Note: This is it guys... the next chapter will be the finale... focussing on three major events... so stay tuned... enjoy this chapter... and prepare for the end.

Chapter 9: Combative Engagement

Growling and howling, the Beast storms through the streets of Philadelphia on all fours, leaping onto the roofs of oncoming traffic, the force of each leap denting the steel roofs of each vehicle, ultimately causing a turbulent traffic jam. Storming at high speed on all fours, it's difficult not to witness his extempore appearance, with the mere sight of him sending the passed civilians scrambling for security, with some people stopping to film the strange encounter, another beastly howl causes the remnants of the crowd to join the clamber for safety and protection. As he continues his journey further through the streets, he locates police helicopters flying in the distance, no doubt searching for him, either him or the shooter's he himself is hunting like the cowardly prey they are, the Beast's hopes stand with the later. The Beast leaps onto a nearby parked car and stands up straight, leaving himself out in the open, vulnerable, exposed, and hoping the shooter will take quite literally another shot at killing him. The enthusiasm from the tension begins to take over, causing the Beast to maniacally shriek and slam his fists against his chest. He begins screaming at the top of his lungs, egging on the chaos around him, only to be silenced by the sudden impact of a bullet to the same weakened cheek, violently knocking him from the roof of the vehicle, slamming him to the ground at such force, the cemented ground crumbles under his weight. After a long and processive moment, the Beast slowly rises from the broken rubbled cement, groaning in discomfort with his hands caressing the large revived but re-regenerating wound on his cheek, only to spit out the extra large bullet that entered his mouth onto the ground. Regardless of the extreme physical strain, he'd suffered by the impact of a fourth bullet, the Beast focuses on the direction the bullet came from once more, feeling himself recover within a few extra seconds, the endured discomfort now replaced with unrivalled rage.
"YOU FOOL! I CANNOT DIE! BUT YOU CAN!" The Beast roars, chuckling as he wipes the blood from his cheek. "I'm coming for you."


"Casey! Listen to us, please! You're still hurt, you may have a concussion and if that's the case you'll need some medical attention," Jeffrey advises, calling out a furiously fixed Casey, who speed walks towards a group of gathering police officers, her mind focussing on the police officers' distant statements rather than her foster parents. She knows what she wants to do, no, what she needs to do, and she won't let anybody or anything get in the way of that, as much as she loves them, not even they will stop her. "CASEY!"
"WHAT! None of you understands what that man means to me, how much the thought, the idea of him getting hurt out there, or worse, killed, hurts me inside! I love you to the bottom of my heart, but guys, you don't have a fucking clue what Kevin means to me, what we've gone through together. So many transitions; the first time I ever met him, the real him, in order to protect me from that thing that currently has control of his body, he told me to kill him. Our very first interaction, he made me promise to kill him, all so he could protect me, a fucking stranger, from the bloody, cannibalistic hands of that creature, but everyone continues to see him as a monster, nobody knows him the way I know him. So, yes, I'm going to get out there, track him down and make sure he doesn't kill fucking killed out there. You can either get in the car and follow me, or I'll see you at home after all this is over and we'll argue then, the choice is yours."
"Casey!" Isabelle screams as Casey turns away from them, causing her to reluctantly halt in place. "Please, be safe, you're our daughter, we love you and we want you safe and home as soon as you can be."
"I will be, Mom and Dad, I promise, thank you for letting me do this. I'll be home as soon as I can be, just as you said."

Jeffrey and Isabelle watch as Casey runs towards the police officers, who are now splitting into different groups, entering various police vehicles in a rush, some driving away straight away, while others seem to be awaiting further instructions. Casey calls out to one of the police cars, waving her arms to ensure she's noticed by the police officers, seemingly exhilarated to be noticed by one of the officers, who rolls down the window.
"Can I help you, M- Wait, you're Casey Cooke?! What are you doing here Miss Cooke?! You should get off the streets, all civilians are being ordered to evacuate the streets and seek shelter immediately, that Beast bastard is out there, just seriously injured a heap of our fellow Officers, that means you too."
"Just hear me out first! I know the direction the Beast went and if you give me a chance to look, I'll be able to find, I'm always able to find him. I can lead you to him, just only if you promise you're not going to hurt him."
"We'll do what we must to put him back in cuffs, but right now what you can do for us is point us in the right direction and seek shelter, we have our orders and so do you."
"Get out of here while you still can, Miss, only God knows how many people that thing is going to hurt, we don't need any more blood on our consciences."
"No, I'm coming with you, I know how to track him down, and I know how to stop him," Casey hisses, noticing that the officers are about to interrupt her once more. "Just fucking listen to me, okay?! I can you lead you to him and I'm the one and only chance you have at stopping him without needing to kill him. Trust the woman who shot him twice point blank with a shotgun and just witnessed him spit out a bullet from a sniper, he doesn't die, but he doesn't have to. Please, give me a chance, that's all I ask."
"Hm, alright, you've caught our attention, get in the car and guide us to him, but when shit goes down and it probably will, you have to stay out our way. Is that clear, Miss Cooke?"
"Yes, yes, yes! Thank you, thank you!" Casey says eagerly, opening the car door and swiftly sliding into the only spare seat before buckling her seatbelt. "Let's go, he's headed that way!"

"So, are we heading home or are we going to follow her?" Jeffrey asks, glancing at Isabelle with troubled eyes. "We're going to follow her, aren't we?"
"You're damn right we're going to follow her, not only are we going to follow her, but we're going to do whatever we can to help Kevin."
"Why in the world would we ever do that?" Jeffrey questions, raising an eyebrow. "After everything, he's done?"
"Because, our daughter is in love with him, and what type of parents would we be if didn't do everything we could to help the man our daughter loves? I don't know about you, Jeff, but I do believe everything she's told us about him, it's sad to say that most people would believe it's simply Stockholm Syndrome, but not me, I couldn't believe that if I wanted to. After everything our dear Casey has gone through, her mind remains to be strong, firm and assertive, she knows what she wants, what she needs and who she loves," Isabelle explains, glancing back at her husband. "Do you have the keys?"
"Yeah, I got them, what's our course of action, I mean, we should have a plan, right?"
"We'll head to the car and follow them as close as we possibly can, where they go, we go, where they stop, we stop too, and if it comes to it, hopefully, it doesn't, but it does, we'll use the gun in the car to protect ourselves, the police officers, Casey and even Kevin. Clear?"
"Crystal clear."
"Let's go then, we have no time to waste," Isabelle says, leading her husband towards the car, both of them running as fast as they can. "No time to waste at all."


The Beast enters a one-way alley-way at high speed, charging towards the wall before leaping an incredible leap, scaling a third of the wall before impact, his hands and feet easily seizing onto his wall, allowing him to swiftly ascend up the wall while bystanders watch, some still filming his activities. Reaching the top of the wall, the Beast yanks himself upwards, boosting himself onto the rooftop where he continues his charge, using his speed and agility to spring from rooftop to rooftop. Each spring finds himself closer and closer to his prey, and within a couple of minutes of running on all fours, he begins to notice figures in black on a distant rooftop, five figures to be exact, and they way they stand still indicates something that puts a smile on the Beast's face; they can see him too.
"Finally, justice is to be served accordingly. I AM COMING FOR YOU!"
Roaring at the top of his lungs, the Beast storms ahead, with each jump covering more and more ground, the very sight causing the strangers to fire rifles towards him, with most, if not all bullets managing to mark him, indicating some dangerous accuracy. The closer he gets to them, the more desperate they're seeming to become, but their fear only goes so far, with the strangers retaining their near-perfect accuracy regardless, the bullets nipping at his chest, stomach and even his face. In a swift motion, the Beast tears an air conditioning unit and throws it towards the strangers, causing them to desperately scatter for safety, giving the Beast the opening he needed to attack. Charging and leaping one last time, the Beast prepares himself for the destruction of these cowards, which he should do without breaking a sweat.

Reshaping the roof with his landing, the Beast wastes no time with his attacks, clutching onto the throat of one of the strangers before violently throwing him across the rooftop and into another air conditioning unit, a sickening crunch following the contact. Unholstering a handgun the next stranger fires into the Beast's chest, causing one of the bullets to ricochet and backfire, striking the stranger in the head and killing him instantly, allowing the Beast to toss the body aside and move onto the next targets. Before the next targets can reach the firearms scattered across the rooftop, the Beast takes action once more, slamming one of the strangers head into the ground, knocking her unconscious if not giving her serious brain damage. The Beast then seizes and hurls the fourth stranger off of the rooftop, watching as a fire escape luckily catches the stranger, however, the force knocks him motionless, leaving only the Beast and the fifth and final, who is much larger; taller, built like a powerhouse and visibly wearing less physical protection in comparison to the others. Besides the stranger lays an enormous M107 Barrett .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle and a much smaller suppressed Subsonic .308 Sniper Rifle; the first weapon is the source of his horrific bruising while the second, the weapon that made an attempt on his life the moment he stepped from the Court.
"So you're the legendary Beast I've heard so much about, huh? I thought you'd be bigger, but you're definitely the one I've been looking for you," the stranger chuckles, slowly pulling a large knife from a holster on his belt. "You were a hard man to find, Kevin, you know that? You should be proud of that, you masked yourself quite well and you capped your tracks even better than you masking, at least that was until you were simple-minded enough to turn yourself into the police willingly, ever since your turning we've been watching you, waiting for the correct time to eliminate you permanently. You're a bundle of things, Crumb, and tenacious is most definitely one of those things, I finally got the drop on you, shooting you in the chest and in the god damned face, yet you abruptly reveal an ability that wasn't in your profile; regenerative healing? I knew you were tough, Crumb, but I was unaware you were this tough, I've killed beings like yourself and David Dunn most of my life, don't take this personally, it's just business."
"You tried to kill Kevin? You tried to kill the others?! YOU TRIED TO KILL ME?!" The Beast growls, the veins on his body pulsating violently. "I'm going to kill you and slowly."
"No, I don't believe you are, I'd tell you my name, but there's no point, you're about to die."

The Beast launches himself towards the stranger, hurling a punch at high speed, watching as the stranger hastily catches the vicious punch, holding his shaking fist in place.
"You're not the apex predator, Crumb, I am," the stranger laughs, hurling the Beast's own fist into his face, only to hurl his own fist into the jaw of the Beast, the force causing the Beast to become dazed. For the Beast, each punch feels like he's being hit by two Overseers, which could be to due to a variety of factors, considerably, the age of his opponent, the Overseer is an older man, while the stranger appears to be in peak physical condition. As the Beast abruptly discovered, peak physical condition is only an advantage if a strategy is implemented alongside it. A kick to the Beast's waist causes him to sling backwards, allowing the stranger to grab onto the .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle and fire into his stomach, knocking the Beast face first into the ground, leaving an indentation on the rooftop. As the stranger slowly paces towards his target, the Beast rises from the indented ground of the rooftop, his eyes staring at the blackened bruising that gradually heals overtime, only to be caught by the grasp on the stranger, his attacker smirking mockingly at him. "You can't beat me, Crumb, not the way you fight, I match your agility, your endurance, your strength and your durability to an extent, as for my intelligence and overall knowledge in combative strategies, we've only scratched the surface."
"I think we've spent more than enough time on this rooftop, don't you think? That and the rifle takes too long to load, you'll sure get the drop on me, so, I'll see you down there, Crumb!"

Without warning, the stranger forces the Beast off of the rooftop, observing and harkening the vicious impact the Beast endures, but regardless of the collision, the Beast finds himself out of his dazed state, focussing back onto the fight; now he knows he can't underestimate his opponent, that feral, brute strength can't be the one and only strategy he implements. It's time to turn the tide of the fight, it's either that, or he'll perish at the hands of this stranger. The Beast stares around his surroundings, examining every aspect of the alley, everything we can use as a weapon, everything he can take cover behind, every way he can outsmart his opponent, everything that could possibly give him an edge, even if it's slight. That's when the stranger calls out to him."
"You look lonely down there! Don't worry, I'll be right with you!" The stranger beckons before leaping off of the rooftop and landing into the alley, joining the Beast with a grin on his face. "Much better, right?"
"You talk too much," the Beast growls, breathing heavily as he tenses up.
"Oh, do I now? Allow me to get straight to business then."
The stranger hurls a duo of fists at high speed, executing a double punch, only to have each fist caught and gripped tightly, allowing the Beast to throw the stranger over his shoulders and speeding into one of the solid brick walls, causing a large chunk to tear off. The stranger groans in ache before chuckling in amusement, re-winding his neck and causing it to crack in relief as he slowly finds himself to his feet, that grin still glued to his face.
"That actually hurt, as much as I wanted to lie about that being pleasant, it wasn't, you're the first person in years to make me feel any form of injury. Of course, I've never had the luxury of being shot by one of those bullets I've shot you three times with, fuck me, three times now? You must be getting quite sick of it by now, though, I have no doubt if you can handle it, I could handle it, you see, normal bullets won't work on me, not in a traditional sense. I may not be as bulletproof to an extent that bullets bounce off of me like you, Crumb, but I'm tolerably bulletproof, when the police inevitably arrive, you'll see that soon enough. Now that I'm slowly finding back on track and out of a bewildered state, I have present for you," the stranger says, slowly revealing a small sphere-shaped grenade from his vest.
"That pathetic grenade won't take me down."
"No, it's not meant to kill you, in fact, I would never give it the chance of taking that satisfaction from me, no, this is meant for a much greater and more entertaining purpose; slowing you down," the stranger chuckles, watching as the Beast's eyes become shallow as he flicks the pin from the grenade. "Beware of the light."