The Wolf of Brockton Bay

Resting on a bench in the park, King absently sketched on the small notebook in his hand. It's been a few months since his trigger, his registration, and him moving into his friend's cabin out of the city. On his days off like this one, he found himself at the park, with a small sketchpad on his lap. Having his hand move freely, sketching anything that comes to mind, he noticed a girl with three dogs. They were full of scars, but were clearly happy to be with the girl. One of them, however, was a lot less calm than the others. Seeing the girl turn to the dog, it seemed like she was training them. As she got closer, she slowly stopped, before looking at King. Looking at her, he could feel something at an instinctual level, saying she would be one of the best allies he could find. The two stared at each other for a moment, before two of her dogs began pulling her to him, while the one being trained seemed scared but slowly approached as well.

"Nice dogs." King said, petting the two dogs. The third, however, kept her distance. Wait, how did he know it's a she?

"Thanks. They're not this friendly, normally." She said, looking at them man.

"... Nice to meet you too, Brutus. And you, Judas." The man said, making her raise her eyebrows in shock. "What's your name, little miss? Angelica? Nice to meet you too." The small dog slowly crept up to him, as she placed her head in the man's open hand. "I've heard of you. Heard you like helping dogs." King said, not even looking at her.

"You can understand them?" she asked, still slightly surprised.

"Guess my trigger let me understand them." He said, finally looking up. "... I think I've seen you before. You came to the animal sanctuary out of the city, right? The Pack Animal Shelter?"

"... Yes. You work there?"

"Occasionally. Also one of the owners. You've seen the cabin just outside the yard, right? That's my house." King said, smiling slightly.

"... I've heard of you." She said, looking straight at him. "... I want your help."

"Hm? For what?"

"Help me save some dogs from Hookwolf." As she said the name, King shot up immediately, towering over her. True to their training, Brutus, Judas, and even Angelica began to growl at him, even after their pleasant meeting.

"... When." King 'asked', as the girl felt an unnatural feeling from him, far beyond rage.

"... Tomorrow. Meet here, then we'll go into Empire territory." She said, only taking a step back to see his face better. "We found several dog fighting rings. I'm going to hit all of them if I can."

"... Time."

"Meet at six. P.m."

"... Right. See you then." King turned leave, stopping to nod at her for a moment, before continuing. Getting on his bike, we began to ride like hell to his house. Going inside, he sat on a nearby chair, taking a deep breath in. Closing his eyes, he began to focus on himself, meditating in the room as time continued to pass.

 ------ 

"You're early." The girl said, looking at the man on the bench. Like her, he wore easy to overlook clothing, jeans and a hoodie.

"Ready when you are." The man said, standing up.

"Let's go." Leading the way, the two walked in silence, as she was escorted by two dogs. Reaching the first dog fighting ring, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"He's here." The man growled, moving ahead. "He's mine."

Taking a step back, she watched as the man tossed his hoodie aside, slowly growing in size and bulk, into a giant werewolf. The empire goons, to their part, noticed the growing figure, and had the bright idea to run away. As King reached the door, he ripped the door off its hinges, entering while dragging the large metal door. Immediately, he noticed Hookwolf as he was facing the door. Throwing the door at him, Hookwolf dodge under it as he transformed, tackling and dragging King outside. Even with the blades all over him, King continued to tear and claw at Hookwolf, ignoring all the cuts and gouges he took in return. In contrast to what seemed like mindless fighting, King was expertly dragging Hookwolf further away from the dog fighting ring, before he started to double up on his attacks. Claws ripped off Hookwolf's constantly regenerating armor, while fists hammered into them, hurting his softer insides despite the armor.

When pushed back, King grabbed vehicles and used them as projectiles, doing everything to hurt the man and keep him here. Luckily, with how feral his fighting was, he's managed to trick Hookwolf into believing this was nothing more than an enraged attempt at revenge. For his part, he took it in stride and fought back, reveling in the fight and fought with an equal ferocity. It wasn't clear to either of them how long they fought, but as an invisible force cut into King's shoulder, he backed off, ducking under another attack from behind. Sweeping his arm back, he felt a pair of hands on his arm, as someone flipped over his attack. Seeing two more people appear, King grinned and charged again, knowing the more they looked at him, the less they'll notice anything else. As the fight progressed again, King could feel a twitch at the back of his head, before jumping back suddenly.

Stormtiger, to his credit, aimed perfectly to miss Hookwolf, but dragging him forward, Hookwolf took the brunt of his attack, before King tore off the hooks attached to him. Turning to Cricket, she reacted too late before King knocked her out in one blow, before grabbing her and fleeing. Chasing him down, Hookwolf and Stormtiger seemed to always be one step behind, close but not close enough to catch him. After a while, King grinned to himself and tossed Cricket to the group, before suddenly dashing away, far faster than what he was going previously. Seeing this, Hookwolf stared for a moment, before realizing where they are, so far away from where they started. Slinking through the alleys and side roads, King made sure there weren't any tails before going back to the park. Turning back to normal, he grabbed a spare set of clothes, putting them on. As he finished putting his shirt on, he noticed the person who brought him here in the first place.

"You're here." She said, now with an army of dogs behind her.

"I see you're done as well." King said, grinning.

"You're a werewolf?"

"My trigger. Where're they going now?" King gestured to the dogs.

"Some shelters. Hoping your shelter can take them also."

"Eh... Should be fine. Gonna need more cover, but we should have the space for it."

"... Bitch." She said, offering her hand.

"... Ah, I see... King. Michael King." King shook her hand, as she suddenly shuddered. "You okay?"

"... I think my shard is responding to yours." She said, looking up at him. "Thank you."

"Sure... I should thank you as well, since anything I can do to mess with Hookwolf, I'd do happily."

"Mind if I ask for help again?"

"Sure... aw fuck." King placed his face in his hand.

"Something wrong?"

"Haven't gotten in contact with some friends after my trigger... They might be pissed..." King said, sighing. "Well... My issue. See you around?"

"Sure... Thanks again." She said, smiling slightly.

 ------

"... So, you're saying you found him?" Tattletale asked, looking at Bitch who was grooming Angelica.

"Yup. Nice wolf man." She replied, barely paying attention.

"And... what? He just helped you and that's that?"

"Yup. Didn't like Hookwolf."

"Makes sense... His trigger was caused by Hookwolf." Grue said, sighing. "So... Do we tell Coil? He did tell us to find him."

"Go ahead." Bitch said, drawing everyone's attention. "We can't win against him. But he agreed to help again later."

"Later? What do you mean, 'later'?" Tattletale asked, slightly frustrated.

"Said he'd be happy to help mess with Hookwolf. So maybe if Coil asked to help with him."

"... I don't know what else to say..." Tattletale sighed.

"I'm going to bed. Good night." Bitch left, leaving the rest of the Undersiders stunned.

"... Do we tell him? He'll find out eventually, but I think he's Bitch's friend." Grue asked, looking at Tattletale.

"Let's... let's just tell him. He's a neutral party, so things should be fine." She sighed. "Let's just hope he won't get too pissed at us."

"Coil or the wolf?" Regent asked, looking up from the sofa.

"... The wolf."

 ------

"Michael!? You're okay!" A shout came from the phone, as King pulled it away from his ear.

"Is that Michael?! Is he okay? We haven't heard from him in months!" another voice said.

"Yeah, it's me. Sorry about that." King sighed, rubbing his temples. "Long story short, I had a bad trigger. I'm living outside the city, but I got a new job."

"Are you okay? Why didn't you call us earlier?" the first voice asked.

"... Sorry, but I wasn't sure we're close enough for me to just... dump my emotions on any of you." King leaned back.

"... You should've still called. We heard about your trigger, but when we came to your apartment, it was already empty." A third voice said.

"... When did you come?"

"Three days after?"

"... I was still living there." King said. "That was my room furnished..." A silence could be felt from the other side of the phone, as the three realized how bare his living space was.

"... Where are you living now?"

"The only building next to 'The Pack Animal Shelter'. I work there on the weekends."

"'The Pack'? Heh..." a chuckle came from the phone. "I guess it suits you."

"Vicky!"

"It's fine. I'm better now... It's just that it's hard to relax in the city after how I triggered." King said, smiling slightly. "It's a cabin that used to belong to my friends. You know... when they said they were gonna give it to me after they die, I thought that was a joke..."

"... They must be good friends." the first voice said.

"Better than I deserve." King sighed. "I... I should contact some other people. Sorry for calling you so late at night."

"What are you talking about? We called you." The woman said. "An SMS from somebody who hadn't contacted anyone in forever is good enough reason to call them."

"... Heh... Thanks for calling, then." King said. "I'll... I'll talk to you guys later. See you around, I guess."

"Bye Michael!" two voices said.

"Thanks for letting us know you're okay." The first voice said.

"Right... Bye." King closed the call, before another call came in immediately. Looking at the caller, he let out a chuckle as he picked up.