The large rusted air conditioner offered little protection from the cold rain that had begun to fall. Lucas had thrown an old box down on the cement underneath the machine to make the hard surface a bit more comfortable. While examining his homemade hostel, he had felt that for his first night in New York, his lodgings weren’t half bad considering the cost. When the air conditioner would turn on, a steady stream of warm air would remove the biting chill from the evening air and allow him to sleep peacefully. It would be like urban camping, he had thought. Sure, the massive fan spinning above his head was loud but the heat it provided more then made up for his lack of clothing. The plan had worked well for a time. It was very effective up until the clouds had opened up two hours ago.

Lucas clutched himself tightly and shivered in his makeshift hovel. A constant deluge of bone shilling water seeped through every possible crack and dripped from every inch of his cast iron roof. The cardboard floor, which had insulated him from the cement, had turned against him and now acted as a sponge, sopping up the many tiny rivers that flowed down the alley’s floor. The blowing air from the vent, once a friend, had become a torturer. The sporadic expulsion of heated air was not enough to exercise the cold from the mutant’s bones. It was only enough to tease him about his decision to move to this god forsaken city before shutting off again and allowing the icy water to have free reign for what seemed like ever increasing intervals.

Opening up his eyes and peering farther into the alley, Lucas spotted another hastily erected fort protecting a snoozing homeless man. The man had flipped the lid of two dumpsters together to form a makeshift roof and covered the join with some torn up garbage bags and an old stained carpet. His makeshift home was nothing extravagant, but as Lucas’ chattering teeth could attest to, it was much more effective then the air conditioner he had built around. Lucas supposed this was the kind of knowledge that experience taught someone on the streets. He hoped he would not live like this long enough to learn all the lessons.

The man looked to have been living on the streets for some time. A raggedy beard clung to his face and housed morsels of food from previous meals. His skin seemed rough and wrinkled and it was tough to estimate his age because of it. The man’s head was covered in an old ratty toque which had been pulled snuggly down over his ears. The old winter coat he wore served him as both warmth and padding against the ground he dozed on. The homeless man slept as soundly as a king in his castle. He had discovered the simple tricks to find comfort in such a hostile climate and was reaping the reward.

Lucas imagined that the man had long ago accepted his lifestyle and found peace with his existence. He tried to imagine what had happened to bring the homeless man to this before realizing, he too stood on the same precipice. How long would it take before he gave up and accepted this fate as well? No. He had promised his grandmother he would make a difference and to give up and choose this life would only tarnish her memory.

Thoughts of sleeping until morning had all but evaporated from Lucas’ mind but a better option had not made itself available. He curled himself into as tight a ball as he could and lay on the wet cardboard, silently watching as the streetlight cut through the shadows and illuminated the drops of rain dancing across the oily puddles.

He hated the rain. He knew in his head that when it started to pour, it was ideal conditions to venture out into the city and start looking for a meal. When it was pouring, people tended to stay off the streets a little more, and it’s just so noisy that very few people would even notice him slithering along the ground beside them. The rain made hunting ideal for him. But he still hated it. While everyone else was out finding shelter, he was out on the rooftops, naked and freezing. He’d managed to get lucky and never really get too sick, but he had no idea where he would go if he ever did.

He’d settled on a relatively long and narrow alley for the night’s business. He’s spotted two men curled up in their respective shelters and was waiting for them to nod off. The location was ideal, deep and narrow enough to limit visibility for them street, and with long closed restaurants on either side, the chances of an employee wandering out and seeing him were very slim. There were two men, but he felt relatively confident he could take care of it without waking the other.

The decision of which one seemed relatively obvious to him as well. There was a younger man, curled up under a noisy air conditioner that appeared to be new to the streets, and was in relatively good shape. A combination to could lead to a struggle Shane wasn’t interested in dealing with. The older man further down the alley was fairly ideal. He seemed to be quite older then his roommate, and relatively thin. The collection of do-dads and trinkets lying around his makeshift tent told him that he’d been there for a while, and that he probably didn’t have much to fight for. He wouldn’t likely put up much of a fight overall.

The roof over his head meant Shane’s traditional drop wouldn’t work. Plus with the younger man just a few feet away, causing too much noise crashing down would likely stir him awake, even with the noise cover of a running air conditioner. He’d need to get in there some other way.

Satisfied that conditions were as good as they were going to get, Shane worked his way down the side of the building. Scaling brick was something he’d needed to for quite some time, only just finally starting to get the hang out it. But that’s all going up, climbing down and not making noise is a whole other situation. Clinging to the roof’s edge, he slowly and carefully lowered his body down like an elevator, landing with a splash. Flattening out his body, he began to slither his way towards the older man.

His entire shelter was covered in garbage bags and the trash that was at one time in them. His entire body was covered in them with the exception of his head and one shockingly thin arm resting over top. He almost looked like he was floating in a sea of garbage, or perhaps more like a child swimming in a ball pit – except with garbage. He had a rough face that was covered with an equally rough, grey bread.

Crawling forward, inching his way up, Shane began extending a limb towards the man’s face. He hovered around it for a moment, collecting his thoughts one last time before taking a large breath. Then he struck, wrapping a tentacle-like limb around the man’s neck and face, cutting off his air. The man immediately woke up. Shane’s hand had already spread around the man’s entire head, so he couldn’t see anything, and what was left of his weight was now planted right on top of the man to stop him from moving around. Now it was just a waiting game.

That’s when the dog woke up.

Hidden underneath the piles of garbage was a Boston Terrier that Shane had failed to notice. The dog, quickly realizing something was not right, began barking furiously before lunging at Shane to bite him. Reaching out another limb, he quickly pinned the dog’s head to the ground, holding it there while covering it with his body the same way he had the man covered, still trying to wiggle free.

He may have been contained, but that dog managed to make a lot of noise for such a little pup.

The small dog’s barking startled Lucas and pulled him back from his day dream. Looking in the direction of the sound, Lucas saw the other homeless man in the alley struggling under the weight of something heavy. It seemed like some of this man’s shelter had become dislodged with the weight of the rain water and collapsed on him. He didn’t seem to have the strength to get free and his arms flailed about, looking for purchase. Lucas wasn’t sleeping or dry so it really didn’t matter if he stepped over to lend a hand so he rolled free of the rusted air conditioner and stood up. Cool rivers of water rolled down his back into the few remaining dry places of his body almost instantly. He felt truly miserable now.

The dog’s barking ended abruptly with a startled yip before falling silent.

Lucas peered into the blackness of the dumpster cave to better understand this change in sound. He couldn’t see the small dog anywhere. The man continued to struggle under something large and roughly man shaped. The thing blended in with the shadows thanks to its deep greyish color. The young mutant started to think the darkness was playing tricks until those two white, inhuman eyes looked up towards him. It was the stuff of nightmares that looked back from the shelter, and Lucas understood without a doubt that this was not a simple structural issue anymore. The feeling of misery evaporated as fear and adrenaline took over.

He squared his broad, muscular shoulders and forced himself to walk towards the beast with an air of determination. “Hey! Get off him!”, he yelled in a threatening voice as his shoes splashed through the puddles on the ground.

Perhaps he’d been a little too focused on the deed to pay attention to his surroundings. Perhaps he’d had more faith in the sound cover the rain was providing then he should have. Regardless of what happen specifically, it was clear that the other man from the ally had woken up, and he was aware of what was going on. Shane was a little surprised though. Traditionally it was normal for people he encountered to turn around and go the other way when they encountered him, but this boy seemed to be insisting on a confrontation.

He looked as though he was a relatively recent addition to the street rat community. He hadn’t been there long himself, but he’d done quite a bit of observation of that demographic, and this one seemed to fit right into the new member category. He wasn’t quite sure what it was. Probably the facial expressions that he made that said he wasn’t used to the environment yet.

The man he was smothering had begun to slow, but he was still squirming a bit, though not enough to put up any kind of fight. The dog was all ready passed out under the weight of his hand though. Raising his body up, making himself as top heavy as he could manage, he stood up, relieving the older man in the process. He rolled over, gasping, trying to catch his breath. Physically he was far too weak to move at the moment. Shane could finish him afterward.

He lifted the dog’s limp body up in the air, partially to taunt the man across from him. It’s legs dangled down in front of him, but its head was already engulfed by Shane’s arm. Shaking it around a bit to make sure he had the man’s attention, he spread his body around the rest of the body, consuming it’s small body entirely. His arm began to bubble up around the area where dog once was, his fist rapidly growing.

The man on the ground below him tried to say something, but could only manage a few gasps.

All Lucas wanted was a warm place to sleep. Instead, he was facing off against some shadowy creature that stalked the homeless on dark and rainy nights. “I am really starting to hate this city.” He grumbled inwardly.

The malevolent white eyes narrowed and the greyish monster rose up off the hermit he was grappling. It held out the little terrier that had tried to cry for help to show it to Lucas before shaking it a little to prove some sick and twisted point. Then, without taking his eyes from the young man approaching him, the creature’s body seemed to absorb the dog and it was gone.

This was not the act of an animal. It showed an evil intelligence. The creature was goading Lucas, playing some kind of mind game in an attempt to get the upper hand. It knew the value of fear in an opponent and was making its move to win before things could even begin. Lucas’ years in the boxing ring had taught him a thing or two about psychology as well. A fight could be over before a punch was ever thrown. Not this time. It was time to ring the bell and show this hellish thing what he was made of.

Lucas surged forward into a charge. The grey skinned creature was still between the two dumpsters so was at a disadvantage. He had nowhere to dodge to in order to escape the coming assault. If it was as smart as he thought it was, it already knew that which is why it tried to spook him to begin with. Water splashed away from every footfall. A primal yell started in the young man’s gut and grew to a roar as he approached. The distance between them deteriorated rapidly as Lucas sped towards his target. He pulled one fist back as if to deliver a haymaker just before he leaped into the air and over the heads of the monster and his would be victim. A shattering crash echoed through the dark alley as Lucas’ bulk landed on the roof of the makeshift hut and smashed through to the dry bedroom below.

The rain of garbage and debris was unlikely to hurt the creature but that was never the point. It was only meant as a distraction. It was a feint to gain the upper hand. One of Lucas’ feet landed beside the old homeless man’s wheezing form as the other planted against the brick wall that made up the rear of the hovel. His hands shot down and grabbed the dirty hobo as he shoved off with all the power his legs could muster. The two homeless men skidded through the water and muck on the alley floor and came to rest a dozen feet away. Rolling up onto his feet, Lucas turned to face the monster on more even ground.

Slowly rolling his head to the side, he cracked his neck with a loud pop as he stood to his full height. Lucas brought his arms up in front of his body and took on a defensive south-paw stance to meet the monsters counter move as he stood over the barely conscious man.

Forcing a confident smile upon his lips to hide the fear inside, he addressed the hunter with a simple wink as he blew him a mocking kiss. In the back of his mind, he heard the faint, ghostly ring of the bell which signalled the beginning of round two.

This was new. It had been a long time since Shane had really been forced to deal with an opponent of competence. Back when he had first arrived in the forests he had needed to deal with wolves and other predators for dominance, but not since then. He’d generally preferred the simplest targets with the minimal effort. Putting in too much effort sometimes made the whole thing no longer worth it. But when you you’ve wandered right into the middle of it like he had, you don’t have much of a choice in the matter. Shane was not the type to run away.

The dog he’d consumed wasn’t too big, so the bubbling flesh wouldn’t last too long before calming into synergy with the rest of his body. It also wouldn’t contribute to his size too much more either, which was unfortunate, he could really use a bit more girth tonight. He was already a little smaller then he was when this night began.
His softer gooey flesh slid to his back as he slipped into a far more human shape. Dropping his favourite low jaw, he let slip a bit of a growl towards the young, posing man. It was a little wheezy and even managed to crack a bit; he didn’t use his voice very often.

“He’s mine.” He managed to cough out. His eyes briefly darting to the old man before locking them back on the hero in front of him. He wasn’t smiling anymore. He had no interest in making this a game. The old man was still the easy kill, and was large enough to make an excellent meal. All he needed to do was get him back and finish him quick, even if it meant a mess. He wasn’t sure how many more days he’d still be up for big hunts like tonight.

Shane swung his arm out like you would crack a whip and in reaction the imaginary whip became a reality. A long, slender tentacle went soaring through the air in the two men’s direction. His legs appeared to collapse out from under him, as if the bones in them had just snapped for no reason. Shane didn’t react to it in the slightest. The tentacle quickly and effortlessly wrapped around the leg of the poor old man lying on the ground as he tried to crawl away.

Shane’s eyes remained fixed on the younger man the entire time.

The nightmare’s rain soaked flesh began to warp and reform. It slowly rose up out of the nest of trash, a mockery of man. Its jaw was long and distended and its shoulders hunched over in a predatory way.

“He’s mine” it growled in a deep, inhuman voice and narrowed its eyes menacingly. A quick flick of the creature’s arm caused it to extend a long tentacle which lashed out and wrapped around the prone man at Lucas’ feet. The target’s eyes flashed open with fear and he reached bony fingers up to Lucas in a silent plea for help.

Lucas grabbed the frail old mans wrist with one hand and yanked him backwards towards the opposite side of the alley. The fire escape was only a few feet away and if he could get his other hand on the rusted ladder the two homeless men would be anchored.

He wasn’t quick enough. The formidable strength in the whip armed creature countered the move and Lucas’s foot lost purchase on the rain-soaked cement, bringing him to the ground with a splash. The young mutant brought his other arm back as he crashed to the ground and wrapped his second hand around the pale wrist of the panicked prey.

It was impossible to get a foothold in the slick muck of the alley floor and Lucas knew that the monster could reel them both in at his leisure. He felt like a bass with a hook in his mouth, and it was only a matter of time before the pair would end up in the pan. His mind raced as he looked for an opening as the falling water tried to blind him. He could barely see accept for the light above the fire exit behind the creature. The solitary bulb was a blinding beacon and another bulb went on in Lucas’ mind as he stared at the orb. It was a long shot, but the only shot he had.

Lucas opened his mouth and began to scream for help. He knew this was New York and the chances of anyone coming were remote but that wasn’t why he was yelling. This creature stalked the shadows. Some part of it feared confrontation. Lucas was betting that the threat of others coming was too much of a risk and the shape shifting monster would need to focus on him now. This meant the elderly hobo would be able to crawl to safety. If Lucas could get the other man free of the alley and get himself closer to the emergency door, he had a shot. The odds didn’t look great, but a slim chance is better than none.

This mystery man knew just how to get under Shane’s skin. He was yelling now, and loud. Noise really was just about the last thing he wanted to deal with. It was late and wet, and the streets were always filled with noise, but voices shouting for help generally did seem to stick out in the mess of sound the city had to offer. It only added insult to injury that he was developing a headache from the dog now. It did mean that the new addition was fully absorbed, but impaired judgment was usually a by-product of the pain. Never a good thing.

This reeling maneuver he was putting through the tests wasn’t quite working with the speed and efficiency he had hoped for. The added weight of the rider just bogged everything down. This wasn’t working. He wasn’t going to scare this man off. He wasn’t going to sneak anything past him. Asking nicely was doubtful. If a direct confrontation needed to happen, then Shane might as well be the one to start the festivities off.

His legs appeared to just melt away into the surrounding sludge as his body collapsed into a heap of dark flesh. The resulting thump seemed to shake the earth, but really it just created a rippling splash that spread throughout the drowning alley. His whole body stretched out, long and snake-like, except for the tentacle, still wrapped around the old man’s leg. Like an elevator, Shane began to reel himself in, moving towards his opposition extremely quickly. The weight continued to drag the old man towards him, but the mystery man’s grip kept him relatively well planted where they stood.

Before either of the two of them knew what was happening, Shane was on top of them. He grabbed hold of the raggedy old man and tossed him aside into a pile of trash. He wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. The young one was whole he wanted. Still shouting as loud as he could, Shane pounced on top of him, forming a hand to wrap around his mouth.

“How about we give you something better to scream about?” rumbled out from his lips. He lowered his face down only inches away from the man’s face as he mumbled out inaudible gibberish from behind Shane’s hand. His focus was broken by the sounds of splashing feet a dozen feet off. Breaking eye contact, he looked up to see two young teenagers in oversized jackets staring right at him from the end of the alley.

“S***” was all the one boy could say. It’s the only word Shane could think of as well.

The old man ripped clear and flew out of reach as the monster set its sights on Lucas. It wrapped a long appendage around his mouth and stifled his scream as it tried to crush him with his size. The young man battled the weight of the creature frantically, fighting for his life.

Suddenly, the beast seemed distracted and looked up to the entrance of the alley. Lucas didn’t care if it was Santa in a Speedo watching them. Without the random chance of someone coming, he realized his ploy would have ended in disaster. Whoever it was had probably saved him from the same fate that had befallen the dog moments ago.

Rolling to his side, Lucas planted his feet and lifted with every ounce of strength he had. His shoulders and biceps strained as he got stood up and began to pump his powerful legs towards the steel door in the wall. The tentacle hand held fast around his face and pulled at his head violently as Lucas charged through the downpour towards the light.

Three feet. Two. One. They collided against the hard, slick surface of the door with a loud thump and stopped abruptly. Lucas ripped his tattooed arm free from under the grey skinned hunter and punched his fist up into the bulb. Slivers of glass showered down upon the two combatants and all light in the alley sputtered out. Instead of lowering his hand back down, Lucas shot out two fingers and stuffed them deep inside the metal fixture.

Every muscle of his body convulsed and tightened painfully as Lucas’ limbs poured thousands of watts of power into the monster on his back. The torrent of rain aided the spread of electrical carnage, making everything around them spark and snap madly. Seconds seemed like hours as volt upon volt coursed through their bodies until, the breaker gave out and the socket went cold.

It was a sensation like nothing else he had experienced. Pure energy surged through his entire body, burning up everything in its path. He could feel his flesh burning, and smell it cooking around him. Try as he might to move his body away and to safety, he simply couldn’t move at all. His entire body was paralyzed while the entire ordeal took place.

After what felt like it could have been hours, the surges finally seemed to end and both of the combatants collapsed into a dark heap. The lamp had been the one light source in the alley, and without it, there was nothing but the occasional flash of lighting peppered in between long stretches of empty darkness. Sizing up the situation became significantly more difficult, and he really couldn’t do much to improve things. His entire body was burning, his mind felt like it was splitting apart, and he couldn’t really see, but he could tell he’d just burned through a significant chunk of his flesh. He felt scrawny and weak, and unless the mystery man was in equally rough shape, if not worse, things would only continue to spiral from here. And the people! He’d been seen! People were going to come back and look for him.

This night was a lost cause, and he knew it. He needed to get away, and sooner would be better. He climbed back up on his trembling feet, stumbling a little. They rocked and wobbled and he almost collapsed. He couldn’t tell where the old man was at this point either, and even though he was in rough shape himself, not being electrocuted probably put him one step above everyone else in the alley physically. He kept his ears open and attentive, but all he could hear was the rain, each drop sounding thunderous.

Inching his way towards the fire escape, he managed to get a hand on the ladder as he tried to pull himself up. He could hear voices on the street beginning to get louder and a few faint sirens in the distance. This alley was about to get far too crowded for his liking.

The cool, wet cement caressed Lucas’ cheek and begged him not to go. It whispered promises of comfort and warmth as long as he would just keep his eyes closed a little longer. The young man struggled indecisively before finally managing to lift his heavy eyelids to take in the scene before him.

Rain continued to pummel the alley mercilessly and everything seemed to glitter and shine with the reflection of the blue neon sign across the boulevard. The world had a hazy, groggy feel that was difficult to shake. Lucas had been knocked out in the ring a few times in the past and some baser instinct began to go through the motions of getting up, taking hold to guide him until the young mutant could regain his faculties.

He heard the ref inside the ring as he yelled numbers in the fighter's ear, adding a sense of urgency to the process. Lucas’ body felt sluggish and dull but he knew he needed to get up or he would be counted out. He had already lost track of the seconds in his dazed state.

“4!”

The ref screamed down at the fighter’s prone body as he lay on the unforgiving asphalt. Lucas put his hands on the ground under his shoulders and pushed, raising his upper body out of the puddle he had fallen in. His head hung heavily, a stream of water rushing down his scalp and leaping off his chin to the earth bellow. His muscles burned with the exertion but he gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain.

“5!”

Dragging a leg up to beside his hip, Lucas got his foot planted and teetered, barely able to keep his balance. Taking a second, he found his center of gravity and exhaled a long gust of air to help steady himself.

“6!”

Lucas drove into the ground with his leg and his body started to rise up above the muck covered floor. Some old, wet newspaper clung to his leg as he rose, refusing to be left behind.

“7!”

The sound of running could be heard behind him. Two people were trying to reach him in the darkness. Lucas brought his second foot under him and got up to his full height. He wobbled slightly and shuffled his feet wider apart to keep from plunging back down to the canvas.

“8!”

Scanning the near black corners of the alley, Lucas looked for his opponent. An electric convulsion shuddered through his body, an after shock from the energy that had coursed through his veins only moments ago.

“9!”

Lucas couldn’t focus on anything as his vision swam about randomly. The dark skinned monster was nowhere to be seen. Lucas jerked his head from side to side and stumbled like a drunken man on a ship. He had to find the monster so he would be ready when it struck again.

“10!”

The ref exclaimed with finality, throwing up his outstretched hands in front of Lucas’ eyes. Seeing no cognitive response, the ref turned and waved his arm to the ring judge to signal the fight was over. “You’re out!” He screamed as the bell sounded outside the ring and echoed in the boxer’s ears.

Lucas’ left hand ached painfully and he looked down to see his fingers had blackened and burned. He tried to flex the muscles and tendons of his ravaged hand and they throbbed menacingly as they responded. His hand still worked but would take time to heal completely. It would be a week, maybe two before he regained full use he imagined but these things were tough to gauge. His coach and trainer came up behind him and grabbed hold from both sides. He let himself go and their arms caught him as he started to fall, keeping him on his feet.

“Dude, are you ok man?” The trainer said. Lucas couldn’t remember the teen in the large coat being in his corner but he was glad to see that he had come to help him. The fighter’s entire body felt used up. He had given it everything he had. Lucas may have lost the fight but his opponent would remember him if they faced off again. “I got him good coach. I got him real good.” Lucas mumbled to the ghosts only he could see.

“Sure man, whatever.” The other teen said as he rolled his eyes at the ramblings of the barely conscious homeless man. “Diego, get his arm. Let’s get him back to the street where it is safe.”

The two youth each took an arm over their shoulder and helped the fighter exit the ring.