Scott moved into the center of the room, surrounded by men who were pointing guns at him. Some had pistols like the man behind him, and others were carrying AK-47 assault rifles. It was clear that these guys were definitely not small time. It was also clear that they were not about to let him walk out of here. There was only one thing to do, and that was to act fast. Despite the dangerous situation, Scott was eerily calm, and that unnerved the traffickers a little.
Ready, Valor?
Whenever you are.
A bright yellow aura exploded around Scott, blinding and disorienting those that had previously had him dead to rights. The power of Valor sent out shockwaves along the floor, knocking some of them down. Scott lowered his arms and kept one fist clenched at his side, increasing the intensity and power of the aura as his mind linked with Valor's to create the armor on his body. The power being generated by Scott was so intense that it was shaking the warehouse to its foundation and tearing up part of the floor beneath his feet, causing tremors to be felt miles away.
It was then that the black and gold armor of Valor began to appear on his body. It started at his feet and hands and began to work its way to his chest. After it had met in the center, it spread up to cover his face and neck, the part covering his face forming a silver face mask. The aura subsided, revealing his beautiful and terrible form to to criminals.
"Shoot the freak!" one of them cried out, although his voice lacked the confidence of before.
Gunfire exploded around him as each man began firing into him.
The bullets, however, were completely harmless. The shell of a Voltari, which was the essence of his armor, was completely impenetrable to exterior attack. The bullets ricocheted off of him, wounding some of the men around him that got hit by them. When the men ran out of ammunition, Scott sprang into action. Faster than the eye could track, his fists and feet dropped the men around him. He then punched the ground to launch himself up to the second floor, dealing with the rest of the traffickers.
Scott, however, doubted that this was the full-extent of their operation.
Valor, can you sense anyone else?
There are several others in three other warehouses around this one. It's hard to tell if they are traffickers or victims, so be cautious.
Scott nodded and headed for the next warehouses. The first two did not put up anymore of a challenge than this one, but Valor was getting bad vibes from the final one.
Scott, I can sense something evil within this warehouse, worse than even these traffickers. Do not let your guard down.
I'll be careful.
Scott entered the warehouse, and was immediately under fire. Word had spread around the compound, and all of the men were massed to shoot at him. Of course, just like the men before him, their guns were useless and they fell before his swift strikes.
Scott looked up to the second floor and saw a man in a blue suit retreating into an office.
"That must be the guy in charge of this operation."
Scott punched the floor to shoot himself up to that floor, and kicked the door in, only to find that the man had retreated into a second door. He had just forced open the door into the closet when he saw the man stick a needle into his arm. The man dropped to his knees and the syringe clattered across the floor. Scott at first thought the man had injected himself with poison to avoid talking about the operation, but the truth was far more horrifying.
Before his eyes, the man began to change. He writhed in pain and let out horrible cries as his clothes tore and fur began to cover his body. His hands and feet began to sport claws the size of Bowie knives, and his eyes turned a horrible red as the transformation completed itself. Within moments, he had the snarling jaws of a wolf complete with razor-sharp teeth. As the creature reared up to its terrifying height that had to be at least eight feet, it was a truly fearsome sight to behold. Whatever had been in that syringe had changed this man into some kind of werewolf.
Within seconds, the creature was on him, tackling him out the door and attempting to bite into his neck. However, even his powerful teeth could not penetrate the Armor of Valor, and his claws were no more effective against it than fingernails. Unfortunately, it seemed that Scott's martial art strikes, even powered up by Valor's armor, were not doing much against the thick fur and even thicker muscles. He found more success striking it in the jaw, but given that the creature was head and shoulders taller than him, it was hard to consistently strike there. The two appeared to be at a stalemate, the winner to be decided by the one who dropped first. However, Scott had resources at his disposal that he was sure would take down this beast.
Scott clenched his right fist and it began to glow with the same golden light as before. However, as his arm turned white with glowing energy and the rainbow spectrum of colors appeared around it, the intensity of the light became too great for his foe, who drew back away from it and tried to shield its eyes. Seeing his opening, Scott charged in, sliding forward a bit on his left foot as he threw back his right arm.
"Fist of Valor!"
He buried his fist deep into the stomach of the creature, the full force of the shot emitting a shockwave that threw the creature back and buried it into the wall. Even with its thick muscles, the blow was too much for the creature and it collapsed to the ground unconscious.
Within moments, the transformation reversed itself so that it was just a regular man laying there. Scott hustled up the stairs and found the syringe the man had injected himself with, holding it in his right hand as he examined it closely.
Valor, do you have any idea what was in this?
It seems to be some kind of mutagen, but that's all I can say for sure. This was the evil that I sensed, but I've never known its like before.
Scott's armor dissipated and he placed it in his pocket.
"I'll send it to Shadowgreen and see if their labs can turn up anything on it. Maybe if we find out what it is, we can find who made it."
Scott took out his cell phone and called the police as he hurried down the stairs. After he had finished the phone call, he went into each warehouse and herded the trafficked men, women, and children into the first warehouse he had entered. About ten minutes later, the police arrived, and after securing statements, they called INS to make preparations to send the people back home. Everyone thanked him profusely for putting a stop to this operation, and Scott wished that he could have felt as relieved as everyone else did.
As Scott departed from the crime scene, he had two more phone calls to make. The first was to his client, Valerie Harper, who no longer seemed to be in danger.
"Hello?" she answered on the third ring.
"Miss Harper, it's me, Scott. I have an update for you."
"Yes?"
Scott filled her in on the human trafficking ring that had targeted her, and though she was horrified to have been caught up in such a mess, she was relieved that she was safe now.
"Thank you, Mr. Young. Without you, who knows what would have happened."
"It's what I do, Miss Harper. If you ever need my services again, feel free to contact me anytime."
He hung up the phone and made his way to the office building, thankfully getting there before they locked up for the night.
Scott took the elevator up to his office and found the file on Valerie Harper. He wrote in the conclusion to the case, leaving out the part about the syringe and the werewolf creature, and placed it in his closed cases drawer. He then took out his phone and dialed the number for Jessica's house. Even though he had to mail off the syringe, that would not take very long. He would be able to hang out with Jessica tomorrow, and he was looking forward to it. If it went as well as their basketball game did, he thought they would have a lot of fun.
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