Amarok, Shadow and Upsilon

[Symphia]

She paused as she watched a patrol slowly make their way into her territory. An evil grin crossed her face as she leaped from her hiding place, landing on top of the soldier in the rear-most position. The she-wolf crushed the poor man's skull when she landed on him, resisting the urge to growl as she watched the white points of light move away from her. She left his body there, knowing she'd be able to smell his position out later.

Silently, the she-wolf padded down the tunnel after the trio of remaining soldiers. They smelled different than the ones that normally hunter her, they didn't smell like cleaning agents and the other wolf. They smelled like earth and another scent she couldn't identify. They wore different clothes that didn't shred easily when she dug her claws into them.

She jumped again, killing the rearmost soldier again, snapping her neck with her powerful hands. The she-wolf moved slowly away from the body, darting behind some rubble as the soldiers turned around.
"Dammit! Where the hell is she?!" one of them, a female, hissed.
"Silence! You'll give our position away!" the other responded, continuing down the tunnel.

It didn't matter how silent they were, nothing in her territory could escape her nose. The she-wolf inhaled deeply, filtering the various scents in her territory. There were several rats nearby, several dead humans, her fresh kill, but then she smelled it, the heavy scent that belonged to another wolf. Her eyes grew wide and, abandoning her current prey, she moved silently toward where the scent was strongest, navigating her territory solely by memory.

The she-wolf climbed back onto the catwalk and waited silently.

[Roaming Shadow]

((Uh, care to share what the title means? I’m clueless.))

This portion of the sewers didn’t smell far different than the last time he had been here. Still, he moved with stealth. Every now and then there were those down here from the TXS who were smart enough to at least attempt to hide their scent. Seeing as how that seemed to be Upsilon’s strongest sense, he was surprised that the TXS didn’t try to use scent eliminators more frequently, especially when attempting to eliminate her. With another sniff, it brought to mind that not even he was to only one with such an acute sense in the Resistance. Thank heaven for small favors, or something like that.

With another sniff, he caught her scent. He hadn’t even gotten very far into her territory yet. So she knows I’m here. He took a few more sniffs. He couldn’t be certain, but he thought she was relatively calm. It was hard to tell with all of the other scents, but he’d spent time enough with her to have a fair idea as to her scents.

There she is. There was barely enough light to see her by, but there she stood, seemingly waiting for him. There was also the scent of fresh blood on her. An idea struck him, but he pushed it aside for the moment; it needed a little more thought. “Greetings,” he said, saying it both in “lupine” (as he’d come to think of it) and English near silently, knowing her ears would pick it up. Perhaps if she heard both at the same time, she’d pick up the language. If she even cared to learn. Perhaps he could teach her the value of knowing what her enemies were saying.

“I would announce my entering your territory, but there are few ways I can to that without potentially alerting mutual enemies. Did I interrupt something?” he asked, hoping to start the conversation on her end. Despite her disposition towards him, he knew he still had to tread carefully. This was her territory, as she saw it, and he was the guest. But he had done this before, and he wasn’t in the least bit nervous

[Symphia]

((It's the name of an Inuit wolf god that kills travelers when they wander too far into the wild. Wiki it ^^))

She jumped down, landing silently on all-fours. In the dim twilight, she was able to see him. "Welcome to my territory, Shadow." The she-wolf heard a distant click and threw herself behind a piece of rubble as the staccato bark of gunfire filled the air. She sliced into her own thigh and pressed her hand onto a marking on the floor. The she-wolf moved her hand and a piece of loose masonry freed itself from the wall up on the catwalk and, with an echoing crash, crushed the pair of soldiers.

Standing, she padded silently over to them and investigated the remains. "I hated to do that... there's nothing left to eat..." She grabbed a forearm that was sticking out from under the debris and began chewing it clean. "Shadow... what are these called? These intruders that keep attacking me?" She grabbed the ulna and snapped it loudly, sucking the marrow out.

She growled softly and spit a small piece of metal out. "These don't normally have bits like that..." She spit out a small metal plate next. To the casual observer that was versed in modern medical science, it would appear that the poor soldier had at some point in its life had its forearm pinned together to aid in the healing of a broken bone.

"I met the intruder from your pack, she took my prey from me and left, we didn't fight." She stood once more, now limping from the gash she'd made in her thigh. The she-wolf leaned down and licked the blood from the surface in an effort to keep it clean.

[Roaming Shadow]

Well, it seems they are getting smart enough to use night vision more often, Shadow thought ruefully as he too went for cover. And they may be learning more than I give them credit for. But he didn’t even bother drawing his pistols, knowing the skills Upsilon possessed. Indeed, she demonstrated those qualities. Again, he was thankful that for their first meeting she wanted him alive.

As he followed her to the remains, he realized that the weapons didn’t sound familiar, and decided to get a closer look at what remained. After Upsilon took her share of course. It took a little adjusting of clothing to get light in the right places. Then he recognized it; these were soldiers, not TXS security. That made the situation even more interesting for him. Unfortunately, the rubble prevented him from reaching the communication equipment. But, not hearing anything from the pile, he assumed the equipment broke along with their bones. He’d let Upsilon have her meal (slightly unsettling as he still found it); she’d tell him when they should leave. He remained in a squatted position, keeping closer to her eye level, rather than standing over her.

“They are called soldiers, men and women trained to fight as units, like packs, given the best materials available to fight with.” That was pretty accurate as far as he was concerned. It took only a little thought to get the term “soldier” into his lexicon; he made it a distinction of warrior, as he knew how to make that clear. Many more details and he’d be going into terms she wasn’t likely to be familiar with. He wasn’t sure what the metal piece was called, but knew they were used to aid in setting bones. He picked up the piece. “Things like these are often implanted in bones to make sure that the bone healed properly after.” Shadow couldn’t help but examine his hands, and his claws, as he examined the piece of metal. Claws that had, at one time, killed much as he was sure Upsilon killed at times, those his weren't as lethal as hers looked. Remembering their last meeting, he took a moment to try to examine her hand. It appeared fine, though he couldn’t get a good look with her handling of her meal. Before he could say the next thought on his mind, she made another comment.

“I believe I know who you’re referring to. I believe you took the young woman’s arm. That is a matter I’d like to discuss with you, as you and…my current pack, have had several encounters, such as the ones you’ve mentioned to me. But before I forget, how’s the hand?” There was more to the question than honest curiosity. He wanted her to ask him what he wanted to discuss, to make her the one to initiate the conversation. Perhaps make her feel that it was partly her idea. It was manipulation of a sort, but it was not deceit, so he felt safe with this hunt. If he could form an alliance, in secret, it could prove quite advantageous.

[Symphia]

She looked down at her hand in the dim twilight and flexed it smoothly. "It's fine, those pieces of metal you tied to it helped it heal." The she-wolf snapped the radius and spit more bits of metal onto the ground. "The intruders have packs?" She sat down and scratched behind her ear with her foot. She stood and headed back toward the other two soldier's she'd ambushed earlier and began examining them with her hands as it was too dark for her to see.

"This one smells different..." She raked her claws along the soldier's back and she cried out in pain. The she-wolf jumped back in surprise and growled angrily at her. The human slowly got to her feet and cocked her rifle.
"Upsilon!!! You worthless genetic reject!" the human turned next to Shadow, her NV unit malfunctioning slightly. "What?! Two of you!?" She started shooting, the gunshots echoing in the tunnels. The she-wolf growled and ducked into hiding, waiting for the shooting to stop.

"Do something! That thing in her hands is too fast for me to dodge!" She quickly drew up a map of the surrounding area and spattered her blood on a piece of masonry she knew was loose. Next, she pressed hand to the marking and yanked hard, causing the loose masonry and rebar to fall from this location and onto the soldier, killing her. She stood slowly, unsure if she'd killed her prey. "That hasn't happened before..."

She left the body under the wreckage, uninterested in unearthing it. "What did you want to ask about the intruder? I thought you lived in a pack with her."

[Roaming Shadow]

((I like the new pic. It’s actually a little strangely unnerving to me, like she’s treading a fine line between sanity and insanity, and you're not sure which she's on at the moment.))

“They have packs,” Shadow said as he watched her scratch her ear, a feat he couldn’t manage, “at least in a loose interpretation of the word. They know collectively that they are stronger together than alone.” And yet, he thought, without the right working, the whole thing could fall apart. I suppose that is one thing Symphia has done right; she’s kept everyone unified by a purpose, even if she isn’t friends with everyone.

Taking a sniff, he knew these kills were recent, and was quite likely what he’d interrupted her in. Before he had a chance to examine any of the bodies, the one Upsilon pawed cried out. Unfortunately, her weapon was out and pointed, while his were still holstered. Recently dead bodies don’t smell much different than live ones it seems.

Any hope of quickly diffusing the situation went out the window as the soldier apparently classified him with Upsilon. At that remark, Shadow went for cover, sparse as it was. In this, the sewer’s disrepair became an asset. However, a few sharp moments of pain told him that he didn’t manage to avoid all the bullets, but would be no more than flesh wounds.

Do something she says. At least she’s wiling to ask for help. Unfortunately, it was hard to aim with fully automatic weapon fire flying through the air. Shadow fired blindly around his cover, knowing he wasn’t hitting anything by the continuation of fire. The soldier had clearly snapped. Looking over to Upsilon, she was busy at something, and a few moments later a portion of the ceiling collapsed on the soldier.

Do something she says, he thought again sarcastically. A quick sniff told him that she was certainly dead, or soon would be; he caught a whiff of bowel, a mortal wound unless perhaps immediately treated, which wasn’t going to happen. He wouldn’t have been surprised if her broken bones also punctured her lungs.

“She’s dead,” he said aloud. The other’s he wasn’t so sure of, and so he kept one gun out. “I’d almost forgotten how hectic a life of survival can be. Now, as to intruders, I was thinking we could come to something of an agreement between, well, my pack and yourself.” With all that he had survived so far, it still seemed amazing that being something of a diplomat would feel so difficult. “Put simply, perhaps you could avoid attacking and killing those of my pack, and I’ll do what I can to keep them out of your territory. Frankly, I don’t understand why they enter in the first place, with how clearly you’ve established this as your territory. Everyone else is free game. Of course, if they come hunting you, that’s an exception. Does that sound agreeable to you?”

Who would have thought negotiations would be so much more nerve wracking than life or death combat? It was a funny feeling, but if anyone could manage relations between the Resistance and Upsilon, it was him, because she apparently found him interesting. And, in a way, he found her interesting. First, however, he needed her answer, and he kept an ear open for uninvited guests.

[Symphia]

((The item she refers to in the last paragraph is ultra-Kevlar body armor, and other than being soaking wet, it's in perfectly usable condition.))

She loomed up to her full height, an unimpressive 34in, although to the causal observer, any height generated by the she-wolf would be frightening. She took a deep sniff of the kill then growled softly and turned back to the first kill she'd made, which wasn't far away and padded toward it. This time, however, she inspected it carefully before deeming it dead and proceeding to eat.

In the labs, after the augmentation, she had displayed a need to eat almost constantly to fuel the changes to her body. At first she'd been given food that was high in protein, but that hadn't been enough. It then came to light that she needed to consume large quantities of meat, however, it had resulted in a sharp increase in aggressive actions toward staff and other projects, resulting in a quarantine status.

She listened in silence to Shadow as he explained about the truce and the she-wolf considered before answering. "That's the case anyway, if they stay out, I don't attack them. I don't like to leave my territory. The place with the bright light hurts my eyes and head." She examined the corpse then looked at Shadow. "This intruder has something around its chest that I can't cut through, take it off so I can eat." She examined it carefully, a web of straps with pouches on them covered the thing she couldn't cut through, so she settled on examining it.

[Roaming Shadow]

Guess I need to work on my articulation, he thought. I don’t think she quite understands what I meant. But at least the idea of selective target was apparently one he could work on with her, meaning the alliance, if he could really call it that, was still workable. Again, he thought on how he was the exception to her own statement. It seemed as though being as much wolf as man made her relate to him more than the others who passed through here.

“It’s called armor," he said, removing the garment. Even as he removed it, he wondered how she seemed to be constantly hungry, despite how successful her hunting seemed to be. He’d heard that smaller creatures had a smaller metabolism, but didn’t think her size would affect her all that greatly. Well, that was something that didn’t need asking. “It’s meant to protect the otherwise fragile human body from harm. It’s also quire effective at protecting against the weapons these individuals use.” Giving it a quick look over, it seemed to be in good shape, though it was just a little too big for him. Still, it was salvageable.

“As to those from my pack, what I meant was not attacking those who simply wander into your territory, but I suppose it’s not always easy to tell the difference.” Shadow gave a light chuckle as a thought occurred to him. “With you patrolling this area, the Resistance doesn’t even need to worry about entering this section of the sewers. Perhaps all you or I need to do is more clearly mark the edges of your territory. The TXS is likely to ignore them and the Resistance would be wise to take heed.” He thought the idea was quite workable, and didn’t even need much effort on her part to work. A simple, rather elegant solution to the problem really. He still thought she didn’t understand why he didn’t want her killing his allies, but that wasn’t a moral lesson he needed to teach her. She was feral, and nothing short of extreme psychological conditioning was going to change that.

With a quick look, he found her meal’s weapon a few feet away. Checking the clip, he found it full. Didn’t even know what hit him. Replacing the clip and slinging the weapon across his back he asked, “I hadn’t thought to ask the last time we met, but have you ever met another like myself, or was I the first?” It seemed a long shot and a useless question, but perhaps she had encountered, by smell if nothing else, one of his family. Perhaps that had been what had piqued her curiosity in the first place. But he still hoped, and so he had to ask.

[Symphia]

((It's Magazine (mag) not clip. There IS a difference between them. And yes, I'm going to be a nazi about it.))

"Another like you?" She looked from her meal, chewing through a bone then spitting it out. "There was one, a female. I ignored her, one of the machines killed her." She resumed eating, tearing into the chest cavity with her claws. The she-wolf didn't care about the heart and lungs though, she was interested in the strong, lean muscles in the chest such as the pectorals and diaphragm.

When Shadow mentioned marking her territory, she fought the urge to attack him. "What part of you thinks it's a good idea to mark my territory!? If the boundaries of it are marked visibly, then my prey will know to avoid it!" The she-wolf, for the second time in her entire life since her time in the labs, loomed up to her full standing height of 6'1" and held her balance well. "Your pack should listen to my howls, if they can hear me, then they're obviously too close to my territory to be safe!" She dropped back to all-fours and padded down the tunnel toward the twilight she disliked.

After a few moments of walking, she stopped and wiped some of the fresh blood from her face with the back of her right hand. She inhaled deeply then growled. "Well, Shadow, how do you propose to mark my territory so your pack knows not to come here, but my prey doesn't understand?" Carefully, she peered around the corner, breathing softly as she thought about what to do. Obviously Shadow's pack was important to him, but if marking the edge of her territory meant her prey would figure out where the edge of it was, what good did that really do her in the end?

[Roaming Shadow]

Well, at least it’s confirmation. I guess I was lucky. Skulking around was what I was trained for after all. My brothers and sisters were the real soldiers. He was in such a state of mind that he didn’t even mind the anger Upsilon demonstrated. She had a valid point, and one that he knew he needed to address.

“As I hear it, they rarely get that much warning, but that’s beside the point. It’s not my place to tell you how to hunt, just to see if we can all come out ahead.” Shadow was not intimidated by her wrath, having some understand of her moods. Mad she may be, but he knew he did not intend him harm. If she did he’d be fighting for his life.

He followed Upsilon down the tunnel, contemplating the how of his idea. The most important part, getting her to go along with the idea, seemed to be a success. It wasn’t long before they hit the edge of her territory. “To be honest,” he began to reply, ignoring what he thought was a slightly snide note in her voice, “I have not come up with a definite solution. The first thing I needed to know was whether or not you would even accept the idea, and any alteration in your territory would need your approval.”

Shadow took a look around, trying to apply his long ago training to this situation. A change in the lights might be a discernable pattern that TXS could pick up on. A skull and crossbones etched into the wall isn’t exactly subtle. Only a scant few could pick up her scent markers. Anything electronic could be intercepted. It was an interesting dilemma.

“It’d be so much easier if they could just figure out how to avoid sector 10 altogether,” Shadow growled under his breath. He rummaged through his small pack a moment before coming on an idea. “I think I may have something that will work. I can tie a small piece of bandage, damped with a bit of blood, on the catwalks that lead into your territory. It should have no meaning to the TXS, especially if I fashion it to look discarded, which shouldn’t be too hard. You can examine my handiwork if you desire. I’ll tell the Resistance to be on the look out for them when they're in the area, and avoid those passages. You keep your main source of prey, the TXS, and my pack can coexist with you. So, what do you think?”

[Symphia]

She looked up at him, finally having enough light to see him clearly. Unlike her, his entire body seemed to be covered in fur, even his face and hands. He wore the clothes her normal prey wore, but they were tattered, ripped, and looked well-used. Although he had paws, he obviously knew how to use the things her normal prey used. For the first time in her life, her entire opinion of someone was changed simply by how they looked. He was a wolf, yes, but he was obviously a man at some point.

"Prepare a sample, I will search out a body for you to use." With that, she darted off down the tunnel, picking up on a fairly recent scent from one of the soldiers she'd killed previously. The she-wolf soon sniffed out the body, which was still quite fresh, and locked her powerful jaws shut on part of what Shadow had referred to as a bulletproof vest. She dragged the corpse back to the entrance of her territory and released her hold on it.

The she-wolf seated herself and scratched behind her ear with her left foot before examining her hands in the light. They were different than Shadow's, almost identical to her prey's in fact, although she had grown long strong claws she could use for cutting and gripping. it made no difference to the she-wolf, prey was prey, no matter what it looked like; speaking of prey, she was feeling the need to fuel her powerful body once more and hoped the male wolf would be done with his experiment soon.

[Roaming Shadow]

Huh, I had thought to dampen the cloth with my own blood. Doesn’t mean I still can’t. Though, he had the distinct impression, looking into her eyes, that something in their relationship had changed. It was something in how she carried herself, how she looked at him. He wasn’t sure what it was all about, but did not bother to ask. That was for another time, and he had the feeling that her patience for “social niceties”, as it were, was beginning to wear a bit thin.

He managed a nod before she trotted off, and he was again reminded of the differences between them. Without further thought on the matter, he took out his bandage material and drew one of his daggers. With quick efficiency he cut a length of bandage, then a shallow length across his left arm, which he let drip onto the white cloth a while before wiping the wound a few times. By the time his ministrations were done, Upsilon had returned.

Leaving his bandage roll out, he picked out a few threads of his used piece and tied the threads to the catwalk, giving it a flick to seem as though it had been tossed down. “The TXS is unlikely to pay such any heed, and my pack will know where not to tread. If they cannot heed this warning and yours…then perhaps it is for the better that the price is their own lives, rather than the lives of those who depend on them. If this is acceptable, I will let you mark your territory, rather than explain to me exactly where your boundaries are.”

As efficiently as he had done it himself, he demonstrated how he made the first marker using the dead man’s blood instead. Done, he wrapped his own arm, leaving the wrap in front of her. “And I can assure you that you are unlikely to see much of a decline in your food supply.” Knife still in hand, he began to flip it around, going through some of the dexterity exercises his father had taught him, maneuvering both handle and blade. It had been some time since he'd done them for amusement, but found they helped him contemplate, for his mind to be active this way. They were different ends of a spectrum, he and Upsilon, and yet he could not deny the similarities they had. In their hearts they were wolves, they just differed in where their bodies and minds lay. Somehow, he realized, he found Upsilon easier to respect than Symphia, and the thought both amused him and scared him a little.