The Raptor - Night of the Living Stalker

[Jacob Maccabee]

Foreword: A Message from the Writer

The following story is based upon my upcoming superhero (potentially comicbook, but for now storybook), named The Raptor. He is currently Idaho's only superhero and could use some lovin'. This is his debut story and will be available across the internet upon its completion, though you all will see him first here on the Deus Mortuus forums! I hope you all enjoy!

-Kerian

Music to enjoy!

The Raptor

Intro Theme music: Death Before Dishonor by Five Fingered Death Punch (instrumental) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgX_3n6wb5w
Battle Theme: Die Trying by Art of Dying - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFlVi9MHpDc
Joseph's/Alter Ego theme: Rookie by Martin O'Donnel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyeek3dhUEg

The Stalker

Stalking Theme: Dead Space Theme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irnSaMbsb4w
Overarching Theme: The Thing theme by Jon Carpenter - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meU2gAU7Xss

Comments are more than welcome. Be sure to let me know what you think!

[Jacob Maccabee]

The Raptor
Night of the Living Stalker

Boise, the City of Trees. At night, everything appeared so peaceful from so high up. The city lights sparkled and glowed with all the intensity of any of the other bigger cities in the United States, yet it didn’t have nearly as much noise or clamor; not nearly as much traffic or construction. It’s times like this that Joseph liked to go out, though tonight he wasn’t exactly going out and about like any normal kid his age did.

Tonight, he was the Raptor.

The half-man, half dinosaur superhero looked down upon the world from his vantage point atop the Aspen Condos building. His piercing gaze looked at everything from a whole new level. As Raptor, he could see things with enhanced, almost hawk-like vision, and not only could see the city streets below him, but could zoom in on all the details, pick out individual faces in the crowds, and even read some of the signs on the ground below.

Of course, right now he was just looking. He wasn’t searching for anything in particular.

He felt his feathers ruffle a little, the movement jerky and slightly uncomfortable in his costume. He reached back and righted the feathers with the stubs of his fingers that lay beneath the long claws. He had to be careful not to cut through his suit. Even having owned this form for quite a few months, he still wasn’t used to all of the quirks his ‘other self’ happened to have.

But discomforts soon had to be put aside. His tracking eyes caught movement in the dark streets below; a man was running quite quickly down the sidewalk towards a nearby alley. It didn’t take long before sirens and whistles to go off down the nearby street as cops began driving towards the direction the man went. But the man reached the alley before they could see him. By the time they’d get there, he’d be long gone down a side-street and into the rest of the Boise Underground, just like the rest of the criminals the Boise Police failed to catch.

Well, he’d escape the Boise Police. He wouldn’t escape the Raptor.

Joseph quickly opened up the hidden flaps on his arms, unsheathing them through a special zipper strap and uncovering the feathers beneath. As he let them extend and made sure none were stuck, he looked down and judged the trajectory of his fall. Feeling the wind to make sure he wouldn’t misjudge his flight, he took a few steps back on the roof, and then jumped.

Right away his unnaturally light body was nearly carried aloft, though it wasn’t until he spread his arms and let his feathers catch that he actually began his glide down. The glide was fast; focused upon quick descent rather than his usual, almost leisurely flights from building to building; but it wasn’t too uncontrolled either. He had been practicing quite a lot over the past couple of weeks. He had to make sure his flying was performed right, so that he could avoid any accidents like on his first couple of forays into the Idaho sky.

The glide didn’t even take him a minute. Circling down to keep himself from overshooting his target, he slowed his descent and landed upon the roof of the building nearby. Quickly folding his arms so that his feathers wouldn’t get in the way, he started running the moment his feet touched the ground. He cut the distance he lost while the man had run down the alleyway quickly before deciding to leap to the ground below.

He always did like to be a bit flashy, so Joseph let his descent match as such. Keeping his feathers unsheathed, he leapt off of the building into the alley below, allowing his feathers to catch his fall. The glide down the remaining three floors instantly slowed from what would have been a nasty fall to a very light drop. His appearance was almost angelic; like a dark angel having descended from the heavens, only to become a devil to those who dared to stray from the law or justice’s hands.

The current perpetrator stopped dead in his tracks not ten feet from the Raptor as he touched the ground. Joseph’s enhanced eyesight, once adjusted to the dark, quickly allowed him to see relatively clearly in the otherwise dim and dark alleyway. The man in question before him was a wanted fugitive he had seen on the news, who had escaped the Boise Penitentiary a couple of days earlier. He was likely desperate, and more than likely armed thanks to the two days he was out on the Boise streets. The world would appreciate him behind bars again.

“That’s far enough,” he half-said, half-snarled from behind his black mask.

The man took a couple steps back in disbelief. “The hell are you supposed to be?!” he asked.

Joseph rolled his shoulders a couple of times; for theatrics, of course. “I am the Raptor. The law’s not happy with you, mister. I’ve come to make sure it takes care of you.”

The man’s formerly fearful face became a sneer as he reached into his coat pocket. Joseph acted fast. He had a feeling that the man was armed, but he knew that even though he could take him, innocents could get hurt. He quickly did a hop-leap to one side so that he could keep the wall behind him, ensuring that the man wouldn’t have any extra potential targets out on the streets.

Just like that, the man pulled out a small-caliber pistol and fired at the strange half-reptile. Joseph let his instincts take over. Right away, his still-unsheathed feathers were crossed together, covering his vitals and leaving them protected. His feathers were far more solid than any bird’s feathers, being almost scales, and smaller bullets couldn’t harm them. Two shots meant for the gut bounced off harmlessly, while he easily dodged the third meant for his head.

While the man began to stare in sudden disbelief, the Raptor quickly took it to his advantage. In that moment’s hesitation he quickly folded his ‘wings’ against his body and charged at the speeds of a jungle cat, slamming his shoulder into the man’s gut and sending him flying backwards. The man hit the ground hard as the impact jarred his body. He quickly got to his feet again, and despite the injury he went into a fighting stance and threw his fists at the creature.

The Raptor blocked the first blow with his arms, dodged the second and the third, and before the fourth could be made he did two rapid punches to the man’s gut. Without giving him a break, he made an uppercut that got the man in his right shoulder. The man backed up, grabbing his gut from the recoil. Before he could move back too far the Raptor dropped to his hands and knees and swung himself around, using his tail as a club and knocking the man’s feet out from under him.

The fugitive fell to the ground in a heap, flat on his back. He tried to get up, but he fell again, blacking out from the stress. Yet another bad guy grabbed and bagged by Boise’s ‘resident bird of prey.’

The Raptor quickly reached into a slot in his costume on his back and pulled out a rope. Without wasting it, he cut it into appropriate pieces and tied the man’s wrists and ankles. Upon making sure none of the injuries he inflicted were too serious, he dragged the man over to a lit corner of the street alleyway and promptly placed him there in a heap. He then finished by scratching at the ground with his claws, scratching a three-clawed logo on the ground by the man’s legs.

He smiled at his handiwork, but then noticed a nearby crowd starting to form. He quickly made himself scarce. Using the claws on his hands and feet he began to climb up the stone of the building almost like a squirrel, keeping balance with his tail. It wasn’t long before he was at a height that he could fly off and maybe use his grappling hooks for extra lift.

The police soon arrived at the scene, though Joseph knew that the best thing for him was to be long gone by the time that happened. Some quick leaps and a couple of grappling-hooks later, and he was up to a high place again, looking down upon the world, daring Boise’s criminal underworld to rear its ugly head again for him to bat aside with a clawed hand.

It felt good to be a superhero.



Much of Boise was covered in open forest, suburbs, and undeveloped land. Given that the majority of the Boise area was, in fact, the combined development of five different cities, there was still a lot of land left to be developed in service to the greater metropolitan area. Much of what remained was used as parkland, and it was in this park, one night, that two people began to walk through, discussing something of a dark nature.

“Come on, it’s simple. Just a quick flick of the wrist at the jugular and it’s done. They’ll drain out in moments. Quick and simple. Sure, you have to deal with the blood afterwards, but in the long run it pays off.”

“I don’t know...I’m starting to have second thoughts about all of this. I mean, what if I get caught?”

“Who cares?? It’s not like the laws around here’ll stop ya.”

Two men were walking down the lit walkway of Boise’s downtown park. The trees, spread wide with distinct summer greenery, seemingly blocked off the stars and the lights above, keeping most of the area relatively dark save for the public lights. Few bothered to stick around a dark park at night, so it was a perfect time for two people to have a very awkward conversation others should not be bothered with.

The first man made an image like he was cutting something with an invisible knife. The second hesitated, stopping in his tracks.

“You make it sound as if you’ve done this kind of thing before!”

The first man turned around and glared at the second. “Hey, look, bud,” he said, “You said so yourself; you wanted that dog gone. Your kid’s not home anymore, it’s wasting space, it’s got gas that’s like a living hell to you-!”

“But it’s still my kid’s dog,” the second man protested, “I mean, sure the thing’s annoying, and it’s so old it really shouldn’t even be alive anymore, but I can’t just kill it with my bare hands!”

The first man shrugged. “It’s either that or take it in to a vet and have it euthanized…and you already know you can’t afford that.”

“Yeah, but—” the man stopped for a moment.

The first man looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

The second man glimpsed into the darkness. “Is that…Old Man Kenneth?”

The first man followed his gaze. Movement in the distance caught his eyes. What looked like an old homeless-man’s hovel appeared occupied by something very uncannily odd.

The first man approached the movement. “Hey! Kenneth? Old man, did you get your hands on some booze again?!”

No answer. There was still movement. Audible sounds could be heard though; something tearing in the darkness.

The second man took a step back. “Dude…what’s he eating?”

There was a snarling sound. Both men flinched as a pair of glowing eyes looked them over from the direction of the hovel. The snarling grew louder as whatever the thing was eating dropped with a thud; dark liquid pouring down an incline in their direction. As the liquid approached the light, it appeared red, like blood.

The second man gasped, the first man so terrified that he couldn’t even move. The creature approached them both, its dark form barely visible in the gloom. The glowing eyes became slits as the creature approached with predatorial intent. In moments the first man screamed, though not before the creature leapt at him in the dark.

The second man didn’t hesitate to run for his life. The first man struggled, trying his hardest to get away as the creature subdued and dragged him away into the gloom away from the streetlamp.



Joseph’s alarm blared him awake. At first he shrugged it off; hitting the snooze button in his sleep. Then he remembered he needed to wake up. Like it or not, he was still Joseph Davis…and he still had to attend class.

He finished waking himself up and stretched. He checked his clock. 9:36 A.M. A little later than he needed it to be, but he still had plenty of time to get ready. He quickly got dressed, took his shower, and headed downstairs for some coffee and a donut.

“Hey, Aunt Yvonne, you want me to save a maple bar for you?” he shouted.

There wasn’t an answer. He looked up in confusion. Then he remembered.

He sighed and chided himself. Aunt Yvonne had been comatose since last month. It was hard to believe that it was that long ago. It didn’t seem like much, but when you lose a loved one even a month seems like an eternity…especially when you helped cause it.

Joseph finished his breakfast, hoping the food would help him feel better. When he was done, he quickly grabbed his car keys and headed out towards the garage. He hoped that burying his head in school books would help make him feel better.



Somehow, life had an interesting way of keeping one’s mind off of things.

Joseph often went to take summer classes in high school. It wasn’t because he needed it; he was an A student in science and history. However, he often took summer classes for the sake of performing extra-curricular activities, just so that he could keep his edge. It wasn’t much, but it kept his grades up…though in turn he had to deal with the school’s everyday rejects, like Kenneth Fitzgerald.

“What’s the rush, J.D.? Forget your chemistry set?! HAH!”

Kenneth Fitzgerald was one of his high school’s top jocks. He excelled in baseball, football, and dodge ball, and often went with the varsity teams on games. Unfortunately he also had brains equivalent to a stegosaurus, which meant he often went to summer school to keep his grades up just enough for him to keep playing. He was also Joseph’s biggest fan…in a bad way.

Joseph neatly dodged the not-so-playful punch in his direction. He quickly dodged the would-be bully and continued his quick pace to class before the jock could catch him. Kenneth simply shook his fist and chortled at the science nerd before continuing on his way, ready to bully some other helpless high-schooler stuck in summer school.

Joseph had kept track of the many abilities that could cross over into his human form from his Raptor form. Among many of them, which included peak physical condition for his age and size, included an extra ‘sixth sense.’ This sense helped him keep in touch with his own body and his surroundings, which greatly helped his reflexes and physical awareness. It came in handy on a number of occasions, but greatly differed from his usual nerdy self that he had been barely more than a month ago. He could have easily grabbed Kenneth’s arm and threw him back over his shoulder if he wanted, but Joseph Davis wouldn’t be able to do that. He was too much of a nerd.

Joseph had planned to slowly integrate his new physical self into society, but it was getting harder and harder with each passing day. The old Joseph Davis was socially awkward with a lack of physical exercise and a body that matched it. He was more in touch with computers than he was with his fellow students. Thanks to his experience with the Totem, he was now physically stronger, his senses sharper, and what’s more his desire to intermingle with his own kind was oddly increasing. The Raptor in him was taking greater effect to his life than he thought, almost as if it had a mind of its own.

Joseph quickly got into the classroom and closed the door behind him. His teacher looked up; a marker in his hand pointed to the projector nearby, featuring a slide showing different creatures of American legend. The other students; a whole whopping dozen of them; turned as well, some of them chuckling behind their teacher’s back.

“Ah, Mr. Davis,” the history teacher said, “Fashionably late, I suppose?”

Joseph gave a nervous smile. “Sorry, Mr. Andrews. It won’t happen again.”

“I certainly hope not. Take your seat.”

Joseph quickly got to his desk and sat down. As he put his binder away, he couldn’t help but notice a couple of the girls nearby giggling a little. He couldn’t help but grin. Normally he’d be under these girls’ radar unless they were looking for some unlucky guy to do their homework. But this time he knew exactly what they were looking at; apparently his new physique wasn’t exactly unnoticed, and he didn’t mind the new looks in his direction.

But all of his attention was turned to one girl in particular, and she was sitting next to the teacher’s desk, prepping his slide show for the class.

Kristen Harley was arguably one of the hottest girls in school. She had it all; good looks, a good family life, and a great brain. She worked at the school part-time as a teacher’s aide throughout the year, often working with the history teachers. It was through them that he got to meet her, and she became his crush throughout high school. Of course, it wasn’t until a month ago that he managed to get brave enough to actually talk to her…and it wasn’t until about a week or so earlier that he got what he always wanted; their first kiss.

Kristen smiled at him and gave him a little wink. Making sure the teacher didn’t notice, he winked back. The two weren’t officially going out, but it felt good knowing her feelings about him and vice versa. Joseph hoped that the two of them could start dating soon, though that may take a while yet…and in the meantime he had to focus on his grades and get himself a job.

He went back to taking notes. Something told him that today could potentially be a good day.



After losing his old job as a volunteer for the Boise Museum of American History, Joseph felt that it was high time that he got a job doing something with a bit more pay. Given that he was a pretty smart guy and had a great eye in photography, what better job was there than that of a cameraman for a local newspaper? Of course, that meant getting the job first, and he had to wait in line in front of a bunch of interns who had been working for the job for a long time.

Calvin Curtis was the manager and lead editor of the Boise Blare, a tabloid newspaper in the area that served as the city’s “Number 1 Source of credible information!” according to the slogan on the office. Of course, Joseph knew that it was just a tabloid, and as a tabloid it had as much credible news as the average Joe across the street. But they provided good money for freelance photographers, and money was something that Joseph needed.

Mr. Curtis looked at the photographs provided by the young photographer. Joseph stood patiently, his hands sweating with nervous tension. He had hoped he provided good enough photographs. He had paid attention to the lighting and everything…now all he needed was approval from his boss-to-be.

Mr. Curtis thumbed through the photos one last time before he put them on the desk. “They aren’t good enough, kid.”

Joseph felt his shoulders droop. “You’re kidding me.”

“Don’t get me wrong, they’re good pictures. If we were hiring somebody to take pictures for a scenic magazine, you’d be our guy…but we aren’t.”

The man stood up, gesturing to the pictures with one hand. “We’re a tabloid newspaper, kid. The common people aren’t too interested in scenic pictures of the U.S. Bank building in the sunset or the river on a hot summer’s day. That’s for the rest of the United States to have a look at. No, the good citizens of Boise Idaho are interested in the here-and-now; what’s going on in our present day environment. They’re interested in what goes on in the dark underworld of this city; what goes on backstage. They wanna see embarrassed celebrities, cop stakeouts gone wrong, accidents happening right and left, natural disasters; stuff that draws them away from the cold reality of our city. Kapish?”

Joseph nodded.

“Now,” Mr. Curtis continued, “There is one picture here that did manage to catch my eye.”

He pulled it out of the pile and showed it to him. “This one.”

The picture was a shot that Joseph remembered taking a while ago. In his opinion, it was his worst photo in the shoot. It had been taken at midnight, the shadows were terrible, and it was windy and his camera was shaking up. All in all, he had wondered why he ever included it in the lot, except for one thing; the subject matter. It was a picture of himself, as his Raptor form, taken just a week or two after his transformation.

He lifted a brow. “How so?”

“How so?” Mr. Curtis asked, “You’re joking, right kid? This picture is of one of Boise’s top new sensations; our local celebrity hot-shot of the night! It’s a picture of the Raptor; newspapers would kill for a photo like this!”

Joseph put a hand on his hip, still unconvinced. “It’s not a very good picture.”

“It doesn’t matter if it isn’t a good picture, kid. This is a tabloid. We get bad pictures all the time; most of them are even fake! It doesn’t matter if it’s a good picture or not; the point is that it sells papers, and it sells them on a regular basis.”

He placed the picture back down on his desk and sat back down. “I’ll be willing to pay you a hundred bucks in cash for this picture, kid, but if you want a position on this job you need to get more pictures of the mysterious and unnatural…like the Raptor. And even then, you’ve got to compete with the half-a-dozen interns I get here on a daily basis, and most of them are college-level kids.”

“But I can’t just go out at night and start taking pictures of the Raptor!” Joseph protested, which was partially true, “He’s a vigilante! Wouldn’t he…I dunno, eat me or something?”

Mr. Curtis placed a hand on his chin and stared hard at the boy. “It’s a challenge, kid. You can’t get to the top without taking risks. I’ll tell you what; let’s make it a bigger challenge. If you can get me photographs of that Stalker guy by the end of the week, I’ll give you the job.”

Joseph was confused. “The…Stalker?”

“You haven’t heard of the Stalker, kid? He’s Boise’s biggest new freak show; almost as big as that Naga lady that took over the U.S. Bank building over a week back! He’s been terrorizing the city parks for the last couple of nights now.”

The man stood up and put his hand on Joseph’s shoulder, shepherding him out of his office. “Look, you get me some decent photos of the Stalker, and I’ll get you your job. Consider it a done deal; if you don’t get me those photos consider the job lost. Ask my secretary for that hundred bucks. Now scram, kid. I’ve got a paper to manage.”

And with that, the old man shut the door behind him.

Joseph was left scratching his head in bewilderment. What in the world had he gotten himself into? And who was this ‘Stalker’ guy? He sounded like something from some weird b-movie thriller. Count on a tabloid to send him on a wild goose chase.

He didn’t waste time getting the hundred dollars from the manager’s secretary and leaving the place. He was already getting tired and knew he was going to need a nap sometime soon if he was going to be at the top of his game that night. After all, crime never sleeps. It’d only make sense that neither would the Raptor.

---------New Content Added!--------

Later on that night, after a long nap and a cup of coffee, the Raptor was once again gliding above the city of Boise, seeking out the city’s scum and villainy that reared their ugly heads in the dark of night. Of course, tonight he had a side-mission. He was going to see what this whole “Stalker” business was all about, and potentially put an end to it.

Apparently the Stalker was a hit thing going on in the local tabloid papers. According to many of them, the Stalker was some kind of demon-esque creature that shunned the daylight and hunted at night, like something out of a vampire movie. The creature seemed to have a strange craving for human flesh and stalked people in the night, earning its nickname from the press.

All in all, Joseph doubted the Stalker’s existence. Likely it was just a homeless guy who went a little loopy in the head, or perhaps a wild animal that got loose from the Boise Zoo. He wouldn’t be surprised. In any case, he was taking all of this with a grain of salt, though he knew that something was causing these tabloid headlines, and he knew the best way to solve this mystery was to figure it out for yourself.

He glided slowly over the Julia Davis Park, the oldest park in the city. The park’s street lamps were lit, giving the park an eerie hue against the dark sky. As the city’s nightly hustle and bustle continued in the gloom, the noise echoing through his ears, he focused upon the activities going on in the park. As he expected, there were few people out tonight, though there were a lot fewer than he anticipated. Apparently this Stalker craze had gotten quite a few people nervous.

He slowed his descent before landing in the boughs of a willow tree by one of the park’s many ponds. Careful that he didn’t break any branches, he quickly used his claws and started crawling down the tree. Upon reaching the lowest branches, he paused and looked around; his light-sensitive eyes acting like perfect natural night-vision goggles as he peered in the gloom.

So far, there was no one about. He considered that a bonus; the fewer people saw him, the better. The last thing he needed was to scare anybody. After all, most people out tonight were expecting some crazed Stalker creature to come out and frighten them. The last thing he’d need is for someone to point a finger and say that the Stalker thing was him.

He continued his climb downwards before dropping to the soft earth below. Landing on his feet, he carefully looked about to make sure he didn’t make a mistake and reveal himself. Satisfied, he took a moment to let his reptilian feet soak in the remaining heat of the day left behind before the night’s cool air would rob it until the ‘morrow. One of the weird things about being part reptile was the appreciation of anything warm against your body.

He quickly moved across the dark park, using his swift feet to make his way through the shadows. His keen eyes, smell, and hearing picked up any movement, be it an owl hunting for rodents or a couple of thrill-seekers looking for a fun night in the dark. He kept to the darkness as much as he could; in the event that he had to cross a lit sidewalk or street he simply climbed up a tree and glided across to the other side. He made sure he was as discreet as possible in his search for the elusive creature.

It was about a couple of hours later before he decided to give up on the search. It had, after all, been destined to be a wild goose chase from the start. Count on a tabloid manager to let you know you have no chance at a job the wackiest way possible. Now he’d better start setting up more job applications to turn in.

He was just about to climb a tree when his nerves suddenly went haywire. Apprehension, adrenaline, and reaction burst through his systems with lightning speed. He quickly leapt aside and turned around, his feathers quivering, just as someone tried to toss a rope net over him.

“Gotchya!” the intruder shouted.

Joseph scurried backwards, his claws extended and ready. He quickly stopped, however, when he noticed who his would-be captor happened to be.

It was Lisa Mallory, one of his classmates.

“Dammit!” she shouted, picking up her net quickly as she did, “I thought I had him for a second there.”
Joseph remained in the shadows, watching her carefully. Lisa Mallory was one of the school’s well-known class clowns; not a clown as-in she wanted to make everyone laugh, but rather a clown as-in she was practically a joke. She was into some of the weirdest things imaginable; cryptozoology, occult research, paranormal sciences, and the like. She was voted “Most likely to join the X-Files” in the high school yearbook since freshman year.

She noticed him lurking in the darkness. She instantly flinched and started to back away.

Joseph decided that now would be a good time to take a risk.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said, his voice slightly gritty and raspy due to his unique vocal chords, “I won’t hurt you.”

Lisa stopped in her tracks. “You-you can talk? The rumors are true?”

He nodded. “If, by rumors, you mean the testimonies those crooks I caught kept stating, yeah.”

The junior seemed to swoon for a moment. “Wow,” she said, “I always thought you could talk…I never really thought of you as an animal, but…wow…”

Joseph snarled under his breath in irritation. He may be a half-raptor creature, but he wasn’t an animal. “What’s with the net?”

Lisa fiddled with the net in her hands before quickly hiding it behind her back, sheepishly. “Uh…well…in the event you actually were an animal, or something…I thought…”

“You thought you could…take a closer look,” Joseph finished.

Lisa slowly nodded.

The Raptor cocked his head to one side, the action very bird-like; not at all human. “Care for a closer look now?”

Lisa stared at first, unsure of herself, before she nodded again.

Joseph knew that this was a bad idea, but he also knew Lisa. She had been dreaming her whole life of a moment like this. He wasn’t going to deny it to her. At the very least, he knew this would fulfill a lifelong dream, despite the risk.

He stepped out into the light of the street lamp. His body could be seen clearly; a costumed creature, with almost bird-like legs, the gait of a two-legged reptile, and a long tail that pointed straight and outward. His arms hung down against his body, the wings retracted and sealed within the arms of his suit. His face, masked, carried a very bird-like appearance with sharp eyes like slants against the black and brown of his costume. Slowly, he lifted one arm and began to pull away the mask to reveal the face within.

Lisa gasped. Joseph guessed that would be her reaction. He remembered all of those nights he used scaring homeless people out of their skins. He remembered the lonely couples whose romantic nights he ruined with just a flash of his sharp teeth. He earned quite a reputation even before he began his life as a crime fighter, and it wasn’t a very good reputation. Many people still refer to him as the Freak rather than the name he gave himself.

“Disappointed?” he asked.

Lisa gulped. She shook her head.

Joseph sadistically smiled a little bit, his pearly whites gleaming with a monstrous gleam. It made Lisa cringe a little. “Now you’ve seen something beyond the norm. Take a good look, lady. This is as pretty as it’s going to get…”

He put his mask back on and started to turn away. Before he could completely, he felt Lisa’s hand touch his shoulder. His feathers instantly rose, his new body not used to this sort of contact from another.

“Um…thank you,” she said.

Joseph chuckled a little. “What for? For giving you nightmares?”

She shook her head. “No…for not running away.”

The half-raptor looked at her for a moment, his masked face hiding the strange expression of confusion this body made. What did she mean, not running away?

“I’ve…always wanted to see you, in person,” she said, “I’ve never actually had the guts to do that until now.” She chuckled, twiddling her thumbs nervously; the net forgotten on the ground beside her. “You must think I’m crazy, don’t you?”

Joseph crossed his arms and chuckled slightly. “Maybe a little…”

Lisa gave him a shy smile. Joseph never noticed how cute she looked until now. The light of the street lamp cast just the right shadows on her light-red hair, and he could see her green eyes almost perfectly in the gloom thanks to his enhanced vision. He would have almost asked her out, were it not for his current predicament.

He was about to suggest ‘escorting her home,’ when a loud scream interrupted their conversation. Both of them turned around in surprise.

“What was that?!” she asked frightfully.

Joseph went into action. “You stay here, call the cops,” he said. Without another word he was off, his quick legs moving him at speeds faster than any other animal could hope to run, leaving her alone under the street lights.



It didn’t take long before Joseph found the source of the screaming. There was a young man, lying on the ground, clutching his chest and talking frantically. He quickly approached the man, his senses open and alert as he did.

When determined that they were ‘safe’ for the moment, he crouched down next to the man. “Are you injured?” he asked.

The man turned himself over, speaking deliriously, his eyes closed tightly shut through pain. Joseph got a good look at the man’s injury and didn’t like the looks of it. The man had been wearing a sleeveless vest and a t-shirt beneath it, though a large chunk of both was missing. The man had a massive, maw-shaped wound in the middle of his chest that dug almost straight into his body, revealing bits of the raw bone that was his chest cavity. He was already bleeding, but the bleeding looked unnaturally slow, and he could see green fluid seeping into the wound.

Joseph acted quickly, reaching into one of his suit pockets and pulling out a small medical kit he always brought with him in case of these emergencies. He immediately pulled out a bandage and anti-septic when his senses went on overdrive. His feathers rose like quills and his muscles twitched and flexed. He quickly got into a defensive position, one leg over the man’s body to protect him in the event that something bad was to happen to him.

It didn’t take long before the assailant revealed itself. At first, all the Raptor could make out was based on hearing; shuffling and snarling in the darkness. Then came the glowing eyes; yellow like ichor. Then the creature began to emerge from its hiding place.

Joseph had never seen anything like it in his life. The beast was man-like, and that’s where its similarities with humanity seemed to end. Its body was covered in dense, gray fur that was made up of spiky hairs that pointed like needles. Its face was almost bat-like, elongated with hardly any appearance of a nose save for a pair of slits located between the mouth and the eyes. The eyes themselves were large and gaunt, completely yellow and pupilless and ever-staring. Its jaws were sharp and lined with yellow teeth and appeared to still be dripping with blood. It wore few clothing save for a few scraps of what looked like animal skin, which had antlers and horns tied at odd intervals throughout the weave.

Looks like the damned tabloids weren’t kidding…

The monster snarled. He immediately snarled back. His claws extended, revealing sharp weapons that could cut through steel. His tail moved back and forth, slowly, like a cat’s. His eyes behind his mask pinpointed upon his newfound prey. The Stalker, meanwhile, slowly began to approach the newcomer on all fours, circling the streetlight’s glow cautiously like a jungle cat.

Joseph kept the wounded man between his legs. The man was in shock and was losing a lot of blood. There was no way he’d be able to escape this monster. The Raptor had no intention of allowing this beast a human meal. He’d show it that the Raptor was quite the feisty creature before it would dare consider him prey.

The monster approached slowly, its fangs bared and its claws gripping tightly upon the concrete sidewalk in anticipation. The Raptor let out a loud hiss, his reptilian instincts starting to kick in as he-

No…He couldn’t give in now. If he got into a full brawl with this thing, who knows what could happen? He could get seriously injured, or worse, not to mention the guy he currently was trying to protect would be helpless if he ever got incapacitated. This thing was likely going to think like any other predator; the moment it could sense an opening, it would grasp it with as minimal injury as possible. The man was dead if he so much as moved an inch away.

The monster approached slowly, baring its teeth and growling threateningly. Its jaws opened and closed shut, teeth gnashing together like a mincing machine. Its eyes flashed, still glowing beneath the shadows of its furrowed, fur-covered brow as it approached him.

“Take this, you freak!”

Before either of them could react, a homemade net landed on top of the monster. The creature leapt out of instinct, attacking the net in an attempt to get itself free. The Raptor took advantage of the distraction to quickly run up and give the beast a full-blown kick in the chest, sending it flying backwards into the darkness.

Joseph turned to look at Lisa, who had moved out of hiding and was busy tending to the wounded man. She tightened the bandage that he had started wrapping on the man, who by now had started to shiver and convulse from the shock.

“Call the police and get some paramedics over here,” he said, “I’ve got this…”

Lisa nodded. She quickly got her cell phone out and started dialing the 911 number, but by the time she looked back up the Raptor was gone.


To be continued...

[Jacob Maccabee]

Bio - The Raptor

Information
Universe - Kerian's (shooting for Marvel or maybe Dark Horse Comics)
Real Name - Joseph Warren Davis
Aliases - The Freak, Dragon Man, Man-Raptor, Were-Raptor, Living Fossil
Identity - Secret
Citizenship - U.S.A.
Place of Birth - Coeur d'Alene, ID
City of Residence - Boise, ID

Powers
Human
- Peak physical condition for age
- Genius intellect and knowledge in science
- Advanced "6th Sense" (can sense trouble/danger like an animal can)
- Shapeshifting (Werewolf-styled, single form)
The Raptor
- Half-man, half-raptor (has claws on hands and feet, a mouth full of serrated teeth, feathers, scales, and a long tail)
- Superhuman strength and agility
- Accelerated healing factor
- Capable of running at 65 mph average (can use his tail for steering)
- Can long-jump extended gaps of about 30 feet
- Claws strong enough to cut steel and pierce stone
- Can climb vertical surfaces
- Has retractable pseudo-wings on arms that can extend for primitive flight and long gliding (feathers on wings can deflect bullets)
Gadgets
- Costume is fire-proof
- Magnetic Grapplers
- Microbeads (a type of hidden walkie-talkie/cell phone, smaller than a bluetooth)
- Tracers
- Medical kit

Origin Story

Joseph Davis was once a mild-mannered, senior science nerd growing up in Boise. Living with his Aunt and having to endure the life of your everyday Idahoan (Potato jokes and all), he had a part-time job over the summer as a volunteer worker for the Boise Museum of American History. He played video games, occasionally did tabletop role playing, and went to summer school for fun. All in all, his life was a lonely one...until a rather fateful day.

When the Museum recieved a new exhibit from Mexico, Joseph was there moving the shipment inside. He was moving one particularly heavy shipment when he tripped on something in the Museum's loading bay. Falling backwards into a basement shaft, he crashed into one of the exhibits stored inside. If that weren't enough, the thing he had been carrying; a huge Aztec totem; followed him down and crashed into his body.

Blacked out, he suffered terrible nightmarish visions of strange birds, monstrous reptiles, and clashes of thunder and lightning. When he awoke he was in the hospital, though he had miraculously survived with only a few bruises to show for it. Unfortunately for destroying a special exhibit; a Velociraptor fossil and stand; he could no longer volunteer for the museum, though the Curator stated that since he worked so hard and so well that would be the extent of his punishment.

That night, while at home, Joseph received a terrible vision in the dark; a long, firelit path led down, down, down into the darkness. Drums and slow chanting filled his ears. Behind him, a monster chased him; something big and mean with claws and teeth, walking on two legs. He tried to outrun it, but couldn't, and in but a few moments was soon overtaken by the monster.

When he awoke, he discovered that he was in a dark alley in downtown Boise, a long way from home. His body had changed into that of a monster; a terrifying half-man, half-dinosaur creature with claws and a tail. After accidentally scaring the life out of some homeless men, he fled, returning home and discovering interesting new powers along the way. When he found that he could change back at will, he decided to test his newfound abilities in the dark of night, much to the fear and terror of passers-by in the darkness. All of that changed when a break-in at his house led to injury towards his aunt. Comatose, she remained in hospital while her distraught nephew was forced to live on his own; the bills and food taken care of only through her insurance.

Deciding that he was done pulling pranks, Joseph decided that he was going to use his newfound powers for the good of mankind. Knowing his appearance to be hideous and frightening, and having already made an enemy of Police Commissioner Jules Harley; older brother of his secret crush Kristen Harley; he decides to don a mask and costume to disguise his appearance and make himself less threatening to the people he wished to save. With new powers, a costume, and gadgets built to help him get around the third largest city in the Pacific Northwest, Joseph decided to christen himself as the Raptor...and so, a hero was born...

[Sponsored content]