The fruitloop called earlier today. I wonder what he wants, usually he makes it a point to drop in unannounced and set himself up in the living room like he owns the place. Dad, as always, is happily oblivious, but at least I can count on Mom and Jazz to help me push him out the door. He's got to be planning something, I know it. He never does anything without a reason.
The stars glitter faintly above in the cold night air and the half-moon hangs just above the horizon. It's a cloudless night and the city below me is spread out across the land to echo the stars. Dang, I must be a lot more tired than I thought if I'm starting to sound poetic. Ugh, day in, day out, recently I've been doing nothing but fighting. At least things seem to be quiet, if I'm lucky I'll get a few hours of sleep tonight. That is, if I get the fruitloop out the door.
A glance at the stars reveals the time, eight o'clock. The fruitloop said that he'd be at Fenton Works at nine thirty. I drop down and begin to head home, I really don't want to deal with Vlad at the moment. It's bad enough that he makes it a point to start a fight at least once a week, one that I always end up losing.
The quiet of the suburban neighborhood is broken by a blast of emerald power that throws me into a car. The alarm promptly begins to shriek, causing the lights in the house to flick on. The follow up blast just barely misses as I flip back up into the air.
"Whelp."
"Skulker, do we have to do this now? I'm really not in the mood."
That prompted a grin from the metal hunter. "The hunt is determined by the moods of the hunter, not the prey whelp, I thought you knew that by now."
He expected a response, but as tired as I am I'm not going to bother. If I don't end this quickly it won't end well. My ectoblast clipped his right shoulder and made his next shot go wide and shatter the window of the house next to us. Great, I'm only three blocks from my house, if they decide to call my parents it won't take them long to get here. Skulker fires off a volley of rockets and I pick them off with plenty of time to spare. The tranquilizer dart whizzes through the smoke and lodges in my upper arm. I growl and rip it out.
"What was that supposed to do Skulker? You know those don't work anymore."
His grin is smug as the smoke clears and vertigo along with a creeping cold running up my arm cause me to drop to the ground.
"You may have become immune to my usual stock, but I made that just for you."
I struggle to remain standing as he drops to the ground and stalks towards me. I lost the fight to remain balanced and he leaned over me to gloat. Big mistake. The drug running through my system cut off rational thought and I snarled violently before blasting him. That one good hit shattered Skulker's suit. I felt a vague fuzzy sense of satisfaction as that registered. The last things I heard before I blacked out were a loud engine and the beginning of a violent argument.
I fight my way back to consciousness to be greeted by the harsh chemical smells of disinfectant and ectoplasm with a warm undertone of chocolate fudge. The pain spiking through my head caused me to groan before I could stop myself.
"Oh good! Your awake!"
My dad's manic grin seems rather out of place considering the circumstances. The manacles around my wrists and ankles are rather sharp and uncomfortable. I tug experimentally, and while they creak, there's no sign of any give. My mom looks up reprovingly from where she's laying out surgical instruments on a tray.
"Now, now, none of that. You wouldn't want us to start hurting you before we have to now would you?"
I panic; this is the worst thing that could happen. I never wanted my secret to get revealed this way. I can't phase through the table, and if I wait any longer they're going to start vivisecting me. I reach for the warm, heavy feeling that is always inside my mind. I try to change back. It's not there. Scratch that last thought, THIS is the worst thing that could happen. Mom finishes examining her tools and brings them over to the table next to me. I should have let Skulker catch me, at least he would have the decency to kill me before cutting me open.
Well, this took an unexpected turn. Somehow something I wrote planned to get put into this. I don't know how, but this chapter refused to get written until I connected the two. Sorry for the false start, it's here to stay this time.