant as well as insulated.
Regeneration: Ratbat possesses the typical Were ability to recover from nearly any injury. Only silver, which provokes an allergic reaction even when he is in human form, and certain forms of magic can cause him wounds he cannot regenerate. Even when crushed or dissolved in acid he will eventually revive as long as at least some trace of his body mass remains. There is at this time no evidence he has overcome the traditional vulnerability to silver, as some Weres eventually do, and his armor is thought to be a defense against silver bullets.
Weaknesses: Ratbat is an ardent vorarephile (see: Vorarephilia) and experiences sexual gratification from being eaten. To date he has only been eaten by Savage (see below) but it is possible he would allow another predator to eat him if the opportunity presented itself. While he regenerates back to life after being digested, it does remove him as a threat for as long as it takes his remains to exit the predator.
_ Savage the tiger _
Real name : Savage
Education : Unknown
Age : Unknown, thought to be roughly ten years old.
Tiger form: Roughly 6' tall at shoulder, 14' nose to tailtip, with an additional seven feet of tail. Over 3,500 pounds. Note: Savage's weight remains constant in all three forms.
Tiger-man form : Roughly 12' tall. Barely human build, extremely stocky.
Tiger-otter form : This is a streamlined version of his tiger form, and possesses webbed paws, a rudder-like tail and waterproof fur.
Savage is a huge, intelligent tiger. While it is common knowledge he was bred by the Chinese as part of their super-soldier program, it is known he is in fact a creation of a super-villain. Interrogation of The Professor's followers after the battle of July 17th, 2001 revealed that three such cats were created, each with different powers. See: The Professor; Sparks; Shadow.
By the time full information on his origin was gathered it was clear he meant to operate as a hero, and so he has been left to his own devices. Savage has operated as the chief protector of the Slaughterhouse district for seven years, and has been a Carson Act registrant for six.
Powers:
Shape Changing: Savage was created to be a shape changer - his original name was "Shifter" - but proved poor at it. Changing shape is difficult and painful and his other forms are not of sufficient utility to him for him to routinely alter his form. He seems unable to develop new forms or even manipulate his normal shape in small ways; for example, he's never been seen to change his paws so they work better as hands. However, changing his internal structure is easier for him and he has exerted much effort to make himself as tough as possible.
Savage is large enough to fit a human down his throat intact, and is known to swallow people whole. This is his method for "disappearing" people he thinks need to be killed without leaving evidence. He also has the ability to distend his jaws around even larger prey, and on one occasion swallowed a clone of himself intact and alive. He can turn off his stomach acids to carry someone intact, assuming they have an air supply, but is also capable of digesting nearly anything he can manage to get into his stomach. Note that stones, dirt, metal and such, while not indigestible as far as he is concerned, do not actually provide him any calories.
Animal senses: Savage has good night vision, excellent hearing, and a much better than human sense of smell.
Strength: Savage is much stronger than an actual tiger his size would be, allowing him to move with the speed an agility of a house cat. He is strong enough to pick up a car in his jaws and carry it without difficulty.
Adaptive Camouflage: Savage's fur can assume any color or pattern he wishes, which he most often uses to assume a mottled urban camouflage theme. He can also continuously change his fur color to match the background, creating functional invisibility. He can even change his thermal radiation signature so not to show up on an infrared scanner, at least for short periods of time. Even when so camouflaged his eyes and nose will show up on the thermal imaging scan. Adaptive camouflage burns many calories, and he does not use it unless needed.
It is at it weakest in bright light, since he always casts a shadow and cannot actually radiate light, which means it is functionally useless if he is silhouetted against a bright background.
Durability: Savage is an extraordinarily tough animal. His bones are at least as durable as steel, his muscles and hide are shot through with impossibly strong fibers, and a coat of tough organic scale mail lies just beneath his hide. Only anti-material or antitank weapons can do him significant injury. It is speculated that his difficulty in shape changing stems from him exerting so much effort to make himself tougher; less tough bones and hide are easier to change.
Regeneration: Savage's greatest benefit from his shape changing power is the ability to heal himself. By moving flesh around he can quickly heal minor wounds and close all but the worst ones. He also appears to be immune or highly resistant to toxins.
Weapons and gear: Savage commonly wears a saddle in which Technocoon and sometimes Ratbat ride. The saddle has a pintle mount for various weapons, to be operated by the rider. He also often wears a collar and energy shield generator (see below).
Energy Shield: Another piece of repurposed equipment, this one confiscated from the super villain Tanker. This beer-keg-sized generator produces a conformal energy shield around him that can absorb energy and deflect rapidly moving projectiles. It has no effect on objects moving less than a hundred miles an hour.
Weaknesses : Using active camouflage, shape changing, or especially healing himself uses up so much of his body's resources that he needs to eat to replenish them.
A penetrating weapon designed to both piece his energy shield and embed itself in his body would create a wound impossible to heal, even for him.
Savage is known to devour certain criminals, especially rapists. While the local police and even the government have ignored this behavior, since he limits himself to people who would most likely be executed anyway, charges could be brought without much difficulty should the need arise. In addition, he evidently fed on little but humans while in the Professor's service. While prosecuting him for this would be difficult, releasing the information would damage his reputation greatly.
As the only one of his kind Savage is prone to loneliness, and has struck up relationships with several female humans over the years. (See: Jaguaress). We could connect him with a suitable female agent and thus manipulate him, though Couatl's mental powers would need to be taken into account.
His habit of eating stray dogs, and also gassed dogs from the animal shelter, could be used to direct protestors against him.
Technocoon (formerly "Bandit")
Real name : Matt Abrams
Education : Master's degree in electrical engineering
Age : 29 Height : 5'8" Weight : 145 pounds. Hair: Brown-Blond Eyes: Hazel. Good physical condition.
Raccoon form: Variable from ~20 pounds to ~145 pounds.
Were-form : 5'1", 125 pounds.
Technocoon is the group's technology guru and is responsible for most of the improvements in the Four's gear over the last two years. Bitten by a rabid (and Were-infected) raccoon as a teenager, the rabies was treated but the therianthropy was not. Somewhat withdrawn, but very intelligent individual who is easily capable of supporting himself in relative luxury, yet he devotes time to the Four. Recently spending more time in were-form.
Powers: None in human form, but is in good physical condition for a man of his size and age.
Were-Powers: Were-raccoons differ from most Weres in that the focus of their transformation is not increased strength, but rather increased intelligence. In human form he is very intelligent, and this is greatly enhanced in were-form.
Shape Changing: He can assume human, raccoon, and hybrid (were-raccoon) forms. Has very quickly developed the ability to vary the size of his raccoon form up to that of his human form. Historically, feral form size variation in Weres is a precursor to larger, stronger were-forms, but there is no sign of this as yet.
Animal Senses: In feral and raccoon-man form he has good night vision, hearing, and an excellent sense of smell. Absolutely outstanding manual dexterity and touch sensitivity in all raccoon forms.
Super-strength: In hybrid form he is roughly twice as strong as a man of his build.
Combat Skills: Moderately skilful hand to hand combatant, but relies on equipment in combat.
Regeneration: Typical Were ability to recover from nearly any injury. Once recovered from being swallowed and digested by a T-Rex, regenerating back from its droppings. Vulnerable to silver, as per the norm.
Weapons and gear: Body armor, sometimes powered; energy and projectile weapons from handgun size up to weapons pintle-mounted on Savage's saddle. Occasionally employes a War of the Worlds style three legged walker large enough to transport one person. Uses a personal jet-pack with far more flight endurance than commonly available models. Considerable access to gear pilfered from various super villain lairs, and has the skill to modify them at need.
Weaknesses: Matt works at a DARPA affiliate in the city. His job overlaps so closely with the work he does freelance for the Four that it is almost certain some connection (and charges) related to conflict of interest, industrial espionage, or national security could be made.
He has recently begun a relationship with a non-vigilante human woman. Their sexual habits, which involve Technocoon's non-anthropomorphic raccoon form, allow for the possibility of levying bestiality charges. As with all sapient animals this is a gray area, but would at least greatly inconvenience him.