Imperfect Life: Arc 4

Chapter 11

As Crys woke up Friday morning, she checked her phone to find two text message notifications on her screen. One text was from Tomas, and the other was from Teague. She assumed Tomas' message would be just like the ones she had gotten from him since Monday, having something to do with the werewolf-looking thief, so she decided to see what Teague said first.

Teague's message was an invitation to go to the ice rink and arcade on Saturday with him and the others. He didn't mention anything about Brandon, but based on the way he had worded his message, Crys got the impression Brandon wasn't invited. She would invite him later anyways, of course, but that was beside the point. For now, Crys put Teague's invitation to the side in order to see what Tomas had sent her. Tomas' text message had two things, first, a message saying that Crys had to see this video as soon as possible, and secondly, the video Tomas had just mentioned.

Crys rolled her eyes. She wasn't too thrilled about getting yet another news report, so she just clicked play on the video, not really caring about what she was going to watch.

"Last night an armed robbery was stopped by a new hero in town." The news reporter said.

Crys furrowed her brows at the mention of a new hero. Now she was curious.

"As the robbers ran from the scene of the crime, a sleek new hero got the drop on them, quickly putting a stop to both robbers and handing them over to police. After the incident, crowds of people gathered to witness what had happened and our reporter in the field managed to get a quick interview with the new hero." The news reporter continued.

Crys was anxious to find out more.

The news video changed from a newsroom to a pre-recorded segment taking place outside at night, presumably where the robbery was. As the shaky camera steadied itself, it settled on one sole subject.

"Excuse me!" Called out the reporter who happened to be at the scene. "I'm with channel 10 news, would you please answer a few questions?" She asked, directing it to the subject in focus.

"Why of course, darlin'. I would love nothing more than to answer whatever questions you may have for me." Replied the subject with a silky smooth voice like butter. It was deep, yet vaguely feminine. The subject had a bit of a drawl as well, adding to the charm of its almost perfect human-sounding voice.

The subject that the camera was focused on had a sleek metallic, and oddly feminine-looking, body that looked like it was segmented in several places along its abdomen, with each segment layering just slightly above the previous one. Its hands had sharp looking fingers reminiscent of claws, while its shoulders had spikey points that resembled fur protruding out of them, and on its chest were sharp bits sticking out as well, similarly resembling tufts of fur. The tail was segmented much like the body, coming to a fine point at its sharp end. Finally, its head was wolf-like in shape, ever so slightly more geometric in comparison to its sleek body, with pointed ears and a ridge of spikes going down the back of its head to appear like more fur. Its mouth had sharp metal fangs at the front and curved upwards to form a sly smile. Its eyes appeared to be screens with a blue ring of light in each to look like an iris. Oddly enough, its metal eyebrows just above the eyes also managed to move, allowing it to convey at least some emotion physically.

Crys' eyes widened in horror and realization. At first, she didn't know what to make of the idea of a new hero in town, but now that she heard that voice and saw that robotic muzzle, she knew exactly who, or rather what, this new 'hero' was.

"Who are you?" The reporter asked as the video continued to play.

"Me, darlin'? Well, you can call me the Mechanical Werewolf, or if you prefer to shorten it, the Mecha-Werewolf will do fine, and if that doesn't suit your needs, Mecha-Wolf is perfectly acceptable as well." The Mecha-Werewolf said, obviously acting as charming as possible.