The Wolf of Brockton Bay

"... Okay, I knew you said you were going to renovate the cabin, since you said you wanted to move in, but..." King looked at where once was a cabin. Now, there was a three story mansion with large glass windows, a large pool, and even an underground section. "... One, How? Two, Why? Three, who the fuck do you think re moving in, that you need to upgrade this much?"

"One, Tinkers." Nessa said, hugging him from behind.

"Two, so we have room for anything we need." Jessica said, also hugging him from behind.

"... and my third question?" King looked at the two, after waiting for a minute.

"Well... we figured with how you are, you'd probably enjoy having more room." Jessica said.

"Especially now that we're pretty sure you're going to start collecting more people..." Nessa muttered, laying her head on his shoulder.

"You say that as if I'm planning on grabbing every single eligible bachelorette and even married women and bringing them here." King sighed. "Do you really think that little of me?"

"... More of the opposite, personally." Jessica said. "With how... more, you are, it wouldn't be a surprise to find people begging for your attention..."

"... I feel like you're forgetting I lived alone, and that's before I moved out of the city, even further away..." King said.

"Are you saying you don't want to live here with us?"

"... Fair. But I just had another question... Where did you get the money to build all this?" King knocked on the stone gate surrounding the property. "... This is tinkertech level shit..."

"... We had some money lying around." Nessa said. "It's fine, you don't need to think about it much."

"Some?! I couldn't even afford the fucking gate controls, let alone the gate!" King pointed at the gate. "I saved up for years and I don't think I could afford making the lawn!"

"I mean... Lawns are expensive." Jessica said, as Nessa nodded.

"Not the fucking point." King sighed.

"Oh, we'll get that later." Nessa said. "So before you say anything else, we want to ask you something."

"I... okay?" King looked at the two, squinting slightly. "What is it?"

"... Since you're a... you know... werewolf..." Nessa looked away, slightly nervous.

"Have you ever tried... you know..." Jessica raised her hands, miming biting into something.

"... No. For one, I can actually still think as a werewolf, and blood isn't exactly a protein shake..." King looked at the two, deadpan.

"... Can you try?" Nessa asked.

"... I feel like you two are those devils on people's shoulders..." King sighed, facepalming. "Why would you even think about that?"

"... Nessa said something weird, and I've been thinking about it since." Jessica said. As King turned to Nessa, she blushed and turned away.

"... Nessa?"

"I admit nothing." She said, looking away.

"... Okay, let's say it doesn't matter... I don't think testing it would be easy to do... Even if I could, that means I'm a Master, and you know how people feel about Masters..." King sighed.

"Actually, we found someone who could help. They've offered to help test it." Jessica said.

"... Did they offer, or did you kidnap them?" King asked.

"Oh, we had to persuade them, but they agreed to it." King stared at Jessica, who merely smiled sweetly.

"... Where are they?" King sighed.

"In the basement."

"... You know that doesn't help your case, right?" King groaned, as Nessa let out a small chuckle.

True to what Jessica said, there was a girl in the basement. An early teen aged girl, sitting on a cold metal chair, in front of a metal desk, surrounded by multiple cages and things covered in cloths. She looked around inquisitively, a slight flush on her face. She wore a slightly baggy cloak, seemingly like a mage from the fantasy novels he used to read.

"... Why do I know you?" King said, looking from the stairs.

"Miss Fenja and Miss Menja tol- I mean asked me to come test something." She said, jumping in her seat at his sudden appearance.

"... Told?" King looked at Jessica, who immediately looked away. "Riiight... Well, let's talk first." King said, sitting down. "Do you know who I am?"

"Um... Not really. Miss Fenja said you're an important person, and I should do my best to help you." She said, making King look back at Jessica again.

"... I don't know why they said I'm an important person." King said. "First of all, I'm not part of the Empire. Are you fine with that?"

Blinking, the girl looked at the twins behind him, looking anywhere but at him. "I... I'm fine with that. I..."

"Look, if you don't want to be here, it's fine." King sighed. "I swore you were a confident young girl, last time I saw you, and you're a stuttering mess here." King stood up, offering a hand.

"No! I'm fine, it's just... I'm a little nervous." She said.

"... That's fair, since I don't really know how my own powers work..." King groaned. "Do I even HAVE lycanthropy? Is it like the movies? Is it completely different? Hell... Would it make someone go insane?"

"Oh, it's not that. I'm fine with testing your powers, away from the PRT. It's just..." she looked away.

"Rune has a small crush on you." Nessa said, whispering in his ear.

"... What?" King looked at Nessa.

"When did you last meet her?" Jessica asked.

"Let's see... should be... 2007-ish, she got in a fight with some ABB goons, and got knocked out." King said, thinking back. "I caught her, then broke my arm keeping the ABB away from her... Then I found out she's from the 88."

"Would you have done anything different if you knew she's form the Empire?" Nessa asked, noticing the girl look down.

"... Probably not." King shrugged. "Didn't really care much for the 88 before my trigger. Just figured they're all either opportunists or misguided."

"Oh? And what do you think we are?" The twins asked, placing their arms on his shoulders.

"Opportunists. You two didn't really care much when I talked about my friends, and you KNEW they weren't caucasian." King said, causing the girl to look up at him in surprise. "Oh, hush. The empire's dog killed them."

"Hookwolf killed your friends?" the girl looked at him, then the twins. "But... we're also part of the Empire. You don't care?"

"... Did someone order for my friends to be killed? Or was that all him?" King asked, raising an eyebrow.

"All him, dear." Nessa said.

"It was a surprise to us when we heard he got into a fight he lost." Jessica continued.

"Then... he's my enemy. If nobody gets in the way, they're not my problem." King said, sighing. "... Rune, right?" King asked.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure about this? I can't promise everything's going to go smoothly. I'm going into this as blind as you. You're still a young girl, with your whole life ahead of you. Are you sure?"

Rune looked at King for a moment, before looking down. "If... If it fails, and I do turn feral or something... Can you promise to take care of me?"

King looked at her, slightly surprised. "That's a stupid question. Of course I would!" He said, causing Rune a whiplash. "Why the fuck wouldn't I? Did you think I'm some sort of jackass?"

"No! I didn't!"

"It's fine, Rune." Nessa said, chuckling. "You can trust him. Even when he... lets loose too much, he still didn't hurt us."

"Even after we got ready to fight him." Jessica said, smiling slightly. "Not that we could've done anything."

"... Please stop talking about that." King groaned. "I still get dreams of that... Being a passenger in your own body isn't fun..."

"We could try helping you with that also." Rune said. "If you want, we could slowly push you until you're just at the brink of losing it, then you can try to wrest control back, and maybe you could slowly get full control even then?"

"... How the hell did you end up in the 88?" King said, looking at her.

"What... what do you mean?"

"You're way too smart to be a racist... Is it family? Education? Trauma?"

"... Family and Education. I grew up taught what I believe now..." Rune answered, stunned.

"Right... Sorry, but I'm not having that. But, one step at a time." King took off his shirt, tossing it on the table. Slowly shifting his form, Rune watched as the large man grew even larger, and into the werewolf she's heard so much about. "Hrmph... Been too long..." his voice, now a lot deeper and more gravelly, seemed to echo in her ears. "God... my neck feels stiff... Fuck, my pants!" King turned around, as he noticed a hole in his pants. "Fuck! These are my good pants!"

"Pfft..." Rune struggled to keep her laugh in, something the twins didn't bother to do as they broke out laughing.

"... Damnit..." King sighed, sitting back down, slightly turning the chair first. "Alright... So, first thing is we need to find out how, if possible, we can... 'infect' you." He said, making quotation marks.

"According to popular media, it's most likely a bite. And, considering you clawed Cricket, Stormtiger, and even Hookwolf, and there's no news about them changing, it's most likely not from your claws." Rune said, pulling out a notebook. "For now, we could try to see if it's your... saliva." Rune stopped, before turning scarlet. "Um... Let's test some things out first."

"Alright, you're the smart one here." King said, grinning. "I'm in your hands, Little Rune."