Chronicles of the Night
When we last left off, Felix and Joseph had to deal with a meeting regarding details of Joseph's concert. To their shock and horror, Mr. Robert's right hand man is none other than Lisa's father. Meanwhile Night-princess busts a drug deal with success, but little did she realize that she was being watched. How will Traxon move now? And can the team support Joseph in spite of an inferiority complex?
Disclaimer: I do not own the Marvel comics elements present in this story, I do own my original characters and the plot.
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You Don't Need Me
"Joseph! Don't forget that the record company wants you to do a rehearsal with them tonight!" Felix shouted upstairs.
"Yeah… I know." Joseph said as he came downstairs.
"You look a little down." Felix said.
"Nah… I'm alright." He said with a smile.
"Joseph…"
"Yeah?"
"Have you forgotten that I can hear your heartbeat? I'm a human lie detector buddy." Felix reminded him. "So what's on your mind?"
"Ah… well it's just… I haven't been able to help out you guys." Joseph said. Defeated.
"So? We've been busy. I've hardly seen any action lately either." Felix told him, trying his best to encourage him. They moved to the living room couch and had a seat.
"Yeah well I haven't been able to help at all." Joseph said in a frustrated tone of voice. "Lisa has been stuck getting in to all kinds of dangerous stuff lately. I mean last night she came home with bullet holes in her clothes, and a few nights ago she had to come home from a raging fire." He pointed out, his voice getting tenser with every word.
"Whoa whoa whoa… take it easy Joseph." Felix said. "Look, once the concert is done, things will die down and you'll be able to help out again."
"…" Joseph sighed. "I'm going back upstairs to work on my music." He got up, walked upstairs, and Felix heard a door slam a minute or so later.
"Augh…" Felix groaned.
"That didn't go too well." Lisa said quietly as she walked in from the kitchen in a blue nightgown. By now all of the windows had been boarded up, so whenever she was awake she could now walk around the house without issue.
"No it didn't…" Felix sighed. "Why aren't you asleep?"
"I… haven't been able to sleep well lately." She said, avoiding Felix's gaze.
"Any particular reason?" Felix asked. Lisa didn't answer. "I… guess you don't have to tell me."
Later that night…
"Hey Joseph!" Mr. Roberts said. Joseph walked in to a recording studio in the record company building. Mr. Robert's and Trace Braveheart were already there. "Say where's Mr. Thomas?" Mr. Robert's asked.
"Oh he's… taking care of some other business personally." Joseph said.
"Hm. Really? Well that sounds like he's shaping up to be a fine manager." Mr. Roberts said.
"Yeah…" Joseph said. "Nah… he's shaping up to be a better hero though."
Meanwhile…
"Gah!" Night-claw landed on a roof and stomped a foot angrily. "I can just hear what Joseph is thinking now. I'm not worthy of being a hero; you guys can go on without me. Every time I tried to cheer him up today ended up falling flat."
"Um…" Night-princess said over the radio.
"What?" Night-claw asked.
"You didn't think he'd believe you when you said you liked his music did you?" Night-princess asked quietly over the radio.
"I… guess not." He sighed. "Hm? Hang on." Night-claw walked to the edge of a roof and noticed two policemen standing in by their car.
"Did you hear? Some guy came to the station saying that a bunch of people were making heavy weapons deals down in the warehouse district." A cop said while chuckling.
"I know… and we just now finished checking those warehouses, there's no way anything could be going on in there." The other responded.
"Something tells me you didn't check quite everything." Night-claw thought as he turned, ran across the roof, and then jumped off of it.
Meanwhile…
"A genius plan Mr. Traxon." The man from the other night was again in front of a bunch of monitors with Traxon standing right behind him. "Paying off members of the police to go around town, talking about what our competitors are up to, and then making one of the Night-hunters on them."
"It's only a genius plan if we get one that's different from the girl." Traxon said. "I must say that our informant in Don Pat's gang was most reliable."
"Indeed." The man said. "Okay… turning on cameras… now." The monitors all flicked on and hidden cameras spread all over a warehouse showed multiple people inside of it.
On the other end of those cameras…
"Alright people… you know why we're here." A man in a brown tuxedo with a black flat-top haircut said. "We'll be the ones ruling the city this time. Now that we have this." He said while pointing to a large box behind him.
"Got that right Don Pat!"
"You go boss."
"Now then… we need to figure out who is going to have the honor of using it." Don Pat said. Suddenly the lights flicked off in the warehouse. "What!"
"Hey the lights! Oof!"
"Hey Danny, you oka…ACK!"
"What's going ON! DAH!"
"OOF!"
"AH!"
Meanwhile…
"Good thing these cameras have night-vision tech." The monitor man said. The picture was kind of greenish in color, and on the monitors, Night-claw was knocking out the crooks in the dark with ease. "It's… as if he can see in the dark."
"That is a possibility." Traxon said. "But if I know Don Pat, he didn't just bring that petty group with him. Which is exactly what I'm hoping for."
Meanwhile…
The lights flicked back on and Don Pat stood horror struck at all of his knocked out men. "What the…?"
"Like what I did with the place?" Night-claw asked as he walked away from the light switch towards Don Pat. "I figured a broken nose here… an unconscious man there… and zap! This place is a winner." Night-claw said as if he were an interior decorator.
"You! You're one of those mutants." Don Pat said.
"For the love of all things good and wholesome… why do people automatically assume that we're mutants?" Night-claw asked.
"Well, it don't matter now I suppose…" Don Pat snapped tapped a spot on his tux and more guys came in through the big doors. "Guys with clubs and knives get first go at him." Don Pat said.
"How did I miss those guys as I came in?" Night-claw asked himself as he turned around. Ignoring Don Pat as he slipped behind the giant box. About half of the guys came running at Night-claw holding clubs and knives and were about ready to take him down.
"Heh…" Night-claw ducked and performed a sweep kick on the first guy and caused him to land on the ground on his back. Night-claw then stood up and slapped away a hand holding a club before throwing a jab at his jaw.
Meanwhile…
"He's… not really using any special powers here." The man said.
"Besides the fact that he's obviously faster and stronger than any of those men when he really shouldn't be." Traxon said.
"Well yeah but… based on the way he's fighting right this moment." The man continued. He watched as Night-claw performed a roundhouse kick to one guy's stomach and then spin around and kick one guy in the thigh before upper cutting the guy trying to jump him from behind. "I would guess that he's had some training."
"Still, I've seen better fighting form." Traxon said as if unimpressed. "But you're right, he has been trained."
Meanwhile…
"Okay, you guys next right?" Night-claw asked as he turned and looked at the guys holding the guns with a confident smile.
"Waste him!" The men fired their guns at Night-claw, who cartwheeled out of the way before jumping up high above the rest of them. He landed right on his hands in the middle of the crowd and kicked away the ones surrounding him from his handstand. He then sprang off his hands right before someone fired their gun and kicked two guys across the face.
"You…" Night-claw said as he swiped his claws and disarmed a lot of them before jumping over more of their heads. "…guys…" he said as he landed and gut-kicked a few of them. "…suck!" He finished as he threw more punches and kicks to finish them off.
Meanwhile…
"That sense of balance… the claws… the way he moves with such agility… if he didn't stand on two legs I'd swear he was a cat." The man said.
"But it's those reflexes that's a problem." Traxon said. "He's clearly faster and stronger than the girl. But… based on the fact that he's dodging more attacks, I'd say he can't take bullets like she can."
"I wouldn't guess so." The man on the monitors said. "Wait, where'd Don Pat go?"
Meanwhile…
"Alright… hm? Wait… he's inside the box?" Night-claw walked closer to the box and as he got ten feet from it…
CRASH
"HOLY SNOT!!!" Night-claw jumped way away from it as a gigantic metal claw burst from the box. "Oh man…" Night-claw noticed the monstrosity that walked out. It was probably seven or eight feet high, the left arm had a giant three pronged claw on it while the left shoulder had a belt-fed gatling gun mounted on it. The other arm had a massive single barrel rocket launcher on it that had a rotating wheel with more rounds on it. It's arms and legs were heavily armored, and Don Pat was in the cockpit that made up the entire front torso behind a sheet of glass.
"Like it? It cost quite a pretty penny, but it's worth every cent." He said in to a microphone. The gatling gun pointed at Night-claw and open-fired. Night-claw ducked the side and began outrunning the rounds as quickly as he could, with the bullet's trailing right behind him.
KABOOM
Don Pat fired off a rocket from the rocket launcher and caused a massive explosion. Night-claw managed to jump in to the air long before the rocket came close to him so he got away unharmed from that. Night-claw jumped as close as he could get to the mech, and then jumped at the cockepit.
BAM
"Gah!" Night-claw was desperately clawing against the glass trying to keep his grip.
"Bullet proof glass, and you know something else?" Don Pat pressed a button and…
"ARGH!" Night-claw was sent flying backwards as volts of electricity coursed through his body. "Oooooggg…" Night-claw stood up slowly and noticed the mech pointing its right arm at him.
"Say good night." The rocket launcher fired another blast.
KABOOM
Meanwhile…
"It didn't get him did it?" Traxon asked.
"No sir. The cameras show that he jumped the rocket just fine, but the explosion nearly got him." The man told him.
"I see." Traxon said.
Meanwhile…
"Enough with the bullets will you?" Night-claw yelled as he ducked back and forth to avoid the bullets each time they came close to striking him. Then he had to dive far to the side to avoid another rocket. "On second thought… keep going with the bullets." He said.
"Hold still would ya?" Don Pat yelled.
"That seems like a worse idea than this!" Night-claw shouted. Don Pat fired another rocket. This time Night-claw dived right at it and sailed mere inches above it. It exploded far behind him and Night-claw managed to flip and land on his feet and ran for the mech again.
"No good!" Don Pat fired the gatling gun again. This time Night-claw dived even closer to the mech and rolled right beneath its heavy legs.
"As I thought… this thing can't turn around too well." Night-claw thought. He sprang on to his hands, and then sprang off of them right towards the mech's left knee joint. "HAH!!!" Night-claw kicked the joint with all of his strength and the mech began to fall backwards to the left as a result.
"WHAT!" Don Pat fell backwards and would have crushed Night-claw had he not rolled out of the way. Night-claw then jumped on the glass and punched it as hard as he could three times before it shattered.
"Now where were we?" Night-claw asked as he showed his claws to Don Pat.
"Here!" Don Pat pulled out a gun and fired at Night-claw. Night-claw heard his blood pump a bit before he pulled the trigger and got out of the way in time. Next thing Don Pat knew, Night-claw was clinging to the warehouse ceiling by his claws right above him.
"Hey! You look like an ant from up here!" Night-claw shouted. Don Pat fired the mech's rocket launcher at Night-claw straight up to the ceiling. "Not that smart are you?" Night-claw asked. He managed to swing off the ceiling by his claws and get away from the explosion right on time.
KABOOM
"AAAAHHH!!!" Don Pat shouted as rubble from the ceiling came crumbling down on top of him and the mech.
"Whew… you had me going for a second there… but I know a psycho that's worse than you are." Night-claw sighed as he walked out of the exit.
Meanwhile…
"He's fast… he's strong… good balance… claws… good senses…" The man was listing his observations on a notepad. "And some possible training."
"His main asset is his reflexes." Traxon said.
"Yeah but how are you going to beat reflexes that allow him to dodge bullets?" The man asked Traxon.
"I have just the thing." Traxon said as he pulled out his cell phone.
The next day…
"How did rehearsal go Joseph?" Felix asked Joseph. Joseph was slumped on the couch, holding the remote and flipping channels with a sad look on his face. He looked at Felix and then looked away. "What? Did they go terribly or something?" Felix asked him.
"…" Joseph turned off the TV and sat up and looked at Felix. "Rehearsal… was just fine." He said almost bitterly.
"Hm? Well hey… don't need to get upset." Felix said.
"Felix… it has been several nights in a row where I haven't been able to help you guys now." Joseph said.
"We've already talked about this." Felix said.
"But look at this!" Joseph said while picking up a newspaper. The headline outlined a murder that had occurred the previous night. "If I had just been there, maybe… just maybe something could have been done about it." Joseph said.
"Joseph… listen to yourself for a minute." Felix said.
"Felix you listen! You've mentioned how you'd like to get rid of your gifts, but at least you can use them!" Joseph said.
"…" Felix couldn't think of a counter-statement for this one.
"What's going…" Lisa came downstairs and noticed this.
"And Lisa… I know you wish you didn't have your powers. But you can use them too." Joseph said. "Me, I'm stuck here and at the record company having to keep up my real life, and I can't put to use my gifts." Joseph continued.
"Joseph… come on…" Felix said. "The concert will be over tomorrow night and…"
"And then what? More press? Another concert? Something's going to get in the way again Felix. Truth is… I'm just hanging what I have to give on a shelf only to have to dust it off later." Joseph said as he walked upstairs in a frustrated manner.
"Wait… Joseph…" Lisa started.
"You guys just… go without me tonight." He said from up the stairs.
"…" Lisa turned around and started to shed a tear.
"…" Night-claw turned his head away from the stairs and looked at the newspaper add.
"I'm… going back to bed…" Lisa said sadly.
"…" Night-claw stood alone in the living room for a moment, and then went down in to the basement.
The following night wasn't tremendously eventful. Night-claw and Night-princess went about their patrol, albeit feeling as though something's missing more than ever. And the next day was spent at the record company getting ready for the concert that night.
"Hey… Joseph…" Felix was wearing his black managerial outfit as he walked in to the dressing room at the concert. Joseph was in a white tank top, loose jeans, and putting on other accessories. "You going to be okay for the concert?" Felix asked.
"Yeah… I'm going to be just fine." Joseph said. "Well… maybe."
"Joseph… I know things have been hard but… some things… some things you just have to get over and move on." Felix sighed, struggling to find the right thing to say. "Hey, I'll be here to watch, and Lisa will be able to get a peak of the concert too. We'll be here for ya." He said while nudging Joseph's shoulder with a fist.
"Thanks…" Joseph said with a slight smile. "I've got to finish getting ready."
"I hear you. I'll give you a few minutes alone." Felix said as he walked out. "Oh Mr. Braveheart." He said mildly panicked "Please say he didn't hear anything… pleeeease…"
"How is he?" Trace asked. "And you can call me Trace."
"Phew… that was too close… I should have been paying more attention to outside the door while I was talking to Joseph." Felix thought. "Well Trace… he seems to be doing okay."
"Well, we go on in about an hour." Trace said. "Mr. Thomas… you don't happen to have any kids do you?"
"No…" Felix said.
"Oh… well I guess you are young." Trace said. "But… I was just… well… never mind." He sighed as he walked away.
"Poor guy." Felix thought. "Okay… I'm going to tell Lisa… next chance I get… I'm going to…"
"Night-claw? Night-roller? Anybody?" Night-princess' voice came over the radio in Felix's ear.
"Night-princess…" Felix whispered. "What is it?" He asked. "Idiot." He told himself.
"There's a motorcycle gang near by. I'm chasing them but there are a lot of them and I'm starting to get worried I might lose them. They've been causing problems." She said.
"Hmmmm…" Felix pulled out his cell and looked at the clock on it. "I've got time." He thought. "Tell me where you are and I'll be right there."
Later…
"I lost them…" She sighed. "I can still hear them but… it kind of echoes." Night-princess added.
"Hmmm… you haven't lost them. You were going the right way." Night-claw said. He and Night-princess were jumping between rooftops, Night-claw sometimes lending her an arm whenever there was too big a gap for even her to jump across. "They're in a series of alleyways now." He said.
"Okay…" Night-princess responded quietly. "How is he?"
"He said he's fine but… honestly he sounds just as sure of himself as yesterday." Night-claw said.
"There they are." She said. They were on a four-story building's roof in the midst of several buildings. There was one large alleyway, and a bunch of smaller alleyways branching out from them. The motorcycle gang she mentioned, about ten of them were still in the large alleyway looking around.
"They have automatic weapons." Night-claw said. "I'd better exercise more caution." He said.
"We're… going to have to hurt them aren't we?" Night-princess asked.
"Yes. Yes we are." Night-claw said. "Let's go."
"Okay." The two of them jumped down and landed in the large alleyway. "Dead end for you guys." Night-claw told the ten guys with guns.
"Please. Don't force us to hurt you." Night-princess told them.
"Augh… it's those Night-hunters." One of the guys grunted.
"Who cares? Let's take them out." Another one said while he aimed his gun. The others followed suit and took aim.
"Heh…" Night-claw smirked. The second the guys pulled the trigger, Night-claw and Night-princess dived to the sides. As the bullets zipped by, Night-claw's look changed to that of shock. "Wait… these bullets…"
"These bullets… are different somehow." Night-princess thought as she avoided them.
"Night-princess don't get hit by these!" Night-claw shouted desperately. Night-claw dived towards Night-princess, scooped her up before she could do or say anything and jumped to the top of the roof.
Meanwhile…
"Ha ha ha ha ha…" Traxon laughed. He and the man earlier were looking at the monitors, this time they were focusing on the alleyway.
"Sir, they're retreating." The man said nervously.
"No. They won't retreat. That's out of the question." Traxon said confidently.
"But sir…"
"They won't retreat. I assure you." Traxon said.
"Okay then. I do wonder what happened to that third guy though."
"He hasn't been seen in several nights, my guess is he's no longer part of the team." Traxon said. "Tonight… I shall win."
Back to the fight…
"These bullets smell differently." Night-princess said.
"They're using SILVER bullets." Night-claw said, putting heavy emphasis on 'silver'. Night-princess' eyes opened up wide in surprise. "These bullets will kill you if they hit your heart or head, so stay here."
"But… Night-claw…" Night-princess started.
"Listen, I can take ten guys before breakfast, so let me handle this, and don't come down unless things get really really sticky." Night-claw said. "Which they won't but… just in case."
"…" Night-princess nodded her head understandingly. "Be careful." She whispered.
"There he is!" One of the guys shouted. All ten of them turned and fired their guns at Night-claw. Night-claw ducked from side to side, narrowly avoiding the bullets as they whizzed by. He eventually had to back away and start jumping around the alleyway while he waited for them to reload their guns.
"Hm? Whoa!" More gunfire started coming from the smaller alleyways. "Wait… these are the heartbeats from the buildings, I thought they were civilians though." Night-claw thought. Soon gunfire was starting to come from nearly everywhere around Night-claw, he was now sweating to avoid the hailstorm of bullets. "Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap…"
"AH!" Night-princess turned around and noticed three guys pointing guns at her. She did a series of acrobatics to avoid the silver bullets they were firing at her. The second they had to reload, Night-princess ran towards then. "Sorry." She whispered as she socked the first guy in the face, then gut-kicked the second one, and uppercut the last one. "NIGHT-CLAW!!!" She shouted in fear for him. She ran full speed back towards the fray and jumped off the roof.
"Now!" Night-claw shouted. Two groups stopped to reload. Night-claw bolted as fast as he could for the group Night-princess wasn't jumping towards. Night-claw quickly jumped and kicked both legs out to knock out two of them. She clawed the rest of them quickly, then picked up one and threw him towards another group.
"ARGH!" They shouted as Night-princess knocked out another group. She then had to cartwheel out of the way of another hailstorm of bullets.
"There's too many of them." Night-claw groaned as he back-flipped out of the way. As he jumped somewhat in to the air.
"Now!" One guy shouted.
PHEW
"Hm? GAH!" A net ensnared Night-claw in mid-air and he tumbled on the ground with the net getting more tangled over him. "Net gun? From wh…AH!" Darts then hit him in the backside. He weakly looked up and noticed all of the guys standing around him with their guns pointed at his head.
"Night-claw!" Night-princess was distracted long enough for a silver bullet to fly through her shoulder. "AH!" She shouted. She instinctively shielded her chest and head and thankfully none of the other bullets struck her in the heart or head, but she still fell back with multiple, burning bullet holes. "They… aren't… healing…" She gasped.
Meanwhile…
"Well planned sir. Learning about our enemies, making a little use of them, and then luring them to one place to finish them." The man in front of the monitors said.
"Hm hm hm hm hm…" Traxon chuckled. "Tell the men to have as much fun as they want with them. Tell them to take their time killing them. Oh and also pass the Night-hunters a messge." He said. He told the man to tell the Night-hunters something, and then left the room.
"Sure thing sir." The man said as he pressed the intercom button and repeated the instructions.
Back to the alley…
"Heh… hey guys, let's have a little fun." One of the guys said. He walked over to Night-claw, and then kicked him in the head.
"Gah!" Night-claw shouted.
"Here's how we can have fun with her." One of them said. He aimed his gun, and then open fired on her right leg.
"AH!" She cried in agony as the bullets bombarded her leg. Soon more rounds started peppering her other leg and her other arms. "STOP!!! STOP IT HURTS!!!" She cried in pain.
"STOP IT YOU BAST…GAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" One of the guys stomped a foot on top of Night-claw's groin and then kicked him the thighs. After several minutes of this, Night-claw's costume was torn in a few places, his nose and mouth were bleeding, and Night-princess had several bullet holes all over her body. Due to the silver, they weren't healing quickly enough, and they were burning, searing even. They threw the two of them next to each other.
"Well mutants… time you went back to the pit you came from." One guy said.
"After… you…" Night-claw hissed weakly. He was woozy, and he was nearly unconscious. And adrenaline just wasn't flowing due to the drugs.
"Night-claw…" Night-princess said weakly.
"The boss wants us to tell you something though." The man pointing their gun at him said. "He wanted to tell you… Thanks for the entertainment."
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Sorry for the wait, I was trying to type survivor, and for some reason inspiration for humor is hard to come by. But leave a review nonetheless.
P.S. Next week, my profile will be featuring "Nintendogeek's poll of the week." I'll post a poll question for the week, that will be something completely random, and every week a new poll will be in and the most popular answer of the previous poll will be posted. Anonymity is guaranteed.
