Emily Schroder was convinced that she worked for a mad man. Dr. Ethan Mitchel Daniels had a bio-hazard sticker on on the door of his lab, but to her knowledge there was nothing that would have warranted such caution. From what she had observed, the man just liked having some privacy while he ran his experiments. As his assistant she was delegated to tasks that his hands could not do while he conferred with the lab rats. For the most part this meant serving as a secretary, but she was able to watch some significant, though strange experiments. Tonight he had to take one of his many lab rats to a vet (an action that she thought was adorable given that others in the same business could care less about their rats' health), and had left her to clean up the day's work, and to type up the notes that he had written down. Unfortunately his notes were complex to decipher. There were at least three different trains of thought, and she had to decide which ones related to what the experiment had been. To complicate matters, the lights of the facility tended to flicker when multiple scientists were needing to use high powered devices. Tonight it seemed that the laser was in high demand, for the lights were flickering more than usual. Pausing from her work, Ms. Schroder helped herself to the pot of coffee that had gone cold. Once more the lights flickered in the lab before things went dark. She sighed heavily, resigning herself to having to figure out what needed to be typed up by the glow of her laptop before the battery power gave out.

From one of the other labs down the hall the sounds of glass shattering shot out. Whoever had been in there must have been caught by surprise when the lights went out Ms. Schroder thought. Amazing how you can work someplace for years, but once the lights were turned off, it becomes an obstacle course. There were crashing noises as scientists bumped about in the dark. Emily took her cell phone out and dialed the electric company, in hopes of finding out when the power would be turned on. Much to her annoyance, as she settled back in front of her laptop, the phone kept ringing before she was disconnected. Technology was wonderful when it worked, but when it didn't it made you wish for the days of old. For now she was just going to have to sit back and be patient. Once she got some more of the work done she could call again. The chances were highly likely that the power wouldn't be out for long. This was New York after all.

From down the hall more crashing sounds were heard, but Emily didn't pay much mind. Today's work had been important, and it was her job to make sure that all relevant information was properly recorded. While squinting at the almost incomprehensible writing she was able to relive the excitement of the day. It was sad in a way. It was Halloween and rather than spending the evening getting drunk with her friends, she was working overtime because of a sick rat. She rested her face lightly on a fist and turned the page of the wire bound notebook. At least she wasn't alone in her wok. There were more banging noises now, and rather than the normal rhythmical pattern of a man at work, it sounded more like some sort of struggle was going on.

Emily quickly saved the word document, noticing that the battery life was dying, before heading to the door. She peeked through the highly set door window first in one direction. Even the emergency exit sign light, which should have been powered by the back up generator was out. The only time that she had ever seen so much dark was when she was a little girl growing up in Cayuga county. A nasty Nor'easter had ripped trees out of the ground and power was out for days. Now she turned to look the other way down the hall, opening the door slightly.

Wham! The door was slammed shut in her hands, causing her to jump back. A face that at one point might have been human glared back at her from the other side of the glass, the pupiless eyes glowing like bright coals. There was a tortured look to it, as if it was blaming her for the flattened features, the misshapened hand that had smacked against the glass. The teeth lined jaws separated, allowing a tongue to slide out. Emily shuddered as she closed her eyes. The tongue had been long, looking more like some sort of probe, and she could feel a clammy sensation on her neck, as if the muscle had been wrapped around her throat. Lights danced in the hallway, though not from the fixtures. It was as if the thing was a plasma dome. She wanted to move away from the door, but her body had stiffened up and her knees wouldn't allow anything more than the smallest of a shuffle. The laptop's battery quit, the sounds of it shutting off seemed to consume the room until she was left in silence with the lights off.

Teddy was headed to a party. It was Halloween after all. He was to young to get into any of those adult parties that the clubs were all advertising on the radio, but he did hear about one that was strictly for kids. If you're a kid between the ages of 13-17 then come on down to 5438 Maple rd. On the corner of Maple and 5th St. in New York City this Halloween to have the scariest and best party of the year. Anyone 12 or under will have a separate party in the back. Bing your best Halloween costume and we'll have a winner at the end of the night. Or at least that's what the ad on the radio had said. What was he going as? How about a real stuffed animal. It took him a while to find one but he finally found one that wasbig enough for him to pass for a kid in a costume. Either way he was still stuck on this dirty city bus that was talking him to the area. It was already dark outside and he was already not in the best mood. All his friends had bailed on him at the last minute and now he was stuck going alone and forced to come up with a good excuse for his friends as to why they weren't there.

As the bus rumbled down the street towards his exit he noticed that this particular part of town was much darker than the blocks they'd just passed. They were sitting at a red light when he noticed that the area looked like it had a power outage. Well this day is just getting better. How can there be a party if there's no electricity? What do they expect us to dance to, the music playing out of someone's car system? As impressive a sound system as that might be he really didn't feel like being in a crowded building with a bunch of other teens without any form of air conditioning. Even thought the weather was cooling off for October, almost November, it was still going to get pretty stuffy in there with everyone in costumes and such.

The bus lurched forward, as the light turned green and everyone on the bus was soon confused as to why the bus seemed to break down on just the other side of the intersection. It was as if the bus had just lost power. All the lights on the bus went dark, the radio that had been chirping over the noise of the engine died and the engine itself seemed to die as the bus slowly ground to a halt. Confusion set in with some of the passengers of the bus and the bus driver tried to calmly tell everyone to stay put. Needless to say, that didn't work to well and people started to get off the bus. Teddy followed suit. He wasn't that far from where the party was now and he could probably walk there faster than another bus could get there and take everyone where they needed to go.

If Ted had bothered to check his phone he would have seen that it too had died. The young teen started heading down the street when he heard some commotion coming from inside one of the buildings. It sounded like there was a struggle going on in there. He looked at the sign on the building and saw that it was some science laboratory. Teddy stood outside it confused. Why would someone want to break into this place? He wondered. There was no one else around, so he turned into his raccoon form. It wasn't the one he was going to use for the party but this would be stealthy enough for him to get around. Teddy walked in and shifted. It was really hard to see anything even in this form but the light from the night outside seemed to be just barely enough for him to make out the walls in the hallway. So far there was nothing of interest to see. But that changed in an instant...

“I dun fink diff if uh good idea, guyff,” Alice said as her false fangs were being glued onto her teeth. Supposedly, the fangs were supposed to conform to her teeth, or at least that is what the advertisement at the party store exclaimed, but they really felt like they were molding her teeth to fit them. She sighed as the “finishing touches” were applied to her fangs and gathered up her cardboard axe bass. The crafty contraption was her masterpiece, the front carefully painted a dark crimson and embellished to match its cartoon counterpart. It was also the only thing distinguishing her as Marceline the Vampire Queen, as the rest of her costume was fairly simple. All she wore was a plain gray singlet and blue skinny jeans tucked into medium-brown, knee-high boots. She had a red, flannel button-down ready in case it became too chilly outside. And of course, she had a friend draw the circular bite marks onto her neck with face paint.

She could owe her recent obsession with Adventure Time to her new friend Jonathan (going as Finn the Human Boy), who spoke nonstop of the cartoon. They had history class and lunch together, and while he could be quite eccentric (which suited her just fine), he was also very social, having introduced her to all of his other friends, as well as inviting her to their Halloween hang out. Alice had been afraid that she’d be spending Halloween (and most of her days) alone since coming to Xavier’s, but fate would have it that she would not.

The fourteen-year-old mingled with her schoolmates as they trick-or-treated across the city, making sure to visit all of the unguarded candy bowls, helping themselves to a very generous amount of sweets at each location. With them was an adult chaperone, a creeptastic twenty-something named Megan. How she came to accompany them was unknown, though Jonathan whispered something about blackmail or bribery when Alice questioned her presence. It certainly seemed plausible with all of the sarcastic commentary and derisive glares Megan made during the evening, indicating that the last thing she wanted to do was chaperone a bunch of kids on a night she’d rather spend with grown-ups, doing whatever forbidden things grown-ups did. If any of the teenagers got into trouble, she doubted Megan would do much to help them.

As the group continued on during the evening, splitting off to raid untouched candy bowls and "trick-or-treat" at festively decorated houses, Alice somehow found herself walking alone with Megan. Amidst the laughing children and concerned parents and delinquent teenagers egging buildings, the duo was uncomfortably silent and painfully awkward, and the girl found herself desperate to change the atmosphere.

“Ms. Megan...I really, uh, like your costume!” she said, staring at the…the thing the woman had on. It was really, um, something…and it was really creepy. “Did you make it yourself? Or did you buy it? Or did you make some of it and buy it? I especially like those feathery bits. And how did you get it to look so…uh, scary?” She had to catch her breath by the end of the barrage of questions, and while she waited for the answer, the streetlights on the block suddenly went out, plunging the two into darkness. Total darkness. There were no headlights or dim lights emanating from building windows, no illumination from cell phones or flashlights. Everything around her was completely, all-consumingly black. Alice immediately clung to Megan's elbow, scared to lose the only security (?) she had. She felt like she was in a bad horror movie, about to get eaten. What the heck was going on?

She was going to kill him... Really, she was. A brief visit to the school to see if her roommate wanted to go to a party she'd heard about across town had turned into her running into Saph, then being swindled into taking a bunch of children out trick-or-treating.

...she was going to murder his face so hard.

Off somewhere far away, she knew her roommate was having a blast at that party, with elaborate costumes and wild music... and yet here she was, pretending to care about a bunch of teenagers from the school. How had she gotten talked into this again? Oh yeah.. the jerk. It was unfair that she was unable to tell him to shove it, and it was even more unfair that he'd piled instructions on her too. Was she not responsible enough to take care of them on her own? (Dont' answer that...) She was pretty sure every single kid in her group and thought it weird that she wanted to hug them all in greeting, especially since she didn't want anything else to do with them after. All part of the plan, though. A quick hug, a little spider was deposited on each kid, and then she wouldn't have to worry about losing any of them.

Which... was probably good, seeing as she's lost almost every single kid at some point. How? She wasn't really sure. They'd branched off in different directions after getting her okay, and then had neglected to return. Maybe they'd found other houses.. maybe they'd fallen into ditches. Meh. A quick check in with her children told her that they were still in the area, just off somewhere she couldn't see, thinking they were smarter than her.

...Man, she hated kids.

“Ms. Megan...I really, uh, like your costume!”

Her eyes slid to the one student left with her, a young girl, then she pointedly rolled them. The long winded compliment was just too much. She was trying to hard to be nice. Her costume was just a black corset/tutu combo with feathers, white tights and ballet slippers. The 'scary part was probably the little bits of feathers she's stuck to herself with costume glue, which trailed up her arms and across her shoulders, or the red contacts and makeup she'd choosen. Whatever the case, she knew one thing. Her fanny was cold. Why'd she have to go and forget a sweater?

"Listen, kid... you--"Whoa... Who turned off the lights?

Everybody who'd been on the street with then, pedestrian and vehicles alike, were suddenly plunged into darkness. Engines died, flashlights failed, and the phone Megan had been using to entertain herself suddenly went dead. "... the hell?" Throwing arm out to try and corral the teen she was escorting behind her, the twenty six year old attempted to figure out what had just happened.

The labs were filled with many breakable objects which did not stay in one piece too well with a creature rampaging in it. Not only was the creature destroying everything it ran across, either out of wicked intent or because it was simply in his way, but it was making its way out of the lab. Already it had freed itself from the clean room. The clean room was where all the pain started, and smells from it were all throughout the building. Smell though was not the sense that was perking up. It was given a very specific purpose, to find those that had that extra little bit about them. Everyone is different, but the ones it had to seek out and destroy were even more different. They were the dangerous things, the things that it hated, more than the people that did this to it. Somewhere in the building was one of them. Programming kicked in and it went in the most direct possible path to it. This body was new. Unable to stand upright without pain, it kept it’s back arched, using not only the legs for momentum, but the arms as well. Joints had been dislocated and reset in new positions. Painful as that had been it allowed it to traverse the chaos that it had turned the laboratories into.

The eyes that glowed weren’t designed for seeing in this darkness, but then again it wasn’t meant to be in the dark. It had been designed to be an active and present force in the fight against the biggest threat to people. Darkness following it had been an unpredictable side effect of the experiments. With its capabilities of seeking out its prey through a homing instinct, along with a tongue long and swollen enough to practically taste its way about, vision was hardly a concern. Misshaped fingers wrapped themselves around ledges of window panes, pulling it to where it could grab onto the ceiling. It bumbled and stumbled its way around, finding new hand and footholds. Every so often a soft glow would pulse in its stomach, one of the few signs of its presence in the black building. It had lost the ability of speech, something that had been taken quite purposefully from it early on. Nobody knows when you are doing experiments on someone when they aren’t capable of crying out for help. At beast it could make a dry sucking noise, like someone inhaling through a straw when the drink has long been gone.

Pinpointing the exact thing that it could sense was hard. Even with lights on, if there could be lights, the bakrakhan had less than stellar vision. It couldn’t see things as anything more than a blur that was tinted red. The stuffed raccoon was near it, and the creature recognized that something was alerting him to his purpose. It’s head rotated at an angle that no human was capable of doing before it let go of the ceiling and dropped down. With a rasping intake of air, the creature’s jaw opened, revealing the sharp teeth that were meant to tear and rip. Having the tongue retracted back into the squarish maw gave a better idea as to why the creature pulsed. Inside of it’s mouth, at the back of the throat was a flickering glow like a roaring bonfire. The sound of the intake reversed, and a wave of heat poured out of the creature’s mouth. Satisfied that it had made an attack upon it’s target, the creature continued on it’s rampaging exodus. More of it’s pests were getting close to it and it needed to get them.

It was really too bad that his mutation didn't help him with seeing in the dark. What he could see of the building looked like it was under attack or in the middle of a major renovation. The place certainly didn't look like there were people in it. Out of Teddy's periphery he saw a pulsing green light. Ever so slowly the little stuffed raccoon turned it's head to see what was producing the light. This didn't seem to be a very smart idea as he soon saw the monster and froze. Complete and utter terror took over Teddy's body. He was frozen. It was certainly a good thing he wasn't in his human form because if he was he might have seriously needed a change of shorts. As much as his mind was yelling at him to run away, his body just wouldn't respond.

A tongue snaked out at him and he was immediately grossed out. Teddy was starting to get his terror under control and his brain was starting to work again. Maybe it can't see in the darkness. So if I just stay still then it may not eat me. These thoughts seemed to agree with what his body was thinking. Either way he couldn't really move. Sadly, the tiny raccoon's head was turned so that he was staring straight down the monsters mouth. It wasn't the best view in the place and if he could've closed his eyes he certainly would have. But since he couldn't he had an unobstructed view of the monsters fire that looked like it was burning inside it. That could explain why Teddy saw the glowing from it's stomach before he saw the actual monster. Suddenly, a blast of hot air was breathed in his direction. Ugh. It smells horrible. Like burnt hair or something Teddy thought as he tried not to gag on the monsters foul odor.

As soon as the monster seemed that his breath had thoroughly done the job with Teddy it seemed to loose interest and move on. Maybe it was because Teddy still couldn't, and didn't dare to move on. He watched as the monster walked off, taking out anything that seemed to be in its way. Just then the raccoon realized that it was heading out of the building. There were people out there. Many of them were probably younger than him and just wanted candy. He had to do something. Yes, his mutation wasn't very battle ready but he could do something. Maybe he could find someone that could fight it. The ted-coon started to run back out the doors where he came in from. As he did this he dashed past the monster. Probably, not the smartest idea. He continued to run and as he was running he remembered that he couldn't talk to people like this.

Teddy started growing and slowly looking more human. He wasn't used to this kind of emergency changes so he wasn't ready when he was forced onto his feet. A little stuffed raccoon head bobbled about as he tried to get his balance and keep moving. He fell a couple of times as things changed back randomly to human form. The tail helped a little but he was still a little worked up so it was taking longer than usual. Finally he got his voice back and once his head was all human, except for the ears and eyes, he tripped once again trying to avoid running into a creepy ballet dancer looking person. "Run!" He said as he tried to catch his breath. "Monster!"