Chronicles of the Night

Though the death of Lisa's parents still loom above our heroes as another week has passed, life moves on for them. Though it weighs heavily on all of them, Felix feels the brunt of this weight second most heavily. Had it not been for his idea, her parents might still be alive, and it also reminds him of what his powers have cost him in the past. But maybe… just maybe something will come along and lift his spirits. Find out in the story arc of…

Love and War

Disclaimer: I do not own the Marvel comic elements present in this story, I do own my original characters and the plot.

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Little surprises

"Dude… those Night-hunters haven't been seen in days." One masked crook tried to tell another. A gang of five guys in ski masks was about to break in to a building, one of them was attempting to pick a lock.

"That doesn't help… they could come back any night now." One of them said.

"Why would they just suddenly come back?" Another one asked.

"I don't know… maybe they're like… training or something." The same guy suggested.

"Yeah right."

"Please step away from there."

"Huh?" All of them turned around to find Night-princess standing behind them, only this time her hair wasn't in its usual ponytail, she had let her hair fall out completely, though it was neatly brushed. "I told you…" One of them groaned.

"Oh just shoot her." They all pulled out guns and shot her multiple times. The bullets leaving holes in her clothes and skin.

"I'll… try something new…" She thought. After they were done shooting her, she stood there staring at them grimly, as her body dissolved from the legs up, and she changed in to a swarm of bats.

"AAAAHHH!!!"

"RATS!!!"

"THEY'RE BATS YOU MORON!"

"GET THEM OFF OF ME!!!" The bats fluttered around the crooks, swooping in and causing them all to go in to a panic, shooting at the sky wildly, it was a wonder they didn't shoot each other on accident. Soon the bats came back together and Night-princess' body reformed, and her clothes and skin were restored as if she had never been shot.

"This… has its uses." She thought.

"FREAK!!!" One of them shouted, pointing his trembling gun at her.

"I wonder… if I can do this…" Night-princess muttered to herself.

BANG

Night-princess narrowly sidestepped a bullet, but her sunglasses fell off, revealing her dark purple eyes. She stopped, and closed her eyes. When she opened them, her pupil and sclera turned red and her iris turned orange.

"What's she doing now?" One of them asked fearfully. A bunch of shadows emerged from her own, and took the shape of an army of gray furred rats that all ran around the guys and crawled up their legs.

"OH MY GOD!!!"

"AAAAHHH!!!"

BANG

BANG

BANG

"AUGH I SHOT MY FOOT!!!" One of them shouted. After the rats had their fun clambering over the guys, they all eventually passed out from the fear, and the rats all vanished in a puff of smoke.

"That's… somewhat tiring." She said, her once dark purple eyes now a light purple and turning red.

"Everything okay Night-princess?" Night-roller asked over the radio.

"Ye…yes." She said, her voice quivering a bit.

"Well, just let me know if you need anything." Night-roller said.

"Oh sure… offer her some help but ignore the guy who is dealing with some guys who think they are freaking ninjas!" Night-claw shouted over the radio. "Whoa! Those shuriken could put someone's eye out you know!" He continued to yell.

"…" Night-princess listened to this and smiled. "At least… at least he hasn't changed a whole lot." She thought. "That… feels nice." She ran at the wall of one building, scaled up it quickly as if she were a lizard, and was on top of it soon.

Meanwhile…

"I wish felt how I sounded over the radio." Night-claw thought. Indeed, he was fighting a bunch of guys in black ninja outfits who were throwing shuriken at him and coming at him with nunchaku, bo staffs, and all manner of sharp weapons. "I try and sound confident… but lately, I'm far from it." He thought as he ducked another attack and kicked the attacker in the stomach, then flipped back to avoid more shuriken.

"Hiyah!"

"Whoa!" Night-claw narrowly blocked the sword with his claws and then swiped them at the ninja. He continued to dodge the attacks with much less flare than he usually has and less enthusiasm. "Honestly… I feel like I'm just starting to tear down my own team."

"Kiyah!"

"Oh…" He sighed as he punched out the last guy. "I caused Lisa's parents to die… I caused my own mother to die… I caused Dr. Sykes and Becky to die… god… lately all I do is destroy everything I touch." He thought to himself as he walked out of the building.

Meanwhile…

"I… hear people… inside…" Night-princess said quietly as she stood outside of a warehouse. She pressed her ears against the wall and listened for a moment. "Drug dealers…" She whispered. "Maybe… I can try that…" She thought. Underneath her shades, her eyes turned red and orange again, and from her shadow, a larger shadow emerged, and soon took the shape of a large, white-furred wolf.

"Grrrrrrrrr…" It growled.

"Down boy…" She whispered. It looked at her for a moment, and then obeyed. She panted a moment, her eyes now red, and thus she injected herself with her serum, making her eyes return to their normal blue color. She scratched the wolf behind the ears and whispered to it. "There are bad men inside this building…"

"Hmph…" It snorted.

"I don't want you to kill them… just… play nice." She said.

"…" The wolf tilted its head as if it weren't sure.

"Yes… play nice." She said, as if it had said something to her. "I'll provide a distraction for you…"

Inside the warehouse…

"This is the stuff all right." A middle-aged man said.

"And just think, a couple of pounds of this and we'll be rich." One of them said. "Hey… is it getting foggy?" A fairly thick mist came in to the warehouse and slowly got thicker.

"I actually think it's mist." One guy said.

"Mist, fog, what's the difference?" Another one asked.

"Grrrrrrrrrr…"

"What was that?"

"Hawwwoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"

"ARGH!"

"What the hell is go…AAAAHHH!!!"

"YIPE!!!"

"HELP ME!!!"

After a few minutes, the mist came together to form Night-princess' body. She was on her knees, gasping for air. Her shades fell off to reveal red eyes. "Changing… in to… mist is… exhausting…" She thought as she weakly reached for her formula.

"Hmmmmm…" Her wolf walked away from the slightly bleeding and unconscious body it was next to and walked over to her.

"You did good…" She said.

Later…

"Night-princess… you in here?" Night-roller asked as he and Night-claw came in to the warehouse.

"I hear her heartbeat…" Night-claw said. He looked at all of the unconscious bodies. "What happened to these guys? And… why do I hear another heartbeat?"

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…. ARF! ARF! ARF!!!" The wolf barked.

"WHOA NELLY!" Night-claw jumped all the way up to the metal beams at the top of the warehouse and crouched low to the beam he landed on.

"Down boy… they're friends." Night-princess said from a pile of crates she was lying on top of.

"Night-princess… is this… yours…?" Night-roller asked uneasily as he looked at the wolf cautiously.

"Hmph." The wolf snorted.

"Yes… I… summoned him." She said. "I think… I'll name him Louis." She said.

"You're actually naming him?" Night-claw asked, looking over the beam very cautiously at the wolf.

"Grrrrrr…" Louis growled at Night-claw.

"Louis will be a good boy right?" Night-princess asked Louis. Louis looked at her but then lay down on the ground. "Do you want to pet him?" She asked.

"Not particularly…" Night-roller said.

"Night-claw?" She asked him.

"Yeah… I'm staying up here… way away from that thing." Night-claw said.

"Why? At least I'm down here close to it." Night-roller said.

"Dogs don't like me." He said.

"You sure it's not the other way around?" Night-roller asked him.

"Hey can I help it that I inherited some cat instinct?" Night-claw asked. "But Night-princess… what are you still doing here anyways?" He asked.

"…" Night-princess looked away from them for a moment.

"What's the matter?" Night-roller asked.

"I… just had to think… about my parents…" She answered sadly.

"…" The other two looked at her sadly, both of them wincing in pain at these words. Louis got up and strutted close to Night-princess. The wolf sat next to her and looked at the other two with what could be taken as a look of strong will. "Louis… made me feel… a little closer to them for some reason…"

"Night-princess…" Night-roller started to say.

"Maybe… maybe it's just because… it took them dying to make me realize… what else I could do…" She said. Night-claw hopped down and walked a little closer to her, albeit cautiously due to Louis still being there. "I wish I… I just wish I could have saved them in some way… had them still here with me." She said as a tear began to trickle down her cheek.

"Night-princess." Night-roller rolled over to her slowly, not even paying mind to Louis, who still kept his eye on Night-roller. "I went through this when I lost my parents too." Night-roller said.

"You did?" Night-princess asked.

"Yeah… I wrote music about them… I wrote songs of how I wished they were still here right now. And sometimes… sometimes I still do. I write about them… I think about them… and sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have them here today… wondering if they'd be proud of me." Night-roller said, putting an arm around Night-princess' shoulder. "I… know I can't replace them but… I want to be here for you. If you'll let me."

"…" Night-princess listened to him and thought it over while Night-claw watched the two of them. Night-princess let these words echo through her head a bit before turning to Night-roller. "Thank you." She said while giving that soft smile that could break your heart.

"…" Night-claw looked at them, his face was fairly expressionless if it weren't for his watery eyes. "You… do a good job Joseph… much better than I do. At least… at least you guys can connect." Night-claw thought.

"Night-claw…" Night-princess whispered.

"Hm?"

"Thank you too…"

"…" At first he was going to point out everything he'd messed up for her, but he thought better than to ruin this moment with that. "It… wasn't a problem."

The next day…

"Yeah don't worry about it… it's taken care of." Felix said on the phone. He was wearing a light vest, a white T-shirt, shades, light beige pants and sneakers with brown gloves and shades. He was talking on his cell phone with Joseph while walking down the street, while also carrying a small duffle bag.

"Seriously?" Joseph asked.

"Yes I called them and I set up a CD cover signing at the record store in central LA." Felix said quietly.

"What's wrong?"

"Hm?"

"I didn't have to remind you to get you to do it. So what's bothering you?" Joseph asked.

"Ah well… can we talk about this later?" Felix asked. "How's Lisa?" He asked.

"I think she's doing fine."

"Okay then… well, we'll talk later. Bye." Felix hung up the phone and kept walking down the street.

Meanwhile…

Lisa was in her bedroom alone, thinking to herself. She then looked at her shadow and a glisten appeared in her blue eyes to indicate an idea. Her eyes turned red and orange once again, and a single small shadow emerged from it, taking the shape of a single vampire bat. "Hello." She said. She held out a hand and the bat flew over and clung to her arm, hanging upside down from it.

"Squeak…"

"So… will you always be the first one I summon when I summon bats?" She asked, as if talking to it.

"Squeak…"

"I see then." She said with a smile, apparently she could understand the bat. "I'll name you… Cynthia." Lisa said. "Come on… why don't you meet one of my friends?" Lisa suggested as she walked out of her room with Cynthia fluttering behind her.

Meanwhile…

Felix kept walking on down the city streets. He wasn't really going anywhere in particular, he just felt as though he needed to see if there was anything different. Just something, anything at all that was different, something to try and take his mind off of his troubles. "Nothing nothing nothing! Ugh… I swear." Felix thought to himself. "Hm?" Felix looked across the street and noticed a young woman going in to an empty alleyway with about three guys following her. "Does that woman even know she's being followed?" He asked himself as he slipped in to an alleyway himself.

Meanwhile…

"…" The woman Felix noticed before had Short black hair, blue eyes, was about 5'8" in height, and was wearing a white and pink mini-skirt with pink sneakers and large blue bracelets around her wrists. She didn't seem to notice that she was being stalked by a bunch of sweaty and greasy guys as she walked down the alleyway all alone.

"Hey cutie…"

"Hm?" She turned around and noticed them. She gave them a rather impassive look before she turned around and kept walking away from them.

"Hey look at me when I'm talking to you!" That one guy kept shouting.

"Buzz off." The woman shouted as she kept walking away. All three of them picked up the pace and were soon standing around her. That's when she stopped walking and looked at them.

"Now will you listen up girl?" One of them asked.

"She already said buzz off."

"Hm? Oh it's one of those Night-hunter mutants." One of them said.

"You got a problem with mutants?" The girl asked indignantly.

"You don't?" One of them asked.

"But back to that Night-hunter guy, this ain't your business." One of them said.

"Okay, you know what, I don't care if ain't is in the dictionary… that is not a proper word." Night-claw said as he walked forward, flexing his fingers. "And for the record, not that there's anything wrong with being a mutant, but I'm not a mutant."

"You don't have nails, you'd have to be a mutant or something freak!" One of them shouted while running for Night-claw.

"So stupid…" Night-claw sighed. He easily sidestepped a punch from that guy and gut-punched him.

"…" The girl looked at Night-claw with a mildly impressed look as the other two guys rushed him.

"You know what… I'm not even in the mood to make this funny." Night-claw sighed as he sweep-kicked one guy and sent him flying a few feet behind Night-claw and then stood up and thrust his elbow backwards to ram the last guy in the chest.

"Oooooohhh…" That guy gasped before falling over.

"You okay?" Night-claw asked the lady.

"Yeah… I'm just fine actually." She said giving an interested smile.

"Well… that's good." Night-claw said before jumping up the side of a building.

"He's… kind of hot." The girl thought while looking at Night-claw jump off.

That night…

"Dude… let's get out of here now before the…" One crook in a mask said.

"I know, before the cops show up." The other responded.

"No before the Night-hunters do."

"Night-hunters? Come on… are they that bad?"

"Yes. We are." Night-claw answered from above.

"What? Oh crap." One of them pulled out a gun and fired it at him. Night-claw dived over the roof edge and flipped out of the way of any oncoming gunfire. The second Night-claw landed he lunged forward and managed to gut-punch both of them at once.

"Augh…" One of them gasped. Night-claw then crossed his arms and back-handed the both of them and knocked them out cold.

"Guys… I'm going home." Night-claw sighed.

"You sure?" Night-roller asked over the radio.

"Yeah I'm… hm?" Night-claw looked at the roof above him and noticed a figure.

"Hey handsome." The woman said.

"Hold on…" Night-claw said in to the radio before flicking it off. He jumped at the wall, then wall jumped off of that one, then the next one, and finally the same wall before landing on the opposite rooftop from the woman. "Who are you?" He asked.

"My… you did a nice number on those crooks down there." The woman said coyly. She had short black hair, blue eyes, was 5'8" in height, and she was wearing green tights with an eight-pointed star on the chest. She also had a green bandanna tied around her eyes with holes for the eyes.

"Were they yours?" Night-claw asked suspiciously.

"Why don't you find out?" She asked him, still as coy as the last sentence.

"Hold on… I recognize that scent now you're that woman from…"

"Catch me if you can." She said. The woman turned around, crouched, and then jumped off. She cleared the roof she was standing on, and made it halfway across the other roof.

"She's got good legs." He thought. He then jumped away in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile…

"Night-claw? Dang it… why'd he turn his speaker off?" Night-roller asked as he stood over a bunch of beat up crooks. "How are you doing Night-princess?" He asked.

"Okay…I took your advice and I'm only using my other powers sparingly." Night-princess answered over the radio.

"That's good, we don't want you burning through too many vaccines now." Night-roller said as he skated off and in to the street, blazing by all of the cars.

"Okay… where's Night-claw?" She asked.

"I don't know… I'm going to trace his signal and find him." Night-roller said.

Meanwhile…

"Hold it!" Night-claw shouted. He would gain on the lady greatly before she would take tremendous leaps. She wasn't as fast of a runner as him, but she certainly had powerful legs to be making such tremendous leaps. Felix would then have to jump after her, thankfully he was more agile too and could recover from landings better than she could as well.

"Come on. You should be able to catch me." The lady taunted before jumping away. Night-claw jumped after her and landed on his hands one roof away from her, sprang off of his hands and again sailed through the air. He did this a few times before somersaulting and landing right in front of that girl face to face.

"Okay, enough playing around. Now were those guys yours or not?" Night-claw asked with a somewhat agitated tone.

"Oh… no need to get tense handsome." The woman said. She backed away to give them both some space and then continued. "What if I said I was with them?" She asked coyly.

"Then I'm going to have to bring you in." Night-claw said.

"Well come on big boy… show me what you've got." She dared. Night-claw was a bit confused as this but nonetheless ran forward and drew a fist back.

WHAM

"Aaaaaaaahhh…" Night-claw grabbed his hand and started shaking. "That… was a punch that would have knocked out a normal person." He groaned.

"Oh so that's not the best you've got then?" She asked. The spot where Night-claw punched her didn't even show a mark. "Here handsome." She grabbed him by the costume and hurled him over her head.

"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!" He shouted as he went flying through the air. He readjusted himself and landed on his feet two rooftops away. "Damn she's strong." He gasped. "Alright… come here!" He yelled. He jumped back over towards her and revealed his claws. He swung them and only scratched her costume at the stomach, he tore through the costume but her stomach showed no marks on it.

"Oh playing rough now are we?" She asked. She spun around and delivered a spinning kick that he ducked under while he threw his own kick at her knee joint, she only bent that knee slightly but didn't grunt in any pain.

"Are you invulnerable or something?" He asked exasperated. "Whoa!" He dived to the side to avoid a punch and he noticed that her fist was driven in to the roof a bit, leaving a fairly deep hole with unsightly cracks around it. "Yipe…"

Meanwhile…

"So… what are you going to do now?" A guy holding a gun to a little girl's head asked Night-princess.

"Don't hurt her." Night-princess begged. "Shoot me if you have to." She said.

"Ha! I've seen the news. Bullets are like maggots for you. So instead I'll have you do me a favor or two."

"…" Night-princess removed her shades and revealed her dark purple eyes and looked that man in the eyes. Her eyes got that red and orange glow, but the orange iris got kind of cloudy, and it swirled around. The man was fixated on her eyes for a moment, and when the glow stopped, the man put his gun down and stopped holding the girl. "Go." She whispered to the girl.

"Wh…what did you do to him?" The girl asked as she backed away from the man, who was now just staring in to space.

"Just… hypnosis." Night-princess answered quietly; her dark purple eyes just now turning a little lighter in color as she put her shades back on. "Now please… just go." The girl looked at Night-princess, and ran out of the building.

Meanwhile…

"Ha! Hiyah!" Night-claw was fighting with the smiling woman close range, throwing kicks and punches not too hard, but they were rather easily blocked by the girl even he threw a blow at a more vulnerable spot. "Don't waste all of your energy on a single blow, make smaller blows to build up to the final strike." Night-claw kept reminding himself.

"You're good, if I was a bit weaker you could probably take me." The girl said. Finally Night-claw threw one punch where she grabbed his wrist, then pushed him on to the ground.

"Augh… fizz…" He groaned.

"Oh and by the way… those crooks, they had nothing to do with me." She said.

"What? Then why'd you fight me?" He asked. The woman got off of Night-claw and she walked towards the edge of the roof.

"Oh just… interest I guess." She turned back to him. "My name is Jane Agnus."

"Jane huh?" Night-claw asked. "How… did you get your powers?"

"I'm a mutant." Jane answered. "I was born with my powers." She said. "And you know something. I don't think anyone's ever been as interesting as you."

"Wait… what are you saying?" Night-claw asked as the woman got closer to him, hands behind her back, a smile on her face, and eyes full of interest looking at Night-claw. "…"

"I've… seen a few men before but none of them could ever except me for being a mutant. But you wouldn't mind would you?" Jane asked sweetly.

"Wait… you want me to…"

"I'm just saying, you seem down and you look as though you could use a little special someone right now couldn't you?" She asked as she started walking towards the other end of the roof. "And… I need someone as well."

"…" Night-claw looked at her curiously at this. She turned and gave him a pouting face with her lips. He looked at her curiously, and then smiled. "Tomorrow night, this rooftop maybe? For starters?" He suggested.

"It's a date…"

"Felix. Felix Thomas." Night-claw said. "Her heartbeat isn't off in the slightest, I think I can trust her."

"Alright. See you Felix." Jane said. She turned and then jumped away in to the night.

"Yo Night-claw!" Right after Jane left, Night-roller skated up the side of the building behind Night-claw and came up. "You alright?"

"You know what… I think I'm going to be just fine." Night-claw said with a smile.

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