"Get dressed." he orders Xander when they enter their apartment.
"What's going on?" Xander asks him.
"We are about to have company, " he answers Xander while he picks up his gun, puts on his coat, and looks for his hat. He can hear Xander putting his armor on outside of his room.
He looks at his hat and gently moves his fingers over the edge, the hat's shield system isn't the best out there if anything it's pathetic when compared to almost every shield in the world.
Not to mention that it uses up most of its power when it stops anything above low-level attacks.
He can't help but take a deep breath before putting it on, reaching into his pocket, and putting on his sunglasses. The last thing that he picks up is his spare gun.
Unlike his main gum, he doesn't have to reload it and its bullets vary so he doesn't have to worry about changing ammo while fighting something out of the ordinary.
"I need you to tell Gloria and her son to stay inside and not come out no matter what happens." he orders Xander before he opens the door.
"What's happening?" Xander asks him.
"Hunters are coming." he answers his partner and hears the people outside shimper when they hear that word.
He points at Xander and then signals to the light that's at the end of the hallway, before pointing at himself and the dark hallway that seems to be getting darker by the moment.
The lights in the ceiling begin to flicker before they burn out or the power is taken from them.
He can hear the people in the darkness scream, their voices only last a second before they are replaced by another group's screams that quickly vanish.
He doesn't move and while he silently hopes that someone might try to run, he's learned not to hope for anything no matter how small it is.
He doesn't know if the people are dead or if they are just too scared to move, the fight around him finally dies leaving him completely alone.
It takes a moment for his sunglasses to turn on, he can't help but smile when he sees that the homeless people are alive, but his relief is short-lived when he notices that something is moving on the walls.
He wants to warn Xander but if he says anything now, the creatures will attack and.
"Look at what we have here." he is torn from his thoughts by a familiar voice.
"..." he doesn't answer, not because he doesn't want to but because of what's in front of him.
He can see the creatures slowly approaching the cowering people who hide behind their knees and arms as they try to make themselves seem smaller.
The creatures let out a cry of pain that's a mixture of a woman screaming and a snake hissing angrily. The lights flicker on and off in a chaotic dance that's meant to both fill him with fear and keep him in place.
The lights stop moving and everything goes back to being dark, but he can still see the creatures glaring at the people.
"Sorry about that. We don't kill witnesses that aren't a threat." the voice says to him.
"What do you want?" he asks.
"Glad you asked."
"You see I heard that a Shifter arrived." the man let the words hang in the air as if he was trying to remind him of something important.
'She isn't a threat." he said to the man who let out a small laugh.
"Not a threat he says."
"Let me tell you what my team has had to stop since she showed up."
"Videos, messages, voice recordings."
" Hackers who are trying to find who entered their systems, and what do you suppose they will do when they find that someone that should be dead is alive?"
"Let's forget all of that. Let's ask ourselves about her clients. What will they do when the person that they bought merchandise from and traded information with is alive again?"
The creatures move their tails from one side to another waiting for their master's order.
Their drool glows blue when it touches the ground it's not enough to light their surroundings but it's enough that he can see the black leather-like skin of the monsters.
'Step aside and let the Hunters do their job. With her gone no one will ask any questions that don't need to be asked."
"..Give her some time to say goodbye to her kid." he says to the creature's master.
"No she's been here for too long." the sound of something hitting the wall behind him with enough force that he could feel it force him to turn and he saw Xander being held in place by something that looked like a man who took too many steroids.
"Did you hear that boy your mom has to die and she has to die now." he hears the man say to Gloria's son who must have been listening to their conversation.
"Now what will you do will you protect the Shifter? Will you protect the witnesses? Or will you do your job and deal with the threat before it gets even bigger than it already is?"
"From ten to zero that's the time that you get to make your decision and then the Hunters do their job."
"Ten"
"Three days and we can make a new identity."
"Nine"
"We can jump her somewhere else she won't be a threat."
"Shifters aren't Jumpers and any attempt will either result in another shift or time travel which could be even worse."
"Eight."
'I won't let you kill her again!" he hears Gloria's son scream before Gloria yells at him to shut up.
He can see the creatures smiling cruelly their clawed hands ass through the walls as if they weren't there, but the creatures toy with the people's clothes and hair as if they were playing with oversized dolls.
"Seven."
"She mine." he says while hoping that the man will accept his answer.
'What did you say?" he hears the watchman ask through the speakers that are in his sunglasses.
"I need something for sexual relief, and she fits the bill."
"Well look at what we have here, you of all people finally decided to join us. I would have never imagined you know what I can't imagine it because it's not true." The watchman says his voice sounding as if he was amused by the idea before becoming cold at the thought of being tricked.
"One-Zero"
The creatures roar all at once sending the people into a frenzy but their hissing sounds force the people to stay in place making them to be aware of everything happening around them, but being unable to move.
Xander's body flies into the group of creatures, his attacker threw him as if his adamantium armor did not weigh anything.
Xander bounced off the floor three times and for a long moment no one did anything, it was only when the young man grunted in pain that he lifted his hands and fired both of his guns.