**Keeping with this theme of using songs for chapter titles, this one is from New Years Day's 2010 EP "The Mechanical Heart"
Thankfully for the party inside MLHS, it wasn’t just the one building that lost power. The entire town went black. And who’s to blame…
Bower Sr. strode away from the small generators with a big smile. Cutting off the town’s resources would give him the upper hand. He ran straight from the power plant, and back towards the hospital.
He knew Maggie Lawson was a doctor, and assumed she’d be at work. And if she wasn’t, he could still take the occupants of the hospital hostage to get the Lawsons to crawl out of whatever hole he was in.
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Meanwhile, Bruce Peterson was completely unaware of that his “partner” was up to. He froze mid step when the wind brought a strong werewolf scent to his nose. And while Bruce was more than comfortable going head to head with two or three werewolves, he knew he’d be powerless against six or more. He watched as the group talked, about what he couldn’t tell.
“What now?” he thought frantically. Surrender? Turn back and follow Bower? Or continue to look for Hanson, and get himself torn to bits by a bunch of werewolves like some poor girl in a B-class horror movie. Bruce back away, and started off in another direction, hoping to lose his tail.
But it was too late. Peter Russo and the other two police officers had broken off from the group and saw Bruce from afar. Peter nodded to them, and they aimed their weapons at Bruce, before closing in on him. The three formed a triangle around Bruce, who was so deep in thought he didn’t even notice the little red dots on his body until it was too late to do anything about it.
“Damn,” Bruce thought, raising his hands and lowering his own weapons. But as he did, in a desperate move to buy himself some time to warn Bower, he grabbed one of the grenades in his tactical vest.
The officers and Peter don’t notice, and when they order Bruce to turn around, the flings the bomb blindly. They have fast enough reflexes, so Peter and the officers managed to jump out of the way. Bruce didn’t bother to pull the pin, but tossing the grenade gives him enough time to make a run for it.
“Keep running you son of a bitch.” Peter thinks. He fires after Bruce, two shots missing, but more hitting the werebears bulletproof armor. But since he’s transformed, it doesn’t fit him like it should. And the vest ends up doing more harm than good.
Bruce tumbles to the ground, having only run about fifty yards before a bullet finally made contact with his shoulder. As he falls another grazes his arm.
“Nice try buddy, but no dice. Now, why don’t you tell us where your good friend Jeremy Bower is?” One of the officers said. Bruce mutters something, and the officer yanks his head up. The other slaps a pair of handcuffs on Bruce, while Peter gets in his face with a long knife.
“Listen you, either you tell us where Bower has gone, or we lock you in a room with Evan Lawson and let him do what he likes.” the officer growled.
“I don’t know.” Bruce spat.
“Well pardon me if I don’t believe you.” Peter said, sliding the knife under Bruce’s neck.
“I’m telling the truth! He went off by himself! I turned back to get Hanson.” Bruce said, feinting a frantic tone.
The three werewolves exchange a glance. They believed Bruce, but they still wouldn’t mind getting some more information. Watching Peter Russo twirl his knife in his hands, Bruce gets one last idea in his head. He’s still transformed, and he’s far stronger than than they.
Bruce slams his body into one of the officers, before knocking the knife from Peter’s hand. He takes it in his mouth, and attacks the other officer. It just grazes the werewolf’s arm, not doing any real damage.
Peter recovers the quickest, and in less time than it takes to blink, he’s firing his gun. Two hit Bruce’s chest, where his vest has started to split from his sudden movements. A one long shot hits the back of Bruce’s head. The werebear falls to the ground, knife still in his teeth, dead.
“Are you alright?” Peter asked the officer.
“Fine. Nice shooting.” he said.
“Russo, come in.” Derek’s voice buzzed in Peter’s ear. The shots could be heard from a mile away with werewolf hearing. Peter stepped aside to respond, while the police officers dragged Bruce’s body (which was slowly returning to his human form) away.
“The bear is dead. He gave us a name for the other suspect, Hanson.” Peter said.
“Any wounded?”
“No injuries on our side. Moron tried to make a last second escape, and we took him down easy.”
“Good to hear. Bower’s taken a detour on his trip to the hospital. Decided to blackout the town.” Derek said.
“How appropriate. What’s the plan?” Peter said, taking a moment of enjoy the fact there really was a blackout on “Blackout Wednesday”.
“Head to the school, just in case Bower’s figured out where they really are. We’ve already covered the hospital. There’s no where for him to go. If Bower shows his face, we’ll be ready.” Derek said.
“Good. Maybe once this is over we can get back to enjoying our holiday.”
“Wishful thinking Russo. Get your head out of the clouds.” Derek joked.
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While Bruce was dragged off to join Hanson (who was chained to a tree), Bower was readying himself to attack. Bower changed back, and waited to make his move. Rain had started to fall, and it worked in his favor. Washing away his scent, and mixing it with all others in the forest. Bower let himself get drenched before continuing. He was washed clean to all smells, and now ready to finish his plan.
The hospital had been tipped off, and Bower caught sight of several armed police at the entrances, and another two on the roof. He silently cursed as he formulated a new plan. Bower, from across the parking lot, rolled a smoke bomb (similar to the one Hanson tried to use to get away), and waited.
Green smoke exploded, covering the parking lot. Bower sprinted straight for the entrance…