Alright guys! Let the awesomeness of chapter five ensue! (Or something ) Ok, so first off, Happy Presidents Day! Second off, be prepared for a somewhat short chapter, but I'll make up for it this week, I promise! Third off (Geeze, with the offs!) If I don't post for a day or two it's because my schedule's kind messed up right now…I'm gonna be gone on a Skills USA competition Thursday and Friday, so I won't be posting then, and I also screwed up my knee, so between complaining about my crutches and seeing doctors that apparently went to med school just to look at peoples' knees and tell them "Yup, it's busted…" I might miss a post or two…So just bear with me, I'll get this sorted out! Ok, so chapter five! Enjoy!
(BTW, are you guys shy or something? Still no comments… Seriously, I don't bite! (But Hank does!)
The man running in front of Hank was stunningly fast. Even Hank (aka The Beast) was unable to catch him right away. The man darted into another alley as he gained on him. The young man was breathing heavily, partly in fear, partly in pain.
"Hey! Stop!" Hank shouted after him. Based on the kid's expression as he looked over his shoulder, stopping was one of those things he wasn't planning on doing. After a lengthy chase through a few more (thankfully abandoned) streets, Hank was finally close enough to pounce.
"Hey man, I'm warning you…" He said in a last ditch effort to avoid injury for both parties.
"Leave me alone!" he shouted. He asked for it… Hank leaned forward and ran on his hands and feet for a few steps then leaped fantastically over the man, grabbing him around the chest as he fell. The two mutants rolled to the ground and struggled for several seconds, but Hank inevitably got the upper hand. He put a clawed hand around the teen's neck, holding him down until he stopped trying to get away. Only then did Hank realize that there was something very wrong…
The teen's eyes were wild and darting around like two spasmodic bumblebees in glass jars and his hair was long and matted. He had a full beard even though he was clearly no older than 16 or 17 and his teeth when he opened his mouth were longer and pointier than was to be expected
"Please…Just let m…m…me g…go. It's…f…f...for your own…g…g… good." He had a terrible stutter. Hank thought it was a strange thing to say, seeing as he was the one with claws and a mouthful of three-inch fangs.
"Hey guy, calm down, I don't want to hurt you." He said.
"Yeah, and I, d…d…don't w…want to hurt y…y…you, so just l…let me go, ok?" Hank studied the strange teenager for a moment. Something else was wrong…Was it possible that his dark brown hair was growing?
"Are you ok? Maybe you should see a doctor…" Hank suggested, slowly letting go of the teen's throat. The second he had loosened his grip, the kid threw him off, actually threw Hank off of him, jumping to his feet and backing away. When the blue mutant had recovered he got to his feet and his respect for this small mutant began to grow.
"Look, you can go, but I want to help you, we, want to help you!"
"We?" The kid asked, his voice shaking slightly as he continued to back away.
Come on, use your eyes! Mutants! You, me…Every mutant has a right to be taught and protected. There' a school…" Hank was about to tell him about the academy when the teenaged mutant suddenly let out a horrific scream and collapsed to the ground in front of him on all fours. He gasped in pain and Hank started to come to his aid, but the kid put up a shaking hand, stopping him.
"Stay…back! I… d…don't want to hurt y…y…you!" Hank watched in horror as the boy's body changed, right there in front of him. His screams could certainly be heard for miles as his face stretched, elongated, and grew until it formed a snout like that of a dog. Long fangs grew out of his mouth. His back grew hunched and more muscular and pitch-black fur grew out of every inch of his exposed skin. Where his legs and arms had been grew long, powerful limbs and meat-hook like claws on every finger and toe. Hank was horribly reminded of his own transformation to his animalistic form. As the boy's body changed, so did his wails. It morphed horrifically from screams to growls, and from growls to roars until before Hank was a huge, growling, bloodthirsty wolf.
"Whoa…" He stuttered. Now he was the one to back away in shock and fear as the hideous creature stalked slowly toward him. "Kid? Kid?" He tried, but it was no good. The light brown eyes looked back at him with recognition, but the wolf itself continued toward Hank. The boy was still in there, Hank could feel it.
Suddenly, the beast gave a terrible roar and hurled itself at Hank. He was thrown back by the weight of the creature and struggled to pull it away as it tore at his throat. He slammed it against the brick wall of the building behind him and the wolf slid down it to the ground. It recovered quickly, leaping to its feet and snarling in anger.
Hank watched it. Instinctively he was terrified, but he was surprised when a menacing growl rumbled through his throat.
Oh yeah…I'm a Beast…
He let out an enormous roar, running at the wolf. It jumped back and barked, but didn't attack. Hank took a swipe at it with his clawed hand and it retreated a few more feet down the alley. So it wasn't completely fearless… Another snap of jaws and threatening roar sent the creature running away and into an empty street, Hank close on its tail…literally. He realized that he would have to keep this mutant away from civilians until he could work out what to do about him.
A werewolf. Figures. I hope Charles doesn't mind waiting a while…
The sun was starting to come up when Hank finally saw the wolf (thankfully busying itself with digging through some dumpsters) seem to fall asleep and collapse on the ground. Hank waited a while before approaching, but he could tell that whatever this was had nearly reached its end.
Cautiously he approached the unconscious wolf. Looking around he realized how exposed their position was. Any early morning passer-by would clearly be able to see them. With considerable difficulty Hank dragged the creature into the shadows and peered at it…him…waiting for him to wake up.
It was several minutes, but the wolf's body began to morph just as it had before, but as if in reverse. The snout disappeared into the head and the limbs bent and warped until they were once again human arms and legs. Realizing the man's clothing predicament, Hank took off his over-sized coat and laid it over him. It was another five minutes, but the now completely human mutant finally came around.
"Hey, get up man." He said, nudging him in the shoulder. The bearded teen jumped at the sight of Hank, but he relaxed (Though he did look awkwardly from the blue mutant to the coat that covered him) after seeing that they were alone.
"Geezes, guy." He said in a voice totally lacking in the stutter from before. "I thought I told you to get lost. I could'a killed ya."
"Don't flatter yourself." Hank joked. The teenager gave a hallow chuckle and sat up with his back to a wall.
"You were talking about a school?" He said, peering at Hank keenly.
"Um yeah, I think you'd like it there, especially with your…your, well…"
"The fact that I grow fangs every couple of days?"
"Yeah, that."
"Look, I'd normally jump at the opportunity to be safe and to have the people around me be safe, but now is just not a good time."
"Care to explain?"
"Not really. Just know that I have a system that works for me and that, until you chased me away from my hide-out, I've never been a threat to anyone." Hank wasn't sure if he believed this, but he figured that there would have been something in the papers if there was a werewolf attacking random citizens in New York backstreets.
"Well, as long as it works for you…"
"It does, for now… If I can, I'll get in touch though. It's nice to know there's someone else out there. You know… That I'm not alone and all."
"I know what you mean. You can contact us by phone. Believe it or not we're actually in the phonebook."
"No kidding?"
"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Look it up." Hank stood up and smiled.
"I will. Thanks man. I'm assuming you kept me out of trouble?"
"Something like that." Hank ran off at a jog in the direction of the van. He glanced at his watch as a large black van passed by him on the road. Four hours! For four hours he had left Xavier alone. Hank ran a little faster, the sun rising behind him.