Uncanny Wolfsbane

Chapter 1: Hunter's Moon- Part 1

By

The Uncanny R-Man

Disclaimer- All familiar characters belong to Marvel Comics.

Salem Centre-

It was a typically grey night in Salem Centre. It had just recently been raining and puddles still dotted the ground. Most people had decided to stay inside and shelter from the rain.

Mr McLeod, the owner of McLeod's Jewellery, had decided to finish early and head on home. It had been a slow day and he really wanted to get home to his wife.

McLeod had stood up on a stool to activate the burglar alarm by the door. He would have to leave through the back door.

A trio of men barged into the store, almost sending Mr McLeod tumbling off the stool on which he was perched.

'Hey, watch it!' Mr McLeod snapped at the man. 'What're you trying to do, kill me?'

'Not unless you do as we tell you.' The guy in charge answered as he pulled a gun on Mr McLeod. 'Don't go and do anything dumb like call the cops, okay?'

Mr McLeod simply nodded silently and moved back to let the goons go on with their business. Jewellery could always be replaced, his life not so much.

'Wow, look at all this stuff…' A second goon grinned as he smashed open a glass case with a hammer. 'How much do you think this haul's gonna make us?'

'Now ain't the time to do the math.' The head goon replied, his gun still aimed at Mr McLeod. 'Count it when we get back. Just snatch what you can and get outta here.'

The other two goons did as their boss told them and grabbed hands full of diamond necklaces and golden rings. Once they had filled up their bags, they headed back to their boss.

'Thanks for the cooperation, old man.' The lead goon nodded, before clubbing Mr McLeod over the head with the butt of his gun. 'Let's get outta here.' He ordered his minions. 'It's only a matter of time before somebody sees us and calls the cops.'

The trio of goons dashed out to their getaway vehicle and leapt inside. No sooner had the engine started up when something large and heavy dropped onto the roof.

'What the…?' The goon in charge growled. 'Get out there and see what it is.'

'But boss…' The third goon gulped. 'What if it's Spider-Man or something?'

'It ain't gonna be Spider-Man, ya doofus.' The second goon rolled his eyes. 'He's in Manhattan. We're in Salem Centre. If we bump into anybody it's gonna be the X-Men.'

The second goon then realised what he had just said.

'Aww crap, it's the X-Men.' The goon grimaced. 'We are dead meat, man! Dead meat! That Wolverine's a freaking psycho! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!'

The boss was just about to tell his lackey to quit his whining when whatever it was that had dropped onto the roof punched right through and grabbed him by the collar.

The two other goons just gawked in fear at the grey furry hand that pulled their boss out of the car.

'Oh God, no!' The boss yelled. 'No, please! NOOOOOO!!'

'Let's get outta here!' Thug number three screamed as he leapt out of the door. Their was no saving the boss, he was most probably being devoured by whatever it was that had pulled him out of the car.

Goon number two stopped running and turned back whatever it was that had grabbed the boss. What he saw chilled him to the bone. It was some sort of half-man half-wolf creature and it looked like it was just about to bite the head off their boss. The goon didn't hesitate as he ran as fast as he could to try and catch up with his partner.

The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, the next morning-

Not surprisingly, the aborted robbery on McLeod's had made the morning news. Trish Tilby was reporting from in front of the store with a bemused-looking Mr McLeod.

'I don't get it…' Mr McLeod said. 'The last thing I remember was getting clobbered, then waking up to find that somebody had returned everything that the thieves had stolen. It was all there. Right down to the smallest diamond.'

'What do you think of claims that the person that thwarted the thieves was some sort of werewolf vigilante?' Ms Tilby asked. 'This is the third attack on thieves in a week. Do you think this could be some sort of trend?'

'Heck, it's not like that's the weirdest thing that's happened here.' Mr McLeod shrugged. 'We've got the X-Men living just up the road. Say, didn't you used to date one of them? What was his name…? The big blue guy…'

Trish Tilby turned from Mr McLeod an looked straight into the camera, swiftly changing the subject.

'This is Trish Tilby reporting from Salem Centre, back to you, Evan.'

Sitting watching the news report were Rahne Sinclair and her family. Her techno-organic husband Warlock, her three children Moira, Seth, and Doug, her foster mother Moira MacTaggart, and Sean Cassidy, Moira's partner. They all turned to regard Rahne.

'What? Ye dinnae seriously think that I was the one that beat up those thugs, do ye?' Rahne scoffed. 'Pull the other one! I was here all night, remember?'

'You have to admit that it looks pretty suspicious, honey.' Warlock explained. 'Who knows what sort of thing goes on once we fall asleep?'

'Did you really beat up the baddies, mummy?' Little Moira looked up at her mother.

'Did you kill them, mummy?' Seth asked. 'Huh? Did you?'

'I didn't beat anybody up!' Rahne threw her hands up in exasperation. 'I already told ye, I was here all night! Check the security cameras if ye dinnae believe me!'

'If ye are no' the one behind it, then who was?' Moira Senior wondered.

'Remember a few years ago when there were rumours about some sort of werewolf roaming San Francisco?' Sean thought out loud. 'What if he's upped sticks and come here?'

'It cannae be him.' Rahne shook her head. 'That werewolf killed or maimed his victims, and these hardly had a scratch on them.'

'Well, I guess we'd better look into this then.' Warlock shrugged. 'We can't have anybody stealing your shtick, can we honey?'

Elsewhere-

Unfortunately, Rahne and her family weren't the only ones that had been watching the news. Kraven the Hunter was taking particular interest in the news broadcast as well. This wasn't the original Kraven, however. He was long gone. This Kraven was Alyosha Kravinoff, illegitimate son of the original. Alyosha had decided to follow in the footsteps of the father he hardly knew. He had encountered Spider-Man several times, but had grown tired of the Wall-Crawler and decided to move on to different prey.

Alyosha picked up a pair of tongs and used them to inspect the latest batch of silver bullets that he had just created.

'Heh. To think I never use to believe in all that werewolf nonsense.' The son of Kraven chuckled to himself as he examined one silver bullet. 'Why not Frankenstein's Monster or Dracula?'

Once the silver bullets had sufficiently cooled, Alyosha loaded them into a hunting rifle.

'Perhaps after all this I should consider a job hunting mythological beasts.' Alyosha mumbled to himself as he slung the rifle over his shoulder. 'I wonder if there's such a thing as a hydra…'

TBC…

Next: Hunter's Moon- Part 2

Who is this werewolf vigilante? Will Rahne be able to discover his true identity? What about Kraven the Hunter? Will he be able to catch his prey? Tune in next time to find out…