[center][img]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/9/99/MoonKnight.png/revision/latest?cb=20150218201439[/img][/center] A bitter twilight Chicago wind. [indent]An active police presence.[/indent] [indent][indent]A drifter’s anxiety.[/indent][/indent] [indent][indent][indent]The transformation.[/indent][/indent][/indent] [indent][indent][indent][indent]Screaming.[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent] Marlene came in over the secure channel. The helicopter’s radio had police scanner’s but Spector was yet to make a complete list of police codes, and the “Animal Control” coding they’d been using was obscure and perhaps not the best way of labelling a murderous beast which was normally a man. [color=ed1c24][b]“News has just put it on now. He’s running through Lincoln Park now. Am I still coming through cleanly?”[/b][/color] [b]“Clear as a bell, Marlene.”[/b] Moon Knight replied. [color=0054a6][b]“Lincoln Park? ETA Eight minutes.”[/b][/color] [b]“Eight minutes?”[/b] [color=0054a6][b]“Yes, it shouldn’t take long for me to swing it around and land this bi--”[/b][/color] [b]“What’s the wind like?”[/b] Jean Paul tapped a dial. [color=0054a6][b]“Northwest 12 and a half knots, why?”[/b][/color] Jean Paul DuChamp turned to find Spector kicking a rope ladder out the portal entrance. Before sliding open the side door and holding it from closing. [b]“Stay close and circle ‘round!”[/b] Moon Knight yelled over the rushing open air. He threw his French friend a salute with his free hand. And received one in kind before throwing himself from the chopper. [color=ed1c24][b]“What’s happening up there?”[/b][/color] Marlene asked. [color=0054a6][b]“He just threw himself out of my helicopter at skyscraper altitude. I’m trying to tell if he’s an imbecile or insane.”[/b][/color] [color=ed1c24][b]“Marc. Marc! Steven?! What are you doing!”[/b][/color] The Moon Knight spread his glider cape billowing out and caught a huge gust of swift Chicago wind, sending him soaring, before he restricted his cape and gained greater control of his glide. [b]“I’m riding the winds. Every minute could mean more lives.”[/b] [color=ed1c24][b]“Are you alright? Jean Paul said that you were--”[/b][/color] [color=0054a6][b]“He’s fine, Marlene. He actually regained some altitude for a while there. I can confirm that he’s not being an imbecile…”[/b][/color] [b]“I can hear you, Frenchie. We’re all on the same channel.”[/b] [color=0054a6][b]“I know.”[/b][/color] For a few seconds he pulled all of his cape to his sides and torpedoed down towards the ground again. With his arms close to his body he pulled crescent darts from their place and ensured he was gripping them comfortably between fingers for quick use before regaining control of his glider cape. Spreading it wide to slow his descent. [b]“Good news is, I have darts prepared. Bad news is, I can’t glide and throw at the same time.”[/b] [color=0054a6][b]“So…”[/b][/color] [b]“So with the wolf in the park this time, I think I’m going to have little option besides close quarters combat. The environment isn’t as favourable. It’s also a Hell of a lot stronger than I am.”[/b] [color=0054a6][b]“Do you think you can beat it?”[/b][/color] [b]“I’m gonna have to.”[/b] [color=ed1c24][b]“Marc?”[/b][/color] Marlene asked, more pleading for reason to come than with any real question. [b]“I handled him last time. I just don’t have the same advantages this time.”[/b] Moon Knight seemed to be trying to convince himself. [color=ed1c24][b]“Marc?”[/b][/color] She was firmer this time. [b]“Yeah. He’s stronger but he’s an unthinking animal. No strategy or tactics. I have weaponry. I’ll probably beat it, but I’ll be thinking on the fly.”[/b] He answered honestly. Too honestly. There was little comfort in his words. One hundred feet. He spied the werewolf just ahead, an easy target with a local news network’s helicopter shining a spotlight on it as it ran through the park. [color=0054a6][b]“Marlene, he will be fine. I’ve fought with many of the Western world’s finest soldiers and Marc is one of the best.”[/b][/color] Fifty feet. Marc spread the cape wide once more and in a swooping arc, barely missed the ground and rose up again, where he quickly dropped the cape and somersaulted. Launching both crescent darts deep into it’s back. The werewolf arched it’s back in a howl of pain, only for the Moon Knight to drop both boots into it’s head and kick off, launching back into a second somersault, before landing in a three-point stance several metres away. Marc reached for fresh crescent darts. He scanned the werewolf’s face for signs of recognition in its eyes. Whether it would be from the wolf or the human trapped within. All he saw was a primal rage. He flung a dart and the werewolf raised its arm and took it in the forearm as it charged. It flinched sharply in discomfort but never stopped rushing. He threw more darts but still it came. His hand dropped to the holster for his truncheon and he thrust it between the beast’s jaws and delivered as hard a right as he could muster into its throat. There was no give. It was like punching a steel girder covered in a dog pelt. It thrashed with a claw and tore a sizeable hole through his cape. Moon Knight changed tack and threw his torn cape over the werewolf and tried to strangle it. This was a huge mistake. It amounted something not-too-dissimilar from trying to fight a honey badger in a sack. In close quarters teeth and claw thrashed everywhere. Carbonadium armour was scratched and in places rended. Out of desperation he regathered the truncheon and fired a grapple line around a distant tree trunk, buying him a little space. But he wouldn’t be able to make too many more mistakes like that again. He pulled more crescent darts and hurled them into the beast’s chest and limbs. These and the truncheon seemed to have the most effect. Range was his friend. The Moon Knight was starting to tire, muscles burning, but under the weight of silver the werewolf was starting to slow. The werewolf made yet another limping charge, and the Moon Knight faced him down. Clubbing it with his silver truncheon multiple times, and then hurling even more crescent darts into its back. The werewolf turned and used it’s full weight to just lean on him and knock him off his feet. Out of desperation Moon Knight grabbed one of its back legs, to prevent it from dropping on him and mauling him with those front claws and thrashing teeth and that’s when he saw it. A big bare patch in its fur on one of its hind legs. And the serial number etched in luminous green ink. Black vans roared into the park. Too many for the wolf unless they planned to cart it out in sections. Grant sensed the werewolf itself may have also been in need of its own brand of vengeance. Who would fight for the beast? Three nights a month it would be something that would bring terror and wreak havoc, but what of the man within? Grant fought the beasts, without and within. Spector just wanted to beat this creature down for the innocents claimed and then take it to any in the black vans as well. Grant quelled it with a query: “How many lives have we taken?” Spector fell sullen and quiet. He loathed when Grant would do this. Manipulate with guilt. But all the while it worked. After all, how could one so want for Vengeance deny the empathy others must feel for it? He rolled over onto the haunch, breaking the wolf’s leg with a whimper. [b]“Frenchie, emergency Evac!”[/b] A hand swept inside of his cape and he drew crescent darts. With a sharp snap of the wrist he flung them into the black vans tires. He clubbed the werewolf into unconsciousness and threw it over his shoulder. Men with firearms ran from the vans in their direction. Spector and Grant looked to the sky. Reaching out for the final grasp at the month’s full moon. They caught its lifeline. the Moon Knight grabbed the ladder. Hooked an arm and a leg through and then took flight. The wind caught his cape and billowed out. Guns fired, but couldn’t find the pair behind the immense white target. He felt the werewolf’s chest heaving through his shoulder’s armour plating. It’d live. It wouldn’t like what came next as he’d have to extract the crescent darts. But it would live. [center][h1][b]🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 🌕 🌖 🌗 🌘 🌑[/b][/h1][/center]