[hr][CENTER][color=silver][h1][b]Natalie 'Nelly' Ellis[/b][/h1][/color][/CENTER][hr] Walking home from a late shift at the fast food restaurant where she worked, Natalie had heard the gunshots, but ignored them, and carried on walking. She was trusting in habit to pull her away from having to make the choice, for the hundredth time. People were getting hurt, and Natalie had the power to stop them from getting hurt. But she'd been a vigilante before. She'd hunted down criminals before. And...vowing never to use her powers on bad guys again was honestly the best way she could protect people. The people around Natalie needed protecting, but in her mind, they needed protecting [i]from[/i] Natalie. She was unsafe. She was dangerous. When she let her emotions get the better of her, or when she convinced herself it was for the right reasons, and that she was a Hero, all she was really doing was brutally ripping people apart. People who may have made bad choices or done evil things, but wouldn't be around to pay for them. But who did ultimately pay for them? Their friends. Their parents and siblings and partners and maybe even children. And for what? Justice? No. Natalie had come to the realization that she did it out of vengeance, and anger, and frustration. Criminals were the ones who'd kidnapped her, killed her boyfriend and given her this...this horrible power. But it was more than that. She killed criminals because of the resentment that she felt towards life for making her a criminal in the first place. That wasn't fair. She was being a hypocrite. Everybody was better off now that she was practically in hiding. What Natalie could not just ignore was the otherworldly roar that then ripped through the night's ambiance. That wasn't a dog, or a wolf. It might have been a bear? But there was something about it that made even Natalie's hair instinctively stand on end. The creature that made that sound must be something far, far bigger and more dangerous than anything Natalie had heard round these parts. She turned on her heel and went to go check it out. She was not scared of the source of the noise. It wasn't as if it would have a particularly easy or pleasant time trying to get the best of her. The only thing she was afraid of or cautious of as she got closer, was herself. The source of that roar may be a ferocious beast, but Natalie? She was a monster. When Natalie finally reached the scene, there was a lot to process. She saw the outline of the creature in the darkness. It was bipedal, had reptilian skin and ten feet tall, and Natalie, for the first time, felt a pang of genuine fear, and an instinctual desire to run, but she steeled herself to it, and walked closer. Now she could see the man, with a sword, looking absolutely terrified. And there was a body on the floor. Did the beast kill it? No. She was now close enough to see that it was a small wound, such as a gunshot or a stab wound. Maybe from that sword? Was this really a simple case of this beast attacking people, or was there more at play here that meets the eye? [color=silver][b]"Hey!"[/b][/color] Natalie called out to both of them as she got closer. They'd see a rather skinny and frail looking woman in what was without a doubt a fast food restaurant uniform under a knee-length grey winter coat. It was not exactly the most imposing figure, yet even as she spoke in a delicate voice completely devoid of either confidence or authority, she didn't seem to be scared of either of them. [color=silver][b]"What the hell's going on here? I...don't know and I'm still not sure I wanna know..."[/b][/color] [@Lord Wraith][@JunkMail]