Lisa Simpson: Animal Avenger

by Bloody Simpson Chibi

A lot can happen in eight years. People can die. Relationships can wither. What was cruel can become kind-hearted and what was innocent can become the very thing nightmares are made of. This is the story of a girl named Lisa Marie Simpson and her descent into darkness. Rated M. Takes place 8 years after the main timeline. AV by kittiesofcupcakes and used with permission

25. Keep The Wolvez Away

Chapter 25: Keep The Wolvez Away

(Alright, so apparently leaving that warning out doesn't work as those fucking pieces of shit will still leave fake reviews asking to turn your story into a comic. Fuck you. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU! I HOPE YOU LOSE EVERYTHING THAT EVER FUCKING MATTERED TO YOU, YOU DISGUSTING PATHETIC GREEDY WASTE OF SPACE! I FUCKING HATE YOU! I FUCKING HATE YOU! I FUCKING HATE YOU!

Now with that little vent out of the way, let's get on with the actual fucking story which, I'm not gonna lie, I'm once again losing motivation to write. That's the kind of thing that happens when you don't get enough actual reviews! There's just no fucking point!

Okay, it's clear that I'm not gonna be able to calm down. I'm never able to calm down. It's like my stupid fucking body retains anger or something. What a useless piece of shit. All I'm going to add with this AN is bring up the fact that, after this chapter, the story's going on hiatus so I can fix up the chapters. I was going to wait until the end of this season but I fell like I'll get some of my motivation back if I can fix up the story a bit so I'd rather not wait. It won't be a long hiatus, just until I can fix both this story and Jigoku Files.

I'll do my best with this chapter, I guess. I mean, these fucking scammers have got to fuck off at some point, right?)

Eli awoke to the sound of two men shouting at each other.

The young boy sat up in his bed, rubbed his eyes, and yawned as the men continued to raise their voices. He got up from his bed and staggered to the window. From the relative safety of his room, he could see the two men responsible for his rude awakening. He recognized neither of them and moved away from the window before they could notice him for fear of getting shouted at or worse. He got dressed quickly and made his way into the kitchen for his daily bowl of Diet Krusty O's. As he stepped inside, he spotted his older brother Maurice sitting on the table, face in his hand and groaning to himself.

"Maurice?" Eli asked.

Slowly, the older brother picked his head up and smiled weakly at the young boy. "Morning, little man. How'd you sleep?"

"In my bed." Eli answered with a laugh.

Maurice scoffed in amusement. "Smartass."

"What about you?" Eli pulled up a chair and sat himself down. "You look like you didn't get a wink of sleep last night."

"Oh I got sleep," Maurice assured his little brother. "A whole hour of it!"

"So how'd it go?" Eli asked. "Did you guys get a dog?"

Maurice made a stern face as he recalled last night's events. It still felt all so surreal to him, like something out of a bad comedy movie. "Y-Yeah. We got the dog alright. Don't you worry about that."

"Awesome!" Eli lifted both hands in the air. He started to look around, "So, where is it?"

"Chill, bro." Maurice put his hands up. "It's still with the seller."

Eli's expression soured at once. "With the seller? Why would you leave it with the seller? What if he tries to resell it to someone with more money or something!?"

"Eli, chill." Maurice requested. "They ain't gonna sell the dog to nobody because we already paid for it."

"How much?"

"Never mind how much! The point is we got the dog and boy are you gonna be surprised at the dog fight tonight."

"Really?" Eli grew excited. "Is it really strong? Like really super strong?"

"Strongest dog that's gonna be there tonight, no cap!" Maurice replied proudly. "We are a shoo-in to win! And then..."

"And then?"

"And then we can leave, brotha!" Maurice finished. "We can find somewhere nice in Capital City. No more gang violence. No more random gas leaks or corpses in the water tanks. Just you and me and a whole ocean of opportunities!"

"Awesome!" Eli awed. Just as soon as he finished, however, his face dropped as he looked down at the table.

"Oh oh." Maurice rested his elbow on the table. "I know that look. What's wrong, little man?"

"Well...don't get me wrong. I'm excited to go to Capital City. I really am. But..."

"Yeah?"

"Well, it's about Maggie."

"Oh, that." Maurice waved his hand. "That ain't no problem. Capital City ain't even that far away from Springfield. You can visit your little girlfriend anytime you want."

"That's not what I meant," Eli replied without even the slightest hint of embarrassment in his voice. "It was something she said yesterday, about the dog fights,"

"Oh, now don't tell me that crazy shelter chick got her to put some stupid thoughts in your head." Maurice grumbled. "Lord knows you have too many as it is."

"Relax Maurice, I ain't going ol Meat is Murder on you. I just...I just hope our dog is being taken care of."

"Taken care of?"

"You know. Fed properly. Groomed properly, Whatever the hell that means. Maybe a few treats on the side. You know, just given stuff to make a dog happy. It's still a dog after all, even if it's going to fight for us."

Maurice once again found himself thinking back to last night when he and his homies nearly lost their fingers trying to pull Fenrir back to his crate. He could still feel the wolf's hot breath on his arms as it lunged at him. The only way Maurice and his friends were able to get the wolf into the crate was thanks to Louie showing them the ropes. It was clear from the sweat on his skin that he was nervous about being near that damn killing machine just as much as they were but his fear was subdued by his loyalty to Fat Tony. Maurice supposed that's just what happens when you work for the Mafia.

"Maurice?" Eli asked.

Maurice snapped out of his funk. "Y-Yeah?"

"The dog is being taken care of right? You guys treating it okay?"

"We're treating it fine, Eli." Maurice said. "Super-fine. Trust me."

"Maurice, you know I always trust you." Eli said. "We have to trust each other. We're all we have."

"That's right," Maurice got up from his chair and walked around to Eli, wrapping a arm around the boy. "We are all we have so we gotta stick together. Through thick and thin."

"Yeah!" Eli agreed. He took a few moments to enjoy the hug before speaking again. "Hey Maurice?"

"Hm?"

"Do you...Do you think we can take the dog with us to Capital City once this is over?" Eli asked. "You know, as a pet-pet!"

Maurice tensed up a little. "Um, let's...W-We'll talk about later, ok." He patted his brother on the back. "For right now, let's get some breakfast."

"Ok," Eli shrugged. "But I don't know if there's enough cereal for both of us."

Maurice chuckled as he messed with Eli's hair. "We're going out to eat today, genius!" He said. "I'll take you to that place with those waffles you like so much."

Eli's eyes brightened up. "For real?"

"We about to be rich," Maurice replied. "I think we can afford it for today."

"Bitchin!" Eli jumped out of his seat in surprise. "Hey, do you think I could have whipped cream on my waffles again?"

"I'm sure you can, little man." Maurice said as he took his brother by the hand and walked him toward the front door. "I'm sure you can."

---

The Springfield Public Library was one of the few places that hadn't changed much over the years, aside from the old librarian passing away and bequeathing the building to her identical daughter who ran things pretty much like her mother did. Books cost 20 dollars more for every day they were overdue and noise within was to be kept to an absolute minimum. For the most appreciative of the library, this suited them just fine. These rules turned the library into a escape from the outside world, a meeting place for people of more nerdy and geeky persuasions and a great place to begin research into any topic you could imagine.

Even the Animal Avenger.

"Come on! You stupid son of a-"

Allison squeaked in surprise as the printer suddenly roared to life once more, birthing a page depicting the news article on her computer screen. "ANIMAL AVENGER SUSPECTED IN SLAYING OF BELOVED TEXAN STEREOTYPE!" read the header. Beneath that was a grainy image of Richard Texan's horribly mangled corpse, the gore thankfully lessened by the black and white coloring of the image. Allison ripped the paper from the printer and slid it onto a small stack next to her. The stack itself rested on a file she had bought from the office store down the street.

"Okay," She whispered to herself. "Just a few more to go and I'll have the complete set." Allison turned back to the computer and started shifting through news articles. Animal Avenger was typed into the search bar so the next article that appeared after Richard Texan's death concerned Captain McCallister's. Allison groaned in annoyance and sadness as that was not what she wanted to see.

"Dammit! Right to the Sea Captain!" She thought with a sigh. "I should have figured as much, though. No one else but me sees the connection. No one." Allison looked around to ensure no one else was watching and cleared the search bar. After a few more moments of hesitation, she reluctantly typed in SUICIDE IN PARK and set the search for Newest First to be safe. As soon as she hit enter, she was hit with exactly what she had been looking for.

"TEEN DEATH IN PARK RULED A SUICIDE BY POLICE" The image below depicted Clementine's corpse sitting against the tree.

"Those bastards," Allison whispered as she started to tear up. "Sensationalizing her body like that." With a sniff, Allison hit print once again and tapped her fingers on the edge of her desk as she waited for the printer to complete its simple task. Once it had finally done so, she ripped the paper away and looked at it sadly. Her dear departed friend had been reduced to a darkened shadow in the middle of the image. She choked up upon seeing it. It was as if the Universe itself was trying to erase Clementine's existence.

"Stupid printer!" Allison whispered. "You'd think after 15 years, they replace this damn thing already."

"I agree but such is the unpleasant result of budget cuts."

Allison nearly jumped out of her skin, throwing the paper up in the air with a shriek. Quickly she turned around to find none other than Marsha Prince standing behind her. "Marsha?" She asked. "W-What are you doing here?"

"What I always do with my free time," Marsha replied. "Expanding the horizons of my knowledge with the almost endless collection of books available in the library!" She held her hands out in some sort of grand gesture, only to be shushed by the librarian all the way from the front desk. She covered her mouth, only to hear the sound of paper rustling toward her. Looking up, Marsha saw the lone sheet of paper Allison had thrown in her panic falling back down. Curious, she grabbed it and started reading.

"Shit!" Allison got up from her seat and snatched the paper back. But it was already too late as Marsha had read the header and her face betrayed a look of quiet concern.

"Allison, while I understand what you are currently doing is none of my business, I must express my concern over it. I know Clementine was a close friend of yours and her suicide was indeed a tragedy but-"

"It wasn't a suicide!" Allison suddenly shrieked, startling her fellow bookworm. She regretted this immediately and covered her mouth as from afar, the librarian hushed her. More tears welling in her eyes, she sniffled and turned away. "I-I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

Marsha took a hesitant step closer. "Please enlighten me, Allison. If Clementine did not end her own life, who or what do you prepose did?"

Allison gave Marsha a sideway glance. "You'll just think I'm crazy."

"As the popular expression goes, try me." Marsha said as she took a seat next to Allison.

Allison hesitated for a moment, unsure if it was such a good idea to share her theory with someone else at this stage of her investigation. But as looked into Marsha's gentle gaze, a part of her felt reassured enough to speak. "A-Alright but full disclosure, this is still just a theory."

"Very well,"

Allison sighed, placed the printed paper on the stack and straightened it out. "I think...Clementine was killed by the Animal Avenger."

Marsha seemed to do a double take. "The...The Animal Avenger?"

"Yeah," Allison set the papers down. "Think I'm crazy yet?"

"I do agree it's a rather out-there theory," Marsha nodded. "From what I understand, the Animal Avenger's modus operandi is to attack and kill people who abuse animals, usually in a similar manner to how they inflicted said abuse. If Clementine was indeed slain by the Animal Avenger, that could only be because..." Marsha trailed off, her face becoming horrified as her mind completed the thought for her. "Allison...did...did Clementine..."

"I don't know," Allison sniffled as she shook her head. "There was this incident in the lunch room where she...she looked like she was having too much fun squashing a cockroach...that's about all I got to go on."

"Pish-tah!' Marsha dismissed. "Crushing a arthropod hardly counts as abuse to the mainstream masses, considering most people's distaste for them."

"But what if it does count for the Animal Avenger?" Allison asked. "I mean, they're a psycho going around butchering people for hurting animals, right? Who's to say where that monsters draws the line? For all we know, waking a cat up from a nap might be enough to earn a screwdriver in the eye!"

Marsha placed her finger to her chin. "You do make a rather astute point. But then, how would the Animal Avenger have even found out about such a incident...unless..."

"Unless they were connected to someone in our school if not at the school themselves," Allison completed. "Springfield's a big place, Marsha. The Animal Avenger could be virtually anyone! You know what they say about serial killers."

Marsha nodded. "Indeed, the most terrifying strength of a serial killer is their ability to shift undetected through the masses. But pray tell, what does this have to do with the stack of papers before you?"

"I...I know this sounds stupid but...if I'm right and the Animal Avenger really did kill Clementine, I want to prove it. I want to help bring them to justice!" Allison turned to the computer and retraced her digital steps back to the Sea Captain's page, setting it up for the printer as well. "And if the police and media are going to stay as incompetent as they are, then I have no choice but to begin my own investigation!" Allison blushed as she suddenly realized how over the top and cartoonish she sounded and chuckled nervously. "You...You probably think I've lost it, haven't you?"

To her surprise, Marsha shook her head with a smile. "Not at all, Allison. In fact, if I may be so bold, I would like to ask to lend my aid in this investigation as well!"

Allison's jaw dropped. "R-Really? You'd help me with investigating the Animal Avenger?"

"While I have yet to lose anyone close to me, the fact that a deranged manic is still roaming Springfield after all these years haunts me immensely," Marsha confessed. "It would be an honor to help take them down!"

Allison rubbed her arm. "It...It could get dangerous...you realize this...right?"

"Honey, I once survived a fall from a cliff and a mountain lion attack in the same day." Marsha snapped her fingers. "Danger's got nothing on me,"

Allison giggled. "Alright then," She held out her hand. "Then let's make a vow, right here, right now! Through Hell or high water, no matter what, we will uncover the truth!"

"And bring the Animal Avenger to justice, once and for all!" Marsha took Allison's hand and shook it with gusto.

A final annoyed "SHUSH!" erupted from the front desk, prompting a blushing Marsha and Allison to wince.

"Sorry!" They both whispered.

---

Homer flipped through the channels of his TV mindlessly as he sat in his bed, hand on his bare stomach and empty chip bags and beer cans surrounding him like twigs in a bird's nest. One second, the screen displayed a minister connecting the recent rise in egg prices to the End Times and the next, a bubbly anime girl transformed into a robotic pink tiger after giving a extremely hammy speech about friendship. A wild-eyed salesman screamed about how the viewer absolutely needed his collection of fishing rods, only to be replaced by a Latino woman slapping Bumblebee Man in the face after passionately kissing him

"Solo vine a arreglar el tanque septico!" He cried.

Homer sighed as he gave up on finding something interesting to watch. The faint scent of a cheese puff caught his attention and his eyes shifted toward the lone bag next to his head. Wearily, he reached for the bag, not taking into account just how close to the edge of the bed it was. As soon as his fingers gazed it, the bag fell over and out of sight.

Homer stared at the space where the bag of cheese puffs used to be and then sighed as he decided to switch back to that anime show, if only to see if he could find out why that girl turned into a robotic tiger in the first place.

He fell asleep before the commercials ended.

---

All was quiet in the Simpson's household. Marge was the first to retire for the night, falling asleep almost as soon as she laid down in her bed. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Bart had shared one last visit with Jessica Lovejoy in the treehouse before turning in for the night. The two lovers were both now sound asleep as well. Maggie stayed up a little later into the night as she had found a old but surprisingly gory B movie on Booberella's show. She wanted to see it to the end but fatigue got the better of her and in the end, she decided she would look up the ending in the morning. And so off to bed she went.

This left Lisa as the only soul not in slumber that night and sleep was the furthest thing from her mind.

"Okay, so I checked out the maps of the docks I found online." Lisa whispered as she sat in front of the mirror, applying black make-up to her eyes. "If my previous take downs of dog fights have taught me anything, it's that they'll usually keep the dogs in the same place until it's time to fight."

"And I'd imagine you want to ensure their safety above all else, right?" The Beast asked.

"That's right," Lisa confirmed as she grabbed a small bottle of her self-made tranquilizer and held it up. "Well, that and I don't want them to interfere. We'll put them all to sleep and then take care of the fighters. Call the police and mission cleared!"

"You make it sound so simple," The Beast taunted.

"On paper, it is." Lisa set the bottle down in her backpack. "The only real challenge will be the number of fighters there. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how many of them I'll actually be able to eliminate and I'd rather not resort to explosives again."

"Maybe you can trick them into shooting each up? Have them do the work for you?"

Lisa tensed up.

"What's wrong?"

"It...It's...

"And don't even bother with saying it's nothing. I'm in your head, remember?"

Lisa sighed. "I guess I'm still a little wary of guns. Ever since the Rich Texan incident."

"Well...you could always invest in a gun for yourself," The Beast suggested. "I'm sure your brother could pull some strings and-"

"No," Lisa said calmly. "No matter what the situation, I will never use a gun again. It'd leave a bad taste in my mouth. Besides, if we get a gun and then the Animal Avenger's victims turn up with bullet holes in their heads, that's pretty much the same as asking to be caught."

"I suppose," The Beast relented.

"Besides, I already have a plan in mind for that." Lisa's expression soured. "I just wish I was a little further along in my practice."

"And I suppose killing these bastards by the docks wouldn't constitute good practice?"

Lisa shook her head. "No, I need to know exactly what I'm doing at all times before I bring that on my missions." Lisa lifted up her backpack and peered inside. "Until then, I'm just going to have to rely on my knives."

The Beast chuckled. "Sounds like you're planning on sneaking up behind them and cutting their throats one by one."

"If it comes to that, then so be it." Lisa zipped up the backpack and opened her drawer, taking out her fox mask. She stared into its eyes holes for a few moments before slipping it on. She stared back into the mirror, into the face of the monster inside. The Beast.

"You ready, partner?"

"Always." Lisa got up, grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder as she made her way out of the room. Clad in a black shirt and ripped jeans, she walked by Maggie's room, the door cracked open. Lisa stopped in her tracks and peered inside. Her baby sister was laying sound asleep in the bed, her body curled up beneath the covers almost like a kitten.

"So little...so innocent...just as all predators start out..."

"Maggie's not a predator."

"But she could be," The Beast spoke. "If she had the right guide."

Lisa's gaze shifted toward the knife by Maggie's bedside, right next to her baseball cards and Betsy Bat plushie.

"The right guide..." Lisa tip-toed into Maggie's room and up to her bed. She looked over her little sister for a few moments, lifted up her mask and planted a small kiss on her cheeks. Maggie groaned in her sleep as a result.

"Mom...not in front of the President..."

Lisa smiled in amusement, fixed her mask in place, and left the room, carefully leaving the door at the same angle it was at. Before long, she was riding down the street on her bike, the chilly night air blowing through her hair and clothes.

Around her, the rest of Evergreen Terrance slept on, completely unaware of the monster in their midst.

---

Ever since the horrific death of Horatio McCallister, the Springfield docks had been almost devoid of life, especially in the night time. All that remained were the distant sound of bells chiming and the occasional seagull squawking as it hopped throughout the docks in search of food. One of these snow-white birds happened upon a used-up cigarette butt and tried to swallow it in one peck. The poor thing immediately coughed it out as the tobacco agitated its throat and mouth.

"Out of the way, Tweedy!" A man's foot kicked the bird right into the air. He laughed as he watched it scream and scramble to fix itself in flight before continuing his walk to the middle of the boardwalk, right above the intersection between land and sea.

Tonight, the docks were alive again, this time with the sound of hooting, hollering, cursing and dogs barking. Tonight, the dog fights had officially returned to Springfield.

"Wow," Eli marveled as he looked around the boardwalk, his legs resting on his older brother's shoulders. "So many people here tonight. Guess a lot of people like dog fighting, huh?"

"A lot of people like money," Maurice corrected. "That's why they're here tonight and that's why we're here tonight."

"And we're gonna win big, right Maurice?"

"Right!" Maurice nodded. He carried his brother into the heart of the event where several of the fighters had gathered already. None of the dogs seemed to be out yet, save for a big Pit Bull with brown fur and a scarred muzzle. He was barking at virtually everyone and everything, spraying spittle everywhere like the spray of the ocean. Around his neck was a chain held by a muscular man in a white T-shirt. The man seemed to be dissociating, staring past the crowd in front of him and toward the ocean.

"Yo Maurice!" Greg called out from the crowd. Come here a second!"

"Alright," Maurice set his little brother down on the floor. "You wait here, alright? I gotta talk to the guys real quick."

"Alright, but hurry back! The fights are gonna start soon!"

"I know, I know," Maurice ruffled his little brother's head and went to meet Greg and Tony in front of the empty kiosk. Once he got close enough to notice a familiar face behind the counter, he stopped and did a double take. "What the?...Aren't you the guy from last night?"

"Hey I got a name you know! It's Moe!" The man behind the counter explained.

"I...I don't understand," Maurice replied. "What are you doing here?"

"He's here to make sure we don't try to sneak off with their share of the money," Greg answered. "Guess Fat Tony doesn't trust us."

"Hey, hey, don't take it so personally," Moe said. "Fat Tony don't trust nobody, period."

"Besides," Thin Tony butted in. "I think you guys are forgetting our little conversation last night. It doesn't matter how much of the cut Fat Tony takes, with that fucking beast on our side, we're gonna be living large!"

"We better," Maurice said. "My little brother's depending on this."

"What, he need an operation or something?" Moe asked.

"No, I just want to take him out of this dump to Capital City." Maurice explained. "Somewhere he can grow up safe,"

Moe's tense look seemed to soften a little. Unbeknownst to the trio, the image of a certain starfish-haired girl popped into his head. "Heh...Yeah...I can dig that..."

"Dig?" Maurice asked in confusion.

"Look, we'll make sure Fat Tony gets his share. I promise." Thin Tony butted in again. "And with the dough that wolf will ring in, you can bet its gonna be one hell of a share!"

"That's the idea, genius!" Moe said. "Now get outta here. The fights are gonna start soon and Fat Tony gave me a little bit of spending cash," Moe chuckled to himself as he reached into his pockets and pulled out a stack of $100 dollar bills.

"To-To bet on us, right?" Greg asked.

Moe's gaze narrowed. "No, To bet on Tiny Tim. Of course to bet on you losers now get going!"

The trio nodded and left to prepare for the fight, Greg asking "Who's Tiny Tim?" as they walked. Moe chuckled again as he planted a giant kiss on the money in his hand. "Finally! Tonight, being indebt to the Mob pays off!"

---

Ted and Bill were professionals in the world of guarding underground events. They had a strict co-worker relationship with each other and hardly spoke a word during any of the times they were on the job. Tonight was no exception as they stood before the sealed off building at the edge of the docks. At one point, it had been a tattoo shop but now it housed every dog registered to fight tonight. From inside, the dogs howls and barked and occasionally screamed, all completely unaware of the cruel fate awaiting them. But none of this was of any interest to Ted and Bill who only moved to light up a cigarette as they continued their jobs.

Suddenly, a shape lunged from the shadows right in front of them. Without speaking a word, both men pulled the guns from their holsters and fired at the shape, emptying their bullets into it. The shape made a popping sound, flew up into the air, danced around for a bit and then floated back down, landing over a nearby trash can. In the dim light of the lamp post, the two guards were finally able to see the object for what it was.

A beach ball.

Dumbfounded, the two guards looked at each other. "What the fu-"

Before Bill could finish his sentence, a hand from behind suddenly traced a knife over his throat, slicing it open. The blood gushing from the wound flew right into Ted's eyes and he screamed in shock and fury as he tried to wipe it off in haste. He was never able to get it off before Bill's killer rammed the knife into his stomach and dragged it down, allowing his intestines to fall out of the fresh cavity.

"Thank Buddha for forgetful beach goers," Lisa muttered as she cleaned the knife off of Ted's coat. She turned to face the building, listening to the howls and cries of the dogs inside. "Don't worry, little guys." She whispered. "Your ordeal is almost over."

Carefully, she used her knife to pick the lock open, stuck it back in her backpack pocket, and tossed the lock into the ocean. Slowly, she pushed open the door and peered inside.

Similar to the cat room back at the shelter, the left and right side of the building were lined with cages, every single one containing a dog. Most of them were barking and growling, even more so now that someone had stepped inside their domain. A few were still and quiet, however, as if they had simply given up on everything and at the end of the right side, the very last cage was covered in a black tarp.

"Poor babies," Lisa thought as she closed the door and set down her backpack. "Locked up. Beaten, Forced to kill or be killed and for what? So some gangster wanna-be loser can line his pockets?" Lisa pulled a package of uncooked bacon from her backpack, a trophy pilfered from one of her father's leftover stashes. "Bart once told me it doesn't matter if I go veggie because the meat's already dead." Lisa looked at the bacon sadly. "That may be true but at least this poor pig's sacrifice will help me save these dogs,"

Lisa ripped open the package, driving the poor dogs even more insane with the scent of fresh pork. She pulled out her bottle of tranquilizer and dipped the strips of bacon inside one at a time. Then she gathered the bacon and approached the first cage to the left side of the building. Inside was a snarling grey pit bull.

"Here you go, boy!" Lisa said as she tossed the bacon inside. It practically fell into the dog's barking mouth and was chewed up and swallowed instantly. Lisa walked over to the next cage with the brown Pit Bull and repeated the process. "Snack time!"

The dog sniffed at the bacon that fell to her feet for a few seconds and greedily lapped it up.

One by one, Lisa tossed strips of the drugged bacon into the cages as she walked down the row. They all devoured the bacon with gusto with the exception of one old dog at the very back of the building. His tired bloodshot eyes simply stared at the bacon that fell into his cage and then at Lisa.

"D'oh!" Lisa bent down, slid her hand into the cage and grabbed the bacon which she then shoved into the dog's face. "Come on boy! It's bacon! You love bacon."

The old dog simply looked away.

Lisa growled and slid the strip into his jowls. "Maybe later." She went back to her backpack and repeated the process with another package of bacon. Once she finished and put her backpack on, she resumed her drugging with the first cage on the right side of the room.

"Here you go. Bon Appetit! Soup's on! Enjoy your meal!"

One by one, the dogs gobbled up the bacon thrown to them and one by one they started to feel the effects, the barking and howling falling to quiet whimpers and growls before total silence, save for a few snorers.

As Lisa tossed the second-to last bacon strip to a speckled pit bull, she realized she was next to the cage with the tarp over it. There was no sound to indicate that anything was alive in there, nor any movement. Lisa felt the last strip of bacon on her hand and pondered.

"Maybe they're sick or something," Lisa stepped in front of the cage and grabbed the tarp. "Well, better safe than sorry." Slowly, she lifted it up. "Hello? Don't be shy! I have-"

Lisa jumped back as the snarling, foaming face of a timber wolf pashed itself against the cage toward her. The beast snapped and chewed in the bars of its enclosure, scraping the top layer of the metal off in a few places. Lisa's heart was pounding and she was in too much shock to even notice the pain from her ass where she landed. The bacon strip she was holding fell a few feet away, forgotten altogether.

"A...A wolf?" Lisa gulped. "A fucking wolf? Are you kidding me?"

"Looks like someone wants to win badly," The Beast commented. "There really is no honor among thieves."

"You can say that again!" Lisa got back to her feet, even as her entire body continued to tremble. The wolf continued to snarl and bite at its cage and once again, Lisa found herself concerned for her life. She looked around for the bacon strip and picked it up once she found it.

"Do you still think it'll work?"

"I don't know. This tranq was made with dogs in mind, not wolves. But I have to try something." Lisa tossed the bacon at the wolf. As with the first dog, the wolf hardly seem to realize it was eating anything as the bacon vanished into its gullet. "We'll have our answer soon. In the meantime, we should try to get out of here before-"

The front doors swung open as Tony and Greg walked in. "So then I said, baby, this is the only horsey you need to ride!" Tony gestured to his crotch as he said this.

Greg chuckled. "Dude, you're so freaking nasty! Haha..ha..ha..." His laughter trailed off as he and Tony noticed the girl with the fox mask standing before them. "What the fuck?"

"Great." Lisa thought. "Just fucking great."

"H-Hey hey!" Tony shouted as he stepped toward Lisa. "What the fuck do you think you're doing to our fight dog?"

"Your fight dog?" Lisa looked back to the wolf in the cage. The beast seemed to be staggering a bit, allowing Lisa a bit of relief in knowing soon he would join his canine brethren in sleep. "You might want to get your eyes checked because that's no dog!" She retorted while pointing to the wolf.

"Sure it is," Tony said. "It's just a big grey dog with pointy ears. Whose to say otherwise? He put on a fake smile as he spoke which faded as soon as he was finished. "The real question is what the hell are you doing with him? Someone send you to poison him or something?" He tensed up and clenched his fist together. "I bet is was that no good Jose! Damn that old, bearded fuck!"

"Um...Tony?" Greg whimpered as he poked his friend in the shoulder, looking around the building with a worried expression on his face. "I don't think she's affiliated with any of the other fighters."

"Huh? Why would you say that?"

"Look around you, man! Something's up with the dogs!"

"What are you..." Tony trailed off himself as he got to looking around, finally noticing that all the dogs were either sleeping or just about to. The only exception seemed to be the old dog with a piece of bacon still in his mouth and their wolf, Fenrir, who seemed to be struggling to stay on his feet as he circled the middle of the cage.

"She drugged all the dogs," Tony realized as he and Greg turned their attention back to Lisa. "Just who the hell are you, huh?"

"Shit. I guess there's no use in denying it anymore, eh partner?"

"Really," Lisa took the knife out of her backpack and brandished it for the boys to see. "I figured that would be obvious now."

"What's obvious?" Tony asked. "That you're a psycho?"

"Holy hell," Greg trembled as it became clear to him. "You...You're the Animal Avenger!"

Tony turned to his friend. "What?"

"The Animal Avenger!" Greg screamed. "She's the Animal Avenger! She's got to be!"

Tony exchanged glances between Greg and Lisa for a few takes before settling on the lather with a smile. "Well I'll be damned. The rumor was true. The Animal Avenger really is a broad."

Lisa growled. "Why does everyone have to act so surprised about that?"

"I think the real question...um...the realer question is what the hell are you doing here?"

"Y-Yeah!" Greg spoke up. "W-We ain't doing nothing wrong!"

"The hell you aren't!" Lisa barked. "You guys are trying to bring back dog fighting in Springfield! Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to keep it out? Do you?"

"So what if we are?" Tony fired back. "We're just trying to make a living, like any good American! Is that so wrong?"

"It is when you're having poor innocent dogs rip each other apart to do it!" Lisa answered gravely as she took a step toward the boys. "Let me ask you something. Do you feel like a man when you sic these dogs on each other? Like a real hardcore badass?"

Tony sighed. "Why does every freaking woman I ever meet try to attack my masculinity!?"

"Because you're an idiot!" Lisa shouted. "And a cheater to boot." She pointed to the cage to her right, Fenrir now leaning against the back of it. "Where the fuck did you even get a wolf?"

"That's none of your business, bitch!" Tony replied as he pulled out a gun. "We're taking him out for the fight and you ain't gonna stop us!"

Both Lisa and Greg stared in shock at the gun.

"W-What the fuck, Tony?" Greg cried. "Where the hell did you get a gun?"

"I bought it from Louie," Tony said. "Just in case someone got too uppity about the wolf," He glared at Lisa. "Looks like it was a good investment after all."

"Shit!" Lisa thought. "Again with the fucking guns!"

Greg seemed to be on the verge of tears as he shook his head. "Dude, you've officially jumped off the deep end!"

"Shut up!" Tony barked. "And get that bitch away from the cage,"

Greg turned to Lisa and back to Tony. "You're joking! I am not going anywhere near that psycho-chick, man!"

Tony sighed and fired his gun into the ceiling, creating a single hole for light to shine through. Greg cried out and jumped to the floor, his hands over his head while Lisa stiffened. Some of the drugged dogs whimpered in their sleep as the loud bang invaded their dreams but otherwise, did not wake up.

"You!" Tony shouted as he pointed the gun at Lisa. "Dropped the knife and kick it this way!"

"Fuck," Lisa muttered under her breath as she complied with the demand. Once it was at his feet, Tony grabbed the knife and kicked Greg in the ass. As his heavy-set friend looked up, Tony handed him the knife.

"There, now you have a weapon and she doesn't so get the bitch away from the cage!" He snarled.

Whimpering like a beaten child, Greg forced himself to his feet and toward Lisa. She didn't move as Greg grabbed her shoulder and raised the knife to her neck.

"Just...Just come with me..." Greg moved Lisa away from the cage as Tony approached it, reholstering his gun

"You don't know what you're doing," Lisa spoke up. "Even if they are in the same family, that's not a dog! You can't control it!"

"Oh we can control it!" Tony reached over the top of the cage and pulled out a catch pole. He pressed a button on it and the collar at the end buzzed to life with electricity, causing Lisa to gasp. "We can control it just fine."

"You sick bastard!" Lisa cursed.

"Don't hate the players, sweetheart. Hate the game." With this, Tony unlocked the cage and swung it open. He held the catch pole toward Fenrir who continued to huddle in the back.

"Say...Tony?" Greg spoke up. "A-Are you sure we can even have a fight anymore? I mean, all the other dogs are asleep!"

"Heh," Tony smirked as he inched the pole closer to Fenrir. "Maybe that means we win by def-"

What happened next happened in a blur. Fenrir suddenly unfurled himself with a enraged snarl and ducked to the right side of the cage away from the catch pole. From there, he leapt out of the open cage and onto a stupefied Tony. The young man dropped the pole and tried to reach for his gun but by the time his hand was grazing his holster, Fenrir's sharp teeth were already embedded in his throat. He fell with a thud, the force of which helped Fenrir in ripping the front of his throat from the rest of his body. Blood burst forth like a morbid fountain, driving the wolf into a frenzy and prompting him to take another chomp, this time on Tony's face.

"Tony!" Greg shoved Lisa to the side and ran toward Fenrir, knife in hand.

"Wait! Don't!" Lisa called out.

"Let him go you mangey-AHHHHHH!"

Greg was about to shove the knife right into Fenrir's eye socket as he made his declaration. The mad wolf was quicker, however, and clamped its jaws around Greg's wrist as soon as it was within range. Greg cried out in agony and fear, his fingers unclamping around the knife and allowing it to fall to the floor. Fenrir gave Greg's arm a good hard yank, throwing him to the ground with a thud. He continued to pull and tear at the arm as a weeping Greg tried to push him away, his open palm weakly pressing against the wolf's face.

Lisa watched in awe at the speckle before her.

"What do I do? S-Should I help him?"

"What the hell are you talking about? We're here to kill these idiots, remember?"

"Y-You're right." Lisa shook her head. "Still, this is bad! My tranquilizer wasn't strong enough to knock him out and I'm all out!"

"What will you do, then?"

"I don't know but I better think of something and-"

Lisa was pulled from her thoughts by a blood-curdling gurgle as Fenrir finally ended Greg's suffering with a chomp to the throat. He shook the limp body a few times, nearly taking the head from Greg's shoulders before he noticed Lisa standing there. Letting go of Greg's corpse, Fenrir snarled as he inched toward Lisa.

"Shit!" Lisa removed another knife from her backpack and held it before her. "N-No! Don't come any closer! You hear me!?"

Fenrir ignored Lisa's warning.

"Get away! Shoo! Um...bad wolf?" Lisa finished awkwardly.

Fenrir grew closer.

"You have no other choice," The Beast spoke. "You're going to have to kill this mutt!"

"N-No! I only hunt people! Not animals! I-I can't..." Lisa backed away as the growling wolf got closer. "Please boy...I don't wanna hurt you! I wanna help you! Oh please let me help you!"

The wolf paid no heed as he snapped at Lisa, forcing the Animal Avenger to point her knife toward his snout.

"Please..." She sobbed.

Suddenly, the door opened once again and a man with a black mustache walked in. "Hey, what the hell's going on in here?"

His eyes went wide as he beheld the scene before him; a teenage girl in a Japanese fox mask defending herself from a giant timber wolf whose glaring eyes now focused on him.

"Well, this is gonna fucking suck."

These were the man's final words as Fenrir pounced on him, cutting off his screams with yet another bite to the throat.

"No!" Lisa shouted in vain.

Once Fenrir was finished with his third kill, he looked around the dock, fresh blood dripping from his muzzle. Through the thick scent of gore, he caught the whiff of even more humans further down the docks, howled at the moon above him and dashed into the mist, vanishing from sight the second Lisa ran out.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! This is bad!"

"You're telling me," The Beast said. "That filthy mongrel is going to steal all our prey!"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Lisa shook her head. "That wolf might hurt innocent people if we don't do something!"

"Oh? And pray-tell just what is it are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know but we better figure it out and quickly!" Lisa ran off after Fenrir, stepping into a puddle of blood created from the three bodies laying outside the former tattoo shop and leaving a trail of crimson footprints behind.

---

It had been ten minutes since Tony and Greg left to get their dog out and the crowd was getting antsy. The "dog's" would-be opponent, a ruddy-colored Pit Bull named Red Fern, sniffed around the circle and barked with the crowd. His owner, Mike Franson, had left to make sure the other fighters weren't sabotaging the other dogs as they waited to be brought out and hadn't returned. Red Fern was starting to get worried and continued to bark and whine for his master's presence, at least until someone decided to shut him up with a brick thrown near his face.

Eli sighed in frustration. "Maurice, when are they gonna get back with the dog?"

"They should be here any second," Maurice answered as he looked around for his friends. "Come on, guys. Of all the times to start fucking around." He muttered under his breath.

"Hey!" A deep voice called out. The two brothers turned their attention to a large man with a long scar replacing his right eyebrow. He seemed to shake the docks with each step he took. "Where the fuck's your dog, dawg?" He asked. "Fight was supposed to start twenty minutes ago."

"Chill man! They'll be here." Maurice replied with agitation in his voice. Agitation that the other man didn't care for.

"You best watch yourself, dawg." The man growled. "People paid good money to be out here tonight and you're holding everything back with your no-show friends. You standing to make a lot of enemies tonight if you keep this show from getting off the road. You hear what I'm saying?"

"Maurice?" Eli uttered nervously. Without even realizing it, he had taken a step behind his big brother while his eyes remained fixed on the mountain of a man challenging him.

"They'll be here," Maurice repeated. "Didn't your Mama ever teach you patience is a virtue?"

The man's nostrils flared. "My Mama died coked-out at the end of a filthy alleyway and if you don't watch your mouth and get your dog here-"

"OH SWEET JESUS!"

The following sound of growling, ripping and screaming caught all three boys' attention. All eyes on the docks rolled to the other side where a single man, a fellow in a red knit cap and well-worn blue coat and pants was running toward them, blood leaking from the three stubs on his right hand where his fingers used to be and tears flowing from his eyes.

"Someone help me!" He pleaded. "Wolf! Wol-"

The furry beast tackled him to the ground and bit into the back of his neck. The crowd screamed in horror as Fenrir ripped a chunk of flesh from the man, silencing his cries forever. The crowd began to disperse while a few of the more prepared took out their guns.

"Maurice!" Eli cried in fear with his eyes fixed on the bloody animal. "What's going on? What is that thing?"

"Trouble. Now let's vamoose." Maurice grabbed his little brother by the hand and ran through the crowd, pushing and shoving anyone who got in his way. As the majority of the crowd scurried into the empty buildings like rats, the ones remaining pointed their guns at the wolf and fired.

One bullet grazed Fenrir's shoulder, tearing his attention away from his latest kill. The maddened wolf looked ahead, snarled, and dashed toward the man who fired the shot.

"Oh shit!" The man tried to shoot again but fear reduced his movements to a slow tremble and Fenrir was able to sink his teeth into his wrist and pull him down. His body provided unintentional cover for Fenrir as the others tried to shoot at him. Before long, the man's back was riddled with holes and the guns produced only clicks.

"Shit man!" One of the would-be heroes said. "We have got to learn to conserve bullets!"

He would never get the chance, however, as Fenrir slipped out from under the dead man's body and sank his teeth into his leg. He screamed in agony as Fenrir knocked him down and tore at his stomach, sending the other would-be heroes fleeing for their lives. Once his latest victim breathed his last, Fenrir looked up to the sky and howled once more.

---

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Lisa choked out in ragged breaths as she ran through the thick fog. "Why is it that the weather's gotta turn shitty every time things like this happen?"

"Dramatic effect, of course."

"Dramatic my ass!" Lisa cursed. "This fog is too-"

Before Lisa could finish her sentence, she hit something cold and heavy with her foot and fell over with a thud. She groaned and rubbed her head as she turned to see what she had tripped on and gasped to find it was a dead, heavily mauled body.

"We're too late," She whispered as she got back to her feet and stared at the corpse. In the distance, she could hear the screams of the confused and dying. "There's no telling how many he's killed."

"Lisa, to your left."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lisa noticed yet another empty building, one with a door still intact. She walked up to it and tried the knob. She could open it and from the window, she could see the building itself was mostly empty, save for a single dead fish for some reason.

"So, what do you think?" The Beast asked. "Will this building work for your little plan?"

"Maybe," Lisa looked over the door again. "If we can just trap the wolf in here, he might not be able to break out."

"Lisa,"

"Yes?"

"Even if your plan works, you do realize this wolf is beyond saving right? There's no way they'll just let him go after all the lives he's taken. All you'd be doing is delaying his inevitable fate."

There was no venom in The Beast's voice nor any sign of pity. Just a simple statement of the facts as she saw them.

Lisa sighed as she knew her inner demon was right. Tonight had gone wrong in almost every conceivable way. She wasn't even sure if she could save the dogs anymore at this point. Nonetheless, Lisa knew she had to try. "I know. But we've come this far already. She turned back to the corpse and pulled out her knife. "Now let's get ourselves a piece of this guy and-"

"Hey you!" A booming voice shouted. The docks seemed to sway as a large man with a long scar replacing his right eyebrow stomped toward Lisa. He was smacking a crowbar into his open palm. Behind him were was a group of five or so men, all glaring at Lisa as well. "You that Animal Avenger bitch, ain't ya?"

"Uhh," Lisa turned to them, somewhat disheartened that her identity was becoming so easy to decipher.

"I bet it was you who released that wolf on us, right?" The man continued. "A little payback, huh?" He pointed his crowbar at her. "I'm going to knock out your fucking teeth!" The men behind him shouted in approval as he said this."

"Great! Just what I needed," Lisa whispered sarcastically as the man charged her. She dodged his swings effortlessly, grabbed the crowbar and kicked him in the crotch, forcing him to let go. She then sent him to the floor with a good hard smack to the head.

"Bitch!" One of the men charged at her next with a tire iron. She used the crowbar to block the attack and slashed the man's stomach open with her knife. As he fell with a groan, she forced the tire iron back into the air with a push of the crowbar, sending it flying back toward the group who scattered to dodge it. They all tried to flank Lisa from either side but she rolled out of the way just in time to let them crash into each other. As soon as the first man got up from the pile up, Lisa sent him back down with a whack from the crowbar and finished him off with a stab to the heart. Another guy tried to grab her from behind and she shoved the crowbar into his stomach before slicing his throat open. As he fell clutching his throat and thrashing about, she finished off the other two with frantic stabbing before they could even get up. By the time Lisa was able to return her full attention to the heavy-set man who began the attack, she was coated in blood.

She stepped over him, a foot at either side of his head and stared him down, She examined the slightly dented crowbar in her hand and tossed it aside, waiting until the clanking against the wooden docks ceased to speak.

"Any last words, fat-ass?"

The man spit out a bloodied wad before replying to her. "One day, you gonna have to answer to the Lord for what you've done."

Lisa scoffed. "Really? The whole "I'll pay for my sins when I die" card? That's what you're going with?" Lisa grabbed the front of the man's shirt and pulled him up with surprisingly little effort. "I don't know you but I can tell one thing just by looking at you," She raised the knife to his face so the gangster wanna-be could stare into his own terrified visage before he went to meet his Lord. "You haven't lived the kind of life where you have the right to say that to me!"

With this, she slammed the knife into his throat and tore it downward, painting her mask with another splash of blood as the man croaked and fell back. She watched as he held onto his open throat for dear life, the light draining from his eyes as he stared into the night.

"I'll have to answer to the Lord, huh?" Lisa commented once he finally stopped moving. "I'd be more concerned with how you're going to explain yourself to him."

Lisa sighed heavily as she looked around herself and at the bodies that now surrounded her. "Oh well, at least my plan has more weight now," With this, Lisa kneeled before the corpse of the man with the scar over his right eye and started cutting into his fingers.

---

It was complete and utter chaos as Fenrir continued on his killing spree. Those that weren't fast enough went first, their throats and stomachs ripped out one by one. Once Fenrir had run out of victims out in the open, he started sniffing them out in what few hiding places they could find, dragging them out kicking and screaming from buildings and trash cans. A few of the would-be fighters even tossed themselves over the docks, preferring to take their chances with the ocean than with the wolf.

Fenrir was currently ripping through his tenth victim of the night when he heard a low growl behind him. Slowly, the wolf turned around and was greeted with the snarling face of Red Fern. The two beast fixed themselves into pouncing stances as they sized each other up, the one and only true dog fight that would be taking place on this night in Springfield. From behind a couple of old crates that at one point contained spoiled sugar cane, Maurice peeked over and saw the fight begin.

"Damn," He muttered as he watched Fenrir sink his teeth into the back of Red Fern's neck. "Look at that puppy go! If those guys hadn't messed up, we really would have won for sure!"

"What are you talking about?" Eli asked, causing his older brother to stiffen. He turned to the younger boy whose face already betrayed a expression of quiet judgement. This was one of those times that Maurice wished his brother wasn't so intuitive. It wasn't a bad trait in of itself, of course. Hell, it helped Eli survive in the hood. But every once in a while, it would land Maurice in hot water.

And right now he was in the middle of a boiling ocean.

"W-What do you mean, Eli?" He asked with a nervous chuckle, a last-ditch attempt to play stupid.

"You seemed a hella composed when that wolf started going apeshit on everyone," Eli pointed out. "And just right now, you said we'd would have won if Tony and Greg hadn't messed up." Eli held his hands up. "Messed up what exactly? Does it have to do with the wolf?"

Maurice cursed himself out in his mind.

"Maurice, did you get a dog or not?"

"We...We did, alright?" Maurice gestured to the wolf. "And that's it right there."

Eli's pupils shrank as he turned back to the dueling beast. "That's...our dog?" He turned back to his brother with a glare. "Just where the hell did you guys go last night!?"

"Here. At the docks." Maurice answered. "We met up with some guys with...connections..."

"What connections?"

"Just connections! Now listen-"

"No! What connections, Maurice!?" Eli interrupted "Who did you get that wolf from?"

Maurice shifted his eyes nervously. He knew that he had been caught and, with Fenrir wrecking havoc as he was, the last thing he needed was Eli being at odds with him. With a heavy sigh, Maurice confessed his sin.

"From the Mob."

Eli gasped. "The Mob!? You bought a wolf from the freaking Mob!?"

"We had it under control!" Maurice defended. "They gave us shock collars! Everything! It was going to be a sure-thing and all they wanted was a cut of the action!"

"But why?" Eli asked. "Why would you do something like that?"

"For you!" Maurice cried. "I did it for you!" He knelt down and placed his hands on Eli's shoulders. "Eli, where we living right now, that ain't no place to grow up in! We can do better! You deserve better! You deserve hot meals every night and a bed with no goddamn bugs in it! You deserve to fall asleep to age-inappropriate cartoons that you'll look back on fondly when you're older instead of gunshots and the smell of cheap weed! This was our big chance to get out of that life, to have the fresh start we always dreamed of! And I just wanted to make sure we got it! For us! For you!"

Eli wasn't sure how to respond. He could tell that Maurice meant every single word he said but at the same time, he was trying to cheat and with help from the Mob at that. Eli found himself taking a step back but Maurice didn't notice for he was too busy searching for forgiveness in his little brother's eyes. After a little bit of thinking, including of his new friend Maggie and what she would have to say about all this, Eli figured that he finally knew what it was he wanted to say. Before he could speak, however, he and Maurice stiffened at the sound of a dog's dying yelp.

Red Fern went limp in Fenrir's jaws, a one-sided fight that left the wolf with only a few teeth marks on his chest. He shook his adversary's head a little before letting it drop to the ground and started tearing at the stomach.

"Shit!" Maurice muttered. "Alright, we can have this talk somewhere else. Let's get out of here."

"Agreed." Both brothers silently crept away from the crates and turned the corner of the building, just out of sight of the feasting wolf. After a few seconds, they both dashed as fast as they could to the next building. There was nothing for them to hide behind but at least greater distance had been placed between them and Fenrir. They both observed the wolf continuing to feast, turned the corner of the building and pressed themselves against the wall.

"Should we wait here until he leaves?" Eli asked.

Maurice shook his head. "Nah. We need to get at least three more buildings away from that thing or he'll sniff us out." Maurice noticed a third building on the other side of the docks. There was open space between it and the next building over. He pointed to that space. "There! Let's go! Go!"

Taking Eli by the hand, Maurice ran over to the next building, hoping the wolf wouldn't look up from his meal and notice them. By the time they had made it to the other building, both brothers were short of breath and drenched in sweat. They panted heavily with their hands on their knees.

"Aright...this is better...just a little more now..."

"Maurice?"

"Just a little more now...and we'll be home free. I'll try to call..."

"Maurice?"

"Try to call up the guys again...find out what the hell happened..."

"Maurice!" Eli whined.

"What? What is it, Eli?" Maurice asked. His younger brother pointed to something behind him. Maurice turned around and nearly jumped back at the sight of a girl with a Japanese fox mask standing at the end of the oceanside alleyway, bloody and armed with a knife. A human foot stuck out of her backpack and the bulges inside told the boys it was not alone.

"Oh...you gotta be shitting me." Maurice whispered.

"It's...It's the Animal Avenger!" Eli cried as he gripped his brother's legs. "She's here!"

"Calm down, Eli!" Maurice stepped before his brother with a hand on his head. "Just calm down!"

Eli couldn't help but utter a frightened whine as he ducked into the safety of his brother's shadow, one frightened eye peeping on the Animal Avenger from the other side.

Lisa stared at the two brothers silently, hardly moving anything aside from her head. Inside of it, she could hear the Beast urging her on.

"Come on! What are you waiting for? Kill them! Kill them both before that furball beats you to the punch again!"

Lisa ignored the voice in her head as her gaze fell to Eli. It was one of the first times a child had been directly involved in one of her hunts and despite the Beast's bloodlust coursing through her, a part of Lisa, a very human part, couldn't help but feel pity when staring at the boy. This child, brimming with confidence and hope only yesterday, was now trembling in fear and grasping at his brother's leg like a younger child would their parent.

A far cry from the Eli Maggie had come to know.

Slowly, Lisa locked her gaze with Maurice. "Were you the one that brought that wolf here?"

Maurice took a moment to gulp, push his brother further behind his back and hold a shaking hand out in front of him. "Y-Yeah, I am."

Lisa scoffed softly. "You were really that desperate to win that you'd bring a threatened species into your little pissing contest?" She took a step forward. "Was the allure of money really worth that much to you?"

"It's not that!" Maurice defended with a shout. He seemed to remember the situation he was currently in and cleared his throat. "I-I mean...T-That's not why I wanted to win."

"Oh?" Lisa tilted her head.

"I mean, yeah, it was to make money but not for drugs or bitches or anything like that." Maurice continued. "I...I just wanted to give my little bro a shot at a better life."

Lisa's confidence dropped.

"We've been living in that rat-hole complex ever since our mother died. All I wanted to do was get Eli to somewhere he could grow up safely."

"But why this?" Lisa asked. "Why dog-fighting?"

"When you trying to get out of your life situation, you usually don't get a say in your options," Maurice explained. "You just take the opportunity that comes to you when it come to you. And I'm sure this don't mean a thing to someone like you, someone who'd mourn a run-over dog on the road before they'd mourn a human being but," He turned to Eli. "If it means Eli can be safe and happy, I'll gladly step over a mountain of dog corpses."

"Maurice," Eli whimpered

"You...really love your brother." Lisa said.

"Course I do. That's what a human being is supposed to do. Love their family. Protect them. Not going around killing other humans over some animals."

Lisa's grip on her knife tightened.

"I bet you never had a real connection with another human being in your entire life, have you?"

Lisa remained silent.

"If you did, maybe you'd realize how precious a bond between humans can be. How far more-"

"Shut up."

Maurice clamped up.

"Don't you dare assume for one second that you know anything about me," Lisa growled. "Believe it or not, I do have loved ones!"

"Lisa, you idiot! Cut it out!"

"Oh yeah?" Maurice challenged. "And do they know about what you've been doing here tonight?"

Lisa stiffened again.

"They don't, do they?" Maurice continued. "They don't know about what you've been doing to other human beings just like them."

"Shut up," Lisa growled. "I already said you don't know me and these silly little mind games aren't going to work on me!" She took a step closer and moved her knife toward her pocket. "Now if you'll just let me-"

But Lisa never got to finish her sentence. Maurice, in his fearful state of mind, saw Lisa's movement as offensive, the knife trusting toward him and Eli rather than being slid back into the girl's pocket. At that moment, his instinct slipped back into their most primal states of fight or flight.

And he chose fight.

Without missing a beat, Maurice launched himself at Lisa and grabbed her wrist with both hands. He squeezed as hard as he could, forcing her to release the knife as Eli screamed.

"What the fuck are you doing, you moron!?" Lisa demanded.

"Maurice!" Eli cried with his voice breaking.

"Eli! Go hide somewhere!" Maurice demanded. "Now!"

Maurice had turned his head to give this demand to his little brother which gave Lisa an opportunity to slam her knee into his crotch. His eyes bulged as he groaned in pain, his upper body falling forward as his lower half backed up. Lisa took advantage of this situation, grabbed Maurice by the arm and, summoning all of her strength, flung him over her shoulder, smashing him against the dock with a loud thud.

"Maurice!" Eli cried.

"Gah!" Maurice coughed as he looked up at the fox-masked girl.

"So?" Lisa asked in a somewhat cocky voice. "Had eno-"

Maurice grabbed Lisa's ankle and shoved it, knocking the girl off her feet. As soon as she hit the ground, he climbed on top of her and wrapped his hands around her throat. Lisa kicked her legs wildly as she dug her nails into his hands but it was of no use. With one knee digging into her stomach, Maurice had Lisa fully pinned.

"I really don't like this," He said. "Between you and me, I don't even like it when they brag about beating a hoe in a rap song! But my little brother means the world to me! And if I have to kill a crazy white bitch to protect him, so be it!"

Lisa felt Maurice's hand move up to her mask and she interlocked her fingers with his in an attempt to pull them down.

"Let me see..." He demanded through gritting teeth. "Let me see who's been threatening my brother!"

"Maurice! Stop!" Eli tearfully pleaded. "Stop!"

But Maurice could no longer hear his younger brother's plights. He was fully enraptured by the throes of defensive bloodlust. Something inside of him told Maurice that the woman he was strangling had already killed his friends, mostly likely released Fenrir herself as she was picking up the pieces. Maurice had already made it up in his mind that this girl intended to do harm to both him and Eli and thus, she needed to be killed. Right here and right now.

It wasn't just Eli's cries either. All sound had fallen from Maurice's ears. No longer could he hear the waves crashing against the docks or the creaking of the wood. No longer could her hear Lisa's shallow breath as she tried to break out of his grasp. And no longer was he able to hear the patting of paws racing toward him with a furious snarl.

Fenrir ran past Eli and tackled Maurice to the ground, tearing him off of Lisa in the process. The Animal Avenger sat up and watched as the wolf and dog-fighter rolled along the ground near the edge of the dock. Once they came to a stop, it was the wolf that was on top and Fenrir wasted no time digging his fangs into Maurice's throat. The young man grabbed the wolf's throat with one hand, trying to push it away, and with the other, he started punching its head. It was a struggle straight out of human history, back when domestication did not exist and man and wolf were hunting rivals on the best of days.

"Maurice!" Eli dashed toward his brother, taking the switchblade out of his pocket as he neared the bloody struggle.

"No! E-Little boy!" Lisa jumped to her feet and took off after Eli.

"Let go of my brother, you sucka!" Eli screamed as he neared the wolf. In his haste, he slipped and fell on a piece of wet wood, landing on his face and nearly dropping the switchblade. Fenrir noticed the thud to his right and snapped to the boy with foaming teeth.

"Little boy!" Lisa grabbed Eli by the arms and pulled him away just as Fenrir took a snap at him. The wolf glared at Lisa for a few moments, turned to Maurice, and then back to Lisa. It was as if it was trying to decide whether to go after fresh prey or finish what it had started. After a few moments of painful eternity, Fenrir went for the latter.

"Maurice!" Eli cried as he struggled to get out of Lisa's grasp.

Maurice, a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, held a hand out to Eli then flicked the fingers in a shooing motion. "Go!..." He rasped. "Go!"

He gasped as the wolf bit into his throat again.

"Maurice!" Eli kicked and screamed as Lisa continued to pull him to his feet.

"Come on, we have to go!" Lisa spoke.

"Maurice!"

Lisa summoned all her strength and pulled Eli out of the alleyway, away from his dying brother and the bloodthirsty wolf that had claimed his life.

"Let me go!" Eli shouted as she pulled him to the front of the building. "I have to save Maurice!"

"Kid, get real!" Lisa responded. "Even if you could actually take on that wolf, your brother's already done for! Just focus on getting out of here!"

"You did this!" Eli accused with tears in his eyes. "You set that wolf loose so it would eat all the dog-fighters! So it would eat Maurice! Admit it!"

"I didn't-" Lisa gave up with a sigh. "Look, we can talk about this later! But right now, I need to get that wolf under control and I need you out of the way so just follow me and-"

"No!" Eli screamed. "You killed Maurice! Let me go!"

"Now kid!"

Eli gripped his switchblade tightly. "I said let me go!" With a shout, he slammed his switchblade into Lisa's left hand.

The Animal Avenger cried out in pain and dropped the boy as she pulled her hand away from the blade, gripping it to stop the blood flow. Eli landed on his butt and took off back toward the alleyway.

"Little boy! Wait!" Lisa cried out after him.

"Gotta save Maurice!" Eli breathed as he was about to turn into the ally. "Gotta save-"

Eli's thought processes stopped as he found himself starting right into the glaring yellow eyes of Fenrir. The bloody wolf was panting through his scarlet muzzle, fresh blood-drops falling from his chin one after the other. Eli felt himself go in front and, with both arms trembling, held the knife out before himself. "S-Stay away! I-I'm warning you!" He took a step back.

The wolf took a step forward, causing Eli to utter a small whine.

"Little boy!" Lisa called out, unsure of what to do.

"What the fuck are you doing?" The Beast asked. "You already let the mongrel steal your targets! You might as well let him have the kid too!"

"It's not like that!" Lisa thought. "I...We're not..."

"Look at it this way, if the kid dies then that's one less asshole to participate in dogfighting in the future!"

"But...he's just a kid!"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

Lisa remembered Isaac and groaned. Gripping her own knife, she prepared to rush the wolf. She didn't want to kill it. She didn't plan to kill it. But maybe, if she were to get just a few jabs in...

But that opportunity would never come as Fenrir chose that single moment to pounce on the defenseless boy. What little was left of his bravery lost, Eli dropped the knife and shielded himself with a scream.

"No!" was all Lisa could think to scream as she helplessly reached out for Eli. As with Maurice, everything seemed to lose its voice to Lisa for the next few moments. No waves. No growling. No crying. Just the horrific visage of a confused and angry wolf about to tear apart a young boy who had just witnessed his brother die in the same way.

Then the silence was ended with the sound of a gunshot.

Fenrir yelped as a spray of red formed at his left flank. He fell with a thud next to Eli and to his right, revealing the horrific gory hole that now lay in the wolf's abdomen. The spray fell back as blood drops, staining the docks around Fenrir's body. The displaced timber wolf, feeling a sense of calm for the first time since those strange men injected him with that "good stuff" as they called it, panted a few times through a bloody muzzle and then, went still.

"No!" Lisa ran up to Fenrir and fell to her knees before the fallen beast. Tears welled in her eyes as she watched the steam leave his body. She could have lost herself in another trance if not for the heavy footsteps thudding toward her. Slowly, she looked up and saw a man approaching from the shadows, the shotgun in his hand still smoking from the barrel. For one brief moment, Lisa felt complete and utter rage toward the man who had just killed the wolf. The Beast fed on this rage, urging Lisa to act upon her instinct, to lunge at the man and create a new hole in his body as he had for the wolf. She even started rising, the grip on her knife tight enough to break a thick stick. Trembling with anger, she stood back up and faced the stranger.

Once the man stepped into the pale dock lights, however, all of Lisa's anger was swept away with quiet shock.

"Moe?"

"Hey kids! You alright?" Moe asked as he stopped before the wolf. "I gotta tell ya, I'm really glad that shot hit the wolf. I mean, I was aiming for the wolf of course but with how dark this place is, it was a 50/50 situation between the wolf and one of yous."

Eli whimpered as he stared up at the old man with the shot gun. Despite being his savoir, his gargoyle-like face repulsed the young boy who watched as he kicked the wolf's corpse lightly.

"Ah geez! This ain't good!" Moe complained. "I bet a lot of money on this wolf and then this happens! Gah! This is the last time we sell endangered species to a bunch of gangster wannabes!" Deep inside, Moe was every bit as terrified as he was disappointed for he realized he had been the one to kill Fat Tony's cash cow and he dreaded the eventual consequence his actions would bring him.

"Sell...?" Eli wiped his tears in vain. "A-Are you the one that sold that wolf to my brother?"

"Yeah so what if I..." Moe's expression changed from annoyed to dumbstruck. "Your brother?" Moe turned to the boy. "You mean you're Maurice's kid brother?"

Eli nodded with a blubber.

"H-Hey now! Don't cry!" Moe got to his knees and placed a arm on the kid's shoulder. "I-It'll be alright." He looked around the docks. "Look, do you know where your brother is? Or any of his friends?"

Eli sobbed openly as he pointed a trembling finger toward Fenrir's body. "The wolf...T-The wolf got him..."

Moe's eyes bulged. "Oh God...OH GOD!" He pulled the crying child close. "I-I'm so sorry, little guy. Your brother was a good man...well, he was the least annoying of those three bozos."

"Moe," Lisa whispered. Far too few times had she ever seen this side of Moe Szyslak, the side that read books to hospitalized children and called the occasional Buber for his drunken patrons. The side of him her sister saw every time she looked at him. It would have warmed Lisa's heart on an otherwise dreadful and disappointing night if not for Eli glaring at her directing his pointing finger in her direction.

"She did it!" Eli growled. "She released the wolf so it could kill everyone! She's the Animal Avenger!"

"The what!?" Moe turned to masked girl and only now did he notice the bloody knife in her hands and the severed body parts in her backpack. "Sweet Yig on a Christmas Tree! The...The Anima Avenger's a broad?"

Lisa rolled her eyes.

"She's responsible for all this!" Eli shouted. "For Maurice!"

"That's not true!" Lisa shouted back. "I didn't release the wolf. I only came t-"

Moe cocked his gun and pointed it at Lisa. "Shut your trap, you wolf-releasing hussy!" He blasted the gun and Lisa hardly had time to turn before her backpack exploded, hands and feet flying as well as strips of cloth flying everywhere. The impact of the blast sent Lisa falling to the ground with a thud and as she forced herself back up, she heard Moe reloading his gun.

"It's a good thing I brought my own gun with me from home," Moe said. "I was gonna buy one from the Mob but eh...they're a little pricey." Once the gun was reloaded, Moe pointed it back at the Animal Avenger, intending to finish her off. But in the time it had taken for him to reload, she had already gotten back to her feet and slipped into the darkness. "Ah dammit!" Moe lowered his gun. "She got away."

"We have to go!" Eli tugged at Moe's hand. "Before she comes back!"

"Correction," Moe said. "We need to go before the cops show up."

Just then, both Moe and Eli heard the sound of distant police sirens.

"Which would be right now." He grabbed Eli's hand. "Come on kid!" He pulled Eli away into the shadows, the little boy struggling to keep up.

As the red and blue lights of the law neared the docks, Lisa found herself running down the beach. She had made it a point to run right where the waves of the ocean lapped at the land so that any footprints she made would be filled in almost immediately. Her back ached from the pressure of the shotgun blast but as far as she could tell, she hadn't been badly injured. Breathing heavily beneath her mask, she refused to let herself stop running until the police lights were little more than flickers. Once she stopped, she dug into her knees and lowered her head. At this moment, she found her mask far too suffocating and pulled it away so she could breathe.

"What are you doing?" The Beast asked. "The police are almost certain to comb the beach in search of you! We have to leave now!"

"I...I failed.." Lisa whispered. "I...couldn't save him."

"Lisa, face the facts! You wouldn't have been able to save that wolf anyway. He had already tasted human blood. Just count yourself lucky he sated it with those assholes instead of you."

"But...But wolves in America run from people instead of attacking," Lisa argued. "They...They did something to that wolf...those...bastards..."

"Lisa! Escape now! Brood later!"

Lisa wiped her face and sighed. "You're right." She put the mask back on. "Let's go."

Lisa ran up the hill and back into the mainland. The police never did get around to combing the beach for her, however. They were far more preoccupied with the dozens of bodies that now littered the soon-to-be torn down docks.

---

"Police counted at least 20 bodies at the docks with many additional body parts being found in the waters below." Kent Brockman reported. Chief Wiggum has yet to confirm as to whether or not this horrific massacre was the work of the depraved vigilante, the Animal Avenger, but considering the evidence suggesting a dog fighting ring was taking place here last night, this reporter is going to jump the gun and say "Damn straight!"

Kent's face vanished in a flash from the TV screen, the black glass reflecting an annoyed Fat Tony and a frightened Moe.

"W-Well l-look on the bright side, Fat Tony!" Moe nervously spoke up. "There ain't no word on the wolf so they have no way to trace the crime to us."

Fat Tony shot Moe a annoyed glance. "Well of course, they didn't say a word about the wolf. We already sent a generous donation/threat to the news station before this even aired."

"Oh...uh. Right right!" Moe chuckled nervously again before placing his hands together. "Fat Tony, please don't whack me! I-I promise to make it up to you somehow! I can...I can serve poisoned booze to some of your enemies! What do you say?"

"Moe,"

"Or...you-you can even have my remaining organs. Though I'm not sure if my liver's still good. Might have to be marked down a bit."

"Moe!" Fat Tony slammed his hand on his desk as he said this.

"Y-Yes your Moblyness?"

"Relax," Fat Tony said. "I don't blame you for what happened last night."

Moe's eyes widened. "Y-You don't?"

"What few of those low-lives that managed to escape the docks all reported a woman in her late teens to early adulthood wearing a fox mask and carrying a backpack full of severed body parts." Fat Tony tucked both hands beneath his chin. "I trust you know what I'm talking about, right?"

"The...The Animal Avenger," Moe gulped/

"That's right. It would seem that little minx is starting to sniff around our operations." Fat Tony continued. "And we have all the reason to believe she was the one that released Fenrir before his time, resulting in last night's...accident."

"Y-Yeah! It was totally her!" Moe agreed fretfully. He remembered all too well his encounter with the Animal Avenger. Despite Fat Tony's generalized description, Moe knew for a fact that the girl was a teenager, mostly likely still in high school. Part of him wished he could stay surprised that a mere child could be responsible for so much death but considering he himself killed the original Alfalfa as a school-age child, he knew he didn't have the right.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm quiet disappointed and furious!" Fat Tony continued. "You get your hands of a nicely-priced timber wolf, you pump him full of steroids and what does it get you? It gets you bullshit!" With a angry growl, Fat Tony swiped all the stuff off his desk, forcing Moe to take a step back. The bartender found himself trembling slightly, unsure of what the mobster was going to do next.

Fat Tony got up from his chair and stood there for a few moments, breathing heavily If Moe didn't know any better, he would swear he could see steam coming out of the mobster's mouth. Finally, Fat Tony raised his hands up in an effort to calm himself down and approached the window behind him. There wasn't much to see through that window aside from the yard where his son Michael would play in his younger days. At least, Michael was a son to him then.

"Alright then," He finally spoke. "If the Animal Avenger wishes to turn her sights on us, then I welcome the challenge." He laughed evilly. "And I'll be the one to send that final bullet through her pretty little head!" Fat Tony burst into laughter quite unbecoming of the usually composed Mobster. Moe couldn't help but subconsciously take a step back, only to stiffen as Fat Tony turned to him.

"Moe!"

"Gah! I-I mean, yeah?"

"One more thing before I let you go," Fat Tony said. "Your report regarding the incident last night was a little...shall we say, sparce. Are you sure there isn't anything noteworthy you'd like to add?"

Moe gulped. He knew damn well what it was he left out of the report.

Maurice's brother, Eli, being one of the survivors and himself being the one to kill Fenrir.

Moe began to sweat as he contemplated telling Fat Tony the missing information. On one hand, there would be dire consequences should Fat Tony discover these facts on his own. But at the same time, Moe couldn't help but dread what would become of young Eli should the Mob discover he was there that night. Perhaps they would whack him on the spot as a witness or perhaps even conscript him into the Mob itself. Fat Tony had been going on and on about youngsters making for good drug mules. And ever since that night, when Maurice told Moe his and his brother's reason for dealing with Fat Tony in the first place, Moe could not help thinking of Maggie every time he thought of Eli.

"N-No, Fat Tony. None to my knowledge, sir." He replied.

"I see," Fat Tony fixed himself a cigar from his pocket and popped it in his mouth. "You may go now."

"R-Right!" Moe wasted no time power-walking out of the office, leaving Fat Tony with his Cuban and his fantasies of making the Animal Avenger beg for her life.

---

Maggie sat on the same bench where had met Eli a few days ago. It had been three days since they last spoke and Maggie had returned to this park at least once in each and every one of those days. She searched for him, rested on this very bench, and searched for him some more before giving up and leaving. He didn't answer his phone the seven times she tried to call him throughout these three days and she was starting to get worried that something might have happened to him. The fact that this cut-off in communication happened around the night of the big dog fight, which thanks to the news, Maggie knows the Animal Avenger crashed, made her worrying all the worse.

"It...It'll be fine!" Maggie told herself. "Eli's okay! I...I just need to keep looking." And look she did as she hopped back off the bench. She turned her head from side to side, turning toward every voice she heard. She went unnoticed by the younger kids at play or the parents supervising them. She even went unnoticed by the stray dog that would sometimes sneak into the park to scavenge the trash cans as the pooch was currently sleeping in a sun beam on the grass. Without consciously meaning to, she ended up near the monkey bars where Eli had shown her his switchblade. She didn't mean to come here. She didn't even mean to look up at the top of it.

But she did, and it was there that she found Eli, head down and resting at the very center of the dome.

"Eli!" Maggie called out happily as she latched onto the bars and climbed up. Eli noticed her, one saddened eye turned to her and with a small grunt, he scooted to the left to make room for her. Maggie didn't notice his saddened disposition until she was sitting right next to him. "Eli?"

"Oh. Hey Mags." He responded with a lack of warmth in his voice.

"What the heck, man?" Maggie responded. "I've been looking for you for three days straight! Where have you been!?"

"Maggie."

"I mean, I get it. Sometimes things get busy and you can't talk to your friends but you could at least make sure they know you're alive!"

"Maggie."

"I mean, I heard on the news about how the Animal Avenger attacked the dog fights and I was worried sick!" Maggie suddenly blushed. "I-I mean I was...concerned! Concerned about you and your brother and-"

"Maggie!" Eli raised his voice, silencing the youngest Simpson child.

"E-Eli?"

"Listen Mags, I came here because I...I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

Eli turned away, his hands clasped tightly around each other. When he turned back to speak to her, his face looked empty, tired and defeated. It was an expression Maggie never thought in a million years she would see on the young boy's face and it haunted her.

"My brother died that night," Eli stated. There was only but a twinge of sadness in his voice, as if Eli had already cried all his tears away.

Maggie gasped. "H-He what!? Oh my God! Eli, I'm so sorry!" Maggie paused for a moment as she was unsure if she wanted to ask the following question but it slipped out before she could stop it. "W-Was it the Animal Avenger?"

"Yeah." Eli asked. "It...It's a long story but she...she let loose a monster, a big bad wolf on everyone. It killed everyone that couldn't get out of the way in time, including Maurice." Eli looked back down at the sand surrounding the monkey dome. "It almost got me too but a man with a shotgun saved me at the last minute and took me back home."

"Shotgun?" Maggie couldn't help but be reminded of Moe at the mere mention of that word. Nonetheless, she shook her head and placed her focus back on her grieving friend. "Eli, I...I'm sorry. I...I can't even imagine what you're going through."

"And I pray to God you never have to, Maggie. I really do." Eli stood up on the monkey dome and Maggie did the same. They both overlooked the park, two lonely royals placed on top of a world that was ignorant of their watching. Little kids, many yet untouched by the death of a loved one, screamed and hollered as they ran over the grassy field.

"Where...Where are you going to go now?" Maggie asked.

"I have a aunt in Shelbyville that's coming to pick me up today." Eli said. "She saw the news and called me, saying she'd be on her way as soon as she got back from her business trip."

"But that's good, right?" Maggie asked. "You still have family to look after you." As Maggie turned to Eli, however, she noticed his face darken and regretted speaking up.

"Yeah but she...she's one of those proper-grades-above-all-else kind of people," He explained. "Once I get to Shelbyville, I can pretty much kiss anything that isn't studying for the next test good-bye."

"Oww." Maggie groaned. "Would...Would we still be able to talk? Like over the phone or something?"

Eli shook his head sadly. "My Aunt don't believe in boys and girls being friends. She'd just consider you a distraction to my education."

"That...That's awful! Your aunt doesn't sound like a very nice person."

"She isn't." Eli agreed. "But she's the only family I got. The only other choice would be to take my chances on the street and I know Maurice wouldn't want that, especially after all he went through to try and keep me from them." He sighed heavily.

Maggie choked up. "So...this is good-bye?"

"Yeah, I suppose it is." Eli confirmed. "Sorry it took me so long to come say it but, well when your whole world crumbles around you, you sorta loose track of time." He turned to Lisa with a weary smile. "I'm just glad I was able to tell you face to face."

"Oh Eli," Maggie wrapped her arms around the boy and wept quietly into his shoulder. Out of tears, Eli simply returned the hug and held Maggie tightly. The hug only lasted for a minute but to the two kids, it felt as if it had lasted hours and even that was not enough.

"Listen Mags," Eli whispered. "Before I go, there's one more thing I have to tell you."

"What!?" Maggie asked.

Eli moved himself away from Maggie and clasped her shoulders, his expression now serious and somewhat angry. "Whatever you do, stay away from the Animal Avenger."

"Huh?"

"I mean it, Mags!" Eli raised his voice, not quiet yelling but loud enough to lock Maggie's attention onto him. "Don't listen to what people say her being a vigilante or a hero or any of that bullshit! She's a monster! A cold-blooded killer whose heart lies only with the animals, never her fellow man. She watched that wolf eat Maurice. She tried to feed me to it too!"

"She what!?"

"She's evil, Mags! Pure evil! And I pray to God that you never, ever have the misfortune of seeing her up close. Because with that damned mask of hers, she...she..."

"Eli?"

"...She doesn't even look human." Eli finished. Just then, Eli's phone rung in his pocket. He took it out and checked it, his eyes dampening as he read the text message he had received. "It's my aunt. She's waiting for me back at the house." Eli slipped the phone back into his pocket and leaned closer to Maggie. "So long, Mags. Maybe one day we can hang out again."

"I'd...I'd like that," Maggie fought back tears as she said this. Eli planted a kiss on her cheek and she watched with watery eyes as he climbed down the monkey dome and walked off.

Maggie spent another hour on the top of that dome, watching the sky redden as evening drew near, the lone ruler of a kingdom completely oblivious to her broken heart.

---

Lisa sighed as she walked back into the house after a long day at the shelter. After the incident at the docks, a few of the dogs that were to fight that night got turned over to the shelter for rehabilitation and thus she, Clarissa, and Madison had been swamped with work for the past few days. Lisa didn't mind it as it meant that, despite the brief run-in with Moe and her failure to save the wolf, the mission was not a total waste of time. Still, even now, as she poked her head into the kitchen and spied on her mother cooking pasta for dinner, she couldn't help but constantly think back to Eli. Over and over again, his words echoed in her mind.

You did this! You set that wolf loose so it would eat all the dog-fighters! So it would eat Maurice! Admit it!

Lisa sighed as she stepped away from the kitchen and made her way to her room. She threw herself on her bed face down and laid there with her legs draped over the side. Slowly, she rubbed her hand over her back.

"The pain seems to have stopped."

"That's good. I was worried we were going to have to find some sort of excuse to tell Mom for why I've been walking stiffly these past few days."

"You really should count yourself lucky. If you didn't have that backpack with you, you would have taken the brunt of that shotgun blast instead. That injury would have been far more harder to hide."

Lisa chuckled darkly. "Right. THAT'S the reason why I'm lucky." Lisa turned herself over on the bed, bring her legs to the center. She inhaled and exhaled slowly as her thoughts once again returned to the wolf.

Still broken up about that, I see." The Beast sighed with disappointment.

"I know I probably wouldn't have been able to save him, regardless of what I did." Lisa whispered. "But I still can't help but feel like I failed him. Maybe, just maybe if I had known about him from the beginning-"

"But you didn't." The Beast interrupted. "So instead of crying over spilled blood, try focusing on what you can learn from this."

"That's...weirdly astute of you."

"I figure I can meet you halfway with this whole two minds and one body thing and play smart every once and a while. Don't get used to it."

Lisa smiled and thought over everything that happened that night. "Well, we know those guys had to have gotten the wolf from somewhere and Moe most likely had something to do with it. He always did like to dip his fingers into any illegal business he could."

"Sounds to me we may have a new target and a huge one at that."

"I agree. And since we at least know where Moe is, I think are first course of action should be to-"

Lisa's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Maggie's door slamming shut. She shot up from the bed and stayed still for a few moments, listening for any more noises from her little sister's room. She could hear shuffling and thuds a plenty. With a foreboding feeling, Lisa got up and snuck toward her little sister's door.

"H-Hello?" She asked. "Maggie?" She knocked on the door.

There was no answer.

"Maggie? Are you in there?" She knocked again and still, no response. With a sigh, Lisa turned the knob and entered the room. Laying on her bed, shoes kicked to the side and a all-too familiar expression of anger on her face was Maggie. She was aggressively scrolling through her phone, headphones in, stopping only to push something and move on. As Lisa crept closer to her little sister, she could see she was deleting all the songs belonging to Death for Despair.

"Um...Maggie?"

Lisa slightly poked her little sister in the back, provoking quite a violent reaction. She practically flipped through the air as she turned over. "Gah!? Oh, it's you." Maggie yanked her headphones away, the low growl of a black metal song seeping from the speakers. "What do you want?"

"M-Maggie?" Lisa asked. "Are you...feeling okay?"

Maggie stared at Lisa for a few moments, as if waiting for her to add something else to her sentence. "I...I finally found Eli at the park today."

Lisa smiled. "You did? Well, that's great! How's he holding up? I mean, it's been forever since-"

"He's leaving Springfield." Maggie interrupted. Her voice was soft and empty. "His brother died at the docks last Friday and he has to go live with his aunt in Shelbyville."

"Oh!" Lisa covered her mouth. Of course, she already knew of Maurice's demise but the mystery of what became of Eli had been haunting her for the past few days. She felt relief wash over her to know that the kid had ended up in a safe and sound situation after all.

This relief would be short-lived.

"B-But that's a good thing, right?" She asked. "At least we know Eli will be taken care of-"

"But it should have been with his brother!" Maggie suddenly shouted. "It should have been here in Springfield!" She returned to deleting Death for Despair songs off her playlist. "Or at least in Capital City where he could have come to visit." She sniffled.

Lisa inched closer to her sister and knelt down beside her. "What are you doing?"

"Cleansing my Mypod of Death for Despair! What does it look like?"

"But why? I thought you liked that band!"

"I did! But now I...I just can't listen to them! I can't listen to anyone who sides with the Animal Avenger!"

"The Animal Avenger? What do they have to do with this?"

"She's the one that killed Eli's brother!" Maggie turned around with tears in her eyes. "She almost killed Eli too! He told me!"

Lisa gasped as she remembered just how scared and distrusting Eli was of her. Right up until the end, he was adamant that she had set loose the wolf that mauled his brother to death. With a sickening feeling in her stomach, Lisa realized that Eli had imparted his frightened and hateful vision of her onto Maggie.

"Little shit." The Beast growled as she came to that same conclusion.

"B-But Maggie!"

"It's her fault Eli left!" Maggie cried. "Just like it's her fault the Rattlesnake Roundup got ruined and Mom and Dad started fighting again!"

"Oh come on! Now that's just ridiculous!"

"I hate the Animal Avenger!" Maggie screamed. "I hate her! I hate her! I hate her!" With a furious scream, Maggie grabbed her Mypod and threw it at the wall, cracking the screen. The device slid to the floor, one of the headphones coming apart as it hit the ground. Only then did Maggie seem to realize what she did and she screamed in anger again as she dug her fingers into her scalp. Lisa, uncertain as what to do, reached out to her but Maggie, as if she could somehow read Lisa's mind, stopped her.

"Just go away, Lisa." She demanded gravely. "I want to be alone right now."

"But Maggie!"

"Go!" Maggie sniffled again, clearly fighting back tears.

And she was not alone.

Fully aware of what had just happened and the implications, Lisa realized there was nothing more she could do. "Okay," She whispered. "I...I'll be in my room if you need anything." With this, Lisa got up from the side of the bed and walked out the door, closing it behind her. Once she heard it lock from the inside, she retreated into her own room and locked it as well. She let herself fall against the door.

"So much for our little protege," The Beast commented. "Perhaps it's better this way."

"Yeah," Lisa whispered as tears trickled down her eyes, her soul aflame with her sister's unknowing hatred. "Maybe it is." Lisa slid down the door, curled up into a ball and soundlessly wept.

(Once again, fuck anyone who ask for a commission for artwork on this story. The answer is no so fuck off, you're not getting any fucking money!

Anyway, as I mentioned before, this story, along with Jigoku Files, is going on a hiatus for a bit. I can't say for sure how long it'll be and I need to go back and try to fix EVERY FREAKING CHAPTER in both stories to match how I write things now. But rest assured, it will come back and the rest of the season will continue without issue. Even got a few ideas while writing this chapter.

Please review if you liked the story and DO NOT ask for a commission! Thank you.)