Lake Huron: Orchid Island

Time did indeed pass, and that weary patient eventually became more active. He didn’t appear to be walking on his own just yet, but with the assistance of his wheelchair he was able to move about. When the time was right, dressed in appropriate attire, he decided that it would be in his best interest to move back into the workforce. This time, however, he would do something a little more worthy of his time.

Up to the steps of the local police station the chair bound patient rolled. Already he faced his greatest obstacle. With some time he managed to find a ramp access to the building, and made his way inside.

Eventually he found himself in an interview with one of the employees in charge of staffing.
“And what did you say your name was?” Asked the husky gentleman, sitting on the other side of the desk that separated the two.
“Vault. Vault Surge.” The chair bound man responded, his hazel eyes a bit more at attention now, giving the other the courtesy of their attention. The man behind the desk seemed a bit skeptical of the name, judging by the look of disapproval on his face, but with another look at the papers in his hand, Surge’s resume, he seemed to be rather impressed. It did take Vault years of soul draining work to accomplish it after all.

“Well it was very nice to meet you, Mr. Surge. I’ll make sure to get back to you if your services are ever needed.” The man behind the desk said, smiling as he stood to reach out for Vault’s hand, shaking it in quite the professional manner, Vault returning the gesture, mustering a smile. Moments later he would find himself outside of the police station, his chair just rolling to the edge of the steps. He parked there and just looked about from his vantage point before looking down below to the steps. He remained there and watched them. And waited.

Time once again passed and Vault found himself outside of the police station again, watching, waiting. The doors opened and someone stepped out, heading to the parking lot and to their car. Vault moved on. After some passage of time Vault found himself waiting once again, this time outside of some house. The door opened, someone stepped out, this time accompanied by another, smaller person. They entered the car and the car pulled away. Vault moved on.

At one point an officer approached him, asking why he was loitering around in one place for so long.
“Sorry, officer. I’m lodged on the very edge of town, and my arms get tired of pushing after a while…” Vault responded, the officer seeming to buy it with some skepticism. He gave the chair bound citizen the benefit of a doubt and assisted him into his vehicle before driving him back off to the rehabilitation center. Vault simply sat in the back, watching the officer from behind with a mild mannered smile.

Another time, Vault made his way into the city in search of work, his chair rolling along until he came to a stop in front of a local school, populated by plenty of smaller people. He looked it over before turning and rolling inside. This building was much easier to get in to. Once again he found himself in an interview, though this time with a much less scrutinizing person. It didn’t take much for him to gain a position as a substitute teacher.

Val, thinking that, "Huh, I'm a dog now I can get away with anything...ANYTHING" then realizing that...she...1) Hadn't made some giant monster and 2) seemed happy...was this girl just some lonely neckbeard?

Maybe, having a dog would be good for her. Maybe living as one would be good for him. MAYBE, WE CAN ALL JUST GET ALONG.

Regardless, he jumped on her and licked her face...then realized a familiar hunger was coming up, and his licks fell towards her neck...

"Aww! Puppy! I know you won't leave me!" Sugar Shock laughs and allows the dog to lick her. "I love you puppy!" she says, radiating pure happiness and hugging the canine tight.

Valencruz, being hungry and somewhat emotionally dead, figures this'll be a good time to drai-
Wait.
This is the girl who's blood gives him untold power....AND turns him into an unstable psychopath.
As he recalls, she also can't sleep without being drained....hm...quite a dilemma....that he could totally manipulate.

And so, he lets out a dog yawn, curls up (wolves do that, right?) and rests his head up against her feet.....and sleeps. Not really, Valencruz doesn't NEED to sleep anymore, especially not with the sun hanging low.

His goal? Simple. Remind her of what she can't do without him.

Sugar scratches the dog behind the ears.
"Aww, sleepy puppy! I have to wait for my friend to sleep, he said I'd get some sleep and he's really cool and strong and if anyone can help me sleep besides the vampire he told me not to go near I bet it's him! Hee! I have friends! My friends always leave me but this time I'm sure I'll see everyone again! I have to!" Sugar babbles at the dog while increasing the necter in some nearby flowers and smiling at the fat bumblebees.

Everything is looking up for her!

While the orchids collapse under their own soggy weight, much of the military police has since spotted her, only bothering not to fire because they were trying to discern how she domesticated a bear cub.
Alas, for ruining Mother Nature's creatures and all their splendor, Sugar Shock had exhausted all eight of her hopes for leniency (Flying in restricted air space, Dress Code Violation, Harboring a Wild Animal, Verbal Assault of a Police Officer, Escaping Arrest and Dress Code Violation again because fuck you and Public Display of Affection). She was now eligible for both torture and the death penalty! Goodie gumdrops!

But 8 strikes? Who knew Big Brother was so forgiving?

The normal silence of his room was broken by the brrrrringing of his phone. His eyes drew back into his head from the far off, deep space trance that they were in before he managed to turn his head towards the device. He reached out to grab it before pulling it to his ear.

“Hello?” He spoke into it. It seemed that things were moving faster than he expected. His first assignment as a substitute was already underway. “Of course…I’ll be there right away.” He responded before hanging up the phone, watching it for a moment as he sat it down before looking up once again to the door.

Soon he was at the school, covering a class for an absent teacher. It was a math class, fortunately, so it wasn’t too difficult for him to speak on. Once the class was over and the students dismissed, he sat quietly behind the desk, watching, and waiting, until he saw the familiar face of one of those students approaching his desk on the way out. He began to move as well, bumping up against the desk as he turned, knocking a few books and other belongs off and onto the floor.

“Ah! So clumsy…” He mumbled to himself, though loud enough to hear apparently, as the girl that was just making her way out stopped to look towards him. She gave him a blink before moving over to help him politely with a smile, picking up the books before gathering the small box that had toppled over along with its contents, which appeared to be a golden ring. “Thank you for all your help…” He said with a smile as she sat it all back on the desk before turning to head back out once again. Vault watched her as she left, the smile slowly fading from his face as she made her way out. As she rounded the corner she would rub her fingers together, looking down to them as she felt some odd, powdery substance.

It appeared that he was done here for now, as the final bell rang, the substitute teacher rolling his way out of the building and out to the front, stopping at the sidewalk. He waited there for a moment before turning and heading off towards the rehabilitation center to return to his quiet timesink.

"Hmm, multiple heartbeats, and the way they step indicate they're sporting some heavy gear; the wrong KIND of gear for dealing with me but..." Valencruz was starting to see the upside to not wearing a big neon sign that read "I'M A VAMPIRE, GOOGLE WHAT KILLS ME". Still, his charge wasn't quite as near-invulnerable as he was....and besides, he found his lunch.

And so, Val's ears perked up and he got up immediately and he displayed all the other things wolves display when they hear shit.

"Growl. Ferocious, intimidating growl." Val, you're not suppose to say the adjectives, just growl.

Anyways, probably a lot more terrifying than what the people figured, he growled loudly in the general direction of the military police.

The police were having none of that shit, so they then decided to deploy the armored battlesuits they had commissioned. This is probably why people didn't fuck with the po-po in this town.

One of the gargantuan exosuits kicked the adorably gurgling bear into a nearby oak tree. Or really hard, I guess, iunno.

Valencruz smashed through the tree, bringing it toppling it down in the direction of the exoskeleton. He was fine, of course, just not used to finding his balance in his wolf form, and a little depowered due to lack of food, and so, thanks to his vampire super senses, charged at a guy not in a powered exoskeleton or wearing a scarf or turtleneck, lunging at him with enough force to overturn a large van, Valencruz....lunged at the guy and his crazy sharp fangs went seeking into the poor man's throat.

The man's throat was actually part of an elaborate get-up, revealing that particular officer to be two midgets in a costume made of a man's hollowed out skin being worn like clothing. It actually made a lot of sense, really. Being a midget is forbidden on Orchid Island, and what better place to hide than right under police' noses? Also something about the horribly brutal murder.

Unfortunately for them, they were soon beaten half to death by baton bludgeoning.

The police then beat the other half to death. Ultimately, one of the armed suits would completely annihilate the evidence by stomping it into a thin paste, allowing their carbon and nitrogen to feed the beautiful orchids.

Kills all the dudes with vampire-wolf swag.

Hold my money (money) pockets too heavy (heavy)

Nerve and his crew watched the ongoing battle through the safety of their periscope.

"So why do you think they is fighting boss?" Dominico asked.
"I don't give a fuck, lets find a different beach!" Alexander chipped in.
"Hey, who made you boss?" Julius asked as he slapped the arrogant across the ears. "Mister Nerve makes decisions here. Don't get cocky on us."
"He does have a point though. The battle is an ideal cover for our own heist. Alex, do you have control of the cameras?" Nerve asked.
"Yeah, yeah, give me a sec..."

So the team travelled to another, quieter beach. It faced the woods, so there would be a slight trek to the Governor's Mansion.
"I'll scout out the area for us." Nerve said.
He got out of the vehicle and walked on the beach. The people here seemed to be quite angry...

"Puppy! No!" Sugar Shock screams as the canine lunges and is kicked through a tree. She sighs in relief when he gets back up and begins attacking again. Good dog.
"YOU'LL FUCKING PAY FOR THAT!" she screeches and pulls the sap out of the nearby trees with her power and uses it to gunk up the joints of the men's battlesuits so that they can not move.

BrrrrrRRRRIIIIINNGGGG. The phone shattered the silence once again, this time followed by a loud shuffling of papers as Vault threw a collection of documents from his lap. BRRRRRIIIIIING. He once again reached out to grab the telephone, quickly lifting it to his ear.
“Hello?” He spouted into the phone, sounding a bit annoyed, the expression on his face seeming to match it before he heard the voice on the other end of the phone.

“It turns out we could use your services, Mr. Surge. Our current accountant seems to be taking leave to deal with family issues. He’s leaving soon to attend to his daughter in the hospital.” Returned the voice from the phone. Vault’s annoyed tone and expression suddenly began to melt away.

“Oh..? That’s a shame… Will she be alright? I’d hate for this to be anything other than a temporary assignment…given the circumstances…” He responded, his voice showing concern but his face just as dead as ever.

“There’s no word on what’s wrong with her yet. One of those doctor baffling cases. But until her father finds it suitable to return to work we’re going to have to use you. I’ll call you back with the details.” The voice on the other end said, seeming keen on getting back to work.

“Ah… Well thank you, sir. See you soon…” Vault responded before slowly hanging up the phone. He stared at it for a moment before swiveling his head over to the pile of papers on the bed next to him. He shuffled a hand through them slowly before pulling out a single sheet and crumpling it up in his hand.

Soon Vault was rolling up to the police station, staring up at the structure of the building before making his way inside. He rolled passed the man he met with, giving him a nod to allow him to acknowledge his presence before he made his way to his desk. He looked about for a moment, familiarizing himself with the place before flipping through a few of the files. He withdrew some relevant documents and been to toil away, crunching at the numbers.

Eventually he would roll away from his desk, casually watching some of the other workers in his section before watching some of the officers hard at work with paperwork. He rolled on to the water cooler, grabbing a cup to fill it up before starting to sip at it. As he sipped, his eyes roamed about the officers, watching each one carefully as they shifted through their papers. He eventually caught site of one of them struggling through his work. It appeared as if he had quite a bit to keep track of and was constantly counting something over. Vault finished sipping down the water before tossing the cup away, slowly reaching down to his wheels to begin pushing them, gliding himself over to the officer’s desk. His eyes gazed down over the paperwork, noting that it seemed to be about the embezzlement of some money, perhaps from the sale of some high valued object…

“Looks like you’re having some trouble there…” He said softly, just looking to grab the officer’s attention.

Much of the trees implode upon themselves as a thick and gooey substance is pulled out of them. Birds squawk overhead as the decades-old towers of might collapse all around the men, most of whom decide to evacuate the area. Some men die in the panic while the battlesuits are abandoned. While the crashing trees are indeed loud, it is possible to hear one man shout "Fall back!" to his men, indicative of a retreat.

They radio back to many officers, both those on the streets and those hanging around in the stations. This transmission comes in though many walkie-talkies simultaneously:

"-krsh 1018 in progress in the woods. You'll know it when you see it. Krsh-"

With that, several jeeps and tanks rolled off the streets and towards the disturbance, leaving the city area substantially less protected. Not to worry, procedures like this were already in place at the mayor's behest. The mayor thought of everything.

After the tree's have fallen, the immediate forest looks completely different. Holy shit, that was loud. You'd have to be deaf not to hear that.
Loud beeping is audible underneath the dead, felled trees, which have atrophied and rot must faster than usually due to being stripped of their sap.

Spoiler:

Even from afar Nerve could still hear the sounds of the conflict - tank tracks creaking, trees falling down, scattered shouts.
Best not to think about it. He took special care when he left his transport to check and double-check that he had a silencer for his gun and enough ammunition. Oh and the Kevlar jacket. Crucial, if he didn't want to get swiss-cheesed.
So he stalked through the forest silently. Until he froze in alarm when he saw the figure of an armed man nearby. Probably on patrol. Best not to take chances. Nerve reared out his head and concentrated a wave of pure, good anger on the man. Enough to break his mind to the point of becoming an animal stalking on all fours.
Right, that guy should get some attention. Now, off to the town proper.
"So far so good. Proceed to phase line B" Nerve announced.
Still moving cautiously Nerve saw , through binoculars, the panorama of the town. What struck him was the sheer size of the Police and Governor buildings in comparison with the rest. Wait. There was one figure near the Police Station that just had that 'look'. A 'look' of anger. Also his legs...were gleaming. Hmm. Might be good to talk to that man.
So Nerve strolled down to the station, casually. Then he shouted to the man: "Hey you! Yes, you! Come over here, I got something for you!".

Vault managed to help the officer with his work a bit before the call came through on his radio. Along with a few others he got up and left, leaving the new accountant to deal with the money based issues of his case. Surge scratched his head a bit, not seeming too interested in continuing the work without the other there, as he really only wanted to make an impression. His hazel eyes dropped to the desk in front of him anyway and he went to work on completing it.

It wasn’t much later before he heard the sounds of the door opening, the accountant hoping that it was the officer returning to continue his paperwork. Vault’s face grew even more sullen, if it were possible, upon seeing the odd figure enter. His hazel eyes focused on him from afar before he noticed that the man was looking back towards him and heading in his direction. Slowly he pulled his chair back from the desk before he began to roll off, only to be called to by the individual.

He quietly rolled his way over to the water cooler once again before grabbing a cup, filling it up before lifting it up to his mouth where he held the rim in his teeth. He took another cup and filled it before using his free hand to roll on over to the one that seemed to be there to talk to him. With his teeth he held his cup, unable to talk while doing so, and with one hand he politely offered the other the cup while looking up to him, his other hand holding onto one of the wheels of his chair while fumbling for the lock.

"Hey, don't be scared. Thanks for the drink." Nerve added, taking a long, loud sip.
"Mmm. Strong stuff this. Anyways. I got a proposition for you. A proposition that may very well change your life." Nerve said. He judged the man, who remained silent.
He was hard to gauge. Perhaps a little tickle of anger could instil some life into him...

Wait, are you guys in the station, or near it, or outside it, or on top of it, or what?

As the other took the drink from him Vault was free to grab the cup in his mouth, holding onto it as he sipped at it softly. His hazel eyes watched the other figure closely as if he were trying to read him as well. He knew this was a dangerous world they were living in, and Vault had every right to be at least a little nervous. He was completely unprotected after all. After a moment of silence he drew the cup back from his lips, swirling the container about a bit before he slowly turned his chair away.

“I’m not sure who you are, sir. But I should be getting back to work…” He said before tossing the empty cup into a nearby trashcan and starting to roll away. He couldn’t afford to have attention drawn to himself here. “But if you’re looking to check into some sort of mental institution…there’s a rehabilitation center on the edge of town.” He said, half turning his head back towards the other, just enough to meet his eye with his own. He assumed this man was talented enough to read his signal. He then turned off and began to roll back towards his own desk. If the stranger had indeed tried to push some sort of anger Vault’s way, he would find that the necessary minimal threshold would be a bit higher than normal. Vault obviously wasn’t wired quite normally.

A tough nut. Yet surely one to crack.
As the man threw out his cup so did Nerve.
Nerve turned to the man rolling away and whispered.
"This'll be the single greatest thing you will have ever done. You will be rich beyond compare. Now, stand up. I know you can".
While that was being said Nerve applied stage-four anger.

It was then that one of the few officers still hanging around caught sight of the strange man, who he ruled mentally deficient. Really, any sane person would know that being out of the city's dress code was a violation, and even worse he appeared to be consorting with a fellow staff member.

He stepped up to the individual, drinking out of a paper cut, and stated the following in a matter-of-fact way:
"Sir, you appear to be guilty of violations of the city dress code, trespassing, and being ugly, all of which are punishable by law. You could go peacefully, or I could beat you with my nightstick. Personally, I prefer both." A sadistic grin formed on his face as he concluded. He brandished his nightstick as menacingly as he could for effect.

Vault gripped at the arm of his chair, squeezing at it quite tightly. It seemed that his suspicions were correct and this was some super powered individual. He rolled away quietly to avoid the confrontation, the introverted and passive aggressive man having little trouble with keeping his anger silent. He made his way back to his desk near the back side of the building.

Nerve grinned.
A sadist and a passive-aggressive! What a wonderful place!
"Look Officer I don't want no trouble..." Nerve said, buying time.
Right. The officer was a stage two, the other man.... he warranted a stage eight. No chances.
Nerve looked directly into the officer, trying to induce him. However, Nerve backed away slowly and focused on the man rolling out. Oh, he was going to get out. There was going to be violence. He would make sure of it.