Chapter 10: Changes
((Author's Note: while I try to keep the violence to a PG-13 level in this story, things get a little more intense in this chapter when it comes to an antagonist getting defeated. Please be advised heading in, and thank you for reading!))
Fur pricked at her eyes, with how wide they were stretched. Conner stayed hooked on those claws, while she slumped uselessly on the ground. This was how it had happened before. Being useless while people around her bled.
The newest cut burned at her thoughts, leaving them feverish and out of phase. The present didn't feel as pressing as it should have, and her mind drifted.
She'd made it into her bedroom, into a small refuge from the chaos. Except now her mother was calling her to dinner, and she wasn't sure how to explain a still healing shoulder and bloody clothes. The best she could do was throw a jacket and jeans on, ignoring the left over summer heat trapped in the house.
At least that gave her motivation to get to where the AC was. The kitchen felt like another safe haven, thanks to the bright lights. The night's dinner was still sharp in her nose, roasted meat and stewed vegetables fresh out of the pot and oven. The rest of her family, Marie and Gar, were already seated at the table.
It was serene. Safe... save for the howling that ghosted in from outside. Her mother and brother both straightened up too slowly, not sure of what the sound meant. Megan herself twisted fast on her heel towards the sound. The breath halted in her body, right as her gaze met a pair of eerie, dark blue eyes staring in at her from the kitchen window.
Blue eyes. Just like the ones that had glimmered over Megan a split second before teeth crunched down across her collarbone.
"Megan?" Her mother didn't see the eyes, but she DID pick out how Megan went still in the doorway, and the color drained out of her face.
She should have been able to escape them, not bring the monsters back to her home.
"What's-?"
Marie didn't get the chance to ask what was wrong, before something hit the door with a massive SLAM. The door rattled in its frame, and it felt like everything in the house jumped; Megan knew she managed to get a clear foot in the air, and her mother leapt out of her seat. Before she could reach for anything, the door strained against its hinges again as something pounded on the other side.
The walls shuddered from the force, and dishes and plates so carefully set up on shelves fell to the floor. The wires running through the walls didn't hold up any better, as the lights shorted out, replaced with erratic flickers as the door gave one last groan before bursting down.
Something lurched through the new opening on four limbs. Its ears pricked forward, all the fur along its neck up and lips curled up to show teeth.
"GET BACK!" Marie's voice cut in as she pushed herself in front of Megan. She brandished a kitchen knife, for all the good it would do against those giant teeth, and didn't flinch from the rumble in the thing's throat.
The monster stepped through the broken plates as though they were nothing more than dead leaves underfoot. Megan kept her eyes on the pale creature, until the window burst open in a hail of glass shards.
Her mother turned, too slow to bring the knife up as a dark form plowed into her. Claws and teeth flashed in the shorted out kitchen light. Her home flickered, faded, came back in with a sudden splash of red in the air.
The lights grew a little stronger, showing a broken body leaning against the kitchen counter, barely holding herself up. The claw marks sunk into Marie's shoulder looked like they'd come from a bear, mauling skin and muscle as she slumped against the surface, slack in shock.
The dark creature ignored Marie, now that she'd been torn up. Instead it and the pale one advanced on Megan and Gar. Her little brother stood in front of her, arms out and pale in the face. The two monsters looked ready to tear through him next, to get to her.
'Not my home.' She felt her eyes dilating. Rage clouded up in her chest and throat, so thick that she couldn't breathe. 'Not my family.'
The darker wolf snapped forward, teeth skimming over Gar's shirt and drawing blood, adding to red caking the monster's claws. Megan snapped a hand around Gar and pulled him away before he received another bite.
She moved forward to guard him as her muscles writhed in time to the blood pounding in her head. The wolves circled in response, claws clicking on the red stained kitchen floor.
The lights flickered out again, right as they both leapt at her. The smaller wolf slammed into her legs, while the dark one launched itself and slammed into her shoulders and stomach with all four paws. Megan winced as she hit and slid along the floor, carried almost to the door. Her cuts reopened as they dragged along the tile, and both animals stayed on top of her. Claws pricked at her shoulder, while the two creatures loomed over her again, showing two familiar sets of teeth inches from her nose.
Those teeth looked ready to close around her throat, and the claws ripped at her shoulder the same way they'd torn into Marie's arm-
Her mother. They'd tracked her down and torn into her family.
It felt like she burst out of her skin, with a shriek melding into a snarl. Anger churned her thoughts and pounded them into a red, hazy mush. Her hands looked weird as they smashed into the white maw above her, too long at the ends and oddly gnarled. Her entire arm trailed wisps of white-
And she didn't care about any of that. Just about getting those monsters away from her family. Her other hand flashed up, ignoring any tears in it and slamming into the dark wolf's shoulder. Her fingers dug into the limb and face as she twisted up from the floor. They suddenly weighed so little against her, and she was strong.
Stronger than them. She pushed and they both left the ground to get flung out the door. The darker one hit the porch steps, the other hit the lawn. Both of them had trouble getting up as Megan opened her mouth and screamed at them to LEAVE-
It didn't come out in words. Just that primal shriek she'd made when her body burned and changed. Air wheezed in through her nostrils as she felt hair raise along her back. When she tried to make fists, claws dug at the thick pads her palms had turned into. Her face was all wrong, too stretched out and too full of teeth.
Those things weren't the only monsters out there. She'd made the change, still felt anger and a fierce edge churning in her stomach. The shaking that wracked her body wasn't just from the night's chill-
"M-GAN!" Conner's voice snapped into her head. Just one word, half blurred out from pain. It still rushed into her head at high volume, cutting through the fever clouding her thoughts. The intensity of it pushed a twitching movement back into her muscles, as she lifted her muzzle up to stare at him.
"Don't-" Don't touch him. Don't take another one of the people close to her.
Conner still hung from those claws, his feet twitching and his hands clamped around Simon's wrist as he tried to hold himself up. Simon only pulled his lips back, showing his teeth in a wide, slash like grin as he watched. Threads of red ran down Conner's arm, hitting the dirt in tiny globes that soaked into her nose with a coppery smell.
Her limbs twitched and scrapped against the floor. The claws sunk into her toes went scouring at the wood before sinking in and finding traction. She rolled, and tore herself up and onto four points. She gave herself one breath to feel her body snap fully into the new shape with a crackle of sinew and a few popped bones.
Then she surged up onto two feet and flung herself at Simon. He turned right as she showed up in the corner of his eye, and her claws gouged at the limb holding Conner. It didn't get Simon to drop him, even with tears opening along his arm.
Instead he turned and swiped his other paw upwards at her face.
"Predictable." His voice laughed in her head, in a harsh buzz saw on her brain. "You leave yourself so open-"
The claws flashed out, aiming for her eyes. Her muscles wrenched as she twisted her head to the side and the edges sliced empty air a hairsbreadth from her mouth. Her head twitched forward again, before her jaws snapped shut on Simon's hand and she bit down. The snap from her jaws was loud, almost as much as the shriek that ripped itself out of Simon.
Her mouth stung from the silver edges biting back, and Megan relented, letting loose to find a collection of ruined red fingers and claws. The silver hung half on them, shard-like.
Spit frothed around Simon's lips as his claws sprung yanked out of Conner's shoulder. He tried to rip into her with the freed hand, trusting Conner to drop to the ground.
Conner didn't. He shook as he held himself up, but the way he stared at Simon showed he'd been waiting for the opening. Conner snapped his hands around the silver claws, tearing at the straps and ripping them free. His hands formed fists around the shards, before driving them down.
The blades hit Simon's leg, a sharp and narrow bite that sank them in deep. The sound that came from Simon dwarfed the shriek from Megan's bite, as his claws tore and gouged at his leg to try and get the silver free. He didn't notice, or care that he was causing more damage than he could regenerate.
Another tear and his balance gave out, wrenching him backwards and smashing into a second support beam. Above, the structure gave another groan, not used to getting its corner legs smashed out by werewolves.
Watching him and tasting blood in her mouth, Megan felt something hot building in her chest and pushing through her lungs. It mingled with the burns along her shoulders, mixing into a powerful, body-wide thrum. His voice was still in her head as well, grinding down on her thoughts.
All of that tore out of her throat in a roar that carried her all the way off the ground and into Simon.
She dug both sets of claws into his shoulders and shoved hard against him. He couldn't stand against her, getting thrown and pushed into a third support. The metal beams gave a shriek, trying to stand against the force of the blow and losing by an inch and a twisting of steel. She sank her teeth into his shoulder, feeling the fur prick at her tongue and the roof of her mouth before giving her head a twist and carrying Simon with it. He hit the bars a second time, and they buckled from the force as he collapsed.
He should have gone slack when he hit the ground, but instead looked up at her, locking eyes. He showed his teeth smugly again, and the buzz in her brain built up.
A low rumble built in her throat. She wanted to keep fighting him. Keep her claws in him, bring her teeth back into play and forget about everything else until the thing that hurt her and Conner was down for good-
"Don't fall for it!"
Conner. Right as his name crossed her thoughts, she felt a hand on her arm. His blood stayed in her nostrils, and her muscles bunched to shake him off and lay back into Simon... until she paused to look at him. His eyes had an intense look to them, cutting through the red fog building up in her brain.
"You need to get out!" His thoughts stayed loud, a match for the buzz Simon tried to push into her head.
"M'gann!" He didn't notice the shift in her name on his tongue, but broke through the last of the drone. It also pushed the groaning noises of the stage into her ears, as she figured out how much weight was resting on the last support.
She grabbed him up with one paw and arm, trying to cradle him carefully as she bolted out from under the stage. She didn't show any such care for the last support however, and slashed at it with her talons as she passed by.
Simon bellowed and struggled back to two feet. Whether it was to try and get free of the collapse or simply take them down with him, it didn't matter. The gouges he'd torn into his leg widened, and his mangled leg gave out, right as the last beam folded under too much weight.
The structure gave one last moan, before entering a crunching, heavy freefall. Stage lights and metal ties rained down on the ground with deadly force and flashes of electricity. The entire thing collapsed into a broken ruined heap of scrap.
Somewhere in there was a broken body-
A low wheeze echoed out, followed by the sound of something shifting about. Maybe not quite as dead or broken as she guessed.
"Takes... a lot to drop one of these things, doesn't it?" Conner tried to pull himself up as he spoke, but only succeeded with slumping against her. She dropped her head, still trying to fight down a bristling growing along her back.
"Keep your head clear." She told herself. Conner's presence helped with that, and Simon's mental voice wasn't even a whisper in her head now. He probably had a lot more on his mind than trying to dig his thoughts into hers.
That was the only reason she heard a new thread weaving itself into her mind; the new presence carried a soft, ringing quality to it that still managed to anchor itself in her mind.
"Need-" the voice whispered, cutting out as Conner lifted his head. From the way his eyes narrowed, he could pick it out too.
"...Is that Kaldur?" He voiced her thoughts out loud, as the mental voice flickered up again. Not in words, but carrying a haze of adrenaline and a thrumming heart beat. At the edge of it, she wondered if she could hear footsteps pounding the ground in pursuit.
"Help. Distraction." The voice managed those last two words, strained as they were, before fading out and getting replaced with physical noises. The stage ruins shifted again.
She looked back at the form stirring from the building. A glimmer from Simon's eyes shone against the dust and haze; they were dulled over now with rage, and she turned tail to run.
Just not so fast to lose Simon, who gave a weak snarl as he followed her.
-o-o-o-
His body burned. Skin, blood, points of fur that stood straight up were all on fire. Gaping his mouth open to pant did nothing to stop or drain that searing feeling, any more than thrashing around got him out of the tangle that kept him pinned to the ground.
A lance of pain stayed lodged in his leg, and he was vaguely aware how that hurt more than the rest of the burns lashing at his body. That was where the pain was concentrated, but he couldn't reach it. The ropes saw to that, instead keeping his eyes fixed forward on the human standing over him.
He had the suspicion she was responsible for this, though that small one had been a threat too. The memory was blurred out and tinged red, but he could remember how he'd snatched at him-
Challenged him. He wasn't going to let that go unchecked. Even if it left him with a weird twisted feeling in his gut, and the blood on his mouth somehow stung. The sensation was almost as bad as the metal thorn lodged in his muscles. The object had been loosened slightly, not cutting in as deep as before. That let some of those other sensations seep into his brain.
Such as how a knot moved into his throat when he ran his tongue over his teeth to snarl, and tasted blood again. Something about the memory of biting down on a limb kept him confined to snarling through the ropes at the remaining human, instead of trying to snap at her.
She was saying something; all he heard was syllables hissed and snapped together. Maybe it meant something like growling, from how she met his eyes.
"Wally."
He went still at the sounds; two sharp noises burrowed into his ears. He had the vague impression they were supposed to mean something.
"Wally!" The voice snapped out louder, piercing the jumble in his head.
'A name.' The thought lingered, sticking out like the thorn in his leg-
Until a blur of motion snapped near his leg, and the thing twisting in him ripped free. He barely had time to yelp before it was gone. He growled for a moment, before going still.
He didn't have much room to snarl or snap anyway; not with the jumble his head had turned into. Meanwhile the human watched him, before a weird look crossed her face. Oddly decisive looking. The shard of silver in her hands danced in the air. It flicked drops of red, a few splashing him as the ropes parted, snapped clean through by the edge.
"So, Wally?" His ears unglued themselves from his head, the words making more sense.
'Because that's my name.' His thoughts crackled to life, feeling more human. A shudder moved through his body, shooting his front legs out to scrabble at the ground and pull him upright.
He didn't tear at the ground with claws for long; fingers dug at the dirt, as Wally lurched onto shaky arms and inhaled. He'd managed to make it back to being human, and thinking like one.
Which probably meant he could talk, too.
"Ow, ow, ow- OW!" Were his first words.
Followed by a bewildered squeak when he realized how little was left of his shorts. Without any rope holding him down, he could at least sit up and cast around for the tattered ruins at his feet and yank them back on. Most of the seams had popped out to show case some underwear, but the important bits were intact.
"So, uh... thanks for not shooting me?" He said as he pulled them on, risking a look up at the huntress.
"It gets a lot harder to shoot someone when they're not wearing pants."
"...Very funny. Just be happy I managed to hang onto what's left. And if we find any clothes for sale, I'm going to just take what I can find."
He froze as a shriek tore through the air, ripping anymore smart remarks out of both their mouths.
"Okay...look, is it alright if we get a truce for now? At least until I save Rob-" he actually choked on that, and didn't meet her eye to eye. Instead he looked at the dirt, where there were still a few drops of blood scattered along the ground.
"Truce. You're not the only worried about him." She didn't extend a hand to help him up, but he could roll to his feet easy enough. He glanced back at her for a moment, before taking off towards the commotion at a run with her following right behind.
-o-o-o-
'Keep going. Just keep going.' Robin ran that mantra through his head. Sweat beaded on his skin and stuck his bangs to his forehead, and Robin scrubbed his hand across his face to try and clean it.
Looking through his fingers he picked out a bulky shadow thrown along the tents. Human shaped, but just barely, and Robin could see the edges of the shadow squirming and trying to break into a different shape. A dry, raspy laugh jabbed at his ears, as Cameron fully stepped into view.
'Time's up.' Robin thought and whispered, hoping that might coax the huntress or a friend to appear as well. Instead he picked out two shapes falling in left and right. Both were hunched over onto four legs and squarely placed the situation as going from bad to worse.
He could pull off one more dodge, Robin told himself. Try one more dash to buy just a few more seconds-
As he lurched to one side, his legs told him why that was such a bad idea, in painful detail. His balance joined in, cutting out as he gasped from the strain and spasms in his thigh. A second later he tasted dirt.
"Take the toys." Cameron snapped out, and before Robin could think about rolling away, something clamped teeth around his belt. When it wrenched away, he felt a line of pressure cut into his stomach before breaking. The belt went with it, torn away by one of the Terrors. He tried to grab at it, his fingers grasping empty air.
Cameron was a lot more successful with getting a grip. Even if he wasn't all that gentle about it. Robin grit his teeth as he counted out five points, all dug into his skin before hoisting him into the air. This time too far up and away from Cameron for Robin's feet to do any damage, as he feebly tried to kick out.
There was murder in Cameron's eyes, as his lips pulled back to show just how sharp his teeth had gotten. In the corners of Robin's vision, he could see the Terrors closing in as well. A second hand clapped around his throat in a crushing grip, as Robin fought for air.
"Real pain when you can't breath, huh? Be glad we can't find anymore of those stupid capsules, or we'd shove them down your throat." Cameron's snarl switched to a grin as Robin's breath rasped out, unable to form words. His vision was starting to go blurry, and his eyes rolled-
So he was staring over Cameron's shoulder when a trio of shapes darted out behind one of the stands. He saw one of them straighten up, and through the clouding that came from restricted oxygen, Robin thought he could pick out familiar blond hair.
'Kaldur-?' He tried to wheeze, but only pulled off weak "Kh-" sound. It wasn't enough to get Cameron to turn around.
That quarrel that sunk into his shoulder, however, WAS enough to grab his attention. And send a shock through his arm, forcing his claws apart so Robin could drop between them. The world spun as Robin crashed to the ground, not even caring about the pain compared to finally getting air. He pulled breaths back into his oxygen starved lungs, and he tried to twist around and figure out where that arrow came from.
He got his answer when he spotted a long haired, blonde, figure, crossbow already drawn and trained on Cameron. The rival werewolf was hunched over, snarling as he tried to claw at the shaft and get it free. In the same motion he spun around to face his attacker, letting her see his face.
"Cam!?" The crossbow girl went shock still, still not seeing the other trio. Kaldur was carried by the other two, leading them to the darker portion of the grounds. With an ear pressed into the dirt, Robin could half hear the ground vibrating with footsteps from a pair of heavy, booted feet. He pushed himself onto his elbows and rolled a little away from Cameron when the next figure burst in.
It was the lead hunter who all the same, Robin actually found himself glad to see. If only because all his attention was on Cameron, and the Terrors; from the way the werewolves had gone still, they weren't expecting to see them. Or at least not in the form they were in.
The three werewolves and two humans stayed in a rigid, tensed circle; outside of it, Robin picked out Kaldur and the girls sticking to the shadows of a tent, moving slowly and trying not to draw attention to themselves.
'So that's what he was up to?'
"N-not a bad plan." Though Kaldur didn't preen from the compliment, like Robin would have. Instead he stared at where Robin lay, likely picking out how torn up he was.
"Robin," he hissed under his breath. "We need to move out, quickly."
"Can't-" he bit off the word with a groan. It figured that his brain would take seeing Kaldur as a sign that rescue had arrived, and it could turn off the adrenaline. His leg also decided that this was a good time to demonstrate again why running on it had been such a lousy idea.
Though he almost got a spark of adrenaline shooting through him, when another howl cut across the sky, full of rage, pain, and ready to visit that on anything that got in the howler's path.
"Well. I don't recall hearing that howl before." Came a new voice, and Robin got a few twinges nipping at his thigh when his muscles twitched. He tensed up to dodge, half expecting another smoke grenade or bolas to drop down on them.
But instead, his eyes picked out a familiar, white masked huntress who was looking straight past him and focused on the Terrors. The two were shifted to wolves, but still had their trademark spiky blond hair. Even the metal stayed stuck in their ears, providing a few more clues to their identities.
"So, is this what archer boy was trying to tell me about? YOU were already testing my patience with how you handled him." She kept her eyes square on the larger creature as she spoke, before tilting her mask towards the lead hunter.
"It's quite safe to say you've pushed it past the breaking point now. Does this mean our contract is null, now that we know we're dealing with wolves on both sides?"
"Y-you don't care about the money? Come on!" Cameron couldn't mask his voice as anything close to human.
The leader didn't respond to that. He looked over the three wolves, gauging each of them. Robin finally had a chance to notice how the hunter had lost some of his armor along the way, and what he had left hung half on him. It looked like he'd picked a fight with a grain thresher and barely gotten away from it, with a few new cuts to show for his troubles.
None of that was slowing him down, if the force behind his voice was anything to go by.
"I care about getting played. And I don't take offers from mutts, or the people that hire them." He'd already unsnapped a javelin from his belt as he spoke, the prongs springing out from either end. With a twist from his arm, he had it aimed right at Cameron.
"You're supposed to be one of Luthor's contacts. You don't play us, kid. You OR your boss." This, Robin decided, would be a really good time to leave, if he could just get his body to listen to him and start moving.
"Artemis!" The leader snapped out a name, and the girl from before straightened up. "Take out the first hits. I'll handle these."
"But... what about the people?"
"Collateral." If Robin stiffened up from that dismissal, Artemis did more. Her shoulders went rigid, her hands balled into fists so tight he swore he could her the crossbow straining from the pressure put on it.
"Hurry up! This stand off isn't going to last. Now are you going to shoot-?" The lead hunter didn't get a chance to find out what her answer would be, as something burst through the stands.
Judging by the way she was staring, Artemis must have seen a lot of things during her job, but a human hanging off a giant werewolf wasn't one of them. It was a novelty for Robin, too. Even if he could guess who the two were.
There weren't a lot of werewolves out there with white fur, red eyes, AND black haired boys that hung around them. Sometimes literally. The shape was unusual, though; he'd seen it maybe a handful of times with the League, and it never failed to stretch his eyes open. Megan had lost most of her human form, just retaining the 'walk on two legs and possess thumbs' qualifications. The new shape helped her move fast, though; fast enough to duck out and into an area where she could dodge.
"MEGAN, DOWN!" Kaldur shouted at the same time. Megan was already dropping and rolling along the ground, clutching Conner close so neither of them would be crushed or skewered by the javelin thrown at them. The shot whistled over her shoulder, only to thud into the chest of something equally pale. The new wolf materialized out of the gloom before collapsing with a snarl, its body shuddering as it tried to seal dozens of wounds.
"How many weres can you cram into one city?" The lead hunter spat out with the force of a swear. He turned to watch the new werewolf try and struggle to its feet, grabbing for another weapon-
Putting his back to Cameron and the Terrors. They leapt at him with a hushed growl, almost as silent as Kaldur when he hunted. At least until the black haired huntress caught their movements, and snapped her hands out. She'd given up on bolas, judging by those shards of silver that whispered through the air and embedded themselves in Cameron's arms and the Terror's sides. A few points stuck out of them, and Robin picked out a throwing star shape.
"Guys," he chocked out, hoping Kaldur could hear him. "Don't really want to stick around-"
"Yeah, same here. Getting way too crowded." A familiar voice muttered in his ear. He wasn't proud of the way he flinched from hearing Wally's voice. But when he turned his head, Wally wasn't looking all that proud, either. He stayed hunched low, and wasn't fully meeting Robin eye to eye. He'd managed to find some shirts in one of the vendor, with one advertising the festival pulled on.
"Hey. We... leaving now?" Wally echoed his words from the lockers, and Robin found himself nodding.
"Definitely leaving now. If I can get up." Wally already had a hand stretched out to help. Robin grit his teeth as Wally started to pull him up, only to find himself half off the ground and Wally frozen in place. Looking back to the fight, he realized the blonde huntress was still standing apart from the melee and had her eyes and crossbow on them.
Wally stayed tensed over Robin, eyes on that crossbow and waiting to see if she was going to bring it into play. Her finger twitched on the trigger... before she took a deep breath and shut her eyes. As she did so, her hand relaxed and let the weapon fall to her side, as she took several long strides for the two.
"Come on; the fight isn't going to last forever."
Across from them, one of the Terrors squealed and pawed at its face; when the wind shifted Robin picked out faint whiff of pepper that left his eyes watering. He didn't want to think of what it would be like to get a fateful of that with sharpened senses.
"Wait- So you're not going to shoot us?"
"Not my plan right now. I don't... I don't shoot people." And her voice tightened as she said that, suggesting that she'd just figured out her leader had no such compunctions.
"Lawrence can have his professional pride." She spat the word out. "Jade can go along with it if she wants. I don't want anything else to do with it. So come on, get up on your feet."
She didn't wait for Robin to agree, taking his other arm over her shoulders and pulling him up. He wanted to complain when Wally took his other side to help him walk. A shriek from one of the werewolves made him decide against that, and focus on getting away. He still couldn't keep from glancing back, to see that the big pale wolf had lurched back to its feet.
Before it had a chance to snap, the once called Jade threw something around its jaws, as Lawrence plucked another knife out. He lunged for the legs, which already looked bloody and weakened. Robin thought he could see the Cameron trying to yank his wolves away from the fight-
"Regroup and run." Kaldur's voice reached his ears, pitched low. At least Robin wasn't the only one who needed help, as he watched Kaldur get carried by Zee and Raquel.
-o-o-o-
"You holding up?" Raquel whispered. The fight still raged loud enough to drown out her voice for all but the most attentive ears, and Kaldur felt how much she was shaking.
"Well enough." All he really needed help with was keeping his balance. The burning sensation from the silver was mostly drowned out, and even his heart beat had dropped back to a manageable level after leading Lawrence to the fight.
'That worked out well enough.' He had room to think. A soft lull had worked its way back into his thoughts, letting him think without feeling feverish. He already knew who he could thank for that.
A white, four legged figure scrambled ahead, hunched low to the ground. The screams from the fight spurred Megan on, well ahead of everyone... except for Conner. He still kept a hand on her, partly to keep his own balance. Though as they took more steps, he had to stand more on his own, as Megan shed her excess size and slimmed down to a sleeker four legged version.
Relief washed over Kaldur when he saw the truck was still standing. With everything that had happened, seeing it upright and with all four wheels was nothing short of amazing... particularly when one considered the rest of the lot.
Most of the cars were gone, and he had an answer to why the police response never came, several yards away.
"I'm uncertain how this Jade managed to upturn several police cars."
"Smoke screen to start with, I'm guessing. Maybe some carefully placed explosives... And those Terror things back there might have given her a hand, while she wasn't looking." The huntress, Artemis rasped that out from where she carried Robin. Kaldur bit back a hiss as Raquel's hand tightened around him.
"We're alright," he whispered to her. "If she wanted to attack us, plenty of prime opportunities have already slipped by."
"Right... I guess so. And if that's the get away ride, I'm not complaining. As long as it gets us out."
"Dibs on a backseat? I could... I could try to fix some people up." Zatanna piped up, glancing over the others and taking in the various hurts. Kaldur just had enough time to nod, touching his own wound.
"Raquel, can you manage a truck-?"
"That is so unfair that the new girl gets to drive." Wally grumbled, but still hauled himself into the passenger sheet, claiming that as others jumped into the truck.
-o-o-o-
'So. You're in a truck with a bunch of werewolves and a wizard. Or whatever you call a girl magician.' Artemis shook her head as her thoughts wandered. 'Left your family behind, shot your former informant, and decided not to kill anyone after breaking your contract. This has been an interesting night so far.'
The truck bounced along, and Artemis suspected that the girl at the wheel kept half an eye on Artemis, and half an eye on the road. Considering that just a few hours ago, Artemis and her family had been trying to slice up her friends, Artemis wasn't sure she blamed the girl.
'Raquel.' Now she finally had a name to put to that face.
Her hands at least stayed steady, as she wound gauze around the leg of the sunglasses boy. Robin, she'd heard the others call him.
Whatever he wanted to be called, this was a lot better than watching someone get their leg amputated. The only use her personal knife had gotten was cutting the cloth off his leg so they could get to his injury. His leg had already lost some of the punctures, thanks to the raven haired girl, Zatanna, sitting nearby.
She had her hands on the leader of the group, murmuring something as a soft light coated her hands and sunk into his exposed skin. The cut along his chest responded by slowly sealing itself up.
Nearby they had two final patients. The boy called Conner had already shucked his shirt, keeping a hand over a puncture in his shoulder with one hand. The other hand kept a grip on his shirt, and Artemis wondered over why he held it so close to familiar white wolf.
She got her answer a second later as the wolf started to squirm and twist, and Artemis snatched her gaze away when she saw the fur dissolving, and her limbs stretched into something less lupine.
Instead of watching, she shot a gaze around at the boys in the back, to make sure they had their eyes away, too. By the time she looked back to Conner to make sure he had his gaze averted, the she-wolf was back to being a familiar, freckle-faced girl pulling on a black t-shirt with a soft 'thanks' to Conner.
"It's a nice shirt, too." She whispered, and Artemis tried not to snort over that. Kaldur just shook his head.
"You didn't need to force that; we could communicate well enough."
"Yeah, but..." She glanced over at Artemis, right as her hands finished tying the bandages around Robin.
"...Fair enough." Kaldur lay back against the side of the truck, shutting his eyes. "if you wish to update her, feel free."
"Thanks. And don't worry, the cuts look worse than they actually are. I guess we all got lucky, if we're healing up this well." And if they stayed lucky, maybe magic also healed curses. Artemis decided not to voice that out loud, though.
"So... hello?" The red head was thankfully looking less pale and weak from blood loss, compared to their first meeting. True to her words, she was healing up well enough. She wasn't even staining the borrowed shirt pulling double duty as a short dress.
"...Hey," Artemis tried, still wondering why the girl needed to talk to her. "So, you and your friends aren't going to eat me, and I'm feeling pretty grateful for that... are you going to turn me over to the police instead?"
"Actually," she had gone still at the mention of using big sharp teeth, and looked sick at the suggestion. "I was talking to Kaldur,"
'Somehow. Is that some werewolf superpower or something?' Apparently it didn't work on people though, as the girl continued blithely.
"About how you're a hunter. And we know other hunters that are... sort of like you? I mean that they're nice."
"You think I'M nice?"
"You didn't kill any of us." The girl pointed out, and Artemis had to shake her head.
"Not sure if I can argue with that... though you might want to narrow your definition of the word a little more in the future. But thanks, I guess?"
"So what are you going to do now? Do you think... if we show you to the rest of the League and some new teachers, that you'll stay around?" It was then that Artemis finally picked out the note in the girl's voice; tentative, but friendly. She was actually trying to make friends.
"...You can call me Artemis." She decided to do one better than that. "How about you?"
"Me? I'm M'gann- I mean, I'm usually called Megan, but I kind of want to try going with M'gann now. It's... it's good to try new things sometimes, right? And I just get the feeling that a new name might help."
"Maybe." Artemis offered. "I guess I'd be interested in sticking around and seeing if that's true."