TIGER BOY #3 by Stacy Dooks The origin, part three. "He's gone again?" Anna Jacobs adjusted the phone at her ear, her face furrowing into a frown as she drummed her fingers on the table. This would be the third time in a week she'd attempted to get a hold of Mike, eager to talk with him about his new condition, what it meant, what it could mean. "Sorry Ann, wish I could tell you more than that, but you know Mike's routine by now. He's in the house all day studying, but the second night falls he's out the skylight and roof-hopping. Can ya blame the guy? I know if I'd been made into some kind of monster I'd be champing at the bit to go out and Talbot it up." Dave's voice conveyed its usual oblivious cockiness, but beneath Anna could detect a note of concern. "He needs to get out, I'm not against that, but he also needs to come here and help me study. We need to know what happened to him, and I've been thinking that since the media frenzy's finally died down, we can head to school and check out Red Rock. Just have him call me when he gets back, okay?" she sighed, sipping at her tea in the dim of her kitchen. Dave nodded, still playing on his Xbox as he took the call. " No worries Ann. I'll leave him a note before I hit the hay. Anyway, you really don't need to worry much about 'im. He's Mike, after all. Zen Jedi Master of cool. I'm sure he's just enjoying all the cool things he can do. Doesn't seem like it bugs him all that much to me..." * * * Mike Graham stared at the cross. He'd been hopping roofs, enjoying the feeling of the wind in his face, the movement of his muscles as he leapt when he'd landed across from the church. Saint Peter's Roman Catholic Church. Mike had taken his first communion there, a long time ago. The church was dark, silent. Like the rest of the city at two-thirty in the morning. He crouched at the edge of the rooftop, then leapt, high and far. He'd been practicing the jumps, from short hops between adjacent buildings to long bounds over great distances. A few nights prior he'd had Dave arrange a chance to use the weight room at the campus Sportsplex after hours. He'd been able to lift every weight there. He'd used the gymnastics equipment like he was an Olympian, and he could swim like a dolphin. He'd gone outside and managed to lift Dave's Nissan Scoupe(by the back bumper anyway). He lighted on the roof, slipping up the steeple to crouch at the edge of the cross, framed in moonlight, his tail twitching nervously. Okay, so we just touch it. It's just a piece of wood, and last I checked I wasn't Frank Langella, so this should be a piece of the proverbial cake... He gulped softly. He hadn't felt this spooked since the first time he'd tried brushing his teeth in his new state. Nothing like watching as your toothbrush dissolved into blue paste, then nothing as your spittle ate it like acid. It didn't bode well of his other bodily excretions, but so far he hadn't felt the need for food or water. Mike ran a hand over his face. This was stupid, but he couldn't turn away from the looming silhouette of the cross. He had to know. Maybe he wasn't the strictest Catholic in existence, but he had to know. Had what he become...had it damned him? He reached out with a taloned hand, brushing his fingertips across the green metal of the weather-worn bronze cross. He winced in anticipation of the burning that must surely come. Nothing. It was a little warm, but most things he touched tended to absorb the above-room temperature heat of his new form. He let out a long, relieved exhalation. He smiled sheepishly, looking up at the night sky. "Never hurts to be sure. Glad we're still cool." He leapt off the roof, into the night. * * * Rome, the Eternal City. The vaulted ceilings of this section of the Vatican depicted broad-winged seraphim, swords of flame smiting various devils with cloven hooves and long horns. The council of men, of various rank within the Church, sat in solemn conclave. "There can be no doubt? Another has manifested?" "It would seem so. Our hopes were that the initial disturbance on the American eastern coast was random chance, a single aberration in the grand design. This latest occurrence...it bodes ill for our hopes brothers." A sigh. "The Pact has been maintained for the better part of five thousand years. I refuse to believe that the appearance of this...creatures...indicates that the covenant has broken." "But can you deny the growth of magical energies? Our holy crusade to rid the world of those who traffic in unclean sorcery was successful, but only to a point. We capped the geyser of their power, but it has been building since the divine cleansing. Soon it will erupt, and the world will know the chaos of magic, of the old gods and the ones from before..." A gloved fist slammed into the table, echoing throughout the vaulted chamber. "No! We have not worked so long, so hard, in the graces of the Lord and in his name to see the collective soul of humanity imperilled so. If left unchecked these fools will open a door that nearly damned us all to shut the last time. I will not have it." "You mean?" "Yes. Dispatch the Michaelites. We will deal with this new manifestation first, then the prior. We will contain and raze this chaos from the Earth before it has a chance to spread and infect us all." Nods, murmurs of satisfaction. The call was made. * * * "Remind me again why we're doing this?" Dave shivered, drawing the zipper of his jacket closer to his neck to avoid the October chill. Ann scowled at him, giving him an abrupt shushing gesture as she placed the key she'd been lent in the lock. The rear door of the Life Science building creaked open louder than she liked, but she made her way inside. Mike smirked at them both, trying his best to keep his hands in his pockets, the hood drawn over his horned head, hoping it wouldn't bulge out too badly as they made their way inside. "We need a look at that rock. I've brought my copy of Spates' Catalogue, but I need to be able to see the glyphs on the thing first. So far I've only got a similar engraving, but if we get a look at the stone I might be able to try and piece some things together." She said in a hushed tone, making their way toward the ruined Geology section, ducking beneath the large strands of police tape emblazoned with CRIME SCENE-DO NOT CROSS legends. The room was still a mess, even in the shadows and after-hours florescent lighting the charred ruins of scorched display cases and scarred walls were visible. It'd be some time before this room was presentable again. But one feature was still intact...the massive shape of Red Rock loomed in the darkness, taking Ann aback a bit. In the daytime it was just another exhibit, a dime a dozen with the other relics. Now-after dark-it radiated menace. She shook her head clear as she heard Mike sniffing. Wait, sniffing? She turned, looking at her friend quirking his head like a hound on the scent. "Weird." He shrugged his broad shoulders. "What is?" Ann said, slipping the flashlight and slim, leather-bound book from her satchel. "The stone?" Dave smirked, peeking around through some of the ruined exhibits. "We're out in the middle of the night, breaking into a museum, with a guy who looks like a tiger with horns. Define weird Mike." Mike sneered, slipping his hood off. "It's the room. It feels funny. I can feel it more than anything else...kind of a nails down the chalkboard feeling." He bit back a snarl, his large tail having uncoiled from around his waist beneath the hoodie, whipping back and forth nervously. He shook his head clear of the worry filling him and shrugged. "Just a feeling, I guess." Ann frowned, tapping her pencil against her chin. " It could be that, being affected by magic as you were, you've become sensitive to it. You can sense magical energies in the air, and the nature of those energies may color your emotional response. They were going to kill Candi Harries here, so the magical energies aren't going to be benign..." she clicked on the flashlight, running it over the stone as she opened the book on the floor, checking back and forth between the occult text and the monolith. "Dave, stop gawking at the anthracite and come hold the flashlight for me." She barked softly, startling the snooping Dave, who sent a piece of crystal skittering to the bottom of the shelves he'd been perusing. He shrugged and came up behind her, moving to hold the light. He snickered, looking over to Mike. "Hey, this remind you of anything?" he grinned. Mike rolled his eyes, knowing his friend's mind all too well. "Don't even..." Dave chuckled " Scooby-dooby-doo, where are you, we got some work to do now..." he sang softly. Mike had to bite his lip to avoid bursting out laughing. "I'm glad you're yucking it up while I'm trying to concentrate, and not doing anything so silly as, say, keeping an eye out for the night watchman..." Ann snarled softly. "Aw c'mon Ann...say 'jinkies'. Just once." Dave smirked. "Bite me." She said, ignoring him as she traced her fingers over the runes. The accentuation on the carvings was surprisingly intricate this close...she checked the text, scooping it in close, looking from one to the other. She traced over the markings carefully, the stone feeling oddly warm to the touch, less like a rock and more like some kind of hide...she shivered. Mike leaned against the archway, peering out into the shadows. He could see easily enough in the dark now, so spotting the guard wouldn't be a problem. But that feeling of dread was getting worse, from mildly vexing to downright maddening, an itch between the shoulder blades you couldn't reach to scratch. "Ann...I think you should hurry." He frowned, not knowing why it felt important to rush his friend, but it did. "Almost done Mike...just going to take an engraving..."Anna put the pencil between her teeth, raising the wax paper to press against Red Rock. She pressed in hard, raising the pencil to start the rubbing... It is the door. A voice in his mind, cold and taunting. Mike started, then turned toward the stone. "Ann!" Ann blinked, then gasped. The stone's surface was rippling somehow, changing from solid to almost fluid, the paper floating vertically along the rock. Then it came, a snarling monstrous face, maddened and inhuman as it strained against something holding it back...it drew back into the rock, then two large, taloned hands pushed free, bowling Ann and Dave over. She cried out, Dave hitting the floor with an oof before Mike had them both, drawing them back to him as whatever it was in the rock pulled itself free. Mike was big, about six and half feet tall now. This...thing...had to be at least 10 feet. It's hoofed feet clattered on the floor as it sank heavily to it's knees. It shared some traits with the form Mike now had...a tail, claws, horns...but it was bigger, a dull, almost olive green with red eyes. It looked up at him, and it's eyes narrowed, glowing with hate as it parted the lips of it's muzzle to snarl at him, teeth like knives as it rose menacingly to it's feet. "GRRRR..." it snarled, taking a step forward. "What the hell?!" Dave yelped, back-pedalling fast on the floor, moving to grab Ann. "Guys, get out of here fast! I'll try to hold it off!" Mike cried, slipping his feet apart, adopting a combat ready stance. "...RRRRRAAA..." the beast rumbled, taking another step, the tiles cracking and breaking beneath it's cloven hooves. Something about it's face...it's stance...Mike moved forward, rocketing a punch at the creature's snout. He leapt to the attack... ...and was smacked from the air by a massive palm, slamming hard into the charred frame of a display case. Class ground into his hoodie and jeans, leaving holes. The glass scratched...but didn't cut. "...HHMMMM..." It finished, eyes narrowing to hateful slits as it raised a taloned hand, claws glinting in the dim florescent. Mike's eyes widened. "Oh God. Mallick." Then the claws came down. * * * "...seriously, that would never happen in real life!" Jennifer rolled her eyes, easing her hands deeper into the pockets of her coat. She walked with her three friends, making their way back toward the dorms. They'd just been to see a movie for their film appreciation class and of course Jason was waxing poetic, holding court with his opinion on cinema. "Oh come on Jay, I liked the movie." Tina smirked, knowing the best thing to do was to just let him go when he was on a tear like this. Jason adjusted his glasses, his wool cap riding low on his head as he grinned widely. "Oh come on. Like vampires would exist in the real world, and there's some supernatural crusader who'd fight them? A hidden war beneath humanity's radar? That's just so patently ridiculous." They rounded the corner, making their way across the commons, the Life Science Center looming in the darkness as they made their way toward the Arts and Administration building and the dorms beyond. " I mean, c'mon, people are dense but not that dense. How could you rationalize away something like monst..." Brent started with a smirk. The doors to the Life Science Center exploded, glass and metal frames flying outwards. The group came to a stop in the midst of the commons, eyes widening. Two...things were fighting. One massive, green monster with red eyes, bull horns, and razor teeth, cloven hooves clattering on the asphalt of the walkway. The other was punching it hard in the face, a long tail lashing about, then head-butted the other creature with a ram-horned head. The larger monster howled, falling backwards as the other fell into a light crouch, then whipped a leg out, knocking the creature sprawling. For a moment it panted, rasping. Jen blinked, her eyes taking in the fact that this creature was wearing blue jeans and a Rebels hoodie. It spun, noticing them, then spoke in a gravelly yet oddly squeakily panicked tone. "What're you people waiting for? Run!" The four friends stood, eyes wide as dinner plates, gawking. The creature tilted it's head, as if they were the odd ones, then sighed. "All right then..." it snarled, eyes glowing bright green "FLEE FOOLISH MORTALS, OR I'LL SWALLOW YOUR SOULS!! BLEEAAAAARRRRRGHHHHH!" They took off, running and screaming toward the dorms. Mike grinned, fists on hips as he watched them run. "Heh, nice to know I'm actually kinda spooky. The Keith David voice was a nice touuaaaaccckkk!" he choked as a large green fist closed around his windpipe, lifting him off the ground and throwing him hard into an oak tree, sending him sprawling. "You...did this to me Graham...somehow...you did it. Ruined it..." the creature that had been William Mallick snarled, moving in closer. It drove a fist downwards at him, but the smaller demon was too fast, slipping out of the way as the soil buckled beneath the blow. "Me?! I did this to you! You jackass, you turned me into a six-foot five tiger with ram horns! If anyone should be pissed here, it's me!" Mike roared then, an actual bestial cry as his tail whipcracked, coiling around Mallick's throat. He felt so angry...he felt the length of his tail rising with barbs, knew what he wanted to do. Half of him was shocked, the other...oddly gleeful. He spun, pulling on his tail, raking the bladelike barbs over Mallick's throat, hearing the gurgling roar of pain. In later days Mike would tell himself he didn't smile with satisfaction. Mike closed the distance, pounding and punching the larger demon with potent swings, sending the larger beast rocking back. "You ruined my life! Turned me into a freak...and it's all! My! Fault?!" Mike growled, each shout joined with a powerful punch. Mallick pushed Mike back hard, a cloven hoofed foot slamming into the young man's midsection, sending him flying. He hit the stone wall of the Killam Memorial Library, then the pavement, panting. Okay...brute force doesn't seem to be doing the job. I'm strong and quick, but Mallick is insanely strong. I better think of something quick before he realizes just how strong he really is... Mike shook his head clear in time to see the truck flying at him. "Too late." He winced, bracing for impact. * * * Dave's eyes widened as the truck slammed down on Mike, the explosion echoing over the campus, setting off a few car alarms. "Mike!" he ran forward, looking for something, anything to use as a weapon. This isn't like the comics, this is real. Real and scary. I take it back man, you don't have to be the Terrific Tiger B... Someone grabbed his arm, pulling him back with a sharp jerk. "Dave! Don't be stupid! You can't help him like that, it threw a truck!" Anna's eyes were wide, but while Dave was panicked into fight or flight, she seemed a bit...cooler some how. As if the craziness erupting around them both gave her focus. She reached into her bag, grabbing for the slim book she'd brought, setting it to one side. She then did something Dave thought was completely insane; she began to draw in the snow, flipping open the book to a page, looking back and forth from page to snow. "Anna! We don't have time for snow day fun!" Dave said, almost bursting out into hysterical laughter. He noticed the big green demon had turned away from the burning wreck with a wicked little smirk, flexing it's muscles...then it noticed them. It's eyes flared red-actually glowed-and it began to stalk toward them, long lizard tail swishing from side to side as it grinned a grin that Dave didn't like at all. "Trust me! We have to get the elder sign just right, or it won't work! Now help!" she grabbed his arm, pointing to a series of symbols, then the bottom of the large symbol she was writing in the snow. Too stunned to object, Dave started, marking the snow as best he could with shaking fingers. "Perhaps this isn't so bad..." He heard it behind them, speaking in tones he found almost familiar. "I do have power...though not the variety I wanted. Still, enough to have some fun." Dave felt something big behind him, then he flew, slamming into a stone bench hard enough to hear a rib crack. He screamed, trying to get up, trying to do anything but sit helpless. His knees were rubber, and the glancing blow of the bench's stone corner left him dazed. He struggled to rise, then slumped over, unconscious. The demon towered over Anna, who was amazingly standing her ground, muttering something rapidly under her breath. The creature's smirk broadened as it reached down, picking her up by the scruff of the neck. "Why Ms. Jacobs. I remember you. My afternoon class on Victorian literature. How very nice to see you again. I apologize for my curt manner, but a century in a hell dimension does tend to leave one...changed." Anna squirmed, still murmuring, trying her best not to notice the very unpleasant leer forming on Mallick's muzzled face. " Mm...a hundred years in hell leaves one with many unsatisfied appetites. And before I eat your entrails, I intend to slake a few of them on your delectable little frame..." she winced as his long tongue slid along her cheek, biting back a cry mid-sentence as the spittle burned her cheek. The demon laughed. Then a taloned hand clamped down on his shoulder, spinning him roughly to face a charred, snarling face, eyes glowing and fangs bared. "The lady's with me." Mike said simply, then drove his fist into Mallick's face. * * * By rights, Michael Graham should have been marvelling at the fact that he'd been smashed into by a flying three-ton vehicle and been at the epicenter of an explosion, and only had charred clothes to show for it. He should have been stunned by the fact that he'd managed to heave the burning wreckage off his body with one massive effort. He should have been amazed...but the sight of Anna in Mallick's grip, hearing what he'd said...everything faded away into a red haze. Anna fell heavily in the snow as Mike pounded at the massive green demon, striped arms cording with muscle as his punches grew more brutal. She shook her head clear, wiping some snow on her cheek. "Mike! Get him in the circle, but don't follow him!" He growled as Mallick delivered a hard punch to his midsection, sending him skidding back onto the street. "Give it up Graham. You have the power, but no clue how to use it to it's full potential. I could teach you, you know...we could become a power in this world. You're not like them anymore Michael. They are flies, we are spiders. Join me." His condescending smile of old graced the leonine features before fading back to a mask of cruelty. "Or die. Choose now boy." Mike rose, pulling the manhole cover from the street before him, curling his arm and throwing it in one fluid motion. "Join this." The metal disk slammed into Mallick's windpipe, sending him toppling backwards, gripping his throat, struggling to breathe. He stumbled backward, cloven hooves entering the circle. White light blazed, Mallick's crimson eyes dawning with awareness as he faded...faded...and was gone. Mike stood, chest heaving, breathing heavily. He moved to Anna's side in a blink. "You okay?" She waved him off curtly. "I'm fine. See to Dave...he hit that bench hard." Mike went to examine Dave's injuries. A broken rib...maybe two? His ears quirked at an approaching wail. Sirens. Anna stared at the now-bare patch of grass smoking before her, stunned. A spell. I cast an actual spell. Real magic. Magic is real... She shook her head clear as she heard the sirens, close enough for her ears to hear. "I...I can't stay." Mike helped her to her feet. "I want to...Dave..." he looked at her with such an expression of pain she thought her heart would burst. "Get going. I'll call you from the hospital." "Anna, what did you...?" "Banishment spell. He's gone Mike, now go!" He leapt to the roof of the Life Science Center, then the A&A building, and was gone. * * * Mike sat in his armchair, the phone in his hand. Anna had called. Dave's injuries weren't serious, but they were keeping him for a few days. The ribs hadn't broken, but they'd been banged up enough to cause the doctors some concern. Anna said Dave was fine, and happily enjoying the morphine. She was going to stay overnight, but she'd visit tomorrow. She hung up. Mike sat, processing it all. He'd slipped into his pyjama bottoms getting home, throwing his charred clothes in the trash. He seemed fire resistant, but his clothes weren't. I'm a demon.? Mike ran a hand over his face. He looked at his hands, turning them over. Mallick was summoning the power to become a demon. This kind. But something went wrong, and the power he wanted got passed to me. He wound up inside a hell dimension. He was changed into another kind of demon. I'm a demon. "Yes, you are at that. Quite a fetching specimen too, if I may be so bold." Mike's head snapped up. He was somewhere...else. A void, dark and menacing. His armchair on a floating rock. He bolted to his feet, looking around, tail whipping from side to side. "Christ, what now?" he growled. "Kindly refrain from using that name in this particular locale. It tends to hurt the ears of the locals." A cold voice said from the darkness, icy, but with an underlying air of coy menace, like a cat playing with a mouse caught firmly in it's claws. A silhouette stepped out of the darkness...but was darker still. A shadowy figure, female, but with a wicked white grin that fairly glowed in the dim of their surroundings. Impressions of a slinky black dress and long, raven hair. "Who are you?" Mike snarled, taking a step forward. "Be very careful with that question my dear. It's one of the four deadliest queries your species has ever asked the universe. Who are you? What do you want? Why are you here? Where are you going?" the figure giggled, moving around Mike in a slow circle. "I must admit, I hoped I'd get a decent recruit. Chalk always brags about his little darling in Miscellaneous, but I have to say you've impressed me. It took her far longer than you to embrace her power..." Mike blinked. "What?" The figure shook her head, waving a finger. "Not your concern. No, your concern is in choice. You see, you've dropped into the middle of something far greater than yourself my lamb. You've become a piece in a great game; no mere pawn, but a knight. A potent mover and shaker. Now you have to decide who you're going to weigh in with, although to be blunt, I think you're fairly certain which team we want you to bat for." She smiled, running a finger along his chest. "Mm...certainly a nice slab of beef, if nothing else..." "You always play these kind of head games?" Mike scowled. "Everything is a game, dear boy." She smirked. "My name..." Mike started, then mmffed as a small but strong hand clapped over his mouth. "No names! Names have power, and in this place you don't want anyone to have power over you. You're-how did that charming young man put it? Oh yes-Tiger Boy. Yes, that will do. For now. My little tiger..." She cooed, tickling his chin. "And what's your handle? Cheshire?" he stepped back with a snarl, only to blink as she threw back her head and laughed, a sound like wind chimes and breaking glass. "Oh, you are a clever boy. No my dear, I have many names, but that isn't one of them. If you must call me anything, call me Ms. Slate. It's as good as any." "Okay...now I know I'm dreaming." Mike sighed, rolling his eyes. "You are...and you aren't. I can only talk to you here, on the borderlands. You haven't discovered or been sent through a decent portal yet, so we have to talk on the cusp of sleep. You've been given power my child, and I want you to use it properly." "Properly?" She smiled, pressing herself in very close, her body cool against his as her arms linked around his neck. "Properly. The game's about to begin, but I felt it only right that we introduce ourselves properly. I am not your friend...but I could be the best enemy you ever had." She leaned in closer, and Mike began to see her...beautiful and terrible. " I...I don't understand..." he stammered, feeling her curves against his lines. Her lips brushed his. "You will, kitten. Very soon. But for now dear boy...wake up." Mike bolted awake. The clock on the microwave read 3:15 am. He shivered, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. What a dream. He shifted on the couch, and felt something fall to the floor. A small card. He picked it up, feeling a cold sense of dread. Vellum, with flowing script across it, black against cream white. To my tiger, with regards. S. "Oh boy." * * * And so it began. From the humblest of seeds can the mightiest pine spring, and from these humble, awkward beginnings would come a force to be reckoned with. Good times were had, and bad as well. Glorious deeds and fell acts, transcending the boundaries of the world called Earth, and ending in our realm, where the mighty King Mikhal would come to wear the crown upon a troubled brow. But that is another story, and will be told another time. THE END...of the beginning. Author's Notes: You know, being a comicbook geek I kind of envy the old one-page origins of the classic superheroes. Creating the origin of Michael Graham was no mean feat, and as I sit here at the end of The Origin, I'd like to thank a few folks and cite a few sources that might be helpful. First and foremost I'd like to thank my family, particularly my mother and father(who never called in the professionals when I kept buying D&D and comicbooks with manic intensity), my younger brother(for always sharing my passion for big bang superheroics as well as other bits of geek pop culture), and my friends, who keep my head on the ground and never let me get too full of my own hype. To them all my writings past and present are affectionately dedicated. Mad props also go out to my man Joe Englund, who makes me envious to no end with the sheer talent at his beck and call. If this is the man when under the pressures of life, I fear for the future when he blows up like a druglord at the end of a Michael Bay movie. He's going to be huge folks. Huge. Tiger Boy came from a lot of sources, and not just the obvious one of Zebra Girl. I was listening to and reading a lot of science fiction/horror-related material when I came up with this work, and for the curious I list the music and the titles I was perusing, in no particular order. Ghost In The Shell, Stand Alone Complex Soundtrack. Freddy Vs. Jason Soundtrack. Van Helsing Soundtrack. Angel Roleplaying Game Corebook (Eden Studios) Hellboy RPG and Sourcebook.(Steve Jackson Games) Nocturnals: A Midnight Companion(Green Ronin Publishing) Hellboy: The Right Hand of Doom and Other Tales by Mike Mignola, Dark Horse Comics. Firebreather by Phil Hester and Andy Kuhn, Image Comics. Check 'em out if you like. I actually designed TB and the supporting cast using the rules from the Angel Roleplaying Game Corebook. Any fans out there? If not, you're missing out on one simple but surprisingly fun roleplaying game. Heh, you can take the geek out of the gaming... Anyway, I had a real blast with this series, and look forward to doing some more. Just let me know what you think and what you'd like to see! We aim to please. Take it easy, Stacy