New York, Queens

A Random Rooftop

23:20

"Agh... My head..." The tall and brawny teenager groaned as he gazed upon the night sky, which was clearly visible and spread out above him "...Where am I?" He asked himself as he sat up and immediately noticed the most peculiar thing about his situation. "Wait! Why the hell am I naked?!" Brad shouted while getting up and covering himself with a sheet hanging from a wire, probably left there to dry. "And why am I on top of a building?! And most importantly why can't I remember jack-shit about anything besides THAT!" Memories of the thugs from earlier that night flashed through his mind. But apart from that, he couldn't remember anything else from later on. "Is this a side effect of a hangover or something...? Ugh, I need to get back home before I freeze my ass off..." He reluctantly made for his house... "Wait... how the hell do I get down?!"

New York, Queens

B.L.U. Facilities

06:53

*Knock knock...*

A knocking was heard on the esteemed scientist's window, who was leaning back on his big office chair in exasperation. "Come in..." He muttered as he looked at the door of his lab.

*Knock knock knock*

But the knocking not only didn't stop, but became a lot more frequent than earlier. "What is it?!" He got up and made for the door in an irritated manner. "Huh, no one's here?" Steinn noticed as he opened the door to the outside. "I'M RIGHT HERE!" A faint voice could be heard saying. Without wasting any more time and to the sound of the familiar voice the scientist quickly realized just where it was coming from and made for the window. Stomping his feet angrily as he went, he unlocked the passage to his lab letting the young man, who was casually hanging from the 90th floor, in.

"Where the hell were you?!" Was the first words to come out of the man's mouth as he was about to scold the teenager to death.

"At home, bleeding out? Is this a trick question?" The young man replied ticking off the scientist even more.

"Bleeding out? Then why didn't you come here?! Why didn't you contact me, you idiot?!" Steinn went off like a timed bomb.

"Hey hold on. First of all I didn't even have the strength to come over here not to mention that I had to somehow climb 90 floors with a cut stomach! As for the latter part... well I kinda forgot? I mean, I couldn't even think straight..." Aaron tried to explain to the best of his abilities. Steinn on the other hand had a twitching brow, and was ready to go off at him again.

"Haaah..." But decided against it and let out an exhausted sight. "...So what DID happen?" He asked instead, while crossing his arms across his chest.

...

"...Give me a GOOD reason not to kill you now!" Steinn hissed angrily while holding a sharp object in his hand.

"First of all put that knife or scalpel or whatever it is, down! Secondly, there's no real reason for you to kill me now, is there?" Aaron tried to reason with him while holding his hands up in mock surrender.

"No reason?! You almost got killed by the target you were supposed to capture, you let it escape and on top of all that that girlfriend of yours found out your hidden identity!" The scientist said while visibly fuming.

"Okay, I have to admit when you put it that way it sounds a tiny bit bad... And she's not my girlfriend!" Aaron replied while he was met with a deathly glare "...But to my defense, I have this." The teenager pulled out a plastic bag from one of his back pockets. (Pockets on a skin tight suit... Yet another mystery) Resting inside the bag were a couple strands of brown hair, or more precisely, fur.

"This wouldn't be... your pubic hair, right?"

"What?! Hell no! This is a piece of fur from that werewolf monster! I found it stuck on my suit when I woke up! How did you even arrive at such a conclusion anyway?!"

"...Then that's good... Let me analyze a bit." Steinn let out a relieved sight as he retreated back to his peculiar machinery.

...

15 minutes later Aaron was sitting down on the same old couch as every other time looking up at the ceiling in thought, while the scientist had left the room to fully analyze the piece of fur.

I didn't see any sign of that monster around town which means he must have calmed down since last night... If he didn't, well I wouldn't be here thinking about it right now... And then, there's Olivia... I know I said that I ain't running away but what am I supposed to tell her?

The teenager sighed deeply as the door swung open. As soon as the analysis on the fur was complete the grown man returned to the room with a white tablet on his hands and a conflicted expression on his face. "So... what does it say?" Aaron said as he walked over to him and peeked over his shoulder.

"First of all..." Steinn cleared his throat while completely ignoring the teenager's advances and sat on his office chair. "...Our subject is indeed your schoolmate, Brad Wilson." He revealed right off the bat before leaning back on his seat.

"I figured as much, but when you confirm it like that... It kinda hits different." Aaron looked away in thought, sharing the scientist's expression.

"Apart from that we have also discovered some conditions to his transformation."

"Conditions?"

"We have discovered hints of canine DNA in his own, hence why he can turn like that. While we can't really pinpoint how he can actually transform into something so ferocious, and what brought that DNA in his in the first place, we did learn something useful..."

"Come on I can't take the suspense!"

"His transformation is powered and caused by strong emotions and particularly anger. To be precise when muscles tighten, and blood pressure along with heart rate increase, the canine DNA multiplies and causes abnormalities to his body." The scientist explains while showing him a picture of Brad's DNA on the tablet.

"Oh so that's why he semi-transformed after losing that basketball match! He was pretty pissed back then though and he didn't transform all the way... I wonder what could have happened to make him go full werewolf-mode..." Aaron inquired while stroking his jaw in thought. "Anyway... did you learn anything on how to stop him?" The teenager continued with a question.

"Unfortunately no... All we know is that if he loses consciousness while in wolf-state, he will turn transform back into a human shortly after..."

"Wait, assuming that he's back to human as we speak now can't we just hand this fur to the police so they can arrest him?" Aaron inquired as Steinn immediately shook his head.

"That wouldn't work. As far as the police are concerned this piece of fur is just a strand of Brad Wilson's hair. There's nothing tying it to that monster from yesterday, since the police only identify the DNA and neglect to analyze it. Not to mention they don't even have the tech to do that. But even if they did, those small canine hints of DNA inside his own don't mean anything conclusive." The scientist explains yet again, as Aaron hangs his head in defeat.

"...So what's the plan?" The teenager asks another question as the scientist gets up from his seat.

"For now, we wait." He casually replies as Aaron quickly throws a tantrum.

"What?! What if he suddenly kills someone?!"

"Calm down. There's no guarantee he will transform today or the day after so being on edge all day won't solve anything. Besides, we can't go just go beat him up with no real public evidence. Not to mention that if you do something like that you will most likely cause a 2nd transformation. All we CAN do is monitor him at school so he doesn't get pissed off and eat any of the students in a feat of anger. I will try to think of an efficient way to deal with him in the meantime." The grown man logically depicts the situation as he fixes himself some coffee and leans against a counter filled with tubes, syringes and other tools. Just then Aaron's phone vibrates inside his pocket and he sighs at the name of the sender. "You better get going... You have some explaining to do..." Steinn gives him an intense glare.

"Aaaah... You're right." Aaron nods and sighs in response as he stuffs his phone back into his pocket and makes for the window.

"Oh and before you leave, there's a spare suit on that shelf there. You should leave this one here so I can repair it."

...

As soon as the teenager did as he was told he wore his mask and opened the window to the outside. "And Aaron..." Steinn called out to him one last time. "...Don't forget the condition I told you about the very first day..." He spoke with a stern, almost fearful voice as the young man nodded, took a breath and flung himself outside.

The condition... If 3 or more people learn about my secret identity, I'm as good as dead... And I'm already down to 2... Can I really keep this up?

New York, Queens

Aaron's Apartment

07:41

"I'm back..." Aaron said in a low voice as he slipped inside his room through the window and closed it back up.

Good she's not...

Before he could finish that thought though, Olivia walked out from the blind spot of his room and stood in the hallway right across from him, arms crossed. "...Here." He muttered as he cleared his throat and looked away nervously. "Hey, umm... I thought that you would have gone home already. Haha..." He laughed awkwardly trying to break the tension.

"Why do I feel like I'm being treated like a one-night-stand?" Olivia let out a sigh along with her words. "So what was that about NOT running away?" She continued while her unamused expression returned.

"I didn't run away! I had to uhm, run some things along my umm... superiors?" Aaron tried to explain but came off as vague.

"Ohh-kayy... I wanted to ask you if you were really Wraith... but judging from the fact that you came in through the window and you're wearing that suit... I guess there's no point in asking now, is there?" Olivia said as she let out another sigh.

"Yeah, I mean I for one cannot deny it, so..." The young man's voice trailed off as an awkward silence ensued. "Look... first of all, thanks for your help last night. I have no idea what I'd do without you. And as I said I'm not running away. I'll tell you... everything." Aaron explained as he turned to look at the girl in front of him completely determined.

"Wait, is it really okay for you to tell me everything?" Olivia asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"Well, I mean HE didn't tell me not to and you already know the most SECRET part so yeah, I guess." The teenager shrugged making the girl sigh yet again.

...

"So that's about it..." He said as he leaned back on the couch he was sitting on.

"Wow... I mean... Wow!" Olivia clasped her head between her hands, clearly overwhelmed by all the information.

"Yeah, I trust you'll keep this is a secret, right?" Aaron inquired, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Of course!" She nodded up and down firmly.

"You know... if someone HAD to learn about me being Wraith, I'm glad it was you." The young man stated with a warm smile, making her blush up to her ears.

"W-Wha-What? W-Why?" Olivia said while stuttering on every word.

"Because I trust you." He continued with that same expression as the girl's gaze fell to her feet, her face a bright red.

"Thanks, Aaron..." She managed to say as she looked up and returned the smile.

"Anyway, I hope nothing changes between us, right?" He finalized the conversation to which she replied with a "Yeah" and Olivia left for her apartment shortly after, concluding the events of this peculiar warning.