To claim that Ryan had been on edge for the past few days, ever since he’d spoken to the reaper, would’ve been a complete understatement.
Understandably so of course, though he did his best not to linger on the reasons for that, but it made concentrating on anything, other than fending off what he assumed was an impending attack from the Reaper, practically impossible. Instead of the latest GTA edit, his attention was drawn to anything that seemed a little, well off. Namely the three individuals who seemed that way.
Jack he’d been suspicious off ever since he’d walked in on the fight that’d somehow warped itself into an attempt on Miles’ life, his suspicions regarding Michael had come about after he’d lost a few hours, waking up in the sparing room with a handful injuries and a fuzziness that told him of a freshly healed concussion. He’d spotted the man later from a distance, just a glimpse, but it’d been enough to notice a few explained bruises the man certainly hadn’t had earlier... It hadn’t taken a whole lot to fill in the blanks.
When it came to Gavin, the evidence wasn’t quite so concrete as with the other two, save for the fact that the man seemed to gravitate towards Jack and Michael in particular now, and had ever since the three had fallen ‘ill’. Plus there was just something a little malicious in his smile these days. And Ryan knew better now than to pass off such matters as coincidence.
Which was why, when his ability to focus on work once again deserted him, he found his feet carrying him towards Miles’ office. He was the one other person in the company he knew had noticed these changes too, or at the very least had noticed the change in Jack... He’d been paranoid, long before Ryan had been, and perhaps because of that he’d understand. The two of them might even be able to begin to make some tentative plans of how to handle this situation together. He’d usually approach Ray or Jon about it, but he’s burdened them enough lately, all he wants for them now is safety, and talking to Miles could well be the first step towards just that.
If there was one thing he’d learned from previous experiences he’d had, long before the reaper had approached him, it was that it was important to keep track of your assets. Miles was important, for reasons the poor terrified man had no real comprehension of just yet... but that worked just fine for him. Fear meant easy entertainment whenever he decided to check in on him, and after these past few weeks, he figured he’d earned himself a little fun.
“Hello Miles.” He tilted his head to the side slightly, allowing his vessel’s accent to slip into something a little less familiarly ‘Gavin’, but not so much that most people who weren’t the paranoid man in front of him would be likely to notice.
It was a relief to be back on his feet again after so long in the hospital ward. Ryan was a godsend. If he hadn't already been pretty heavily in gratitude to the man for bringing Caleb back from their mission safe, then the healed bones would definitely have done it. Quite frankly he could've kissed the man after the tiny shattered pieces of his kneecap snapped back into place... well maybe if he'd had a death wish anyway (as much as he liked Ryan, the man was still one creepy fucker. One did not simply forget when people ran at them with chairs and the intent to kill after all).
Point was, it was almost liberating to be able to wander around freely instead of wheeling himself around, especially seeing as Kdin had been considerably less stealthy while in the wheelchair. He'd utterly failed in every attempt to vanish the contraption with him, and even setting that aside, he'd struggled a lot with the maneuvering side of things (the broken ribs hadn't exactly helped with that either).
And the inability to truly disappear from people's perceptions had left him feeling a little more vulnerable, like he were missing a limb, or rather had gained a really obvious extra one that meant he could never quite vanish the way he was used to. Needless to say, it'd been a little disconcerting to have his power, essentially, rendered useless...
So it was nice to be able to stealthily creep around the office again, keeping his footsteps light to the point that they were barely audible, and falling back on years of experience to quietly guide through corridors, relishing in the ability to hide once more, even if there wasn't necessarily a need to right now.
Miles stirred, succinctly aware of the fact everything hurt and he was on top of a car. He brought a paw--correction-hand up, which meant he was naked. Great. Knocked him out so hard he shifted back. He looked around, finding the monster gone, and he wasn’t sure if he should cheer or freak out. How could you fight something that exploded?
When Geoff woke up, he distinctly heard Miles babbling and nothing else. He slipped the helmet of the armour off and looked to Miles. He hoisted himself up, moving wrecked car rubble out from around him, and shook his head, trying to stir the thoughts somehow. But it was quiet and he couldn’t figure out wh--
It hit him like he’d hit the car, probably less than an hour ago. He looked to Miles again and instincts kicked in and he threw himself into a panic. “I can’t hear them. I can’t hear anything. What the fuck is going on?” He thought, bringing a hand to his forehead, adding a small amount of pressure.
Miles pried himself up from the car remains, blood dripping down his face. Geoff was sitting up on a nearby car, also trashed, and he felt bad for the poor schmucks who chose here to park. It was dark, much darker than normal. The explosion must have taken out the power.
He felt off, something important was missing. He looked at his legs, making sure everything was in one piece. While his healing was pretty amazing, growing back a leg was beyond his abilities.
“You in one piece, Grif?” He didn’t get an answer, but he heard one.
“I can’t hear them. I can’t hear anything. What the fuck is going on?”
Okay, that was weird. Why was Geoff projecting into his head?
“Yeah, Lucian, I-- I’m here.” Geoff responded with a shaky voice as he turned to face Miles.
“What the fuck is going on?” He mumbled to himself.
He couldn’t imagine that no one around them wasn’t freaking out about the explosion. He knew somebody had to have called the cops by now.
“Was that a bomb?”
“WHAT...THE...FUCK WAS THAT.”
“Earthquake!”
"I have to get the kids!"
Okay, those were definitely not Geoff, unless the blast had been so bad it knocked Geoff’s powers out of control, which was possible considering what it did to Miles. They didn’t know what they were facing. He looked over, his companion equally stunned.
His head cleared enough, after checking he had all his extremities, he realized what was wrong.
His wolf, was gone. That presence that had been with him nearly his entire life, poof. He felt nothing. No pull of the moon, no overloading scents, nothing. What the fuck did that monster do? He never heard of something like that before, even ignoring the giant monster. No werewolf ever just was...not anymore. It was in his DNA, it didn’t just disappear.
The voices only grew louder in Miles’ head, before he looked over to Geoff, who looked...odd. If he was hearing voices, like Geoff’s power, and his wolf was gone, then, well why not jump to conclusions. If they, somehow, did switch powers and with all the adrenaline...
“Geoff! Get out of the armour!”
Geoff felt it quickly, his skin crawling and a pain growing in his gut. Miles looked really worried, so when he felt his face elongating and his hands shifting he decided it was probably a good idea.
What the fuck. What the fuck. They just switched powers??? That shadow monster could do that?
He had to do something though, if Geoff resisted he might really screw something up.
“Breath, Geoff. Try and relax. Don't fight it.” Wow it was really hard to concentrate with all those voices swirling around in his head. He had helped other wolves through their first Shift before, but this was different. He managed to hobble over to help Geoff throw the armour off. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if Geoff Shifted in such confined clothing. Regular clothes just ripped, this was a whole different story. They were finally off, Geoff falling to his hands and knees.
Geoff screamed, which was totally normal considering he could feel his bones cracking. He could feel things shifting and growing inside him, and the fur growing in fucking itched. There was no pain, but it was still terrifying.
It was only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity before he found himself much lower to the ground.
Miles shuddered at Geoff’s scream, which he expected. Miles had one of the fastest Shift times in his family, which transferred over, apparently. His shifts weren’t painful, (the nerves turned off, which is why you double check your toes) but he was built differently, and had been doing it his entire life.
He rested a hand on the black wolf’s side, the rise and fall of the chest fast but steady. He rubbed circles into the chest, giving Geoff something to focus on.
“Geoff, you’re okay. Four legged, but okay.” He said, using his calm and relaxed tone. It would take a few seconds before Geoff would be aware, but he didn’t need a angry wolf to deal with. By the fact he was still bleeding, his healing was gone too. He was extremely lucky nothing was broken.
The wind blew, which reminded him shit he was naked on the street with a wolf and an explosion and those are totally sirens.
Geoff came back to reality and holy shit, I’m an overgrown puppy. What the fuck is this? He nudged Miles’ leg.
“Use your words Geoff, I’m having enough trouble focusing on myself.” He had some focusing exercises to use, but they were nothing compared to the overload of voices. “Make sure you can feel all your toes, sometimes they don’t work right unless you stretch them.”
“Grab my armour and let’s get the fuck outta here. I can already hear the sirens and they’re fucking loud.” Geoff grumbled and looked up to Miles, his eyes widened. He patted his feet for a moment and nodded. “I think I feel all of them.”
“Good. Left side, right side. Let’s go find the car and my fucking pants. It’s freaking cold out here.” Wow, walking was harder than he remembered. Was this like being drunk, stumbling everywhere?
Geoff nodded and began to jog towards where they’d parked his car. It was a few miles West, near the pub he went to with others from work and placed next to a streetlamp. He walked up to it and suddenly something came upon him. “Miles, how do I open the car door?” He thought, sitting down and pressing the top of his head against the cool metal.
Miles fished the car keys out, eager to retrieve his pants and get off the street.
“I know I‘m in no shape to drive, but until I get my head,” which was really pounding now, “dealt with I can’t coach you back and you can’t drive.” He opened the car door, throwing the armour pieces in the back seat and motioning for Geoff to jump in as he threw pants on. "So enjoy it."
Geoff jumped in the back and parked himself, looking up at Miles. “I’ve got some cataflam in my dashboard. It’ll help with how loud everything is and how much it hurts.”
Miles took a breath, retreating into his mind. He’d done mediation before to help balance things, but at least he could quiet the voices tinsy bit, enough for him to search through the dash for said medicine. It was easy to find, not a surprise, and he chugged two down.
“Pretty sure the monster did this. I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do. Is it temporary? Permanent? My Pack’s gonna kill me if I come back with telepathy instead.”
He kicked the car into gear, knowing there was only one place they could go until he could help Geoff.
Geoff laughed at the kid. “Just tell your pack you’ve got some business to take care of and you can’t show up. Unless you live with them or something.” He rested his head on the passenger seat.
Miles groaned. “Just me. And I’m sorry I ever complained about having it worse than you. This is way worse. You got the better end of this stupid thing.”
“Oh yeah, everything’s loud and unnecessary and you better hope to god, if we go to work tomorrow that nobody’s in love, just murdered someone else, or had sex because you’re gonna know about it in explicit detail.” Geoff chimed.
He beat his head on the steering wheel, before rising up to make a turn as the light turned green. “You’ll know about that stuff anyway because you’ll smell it. Try working in the animation department when I can hear you guys yelling from across work.”
“That’s mostly the lads. Gents only yell when we win.”
He raised an eyebrow, knowing full and well that was full of shit. “We’re headed to my Running ground. How far away from civilization do you have to be before it gets quiet?”
“Roughly one hundred yards from people. Whether it’s just a little family in their house or a whole fucking apartment building.”
“Good. It’ll be perfect then.”
--------------
Miles pulled the car to a stop, his head finally empty. One stubborn voice refused to let go, for a few miles, but it too finally quieted, leaving just Geoff’s little intrusions. He only had a few close calls on the road, which would really suck because he probably would die and Geoff would heal and what the fuck would happen then.
During the car ride, Geoff made sure to show Miles that Telepathy wasn’t an easy mistress to be tangled with. He made sure that every time they passed a sign, he was sure to think, “ooohhhh, shiny.” Which was the least of what he could have done.
Miles made sure to throw back anything he could, which wasn’t much considering he couldn’t hear himself think. He jumped out of the car, taking a deep breath of the surrounding forest as he opened the door for Geoff. Burnie was probably worried by this point, with the news highly active on the subject. He could see it now, TWO STREAKERS SEEN AT AUSTIN BOMBING.
“This sucks. I can’t smell anything but the air.” Usually the world was alight with smells, but instead it was dull and plain.
“Well, I assure you,” Geoff commented as he jumped out of the car, “I can smell everything and it’s fucking weird.”
It was odd, missing that normal urge to run. It was just a forest now, no pull of safety or home. Just a dark, scary forest.
“Okay, now we have to get the old Geoff back.” He said, turning to the wolf. It was still dark, and Miles couldn’t see fucking anything. How the fuck did humans do this.
"I'm not sure how long this is going to last, or if it will ever revert back. If it doesn't, I'm taking you to home so we can explain what the fuck happened." That would be interesting story to tell. He was supposed to go home this weekend, but that would have to be delayed.
"Good news is, all the damage you've done to your liver is probably gone by now."
Geoff chuckled at that comment. “Hopefully. It just means I can drink my liver back to that state, though.” He shrugged.
Miles was tired and not in the mood to try and coax Geoff back, so he resigned himself to throwing a towel over Geoff before throwing himself onto the ground, clothes bundled up in his hand. He wasn’t sure how long it would take but he wanted to be comfortable.
"You have to be calm. You can't do it stressed, and I'm sure you've got a couple tricks to do that."
There was a continual pressure in his head, Geoff's presence probably the cause of it. It was similar to his instincts, always there but not usually this distracting.
Shifting back was easier though, since Human was the default form.
"Once you're calm, you'll be able to feel the difference between human and wolf. You've got to pull on the human, with the thought of something personal." Most outgrew that need, just a thought could start the Shift, but he didn't feel bad about going back to the roots. "My cousin uses his favorite toy, but he's 10. You might try your favorite beer. Or Michael, whatever works."
If this didn't work, at least he had the pressure point as a last resort.
“Ha, like I’m getting anywhere near Michael. Let’s do this.” He thought, knowing how public those thoughts were. He focus on Jack Daniels. It was warm and it had a nice burn. Adding to Coke increased the burn, but added flavor.
The warmth started off small, deep inside his chest, before spreading. Unlike the shift to, this felt...normal. Not as terrifying the second time.
Miles threw Geoff’s clothes to him, keeping his eyes squarely on the moon. Taken less time than expected, but if there was anyone stubborn enough, it would be Geoff.
He thought about his next move, ie how the fuck do we get our powers back. Calling home to check the records would be smart. If anything, he’d make an addition. Unknown monster could remove werewolf powers. That would be an interesting, if nondescript, thing to report to the Elders. Hopefully Burnie could dig up some more info.
He rose up from the ground, throwing the keys to Geoff. “Your turn.” He did not look forward to the slow return to society, as he sat down in the car with his head in his hands.
“You mind picking me up tomorrow?”
“Nah, dude. It’d be fine. Just be ready when I get there.”
“No problem, I’m an early riser.”
“Good. I’ll be around near eight forty-five.”
Miles sighed, not looking forward to the close proximity of his neighbors. He hadn’t tried to get to know them, and now he had a feeling he was going to know way more than he ever wanted.
“I’ll give you some high grade painkillers tomorrow. Being around everyone in the office is overwhelming as fuck and you’ll need them.”
“Thanks. It’s going to be weird since most stuff didn’t work on me before. I guess I should give you a couple of pointers. Uhh, don’t worry about eating twice as much, you need the calories. Raw meat sounds delicious but unless you’re wolf or wolfling you do not have the stomach for it. And if you wake up Shifted, that’s totally normal.”
Geoff made a face at the last remark Miles said and groaned. Oh wasn’t this thing going to be so much fun.
Geoff drove them to the office, to report ultimately. He and Miles figured out rather quickly that they weren’t the only ones who had trouble with their monster. Geoff was honestly a little relieved by that. Him being one of the founding five, it would be sort of embarrassing to figure out that he and Miles were the only ones who crashed and burned, literally.
Well, minus the burn part. To his knowledge, no one got burned.
Usually cases like this Jon tackled them alone. In general he liked to tackle things alone because he found times like these he didn't play well with others. However when the going gets tough there were times where he did need the help of others. Take right now for instance as he walked down the hallways of the building in search of a certain Wolfman.
Why you ask?
There was a case that Jon had found himself without anyway to find the person he needed to. He knew exactly who the person was and their exact crime, but their whereabouts were unfamiliar to him. It didn't happen very often but he needed to find this person quickly and the only way he would do that is if he had a super powered nose. And who here had one? Miles Luna of course. The resident Wolfman of Rooster Teeth.
Again it wasn't Jon's first option.
Once he got to the door he placed his hand on the knob and slowly turned it, letting go to let the door swing open. Poking his head in he looked around before his gaze feel upon him. "Luna." He greeted, pushing a smile up onto his face before taking a single step into the office. Slowly he shut the door behind him, giving Miles his full attention soon after. "I need to talk to you about something important that I may or may not need your help with."
