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Post by MP on Jan 26, 2024 19:20:22 GMT -6
When the first shot was fired, Aaron ducked sideways and toward the cabin. The arrest was now thoroughly out of his weight class, and the best thing he could do for the situation was get out of the way.
He glanced at the wendigo's thrashing figure as he went, keeping track of its target. Following the focus of his gaze, twin points of light appeared in front of Kail's eyes. That would keep the beast from taking an accurate lunge at him - and he'd like to see it try to run away blind.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Jan 27, 2024 0:40:32 GMT -6
He’d thought attacking the werewolf would stop the snipers. They wouldn’t risk shooting their coworker.
Evidently he was wrong about that, as a bullet tore through his neck. The impact sent him stumbling, falling hard against the porch, dust and chips of wood falling from the ancient rafters, the windowpanes shuddering.
He clambered unsteadily to his feet, blood gushing from the wound. It was with desperation, and a wild raging anger that he lunged again for Asher.
He lashed out for his face - for his one good eye, with a terrifying speed and accuracy, wicked claws glinting in the sunlight. A blind werewolf, or one with half his muzzle torn off, wasn’t so much a threat. He followed up with a wild swing of his head, trying to force him back with the razor-sharp tines of his antlers. If he had some space, he could - he might be able to -
He didn’t know what to do. The snipers would hit his head or heart eventually. Hunt was still inside. Telmore was still breathing. If it hadn’t been for the cub, he would’ve ran off into the forest after the first gunshot.
His vision went suddenly white, and he snarled furiously. He swung his head again, trying to keep the werewolf at bay.
A clawed hand the size of Aaron’s torso slammed into the ground only inches from his shield, dragging deep furrows through the earth. Nostrils flared, ears pricked, Kail backed up, searching blindly for the man, half tensed to run at the next crack of the gun.
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Post by jarahamee on Jan 27, 2024 1:58:47 GMT -6
Cassius saw the young manticore turn around to snap at him, and thankfully, his instinct and reflexes were faster than the creatures’ powerful jaws. He yanked her tail towards him, planting his other arm into the ground as he did it. The movement pulled her off-balance, and her razor-sharp fangs grazed the flesh of his arm, and she had a handful of fur in mouth instead.
He yanked her towards him more forcefully, grasping her neck to press her down into the ground. He would have killed for some of those gravity cuffs right now, but they were in his pack. It would just take a little bit of maneuvering.
Outside, Kail was locked in battle with Agent Asher. His claws sunk deep into his face, rending it deeply. Bright red blood gushed out of torn side of his face. The werewolf made a horrible, baleful sound that shook his body with its power. He grasped the base of one of Kail’s antlers, twisting to pull head down, angling to slam his jaws into Kail’s already-bleeding throat.
The werewolf’s body was a twisting mass of muscle, flesh and fur, and he showed no signs of stopping. If anything, the damage seemed to make him angrier. The hot, stinking blood of the werewolf spattered all over the front of Kail's body, intermingling with his own.
Another shot rang out. Caro’s heavy caliber bullet buried itself into his chest. The second shot went wide, snapping a stray piece of antler.
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Post by beastly on Jan 27, 2024 23:08:57 GMT -6
The cub passed out wither face pressed into the dirt under the cabin, and soon she was no longer aware of any of the fighting, gunshots, large predatory creatures around her, or really much of anything.
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Post by MP on Feb 1, 2024 15:19:39 GMT -6
Aaron retreated several hurried steps as claws slammed down mere inches from where he had been standing. The wendigo was desperate. Lashing out blind. Looking at the creature's posture - head swinging, hooves kicking up dirt as it whirled - it was likely to give up the hunt and bolt.
Moving around the side of the cabin, keeping on the side of the sniper, Aaron let his lights slip from their blinding position over the wendigo's eyes. Just a glimpse of him - retreating, running, prey - might delay him those crucial seconds more.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Feb 2, 2024 20:48:44 GMT -6
Kail snarled, stumbled, his injured shoulder pressing painfully into the dirt. The sound was guttural and wet, and he could taste his own blood in his mouth.
He wrenched his head back, eyes narrowed to slits against the blinding light. Lashed out wildly with his claws. The wolf would open his throat or hold him down so he could be shot.
Another bullet tore through his flesh, and the wendigo screamed. It was the shriek of an animal, the desperate cry of a man. He wrenched his antler out of Asher’s grip, staggering heavily backwards, breath rasping in his throat.
He couldn’t save Hunt. Couldn’t even save himself. Blood poured from his throat, his chest, his shoulder, and he could feel his strength waning with every passing second, and with it his clarity.
The light slipped. He locked eyes with Aaron. He felt a blinding, white-hot flash of fury. Hunger. Frustration. His muzzle peeled back in a horrifying snarl.
“Don’t hurt her,” He spat, and lunged.
But it wasn’t for the agent. It was for the space between the two of them, the clear stretch from the cabin to the treeline, and he bolted straight for the cover of the forest.
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Post by jarahamee on Feb 3, 2024 1:59:39 GMT -6
Kail tore himself out of Asher’s grip, rending flesh and leaving the werewolf with a mouthful of hair and ragged tissue. Their blood intermingled, making the ground slick and hot beneath their feet. Asher moved to dash after him, only to slip slightly into the mud and fall onto all fours as the wendigo dashed away from him.
He turned his heavy head, bigger than any bear’s blindly in his enemy’s direction, moving to close the gap, but his enemy was too fast.
As the quadrupedal form of the wendigo ran, he heard a guttural sound from somewhere nearby. Muffled by the walls perhaps.
Orders.
“Fire! Don’t let him escape!”
The voice of other werewolf. One he recognized. A broken, bestial voice, even more alien than Asher’s.
As if in reply, two bullets struck his retreating form. Blinding hot pain. The snipers, wherever they were, would reload and fire again until he either had adequate cover or was completely out of range, just as they likely intended.
The kill order stood, even as he retreated.
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Under the house, Cassius finished binding the sleeping manticore cub, never once taking his eyes off her. She was dangerous. She’d need a muzzle and something to cover the tip of her tail. She already knew humans were prey and would take a great deal of rehabilitation to unlearn this information.
But she was intelligent, and still young. They might be able to return her to those of her own kind to be properly taught how to live in the wild.
From the radio transmissions, their main target had escaped, but the hadn’t come up emptyhanded.
No, they had the child, and of course, they had every bit of evidence inside the cabin to add to the pile. Perhaps they could resolve some unsolved mysteries while they were out here.
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Post by MP on Feb 4, 2024 19:21:32 GMT -6
The order came, and now that he wasn't under immediate attack, Aaron reacted promptly. He dropped his shield and drew his firearm. Aaron's aim was good, but the wendigo was fast, its movements erratic. The shots aimed at the wendigo's head went wide of their mark. Aaron thought he heard a harsh crack, but whatever he'd hit, it didn't slow the target at all. In another bound, the wendigo was out of range - out of sight through the trees.
Aaron lowered his pistol, a harsh sound grinding out through gritted teeth. Breathe in. He forced his frustration down. Tracking and pursuit was beyond him. That would have to be left to the lycanthropes. There was an unconscious maneating cub to deal with right now, and that at least he could help with.
"Target's on the run," he said, stepping inside to help Cassius with the heap of unconscious manticore. "We should get her out of here before this attracts anything else."
Even to a human nose, the smell of blood was strong in the air.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Feb 6, 2024 0:56:08 GMT -6
There was a crack just above his head, and a spike of blinding pain stabbed into his skull. He felt the lopsided weight of his antlers, knew the agent’s bullet had shattered a tine, and snarled a curse to the wind as he fled.
Even limping, Kail was fast. Faster than the pursuing werewolf, though his blood left a trail to follow that would only disperse with enough distance between them. His gallop stretched out to a sprint, and the monster disappeared into the depths of the old-growth, leaving behind the blood-stained cabin and unconscious cub.
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Post by jarahamee on Feb 7, 2024 2:44:20 GMT -6
“Agent Asher, Cazadorscuro, Caro, in pursuit, now. Cazadorscuro, don’t go to far from the other two. Target is extremely dangerous.”
Cassius did not have to see what was happening to know that his target had decided the odds were against him, and he would rather survive than fight to the death. Either a wise man or a coward, or perhaps a mixture of the two.
Agent Telmore joined Captain Lucidus, now dressed in his gear again. The Captain was now busying himself binding the manticore cub. His dark eyes glowed greenish in the moonlight for a brief moment as shifted his positioning, glancing up at Agent Telmore as he approached. When the Agent drew near enough, the senior Agent shuffled aside to allow him to help.
The young manticore was big, and he’d likely have to return to werewolf form to move her easily back to their van.
“We load her first, secure her, and then Caro and Cazadorscuro can drive her back when they return. It will leave Asher, you and I to investigate the cabin.”
The werewolf glanced down at the cub, then shifted, his body rippling unnaturally as it expanded to the size of a rather large bear with the accompanying cracking, popping and creaking. How the mass change worked was anyone’s guess, but as with many things, Aaron could assume whatever terrible magic lay in his fur cloak controlled it.
The resulting dark-furred beast glanced down at him, its empty yellow eyes staring into his own for a long moment, before leaning down to pick up the cub in its awkward, inhuman arms. Its hide rippled with crisscrossing scars.
When the deed was done, and the cub was safely secured in the back of the vehicle (originally made to contain their perpetrator in a triple-enforced cage), Agent Lucidus returned to human form, sighing out his nose as he leaned back against the truck.
The others were gone for an hour searching the forest, though in the end they returned empty-handed. Their perpetrator had escaped into the woods, his bleeding finally staunched.
But searching the cabin had proven fruitful;
Within the cabin, the agents found:
-Two half eaten/dismembered corpses, one in the freezer and one in the meat cooler -Various weapons from his victims, at least ten different rifles and shotguns, lots of hunting knives and hunting equipment -Hand-crafted bow and arrows, a stolen crossbow -A small stash of victims’ jewelry -About 1k in cash -animal pelts/bones/teeth/antlers, mainly ungulates but a few predators -snares and hunting tools -ID’s/licenses of victims - a photo which seemed to be of their perpetrator with an older male figure. The photograph was in black and white.
Agent Lucidus took in their tow, and made a soft clicking sound with his tongue.
“Well, we will most certainly resolve a lot of missing people’s cases with this… And I am sure his case will become a priority now. This represents... at least thirty victims from the look of it… maybe many more….”
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Post by jarahamee on Mar 3, 2024 2:49:30 GMT -6
The two returned to the WDSA with their bounty in tow, and a wealth of evidence for the next stage of their manhunt, but without their target. The noose will close. Cassius reminded himself, as he entered the secure docking structure, preparing to unload the manticore kitten. She would need rehabilitation, and they would likely need to find out where she could be released. She likely was not even from the States. And perhaps, having her here would draw the Wendigo and his conspirators to them. He'd make arrangements, and ensure they were adequately prepared this time. He was bold, and it would be his downfall to be overly confident in his abilities.
- FIN -
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