"Why do I even assume things will go well for me ever?" Lucien snarled as he stood at the literal end of Star City, casually knocking on the edges of the dark-dome cast over the city.
"I'm stuck in this hellhole." It had been hours since his run in with Green-Arrow and Speedy— who was older and now went by Arsenal. He told them off and expected to be on his merry way away from the Vampires and onto greener pastures. To some unknown and poorly populated city where he could get situated and figure out how he wanted to tackle his wants in this new life.
It seemed his plans were too grand.
Or whatever created the dome was too strong.
It felt like glass to the touch. Like hot solid glass. If glass had an electrical tinge to it that made his heart stop and his hairs stand on end.
He punched it once. The barrier warbled and dark purple and red sparks bloomed from where his knuckles connected. The feedback washed over his body and sent him tumbling back in the empty stretch of highway road.
"….Sigh." Lucien opened his eyes as he laid flat on his back. The street was topped with dirty snow that was nearly invisible in the dark. It melted against his skin and soaked into his torn t shirt. He hated the feeling.
There wasn't much he didn't hate at the moment.
Like the realization that Green Arrow had become prophetic in the encroaching apocalypse.
"It's DC. The medium— at least on a planetary level, follows a pretty simple doctrine. Generally. The heroes are super powered aspirational figures. The villains are jealous or scorned tacticians. Lex Luthor, Joker, Deathstroke, Merlyn, the list goes on. And it probably includes the dickhead that turned Star City into a gothic igloo."
Lucien got back on his feet. "Ok. New plan. Find whoever did this and take a finger everytime they refuse to take down the dome."
Instead of walking, like he'd done on the way there, he sprinted. Back into Star City, now darker than even the ice cold heart of Gotham.
As he re-entered, the sounds of chaos grew. He could hear gangs warring for power in ghettos to the east.
He could hear neighbors fighting for food and property to the west.
Figures snarled and ran through the shadows on inhuman legs.
"I have three choices." He thought while standing on a rooftop, letting his ears take in the world while giving his sensitive nose a break. "I could try and be a detective and learn something from the dead bodies in the suburbs to the north. It's near the Central Park. That's an important place I think— it's around where I saw the sigil in the sky. Maybe I can learn something from the dead. Choice two would be to sniff out Green Arrow. He's somewhere in this mess. Choice three would be to run down these gangs and climb the ladder until I hit someone important."
He thought over his options evenly before the sounds of a family being gunned down in an alley helped speed up the decision making process.
"Gangs it is."
Lucien jumped off the rooftop and hit the ground running.
His senses took him to a department store up north in The Glades. It was loudest there. All around, violence festered like an unclean open wound. But more importantly, inside the store, figures planned how to overtake the city.
Before he knew it, he was approaching the backdoor and twisting off the knob. The clang of metal from it falling was ate up by the sound of meatheaded bickering.
"No, you dumbass! What are we gonna actually do at a department store? Take a few resources and go. We already stopped the first few waves of people from stocking up here. They got no fighting chance for sure now. Keep burning all the wood. No stakes allowed here."
"Stakes. Right."
More Vampires, though he didn't smell any. He kept his eyes peeled nonetheless as he stalked through the dark.
He made his way down the aisles, grabbing items and materials by hand before stopping at the lawnmower section at the front of the store.
The dark faded there since they had lit torches lined up and each guarding criminal had flashlights taped to their guns.
Still, they were only human.
And he was an awful chemist….. mechanic?
He poured the bug spray into the lawnmowers fuel tank until it was full. Then he took the matches out of his pocket and lit three before dropping them inside.
In a blur, he lifted the metal blade machine and threw it at the front end of the store.
He plugged his ears and ducked as the lawnmower exploded and blew out the windows at the front end of the store.
"The hell was that?!"
"Arrow already found us?"
"No, boss man told us he'd handle the arrow boys. We're in the clear….. unless it's Black Canary."
"I'll start praying now."
"Don't pray you idiot. Aim and shoot. Let's go."
When the gang members gathered in front of the blast zone, Lucien was already on top of aisle one, looking down at them in silence.
"Ten strong. Heavy duty AR's— illegally kitted. A couple pistols with switches. No explosives. They smell like gunpowder— they've been using their guns comfortably. They don't have infinite ammunition though. And I don't know how bullet proof I am. The element of surprise should simplify all this. Just need to leave one alive. Who was that talking about praying?"
Lucien took the wrench out of his pocket and threw it.
It clanged off to the left.
A man in a blue hoodie and busted cargo pants spun, "THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
"Get it together before I shoot you, Duck."
"Got ya."
Lucien jumped off the top of the aisle and landed on the crowd of gang members like an explosive.
He landed so hard on the first man, he felt his ribs shatter. From there, he pounced on the next man, coming up standing as he held the man like a shield just in time for guns to start blazing.
"1….2….3." He threw the body right as the first few AR's ran out of ammo.
"IM OUT!"
Three more fell to their own crew members panick spray. Pistols with switches were nearly impossible to be accurate with. Especially against a superhuman in the dark.
One pulled out a machete and swung at Lucien from behind.
He spun and charged inward, high blocking the man by slamming his forearm into the gang members thin wrist. His machete fell as it broke. From there he gut punched the man.
At least that was the plan.
His hand plunged into the criminals meaty stomach. Before he knew it, he was taking his hand out holding a chunk of intestines.
He drooled. His stomach writhed like an angry serpent.
Six shots bit into his back.
Six more tore up his legs and shoulders.
He hit the ground swimming in waves of pain and the foul scent of gunpowder.
"I think I got him!"
"Who even is this? It's a regular guy."
"Uhhhh I don't know about regular. He took out six of us in less than twenty seconds."
"NO! We did that, you jackasses can't aim for shit!"
Their bickering fell to the wayside as Lucien's blood pulsed. Just like before. Like when he almost died to Merlyn. When he realized how much he wanted life. How he'd even risk trying to make something of it in a world on the cusp of ruin. Nothing could stop him. No villain, no vampire and no gang member.
Metallic clanging rang out through the arguing as the bullets popped out of his skin. He healed, spirals of steam spinning off his back as his muscles twitched and expanded like balloons given crisp air.
"Live….. live!" The words echoed like a war chant.
His body hair thickened until he was covered in portions of fur. He unclenched his fists. Hot blood squirted from his claws digging into his palms.
His boots tore at the seams due to his feet extending into something less human.
He picked up the intestines off the floor and ate them.
Somebody wet themselves behind him.
"Duck! The hell are you looking at?"
"He…. He's not regular, guys…."
Lucien could feel the heat of the flashlights on his back as he stood. Crunching on a man's insides.
"Oh sweet mother of—"
"SHOOT!"
Lucien jumped straight into the air, gone in a flash. Bullets ate up the floor where he once stood.
He landed on the cieling, eighty feet in the air, hanging from the fan. Until it broke under his weight.
Then, he came down with it as if that was part of the plan and slammed the one hundred pound industrial chandelier onto the crowd of criminals.
It completely smashed the closest one. The shrapnel and debris took out the rest. Blinding and maiming faces he wouldn't remember anyway.
Except for…
"Duck." His voice was deeper than he remembered.
Duck didn't even try to run. He simply fell backward as Lucien walked him down.
"P-please! I didn't know your kind was in on this too!….. I'll— I'll switch sides. I don't even like Vampires! I'll— I'll join you. I can get more guys, I can do the grunt work. Just please! Don't eat me— I've been scared of dogs since—"
"Shut-up."
"…." He trembled.
"Who do you work for?"
"…."
"Duck. Speak." Lucien caught a glimpse of himself in the shattered glass on the floor.
He was an eight foot tall behemoth covered in black and silver fur. His face was all shadows due to his hair, but his eyes glowed from the depths. Horrifyingly blue.
"B-Brick."
"I should've known that." Lucien thought. "What does he want?" You burned all the wood? Was there something else keeping you here?"
Duck bit his lip.
Lucien growled.
"Distraction!" Duck spat, "Naturally, everyone would— would come to the only department store in the glades for fuel and torches and…. And other supplies. If we caused commotion here then the other teams could quickly take over the police department without drawing superhero attention. Brick never really cared about the supplies here beyond burning the wood. This is the ghetto. He wants the police department— they're armed to the teeth. He wants all those weapons."
"Why burn the wood?"
Duck swallowed, "It….. it's how you kill Vampires. Brick and all the others are p-paranoid. They want to burn the trees too."
"All the others?"
Duck fussed with his fingers, "I-I don't know them. I'm only a grunt, man. Please! I'll tell you whatever else I can if you let me go! I'll do whatever you s—"
Lucien crouched and grabbed his wrist. "Tell Brick I want this dome removed so I can leave or I'm gonna skin him alive and feed him to his own kind."
"O-ok!"
Lucien reached up and tore off a portion of his jacket.
"Go."
Duck sprinted out of the store.
Lucien picked up a rifle and slung it over his shoulder before heading out with Duck's scent fresh on his nose.
***
Duck was a nobody. Part of a team sent out to die distracting the heroes from the criminal underworlds real goal. Naturally, he didn't have much intel, but he still lied to Lucien. He heard Duck's heart skip a beat unnaturally when he said, "I don't know the others, I'm only a grunt, man!"
That and the fact that he had a big mouth.
The gangs were being lead and controlled by an even larger gang. A group Duck called The Longbow Hunters.
Brick was assumedly one of the members. A crime boss with stony red skin and a sharp mind. With Duck repurposed as a Trojan horse, Lucien hoped to get him out of the way before he could use it.
He ran across the rooftops of the ghettos in his new partially animal form. He kept Duck's jacket close to his nose so the scent could remain fresh.
It led them to the Glades Police Precinct at the edge of town. It was visible under orange light due to the fires spreading all over. They were being put out, but the damage was already done.
Forests gone.
Trees left as ashes everwhere.
Bricks plan was working.
For now.
Duck came to the precinct screaming for help with his hands raised.
Lucien hid behind a squad car in the parkinglot.
He listened as three men in police gear came out and took him in.
They weren't police. Obviously.
"A whole car isn't much heavier than a car door, right?" Lucien didn't waste any time.
The moment Duck was inside, he stood up and began pushing.
The car slid across the gravel and slammed into the front end of the precinct. Windows shattered and bricks fell from the walls.
How symbolic.
Lucien took off around the back, slashing the generator and cutting off their power. He was looking for an in when suddenly a red arrow burst through the window to the left of him.
"Ears!"
Lucien covered his ears just as a stun blast went live.
He didn't bother looking back at who it was, he remembered the small….. and incoming quips.
Lucien jumped in through the window.
The room was full of gang members.
Arsenal came in after him, "No hello, or thanks for the backup? How about an I told you so? Those usually suffice when apologies aren't warrant—"
"Quiet!" Lucien grabbed a gang member in riot gear by the throat. He hissed and unloaded his pistol in Lucien's ribs.
Lucien snarled and ripped the Vampires head off. He hit the ground as ash.
"Did you know he was a Vamp?"
"They're all Vamps!"
Arsenal and Lucien went back to back as they tore up the interrogation room full of lounging Vampires.
By the end of it, gunpowder, steam and ash fell like snowfall.
Lucien was full of healing bulletholes and Arsenal was coughing.
"AUGH! I think I ate foot ash. I'm gonna be sick."
Lucien's ears twitched. Surprisingly, Arsenal caught the change in body language and went deadly serious.
Lucien didn't even hear him rack his next arrow. One moment he was just firing it out of the room at an angle.
It ricocheted off the walls and hit the wall at the end of the hall.
No, not a wall.
"Still using toys and circus gimmicks in the modern age, Arsenal?" A voice boomed from down the hall.
"Gotta find a way to differentiate, Brick. The superhero market is over saturated."
"I can fix that."
Lucien walked past Arsenal and stepped out into the hallway. Only sharing a look with Arsenal that had him looking down at the interrogation rooms table. He silently nodded in understanding. Thankfully, not much was needed to be said.
Brick— like everyone else, looked a little different in the flesh. He was massive. Around seven feet tall with skin that had the texture of shaped stone. His white dreadlocks hung to his shoulders like a mane and stood out perfectly against his black suit. He smelled like vampire.
"I thought I smelled something….. different. Who are you?"
Lucien raised his rifle and mag dumped him.
Brick stood still, staring at Lucien as the bullets failed to penetrate his skin. They fell at his feet as flat as quarters.
"Silent, yes. Strong? To be determined. Defintely not very smart if you're shooting a gun at me. Anyways, I believe it's my turn. I'll play on your level. Witness true power." Brick transformed into a massive hairless stone skinned wolf in a burst of red and purple smoke.
He charged.
Arsenal kicked out the leg of the table inside the interrogation room. The wooden sliver flew into Lucien's hands.
He caught it as Brick pounced on him.
The two fell.
Lucien rolled and took topmount and rammed the wooden spike into Brick's midsection.
He yelped, squirming as the infinence of undeath became agonizingly finite.
"Where are the other Longbow Hunters? And what is this dark dome? How do I get rid of it?!"
Brick snarled, "We are everywhere. We spread like a virus. One you don't have the cure for— because there isn't one. It's already too late."
"The dome. How do I remove it. Tell me and I'll let you live." Lucien said.
"Find a practitioner of magic— though that won't really be possible. We killed them all and converted the rest."
"Then you're out of luck." Lucien replied.
Brick roared but was abruptly silenced as Lucien ran him through a dozen times before slamming the spike into his heart and breaking it off inside him.
The beast turned to ash immediately.
"The world was better without him anyway." Arsenal said.
"Mhm."
"Also, magic? In Star City? The world must really be ending."
"Wh—" Lucien stopped talking and listened in as Arsenal's earpiece went off. He could hear Green Arrow on the other side.
"Hey, Speedy. I've got a thing with—KERSHHH!! Killer Moth— who is also a Vampire. Just wondering if you sealed the deal with Brick yet in The Glades because—*KBOOM*—! OH HELL! Vampire and bat-man clone do NOT mix well."
Arsenal looked up at Lucien.
"You must not be from around here, the Longbow Hunters are a super villain organization here. Brick, Clock-King and Killer Moth are all on it or have been. If you want the Longbow Hunters you should come to Avalon Park."
"No." Lucien thought before thinking, "That's right….. I completely forgot. They're different now, though."
"What?" Arsenal questioned.
"Killer Moth is a jobber. He's not the leader, going out to kill him would just waste time. Especially since Green Arrow is already there. I'm going towards the fire."
"What fire— oh."
Lucien tapped his nose.
"The forest at the center of the city. I'm going there. You're welcome to join up with Green Arrow. I don't think I'll need help. I'm getting the hang of this thing."
Arsenal watched him climb back out of the window. "When did you get like this?"
"Does it matter?"
"You're literally the only Werewolf I've seen in a world growing with Vampires….. how does it not matter??"
***
Elsewhere…
At the edges of what many were beginning to call the dark-dome, a crack stood out against the black expanse. Pulsing with disrupted dark magics. With other magics left to infect and burn as they reacted and bounced off one another. It was growing into a scar. A wound. A weak point.
Light bloomed, spitting hellfire and rage as a set of claws ripped through from the other side.
The dark dome tore like a stretched sheet and inside stepped a demon wearing dark knights armor and weilding a sword of silver.
His red eyes scanned the madness.
His nose scented the air.
He spoke.
"Within this dome, where dark calls home, the shadows roam. The magic is weak— flimsy, like bed sheets. There is no master of the arcane here, only students. But one shows promise— he's quite ruthless. In his blood I can see, the beast wishes to roam free…."
The Demon made its way to the fires burning in the forested heart of Star City, in search of the beast with wild blood and fresh power.