It had been weeks; solid, back breaking, mind altering weeks. Approaching a whole month as the days went on and it neared day 30. The sun slowly went down passed the horizon, behind the tall buildings of New York City. Every night, she dawned a new form.
The night before, she took the form of a crow. The night before, it was a common alley cat, and the night before, a simple lizard. Tonight, it was a sewer rat.
The small rodent was perched on the ledge of a tall building, it's gleaming gold eyes casting out throughout all of the city as a familiar scent carried in the air. A little hiss of protest left the creature as she scurried away and hid behind a trash can, waiting for the scent to pass as she hid amongst the rubbish to mask her own scent. After minutes passed, the scent dissipated and she scurried out of the musky trash bag, licking her small paws and rubbing them over the top of her head to attempt to clean herself.
As her paws ran down her floppy ears, she heard the familiar pounding of strong feet on the rooftops nearby. She carefully scurried across the concrete roof to the ledge and peered down, sniffing the air cautiously. It was them.
Every night, she has come to watch them. To observe them and make a concrete decision; if they were worthy to be trusted and... If they could save her life.
The figures cloaked in the darkness came to a skidding halt at the tall apartment building as the one she has come to know as the leader knelt down and ran his three fingered hand across something in the base of the roof.
She cursed herself and noticed that they were left from her fight last night. Large, claw marks that resembled those of a large jungle cat.
"Do you think it was Tiger Claw?" Her ears twitched as the second in command, the brash one spoke. His strong, muscular hands went for the glinting weapons on his belt.
"No... Tiger Claw has blasters and not the best aim... There would be scorch marks."
She slowly crawled across the power line and sat down on the ledge of the roof and watched them.
The little one, with a lighter green color, and kind, bright eyes, looked over his shoulder and noticed where she was. The rat perked up on her hind legs and chirped into the night.
"Hey... Guys come here," He slowly approached her and she made no move to scurry away like any other rodent faced with a larger creature would. "Check out this little guy."
"Mikey, it's just a rat. Focus." The leader snipped a little as he rubbed his fingertips together thoughtfully.
The rat in question, chirped and her whiskers twitched a little as she seemed to almost be trying to communicate with him in her current state. The larger creature, on the other hand, seemed to be very receptive.
"Wait... Donnie, do rats usually have gold eyes?"
"No, Mikey. Rats usually have red eyes." The one that responded seemed very annoyed with this question.
"Then... why does this one have gold eyes?" He seemed to be very frightened by this and slowly backed away from her. The rat chirped at him desperately and jumped down from the ledge.
He shrieked in fear and scooted backwards towards the other three. She chirped a little louder and began jumping up and down on all fours, her small body wiggling in a sense of pure anxiety and fear.
"Mikey, what the heck is wrong with you? It's a rat!" The brash older one snapped and kicked the younger one in the back of his shell to get him away.
"T...That's no ordinary rat." The taller one spoke and slowly knelt down in front of the rat and watched as she chirruped louder and scampered over to him, digging her claws into his leg and crawling up, perching herself on his knee pad. "Look at it's eyes... They look... Human."
The rat chirped louder and started jumping up and down at this before scampering off his leg and to the ground.
"Guys..." All of them turned around as a black, thick smoke surrounded the rat and soon, she was completely shrouded in it, obscured from their vision. Where she once stood, they saw a tall, human figure slowly stand, clouded by the dark, black smog. Before long, they saw bright, golden, shining eyes, most definitely belonging to a female human being.
The smoke cleared and she was dressed in a black out suit, her black hair a complete mess and covering her face like a crazed homeless person. She carried no weapons, nor did she look like the fighting type. But her body was lean, and covered in taught muscle. But what they saw was the bruise on her left eye and marks around her neck.
They made no reach for their weapons; only stood there and stared.
She spoke softly, almost like it hurt to speak. "Y..You must h...help me..." It was a thick, deep accent. One that originated in Scotland.
"Who the heck are you?" The leader spoke in a confused, but threatening tone.
"Please... Leonardo... You must... They are coming," She spoke a little harsher, which was just above a whisper as she smelt the familiar scent of her enemy.
"How do you know his name? Who are you and what are you-"
"There you are..." The deep, hiss of a male voice behind them made the brash male cease his accusing tone. "Oh, darling... I love these chases of ours... But you must be tired..."
The male dressed from head to toe in a dark brown uniform with a red sash tied around his hips reached behind him and removed a long, glinting sword. "Allow me to... tuck you in."
The four creatures immediately reached for their weapons, ready to fight. But when they looked to the female, they saw that familiar black smoke. And before their very eyes, what was once a human was now a black, muscle bulging wolf with sharp talons and fangs and let out a loud snarl of rage.
"Oh, a little doggie... How cute." The wolf in question growled louder before she ran on all fours towards the assailant, brandishing her claws at the man. But with a swift step to the side and a spin of his sword, he slammed the butt of his weapon into the wolf's side, making her drop and hit the ledge of the roof, letting out a loud yelp of pain and digging her claws into the roof.
The wolf snarled with anger and slowly lifted herself up onto her legs again before her eyes started to glow and the smoke returned. The male swung the blade of his sword through the smoke but when it came in contact with something very solid, the vibration he felt from the folded steel resonated through the handle and he dropped it. In the wolf's place, now stood a 15 foot tall Caribou. The blade embedded itself into the antler of the creature who let out a loud whinny like noise and stamped her hooves onto the concrete of the roof, making it shake under the sudden pressure and large creature. The man growled and tried reaching for his weapon but the large caribou stomped on the blade and it shattered under the weight.
Before the two had a chance to react, something came hurdling for the man's face. The large, blunt wooden staff hit him right in the jaw and he slid across the concrete. He quickly jumped up and the four, formidable figures stood around the large reindeer as she snorted in anger, hot steam leaving her nostrils.
"And then there were five..." With a loud shout, he leaped off the roof. The leader ran to the side of the roof where he looked over and expected to see something but the man was just... gone.
"Who was that guy?"
"Uh... Leo..." The tall creature spoke as the caribou dropped down on her left, front knee and the smoke shrouded her instantly. The smoke cleared and the human female lay on the concrete, shaking with pain as she reached for her side and tears streamed down her face as she whispered one more time.
"Help me..."