Feeling Slummy [FINISHED]

[Jericho Gayanelo]

Echo just sat there and listened to the other guy as he reacted. It wasn’t just a simple reaction, it was an outpouring of pent up rage and emotion. Through his words Echo could already tell a lot about this man. It wasn’t like Echo was a psychologist or anything; it was just in his line of work he just had a lot of experience dealing with people like this man. They were people, who so often felt as if the world owed them something. He obviously hadn’t had an easy life, and he had many things to be angry about. Echo wanted to blurt out that everybody had their own problems, that there were people with much more unfortunate circumstances yet they didn’t go about shouting how sad their existences were. He wanted to ask this man why he had fought so hard to survive if he wanted to die. Was it really all about the wolf? Without the wolf would he have been so ready as to jump off King’s Bridge? Echo wanted to do all of that and more but some form of empathy or compassion prevented him from doing so and he let the words hang in his mouth unsaid.

The man finally gave his name, Kaigen Korrick and with it a warning that Echo shouldn’t be surprised if the name came attached with a long list of criminal history. There was even a threat that Echo was going to regret not killing him when he had the chance. Echo noted it in his head, but didn’t think much of it. He believed that criminals weren’t dictated by their actions, there were always reasons behind what they did. Much too often Echo had to bring in a man, who had wife and children and it was because of them that he had been forced to steal or murder. Everybody deserved a second chance, even criminals, especially criminals. Justice was never so black and white; neither was good and evil. Echo himself always felt as if he walked the razor-thin path of the grey-zone, always aiming to keep more to the white and always dreading to fall into the black.

It seemed that good will was really getting nowhere, and to be honest Echo felt slightly depressed about it. But he didn’t allow it to faze him, he had made his choice about this man, whether it was the right one or not, he’d stick by it and deal with the consequences later. He didn’t see the conversation going much anywhere else, but he did have his own words for the man.

“It’s not in my job-description to euthanize men.” He began; he wasn’t looking at Kaigen’s eyes but off towards the boarded window where thin rays of sunlight were beginning to seep in from the tiny gaps in the wood. “Whatever you think you are, and whatever you feel I should have done is up to you. But I chose not to kill you because I knew that I wasn’t just going to put down an animal if I did."

He let his gaze drop towards the coyote skin that he was holding in his hands.

“Besides, I’ve seen monsters out there without magic skins, or without the ability to shift, but they all caused so much damage on their own. I’ve seen some of them walk away charged with nothing even after they’ve done the most gruesome of things to the most innocent of people.”

Echo raised the skin towards Kaigen, the coyote head facing directly towards the other man so that it seemed two eyes stared upon him; Echo’s human ones and the coyote’s animal ones.

“This lets me make a difference. I’m a skinwalker, a witch among Native Americans. All the stories say that I’m supposed to be something evil, that sooner or later my moral compass counts for nothing and all that’s left is a monster. I didn’t care, I took the risk because my being a monster allows me to do so much more than my badge and my gun ever could.

The crime families; they’re much too powerful for the law, but this allows me to get to places where the law can’t touch them. Don’t give me that face – I can tell you now that I’m no saint. I’ve had some pretty low moments in my life too. But in this city, too many people have powers, but too few use them for good. I made my choice to help.”

Echo slung the skin over his shoulder and walked towards the exit, he paused for a short while to drop a hundred dollars beside Kaigen, it was all the money he had on him right now. The next few days would suck, but it was better than leaving this man to once again just fend for himself. He then picked up the duffle bag, and noticed that his shoes were still inside. At least he'd get to keep those, they weren't designer or anything but neither were they particularly cheep. Echo walked towards the end of the room, where a new hole decorated the wall. This had been where he and the werewolf had first burst through from the hallway with the staircase.

“But what the hell do I know? I’m just some cop.”

With that, Echo disappeared through the hole. Leaving Kaigen there to ponder on what he said. He didn’t really expect much, it wasn’t like he expected his speech to inspire some sort of epiphany within the other man’s heart and push him to become a hero. No…if anything, Echo’s words had been for himself. It was a reassurance for what he was doing and why he was doing it. All this time the words and thoughts had been silent and private, but the opportunity to say it out loud was powerful in itself.

Echo looked ahead, what was he? He was a young police sergeant, one who was either lucky or unlucky to have been gifted with the ancient mantle of a dark art. It was all he had, and like he told Kaigen, everything else was just a simple choice.

[Kaigen Korrick]

Kaigen stared off in the other direction in the silence after his outburst. His breath was quick; he seemed very agitated and adamant about what he had said. It wasn’t that he was suicidal, far from it. He was just so damn frustrated with everything. Nothing had ever gone right. Ever. Ok so maybe surviving the streets and getting to where he had been was a start, but it was a far cry from the ideal job he had wanted as a child. He had never seen himself as being of a gang. He had wanted to do something better with his life, like his dad. His dad had always been there for them. He’d wanted to be someone important, be admired, help people, and maybe even be a cop himself. But life happened and she’s a jealous and conniving bitch that steals and abuses and uses and never plays fair or rewards in the way you would think. But even despite everything that had ever happened in his life, Kaigen quite simply, enjoyed living. He was good at what he did, he accepted and absorbed and adapted. He got what he wanted by being good at getting it.

But people can only absorb and adapt so much before something just ticks them off the wrong way, and for Kaigen, becoming a werewolf and being ripped out of everything he knew that was familiar, and thrust into a city where on every corner was someone trying to kill him, was that point. Ok, so maybe he was used to people trying to kill him, but at least the people he was familiar with had all been normal, or mostly normal, and the only weapons he had ever had to worry about were guns, knives, and fists. Here, there was an entire new element to the level of danger and it was as foreign and unfamiliar to him, just as being a new werewolf. And he had been thrust upon it without even realizing it, dumped on the city borders after a full moons rampage. He wasn’t the type to complain about it, no, not usually. What had happened just now had been building tension that had nowhere to go. It made him sound like a sissy boy, like the world was out to get him, poor me, but he hadn’t meant it that way. He just did not know what he was supposed to be doing now.

He listened to Jericho, without looking at him.

“It’s not in my job-description to euthanize men. Whatever you think you are, and whatever you feel I should have done is up to you. But I chose not to kill you because I knew that I wasn’t just going to put down an animal if I did."

That seemed to be one of those profound statements. It reverberated in the back of Kaigen’s head. He just grimaced, like he suddenly had a rotten taste in his mouth. This man was clearly…not fit to be a cop. Knowing what he was, what kind of city this was, he was really prepared to just let him off like that? Not that he was asking to die. He really wasn’t. It just seemed like something, someone who was intent upon doing his job right, should have done. At least in his opinion. Cops back in Chicago never gave it a second thought to shoot first when there was a gun aimed at them. He had a bullet scar in his left shoulder to prove it…well he did before his change. So he had quite a different viewpoint on the matter, because he’d actually been there done that.

He continued to listen to Jericho’s words, and the more the man went on about his self-righteous save the city bullshit, the more pissed off Kaigen became. This cop wouldn’t have lasted a day as a regular human back in Chicago on the streets. He watched the man start to leave, slinging that stupid pelt over his shoulder. Did he even realize as he walked away that he was dooming Kaigen to continue struggling on his own? He had no money, no place to stay, no information on how he was supposed to control his new wolf and all the man could think about was himself making a difference with his coyote pelt? What the fuck was wrong with this man? But then he stopped turned, tossed him down a small wad of bills, some twenties, there were five, 100 dollars? Really?

Kaigen just blinked at the money. He shook his head a bit. He wanted to tell him didn’t want it, that he would be fine without it, that he wasn’t about to accept charity from a fucking cop. But he just couldn’t seem to do it. He sighed, staring off at the wall. For the first time in his life, someone had actually taken the time to treat him like a real person. Kaigen was starting to understand the man’s earlier words. Choices right? He had choices? The choice to choose to use his werewolf gifts to help people, is that what he’d been getting at? Kaigen grimaced. His life so far had been anything but good deeds. If the cop knew he’d killed or ordered the death of, a total of 36 people, would he have done any different? Because Kaigen remembered each and every one of them. Sometimes, his dreams would haunt him. Kill or be killed, those had been his choices each time he’d made that decision to take a life. He was King Kai, ruthless, didn’t give a fuck about anybody because nobody gave a fuck about him.

But here was a cop, who should have killed him for being a monster, letting him go because he saw a man, telling him he had choices? Giving him 100 dollars because he thought what, that Kaigen could use it instead of resorting to desperate means? How long did he think this little handout would last him? He doubted it would be enough for even three days at a really cheap motel and eating McDonalds. Just give the man some money he’ll be fine. Is that what was going through his head? He had no way of getting a job, he didn’t know much more about this city then what he had just been told, and what he’d seen so far. Where was he supposed to go? He sighed heavily.

He didn’t know why he didn’t just want to leave and go back to Chicago. For some reason, being here, it was a challenge he wanted to face. And then he thought about the man he’d faced when he’d newly arrived at the city. The man had wanted to kill him, but let him go. Something about, “Get strong, get mean, cause I’ll kill you when we meet again?” He laughed softly to himself. Oh he’d get strong alright. He’d been lying to himself this whole time if he hadn’t known from that first night he wasn’t a werewolf. He just never wanted to believe it, unconsciously forcing himself to not think about what he’d done during the night, hoping it was some crazy nightmare and it’d go away. Well it hadn’t.

He watched the man about to step through the hole in the wall. “Jericho?” He frowned slightly. What was he wanting to say? Hey man you know where I can crash a few days? Hey man, you want to give me your gun so I can defend myself on these god forsaken streets? Hey man, you got a number for the werewolf help hotline? Hey man you got a light? “Thank you…” He blinked again. That was unexpected, but there is was. What the fuck was wrong with him now? He scratched the back of his head idly.

Well obviously, if he was a werewolf in this city, there’d have to be others right? Would it be possible for him to find another one who could perhaps help him? Teach him? Let him crash with for a while? How would he find a half decent werewolf in this city? He’d go looking. He felt very strange. Happy for once. He finally had seen what he was capable of, someone had bothered to treat him like a human, he had some money now, and he was starting to get a little inkling of what he needed to do now. He actually chuckled.

Kaigen waited until the man had finally gone out through the window before he slowly started to get to his feet, dusting himself off. He looked at his feet, then through the hole in the wall at the glass and that being the only way out he grumbled. Even if the shoes hadn’t of fit he still should have taken them. As he was going through the hole, he noticed the shoes were in the next room, lying off to the side by the glass. Had Jericho left them there for him thinking he forgot them or something? He shrugged, and put them on. They fit.

[Korbin Kane]

Korbin Kane was a very important man. Oh so very important. He was so important, that he had a massive stack of paperwork almost a mile high waiting for him on his desk, and his secretary and both assistants had called in for various reasons. He sighed heavily, slumping back onto his simple yet amazingly comfortable swayback manager’s chair. Leaning forward and steepling his fingers, putting his elbows on his oak, claw footed desk that was…quite expensive, the black man would just stare off at the wall.

He knew he had a lot of work to do this morning, but for the life of him, long as it had been, he could not concentrate on anything right now. Call it his angel senses were tingling, but he really felt like he was supposed to be somewhere this morning. He glanced out of his office window. The sun was still an hour or so from rising. He pondered thoughtfully, before leaning back in the chair again, listening to the old thing creak. He could easily grease the bearings, but honestly, he kind of liked the sound. Rocking a little bit, making the chair to creak, squeak, creak, squeak Korbin finally remembered.

He laughed heartily and snapped the finger and thumb of his right hand. Jericho Gayanelo, Red Cloud, the Skin Walker. That was it. Yes, hadn’t he sent the young Sergeant to the slums for patrol last night? He mused thoughtfully. He had, of course, known.

He had seen the new werewolf, Kaigen Korrick, King Kai, heading into the slums while he was out last night patrolling. He did not recognize this new person in his territory. Musing, Korbin had flown lower. He was invisible, shielded by his Grace, he was very good at shielding himself from the presence of others. He had dropped low enough, and glanced into the man’s eyes out of curiosity. Korbin had cringed. He had seen a whole lot of evil there. So much sin…so much hate…so much anger…and that he was BloodLust touched, but he wasn’t a vampire, no, the feeling he got from the man was distinctly bestial. Werewolf then, perhaps. He had frowned, noticing then, something else. For all that this man seemed to have had a hard life, in the very beginning, he had been a good kid. Sometimes it was hard, Korbin had to consider the person’s entire life before he made an accurate decision. This man seemed to have once been good, but then stuff happened.

He pondered this, and then smiled. He knew they would be bound to bump into each other. He wanted to see how they would react. How would the Sergeant handle a new wolf? He needed to know if he could really trust the man. After all, he was well aware of the fact the boy was a Skin Walker. A vile and corrupted art, like most of the witchcraft styles. But among the Native Americans, it was the worst. But he had never once seen Jericho abusing this gift, and he’d had Hazel watch the man plenty of times. He hadn’t really seen Jericho be truly tested either though.

He could still remember the day he had met Jericho, inducting the then rookie cop into Squad 54, giving him the rank Corporal. He had felt the goodness in Jericho. Sure he wasn't perfect, he was not The Son, but he had been very pleased to note that this one in particular was overall very pure of heart. He could sense some kind of darkness, but it had been very faint. He knew this sometimes meant an untapped gift. Most people never knew they were magic users, or gifted, they never unlocked it. He’d seen it over the years. So knowing Jericho had an untapped gift made him all the more intriguing. He would like to find out what it was, if the man ever unlocked it.

He enjoyed meeting people he got the distinct impression that he liked them right off the bat. He had watched Jericho, casually, observing the man and how he carried out his duties, always mindful of others. Korbin had a habit of keeping an eye on his men. He watched out for his officers, any good chief would. When he noticed one had a particularly rough beat, later he might arrange for them to have some time off, or set up a chance encounter with a sweet girl who they could relax with and have a good night.

He watched Jericho more often, along with a sadly, few, other truly good people he had in his force. He did not deny anyone’s right to join the police staff, it was standard protocol, pass the academy, drug screens, and background checks, ok you pass good job. Not everyone that made it in had the right combination of heart and intent, most of them did it just for the money, or just for the titles, or just for power. He didn’t mind, he would handle the discipline issues later, weed out the truly despicable, leaving the good enough. As long as the job got done right at the end of the day, and he needed as many cops as he could get. This city was just plain filthy. So it was a rare treat when he got a cop he really liked.

He watched Jericho more often than most, especially after catching the man meeting with a spirit. He had checked the spirit, and shuddered. The filthy taint of Skin Walker magic made his insubstantial spirit skin crawl. And when he checked on Jericho again, the small darkness was gone, he’d unlocked his gift already. As he listened to their conversation, he picked up the clues. So this was what his gift? To now be an evil skin walker? He wondered how someone of Jericho’s nature would use it. He was very pleased to note that he used it well, even two years later.

Now. How to make sure they would meet? He had considered this, before softly smiling. “Hazel.” He turned to face the small red orb as it floated beside him, miles high in the air, far out of the hearing of the man, wandering down the street. “See to it, Jericho Gayanelo shall meet with Kaigen Korrick tonight.” Hazel’s soft bubbling, childlike laughter, and then, there, he really was a child, his form materializing. A laughing, waif-like ten year old, grey-blue flak jacket and dirty bonnet that was too big for his head, zoomed around Korbin, screaming, “Grandma! Grandma! There is someone breaking into the Tanner building!” The little boy giggled then, zooming earthwards. Korbin nodded. He could ever trust his little messenger. He did not have the time to watch the events play out all night. He had other places to be, other things to do. He had left Hazel to watch them, continuing his rounds.

It would be morning soon. He was interested to see what had happened. “Hazel.” Korbin’s voice was very soft. Hazel appeared, a small red orb, hovering over his shoulder. He turned to his closest friend. “Show me, what have you seen tonight my friend?” Hazel’s talents lay in visions and dream walking. He watched the images play over his desk. Hazel didn’t bother being too elaborated when he was just reporting a message to Korbin. With mortals he could be more eloquent. It went as he had anticipated. Faced with a cop, the wolf in Kaigen reacted, and he had shifted. Korbin smiled, watching Jericho slip into his Coyote form, the ensuing battle…and Hazel had been very good, he kept out of sight, the werewolf was too young to pay much attention to spirits anyway. He had been at the perfect spot for Korbin to see, the moment Jericho had been prepared to kill the beast, but…aha right there. Kaigen struggling to get control, and Jericho at the last minute, changing his mind, holding the beast down…and they were still asleep. Good. He had nothing better to do. Why not go watch the rest himself?

Rising from his chair, Korbin thanked his friend. “Thank you Hazel, that is all for now.” Hazel’s soft laughing voice in his ear before the little spirit wandered off. Korbin’s form became visibly more blurry, before suddenly winking out. He appeared in a darkened corner of the room, and sat down while still floating in the air. He made himself comfortable, sitting indian style, elbows on his knees, fingers steepled together, his chin resting on his fingertips. Now that Kaigen was back in his human form, Jericho keeping vigil, he anticipated them to talk. He wanted to hear for himself what would be said. The man was just waking up. Korbin smiled again, a simple, brief smile, and listened to them, his head tilting to the side occasionally, watching Kaigen speak, and then watching Jericho reply. Jericho was ever the gentle cop. He took his time, explained the situation for the new werewolf. Kaigen suddenly angry, demanding to know why he had been left to live like this beast. Korbin’s eyebrow lifted slightly. Yes Jericho, why? And the man did not fail to please him.

“It’s not in my job-description to euthanize men. Whatever you think you are, and whatever you feel I should have done is up to you. But I chose not to kill you because I knew that I wasn’t just going to put down an animal if I did."

Silently, Korbin laughed. Ah ah Jericho. Ever the surprise. Korbin drifted lazily in the air, then dropped a little closer. On some occasions, Korbin’s presence around those who would be sensitive to spirits, would have interesting affects to their behavior. He was a holy angel after all. He could tell, this would be the most critical point, if he were to help this damaged man at all. Jericho had been the catalyst. Korbin Kane would be the soothing balm.

He could feel the man’s anger at the money being dropped for him. And now, the anger slowly dwindling, the wolf calmed somewhat by the nearness of Korbin. “Jericho?” Korbin glanced up, Jericho hesitating in the next room. “Thank you.” Korbin lightly caressed the back of Kaigen’s head, a reassuring gesture. Kaigen rubbed the back of his head idly, clearly startled by his own words. Korbin could only grin silently.

The grin faded on his face, Jericho was leaving already. Too soon...He was not done with Kaigen yet. He had not expected this. Hazel!.... He had never tried to summon the Angel by thought alone. He was too close to Kaigen. He really did not expect him to come, but he hoped that Hazel was still watching.

He rotated around to the front of the man, watching him think. The little wheels spinning, Kaigen desperately trying to think of how to proceed with his life. Then the chuckle. Korbin nodded softly.

The man slowly getting up, having come to some, silent decision. Korbin noticed his eyes, glancing down at his feet, the next room, and the soft grumble. Korbin pondered, remembering the shoes in the bag. He winked out, returning in the main room. Dropping lower, he held his hands out over a place on the floor, and carefully concentrated. He wanted these shoes to be real, to last. He had to create them just right; he had only seen them briefly through Hazel’s eyes. There. A simple gift. And now, for Jericho.

Korbin was very good at planning ahead. He knew there would come a time when Jericho would really spark a wonder to Korbin. There had been a cremation, about a month ago. The man in particular had been a retired Sheriff, leaving the force only ten years ago. He had been in his 70’s and had finally passed away from natural causes. He had wanted to donate as many of his organs to the hospital system. He had been that kind of man, always looking out for others, and his final self-less act, the giving of his very body on the chance that it might save someone else’s life. Korbin knew the man would not mind. They had been good friends. Korbin had entered the furnace.

He was a Seraphim, he absolutely loved fire, the essence of it gave him strength when he drew from it. He basked in the immense heat, it was a sweet bliss. He watched the body slowly liquefying, and then in the right moment, he carefully selected a few bones. He took only what he could carry in one trip. He did not want to take too many, else their loss would be noted in their being too little ash, nor too few, and it be of no great use.

He took the skull, it symbolized knowledge. He took the sternum, the closest bone above the heart. It symbolized love. He took both of the femurs, the longest bones, they symbolized strength. They would be enough. Carefully chosen, it would most likely only be himself that would put any real meaning to which ones he had taken.

His form became insubstantial again, and he winked out, taking the bones with him. They were just slightly scorched, it was the perfect touch. He placed them in a white duffle bag, just long enough, and left this bag in his office, in his private inner chambers.

It was to this room, Korbin now appeared. He grabbed the bag, and winked out again.

He was now in Jericho’s Crown Victoria, sitting in the driver seat, the bag in his lap. He looked up, out of the window, and smiled softly. The waif-like boy was sitting on the hood of the car, on the driver's side, gesturing off at something behind Jericho. He could hear the little thumps of his feet kicking the chrome under the hood, obviously swinging his feet and having a good ol time. It was rare that Hazel took his child form just to mess with someone.

He moved the bag to the passenger seat, arranged it so it looked neat and tidy. He winked out again, floating far above the car, to watch. Voices drifted up to him.

"She volunteers over there. So I get plenty of food. Just take it!" Good deeds indeed. He winked out again.

Safely back in his office, Korbin would tilt back his head and just rumble with his soft, sweet laughter at the wonder of a perfect plan going as smoothly as he had hoped. Yes…it had been a good night after all.

[Jericho Gayanelo]

End