The Littlest Vigilante Finds Trouble (Vicente)

In the shadows behind the alley of the Mad Eight’s Club the soft glow of a lit cigarette burned like the singular red eye of a tiny demon. Slowly it dimmed before it immediately flared up once again. Bright and dim, bright and dim, it continued this pattern in the darkness and was followed by the steady in and out of breathing. Though nothing could at first be seen, upon closer inspection of the scene, under the dim light of the backdoor’s lamp, there was a mass of light, gray feathers that had fallen from a nervous form that was situated in the dark. Another shaky breath and the glow of that fiery eye briefly flared.

A gust of wind tore though the alley and rustled up a plethora of papers and empty cans that had been thrown haphazardly against the corner of one of the walls. The sudden movement and sound caused a gasp of surprise and down tumbled the cigarette.

Creeping forward and into the light of the dim backdoor, came the very odd appearance of a single man. The man, covered in feathers, with arms curled back into small, gray covered wings but with pin talons for his hands. Strangest of all was his head, the small, orange beak, the beady black eyes that looked and darted about…the man was a mutant…a were-pigeon.

Cooing gently, the Pigeon reached into the pockets of his jeans to shakily pulled out his crushed pack of cigarettes. Talon’s shivering, he pulled another of the slender, white, carcinogen carrying items and gently placed the filter in his beak. As his other hand reached into his other pocket for the lighter…a sudden voice broke the stillness.

“Walter?”

Another sudden gasp of surprise and Walter dropped the second cigarette from his beak. His beady eyes blinked as they scanned the darkness. Gently he cooed as he replied.

“W-Willard? T-T-That you? Did you get my message.”

“No,” the voice replied deeply. “But I have one from Falcone…”

There was the song of a steel blade slicing through the air, spinning head over tail as it twirled. Walter, skiddish enough as it was, had turned and scrambled away the second he realized that was not Willard’s voice. It was that movement which saved his life because before he knew it, there was a loud THUNK!! from where he had just been standing. His head snapping back he spied the large knife stuck in the frame of the door. A chirp of panic and Walter attempted to make a run for it, dashing down the alley and knocking over trashcans in his wake.

Vicente de la Sangre, assassin for hire, grinned to himself as he ran to the door and pulled the knife free. Quickly he picked up the chase as he ran through the dark alley, seeking Walter. Though he would not have to look that hard, the pigeon man was knocking over practically everything as he ran. It would not be hard to follow the sounds of the panicked mutant.

Falcone, head of his crime family, had contacted Vicente with the message that Walter, the pigeon mutant was a target with a sizeable price on his head. Revelations were made that he was beginning to talk to the cops through a contact of his, Willard, who was talking to the police on his behalf. It was a chain that obviously needed to be severed. That was why the older assassin was here, knife in hand, chasing the pigeon mutant with such ferocity.

As he rounded a corner, he leapt over a fallen can and spied the pigeon as he attempted to uselessly flap his wings, trapped against a dead end. Vicente could only grin as he relaxed his posture a little and began to advance.

“P-Please! I…I’ll leave town! I swear!” Walter gasped as he pressed himself against the alley wall. He cooed gently as he tried to convince the stalker. “Pleeease!”

Vicente twirled his knife in his hand as he stopped a few feet away from Walter. His eyebrows arched, he looked Walter up and down, sizing up how “strong” his ability seemed and sensing that it was pretty much useless. It was odds that made the hunter smile a toothy grin, a smile that made his canines momentarily flash as he started the advance again.

“You know that’s not how this goes, Walter,” Vicente said with a mock sympathy in his voice. “You squeal…Falcone has you gutted. But don’t worry…I’ll make it quick.”

A villainous smirk and Vicente suddenly dashed forward, his silver blade glinting in the light of the moon as he ran forward.

>> “Hey!”

The mutant was cornered, Vicente smirked wide as he twirled his knife expertly in his hand. He dashed forward with every intent of ending this stupid chase but there was a sudden voice that had interrupted him. As he stopped mid-run, he turned back to see…an extremely short person dressed in dark clothes. She almost looked like a child at that size, but what the hell was she doing here? If there was one thing that Vicente did not like, it was witnesses, especially kids.

He’d have to take care of her after ended Walter’s life.

Stopped in his tracks he turned around to face the girl, another crooked smile on his face. She was stupid for having come into this alley. It was completely the wrong time and place to by at right now. Another expert knife twirl and he nodded to her.

“Hola. Why don’t you wait right there? I’ll be with you very s–”

KRACKOOOM![/b]

That was all Vicente heard before he suddenly felt that blast of something hard smacking his body with a direct hit. All the air knocked out of his lungs, Vicente could only gasp in pain as he felt himself being knocked backward. It was almost as if an invisible boulder had been hurled against him and everything else in the alley. Trash upturned, garbage cans noisily tipped and rolled down the alley, even Walter was knocked clear off his feathers. Vicente found himself unable to keep his footing and felt the hard asphalt meet his back as tumbled to the ground.

When the sound finally died away from his ears, Vicente breathed heavily as struggled to get up from the ground. Walter cooed somewhere off the side, probably unconscious, probably in pain, but Vicente ignored it all as he raised his eyes to the child that stood further down the alley. Where the hell had that blast come from?

>> “Uuuh... you! What do you think you were doing?”

A gasp and Vicente slowly moved himself onto his feet. His hand still clenching the knife he held, he glared daggers at the new comer before he finally let a sickening smirk creep across his face.

“I’m doing…my job, kid,” he growled. “I think it’s best time that you ran off for home and played with your dollies. Alleys are dangerous places to meet people…”

>> “Well, this is a dangerous place for you to try killing people! I'm part of a secret organization near here, and we don't like it when...when... people like you try to 'do their jobs' in our territory. Specially 'cause the guy you're trying to kill is a mutant.”

There was a long pause of silence from the old assassin as he stood there, watching the young girl spout out some general nonsense. She seemed to be almost threatening him. If it was not for the fact that the man had been interrupted during his latest hunt, then he would have laughed and found the whole thing amusing…what the hell…it was funny. Slowly he shook, his shoulders twitching a bit as tremor began to move its way through his whole body. To most it would have seemed as if the man was going into convulsions as he stood, but before both the impudent child and the dazed pigeon-mutant, a dark, rumbling laugh began creep out of his mouth…

“Hehehe…hahaha…HAHAHAHA!!” Vicente laughed heartily as he stood before the child, his eyes closed as he tried to keep him under control. But the scene was just too humorous to ignore. After a few seconds, Vicente finally stopped laughing long enough to turn his eyes upon the child. “Secret…organization? What’re you the Dynamic Bedwetter?”

Vicente grinned wide, very wide, a disturbing Cheshire cat-like grin, as he slipped to the side, still twirling the knife in his hand. He eyeballed the girl closely, noting that she looked like some kind of shadowy alley ninja. Maybe she had some kind of mental deficiency that made her prone to making stupid decisions. Any other child would have ran from him, deciding it is better to head for the hills rather than stand there and risk being skewered. That could only mean one thing, either she really was insane, or she had some tricks up her sleeves.

That was fine…Vicente had plenty of his own.

His head tilted to the side a bit, the assassin grinned still as he casually paced back and forth.

“Well…whatever this…’Secret Organization’ is that you work for, I gotta tell you, I’m a little unimpressed. So I’m going to tell you one more time, Super Diapers. I suggest you walk away and head home.” he said as he stood his ground and simply glared at her. “Trust me when I say, a spanking from me will prove deadly.”

>> “SHUT UP!”

Vicente was still in mid-laughter when the little girl shouted in her frustration. To be honest the man did not care how angry she was or how much she pouted and cried. The girl was turning out to be a brat and as much as he loved hurting her feelings, he needed to dispose of her. If she was going to be a nuisance and not allow him to finish his task, then he was simply going to have to remove her from the equation. His laughter subsiding, he was about to advance upon her.

That was when the next shockwave struck him…hard.

He heard the blast and felt the shift in the air. That was when the man ducked off to the side, quickly putting together the common factors as to what caused the explosion the first time. But he was caught in the blast range much quicker than he thought he would be.

His legs knocked out from under him as he attempted to run, Vicente felt the sudden feeling of going air born. He barely had time to tuck himself in to minimize damage when he felt himself collide with the brick wall. A spider web of pain shot out throughout his body as he found himself fall to the ground and struggling to regain his footing. He breathed heavily as the ringing in his ears slowly died away and Vicente cautioned to open his eyes. So, the girl had a little more bite to her bark than he anticipated.

Won’t this be fun? he thought as he slinked into the shadows.

Meanwhile, while the visage of the old assassin was creeping into the dark corners, Walter sat slumped against the wall, having been blown back due to the shockwave again. Only this time, a whimpered gasp of pain rolled out from his beak. He gasped, he cringed as he right to stand…he immediately felt that his legs were not responding to his commands. At there was confusion on his face which slowly switched to panic and the dread at his predicament. He couldn’t walk…

“M-My legs…I…I can’t move…my legs!” he squawked towards the mini-hero. “W-What did you do?!” He tears filled the alleyway, echoing off the brick walls and filling the area with melancholy sound.

“Yes…” the assassin laughed from his vantage point hidden in the dark shadows of the alley. “What kind of ‘hero’ are you?”

Vicente’s mocking voice filled the empty alley. He was a well trained assassin, having doing it for decades so he knew how to make himself disappear if he needed to. Soundlessly he moved around the alley. There was no hint of his positioning until there was a glint of silver. Flipping and spinning in the air, the blade’s song was hard to miss as it twirled, slicing air and finally…cutting its way directly into the plume of feathers at Walter’s chest.

The widened, beady eyes glared at Kaitlyn in fear and angry before finally just going dim.

Vicente chuckled again from the shadows as he made his way around, back towards Kaitlyn, doing his best to remain hidden.

“Sorry Super Diapers. Seems like you should look into early retirement.”

Vicente was having an awfully good time torturing the young girl. Anyone who ran around trying to be a superhero deserved just a little bit of torturing, especially the pompous 10 year old that was standing in the alley right now. But, now that Walter was dead, he was going to have to dead this little meeting. As much fun as it was, it was time to move along end this small interference with his evening. The girl was not that big of an issue, but he hated leaving loose ends. It was time to cut them off…

>> “I told you to shut up.”

…or so he thought.

Another explosion and another shockwave flew through the alley and try as Vicente could to get himself out of the way, it simply was not working. He felt the shock as it struck him hard, sending him flying back against the wall. He grunted loud but his voice was drowned out by sound of crashing debris and tipping over trash. The wind was knocked out of him, but the much taller, much older assassin was not about to admit defeat.

A soft cough as he struggled to his feet, Vicente picked his fallen knife from the ground. His eyes locked onto the girl coldly. He was going to get a lot of pleasure out of letting her blood run…

>> “Or…Are humans like you too stupid to figure out what 'shut up' means?”

KAAA-BOOOOOOOM![/b]

A gasp, eyes widened, and Vicente ducked down to make himself small. He just barely managed to get into a strong enough position when the shockwave once more struck his form. It hit hard, almost as hard as the last one and sent him reeling back once again. Again he thudded against the wall, again he gasped in pain. He knew his back was going to be utterly black and blue by the time this was over. But he had every intention of ending it now!

>> “Do you know what we do to humans who kill one of our kind around here?”

Vicente groaned as he staggered onto his feet. The girl definitely had some moves but he was not about to let her get the benefit of the doubt. With a snarl the man began to unleash his own surprises. Deep in the hidden shadows of the alley, the assassin growled as his muscles went rigid. His skull cracked and began to reshape while the muscle and tendons began to elongate. His teeth sharpened in his fangs and his eyes turned a feral golden. Seconds passed as the reformed head was stretched and reformed, leaving the head of a massion, tan colored lion.

Still unseen, Vicente breathed heavily as the pain evaporated from his transformation and peered at his assailant. A pair of golden cat eyes glimmered in the dark, reflecting off the minimal light from the moon. As he glared, his raspy, savage voice replied.

“No,” he said, seeing her clearly in the dark. He pulled his smaller knife from its sheath. “Why don’t you show me?!” he roared his lion’s roar and hurled a dagger directly at her!

The aim was true. With his new cat eyes he could see that the blade was slicing through the air easily, all ready to cut into that annoying pests’ body. The night had been long going so far and already she was proving to have the resilience of a roach. Whatever those blasts she was unleashing managed to make his head partially swim, but it also seemed to have an adverse affect on her as well. He was fine with that. Being older and more inclined bounce back, Vicente exploited the opening when he saw it…

…but the little brat knew how to survive!

Before he knew it, there was another blast, though this one seemed to be significantly weaker. It did not even reach him except for a small pulse he felt against his chest. Unfortunately it also knocked his blade off its trajectory.

>> “Ow!”

Vicente growled as he saw the handle of his blade strike the girl’s forehead. He was never one to miss but the girl’s abilities were quickly proving to be a nuisance. He needed to take her out of this equation once and for all. He was tired of the games, tired of this night, tired of her little sonicbooms or whatever they were!

He watched, stalking her as she scrambled to her feet, his knife in her hand. He would was going to take the utmost retrieving it from her bloodied fingers.

>> “Are you a mutant, too?”

Her voice was soft, almost tinged with confusion. He could not exactly pinpoint what it was she was feeling though. After all, it was not like she was a stranger to mutant activity in the city. She had already admitted that earlier. But apparently whatever this question was, it seemed like it was going to put a lot of weight on her. She had practically accused him of being a human earlier when she first interrupted his evening. Something about what happens to his kind when they attack mutants. It was obviously a load of bull, but it was something she believed in.

Well…he had not problem shattering those illusions…

With a grin he very slowly stepped out into the moonlight. As he did, he revealed that he was closer to Walter, the dead mutant she was trying to save. A deep growl emitted from the throat of his lion’s head. Yellowed fangs reflecting briefly, golden man waving gently in the alley’s breeze. His rough, pink tongue, licked his lips as he leaned down, still keeping a golden eye on the girl, as he roughly pulled the knife free from Walter’s crumpled body. Holding the knife up, he licked the crimson blood off the blade before he nodded to her.

“Of course I’m a mutant,” he grinned as he remained still, standing under the moonlight, his blade in hand. “That so difficult for your small mind to comprehend?”

He had made himself known. He appeared before the child like a phantom in the night, a demon with a man’s body and a terrifying lion’s head. Anyone else would have wet their pants and cried and screamed in horror. But this child did not. Whatever the reason, whether she was just used to mutants or she had no real sense of the danger she was in, Vicente did not know. What he did know was that as he stood there grinning his fang filled grin at her, she retaliated once more with that irritated ability of hers…

BOOM!

The shockwave was louder, stronger, and it was directed at him. The older assassin ran, at least did his best to, as he charged to the side. He was getting an idea for the young child’s abilities. Whatever those shockwaves were, they were hard to ignore. As much as he wanted to stand his ground, he learned after the second time.

That was why the man ran back to the shadows and attempted the curl himself tight. But as the wave struck, he grunted briefly in pain before he was flung back once more, again in to the wall. He slammed hard, bruising his back as he collided with the brick and mortar. When the ringing in his ears began to calm, he opened his golden eyes and spied that the young child had not only knocked him breathless, but had also knocked herself onto her little butt.

A feral growl fell from his lips as the tall, muscular, much older mutant moved onto his feet and forced himself forward. Anyway else would have probably been an absolute mess after taking that many shockwave blasts from the young mutant, but Vicente was no stranger to being knocked around. As a matter of fact, it only made him angrier.

So as he took staggering steps forward that slowly grew move steady, the man suddenly reached out, grabbed one of the tipped trashcans. His hand gripped the trashcan roughly as he pulled it up and suddenly hurled it directly at the momentarily distracted mutant. As that one flew the assassin quickly grabbed another and spun his whole body as he threw it and sent it rolling across the ground and directly towards her as well. Trash few through the air and spilled out onto the ground as both cans made their way towards the little vigilante.

It was time to end this! Whether or not those cans connected and squished the little pest, he really did not care. He just needed her distracted enough to charge towards her and snap his jaws arounder her little throat!