I dreamed this. No joke; I am dead serious. And in it, I was the wolf-man thing. I'm not sure what this says about me.
He's not sure what it is. And that is the most unsettling part, that he's passed the stage of thinking 'its just a costume, just a trick, its too dark to see with my goggles gone because...
I-
Cant-
Be seeing-
This.
But he's past the point of caring and is well into the territory of mind numbing terror; the kind that the mouse had just before the owl swooped down. Another roar, and he saw his partner fly past him to land somewhere among the aisles of the darkened theater; obscured by plush red velvet chairs.
They had chased this man into the old-fashioned theater; and he still remembered the odd way the guy was smiling when they'd come in after him. He still remembered stalking carefully in the dark section behind the movie screen, dimly lit by the flickering shadows of the projector on the other side.
He still remembered yelling in shock when a too-big hand had come down out of nowhere and ripped his goggles off, while another had grabbed him and flung him like a rag doll through the flimsy screen.
The audience had been really confused then; and then they had stood up in excitement when they realized who it was. There had even been a smattering of applause and a few whoops, which turned to cheers when the 'villain' arrived. They, like him, had thought that they were seeing a new costumed villain on the block; a new guy going for the feral-werewolf theme.
He had smiled; revealing unsettlingly realistic teeth and the excited cheers turned to screams of horror when he used them on his audience. Those teeth were real. Very real.
And he didn't have any silver bullets.
Daniel was now scrambling backwards, unable to run after the monster had broken his leg so it flopped uselessly; all he could do was drag himself across the floor, painfully slow.
The bastard knew it; taking his time to walk over to him, idly scratching at his belly. He jumped the last few feet, pouncing on Daniel like he was a mouse and looming over him; baring his teeth in a parody of a smile. And now he was pinned, unable to do a single damn thing as it leaned down, muzzle inches from his face.
He grimaced and squirmed in disgust when it licked him, right on the lips, like some grotesque kiss. He gagged and it drew back, still 'smiling', and he made a muffled scream when it lunged down again, the toothy maw closing over his mouth, his nose, and he couldn't breathe-
He sucked in lungful of clear air when the monster was suddenly knocked off of him; and was greeted with the sight of his partner clinging weakly to one of the theater's chairs, holding his discharged grappling gun in one shaking hand. He looked to the other side, and there was the...thing.
It was hurt, badly hurt. The grappling hook had smashed into the side of its face, and he could see a deep dent in its skull, and one of its madly glittering eyes was completely obliterated.
"Only...playing." And now Daniel was hearing it speak, and god, how could it do that with a mouth so inhuman and jaw knocked loose by the grappling gun-
"Only playing." It repeated, and its voice was deep and grating, yet it somehow sounded whiney, and petulant, like a child whose game had been spoiled. It slumped down, and the eyes dimmed, and thankfully, it seemed that silver bullets wouldn't be needed. Blunt force trauma to the head would do.
He sat up, shuddering under the blank stare, but thankfully it didn't pull any movie monster stunts like getting up to finish eating/molesting his face.
"Rorschach?" He gasped, ignoring his useless, painful leg to drag himself over to his partner.
"Ribs." He wheezed. "Broken. Punctured lung. Need...hospital."
"Oh god." Daniel hissed. "F-fuck."
They were able to make it to the Owl ship-barely-and he had to help his partner strip off the costume; and thank god he kept spare clothes in the ship, never mind they were too big. He slipped an oxygen mask over his partner's head; hoping it would help with his obvious difficulty breathing. He is barely able to limp to the hospital's front doors, though, reporting a 'mugging victim' and has to watch, distressed, as his nearly unconscious friend is wheeled away on a gurney.
The next morning; the news is...odd. It covered the incident, with many a hysterical telling from witnesses about 'The Wolf Man' but Daniel realizes, with growing horror, that there is one thing missing.
The body of the 'dead' wolf man.
"Shit."