[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/292173065305980928/364248146114772993/coollogo_com-10438470.png[/img] [sub]Banner credit to Nitemare Shape. Thanks Boss![/sub] [hr] [h2]A house in northern Carver[/h2] [h3]02:15[/h3][/center] Sarah Reeves had been through the shit more than once. A retired warrant officer, certified with several US attack helicopters, and five years with the FBI field office in Albuquerque afterwards had shown her plenty of the awful side of life. Those who had served with her in either capacity usually found her to be all business, but that was a facade, something she used to keep the bad stuff out of her mind. None of them had seen the long nights, when the memories became too much to handle, where her only comfort was a big bottle of anything that burned going down and as many happy, banal videos she could find on her laptop. If she [i]survived[/i] tonight, she thought, she might need to start drinking Everclear. It had started fine. Her and Broadway had been called to go meet a local metahuman who, uncomfortable with driving in the city due to the Hounds presence, was interested in helping out. So they had driven the hour out to Carver, Broadway bemoaning Tiamat's condition in the hospital, to meet this "Marionette". It had seemed a nice house, in a quiet suburb, quite close to the edge of the city. Reeves' internal danger sense alerted her to the unusual set up of the place, a single house at the end of a cul-de-sac, backed by a park that looked to run all the way to the woods. Plain looking exterior siding on a two-story home, but no lights on that they could see. Broadway had knocked on the door, and a voice from inside told them it was unlocked and to see themselves to the kitchen. And as the entered the place, that was when her internal alarms started [i]screaming[/i], along with someone in the house. Her and Broadway glanced at each other and then split up, the metahuman taking the lower floor and beginning to glow while the special agent moved for the stairs. The smell reminded her of the lairs of serial killers, blood and cleaning fluids hanging thick in the air. Two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs were all [i]charnel houses[/i] once she turned her flashlight beam on them. Blood covered almost every available surface, including som arterial spray on the ceilings. Bones that had [i]teeth marks[/i], and not immediately [i]identifiable[/i] ones, were scattered around. No skulls, though. Just as she was reaching for her radio, a short, cut-off cry came from down stairs, and she rushed to find the source, belatedly drawing out the Browning from her hip. She reached the top of the stairs to see the glow fading from a hand that clutched weakly at the banister, before dropping in death. And around the corner came the worst thing Reeves' had ever seen. It stood on two legs, but was clearly [i]not[/i] human. The legs and feet looked canines, covered in mangy fur and sores. The abdomen and waist looked more hominid, though also covered in thick belly hair. The chest and arms more resembled a horrifying cross between man and bear, though too-long by half and thin. The head, with glaring yellow cat's eyes focused on her, was some cross between alligator, dog, and human. It was grinning at her, and as it [i]winked[/i], the eye that opened again was obviously human, a clear blue, though crusted with mucus. It held up a chunk of meat and gurgled out the word "cheers", and it took Reeves' a moment to realise that it was a [i]heart[/i]. The Browning went off seven times in rapid succession, and she saw all the rounds on target plunge into flesh, but the .45 ACP rounds didn't even [i]nudge[/i] the beast. The wounds closed almost as fast as they opened, and it ignored them as it placed the heart gingerly into it's overlong jaws. And as it bit down oh so slowly, blood spurting out from the ruptured organ, it [i]never[/i] broke eye contact. [hr] She had run several blocks before she realised it hadn't followed her. She leapt over a garden wall in front of someone's house, she didn't car, slamming her back into it and ass into the ground. She had dropped the flashlight on her way out of the second story window, probably somewhere in bushes she had landed in. One shoulder was definitely bruised, she noted as she finally reloaded her pistol. Reaching for her radio, she found it gone too, cursed vehemently, and closed her eyes. Apparently God was with her tonight, since she still had her cellphone, she found as she dug her hand into her coat pocket. She dialled the first number she could think of, and was surprised to find the voice on the other line [i]wasn't[/i] dispatch. [color=aquamarine]"Agent Reeves? Hello, this is Tiamat. What can I do for you?"[/color] The girl sounded slightly out of breath, but at this point, Reeves did too. "Tiamat, get everyone together and get out to Carver, [i]right now[/i]." [color=aquamarine]"Agent Reeves? What's wrong?"[/color] Reeves gasped, then sucked in a deep breath and let her mind focus. "There's some sort of fucking monster out here. It got Broadway, it probably ate the whole family of the person we were out here to meet. I have no fucking clue what it is. Dispatch and Faulkner know where I am, get out here with the whole team. We need to burn this thing out." [color=aquamarine]"I am sorry, Reeves. Faulkner is dead as well. But you say it killed Broadway?"[/color] Her voice had cracked. [i]Of course, they're friends.[/i] Reeves squinted her eyes shut in regret. [i]And Faulkner too. Could this night [/i]get[i] any worse?[/i] [color=aquamarine]"Agent Reeves, we will be there as soon as we can, I have a SWAT unit with me right now anyway. Do you know what it is?"[/color] "Fuck no. It didn't even notice me firing forty-fives into it, I have no [i]clue[/i] what the fuck can ignore those that isn't made of metal." [i]What the hell is that smell?[/i] A voice growled from above her head, easily loud enough to be heard over the phone, at the same time a huge, sore-covered paw closed over her face. Her eyes went wide as she heard the word "Skinwalker". And then everything went dark.