Mutants: Normal

4-2: Witness

Fang opened one eye, wondering what time it was, and sat up to look around. The sky was still dark and it was later in the night, but it was only slightly quieter in the city—the festivities were ongoing since they hadn't counted down to midnight yet.

I should go back to sleep, he thought, leaning back again from his perch and folding his wings around him to block some of the chilly breeze that penetrated his black t-shirt. Counting down on your own is lonely...

"Help!"

Fang jerked awake. What was that sound? He looked around frantically. If his ears hadn't deceived him, the scream had come from a girl. Does no one else hear that? The people in the city were either turning a blind eye—a deaf ear—or they really hadn't heard the scream. Of course, he didn't blame them; the noise from celebrations was fairly deafening. Fang wasn't even sure if he had heard it himself, or how he had. He was on the top of an apartment building and his hearing definitely wasn't the most refined out of the mutants. But the sound of the scream had pierced his ear and left a ringing noise behind.

Better safe than sorry. If he had heard something and it was the murderer, by odd coincidence, it wouldn't do to let him run about. Fang spread his wings out and took to the air, determined to locate who the scream had come from. If there had been a scream at all. He hoped that if he did that he would able to stop anyone else from dying, especially innocent people.

"Help!" There it is again. Fang landed deftly on a lower rooftop and listened as he tried to pinpoint the screamer's location. It was definitely a girl. It's to the east, thought Fang, closing his eyes in annoyance. Please be a strong girl—hopefully you can save yourself. These thoughts were only serving to distract him from his worry for the victim's wellbeing. I hope I'm in time...

Fang flapped his wings as hard as he could and took off to the east. He turned instinctively to the darker side of the town as he remembered what he had read about the attacks taking place somewhere dark and deserted, when the victim was alone. Here, the buildings were lower and there didn't seem to be anyone within. The slums. It was a section that contained mostly markets and shops—a non-residential area meant little activity during such an important time of the year.

Scanning the area, Fang saw a flicker of movement in the shadows beside a dumpster. He instantly added on his snake vision, overlapping it to his hawk eyes. The movement he'd seen was definitely from a human being. This one in particular had a heat signature that looked familiar. There was also another—probably the victim since it was smaller. However, he couldn't reach them from the air because of the confines of the alleyway.

Fang did a steep dive, not caring if anyone saw even though he was sure that there was no one who would be looking. He landed lightly on the stone ground on a street perpendicularly intersecting the alley where he'd seen the figure. Finding him again with the heat he was emanating, he took off in a sprint. He cursed as he noticed how tired he was from all the flapping at low altitude in the shabby neighborhood. Hawk wings weren't used to all this manual labour as gliding on thermals was what they were adapted to do.

He tried to deduct who the culprit was. The shape of the person looked pretty well toned, maybe kind of strong. Fang suspected that he would be a worthy adversary for a human.

More screams echoed off the walls, this time louder. Now there was also the sound of someone laughing.

Staying hidden, Fang peeked around the last corner and saw what was making the noises. His eyes opened wide. A thin teenage girl was being choked, held against the wall by someone's firm, gloved hand. In the assailant's other hand, there was a projection device that resembled one of the devices Ranulf had packed. Did he project the sound of her voice? Who was he expecting to attract here?