Chapter Text
Throughout a shadowed forest, wind hissed as the silvery moon cast a pale glow on the canopy.
A tall, muscular figure could be seen peeking through the bushes. Sweeping their gaze across the foliage, the figure stepped into a beam of moonlight.
It showed a clean-shaven, fair-skinned man - early 20s at most. His broad-shouldered form was shrouded in a dark red animal-pelt jacket, lined with fur at the interior and hood.
Moonlight caught the black logo on the jacket's shoulder: a nondescript monstrous face impaled by a sword and the letters S.H.K.D written underneath.
The man brushed some thick, auburn-red hair from his face. It was a wild, unorganized mane that fell to his lower neck. Dark, metal implants rested behind his ears, glinting in the light.
His eyes - inhuman things, almost like an owl - surveyed the area before him. Irises, large and white with no pupils and poisonous green sclera.
The man known simply as 'Rudy' furrowed his brow as he silently walked through the forest despite his size. Stopping every now and then to listen for something. Despite the pitch black darkness, he navigated the foliage as if it were broad daylight.
His eyes violently twitched when a beam of moonlight shot through the canopy right into his face, his sensitive vision making it almost painfully bright. He held up a bandaged hand to block the light from his face.
Rudy eventually found the body of a large buck, its throat savagely torn open and blood painting the grass. Veins of soft light pulsed in its antlers, even in death.
Kneeling to get a closer look - his green cargo pants and combat boots stained with dirt - the redheaded man noticed something. Although the deer was half eaten in a gruesome display of violence - roughly half an hour ago, by the look and smell of it - there was something else.
"No struggle." He voiced his thoughts in a steady voice as he turned to look around the area. "An ambush predator then. Killed it before it could react."
His inhuman eyes scrutinized the deer for a long moment before the faintest crack of a branch reached his ears. Old blood filled his nose.
Shooting to his feet, Rudy stared at the direction of the sound with a sudden laser-focus, his face set in a small scowl. Silence reined through the forest.
Toxic-green eyes darted back and forth as he turned in place, his hand creeping to the short, metal stick on his back.
A second snapped twig behind him made Rudy whirl around only to find nothing. "Oh, I do not like how quick you are..." He muttered under his breath. Whatever Rudy was dealing with, it was fast.
After a long moment of listening and a few experimental sniffs, Rudy slowly relaxed and followed where the scent was strongest.
Steadily, cautiously, Rudy went deeper into the forest.
Seemingly unaware of the eyes following him as he went, a low snarl coming from the greenery.
During his trek through the moonlit forest, Rudy thought back to the report that had brought him here: livestock mauled, locals got spooked. Palm Beach County had called, and as his Office's best tracker, he'd answered.
He'd started with the farms, searching for something to learn it's scent, but found only gouge marks on a raided barn door. Claws. Reptilian by the look of it.
The farmers hadn't seen much, vexingly. Quick, they said, striking at night and gone before they could react. He could vouch for that himself now. But all of them mentioned the same thing: large yellow eyes, glaring in the darkness.
That description matched several creatures, but none of them were found in this particular area of the state or known to blatantly steal from farmers like this. Not anymore, at least.
It was after another day of searching that he'd found it: a discarded scale, reptilian but unlike anything native to Florida. Some exotic pet, he theorized, escaped from one of Florida's many, many idiots.
He still didn't know how that one dumbass was able to keep a fucking Basilisk hidden for so long but, whatever.
He'd tracked the scent here, to this forest. Blood and something else permeated the air--artificial, like bad flavoring.
Now, moving through the woods at 4:00 in the morning, his stride slowed as he spotted fireflies, tiny lights teleporting from hot pink to blue to purple. Mating ritual? Or was it a warning? Regardless, the little insects danced intricately in the air.
Rudy took a moment to admire the display. It was rather pretty, if he was being honest.
It was at this moment that the fireflies suddenly scattered and Rudy's instincts screamed in alarm. He whipped around within an instant and punched the huge reptilian maw of his attacker hard enough to send it head-first into the dirt. It quickly scrambled to it's feet however, and put some distance between them.
"Figures I'd have to play dumb to get you to show yourself," Rudy mused, getting a good look at his target. It was covered head-to-toe in smooth, teal scales and a long, serpentine tail thrashed behind it. It lacked any hind limbs, instead walking with muscular forelimbs sporting savage claws. Jagged spikes of bone sprouted from its shoulders in uneven spires.
An arrow-shaped head and - more importantly - catlike yellow eyes. This was his monster.
"A Tatzelwurm?" Rudy identified it, his expression pensive. Not his first guess, he'd admit.
And it was huge. Rudy was pretty sure they're normally around 9ft long (pests, really) but the beast before him was at least 19ft long, probably closer to 20. And the redhead had also never heard of a Tatzelwurm with dorsal bone spikes before either.
Rudy put the thought aside when he noticed the Tatzelwurm's forearms tensing, and the metal stick was in his hand within a heartbeat.
Parts clicked and snapped into place as the small stick unfolded into a long, straight handle with a vaguely rectangular one-sided axe head placed at the end.
The axe was a rather simple thing. Four feet of metal and violence held in a one-handed, iron grip. The blade alone was nearly the size of Rudy's head.
The metal implants behind his ears unfurled, extending into a smooth, matte-black metal mask that covered his whole face. A bright 'V' shaped visor lit up where his eyes would be, glowing in the darkness of the woods. Thanks to the filters in the mask, Rudy's exhale came out as a mechanical snarl.
He easily hefted the weapon despite its size. It wouldn't be the heaviest thing he's swung around.
Rudy waited for his prey to attack, axe at the ready.
But the Tatzelwurm didn't attack, instead darting to the side. It preferred ambushes, and wasn't prepared to face off in an actual fight.
But Rudy wouldn't just let it leave so easily.
The Tatzelwurm bounded away - thirty feet in two leaps. Frighteningly fast for it's size. Rudy easily caught up however, following its' thick, artificial scent. The world became a smear of green as he barreled through the forest, vaulting over fallen trees and through branches.
He tackled it into a tree, the impact far heavier than even his large frame would suggest.
Bark and wood cracked open as the Tatzelwurm was slammed into the tree with a startled hiss, the beast only barely managing to pull its' head away from the glinting edge of the Rudy's axe burying itself in the bark.
The Tatzelwurm snarled and lunged, teeth clamping onto Rudy's right forearm with a pained growl, his mask reverberating the sound. But there was no blood or tearing of flesh, as the Tatzelwurm was somehow unable to pierce his jacket's sleeve.
It was made from something far worse than this beast, after all.
Confused, the Tatzelwurm couldn't figure out why it tasted no blood.
That confusion became panic as Rudy released his grip on his axe - leaving it embedded in the tree - and gripped the beasts' upper jaw with his left hand, his right arm still in its mouth. With a grunt, Rudy twisted, performing some sort of bastardized Judo-flip. The Tatzelwurm slammed onto its back, bone spikes snapping with a meaty thud, and it wheezed in pain, releasing his arm.
Rudy was on top of the thrashing, struggling beast in an instant, pinning its' forelimbs down with his knees. His unoccupied hands meanwhile, started beating the Tatzelwurm's face in with blindingly fast punches. With each hit, the sound of Rudy's knuckles thudding into the Tatzelwurm's skull filled the air.
Again and again he went, the assault stunning the monster and preventing any retaliation.
After about two dozen blows - his bandaged knuckles warm with blood and the creature's broken teeth dotting the ground - he stopped to reach down to his thigh and pulled out a hunting knife almost the length of his forearm.
It was right as Rudy was about to slit the Tatzelwurm's throat when he felt something wrap around his wrist with an iron grip. Confusedly turning around let him see the serpentine monster's tail constricted around his arm.
He barely had any time to curse about the fact that of course its' tail was prehensile before said tail flicked out and hurled him into - and through - a tree.
By the time Rudy got back to his feet - shaking splinters and wood dust off his back - the Tatzelwurm was already gone, bounding off into the forest.
Clicking his tongue with a scowl - unseen under his mask - he calmly went to retrieve his axe from the tree trunk it was still buried in, sheathing his knife as he did.
The man idly rolled his shoulders, huffing with irritation at the pops and cracks that answered him.
"I hate it when they're clever."
Luckily, his earlier pummeling of the beast left it bleeding, giving him a fresh sample of its blood to track. Whether by scent or sight, it didn't matter. It wasn't going to escape him.
Rudy was right, the Tatzelwurm didn't escape. It had evaded him however, 20 goddamned minutes of tracking until his eyes finally spotted the slippery bastard, near a river.
He did also notice something strange on the way. While he hadn't needed it, the blood drops from the Tatzelwurms' forcibly removed teeth did help. But they had disappeared after a time, as if they stopped bleeding. Odd, because Rudy was fairly sure Tatzelwurms couldn't regenerate.
Regardless, Rudy was perched in a tree watching his quarry drink from a river. His masks' visor glowed softly in the shade, like a glowstick. He'd give it a moment, assess what he learned.
The Tatzelwurm had indeed healed. Rudy had knocked several of its teeth out and given it a nasty black eye last time he'd seen it, but it was in much better condition now though he wouldn't called it recovered. Which annoyed him more than he thought it would.
He'd also learned his lesson--he couldn't focus on just its front half. Had to watch out for both ends.
As Rudy thought through his plan, the Tatzelwurm stilled, the river breeze shifting. It raised its head, tongue flicking in and out to taste the air.
Shit, I'm downwind. It'll catch his scent in seconds.
"Looks like the plan's a bust," Rudy whispered, unfortunately used to improvising.
He drew his axe and leapt, bringing the weapon down in a chop.
The Tatzelwurm snapped its head to meet him, hissing in angered recognition right before he slammed into it and - thanks to his own strength and a little gravity - buried the axe head a solid half-foot into its shoulder. The sound of steel biting into flesh filled the air and his nose found itself breathing in the metallic scent of fresh blood.
The serpentine creature shrieked and blood painted Rudy's front with flecks of red. It thrashed and threw itself around like an angry bull, but he held on tight by the hilt of his weapon. Whenever it tried to whip around and bite him, he ducked his head back and forth to avoid the beast's razor-sharp teeth.
The Tatzelwurm's tail lashed out again, but Rudy simply snatched it and pulled out his knife to cut off a solid foot of the tip, renewing its pained screeching.
They continued, until the Tatzelwurm apparently smartened up and threw itself back-first into a tree, sandwiching Rudy in-between it and the trunk.
Rudy cursed violently at the impact, the Tatzelwurm having repeat its' action three times before it got an actual effect.
Rudy loosened his grip, growling, and the beast sunk its teeth into his forearm. Again. It tore him off in an animalistic mirror of his earlier Judo-flip and ragdolled him about the river's edge like a chew-toy, the axe still impaled in its shoulder. Luckily, his jacket stood up to the assault unscathed.
But while his flesh may have been saved, getting thrown around by a 20ft reptile still hurt. A lot.
"AGH, MOTHERFUCK-!" Rudy snarled, trying to grab the monster's head but he was being thrown around too wildly. He could do nothing but allow himself to be slammed and swung into every object the Tatzelwurm could find, waiting for an opportunity. He was... unfortunately used to this.
Eventually, Rudy managed to grip the side of the creature's face, feeling around. He flashed it a vindictive grin as he tensed his fingers and ripped the Tatzelwurm's right eye clean out its socket with a horrific 'squelching' noise.
Oh, how it howled.
Immediately letting his arm go, the Tatzelwurm slithered away with agonized hissing. Rudy used this time to calmly get back on his feet, idly noticing the tip of the creature's tail regenerating. Not quite back to its original length, but it was getting there.
"Well, nice to know it doesn't heal too fast. Almost 2 full minutes and it's not healed?" He observed, flicking the pulped remains of the Tatzelwurm's eye off his fingers. It mixed in disgustingly with the blood on his knuckles. He was happy to know this thing wasn't regenerating at the level of say, a Hydra.
Those fuckers are so annoying to kill.
After a moment of stewing in its agony, the serpentine beast turned back to face him. Its remaining yellow eye glared at Rudy with something eerily close to hatred, but honestly? Rudy had seen far worse.
So he ignored it and drew his knife.
"Come on, then." He snarked as he charged the Tatzelwurm, his form blurring into motion.
He slid under its enraged claw swipe and hamstrung it, making it collapse like a puppet with its strings cut. As it tried to rise, he stepped on its back and yanked his axe out of its shoulder with a spurt of blood.
The Tatzelwurm's tail lashed up like a whip to seize his leg, only to grab air as he casually stepped backwards.
Rudy and the Tatzelwurm found themselves in a stare-down, the monster slowly pulling itself up as its flesh knit itself back together. The gash on its shoulder had stopped bleeding as they circled one another, though far from recovered.
Rudy noted that its eye was also healing, but it wouldn't be back anytime soon. The creature wasn't going to run either, knowing it would just be chased down again. It'd have to win here.
It was a clever bastard, he'd give it that.
The Tatzelwurm growled and he snarled right back - luminescent green visor glaring into a solitary yellow eye - before they both sprung into action.
The monster charged him furiously, its anger driving it to uncharacteristic aggression. Rudy met its charge with one of his own, slamming into the beast shoulder-first with a sickening snap. Likely the sound of its rib fracturing against his body, that had a pretty distinct noise.
With the Tatzelwurm stunned, Rudy swung his axe into its side with a wet crunch, getting a scream in response. Teal scales were dyed red by the creature's own blood, flecks of the sanguine liquid finding places on Rudy's face and painting his mask like a blank canvas.
He squared his feet and with a grunt, lifted his weapon - with the Tatzelwurm still attached - up and over his head.
The beast was in the air for only a half-moment before Rudy slammed it into the ground with a thunderous crack. A wet coughing noise escaped the reptile's throat, alongside a spurt of blood that stained the dirt.
Rudy recognized it with a practiced eye: internal bleeding. Its ribs had likely pierced its lungs, and only its accelerated healing was keeping it alive.
He was cut short as the Tatzelwurm's tail, now fully healed, swept his legs. His axe was ripped from his opponent with a horrific squelch, and he staggered.
Before he could regain his footing, a steaming, bubbling liquid sprayed from the Tatzelwurm's maw.
It damn near took his head off. He snapped his head to the side, narrowly dodging the blast, though a few droplets painfully seared through his mask onto his face.
As he backed away, Rudy glanced at the tree behind him: its trunk was steaming, melting from the liquid. Eaten through by the bubbling mess. The tree toppled to the ground with a thud that he felt in his bones.
He snapped his head between the Tatzelwurm and the melted tree. A startled mix of confusion, anger and trepidation stirred up within him.
"Acid?! Since when could Tatzelwurm's spit fucking acid?" Rudy didn't know a huge amount about the creatures, but he was fairly certain they didn't spit corrosive acid that could eat through a full-grown tree in seconds.
Then again, he's also pretty sure he'd have heard about Tatzelwurm's bigger than bears with spires of bone protruding from its back too.
Where the hell did this thing come from?
He noticed his quarry was carefully hobbling away, wounds sluggishly healing. It was trying to escape.
Again.
Rudy growled, hefting his axe, the handle and head slightly collapsing into a shorter length for one-handed use. No more games.
His glowing eyes glared at his opponent.
You're not getting away this time.
He pulled his arm back and hurled the axe into the Tatzelwurm's shoulder, making it snap its head back to scream at him.
That gave Rudy time to snatch its tail in an vice-grip, swinging the 20ft reptile into a tree behind him and cleanly smashing through the trunk. The tree tumbled to the ground with a resounding crash.
Despite its grievous injuries, the Tatzelwurm managed to rally its strength and get to it's feet. Obviously exhausted, the beast snapped its frantic, fearful yellow eye across the area. Desperately looking for an escape route, but finding none.
It finally settled its gaze on Rudy, seemingly determined to kill him now. They both knew what was going to happen here, either he died or it died. End of story.
Exchanging glares - one a cycloptic stare of animalistic hate, the other a bright-eyed look of sheer annoyance - Man and Beast fell into a mortal skirmish.
As they threw each other around like enraged animals - literally, for one of them - Rudy cracked his elbow into the Tatzelwurm's jaw, before reaching around and ripping his axe out of it's arm.
The beast shrieked and once again used its tail to flick dirt into his face, distracting him long enough to score a swipe on his leg.
Its claws bit into his skin with a painful sting, making the man growl. Pinkish-red blood seeped from the wound and stained his cargo pants.
As a retaliatory haymaker snapped the Tatzelwurm's head back, the redheaded man capitalized and reached out, choke-slamming his opponent into the ground hard enough to break it's dorsal spikes.
The reptile spewed more acid to escape, only for Rudy's jacketed forearm to once again thwart its attack completely. The liquid splashed harmlessly off his sleeve and burned holes in the soil around them.
The Tatzelwurm managed to quickly wrap its tail around his waist and throw him away, frantically scrambling to its feet. It barely got its bearings before a rock - thrown at breakneck speeds - flew into its eye, earning another agonized scream.
Rudy didn't waste any time and immediately launched an assault on the creature. He grabbed it by the head and stabbed it right in its remaining eye with his hunting knife.
The Tatzelwurm thrashed and struggled and shrieked in pain, spewing acid like a firehose in its panicked, literally blind rage. The auburn-haired man grabbed it in a headlock and aimed its face at the ground, making a cloud of noxious steam from the caustic liquid's burning into the dirt.
The man grimaced and almost gagged, whatever chemicals made up that acid smelled horrible. Especially for someone with as good a nose as him.
Alright, enough's enough. Rudy decided, before slamming his fist into the Tatzelwurm's skull to stun it. He gripped the underside of its snout, holding the beasts' top and bottom jaws in each hand. With a snarl of annoyance, Rudy started to pull its mouth open.
He didn't stop there, pulling and pulling and pulling, until the sounds of muscle and tendon fibers snapped and popped. The animal frantically called out in response. Its crazed, terrified shrieking reminded him of the sound of tearing metal.
The Tatzelwurm's struggling returned with a vengeance, flailing its head back and forth in a frenzy. Quick as its healing was, it wouldn't survive outright decapitation. Its frantic clawing found no purchase on Rudy's seemingly impenetrable jacket, however.
The flesh holding its jaws together had begun to visibly rip now, the muscles giving way to Rudy's inhuman strength. The muscle fibers snapped apart with disgusting pops, which painted Rudy's hands red and the Tatzelwurm screamed out a final call before one last yank let the auburn-haired man tear the monster's head clean in half.
The forest was silent for a long, long moment.
Rudy unceremoniously dropped the Tatzelwurm's limp body with a thud, its tail and legs spasming their last death throes until it fell still for the last time. Blood spurted from the stump where its top jaw used to be like a macabre fountain.
He chucked the Beasts' upper jaw a ways away and sat down, using the dead Tatzelwurm as a seat while he recovered his weapons to wipe them clean with a cloth. He took the time to clean his hands too, while he was at it. His mask slid back behind his ears, showing his pale face once more, marked only with a tiny burn on his cheek.
No real injuries except an acid burn and cuts on my leg, no casualties unless you count the trees, and one dangerous Beast dead. Rudy was satisfied with tonight's events, except for one thing: the Tatzelwurm itself.
Abnormal size, accelerated healing, acid-breath, and far too intelligent for an animal.
Though Rudy supposed it was vaguely possible this was some incredibly rare, near-extinct variant of Tatzelwurm that had somehow found its way to Florida. In which case he'll have to call his lawyer because the animal rights' activists will be out for his blood when they find out he killed a member of an endangered species again.
But thankfully, Rudy was certain the monster lying under him wasn't natural. The way its bone spires struck out from its back was completely random, with no sense of symmetry or patterning like most creatures with horns or bony protrusions. A Dragon's crown of horns for example, was always symmetrical excluding things like injuries or mutations.
"Mutations..." Rudy muttered, his eyes narrowing slightly. He flicked his gaze below him to look the dead Tatzelwurm up and down. The jagged, unorganized spikes, the artificial scent and what he swears look like faint, healed-over scars. Surgical scars.
Yes, the most likely theory was that this Tatzelwurm was some manner of mutated specimen. But not naturally. It seemed almost.. designed.
Now that he thought about it, these mutations seemed a bit closer to augmentations than anything else....
' Get up #15, time for another test.'
Rudy flinched and shook his head, sheathing his weapons before pulling out a phone and punching in a number. Steadfastly ignoring the memories that invaded his mind. Not that kind of mutant. It couldn't be.
"Cleanup? Yeah, this is Beast Hunter Rudy. I've got the Beast responsible for the cattle disappearances in Palm Beach County here, dead."
There was a moment of quiet.
"Copy, track my phone to my location, I'll be waiting outside the forest with the body, bring a truck."
Another moment.
"Right, thanks."
Rudy hung up and got to his feet, stretching for a moment and pushing some stray locks of hair from his face. He then pulled out a small cloth that - with a firm flick - folded out into a large translucent bag. He gathered the Tatzelwurm's removed top jaw and sealed it inside, holding it in one hand while carefully hoisting the beast's now-cold corpse over his shoulder.
Rudy then began the long trek back to the forests' edge to meet up with the cleanup crew.
Two hours later, Rudy stepped out of the truck, leaving the countryside hills for the concrete structures of Derry, Florida. Ten stories of somewhat intimidating building loomed over him, sporting a black paint job, tinted windows, and the same crimson logo as his jacket.
The sun peeked over the horizon, dyeing the sky orange-red. He gave the cleanup crew a silent nod as they drove the Tatzelwurm's body into the underground parking lot, leading to the lab.
It would be stored there until Rudy decided what he wanted to do with it as the legal owner per the Right of Conquest Law. Not that he wanted any part of it for gear. He just wanted to know what the hell it even was, and maybe he would sell it after an autopsy.
That would come later. Right now, Rudy looked up at the name built into the face of the building:
[SUPERNATURAL HUNTER-KILLER DEPARTMENT: OFFICE 53]
Rudy blinked, adjusting from the low-light outdoors to the brightness of the Office lobby and his nose twitched at the strong scent of lavender. Wine-red carpets and black couches gave the room an almost cozy feel, and he could see a well-dressed man speaking to the receptionist: a Komodo Dragon Lizardfolk with olive-green scales.
Rudy wasn't the biggest fan of the building's red coloring, but at least it wasn't thrice-damned white. That was all he really gave a damn about.
Color preferences aside, Rudy ignored the sparse lobby patrons and made his way to an elevator placed off to the side of the room - the words STAFF ONLY printed on the door - with the staircase entrance beside it. He called it down and waited for a moment before the door opened with a soft 'ding'.
Luckily, the elevator was empty and he didn't have to suffer through another awkward silence. He was terrible with people, though not for a lack of trying.
Rudy reached down to the interface and pressed the button to the 4th floor, then leaned against the wall as the elevator began to rise.
The green-eyed man idly poked at the acid burn on his cheek, grimacing at the sting he felt. That would likely take a day or two to heal, if he was guessing right. But acid burns could be unpredictable, some only required a few days to recover from while some took entire weeks.
"Ah well, I'll burn that bridge when I get to it." He mused. At least he knew from experience that his leg injury would take less than a day, being as minor as it was.
Meanwhile the elevator dinged again, Rudy softly pushing off the wall as the door opened to reveal his workplace.
Rudy grimaced at the familiar chaos of the Main Office, idly dodging his coworkers rushing by with paperwork of all kinds to their cubicles and desks. The wine-red carpet and black pillars made for a distinctive aesthetic, though Rudy personally didn't appreciate the near-acidic lime-scented air freshener.
The floor stretched longer and further than the exterior of the building would suggest, using the spatial warping tech built into the foundations to fit dozens more people than normally able into the space.
Rudy idly dodged a rushing coworker and gave the Goblin by the cooler a wide berth. Many more of his colleagues - some wearing similar suits and ties, others in outfits just a personalized as his - milled about the place like bees at work, the combined noise making the auburn-haired man wince.
"Oh back already, eh Rudy?" A cheery voice with a thick Scottish brogue chirped beside him, accompanied by an earthy, almost smoky scent.
Turning, Rudy saw a woman towering over him at nearly eight feet tall. Dirty-blonde hair framed her playful hazel eyes, and she wore a button-up shirt and red tie over the powerful body of a Clydesdale horse.
Her near dinnerplate-sized hooves clipped and clopped on the floor as she approached.
"Eileen, good to see you." The auburn-haired man greeted his coworker, craning his head up to look her in the eye. Eileen McLeary laughed as she gave Rudy a good-natured clap on the shoulder, actually pushing him forward a bit.
"Good to see you too, Bright-Eyes! The Office gets real borin' without ya around." The Centaur woman said, getting a skeptical look in return.
"I doubt that. I'm not exactly a social butterfly, I'm self-aware enough to admit that." In fact, a lot of his old schoolmates in the S.H.K.D Academy went out of their way to avoid him. He only had two friends out of the couple hundred students there.
The blonde rolled her eyes at him. "Well I enjoy your company, so just take the compliment ya ninny."
It was as he started making his way to his desk that Eileen spoke again.
"Say, you were out in Palm Beach County, yeah? Investigatin' missing cattle or some shit?" Eileen asked, walking alongside him as he traversed the Main Office, dodging their bustling coworkers as they went.
"Yeah."
"What was happenin' then? Swamp Drake? Titanoboa? Some little bastard teenagers who thought they were funny?" The Scottish Centaur ran through her theories one after the other. She had a curious smirk on her face, her freckles shifting with her cheeks as she smiled.
"Tatzelwurm, actually. Big one that spat acid of all things." Rudy pointed at his new acid burn for emphasis as Eileen had a double-take and gave him a weird look. Yeah he felt about the same, honestly.
"A Tatzelwurm? In Southern Florida?" The blonde goggled at him. "That's.... not right. Tatzelwurm's are from the Alps, how the fuck did one get here?" Distracted, Eileen accidentally bumped into another Hunter who gave her a look. "Ah, sorry Chuck."
"Just watch where you're going, McCleary..." Rudy ignored the exchange and answered the Centaur's question.
"No clue either. I've had about 2 hours to figure it out and I'm still not fully sure what it was or how it got here. But I'm currently running under the idea that it was some kind of... mutant."
Rudy's fingers tapped on his crossed arms, this mutated Tatzelwurm was somehow both unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. It itched at him incessantly.
There was something he was missing here, he just knew it.
Eileen tilted her head, squinting as she processed his words. "Mutant? Like you or somethin' else?"
"Something else." Rudy replied, before furrowing his brow. "I think..."
"And you said it spat acid? Like some kinda... mini-Basilisk or somethin?" Eileen didn't seem to hear his latter words.
"Yeah, damn near melted my face off. Healed fast too." Rudy replied, his face set in a scowl. "Knocked its teeth out and not even a half-hour later, good as new and biting me everywhere it could reach."
"Anything else out of the ordinary? Mutant animals don't exactly pop up out of nowhere."
Rudy went silent for a moment before answering. "...It was annoyingly smart. Smarter than an animal its type should be. Knew it couldn't run and tried to trip me up every chance it got."
Eileen cupped her chin with a click of the tongue, "Mutations giving an animal new or better versions of its powers isn't impossible. Tatzelwurm's normally have toxic saliva, so it turning into acid breath ain't really out of this world. But getting smarter? That isn't something that happens a lot, Rudy."
Rudy hummed, glowing eyes glaring ahead at nothing in particular. A couple of his coworkers in front of him ducked away, though he didn't really care.
The two quieted down for a moment before Eileen broke the silence.
"You doin' alright with those cuts, lad?" She suddenly asked out of the blue, shifting her gaze to the cuts the Tatzelwurm left in Rudy's leg with its claws. A glint of concern rested in her hazel eyes and her stride slowed as she turned to look at him.
"I'm fine, Eileen. You know I've had worse." Was the auburn-haired man's reply. He was right, he's had much, much worse than some clawing from a 20ft reptile. The claw marks were already scabbed over.
The Centaur frowned at his tone. "I'm sure you are fine, but it'd be daft not to at least get it checked. That Tatzelwurm's claws might've been venomous for all we know." The slightest hint of annoyance came up from his coworker's insistence, but he pushed it down as quickly as it came with a flex of his hands.
She's just trying to help, Rudy. The man reminded himself.
"Eileen, I'm not gonna drop dead from some clawing. If I thought it was bad I'd have checked it by now, I'm not a child." Rudy sighed, ignoring the woman rolling her eyes at his latter words and muttering: "Definitely as stubborn as one."
"But I suppose you have a point, I'll check in at the Infirmary after I finish my report." Eileen nodded, though he could tell she wasn't quite satisfied.
God, what a mother hen.
Rudy rolled his shoulders and ignored the hazel eyes searching him. He twitched at the staring.
The two came to a stop at Rudy's desk, a rather large thing placed in the corner of the Main Office. It was L-shaped with a sleek computer, a visibly reinforced wheeled chair and some leftover paperwork that he hadn't had the time to finish yet. Sitting next to his monitor in its own space on his desk was a chibi-shaped, handmade plush doll big enough to fit comfortably in Rudy's hand.
The doll was a replica of Rudy himself, complete with his red furry jacket and axe in its hand. His green eyes were replicated with round buttons and his shaggy auburn hair was made up of dyed cotton. It took him days to get the color mixings right.
Beside the doll was a framed photo, showing a younger Rudy in a grey-and-red school uniform standing alongside two people. The redhead noticed his photo-self's small, contented smile.
The first person was a male Human with a lean build standing almost a half-head shorter than Rudy, leaning against his shoulder and dressed in the same uniform. He had a lightly tanned complexion, the type someone gets when they spend all their time outside in the sun while his bright orange hair was lazily tied back into a short wolf-tail.
His sky-blue eyes glinted mischievously and he aimed a cheeky smirk at the camera, clearly very confident in himself.
The second person - standing behind them - was an androgynous figure slightly taller than Rudy, wearing no clothes and resembling a suit of armor or humanoid machine. Her body was a deep bronze with accents of blue, with a head adorned with ram-like horns and a smooth faceplate where a mouth would be. Her eyes were a pair of deep blue lights.
The metal woman had her arms around Rudy and the other man in a hug, projecting a deep sense of care and affection even through the photo. Rudy found himself staring at the photo for a long moment as memories rushed into his mind.
Felix, Eve, I hope you two are doing okay at Canada. The auburn-haired man thought.
"Missin' the old schoolmates, Bright-Eyes?" Eileen's voice cut Rudy out of his reminiscing. He turned to the Scottish woman - somewhat irritated at her interruption - and saw her smiling at him, as if she knew something he didn't. The presumption irked him. "Ya know, there's nothing stoppin' you from using yer vacation days to go see 'em. That's what they're there for."
Rudy blinked and thought it over for a moment. Eileen had a point, he hasn't seen his old friends for almost a year and a half now. Maybe he should take a week or two off, go and see them?
The green-eyed man shook his head. "Monster activity's gone up lately, and I'm still a bit concerned with that Tatzelwurm. I'll see how things are in a month or two." As he said this, Rudy sat himself down in his wheeled office chair - the seat creaking slightly from his weight - and turned on his computer. "Now if you don't need anything else Eileen, I have a report to make."
"Gotcha Bright-Eyes, I'll leave you be." The Centaur waved with a chuckle as she trotted back to her own desk, likely to do her own paperwork.
Rudy sighed and made a new document on his computer, labeling it as 'Palm Beach County Beast Hunt Report'. This was always the most boring part of his job.
"Time to get to work."
It was when Rudy was nearly done with his report an hour later that a Hunter approached Rudy's desk as he was finishing his report. It took him a second, but he believed his name was Cal.
Brown hair, blue eyes, a plain face and a bland suit - Cal could have been anyone. But the gun holstered on his waist proved he was no mere businessman.
"Mr. Rudy?" Cal hesitantly asked, getting a hum and a flick of poisonous eyes in his direction before Rudy swung in his chair to face him.
"Did you need something?"
The Hunter pointed behind him at a well-furbished wooden door with a plaque reading CHIEF'S OFFICE on its face. "Crispy wants to see you, says it's important." The brunette man simply said. That got Rudy's full attention, like anything involving the Office Chief did.
Rudy straightened in his chair, meeting Cal's gaze. He could see the younger man was avoiding direct eye contact, which was normal. People didn't like his eyes on a good day. The mask helped, but he only had that on during fights.
"Crispin? What did he say?" Said Rudy, as he quickly saved his report to finish later. This took priority and he wasn't far from being done anyway. The first part of Cal's sentence reached him and a small scowl grew on the redhead's face, "And what did you just call him?"
The younger man flinched slightly and rubbed his arm, "S-sorry sir, it's just that I overheard some other Hunters calling him that so I... thought it was normal."
"Well it's not, he doesn't just let anyone call him that." Rudy stood up from his chair, making Cal take a slight step back. The redheaded man towered over him, almost a full head taller than the brunette. "Crispin didn't get set on fire just for every Tom, Dick and Harry in the Office to start calling him Crispy."
Rudy tried not to get too annoyed at his coworker, he really did. The guy just didn't know better. But only very specific people get to use that nickname and Cal was not one of them.
Said man looked rather put-down by the admonishment, getting a sigh from Rudy. He was out of line, but I was a bit too aggressive there. Can't just unload on the newbies like that, it's unprofessional.
"Look, you didn't mean anything by it so I won't say anything if you don't." Cal looked relieved at this.
"But a word of advice, Cal?" The relief dampened slightly at Rudy's tone.
"That name is reserved for friends and close colleagues only. So I'd watch your mouth if I were you." The tall mutant spoke as he walked past his coworker.
With his piece said, Rudy sedately made his way to the Chief's Office and opened the door, ignoring Cal's stare as he did.
Crispin's office was spartan, only decorated by several awards and a giant, mechanical-looking warhammer mounted on the back wall. Rudy could feel a cold emanating from it, like the screaming howl of a blizzard.
A large wooden desk with a computer and monitor sat in the middle, much like his own.
Of course, Rudy wasn't a humanoid American Crocodile. Unlike the man sitting before him.
With an elongated snout and razor-sharp teeth, the greyish-green scaled Lizardfolk known as Crispin 'Crispy' Ironback made for an intimidating sight, a thick tail poking out from behind his desk. A milky-white eye and vicious burn scars crept up his right side.
Crispin wore a simple button-up shirt with rolled up sleeves, showing his leathery-scaled forearms and clawed hands. His remaining eye was green-yellow with a slit pupil that watched Rudy with a predatory intensity.
To the left, Rudy could see a plushie replica of the Chief sitting on his desk, brandishing a little cotton hammer. A gift, from when Rudy first joined the Office.
Rudy and Crispin stared at each other, their mutual thoughts a mystery.
"Rudy." Crispin greeted, in a rumbling baritone.
Rudy nodded back, with straight posture and eye contact. "Chief."
"How you been, kid?" Crispin said, his tone now warmer and a small smile on his reptilian face, though someone unexperienced in Lizardfolk expressions might not have been able to identify it as such. "Heard something about a Tatzelwurm earlier today, gave you some trouble did it?"
Rudy grimaced, "Annoying little prick was too smart for its own good." He idly rubbed his eyes as he spoke. "Dead now, though."
Crispin chuckled, the sound not unlike the bellowing hiss of his animal counterpart. "Yeah, you messed it up good, if the autopsy downstairs is right. Ruthless as always, eh Rudy?"
"I guess so, but I've never really thought about it. Just... doing my job." Rudy replied with an uncaring shrug. "But, you said you had something important for me Chief?"
"Ah, right." Crispin idly tapped his claws on the polished wood of his desk. "The Office has a new Hunter and I want you to be her partner until she's acclimated to the area." The Chief said bluntly, making Rudy blink as he processed his words.
"Come again?"
That was... not what the mutant was expecting. A new assignment maybe, or a specific monster Chief wanted dead. He could deal with those just fine. Simple, easy even.
But a new Hunter? Partnered with him? Rudy's lips curled at the very thought.
Crispin seemed to catch his expression because he chuckled and held a hand up, "Now before you protest, I know you're terrible with newbies, though not for a lack of trying." Rudy had let a newbie tag along on a job with him exactly once. That same newbie has since decided to pursue a career in catering.
"Which is why I'm not partnering you up with one. She's quite experienced, just transferring from her Office in San Francisco." The Lizardfolk explained patiently, "I've seen her work and she's easily just as skilled as you, albeit in differing fields. So you don't have to worry about her carrying her weight."
Rudy's brow raised at that, curious despite himself. He finally spoke, his voice saturated in skepticism:
"Really?"
"Really." Crispin replied, voice just as dry. "Look, it'll just be until she's familiar with the area, then you can go back to your solo-assignments. Probably a week or two at most." The crocodilian man's expression then changed, his pearly white teeth showing as his snout curled up into the Lizardfolk equivalent to a smirk. It looked rather unnerving with his burn scars and blank white eye.
"And maybe - just maybe - you'll stop disliking people so much. I think you'll like her, actually."
Rudy's eye twitched, before his face shifted into a small scowl as he thought. "Fine, I'll take your word for it Crispin. I'll-" He sighed at this. "-do my best to help the new transfer. Happy?"
"Ecstatic." He could practically hear the smirk in the Chief's voice.
The auburn-haired man scratched an itch on his neck, "So when does she get here? And what's her name?" Rudy felt a bit silly for not asking her name before anything else.
Crispin smiled, looking somewhat amused. "Oh, she's already here. She can introduce herself, I think."
Rudy's nose twitched as a new scent entered the room, turning around to see a woman around his age enter the room. He looked her up and down, taking in her appearance.
She... almost looks like some kind of noir detective. Rudy remarked internally.
Raven-black hair fell down to her shoulders like a curtain, with some loose strands framing a pale face. Deep purple eyes that seemed to watch him as much as he did her, though Rudy got a sense of... amusement from her somehow. It would seem this inspection was going both ways.
She was rather svelte, average height and didn't look like she had much muscle on her. A long range fighter, then. Rudy could tell that much even through the indigo, double-breasted trench coat that covered most of her form.
She wore thin black gloves with magic circles, but Rudy couldn't tell what they were or what they did. He hunted monsters, not people. Human magic was lost on him. His best guess was focus runes or something to help with spellcasting. Felix mentioned something like that once.
Rudy idly noted her laced-up leather boots, not combat ones like his own but thinner. More casual. He assumed they were knee-height by the look of it but he couldn't tell through the coat. Well, at least she isn't going into fights with heels.
"Guten Morgen, Chief! Beautiful sunrise today, isn't it?"
"Well Heather, I've been indoors for the last 6 hours. I wouldn't know, I'm afraid." Was Crispin's amused reply.
"Ah, well that's a shame. It's quite the view, if I do say so myself." 'Heather's' voice - carrying a German accent - drew Rudy from his thoughts, noticing her turning to look him in the eyes. She didn't so much as twitch at his inhuman gaze.
She's... not unnerved by my eyes. That's new.
"And you must be Rudy!" She smiled and strutted over to him, holding out a gloved hand. "Heather Albrecht - but please, call me Heather - from Office 28 in San Francisco! I hope to be of use in whatever capacity is required."
As she came nearer, Rudy could help but notice that Heather's closer proximity made the height disparity between them all the more apparent. She barely came up to his shoulder and had to crane her head up to look at him.
Taking her hand, Rudy was surprised to feel a... numbing sensation upon contact. Like there was something in him being pulled out or removed.
He twitched ever so slightly at the feeling, caught off-guard enough that he didn't see Heather tilting her head, a near-invisible smile on her face.
Feels.... cold. Or absent.
Rudy recognized this. One can get an... impression of a Mage's power through physical contact, usually a word or feeling. He'd had a similar experience with Felix. Just touching him had the word 'Bonfire' rushing through his mind.
Entropy.
Heather Albrecht felt like Entropy. That meant dangerous magic. Very dangerous.
"Rudy, no last name. Long as you're as good as Crispin says, we won't have any problems, Heather." Rudy answered her, ignoring the strange feeling for now. Heather just smiled at him.
"I'll endeavor not to disappoint then, Rudy."
Somehow, Rudy got the feeling that this was going to be a bigger headache than he thought.