One Man Army (open)

[Seth Young]

They were running down the empty night street of the warehouse district, one of the two men being supported by the other, and yet both were easily running through the streets at speeds most humans could not dream to make. They were breathing heavily, the one being supported more than the other. The man had been shot, and they were running from smoke in the direction that they were running from. A warehouse that they were in was attacked by an assailant and managed to kill all but these two. They just barely managed to escape the warehouse’s explosion before one of them was shot in the right shoulder by the assailant. The second man managed to collect his partner before the killing shot was delivered, just narrowly missing the bullet, himself and making their way to their present location. This was just the briefest bit of information that passed through their minds as they finally stopped to assess the full situation. “I’ve never seen a Hunter move that fasts before,” the uninjured one said in disbelief, “they’ve never been this hard to kill alone.” The other guy suddenly dropped to his knees, causing the other man to take caution and drag him into another warehouse to check his wound.


“What’s going on?” He asked, looking at the bullet wound, trying to touch it and check for a bullet, but found only two things instead: The first, that there was no bullet left, and the second being that the wound burned to the touch, as the man looked at his friend’s wound. “What’s going on?” The injured man asked weakly, his veins suddenly turning a silvery, purple color. The other man just looked in disbelief, as he began to stumble back in disbelief, watching as the injured man suddenly began to convulse painfully, foaming at the mouth, before smoke began to seep through the pores of his own skin. He looked in fear at his comrade’s dead body, before bumping into something behind him. Turning, he saw another of his comrades standing, their face covered in burns from the explosion, apparently only barely making it out alive. He was naked, having apparently transformed back. “What happened to him!?” He asked, looking at the dead man’s body, and the wound, before sniffing it out. “Silver nitrate…” The burned man concluded, looking at the corpse before reaching out and closing his eyes, “he didn’t stand a chance once he was shot with that. It was a lethal dosage, in a tightly compressed chamber. It was already well circulated into his body the moment it was released.”


“Who is this guy? No human can be that fast...or that strong. He didn’t leave a scent either…” The first werewolf said, recalling how the Hunter had managed to take down several of their comrades with a speed and efficiency that had never before been seen in a human. He was almost as fast as us…”


The Burned Man held up a hand, still partially shifted, and still slowly regenerating and reverting back to human form, and silenced his comrade, “We need to shift, now, and focus all of our senses on this one. Aiden will want to see this one, and know that the Hunters are-” The bullet whizzed through the burned man’s head and out the other side before he even knew that he was dead. It took wiping the mixture of blood, brain matter and silver nitrate from his head to realize the truth, but by that time, his body was on the floor and he was entering the threshold to the afterlife. The final werewolf looked in horror as the Hunter stepped from the shadows, and as his eyes turned yellow, the Hunter stepped forward, and had the werewolf by the throat, and nailing him to the wall with two, silver-coated tri-blades piercing each shoulder. Screaming in pain, the Hunter quickly gagged the werewolf by shoving a gun into the back of the werewolf’s throat. It wouldn’t be able to shift now, the silver coating on the tri-blades keeping the proper chemicals from activating in the werewolf’s body “So, Aiden has surfaced again…” Seraph exclaimed out loud, looking up at the werewolf that was grunting in pain, gripping on one of the tri-blades, he pushed it inward some more before the werewolf tried to strike outward with what remaining strength he had, before his arm was caught in Seraph’s iron grip. “Silver must be sapping your strength.” He remarked, “So I’m giving you one chance. Tell me what you know about Aiden’s location.” Seraph twisted the blades to remind the werewolf that he was not in the mood for games. The werewolf let out a inhuman groan of pain before looking at the Hutner. “I don’t know where he is, we’re only contacted through people that speak to his lieutenants. I’m just a bottom feeder in his hierarchy. Nothing more.” The werewolf told Seraph all he needed to know, and as he pulled one of the tri-blade out of the left shoulder of the werewolf, he looked at the other blade and looked back at the wolf. “I said you’d get a chance…” Seraph said before slicing open the wolf’s throat with the blade, “and you earned that chance...to die quick.”


Seraph placed three charges of thermite in on both creatures bodies and stepped out of the warehouse. Calling a number inside activated the thermite pieces, and then made another call which reached a distorted voice. “Mission complete, all bad canines have been put down.” He replied to the voice on the other end, before receiving confirmation to proceed back to base for debriefing.

[Luiniel]

It was always explosions and fire with the humans. Those who were not bound to the natural flow of the energies around them more closely seemed to be the most destructive. With nothing but their wits and their inventions the hunters fought against plague of supernatural beasts and did surprisingly well. She admired their fight, the spark of ingenuity and their desire to win. They were the first and last line of defense of the humans and she was proud that they learned to stand on their own two feet. Despite her prior outrage at not being able to interfere, she was impressed by what they had accomplished on their own. They were uncivilized mud babies in the beginning and from that they managed to raise themselves to the throne so to speak. The ones without abilities forced those with them into hiding which she found odd.

For the first time in what was probably four hundred years her feet touched the ground. Her physical manifestation was a rather average height blonde woman with eyes that possessed a supernatural shimmer. Her clothing was quite simple, a loose white summer dress but strangely enough she wore no shoes at all. As she oriented herself, her eyes gazed at her surroundings and took them in. A dirty alley way in a warehouse district where all manner of things went bump in the night. She would have turned up at the scene directly but she chose not to startle the strange man she had just witnessed. He fought like the primal children yet he was not like them. He had no hidden face beneath the surface and no immortality to speak of which was profoundly baffling.

Luiniel's feet made a rather emphasized padding sound as she wandered towards the agent from his flank. She purposely made her steps seem louder as to keep from startling him into a combat reflex. Once she felt she was close enough she tilted her head to the side and took in the sight. He was a fine specimen, strong, decently tall and he radiated a confidence that most mortal men had. "Congratulations. I watched the way you punished the cursed ones. You truly do the work of the greater good, no hesitation and no remorse." she said with a smile. The Archangel seemed a bit too cheery and out of place for this spot which would no doubt put the man on guard.

Once she was sure that he was not going to try and "blow her brains out" as they put it, she started a slow approach. "What do they call you?" she asked. Once more she seemed oddly curious and calm considering the ruins of the warehouse nearby. For whatever reason she had it in her mind to make this mortal her champion should he accept. A hand she could call on when she could not be present in their world but she could not and would not force it. The humans were born with the ability to choose and she never wished to strip that from them.

[Seth Young]

There was a silence to the night that informed Seraph that the werewolves had been completely eliminated. Even the sky drones were no longer picking up any heat signatures of any kind, or any sub-thermal signatures of a vampire. Satellites failed to pick up any frequencies pertaining to magical use, and thus far, no other foot soldier has requested backup. No other choice but to report back, and be debriefed by Old Man Gallagher. It was one thing debriefing another superior, but when Gallagher was in the city during a frequent non-frequent inspection, the debriefings were longer than usual. The man wanted results and he wanted specifics. How long did it take to complete the mission, any casualties, any equipment that would need to be replaced if the location was public, and most importantly: any witnesses. The Hunters did not believe in murdering witnesses to supernatural occurrences, but it was their duty to ensure that nothing was ever revealed to the public.

When someone spoke behind him, he turned to face possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. However beautiful she was, he was also aware of a certain aura about her, and could scarcely wonder the kind of being before him. “Thanks for the compliment,” He said, gathering what details he could of the being before him at first glance, “it’s not so hard to take out your enemy, when you know that they’re murderers.” He had studied every creature listed in the Hunter Data Files, but none of them spoke of any type of being like this one. She could have been a mage of some type, but her body did not look the part. The way she spoke did not necessarily detail a mage either.

“I have no true name, only a code name,” he explained simply, “you can call me Seraph. What would I call you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.”

[Luiniel]

There was no surprise at the calm he displayed while standing before her. This man was the pride of the hunters, a weapon that was dwarfed by almost nothing. If she had to hazard a guess she would assume he's killed more of the primal children than anyone in the organization except for Gallagher. Luiniel was well aware of who that man was, she had watched him for quite some time. For the longest time no one had such a talent for destroying them like he did. She was drawn to the punishments that he handed down to the cursed beings on this planet. Some might call it a guilty pleasure, he was much like she was and she felt that with Seraph perhaps it might be the same.

"You are sort of right. Most of them are not murderers by conscious choice. It is a plague that was created at the beginning of your peoples conception. Tainted blood spread by the primal children from one human to another. There is no way to stop it that exists to my knowledge, you could fight for a hundred years and you would never win." she said. Her words were not meant to demoralize him in any way but to open his eyes to the fact that the hunters might need to think beyond their blood and thunder tactics. Even the Angels could not stop them all and that was a depressing thought to have, luckily she didn't feel such emotions, at least for the time being.

There was a slight pause before the angel smiled, a genuine smile. "Of course that is your name. Your kind is fond of playing the part of something they do not comprehend," she said. Luiniel placed her hands behind her back, locking her fingers together. "..my brothers and sisters call me Luiniel. You may call me whatever you wish as it makes little difference." she said. Once more she took a few more steps until she was standing relatively close assuming he did not back down from her approach. She wanted to inspect him up close, disregarding all personal space as she did not understand the concept.

"You may not have seen me but I have always been there. I watch your kind closely, the hunters. Whenever one of you gets "lucky" it's often not luck at all." she said. While she could not directly interfere she could influence small changes in environment or even whisper to the enemies they faced and cause confusion. They fought for the same cause as she and as such she considered them all to be her champions. Once more she fell silent, staring for a long while, perhaps longer than most mortals felt was comfortable or polite. "I have a mission for you, your particular skill set is the only one capable of completing the task. I need someone who can get close to two rather powerful individuals and update me regularly on their movements. I cannot watch them, they are warded from me by their very blood." she explained.

"The targets are Cerberus and Dagon. I cannot be certain that Dagon yet lives but if you encounter a "man" who is mostly immune to religious symbols you can be sure it is him." she warned.

[Seth Young]

Seraph looked the woman down without even moving his eyes. His peripheral vision was capable of registering information over 60 times more efficiently than the average human. What he knew thus far, was that she was definitely not a vampire, nor a werewolf. She gave off neither scent, and her skin was far too full to give off a dead look. Not to mention, he could feel the radiance that she gave off. The feelings that Seraph were feeling were euphoric, but his nanite-infused cells were keeping him aware and focused, allowing him to process everything out as it was happening. This woman was unlike any other creature he had hunted and took down. There were warlocks, witches, vampires, and even demons that he had fought before, but this woman moved and spoke with a grace in her being that radiated...good, rather than evil. For whatever purpose, Seraph found this woman as no threat to himself, or to the Hunters. She complimented him on his competence towards the creatures he hunted. Of course they were murderers, all of them. It was in their nature to be what they were. Of course, many of them pleaded that they were not killers, or that they were not evil, but in the end, every last one of them fed, or killed an innocent human. In the end, Seraph finished all of them. Whether due to his photographic memory, or a subconscious form of guilt, Seraph remembered the face of every creature he killed.

“And what, Luiniel, are you if not human?” He inquired as she approached him, inspecting him closely, “You’re definitely something I have yet to see, and it would be tempting to take you back to Command.” Part of him did not know if this woman would come peacefully, but everything about her preached it, from her gestures, to her voice, to how she moved...but he movements also had something...otherworldly to them. When she spoke, explaining what she was him, rather than directly saying it, Seraph began to get an idea of what she meant instead. “Angel…” He whispered, as if it was on the tip of his tongue all along. Rather, the answer somehow came to him as if she had put the thought there, or if something else did. The Hunters have only had a handful of recorded accounts pertaining to the Angels. Some involved exorcisms, whereas others involved either near, or absolute catastrophic events. If an Angel was here now, even if she was here to instill hope, it could only mean something big was happening.

“Every vampire has a vulnerability to magic,” he said, part of him in disbelief that a vampire could be immune to a religious symbol, “but then again, I have no memory of any Dagon on file, nor do I have anything on a Cerberus either...they must be rather powerful to be this evasive and to be on your radar.” A vampire that was immune to religious symbols. It was an interesting concept, but hardly believable. Even Vampire Masters would begin to burn when exposed to religious symbols long enough. Elders were certainly too old to be staked, but shoot them with a dart full of holy water and they dissolved like the rest of their kind. Seraph would have to put this Dagon to the test if he was alive, but more so, he wanted to know more about this Cerberus. “What can you tell me about these two? More so, do they have any relation to that Phase I that I ran into recently? This Doctor John Dark? He was with another, some little blonde Phase II, who was also particularly more powerful than other werewolves I’ve faced. Nearly took my head off with a sword before her puppy knocked me off a rooftop.”

Whatever this woman was, she could help him with taking down the Phase I and the girl from before. The only thing now was reporting back to HQ with what he knew. With her with him, he would either have a viable source of information for Gallagher, or he would have a new specimen for them to look at.

[Luiniel]

It became easier to have a conversation with him when he seemed at peace with her presence. She knew it would be like this when she descended but it didn't make her feel any less vexed. They were so far removed from humanities daily existence that they had become little more than a myth to the humans. It made their job easier by far but it also made her feel separated from the thing she loved most. He probably saw Luiniel as a potential ally or even something to be studied while she saw them as her children. While she wanted to hold their hand and protect them from everything, even she couldn't be everywhere at once. Slowly she nodded her head at them as he spoke, acknowledging that she was listening and actually cared what he had to say for himself.

"Take me back to command? Tempting but I am unsure if the rest of you are prepared for what my presence actually means. That is why I reached out to you." she said calmly. It was the only reason that Angels didn't walk openly among the mortals. To do so would cause more chaos then it would solve and that was the last thing she wanted. Even despite the fact that she was chaotic by nature she wished to see them free of turmoil, she fought herself on the inside. It was amusing to have watched him work his way to the conclusion that she was angelic in nature. The data the hunters had was incredibly incomplete, fifteen percent at best and the only thing she felt they had right was this; when Angels walked among mortals something cataclysmic was coming.

Were she a normal angel there would have been less fanfare, yet given that she was an Archangel summoning her divinity roused the sky. As six feathery wings sprouted from her back at full length, the sky ripped open and lightning ripped through the heavens followed by a deafening thunderclap. "Considering you have not turned and fled or thrown yourself at my feet I am sure I have chosen well. You have a focus beyond any I have ever seen on the proper details. My presence is not important, what is important is the why." she said with obvious approval. Once the little display was done the wings vanished from sight once more, best to spare any onlookers from something they could not even comprehend.

"Every Vampire has a weakness to the curse placed upon them. They are repelled by the holy symbols of whatever creed you believe in. Yet there is one who was born perfect, if you will. Fifty thousand years ago his essence was corrupted and he was born a monster. If you stood before him as you do before me you would be powerless to stop him from dismembering you." she explained. It pained her to even have to say any of this to begin with. She would have rather spared them having to be involved in this. There was a light in them that was stronger than even the gods, however, a light that made them the greatest creation. "Their blood shields them from various magics, my own power included. Not even the gods themselves can track Cerberus or Dagon. Their power comes from a more dangerous parentage far older than creation it's self. At this very moment there are those who actively seek to release those very beasts back into this world." she said.

It took her a moment that she was doing exactly what her creators did, something she hated. She was explaining the story from the middle and not the beginning. It was one of her worst habits and she often left out very important details. "I have no knowledge of this creature, the phase one you speak of. The girl, however, is the direct blood descendant of Cerberus himself. That you are alive is a testament to your own skill." she said. "That is why I have chosen you to champion my cause, if you would accept my trials." she added. Perhaps since she was asking so much of him it was only fair that she allow him to ask his own questions of her.

"If you have a question now is the time." she said firmly.

[Seth Young]

Seraph felt that this entire event seem above even his pay grade, but if an angel reached out to him, then it must have meant that he was destined for something greater. Up to this moment, Seraph was never truly a religious man, despite all he had seen in the past few years of serving the Hunters as their Operative. Whatever experiments that were done to fuse the nanites to his cellular structure allowed him to have a different perception to reality, as magic had always simply seemed like just very complicated science, and the various monsters, demons, mages, and beyond were just simply extradimensional beings, or just evolutionary deformities in humans. However, as he stood before the angel, feeling her radiance before him, his mind began to register a new perception on reality in general, and that if there were gods, they operated on a level beyond even his understanding. “I’m fairly certain that I cannot make you, but Gallagher will want to know that there is an Angel on Earth.”

Suddenly, before him the Luiniel revealed her true divinity from within herself, as six wings expanded from behind her and the skies crackled with lightning, revealing just a fraction of her angelic power. The feeling within Seraph was overwhelming, as he felt an overwhelming force take his own mind. As he looked upon her Earthly angelic form, he realized that there was more to this form than he realized. He saw a six-winged angel standing before him as lightning ripped across the skies, but he also came to understand that he was also looking at a veil. As she spoke again, he smiled as her wings vanished and he said, “I know that I understand so much more, now that I have basked in your presence, and I know now that there is more to just the monsters and the exorcisms now. I exist to exterminate the things that threaten humanity, and if this Dagon is as dangerous as you claim him to be, then I will have to access every resource I have to stop him. A vampire that old, and that powerful may seem unkillable, but in my experience, in order to even exist in this world, you have to die.” Everything had a weakness, and he would discover this one’s. However, as the angel mentioned something else, something...darker, a feeling that was alien to Seraph entered his body. An unnerving feeling like nails to a chalk board. However, he managed to push the feeling back and listened to what Luiniel had to say.

He got what he needed to know when he heard that the girl was the descendant of Cerberus. If she was related to him, or was his daughter, then it would explain her strength. Seraph normally noted that pureblood werewolves were ever-so slightly stronger than bitten werewolves, but she was more than just stronger, she had a powerful type of blood pumping in her veins. Seraph knew that close-quarters combat was out of the question now with Cerberus, Dagon, his offspring, and the Doctor. He would have to attack each of them from a distance. Anticipate their every move, and time their every event, no matter how frequent, or infrequent. If they were as dangerous as she said they were, then he was going to have to find a way to enhance his own power. “The fight between his offspring, and the Phase I gives me a better insight on what I am up against. I will kill Cerberus and Dagon for you, but first, I must kill this Phase I before he becomes an even greater threat. Even his offspring was confused by him…”

Seraph pulled out a smartphone and activated the drone camera that had been hovering above during the fight, gathering combat data and information from the fight. Seraph had yet to turn it in to Command, and he had his reservations over turning it in at all, as he had let hostiles escape. However, for whatever purpose, his curiosity was peaked, and wanted to see just how far he could push his limits, especially against stronger foes. So, he allowed them to leave, with the promise to kill the beasts later, but now he had been given insight from Heaven above of all places. Seraph pressed play on the smartphone, allowing for them both to view the camera feed on both the Phase I and the Phase II. Skipping several scenes, he revealed the close up of the Phase I’s golden eyes, a trait never seen in another werewolf before, and the beast’s abnormal speed and strength. However, it was when he showed the scenes of the beast listening to the girl, that Seraph maximized the audio. When the feed was over, he placed the phone back in his pocket and said, “This Phase I is different, and I intend to know exactly how different and eventually why he is different. If he is capable of becoming as dangerous as this Cerberus, then he needs to be taken out before he gets the chance.”

With his resolve in check, he would have to find out more about the others, and figure out what he needed about the Vampire and the werewolves. As she asked if he had any questions, he looked at her and asked, “If I need to contact you, how do I get in touch?”

[Luiniel]

Another reason she chose this man, he was not simply a tool to be used. Despite what he was hardwired to do, he always thought for himself. It was incredible to find that sort of free thinking within the hunter ranks and it was usually only at the top that you did. It took her ages to find someone like him and even he seemed to sneak up on her out of nowhere which made her curious. Even if she was not omnipresent, she still liked to believe that she had a good eye on what was going on this planet. She didn't like the feeling of something slipping past her gaze. There were times where she even envied the gods abilities but she kept that suppressed deep down so that she would not be consumed by such blasphemies.

"That is what you believe but there are things out there that are unkillable. A force like no other lurks beyond a thin veil, the very spark that created this world, and no one has ever been able to harm it." she warned. She could not go into any true detail as she felt that they were not ready to face that threat yet. Only once the divine ones were reincarnated would they be able to do something about it. The problem was that it was proving difficult to locate them. Never did heaven assume that the reincarnations would not stand out like a beacon to them, they were quite well hidden. "Report what you have learned here. I leave you to choose the details you decide to share." she added.

There was a lot to be considered now that she had found her champion. To be quite honest she felt that he should not have survived that meeting with his spawn. Yet he had and that was a sure sign that fate was on the side of this man. Perhaps there were others of interest among this group she might recruit to her crusade as well. "What they demonstrated is just the beginning. What you will see them do will leave you questioning everything you have ever known. But I digress for now, this should assist you in taking out that "phase one" as you put it." she said as she held out her hand. In her hand a rather short sword began to manifest it's self, the blade glimmering with a soft unnatural light.

"When you are backed into a corner this weapon will guide you. It will pierce anything, even the strongest of wolves. Do not let it fall into the wrong hands, it could be catastrophic for your people." she warned with a cold glare. Once she made herself clear, she looked up to the sky for a moment as if she was listening to something that he could not hear. To his final question, she simply walked forward and placed her hand on his shoulder and smirked.

"Pray." she said and then was gone before the eye could perceive it. Only the sound of flapping wings remained for a few moments.