An ethereal sound is heard as magical energy concentrates on a spot ten meters away from the tree. The energy tears a portal in the ground, followed by a figure slowly rising out of it. The first feature was a pumpkin with a face carved in it, followed by a body made out of thin wooden sticks that resemble a human skeleton, but without ribs. The pumpkin was the head for the body and it's carved out mouth, eyes and nostrils were glowing in a violet tone. The odd-looking creature hovered a few feet in the air above the portal for a moment, but then the portal closed and the magical energy was absorbed by the entity, as it fell to the ground. This oddity was the media-dubbed Strawman, which was hunted by the Arcane Sentinels. It slowly approached the tree.

Once Strawman had reached the tree he looked at it up and down, then placed a wooden stick hand on it's trunk. Strawman was trying to discover the origin of it's magic through magic of his own.

Strawman then released his hand from the trunk as it's being wrapped, materializing a scythe in his other hand to cut off the tree's branches. The scythe would have otherworldly cutting power, far greater than any weapon created by man. Strawman then stepped back a few feet and extended his free hand towards the tree, trying to absorb the magic within it to convert it into his own strength.

Strawman impaled the flying corpse of the officer on his scythe's blade, which he then threw away with a swinging motion, while continuing to drain magic from the tree.

Strawman didn't pay any attention to his surroundings, or at least it looked like it. He concentrated on sucking out the tree's magical energy for now.

Once Strawman had consumed the magical energy every part of him started glowing in a violet tone, but it soon faded and Strawman looked around to see if there were any other magical entities or beings he could suck magic out of.

Lady Nova pivoted immediately to face Marcus, her expression clearly unamused as she states firmly.

"That thing is bringing ruin to this park, and is a potential threat to citizens. I have an obligation to protect both entities, so I am not going anywhere."

"Well then sweetheart , it looks like I am going to have to get all of you away from here ,hopefully starting with the nightmare before Christmas over there." His finger pointed over towards the man with the pumpkin head.

Strawman then turned away from Lady Nova and walked off into the park again, crossing it and then turning back to cross it again to end up in a corner of the park. It seemed as if he was searching for something.

Strawman turned to grab Marcus's arm by the wrist and take it off his shoulder, then proceeded to walk to the opposite corner of the park.

To say Sarah was annoyed at Marcus's remarks is an understatement, personified as she promptly responds by smiling, before promptly slapping the man, hard but not superhumanly, as she stalks off, conveying a look with er eyes that Sam should come with her. She is rather confident that the pompous asshole can handle the Scytheman himself, and was not going to be talked to like that.

With that done, she simply soars off into the sky.

Strawman was not actually gone, he was just standing in the opposite corner of the corner where Marcus had caught up to him. He again turned towards the park, to walk along a side of it, but did not find what he was looking for. An ethereal sound is heard and a violet toned hole is ripped in the ground beneath Strawman. He falls through it and it immediately closes.

Walking in Marcus didn't waist any time, spikes of 6 to 9 inch long jagged ember came from his forearm as he started swinging and hitting security guards or anyone who was in his way, there was a fat guy who was standing in front of the glass case, Marcus gripped the back of his neck, his hand forming into a loop at the wrist that only started to get tighter. "Alright heavyweight, try not to loose your head." He continued to tighten giving the man just enough room to breathe.

With a free hand Marcus swung back and broke the glass case and grabbed a handful gems and necklaces, shoving them into his pocket, as he walked toward the back, to get to a special gem ,one that wouldn't be in the front he noticed a large vault."Hmm..." He gave the man a look,."Hold on daddy we goin' in the hard way." He started to slam the heavy man into the safe over and over ,blood splattering back into Marcus face as the vault door started to dent up, the constant banging on the safe was only drowned out by the mans screams, until silence.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" Sam yelled as he swung through the smashed doorway. He hit the ground briefly, then jumped into a flying haymaker, his concussively-charged fist reared back and ready to rail Marcus in the face.

Whipcrack managed to quickly create a net of strands that softened Lady Nova's impact against the vault door, then flipped over her to drive both feet into Marcus's chest. As they impacted, there was a blast of concussive force that blew out every window in the bank, but also sent Marcus flying back towards the entrance. Whipcrack landed on his feet and brought his arms up into a loose fighting stance. "Yeah we is, and you just got two-stepped, son!"

Whipcrack's superhuman reflexes allowed him to weave between the quick punches, but the gut-buster still caught him and drove him upwards into the ceiling. The blunt impact didn't penetrate his psionic armor, but the hit would probably still leave a bruise for a day or two until he healed up.

At that point, Whipcrack did something that Marcus probably didn't expect. He stuck to the ceiling. As Marcus's elbow whirled past underneath him, he scrambled across the ceiling and then shot out a strand to swing back towards Marcus and land on his back. Moving quickly, he scrambled around on the 7-foot giant, throwing out thin strands and trying to wrap him up like a spider would wrap up a fly.

Whipcrack smashed through the pillar and went tumbling across the floor. "Okay, I'll admit that hurt." he muttered as he struggled back to his feet.

"But this is gonna hurt more..." he said, his voice deadly serious. Blindingly fast, he fired strands aimed at Marcus's shoulders. As they impacted, Whipcrack loosened the strands and then cracked the whip with both of them, trying to throw Marcus into the air. If he succeeded, Whipcrack would spin swiftly and yank both strands over his own shoulders while kneeling, in an attempt to sling Marcus the length of the bank and back out the front door.

Whipcrack struggled to break free of Marcus's hold on his wrists, but the man was far stronger than he looked. As he slammed into the vault over and over, his armor began to weaken, growing thinner and losing its sheen. Just as Whipcrack was about to fall into a stupor, a light ignited within his eyes. With a surge of willpower, his armor returned to full force. He flipped his body up and around to lock one foot behind Marcus's head. The other foot began pressing on Marcus's neck.

Whipcrack began folding his body like he was doing a crunch, using the grip on Marcus's neck to pull his torso closer until Whipcrack's body was folded mostly in half and his upside-down face was looking at Marcus's. "Y'see, here's the thing chief. I was just the distraction while she recovered..." he said as a glow began behind Whipcrack's head. His armor suddenly grew thicker than Marcus's hands were capable of grappling, then Whipcrack threw himself backwards, flying up and over Marcus's head.

As Whipcrack flew up and out of the way, Lady Nova was revealed to be standing in front of Marcus. Whipcrack could tell from the set of her jaw and the rigidity of her posture that she was RIDICULOUSLY pissed off. Her fist glowed with the otherworldly power of the Cosmic Heart and she lashed out with a haymaker aimed directly at Marcus's jaw. Upon impact, there was a deafening CRACK and a blinding flash of light. Whipcrack rubbed at his eyes, trying to clear them to see what had happened.

As enraged as abforementioned, Lady Nova or Sarah rather was suddenly very grateful for the constant combat lessons her father gave her, as she hopes to surprise Marcus by ducking and weaving around his every punch, only able to do so because of her supercharged reflexes working into overdrive. As she remains on the purely defensive, she thinks back to a tried and ever faithful self defense technique.

With that in mind, she suddenly lashes out with cobra like right hand to grab his wrist and pull him towards her, before suddenly condensing the concussive energy she gathered in her respite, to deliver a uppercut like, launching knee to the groin.

If it connects, it woulds send him briefly into the air, where upon landing or near the earth he would meet the heel of a punishing concussive roundhouse meant to send him back outside.

Lady Nova recovered amidst a roll, standing a bit shakily before scanning the bank for Marcus, and the street outside, calling out.

"Whipcrack?!"

"Things got ugly Fido, that's what happened."Marcus started to smile, as he was looking at the chief.

Chief Gherrenfur growled and then motioned for the heroes to be released. "Would you two help us out and go find out what is up with that tree? That thing ain't natural, take a dog's word for it."

He then turned to Marcus. "You're going away for a very long time. Read this... man his rights and then get him the hell out of my sight!" he barked, before stalking back out of the bank. The SWAT officer running the stasis drone slowly flew it backwards and the static suppression bubble followed. He turned it around and then headed off towards a paddy wagon with the drone in tow.

Whipcrack headed outside to check on the three survivors, then crossed the street and sat heavily on the steps of the Plaza to wait for Lady Nova.

"Oh , you enjoy this kind of work?" Marcus told the officer who was loading him into the Paddy wagon. "Mean, It seems fun and what not but...I just don't see how you can do this day in and day out..I mean all cops, SWAT, Spec ops have it in them to be something bigger."

"Quiet you! you don't know anything." With that the officer placed Marcus in the paddy wagon, and slammed the door, several other officers getting in as well before driving off 2 cop cars escorting them back.

"You guys understand ,what I am saying right? You all could be something bigger than this." Marcus said as he leaned in closer. "Like what being your lackey." an armed guard scoffed to him.

Marcus then told the one who he deemed to be the leader of the pack."I have jewels here, worth millions ,and I could give it all to you if you just convince you buddy over there to drop the field ,you all can split it." his statement got him nothing but a stern look, but when Marcus pulled out his pocket watch studded in 6 jewels the mans tone changed.

"Let it down Phil." The captain of all of them inside the van stated. "Are you crazy Tom! did you see what he did back there?!" Tom fired back. "Let....it....down, aren't you tired of worrying about being killed every time you clock in ,I know I am!" Tom got a little quieter."We all are , and he can help us retire and take care of our families forever, and move out of this god forsaken place."

Phil finally caved and turned the Van into an empty lot, the two cop car escorts pulled in after them , a single cop from each car stepping out."Is every thing alright fellas?" The two guards in the back of the van kicked opened the doors and fired automatic weapons at both the cop cars, killing the two who got out and the two who were still inside.

"Phil?"Marcus smiled as Phil's shaking hands disabled the drone that allowed the stasis bubble to stay up, it fell , and Marcus stepped out of the van and reached into his pocket.

"Alright your out, now where our cut!" The driver asked as the person in the passenger side got out and drew his weapon pointing them toward Marcus."Oh no, it seems I only have enough for one of you..." Toms face turned sour ,"That was not the deal, you bast-." Tom was then gunned down by the two other officers that got out the front, then Phil was gunned down, as he was the only one who could work the stasis droid and there were only 3 left , the driver, the passenger and one that was in the back with Tom.

"Now let me get you all your cut.." Marcus reached into his pocket and pulled out more jewelry and gems then any of them have ever seen in there lives. "Go ahead ,take your cuts fellas..." Then even a bit surprising to even Marcus, them men all opened fire on each other until only one was left , the driver of the cop van , who lunged onto the pile of gems and jewelry stuffing his own pockets.

Marcus's hands were behind his back as his knuckles grew 3 foot long blades, and he walked behind the man indulging him self who was completely distracted, Marcus slammed his fist into the mans back, his blades coming through his chest, going into the ground ,but the cop was still alive, Marcus then grabbed the cop by the ankle, and used ember spikes to pin him to the side of the van by the shoulders, before stating. "I'm going to leave a little message for your superiors." and in the blood of the fallen cops he wrote on the side of the van."They wanted there cut, and I made sure they got it..." Marcus then teleported off in a flash of smokey ember, making sure to leave the stuff he stole behind to prove a point.

She nods, eyeing the tree herself for a moment before adding.

"Do you think it may have anything to do with the rifts opening? I mean all this magic activity is occurring at the same time, they're usually isolated events?"

A portal opened up the swirling shadows of one of Rotten's and sure enough he stepped through. "Fraid that what happening Nova. Seems the trouble makers that started the rifts in the first place. Got somethings attention."

"You two stay here and figure this out. I'll go see what's going on." Whipcrack offered. He turned and flung out two strands to the Phoenix statue, moved backwards to stretch them out, and flung himself airborne. He immediately shot out another strand to catch on the corner of a building and swung off in the same direction as the speeding police cars.

"Don't let it get to ya Nova. Other universes, magical mumbo jumbo, think he figures he has nothing to contribute so went to do what he knows what to do. On that thought we need to contact Shepherd he be able to tell if this tree and other things are from another realm."

She nods at that, sighing, before moving to attempt to call him on her comm, leaving a message if he doesn't answer.

"Shepard, it's Nova. There seems to be a now dead malevolent tree in Phoenix Park, and we think it might be related to the rifts forming across the city. Are you free to come down and determine it's origins?"

Whipcrack resisted the urge to vomit when he saw the old lady, then stepped away to comm Rotten Luck and Lady Nova. "Hey, whatever force is causing this dark twisting of life, it's already spread. I'm a few blocks away at a house where an old lady's cats became twisted and killed her. I'm going to track them down. If you're going to bring in anyone with mystical knowledge, find out if they want any of these things captured alive. Whipcrack out."

He turned to the lead officer. "Let's close up the house and search it. Do we know how many of them we're looking for?"

Marcus, was getting board. "To hell with this , so much mayhem to be had, and I am sticking in here." Marcus grabbed his coat slipped it on and walked out side, offering a handful of jewels to a chaser addict, to kill a random person on the street just to see if he would ,and he did, the addict snuck over grabbing a broken piece of cinder block ,before smashing the man on the side of the head ,only for Marcus to erupt in a fit of laughter clapping his hands and he fave the man the jewels."Enjoy, but first There is something I need you to do, find the hero named Whipcrack, He handed the man a loaded pistol, and take him out, don't hold back." Marcus knew the man stood no chance, against the hero but wanted to know if he would even try." "yes sir, the addict said as Marcus gave him more jewels and sent him on his way.

Whipcrack headed to the basement door, where the two officers were waiting. "I'll take care of it, gentlemen."

The officers nodded and stepped away from the door, one standing behind it with his hand on the knob. "Whenever you're ready, Whip."

Whipcrack summoned his psionic armor, then looked at the officer out of the side of his eye and nodded. The officer yanked the door open and Whipcrack hopped down the short set of stairs to land on the basement floor. The door quickly closed behind him, leaving the basement illuminated by one overhead fluorescent. "Here, kitty kitty kitty..."

"Rooooow..." came from the corner as one of the cats walked into the light. Its body was strangely twisted and its fur clung in patches to its roughly mottled skin. The cat hissed, then hunkered down in pain as it suddenly tripled in size, bone spurs ripping through its skin with the sound of tearing meat. It hissed again, then lunged at Whipcrack. Its claws caught the light and Whipcrack could see that they were nearly the size of paring knives.

"Shit!" Whipcrack hollered as he ducked out of the way. As the cat-beast flew over his shoulder, he shot a strand at its belly. The strand hit with a dull thud and threw the creature towards the wall, where it was stuck. He quickly pinned it in place with several more stands, then whipped around as he heard a rustle in the shadows. With a THUMP, the other cat-beast landed atop his shoulder and dug in. It then tried to bite into the back of his neck and Whipcrack discovered that these things were much stronger than they looked, obviously fueled by whatever force was twisting them. As its fangs squeezed on his armor, Whipcrack reached back and grabbed the bone spurs sticking out of its shoulders. He threw it off, but his throw went high and the cat-beast disappeared into the rafters.

"Okay Sylvester, its just you and me... lets dance kitty cat." Whipcrack taunted, even though the cat-beast couldn't understand. With a yowl, the creature dove out of the rafters directly at his face and Whipcrack reacted. His fist smashed into the side of its face and he heard the crack of its neck. The cat-beast landed in a twisted lump and didn't move. The one pinned to the wall hissed at that moment, as if it recognized the death of one of its companions.

He commed Lady Nova and Rotten Luck. "Just had a battle royale with two of those cats. They've grown to about the size of medium dogs, say 35-40 pounds. They're immensely strong and their claws are like paring knives. The police believe that the other three escaped the house, so they're most likely prowling the neighborhood. You two start looking for them and I'll take one last look around the house. Oh, and I have one captured, so go ahead and take out the ones you find. Whipcrack out."

With a little bit of strand-work, Whipcrack surrounded the living cat-beast in a cocoon of psionic energy, with just a small gap for breathing. Picking up the dead one, he headed back up the stairs and thumped on the door. The officers let him out and he handed off the dead cat-beast. "Dispose of that."

He then began a methodical search of the house.

Reacting on pure instinct, Whipcrack raised his arm in the way. The armor covering his forearm bulged on the side facing the cat-beast, then the bulge flattened out into a shield that protected his entire body. The cat-beast smacked into the shield, which made Whipcrack refocus. He fed a blast of concussive energy through the shield, blowing the cat-beast across the room. It's back smashed through the dry-wall and smacked into a wall-stud. It bent around the stud, snapping the cat-beast's spine. The imprisoned cat-beast yowled again and struggled inside it's 'cage'.

"Shaddup." Whipcrack told it as he picked up the body. He walked over to the stairs and tossed the body down while yelling. "Another dead cat!"

Whipcrack turned to face the final door on the top floor, which he assumed to be the bathroom.

Ron landed in front of the house falling from one of his portals. Standing up he nodded to Dennis "Good work." He then charged into the house "Whipcrack! Where are you and how many dirty.... cats we are facing?" He was so about to say something else there but thought better of it.

Whipcrack took the card and checked it out, then opened a slit in his armor to pull out his smartphone. He thanked the officer, then turned to Rotten Luck and Lady Nova. The cat-beast he had captured was remaining quiet for now, but there was no telling what might set it off again. Handing the card to Lady Nova so that she could take a look, he dialed Kowalski's number.

Dennis reached into his pocket, and pulled out a large phone, it was custom made for him to use ,and dialed the number that was on the card of the detective that had been given to him earlier."Um ,Hello?"

"Yes ,I will just meet up with you all..I have to get some food first." With a mighty leap Dennis jumped a good 400 yards away ,right next to a taco stand, and got about 50 tacos, and went on his way ,stopping in a nearby alley to change into his more combat ready attire.

"Hmm number... " he pulled out his phone and scanned the contacts. "Ah here it is." He just handed Whipcrack the phone so he can get the info. "Once we are done with the Zoo, I'll go hunt down spook, how about we all meet at Phoenix park, and figure out what the hell we going to do." Once Whipcrack got the number he looked to Dennis

"Welcome to the Netherworld express, Please keep ya hands and legs inside the portal at all time during ya journey. Oh and if ya hear whispers just ignore them." Then he walked through the portal seeming swallowed by the shadowy vortex, crossing the distance to the Zoo in just a single step as he comes out of the other side.

The phone was answered after only two rings. "Goldenrod, here. What's up?"

"Heya Goldenrod, it's Whipcrack, Lady Nova's partner. I'm a friend of Rotten Luck's and he gave me your number because you know all about magical stuff. Are you free right now? If you are, could you meet Nova and I at Phoenix Plaza? We've got a few things that need to be checked out." Whipcrack implored.