Nature of the Beast

[Elle Joyner]

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@BearEnthusiast​

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[Elle Joyner]

The Night It All Ended​

---

ODESSA CARRIGAN

"Where's dad? He's never this late…" With a clattering of porcelain, Odessa reached up into the cabinets and grabbed a stack of brown and white speckled plates, pulling them down before handing them over to her mother.

She had been watching out the small window above the kitchen sink for some time now, waiting for the headlights to come around the driveway bend, but nearly an hour had gone by and still, nothing.

"It's not like him…" She repeated, frowning.

"Remind me again, Des? Which one of us is married to him? You know how he gets… caught up on one of his projects or another. You are gonna look like a wrinkled paper bag someday, if you don't stop worrying." As she laid out each plate, Mary Carrigan's eyes moved to the window as well, pausing for only a second or two, before she returned to setting the table.

"What's he working on, anyway? I heard him on the phone last night… He sounded stressed."

"I don't know, Honey. It all goes over my head. Look, now… There he is."

The headlights rounded the bend as Odessa turned to watch, "I… don't think that's dad. Unless he went out and bought a new car?"

Blinking, Mary straightened and stepping alongside Odessa, she followed her daughter's gaze. Something in her face shifted as she watched the vehicle pull to a stop and without moving, she reaching out to grip Odessa's arm, "Sweetheart. I need you to listen… Get your brother and sister and go to the laundry room…"

"Mom??"

Waving off the question, Mary moved closer to the window, "Odessa. Go, now. And lock the door. Lock the door and do not open it… not for any reason. Do you understand me?"

"Mom? You're scaring me…"

"Odessa!"

At the shout, she turned, and without a word, she made for the living room, where her younger siblings sat, watching the television, "Rylie, Meg. Come with me, right now…" As she spoke, she could hear a knock at the door, the mumbling of a voice behind it.
"Now!" She shouted, and her brother and sister rose, their expressions a mixture of confusion and fear. Ushering them through the living room, then the mud room and at last into the laundry room, she closed the door and as she had been instructed, locked it, before turning to the other two, "Not one word, okay? No matter what…"

No matter what…

It felt strange to say… stranger, perhaps, because she knew that whatever was happening, it was bad. She had seen it in her mother's eyes. Something was wrong. Horribly wrong.

Moving to the door again, she leaned against it, craning her ear to the muffled voices. They grew louder and louder, but she could barely make out anything anyone was saying. Then rather suddenly, there was silence… Utter silence, so deep that she could hear her own heart, beating in her chest.

After that, she heard the gunshot. Megan whimpered, and Rylie rose to his feet, but Odessa spun and put a finger to her lips, shaking her head, her eyes burned with tears. The quiet settled again, and for several seconds there was only that stillness, like oblivion had fallen over the house. Then a tapping sound… hard leather soled shoes across the tile floor. Tap… tap...tap… Closer and closer the came, and Odessa crossed to her siblings, hugging them tightly to her, Megan burrowing her face in Odessa's shoulder. She could feel their pulses, rapid and frightened, feel the sweat on the backs of their necks and their palms. Her shoulder dampened with Megan's tears, and Rylie looked terrifyingly pale.

The door rattled, and she pressed Megan into her, muffling the sound of her fearful squeal. Swiftly, she glanced around. There was only one exit from the laundry room - a narrow window that led out into the backyard. It wasn't very big, but it would be enough for her brother and sister to climb through.

There was a sound in the hallway, a shuffling and then someone muttered. From her position, she could make out shadows under the door jam… a faint orange glow, flickering light… like a flashlight, but less static. And then she smelled it… the smoke. Biting her cheek, she spun and looking to Rylie, gestured to the window, then to Megan. He seemed confused at first, but as she gestured a second time, he nodded and together, then hefted her up. Her fumbling fingers, confused and afraid scrambled for the lock three times before she managed to unlatch it and after a few tense seconds, she was up and out, but smoke had already begun to pour in through the narrow crack under the door, and Rylie was coughing and sputtering. Shaking her head, she pulled down a towel from the rack about her head and wetting it, wrapped it around his face, she wrapped her own as well, then steepling her hands together, boosted her brother up and out of the window.

Rylie was back, peeking through as soon as he had climbed fully out, waving her along, but she shook her head, hissing up at him to take Megan and run. Smoke had already begun to pour high in the room, and she could feel it, the tendrils curling into her nose, burning the back of her throat. Rylie yelled something, but she couldn't hear him through the ringing in her ears and waving him along again, she waved as he disappeared, the smoke too high, too thick… Sinking lower, choking on a cough, she pressed the towel against her face, and squeezed her eyes shut as her vision began to blur…

 

[Bears]

The Night It Truly Began​

---

CHARLIE CAINE

The pain came in waves--liquid fire coursing through his veins as the mutation took its place. He heard the woman soldier's screams from outside the operating room but at that point it was too late for him. Charlie was already bound to his cot and everyone who ever knew him thought he was dead.

As they wheeled him into the White Room he wished for nothing more than that to have been the truth. Scientists stood all around him, blank expressions and soulless eyes hidden behind safety goggles. A window on the far side of the room held more observers and there had been five armed guards with their guns trained on the bed.

That was all he could take in before the injections started. Pain, so much damn pain. It had nearly killed him, but instead it left him a monster...jaded even when an opportunity like no other came in the form of a knock on his cell door six months later.

Dr. Carrigan walked in moments after, a determined if not grim expression held on his face.

"Listen, Charlie... things are going to go to hell soon here and I'm gonna give you the chance to get on top of it. "

The words repeated in his head like a fogged up dream as he sat in the back of the taxi. The dead man's nose crinkled, he could smell every single thing in the car sharply. The driver's sweat stains, cigarette ash, some shit fast food crumbled up in a bag and tossed on the floor. Charlie found the world had become an overwhelming place for a thing like him, it became a place where he no longer belonged.

Still, Charlie swore he'd keep his promise. After all, without Carrigan's assistance he would've ended up like the majority of the other soldiers when the floodgates opened: shot down and patched up to be used for later.

He ended up stepping out of the vehicle a few minutes later once he realized he was close. In his hand was a crumpled paper with the address of the doctor's family. "I don't give a damn what you do with your life when you get out so long as you make sure that my wife and kids are safe."

He thought back to those moments in silence until a shot rung through the air. Charlie let go of the paper in his hands and broke out into a full out sprint. "Oh...shit."

The house was already up in flames.

A black car shot past him but Charlie paid it no mind. He closed what distance remained, slowing down only to watch as a car identical to the one before it began to pull out from the scorched driveway. A series of heightened senses hit him and something clicked.

Perhaps it had been his intuition, or maybe it was the very nature of the beast he had become. His face contorted and he grew in size until he could no longer be recognized as truly human. A blood curling roar came over the sound of a burning home.

Caine made little work of the car and whatever men were inside of it thereafter. There were more important things he had to attend to, things he feared he had to confirm. His mutated skin ignored the flames as he trudged through the destruction but he remained focused on searching the wreckage.

But it wasn't his blood red eyes that lead him to her, it was her distinct scent. A strong mint that transcended all the burning wood and plaster. Caine tore through the remnants of the home, chasing after the smell until it was almost too much to bear.

Caine wasted no time and broke through the door, there he found what he could only assume was the sole survivor. Her hair was nearly as bright as the flames engulfing her home. He took in her in his arms and shielded her from the flames with his body on the way out. He stopped at the center of their large backyard and placed her down silently on the grass. She stirred, mumbling, but in this form Caine was incapable of human speech. He grunted as she seemed to wake but the sound of a sudden explosion took precedence.

It must have been the car. No doubt the police would be here soon.

Caine stood straight and growled angrily. He wasn't sure how coherent the girl may been but with one last look at her over his shoulder, he took off into the night never to be seen again...at least until now.

 

[Elle Joyner]

ODESSA CARRIGAN​

---

They always ran. It seemed a sort of nature to criminals, that no matter how many times it backfired on them, no matter how many times they failed at it, when the choice was surrender or run, they always ran. And Odessa was damn tired of running. There was a twitch in the back of her mind, a gnawing creature that insisted if she shot the gun in the kneecap there was no way IA could fault her for it, but she had been a cop far too long to know that was just wishful thinking... and so with reluctance and several swear words, she took off after the man

She was quick - light on her feet, with honed reflexes that came from years of training, but there was always something about desperation that made perps seem inhumanly fast. The guy darted through the crowd and towards the subways steps with merciless speed, and try as she might, Odessa was falling behind. But giving up wasn't in her vocabulary, and mustering her last stretch of energy, she tore down after him, her eyes trained to see his dark, curly hair bobbing through the mass of New Yorkers.

"Stop running!" She yelled, not to stall him, but to part the throng... to some degree of success, opening the avenue for her to reach him. Just a few feet more... a few feet and a leap and--

The man darted right, and Odessa hissed another four-letter word as he not only crossed the forbidden yellow line, but dropped down into the tunnels, and to every mother, conductor and cop's horrors, took off into the darkness, "You've got to be kidding me..." She growled, and jumping down after him, she pulled her flashlight and her firearm free, descending into the tunnel.

Her job had honed in her an instinct that few others possessed - a sense, almost,cat-like, that had on more than one occasion saved her backside. She'd only gone roughly fifty, maybe sixty feet before she realized his footsteps had stopped and swinging the flashlight in an arc, she searched through the darkness, spinning around just in time to see the metal pipe swinging down at her. Bobbing to the side, she caught the brunt of it in her shoulder, but the opening it left was enough and kicking out her leg, she caught him in the ribs with her foot. He stumbled back, hitting the tunnel wall.

It could never be easy, though, and with a force driven by adrenaline, the man kicked off the wall and caught her in the center, tackling her down to the hard cement between the tracks. Her gun clattered off into the blackness and stars burst in her vision as a pair of meaty hands latched around her throat, cutting off her air supply. Choking out, she reached up, clawing at his arms, but his grip only tightened and red lines splintered across the stars... Through the blood pounding in her ears, she could hear the shriek of the train, rounding the bend...

And in her mind, all she could think was that she had failed to do laundry, again, and was down to a pair of grungy grey granny panties. She was going to die... in the absolute worst underwear she owned. Damn it.

The shriek grew louder and the hands relinquished their grip, but try as she might, Odessa couldn't snap out of the daze. The rumbling growl of the wheels against the track seemed almost animal in nature, and so close... so very close.

Suddenly, Odessa felt a pair of hands latch onto her arm, this time, lifting her up from the ground entirely and with a force she hadn't expected in a man her perp's size, she was shoved back against the tunnel wall, her lungs giving a punished wheeze as the air expelled with force. Lights, blinding bright, poured into the tunnel and in their glow she could see him...

Not her perp, after all...

Her heart, she would swear later, stopped in her chest as she stared up into those terrible yellow eyes for what she was certain was the second time in her life. It was him, it had to be - there was no other answer...

The rumbling grew deafening and crushing her back against the wall, the creature leaned over her like a mother bird her chick, something between a growl and a shriek emanating from its throat. The train passed with furious speed, and Odessa squeezed her eyes closed...

Then all at once the tunnel was silent again, but for the haggard breathing above her.

Opening her eyes, she peered up at him, and breathing out, shook her head, "It... it's you."

With a grunt, she was released, and for the second time, Odessa watched, numb, as the beast disappeared into the darkness... Her beast. Her guardian angel...

"What the hell..." She breathed...

 

[Bears]

---

CHARLIE CAINE

The moment he woke the smell of it all hit him like a truck... which meant quite a lot considering he had been hit by two over the past couple years. Booze, vomit, and cheap perfume it all mixed together to make a scent that was down right putrid to his nose if not familiar.

Charlie's hand remained fixed on the soft hipbone of a woman nestled up against him. Taking a moment to gather his bearings entirely, he had no idea who she was but it was no mystery what he did to her. All he could hear was the rickety fan spinning above them and a constant heavy thud in the back of his head.

Charlie groaned. Sure, his mutations kept his liver and lungs from giving out great--but would it really have been too much trouble to make him immune to hangovers? He swung out of bed and grabbed a hold of his pants. He slipped them quietly but froze when the woman seemed to stir, only exhaling when she finally turned back around.

There was never any point of being around during the morning after, not for him.

Charlie stepped out onto the second floor balcony of some crappy highway motel and wasted no time after that. He was just outside New York City and while he preferred to stay away from where humans congregated, he had some business to attend do. He swung on his leather jacket and made his way down the steps, stopping only to dig through his pocket for a cigarette.

He didn't even notice the blonde haired woman leaning against his motorcycle until she spoke up.

"We got a problem here, you know." She spoke sternly, steel blue eyes glaring at him above a pair of crossed arms. Charlie glanced up, seemed to think for a moment and finally frowned.

"The last time there was a 'we' I was very, very drunk." He quipped, flicking on a pair of shades nonchalantly as he waved her off of his bike. "You were too and all over me if I remember correctly. What do you want Selina? Round four?"

The blonde woman rolled her eyes and stood straight, shooting him a bird as she stepped away from the motorcycle. "You need to keep your girl in check if you want her to live. She ran into my territory earlier this morning. If I hadn't realized in time who she was she'd be roadkill by now... well, rail-kill."

Charlie's body language shifted at the thought but he mounted his bike all the same. The ex seal revved it to life and firmed his grip on the handles before turning back to her, a serious expression on his face. "This morning...as in right now?"

"It's an hour past two, Charlie."

"Huh." Charlie's eyebrows rose up above the rim of his sunglasses in genuine surprise but he offered nothing else. Instead, just as silent as he was when he was leaving the motel room, he began to pull out of the parking spot. Selina's anger intensified along with her glare and the next thing he knew he was met with a pair of yellow, reptilian pupils. He grinned. "Now, now... what did we say about looking like that in public?"

"You are actually insufferable." She shouted out exasperatedly, her eyes returning to normal as she threw her hands in the air. "I can't even remember the last time you took things seriously--with the way they've been hunting lately it won't be long till they realize why you haven't left New York. Good luck protecting her then you-"

"Go home Selina." He interjected suddenly with a cold seriousness that almost caught the blonde off guard. She blinked, steadied herself and shot him an unamused grimace.

"Fine but you know I'm right. Whatever this whole watch from the shadows crap you've been pulling...it won't last, that much is certain." Seemingly satisfied, Selina turned away and began walking and he remained for a moment, lost in a series of troubled thoughts.

But then, without so much as word, he finished pulling out of the parking spot and drove back onto the highway.

 

[Elle Joyner]

ODESSA CARRIGAN​

---

Whatever crazy brain chemistry encouraged people to jump onto train tracks and chase after bad guys into dark, monster-filled tunnels, Odessa sincerely hoped it had been strangled or beat or scared stupid right out of her head, and she was not the only one. Seth Brander, who by paper work was meant to be her partner, sat across from her as she worked her third ice pack over the massive purple bruise that stretched from shoulder blade to collar bone. The expression he wore would've been sufficient to scare the pants off (or back on) any young girl's prom date...

"Partners, Odd. That means that we work together. We go after the perps together. We collar then... Together. We do not, and I quote, shout 'I got this son of a bitch' and run into speeding trains!"

"Okay. First of all... You can't run for crap. You know this... It's like watching a fat kid at summer camp, and it makes me sad. Second, I didn't run into a train. I ran into a tunnel. Third... We got the guy, didn't we?"

A sigh escaped, and Seth ran his hands over his face, "We got no one, Odd. The conductor did... And Internal Affairs isn't happy."

A brow quirked, and Odessa switched the ice pack to the back of her head, "Hell. When are they ever happy? Pretty sure sullen and angry is part of their job description. I might actually be scared if I saw IA smiling..."

Straightening, rising to his feet, Seth shook his head, "That's the problem, Odessa. You're never scared. And you need to be. I love you, and you know that's the only reason I never put in for a transfer... despite my better judgment and whatever desire I have to actually get some accommodations. But that doesn't mean I wanna get a new partner any other way, either. You keep this up, you'll wind up a folded flag and some memories."

"You don't put in for a transfer because I spring for the gourmet donuts..."

Shaking his head, Seth fought the urge to smirk, "Go home, Odd. Get cleaned up." He turned to leave, but Odessa shouted after his retreating figure, anyway.

"I'll bring you the kind with M&Ms tomorrow!" Seth didn't turn, flipping her off at a distance, and Odessa grinned, the grimaced. She should've listened... Taken his advice, gone home and cleaned up. Not just the grime and dirt and... was that blood or gum? But her entire act. Scrubbed it clean until she was a model detective and not someone that threatened to give their chief a coronary at least once a week. She should have...

But she didn't.

An hour later, Odessa found herself back in the subway tunnel, and whatever she told herself, it wasn't to look for that button that came off her jacket...

 

[Bears]

---

SELINA STEELE

The tunnels were far from the friendliest places to find yourself in New York. Between the constant darkness, echoing halls, and the occasional drug addict shack it made the perfect place for a thief to hide...especially when their eyes were made for the environment. Selina abnormally bright eyes blinked twice as she walked silently back to the over sized utility closet that became her home.

Attempting to interact with Charlie had gone as successful as she had expected, considering his affinity for being an absolute idiot of course. Cursing to herself she ran a hand over the side of her neck, stopping to take a moment and nurse a nasty cut that she had just stitched the night before.

She was on the way home from a dive bar when one of the Beasts confronted her. Lieutenant Rodney Morgan. Back at the Facility everyone just called him Rod. Selina had made the mistake of forgetting that Rod had been recaptured a year ago.

He chased her throughout the city all the way into the wee hours of the morning--up until she managed to lose him in the streets below the streets. Not long after she ran into her.

"Speak of the damn devil." Selina stopped in her tracks and muttered, stunned by the absolute idiocy she was displaying. Any other human come back looking for her like that they'd be dead in a heart beat, never to be seen or heard of again. But this one? She'd be lying if the the thought of Charlie angry made it hard to want that.

Selina crouched, and cut silently through the dark as she wrapped around to the detective's backside, Selina appeared to have come from nowhere--her bright yellow eyes suddenly appearing behind the other woman as she held her in a sudden and intense headlock

"Did you not get the message girl? What the hell do you think you are doing here?" Selina hissed before pushing the struggling detective away. She waited for the other woman to turn back at her before placing her hands on her hips. "I'm not exactly to the type to save a life...much less twice."

 

[Elle Joyner]

ODESSA CARRIGAN​

---

She would've been lying if she said she wasn't scared... Whatever Seth had tried to say about her not being scared enough, he was wrong. She was terrified, and the pounding drive of her heartbeat almost seemed to echo off the tunnel walls. It had been ten years... ten long years since that night, but she could see it in her mind like a film, playing out, every detail of it... For six months following the attack on her home, Odessa had become something of a media phenomenon. She could still see the news headlines 'Orphaned Carrigan Girl Claims Monster Saved Her', 'Carried from the Flames by Beast', 'Beast in the Suburbs' ... They mocked her, some openly, claimed she was delusional or even crazy.

But she knew now, as she had then, what she had seen. She knew he was real, and she was going to find him... Find him and--

Spinning around, she came face to face with a pair of yellow eyes and, because why look cool when you're meeting your hero, promptly tripped over the track behind her. She met the ground with an ungrateful crash and a flurry of swear words, and her shoulder and back screamed rage as renewed injuries flared from the fall. Her gaze traveled up and blinking, she stared at the creature... the... woman? Her heart gave a throb of discomfort and her voice squeaked out of her throat, a mixture of shock and what sounded an awful lot like disappointment.

"You..." But it wasn't possible. -EVERY- details was as clear in her mind as it had been that night. She could see his face, the lines of it so terrifying, yet so strangely human, distinctly male, all the same, the light of his eyes, glinting red in the flames. He was enormous - taller and broader than any man she had ever come across... a behemoth, and she knew without a doubt that this wasn't him. That it couldn't be. But that meant, "There's more than one of you??"

 

[Bears]

---

SELINA STEELE

Her hard exterior cracked for the second time in one day as Selina failed to stifle a laugh. It was a serious matter for later of course, seeing as she rarely found herself faltering in front of Charlie or a human as... dramatic as this one. But just the sight of her squirming on the tracks and the disappointment in her voice was enough to bring out a grin, and so Selina decided that for now she'd let the moment of weakness slide.

The yellow eyed woman bent down so she was eye level with the human. One blink. Two blinks. Her eyes shifting between reptilian and human alike. Selina always enjoyed a bit of a show, a bit of terror in the eyes of the humans who wandered a little bit too deep into the tunnels. But this time instead of striking she simply stood straight and offered the other her hand.

But suddenly, a screech all too familiar echoed throughout the dark and Selina could feel her chest sink into the pit of her stomach. Rod The yellow eyed woman had no time to wait for Odessa so with an unbelievable lack of effort she grabbed a hold of the detective and pulled her up entirely and onto her feet. She leaned in and whispere. "You don't know the half of it hon."

Selina pulled her forward with little regard to the human's comfort. Odessa had to hold on and move because soon enough the blonde woman began to take turn after turn. Left, right, right left. Then was it a left...? Or another right? Soon enough It seemed impossible to keep track of the directions they were taking but the occasional, gut wrenching screech from behind them was enough motivation to keep moving.

Suddenly they came to a door and Selina ushered her into a pitch black room. She let go of the human's arm and for awhile the only thing that could be seen was her eyes moving about in the dark. The sound of a switch flipping, a generator humming and suddenly Odessa found herself in the makings of a small, but lavishly decorated room. Treasures, artifacts, money all strewn about as carelessly as toys.

Selina had no time to explain however. Rod wouldn't let a simple metal door stop him after all. She turned to Odessa, eyes narrowing sharply. "Stay inside human and maybe you'll live. Get yourself killed before he can get here and save both of our asses and I swear I'll haunt you in the afterlife."

Without another word, Selina left the other woman and stepped back out into the hall. Another shriek, closer than ever this time. Selina closed her eyes and shook her head, hoping that Charlie was a vigilant in his promise to the Doctor as he seemed. She took one deep breath before she let herself feeling the pain of the mutation all over again.

Within the room, Odessa could hear the screams as Selina transformed and the sound of an exchange of blows. Outside Selina's yellow scaled figure found herself pinned against the tracks, a beast seemingly both human and harpy nailing her down with it's talons.

 

[Elle Joyner]

ODESSA CARRIGAN​

---

Ridley Scott, eat your heart out... Her life, in the span of only a few hours, had become a freaking science fiction movie, and she was pretty sure if she sold the rights, she could retire off the commission alone. Too bad she was probably gonna die. Die in grungy grey undies... For the second time that day, she cursed her wardrobe choice, but she had little time to do much else, because the yellow-eyed woman... creature... thing was dragging her through the tunnels and try as she might, Odessa could barely keep up with the direction.

Only when they stopped did she had much time at all to think, it was with a modicum of frustration that she turned to see the woman ducking out the door again, before she could so much as ask what was going on. She felt dazed, and reality for a moment seemed more like a dream than what was happening. But adrenaline was a powerful drug and Odessa was something of an unwitting junkie. The door closed, but Odessa freed her gun from the holster before it clicked fully shut, and switching off the safety, stepped closer to the exit of the metal enclave.

Stay put. Stay put...

These were perps - these weren't every day, run of the mill criminals. These were the things of nightmares, and she had already been damn near killed that morning as it was. Seth's voice echoed in her head - she wasn't scared enough. Maybe this was the catalyst. Maybe this was where she finally learned her lesson, learned to take better care of herself. Maybe this was the moment where she finally stopped chasing down danger like a bitter ex-wife.

As she considered her options, she popped a bubble with her gum, wintergreen... her one vice (aside from chasing idiot criminals into dangerous areas, of course). When the screams erupted from beyond the door like nothing she had ever heard before, she shook her head and with a muttered, 'Oh, to Hell with this', Odessa threw open the door, gun at the ready.

She could learn her lesson later... If she lived.

Stalking carefully down the darkened path, her eyes moving uselessly through the pitch black, she listened, instead, and desperately hoped they wouldn't be the last sounds she heard. Sconces were placed on the tunnel walls now and then, rectangular boxes that gave off about as much light as a Zippo at the bottom of the ocean, but in one brief moment she saw the shadows shift, saw a flicker of yellow, a form, writhing on the ground and one above it, all sharp angles and shrieking.

Raising the gun, her hands quivering a little, she called out, into the darkness, "Step away from her, or I will shoot!"

 

[Bears]

---

SELINA STEELE

Reckless, hard headed. Selina would've found the similarities between the human and her keeper funny if she wasn't currently struggling for her life. Selina ultimately knew she shouldn't have been surprised that the human did exactly what she wasn't supposed to do. Still, Rod, with beady, black eyes spun around at Odessa's call and Selina used that to her advantage.

She kicked hard against the back of his leg and for a moment he crumbled, the talons piercing through her shoulder and hand ripping out of her flesh. It was painful, but at least now Selina could get some shots in. Quick like lighting she hopped back onto her feet. She shot Odessa an intense yellow glare before hurling herself on top of Rod, wrapping scaled arms around his neck.

They struggled, shrieks and screeches echoing all throughout the tunnels. Rod tore away savagely at her arms, unafraid to even of the collateral damage. A warm black blood began to seep from the wounds and stained the other beast's feathers. Selina's energy began to leave her. The headlock wasn't working, Rod wasn't tiring. Suddenly the beast threw his large head downwards and it subsequently threw Selina through the air and onto the human. They landed hard and the more blood she lost, the more her mutation focused on fixing her then retaining her form.

Selina's scales began to fade and she managed to force out a few understandably words. Turning to Odessa she motioned back towards the room. Run. She was telling the ginger to run. But all too, late Rod turned to them and cracked his head in a sickening fashion. It was as if he stopped to examine them, but Selina knew that whatever remained of the man she knew was gone.

This was the part where they died.

---

CHARLIE CAINE

Rod definitely did not look like that before. Sure, he had always look like shit both before and after the mutation but looking at him now, over the edge of a flickering cigarette, Charlie couldn't help but notice that he looked different. Bigger, stronger, obviously enhanced since he got himself caught.

Crushing the cigarette beneath his heel, he took one look at Selina and Odessa on the floor and sighed. It was never fun to kill an old friend. For the second time since the White Room, Charlie rushed in for the sake of another and tackled Rod's large inhuman figure with his own. Then they grappled without mercy--taking turns smashing each other into the concrete.

More black blood flung across the tunnel but at that point it was hard to tell which belonged to who. His body ached all over but Charlie refused to stop, the longer the fight drew out, the more bloodthirsty he became. After Rod's stamina had been depleted the situation soon devolved into a beastly Charlie cracking down on an opponent unable to defend himself from the crushing blows.

It felt like he was watching it from an observer's view, it was his hands and Rod's blood...but it seemed impossible to stop. Until suddenly a single gunshot rung out, taking Rod's life with it. Charlie growled a rumbling, heart stopping sound and turned back to the women with fire in his eyes.

 

[Elle Joyner]

ODESSA CARRIGAN​

---

The gun remained in her grasp long after she had fired, the tendril of smoke from the muzzle and the subtle quaking of her arms the only indication she had moved at all.

In the darkened tunnel, the scene had gone from science fiction to horror, and she had watched, unable to move, as the yellow-eyed creature was mauled by the other, the sounds the worst of it... Like animals, waged in a vicious melee. And she without a single open shot. Her finger itched across the trigger several times, but if she hit the wrong one...

Then things had gone from bad to worse, as her former savior was lifted and thrown. For the third time that day, Odessa found herself eating the tunnel floor. The back of her head cracked against the ground and light bloomed in violent red steaks. Dazed, her head pounding and her vision swimming, she heard, more than saw the other creature approaching. It seemed over for both of them...

But with another shriek and the third act of the freakshow, the volatile bird of prey was taken down with the force of a subway train.

Odessa had officially had enough.

The yellow-eyed beast had managed to roll off of her and reaching, she found her firearm but inches from her fingertips. Swiftly, too swiftly for her aching skull, she rose, aimed and fired...

Now, staring at the hulking mass, the only thing visible those crimson-nightmare eyes, she was pretty sure this was how she was gonna die. Her vision blurred and the gun began to sag... her legs feeling suddenly heavy as a bag of bricks. She was gonna get eaten. She was gonna pass out in a pitch black hellhole and get eaten...

It was time, she supposed, for some killer last words...

"Damn it..."

And then the blackness pooled and she collapsed.

 

[Bears]

---

CHARLIE CAINE

Still an observer from within his own body, Charlie watched Odessa go down and out. Caine stood up, knuckles painted black by the blood of the feathered creature. He stalked over to them, slowly--perhaps even menacingly and for a moment he could see a glint of fear in Selina's human eyes.

Fear struck him. He didn't know what the beast inside of him was going to do, when he lost hold of the reigns it was always so difficult to get them back. Caine's eyes remained intently focused on Odessa and the sound of his labored breathing filled the air. He approached them slowly.

Soon enough his hulking figure towered over the both of them and his body tensed. Charlie couldn't do anything to stop it and in that moment he wished he could've just closed his eyes.

But then a slap rung out and both Charlie and Caine stood there stunned. Selina, fully human, glared back at him clearly unamused by his behavior and her wounds. Caine growled and suddenly five more shots rung out, only realizing after pain rung all across his body that Selina grabbed Odessa's gun before standing up.

Caine dropped to his knees and Selina finished both him and Charlie off with the butt of the gun. Just like the woman he swore to protect, Charlie ate tunnel floor.

***​

When he came back to it he was in Selina's room, lying flat and naked across the floor. A towel kept him decent but his backside was uncomfortably cold. For a moment he forgot why he was there and feared that somehow he ended up sleeping with Selina again. But then it hit him.

That unforgettable mint. Wintergreen. Everything that happened in the tunnel came back to him in a flood.

He turned to his side and saw her equally unforgettable hair cascading off the side of Selina's king bed. Charlie's first reaction was to stand and see if she was safe, but when he tried his body proved almost too sore to move. He fell backwards, groaning in pain as his mutation tried to deal with four different bullet wounds.

Selina came in from the tunnel a moment later, her arms bandaged and her face fixated into a scowl. She saw Charlie awake and scoffed. "She's alive. I'm already done cleaning up the mess. Rod's dead but there wasn't much saving him after that show you put up. The human probably did him a favor with that shot."

"Suppose I can say the same about you for me." Charlie frowned before forcing himself to stand. He offered Selina a grateful look but quickly turned to Odessa thereafter. He limped over, unable to see Selina swallow hard.

"Yeah, whatever."

Charlie was too focused on checking Odessa that he didn't even turn to see Selina angrily step back out into the tunnel. The man dropped to the other side of the bed, his back turned to the human and a sigh of relief escaping his lips at seeing she was relatively unharmed.

He held his head in a calloused palm, ashamed to wonder if that would have been different without Selina's intervening.

 

[Elle Joyner]

ODESSA CARRIGAN​

---

As consciousness loomed, and Odessa came to, she was, for a moment perfectly content thinking she had, by far and large, the weirdest and most vivid dream she'd ever experienced. She could still see it, playing out in her head, the dark tunnel, the blood flying, black as tar... she could hear the shrieking and growling, feeling the weight of the yellow-eyed beast crashing into her, her head smacking the concrete. Her fingers almost vibrated from the feel of the gun discharging in her hands...

As her eyes blinked open, her head splitting with pain, and as she stared up into the unfamiliar ceiling overhead, she groaned, swearing softly under her breath, "This is so not happening..."

With a grimace, she pressed her palms into the mattress beneath her and pushed herself up, her eyes flickering over to the figure in the chair beside her. It wasn't the woman, as she'd expected, but it wasn't a talon wielding nutjob, with a murder-death-wish either, so there was that. Reaching up to the back of her head, she felt the tender knot, not particularly surprised to find it had doubled in size since earlier that morning. Was it even that morning? For all she knew, she'd been a coma for a hot minute there...

And speaking of hot.

Her eyes trailed over the figure, and even in the darkened room, she could see that he was no ugly, rambling, terror of the night. Hunched over as he was, she could see the mass of muscles rippling up his arms, the sort that could unscrew even the most stubborn of pickle jars, and a head of blonde hair. His hands, damn big baseball mitt hands, rubbed across his face, but through his fingers she could see the strong line of his jaw...

And she was staring...

Clearing her throat, she raked her fingers through her hair, a mistake, and another groan followed the action, before she decided folding her hands in her lap was a better plan, "...So... I'm not dead, right?"

 

[Bears]

---

CHARLIE CAINE

Over the past decade there had been plenty of occasions when Charlie...eavesdropped on Odessa. Her voice wasn't something he heard often--but it was definitely far from a stranger's. Still, to here it directed at him specifically? It was odd and for a moment, he wasn't sure how to react. Charlie stood and spun around quickly, his soldier's form straightening out in the barely lit room.

He clutched his towel with great care and for a second, he faltered and his expression showed an uncharacteristic surprise. Charlie knew that he had to approach the situation with great care...while he knew her quite well she knew next to nothing about him. Considering how she was acting now...hell she didn't even know that the beast just outside had been him.

"I...er...yes. Neither of us died out there back in the tunnel." Charlie replied slightly cautious, but soon enough easing back into his rough around the edge charm. He shifted the weight between his feet slightly and the rest of his statuesque body followed in motion. "Or at least I'm pretty sure we aren't dead... if this is heaven I believe the church owes me an apology."

He chuckled softly, picking up an odd (but knowing Selina--incredibly pricey) jade elephant. Charlie toyed with it lightly, tightening his towel so he could toss the figurine from hand to hand. He shot a grin back at her as the object flew beneath his head. "I'm not a saint or anything but this is definitely not god's style."

"In fact it actually suits a uh...mutual friend of ours way better. Selina. Knowing her though, she probably hasn't introduced herself to you properly." He put the elephant down and motioned to his hair, before trailing downwards to his muscled forearms. "Blonde lady with some seriously freaky eyes? Also has scales from time to time? Am I ringing a bell here or was that fall worse than it looked?"

 

[Elle Joyner]

ODESSA CARRIGAN​

---

Was he wearing a towel...?

As he spoke, that was the driving question on Odessa's mind, and of course it would be - because thinking about anything else felt just a touch too close to crazy town for her to deal with right then and there. She knew what had happened, and she definitely remembered the creatures, but she had hoped that maybe she could pretend they were all just part of some super vivid dream for a few more minutes. No such luck, it seemed...

It was almost funny. For a decade now, she had searched and searched for answers about that night, and she had come up with absolutely nothing. Nothing but a humiliating stigma as 'that crazy girl who lost her parents', anyway. But now that she had proof - definitive, hard proof - that she wasn't a nutcase, she felt loonier than ever. Pretending, then, seemed like a pretty good alternative to actually acknowledging the truth...

Biting her lip, she turned her eyes away from the shirtless Adonis, shaking her head, "...Bell's rung. Hell... I got Notre Dame going on up here." She remarked, gesturing to her head. For a moment after, she fell quiet, considering how best to breech the next bit. She had so many questions, so many important things she needed to know, wanted to ask... and it was just a matter of where to start. What did she ask first? How he knew they were in danger, all those years ago? Did he know what happened to her father? Who was he, or... what was he? Were there more than just him and Selina and that...thing she had shot?

Looking up, she took a breath to steady herself, before continuing, "So... I guess I found you, hm?"

It was a start, anyway.

 

[Bears]

---

CHARLIE CAINE

Wintergreen. It trailed along with her words and for a moment it was all he could concentrate on. His eyes watched as her lips moved, perhaps a little too intently, but the smell was the only thing on his mind. It was strong enough from those moments he spent watching her, that specific scent able to transcend the smell of the city, the smell of that fire.

It was without a doubt now, standing where he was, that the closer they were the more the scent began to push towards intoxicating.

Still, Charlie managed to blink himself to reality and he found himself standing at the butt of what he could only assume was a heartfelt confession. For a moment he considered lying--feigning ignorance and hoping that somehow that could let him go back to just being a hidden observer.

Yeah that's what he was going to do. Better to take a long shot then show something genuinely true right? The following sigh that left him was long and dwindling. Charlie looked down at his feet and then back up at her, half smiling. "Yep. You did."

Shit. What happened to lying? Charlie didn't know. "Now I'm sure you got questions so let me start with--"

The sound of the metal door swinging interrupted him and he turned to see Selina rush in.

"We have to go. I think some tunnel mechanic heard the gunshots. Rod's corpse is taken care of but if they find us..." The blonde woman paused, shooting a peculier look towards Odessa. "The NYPD, I mean. We can't let them find us."

 

[Elle Joyner]

ODESSA CARRIGAN​

---

He looked decidedly, somehow, not how she had pictured in her mind. Younger, too... And a lot less... growl-death-slash, for sure. It was weird, coming face to face with him, when in her mind she had imagined things going differently. She had never imagined it would be like a Disney flick, with corny music playing in the background, credits rolling after a heartfelt embrace, but she also hadn't pictured him ripping another beast to shreds, before coming at her like she was a chunk of Angus steak.

There were... so many questions, and she wasn't exactly sure she wanted to know the answers to half of them, but there was a good chance he'd disappear again and if she never got the opportunity again...

The door slammed open and Odessa jumped, spinning towards it, to see Selina had returned. She frowned at the words and the heavily pointed expression, shaking her head as, on somewhat unsteady legs, she rose to her feet, her eyes narrowing at the woman. She probably should've been marginally more cautious, considering what she knew was possible, but a decade was a long time to go without understanding, "No. No way! I waited ten years to find this guy... I'm not about to wait any longer!"

Looking to him, she shook her head, "You... you can't disappear on me, again. I need... There's things I need to know. Things I don't... You can't just walk aw--" Without much warning, her legs gave, and she toppled again, as another wave of dizziness overwhelmed her desire to stand. Hand to her forehead, she grimaced, "Hell..."

 

[Bears]

---

CHARLIE CAINE

"Now who said anything about disappearing?" Charlie had said grinning before a sudden lapse in Dessy's balance worried the expression away, he was quick to react, inhumanly quick as he made his way to her side. Looking her over he was certain he'd have no problem carrying her even in this form but he preferred not to do it while... he glanced back at Selina who tapped the heel of her shoe impatiently against the floor.

"I know I tore my the one I was wearing when I saved the day and all but you wouldn't happen to have a pair of pants that fit me lying around?" Charlie asked the blonde sheepishly. While getting that sorted he placed a hand on Odessa's shoulder and had her sit against the bed once more to wait. Selina's glare only deepened until a point of sudden realization hit her, much like Charlie earlier her hardened expression faltered before making her way to one of the corners of the room. She dug around until finally tossing a pair of familiar worn jeans his direction.

"I left these didn't I..."

"Mhm."

Charlie didn't have much time for decency so without a warning he whipped the towel off and pulled up the jeans, meanwhile Selina looked away with her arms cross completely uninterested to see or give a reaction. Without warning and still without a shirt Charlie turned back to Odessa and swept her up in his arms.

"We can crash at the motel from earlier this morning." Charlie was mainly talking to Selina, happy for a chance to delay answering whatever questions the red head in his arms might have. "I left my motorcycle where I usually do. C'mon we'll only make it if we hurry."

"I'm not going." Selina answered back, sure as she was intense. Charlie opened his mouth to argue but she was quicker on the draw. "I need to hide some of this crap before the cops raid it all. Besides you have more important things to do than drag me around." Her eyes pointed at Odessa before returning up to meet his.

"Get."

Charlie respected her wishes with a solemn nod. Leaving the room and Selina behind he and Odessa reentered the dark tunnel but there was no time to waste. Opposite to the direction they were heading, a series of flashlights shone through. He whispered for her to be quiet before breaking out into a sudden sprint.

As inhuman as most of his actions he tore through the tracks with the speed and ferocity of a train itself. He kept that pace up for an entirety of ten minutes, not even breaking a sweat by the time they were back in daylight. They stood on the outskirts of the city, Tom's motorcycle hidden in a nearby bush. He set Odessa down to turn his bike upright and mounting it, he turned to her.

"Looks like we're in the clear. Got any question in particular your dying to ask me before hopping on?"

 

[Elle Joyner]

ODESSA CARRIGAN​

---

"Holy Hell..." Odessa repeated, as she sank back down on the mattress in time to see the walking Statue of David in all his glory. She looked away (though not immediately), and her cheeks filled with color, but it was a short lived embarrassment. There were other things... worse things to worry about, and not just the tension between the other two in the room, thick enough she'd need a machete to chop through.

He scooped her up and decidedly, it wasn't as comfortable or dashing as it looked in the movies, but she didn't complain, her skull screaming with a pain that had begun to leech out most of her energy, as it was. In the tunnels, she could make out the arc of flashlights, but she was pretty sure they had escaped most of the beams. Selina would have a harder time of it, and it was all Odessa could hope, that she wouldn't flip the monster-switch and maul any of her co-workers, just to get away.

Grimacing, she looped her arms a little tighter around her guardian's neck and did her best not to hurl out her guts in a way that would probably require she turn in her Damsel in Distress card.

When they reached the outside again, she blinked at the change in lighting, and another pang of pain lanced through her head. Riding the back of a hog was probably going to suck, but it didn't look like she had much choice... and she wasn't about to let him get away again, if she could help it.

He turned to her and spoke and she managed a smirk, though it didn't last long, as another jolt early drove her off her feet, "Let's see... between the concussion, on top of another concussion, the fact that we just left what I'm pretty sure is your angsty ex-girlfriend back there in the tunnels with half my co-workers... who I'm, for some inexplicable reason, fleeing from... Nah. I'm good. Let's roll..." As she slipped onto the back of the bike, her arms wound across his middle and the heat rose in her cheeks again as she shook her head, "God... what're you made of lead?"