FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Of Light And Shadows: The Saviors of Requiem

Episode 2: The Brawl of Forthac Cross.

Story-

Ghost Prism found herself fighting three of the five bank robbers that she had stopped. She was holding her own against the three, but she was hard pressed to keep them at bay. One was an experienced fighter and had quickly spelled trouble for her if he got close. Another seemed untouchable, dodging her attacks as if he knew where they'd be before she even knew herself. While difficult to deal with, she was also able to keep him at a distance as neither seemed to have any long range attacks. The third one was more of a wild card for her, being able to generate electricity meant that he can and was attacking both at range and closing in for a time to let one of the other two take a moment to catch their breaths. It was becoming a battle of endurance and she was very much at the disadvantage.

The smaller goon charged her with his batons at the ready when a cylindrical object fell between the four. At first, the four were confused on what fell in the middle of their fight but the next few moments blurred together. The experienced goon must have realized what it was because as soon as he did, he tried to shield his eyes away from the cylinder. It only took a moment longer for Ghost Prism that the thing was dangerous as she grabbed part of her cape and brought it around to shield her own eyes. The other two goons weren't as lucky as they reacted too slowly and the cylinder revealed itself as a flash-bang as the area was suddenly filled by a disorienting pop and bright light.

Ghost Prism's ears were still ringing as a figure landed in the middle of the group and she was able to catch a glimpse of this new arrival. They were tall and muscular from working out, as evident from their exposed arms. He wore a light gray hoodie with the hood up that covered their masked head that only covered the top half of his face and head, leaving his very feline muzzle exposed. Under the hoodie was a dark colored shirt and back pants that were tucked inside a pair of armored boots. Things still seemed to be moving in slow motion as this new costume hero proceeded to take advantage of the four's disorientation. They started with the closest which was the short goon with the batons, knocking him back with a cross punch and an uppercut. Then he went after the next closest with a roundhouse kick that easily connected in the goon's confusion, sending the seemingly clairvoyant to land on his face several feet away. They then moved to the next target.

Ghost Prism's reaction time was barely better than the others since she was slightly more prepared for the effects of the flash-bang and she was able to block the new arrival's attacks with her bracers. "Hey!, I'm on your side!" She yelped just before they broke through her defenses with a strong jab to the gut, followed closely by a hay-maker punch to the side of her head. The strike hit hard enough that it caused her to be spun around and fall face first into the pavement, the floating orbs of hers vanishing as soon as she struck the pavement.

"I'm on no one's side but my own." He said as he stood over her. Before he could make another move, he cried out as an arc of electricity struck him in the back.

"Its about time I was able to hit something." The final black clad goon laughed with an accent. "That stupid bitch wouldn't let me connect." He went and sent another jolt into the vigilante's back, causing him to fall to the ground as smoke rose from the blacken hole in the hero's hoodie before turning to the other goons on the ground. "Oi, Hood, Rewind. You two still with me?"

"Yeah, Arkist. I'm still here..." The short goon now identified as Hood said as he got back up to his feet. "I didn't expect to wind up in Alley Katt's turf." Hood glanced over at the other goon who was still on the ground. "Looks like he knocked out Rewind." A soft groan reminded the two that they weren't alone.

"Oi, what do you say we turn up the amperage on these party crashers." Arkist said as arcs of electricity began to dance along his arms. He then lashed out and thick tendrils of energy shot out towards the two costume heroes. Ally Katt was barely picking himself off the pavement when he spotted the white hot energy coming for him with no time for him to get out of the way, when someone stepped in front of him and intercepted the arc of electricity. The energy made an awful crack sound as it hit the barrier that Ghost Prism managed to put up in time, it hit with so much force that it actually forced her back and almost knocked her off balance.

"Why did you do that?" Alley Katt hissed as he got back to his feet.

"I told you," Ghost Prism hissed back, risking a glance back at the other vigilante as she held back the electrical assault. "I'm on your side."

"And I told you, I'm on no one's..."

"No one's side but your own." Ghost Prism interrupted. "Yeah I heard you the first time. And we both saw how far you got!"

"Fine..." Alley Katt snorted. "Think you can handle spark plug, girl?"

"I have a name," Ghost Prism growled. "It's Ghost Prism. And yeah, I can handle the short circuit. Better than you can."

Alley Katt didn't respond further but instead jumped out to the side of the barrier that she had erected and started to charge the goon that was Hood. Arkist, seeing Alley Katt leave cover, tried to shift his aim towards the running hero. What Arkist failed to notice was that the barrier was no longer protecting anyone until a boot firmly connected with his body and sent him hard into the wall behind him.

-

Meanwhile above the fight, two figures stood on the roof of a nearby building watching the fight.

"Well this is turning ugly for us."

"Heh. What's the matter, Void? Afraid of getting burned?" Void rolled his eyes.

"Look," Void said as he turned away from the fight. "I didn't sign up to fight against heroes, I signed up for quick smash and grabs. Gain as much money as quickly as possible so I can get away from this accursed city and live the high life. This crap is more your thing, I'm out." Void then held his hand out and a black spot appeared before him, expanding big enough for the goon to step through and vanished back into nothing.

"Your loss." The last goon laughed as the black outfit he was wearing began to burn away from his body. "Time to turn up the heat!"

-

"I thought the protector of Forthac Cross worked alone." Hood said as he swung his batons which Alley Katt parried with his own weapons, two night sticks.

"Says the guy who became nothing more than a hired goon." Alley Katt spat back as he continued to trade blows. "I thought you always said that you'd never join a gang, Hood."

"What I thought too." Hood said as he dodged Katt's attacks. "But this new guy, he's different."

"New guy?" Alley Katt hesitated in his confusion, allowing Hood to go on the offensive. "What new guy?"

"One that you'll meet real soon." Radolf blurted out as he body checked Alley Katt, knocking the vigilante off his feet.

"Thanks for the assist." Hood stated as he stood next to the larger wolf.

"I'm more of a lover than a fighter." Radolf shrugged as Alley Katt got back to his feet.

Ghost Prism drew a line of a figure eight in around Arkist's wrist and pulled the construct of light tight, binding the goon's arms behind his back. "Now be a good boy and stay." She said as she climbed off his back.

"You damn bitch! Let me go!" Arkist shouted. Ghost Prism had him hogged tied in bands of light around his arms and legs so the most he could do was wiggle on the ground.

"Let me think.... Umm... Yeah... No... Sorry." She said, holding back the urge to kick the electric meta in the face. She looked back to see Alley Katt holding off Hood and Radolf, though it was apparent that the goon she kneed earlier was not much of a fighter by the way he let Hood take the lead in the fight. Ghost Prism contemplated her next move as it seemed that Alley Katt was easily handling the two on his own when movement in the sky caught her attention. "Oh, Shit!" She cursed as she leapt into action.

Alley Katt had just planted a kick in Hood's gut and knocked him back onto the pavement. Radolf put his hands up and backed off as Alley Katt turned to face the other goon. Before he could move, Ghost Prism stepped in front of him and threw up one of her barriers.

"What the hell are you doing?" He hissed, moments before there was a loud boom as something clashed with the barrier and the bubble was soon filled with intense heat.

"Saving your ungrateful tail from getting fried." Ghost Prism hissed through gritted teeth as she strained to keep the light barrier solid as long as possible. "I thought you had experience."

"You flea-bitten brat! I'll have you know that I've been protecting Forthac Cross for more than six years."

"Then how did you miss pepper breath that was flying above?"

Alley Katt was going to retort, but he didn't have anything to retaliate with. If this girl, Ghost Prism, wouldn't have stepped in, he would have been burnt to a crisp. This is his turf, his territory and he worked alone to protect it. The fact that this was happening in his territory angered him to no end. Then add that there was this strange hero with meta abilities that not only seemed to be doing better with these goons, but also dressing him down? He squeezed the nightsticks in his hands in rage.

"Gods..." Ghost Prism cursed. Cracks were appearing in the barrier where the flames were striking it. "Does this jerk ever take a break?"

As if on cue, the on-slot of fire stopped and a bat landed next to Hood and Radolf. The new arrival was shorter than the two, easily about five-two if Ghost had to guess and had your typical bat-like features of large ears, a pointed nose and leathery wings for arms. What made the bat stand out was that the bat's leathery wings had a glow to it that reminded her of a fire and that it was drooling what looked like magma.

"Hey guys," Radolf said, taking a step forward. "What do you say that we call it even? We never intended to stop here and cause this ruckus in the middle of the street. What do you say that you got your licks in, we got ours and you two chased us off. Enough said and done. What do you say?"

Ghost Prism glared at the three standing in front of her, she was panting and could feel a dull ache all around her body from the strain that she's been putting on it. She wanted to scream a 'hell no' and put all of these goons in their place, but she also knew that she was getting near her limits. But before she could voice her opinion, Alley Katt stepped in front of her.

"Do you honestly think that I would let you leave after you raced into my town, caused an accident and started a fight in the middle of the road? To Hell with letting you walk away!"

"Hey. To our credit, we're not the ones who started this fiasco."

"What do you mean?" Alley Katt asked skeptically.

"Maybe ask your sidekick there." Radolf said, pointing to Ghost Prism. "She's the one that caused us to panic and led to the events that lead us all here."

Alley Katt turned to look at the smaller hero, if his glare could kill, Ghost Prism would probably be nothing more than a smoking crater. She couldn't help but flinch away from his death gaze.

"I..." Ghost Prism was nearly at a loss for words. She hadn't expected to be put on the spot like this. "I... But... What about the bank?" She nearly pleaded. "I saw them robbing the bank! There are officers there now responding to the robbery!"

Radolf laughed. "Do we look like we're carrying anything of value?" He proclaimed as he spread his arms wide to incorporate the scene. "Do you see any questionable duffle bags that look like they're loaded with money? Any loose cash flying in the air from the crash or gold bars spilled all over the street?"

"No..." Came a meek reply.

"No?" Radolf grinned. "Did you say no? Then wouldn't that mean that you've wrongfully assaulted a group of guys minding their own business?"

"Then why did you break into the bank in the first place?" Ghost Prism finally countered. "Why did eight of you enter a closed bank after hours at night, dressed in all black with full ski masks on and only six of you left after being in there for ten minutes?"

"Well... I..."

"If you were so innocent," Ghost continued her counter. "Why the full black out outfits? Why not work uniforms? Why run away when I first confronted you? I can understand the shock reactions, but peeling off down the street? If you were all innocent, why not just answer my questions? Why the near instant use of lethal force?"

Radolf cursed under his breath as Ghost Prism was once again gaining the upper hand in this exchange, the girl was proving to be some serious trouble. "Look," He growled. "All I'm saying is that we all walk away from this, there's no reason to escalate this any further. Besides, you're facing two to one odds in our favor and we got friends on their way. End this now and walk away, we will leave and nothing more needs to be said."

"Sorry," Alley Katt spoke up again. "I don't take well to goons fighting on my turf. As far as I'm concerned, you all will be hauled off in the back of a police wagon or in an ambulance once I'm done with you."

"Besides," Ghost Prism stuck her thumb to a bound Arkist. "Your friend is a little tied up at the moment so I don't think he'll be contributing to the fight for a while."

Before anything else could be said, the bat let out a shriek and the tuft of fur around his neck and his hair ignited into flames. Radolf and Hood had to take a few steps away from him because of how much heat he was now emitting. The bat then made a running leap into the air that the two heroes had to duck under to avoid having their heads taken off by his talon feet. Both Alley Katt and Ghost Prism watched the bat get air born and circle around, no doubt to start an aerial assault on the two.

"Want me to take pepper breath?" Ghost Prism asked Alley Katt.

"Like I can sprout wings and get airborne." Alley Kat sneered. "Tell me that you can fly."

"Not quite, but close enough." She said as she took off.

Ghost Prism ran towards the nearby building and leapt into the air. She shot out her arm and activated her grapple to gain some much needed height. She let the grapple pull her up the side of the building and grabbed hold of a nearby ledge for a brief moment before leapfrogging off, repeating the process a few times till she was able to land on a nearby roof. It didn't take long for her to spot her prey and to note that the bat had circled wide to gain some altitude, no doubt so he could use the height advantage on her and Alley Katt to pull some quick strafing runs on the two heroes.

As she predicted, the bat lined up with the street to make his attack but stopped short and hovered just shy of dipping below the roofs of the buildings. His unique senses could pinpoint his cohorts on the street. Radolf and Hood were fighting the male hero while Arkist was wiggling like a worm all tied up. He could even "see" Cypher cowering behind the rolled cargo van, but where was the female hero? His answer came as something smacked into the side of his head, causing him to fall from where he was. He tried to recover and regain some semblance of flight, but was only successful enough to avoid crashing into the pavement at full force.

Ghost Prism landed a couple of feet away as the bat thrashed around to get back on his feet. "Not very well coordinated are you?"

"I will burn you to ash!" The bat hissed at her as he stood up. "All the heroes will learn to fear the name Wildfire!" The bat then dramatically reared his head back as he took a deep breath and let out a torrent of fire from his mouth. Ghost Prism barely had time to throw up a shield before the flames reached her and deflected them away. Despite the barrier in the way, the attack hit her defenses with such force that it caused her cape and the skirt-like part of her costume to flare up behind her. she threw up her arms to try and deflect more of the force being brought against her, it felt like she was fighting a tornado that was nearly blowing her away. The moment Wildfire stopped (by the gods he was long winded...) Ghost Prism leapt into action.

Ghost Prism dropped the barrier and charged him, creating a ball of light with her hand as she went. Wildfire saw the hero charge him and started to flap his wings to get airborne again, but starting from the ground he was not moving fast enough. Once she was closer, Ghost Prism threw the ball at the bat's head. Wildfire grinned as he opened his mouth, panning on crushing the ball in his jaws. The moment he felt it enter his mouth, Wildfire tried to bite down on the ball in an attempt to pop it out of existence. What happened was the moment he bit down, two lines of light shot out and encircled his head. Effectively gagging him. Wildfire tried to claw the gag off, but he couldn't get any purchase on the thing.

"There." Ghost Prism proclaimed smugly. "Maybe that will keep your mouth shut." She could see the anger in his eyes as he glared at her before noticing that he had stopped clawing at his gag and the tufts of fur on the bat's wrist ignited in flames as he brought them to bear on her. "Oh... Come on..." She cried moments before she rolled away from getting burned.

-

Cypher could only stand back and watch as the others fought off his other teammates. The one named Alley Katt was doing a good job of fending off Hood and Radolf, though it was obvious that their leader wasn't much of a fighter. Wildfire and Arkist had both tried to take on this new hero, Ghost Prism, individually but it seems her abilities were giving her the upper hand in each fight. Wildfire had been gagged, blocking him from using his strong breath attack. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before Wildfire was bound and tied like Arkist. Cypher could see that he wasn't too far away from where Arkist was, still bound and wiggling around in a vain attempt to free himself from the bindings that were holding him.

The rodent wasn't a particularly brave person, in fact he was rather passive much like others in his family. He was, however, the first one to stand up and leave his family behind and make his own way. So the thoughts of trying to reach the electric meta and try to free him crept around in his mind. With the two heroes distracted by the more combat focused members of their group, he might be able to reach Arkist but how would he free him of his bindings of light? As it was, he was basically being ignored and would probably be able to slip away into the night without being noticed

He didn't know the other eight that well. They didn't meet each other before the other day when they all came together for this job, but they had welcomed him. Both Arkist and Hood were the friendliest and had struck up a conversation with the rodent while Radolf seemed to want to take the mentor role with him. Even Wildfire, who he found a bit on the psychotic side had at least been cordial and treated him better than most of his family.

Cypher swallowed hard as he made up his mind. Hood, Arkist, and Wildfire needed help and while he was useless in a fight, he could at least try and help the closest thing he had to friends by trying to free Arkist. As he was mentally preparing to run for the bound goon, Cypher let out a surprised squeak as felt a hand touch his shoulders. He turned to see someone new kneeling next to him.

-

Alley Katt once again had the two on the ropes, though it wasn't that easy with the system that the two goons adopted to the fight. Whenever Alley Katt knocked Hood for a loop, Radolf would step in to buy some time for Hood to get back into the fight. While this tactic certainly had its merits in prolonging the fight, Radolf was no fighter and Hood had to carry the fight against Alley Katt. The smaller goon was showing signs of fatigue, giving the feline hero more openings as the fight progressed. As it was, Alley Katt had just used the most recent opening to deliver a One-Two combo by striking Hood's masked face with a hook and sending him sprawling with a back hand strike. The combo sent the goon spinning backwards till he hit the pavement, barely moving with a groan. He shifted his attention to Radolf who threw his hands up in surrender...

When, the strangest sensation overcame him.

Alley Katt felt his fur stand on end moments before a great pressure started to weigh him down. It was like someone had increased gravity by a considerable magnitude, forcing the hero onto his hands and knees. He forced his head to the side, noticing that Ghost Prism was also being afflicted by this strange phenomenon. He looked the other way to see what was going on, trying to spot a clue as to what the possible source of this sudden pressure and he quickly spotted the new arrival.

This new person was dressed in all black, a black leather long coat that draped down to their knees, a black tunic like turtle-neck and a pair of black pants. Something that confused Alley Katt was the wolf shaped helmet they wore. The helmet was most certainly mechanical in nature, with eyes glowed an electronic blue while there were accents that had a dark red glow to them. The thing that bothered him though was that the ears and muzzle were not proportionate to someone with actual wolf ears or a long muzzle. It was like the helmet was made for someone who didn't have those features. Next to him was what looked to be a rodent that barely stood higher than the person's waist, accenting the fact that they were taller than normal.

Radolf casually walked over to where Alley Katt was struggling to remain somewhat upright and knelt down by his head and whispered. "I told you I had friends on their way." He then stood up but before walking away, he turned and gave the hero a swift kick in the gut that knocked Alley Katt over.

"That wasn't very sporting." The person said with a hint of mechanical modulation to it, much like one would sound over a speaker.

"Neither was what the bitch did earlier." Radolf growled as he helped Hood to his feet, helping the smaller wolf to walk to stand with the stranger.

"Who are you?" Alley Katt hissed through gritted teeth.

"Who am I?" The stranger returned, stepping forward while reaching out like he was grabbing something out of the air. Alley Katt felt the pressure release him but he was still unable to move when he felt himself get lifted off the pavement, a tightness slowly wrapping around his neck as he was lifted up. "I am the righteous hand of god, and the devil that you all forgot!" Dar continued to come closer until he got within a few inches of where Alley Katt was now floating, grunting and gasping for air as he was still like he was being choked by an unseen force. "My allies call me Dar Tavor, but my enemies know me as the Dark Misfortune."

"You're nothing more than another bastard meta to me." Alley Katt hissed.

"Brave words when you're at the mercy of your opponent." Dar said before cocking his head slightly to the side, noticing something that was out of Alley Katt's provisual vision. He then jumped away as Alley Katt was flung in the opposite direction as a blinding flash went off between the two. Ghost Prism let out a held breath as she ran up to where Alley Katt had landed.

"Hey are you alright?" She asked.

"What the hell happened?" Alley Katt asked through heavy coughing as his lungs started to fill back to full capacity.

"I emulate the flash-bang that you used earlier."

"Why the hell would you do that?" He growled, the landing had reminded his body of the injuries that he had received tonight.

"I spotted what I could only describe as a tendril of shadow that was gripping you and weighing me down. So I had a thought to try and emulate the flash-bang to see if I could sever it."

"Why the hell didn't you do that sooner?"

"Well... Sorry that I didn't notice it sooner."

The irritation between the two was growing so thick that it could almost be cut with a knife. Then when someone clears their throat, the two look in the direction it came from and both snapped "What?!?"

"Sorry to interrupt the lover's quarrel or whatever you have going on over there. But if you will excuse us, we will be taking our leave." Dar said as the group of goons started to make their way over to a nearby dark alleyway.

"No!" Alley Katt said as he tried to get up. "I'm not letting any of you go!"

"Wait." Ghost Prism spoke up as she tried to stop him. "You're injured and we're facing five to two odds with three metas on their side, and that's not counting the one you knocked out earlier. We are at a serious disadvantage. I can't take on three metas on my own and it looks like you can't take much more punishment. We should let them go for now...

"SHUT UP!" Alley Katt roared as he shoved Ghost Prism away, causing her to tumble back and fall on her tail from the force he used. "This is my home and I'm its protector, and I will defend it with everything I have!" He had to lean against the wall behind him as he stood up to support himself.

"You were always a stubborn fool Alley Katt!" Hood shouted. "Either accept defeat or admit to a draw. Nothing good will happen if you continue."

"I will not yield to anyone!" Alley Katt shouted back "You will all face justice for what happened tonight!" Dar just shrugged.

"Like you're in a position to stop me." Dar drooled dismissively. "Hell, it looks to me like you can barely stand."

"Like that stopped me before." Came the defiant reply as Alley Katt used sleight of hand to pop another flash-bang in his hand and chucked it at Dar. The moment that the flash-bang left Ally Katt's hand, the perception of time became skewed. Most could hardly tell what had happened so fast that they had no idea what truly transpired, only Dar Tavor and Ghost Prism had any semblance of what had actually happened.

Ghost Prism could only watch helplessly as time slowed around her, everyone's movement slowed to barely a crawl as the flash-bang sluggishly cartwheeled through the air. However, Dar's movements didn't seem to be slowed in the slightest. Dar gripped the air in front of him like he had grabbed something and then pulled them apart in one fluid movement as a sword as dark as ink manifested like he was pulling it out of an invisible sheath. Once this black sword was unleashed, he moved forward to the flash-bang that was now halfway to where he was standing and sliced it in half. The sudden destruction caused it to start exploding, but the explosion expanded out like a balloon being filled with air. Even with the flash-bang no longer a threat, Dar continued forward.

"NO!!!"