Author: Donovan Wolf
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It was cold and clear on the evening that I flew in and arrived into Croatoa. My own luminescent powers only dwarfed in its brilliance of her majesty the moon, shining so brilliant in the twinkling heavens. “Good evening, my lady” I whisper in greeting to her on this Yule eve. I land with my large clawed feet crunching into the snow as I touch ground. I get a lot of stares and I have grown to take them in stride. It’s not everyday that normal people (hero or otherwise) get to see a werewolf, let alone one that has been merged with an alien essence and transformed into what they now call a peacebringer. I am tall, massive for a hero with my silvery fur, glinting armor and hulking stature. Many know me here, and I get a lot of nods and smiles from the populace. It feels good to have done so much here over the past year defending this town from the wilder things that reside here. Now I actually feel at home and quite welcome here. I pass by a group of gawking carolers that suddenly quiets as I walk toward them. “Hey mom” A little girl whispers “Isn’t that Silver Puppy?” I smile and nod to them politely. I get a giggle from the little girl and I can’t help but chuckle at my own code name. The little girl realizing that I’m looking at her hides within her mother’s coat tails and waves meekly. Over by the lakeshore I stride, walking amongst the people that live here, feeling the crisp fresh air. Some are caroling, others going door to door for holiday frivolity. Me on the other hand, I’ve come here for a different reason.
I feel my powers flare up in their warm silvery brilliance and I begin to glide gently out over the icy lake toward a small isle near the misty woods where I, no wait, I mean we, can be undisturbed from the populace or other things that reside here. On this small patch of land, the large bare trees conceal my whereabouts. Over the years I have built a makeshift stone alter out of fine masonry and a slab of artistic white marble concrete. It’s here to my surprise as I land silently and my powers dim that I notice a white alter candle has already been brought out and lit. It’s single flame dancing in the light cold breeze, as darkness surrounds it. My old hero instincts immediately kick in. My eyes narrow and I sniff the air, taking in the scents of my surroundings. My powers surge bright from within me, and my strength grows. I stand ready for anything. A voice from somewhere near growls chuckling “I took the liberty of bringing the candle this year . . .my brother.”
My keen eyes spot the outline of a large stealthy figure nearby and I relax. My powers wane and no sooner than I power down, the fringe outline of the figure becomes clear as I see him, my lycan brother who turned to the dark side, who became the brutal beast named by the Ghost Widow herself, The super strong and stealthy, Big Puppy.
He stands as tall and more heavily muscled than I in his dark blue battle armor and gray fur.” It’s good to see you are well, Silver. ” He replies with a wry smile, looking around. As from his right-clawed hand he produces a six-pack of red wolf in bottles. He reaches for one, and tosses me a cold one. I can’t help but smile as I catch it, the glass making a small “tink” sound, clinking against my claws. Ever has the name of the beer been our groups inside joke, and the red ale is quite good. I twist off the top and take a swig of the foamy smooth liquid and relax. I sit down on a large rock and casually prop up my feet. Suddenly the air nearby me explodes in a small but violent storm of purple energy, heralding the arrival of my third brother. Nether Puppy appears, feeling quite smug and proud of his accomplishment. The youngest of my wolf brethren, though he’s not as well built as my brutal brother, and me as he is decked out in black and purple armor and dark fur. However as a hero and a warshade, his own power cannot be denied. Big and myself however are not amused by his stunt as he tried the same thing the last two years.
“That stunt was old last year ya noob.” Big Puppy replies shaking his head and tosses him a beer. Nether catches the bottle and eagerly cracks it open.
“Wow” he replies, “I can actually drink this year.” I smile and take another swig.
“Though Big here didn’t care last year if you drank” I replied “However you still are a hero and…”
Nether waves a hand as he takes his first drink. “Yeah yeah, I still have to abide by the law regardless of my species, blah blah blah…skip the lecture will ya?” as beer dribbles down his face.
Big Puppy chuckles then his tone gets more serious. “You guys didn’t tip off the other capes that I’m here did ya?”
Nether and I both shake our heads “Nah” I reply “ Though Heather, our supergroup leader knows where we are and with you. She knows also that our gathering transcends good and evil and so long as...”
The lycan brute smirks “Yes I was a good little wolf slipping into Paragon City and not mugging everyone I saw” He opens a beer and drinks greedily. He smirks, “Though a couple of Warriors carrying a six pack of beer had a small accident in Talos. Don’t worry dear brothers, I shall do the same on my way out of Goodygoody-ville.”
I look back at my altar, that single flickering candle in the winter’s breeze. It looks to be lower now with bits of wax dripping slowly down the side. Feeling quite inspired I hold up my beer and as on cue my other two brothers silently do the same. I begin to speak softly…
“Though we all came from the same parents, were split up and sold to Arachnos to be used in their dark experiments, we all have since grown, made our own choices, and each walked our own paths. Once a year though, we throw our differences aside and gather under the solstice eve, not as friend or foe, but as a family. That candle is symbolic as tonight we are united as one in fellowship and in our desire to find the rest of our family. May we meet next year with many more of us.”
I take a healthy drink. Nether smiles “yeah” he says quietly, obviously uncomfortable in his surroundings.
Big says ever so sarcastically “Awwwwe!” and he chugs down the rest of his bottle. “Your sentiment gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling.”
Big Puppy opens another beer chugs it quickly until its empty. He grins a wicked fanged smile with beer foam running down his fur clad face and muzzle.
“Yeah I remember fighting your SG leader by the way in Sirens Call 4 months ago . . .she has the biggest ra...”
“Ahem!” I speak up “Lets get off the topic of my SG mates..”
“Oh c’mon!” The Big Puppy speaks up and laughs “Nether!” he points a clawed finger to the lycan warshade. “I know for a fact she called you in to help her come after me that day too. The hero emergency teleporters were a touch slow in getting her body out off that tore up oilrig, and I had a good 15 seconds to admire her heroic. . Assets.”
“Yeah I was there” Nether replies half coughing from taking a drink and the beer went down the wrong pipe. “We had to call in our coalition friends, Helmholtz, General Electric, Sari, Infinate Singularity, Dark Karma, and Valizan all showed up to hunt you and the other villains.”
“Yeah” Big replies grimly.” I noticed that the place got really crowded really quick after I beat that J Lo booty wannabe and so I got out of there and went home.”
“You must have felt very proud of yourself beating up a woman” I reply wryly.
“Don’t knock it till you try it” Big replies, his smile becomes fanged and venomous. I shook my head, looking away and nursing my beer in silence as somewhere in the distance a snow owl hoots, breaking the silence.
There was a long pause before any of us spoke after that. I look over at the candle to see that its flame was almost out. It’s wax now in a slowly growing pool near its base. I hear a shuffling sound in the snow. I look over to see Nether, with his beer now empty staring wide eyed at his left paw. He looked so amazed at his paw as he was rotating it to and fro. Both Big Puppy and myself could clearly see that the young whelp has never had alcohol before. Now quite intoxicated after only one beer we both laughed. It was a good laugh, one that came from the belly. I nearly fell off my rock when Nether looked around to see what was so funny with us that he slipped and fell on his backside. Big Puppy howled with laughter and almost spilled his last beer. Nether obviously trying to get himself on his feet the quick way explodes in his trademark inherent teleport power. Unfortunately to his error he gravely misjudged distances and found himself rematerialize 15 feet from us and over the lake. A loud splash is heard and I do fall off my rock.
“Well that’s about enough family time for me.” Big replies still chuckling as he watches our youngest brother flail around in the water. “That boy is going to attract attention onto us anyways.” I rise to my feet and nod in agreement.
“So we’ll see you next year?” The Big Puppy grins and pats me on the back. “Count on it bro.”
“Its good to see you again Big.” I reply.
He nods and fades from my sight, as if on cue, the flame from the candle suddenly dies out. I turn my attention now to my waterlogged brother. My power flares to life and in a silvery flash I morph my body into a hulking armored alien brute, what people call a white dwarf. I plod into the icey water and gently fish Nether out with my oversized armored claws. Once back on snowy land, I relax my power and revert back to my natural lycan form. Nether still in my arms is shivering cold with his canines chattering. I use my wrist comlink to broadcast to any other heroes in the area for a teleport to the train station. As luck proves kind to me, there happened to be a team of heroes out by the station and were willing to accommodate us. As we waited for the team to bring us over I look at Nether and pat his now icy head. “You know bro, you gotta learn to hold your alcohol before next years gathering.” Nether smiles through chattered teeth as a bright energy suddenly envelopes us, transporting us to where we need to go.
Somewhere in the distance, a group of redcaps scream out in horror as a keg of their finest ale flies out of their cave lair, almost as if it had been whisked away by invisible arms. Under a Yuletide moon, the Big Puppy howls in triumph.
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