Vera Walters quickly descended the stairwell. Despite being in her 30s she looked young enough to be in her early 20s due to her good genes and a special secret that would keep her looking youthful for years to come. Built thin with fair skin and dark brown hair she was an unassuming sort of woman who hid behind big round glasses and thick, modest outfits. She wasn't wearing her glasses for now since she didn't actually need them. They weren't prescription lenses, just for show. She just hated the risk of them breaking when she went out at night, so she always left them on her desk at home.

She lived on the fourth floor of her building and preferred the stairs to the elevator. Once she was on the ground floor, she dipped through the backway to the emergency exit. Despite the door being clearly marked as emergency use only, the alarm for it had been disabled a few years back and was never armed again. You couldn't open it from the outside, but if all you wanted was to leave out the back and into the alleyway that led to the dump then this was your best exit.

She pushed the door open, instantly feeling the cold night air hit slap across face. She looked up and skyward, seeing that there were no stars in the sky even though the weather was clear. She missed seeing the stars, but at least the moon was always visible. She hurriedly left the alleyway towards the sidewalk and pulled her jacket a little tighter around her shoulders. She had a few places to be tonight and considering how she planned to get there she didn't bother dressing appropriately for the weather, or even appropriately for her own sense of comfort.

Her lightweight jacket was unfit for a night that was down in the low 30s, and her jeans were equally improper. Normally, she'd be overdressed in sweaters and thicker weight pants that were warm and snuggly. She preferred outfits that hid her lithe figure and gave her a safe place of refuse to retreat into with a tight pull of a jacket around her shoulders. If there had been people out on the sidewalk with her, they'd think she was crazy for going out so underdressed, but with the weather being unusually cold this time of year most people were staying indoors as much as they could manage. Businesses were still open, but she had no idea if they were attracting any business.

She looked up again, Vera's pale skin feeling the bite of the night's chill as she searched the sky again. No moon, but she knew it was supposed to be a waning crescent tonight. If Vera was going to see it, she'd need to be in her favorite spot. She never liked moongazing from her apartment, as there were too many eyes around that might see her. She much preferred the privacy of her favorite spot a block and a half away.

It took several minutes, but when she arrived at the old City Metro HQ she turned and dipped down the alley that ran between the old HQ and the JP Morgan building next to it. Both buildings were as old as her parents, this part of the city having resisted the urge to flatten anything vintage so it could be replaced with the new aesthetic of cheap-to-build and same-as-everything-else. This part of the city had actual flavor to it.

Vera made it halfway down the alley before stopping on a dime, then doing a quick pivot and spin on her heel to give herself a 360-degree check of her surroundings. She was in the clear, and she knew there had been no one on the street with her the whole time she'd been walking here. So, she reached up to grab the rusted lowest rung of the fire escape and hopped up.

With the ladder to the escape in both hands she pulled herself up until she could start ascending the ladder to the escape. Once she was back on her feet, she quickly navigated herself up the fire escape to the top floor. The Metro HQ was currently vacant, and she'd searched online to discover that there were no plans to change that anytime soon. No one wanted to rent out the building for the price the city was asking, so it was just sitting here empty until either the city or a potential renter gave in to the other.

She reached the top and put her hands on top of the roof's ledge. She pulled herself up and over the ledge before swinging her legs over until she was sitting on the edge of the roof with her back to JP Morgan. Looking up, she saw the thin crescent of the moon far above her and she smiled. Getting back onto her feet she made her way over to one of the big air conditioning units that sat in the middle of the roof. She knelt down beside it, grabbed the side panel and wiggled it gently until she popped it loose. Inside the abandoned unit was a hollow cavity she'd made by removing some of the parts and equipment that had originally let the unit function.

This was her secret hidey hole.

Inside was an old black duffel bag, which she carefully removed and unzipped to reveal the contents inside. She looked back up at the moon above her, then started to pull off her jacket. With how cold it was outside she had to do this quickly for her own comfort. The jacket came off, and she hastily folded it over a few times until it was a neat square, then sat it on top of the AC unit, then she yanked off her tank top and bra, loosely folding both and putting them on top of her jacket to make a neat pile even as her hands began to shake from the bitter cold.

She resisted the urge to shiver from head to toe, her pale skin a perfect fit under the moonlight. She was a slender woman, her pert little breasts stiff in the cold air, nipples sharp like icicles. She unsnapped her jeans and unzipped them while she worked her shoes off with her feet. Seconds later she was standing naked on the roof top of the Metro HQ with a stack of clothing on the AC unit next to her, and the duffel bag down below at her feet. Had anyone seen her they'd think she was likely planning a suicide attempt to be naked in this kind of unforgiving weather, especially for a woman as petite as her. If she were a normal person, she'd not last thirty minutes in conditions like this.

Ignoring the contents of the duffel bag she stepped away and hurriedly walked around behind the AC unit until she was nestled in between the whole squad of units that had once kept the old building hot and cold at the appropriate times of year. Though she might have been on the roof of the tallest building in this part of the city, and thus leaving no way for an onlooker to accidentally see her from anywhere but the seat of a helicopter, Vera didn't like taking chances. She felt safer hiding in the middle of the AC units where privacy was near absolute.

Vera knelt down on her knees, the concrete roof cold and rough on her skin. She placed her hands on her knees and exhaled, the fog of her body heat coming out of her like a cloud before quickly vanishing into the night air. She shut her eyes, cleared her thoughts, then opened them again to look skyward at the moon overhead.

It didn't need to be a full moon. She just needed moonlight, and this was plenty enough.

As she stared at the moon above her, she let herself go.

Her body shivered, but not from the cold. The hairs all across her nude body began to stand on end, goosebumps running across every inch of her flesh as she felt it begin. Suddenly, her heart pounded once in her chest, a heavy thud like a sledgehammer hitting the hood of a car. Her heart rate was beating rapidly now, like she was on the final stretch of an intense sprint. Another heavy thud erupted painfully from her heart, but this time she felt it all the way up in her ears, the tinnitus ringing like a siren as her vision briefly went white, then black, then back to color again as her eyes turned gold. She was shaking now, her hands and fingers gripping taut onto her knees.

She opened her mouth, exhaling as she lost herself in the moonlight above her. The third thud hit her, and all she heard was the ringing of pain, a familiar agony she'd felt countless times before as her back twisted backwards, her head tilting back with her mouth open in a silent scream. Every bone in her body was explosively popping inside pockets of taut muscle, the noise of it rattling in her ears along with the sound of muscles being squelching and stretching. Her feet and knees slowly slid across the roof as her body grew painfully in size, from that of a short petite woman to a hulking brute.

Her face felt tight, her lower jaw popping forward and lengthening along with her nose. Her teeth began to bleed as they lengthened along with her growing muzzle. Her pale skin bulged with bright red veins as her body continued to warp and contort beneath the moonlight, her lower spine forced a fresh set of vertebrae out from above her rear to create a naked rat tail that shuddered and trembled in the air before falling flat to the roof.

As her head finished taking its new shape, she clenched her teeth that were now fangs, bowing her head as the goosebumps running all across her body exploded painfully into sharp tufts of dense fur. All over her naked body she grew dark patches until every inch of her was covered. Her fingernails were already long like claws, the rat tail behind her now a bouquet of bushy long fur. The long locks of brown hair had merged into the fur of her back to create a thick mane that ran from her head down to her newly grown tail. Two sharp ears sat atop her head, twitching in the night as her hearing was suddenly so keen that the entire world around her was revealed in crystal clarity.

A minute after her transformation began, she was left shaking and kneeling on the roof of the old Metro building, no longer looking like the skinny pale shut-in that had left her apartment before. She finally stood, now a full two feet taller than she had been moments before. A few of her joints popped and groaned as she moved, rapidly adjusting to their new form. In the short time it took for her to stand fully erect her transformation was complete. Her new body was physically fit, taut with wiry muscle, powerful from tits to toes. Cloaked from head to two in dark fur and a face like that of a wolf, she was the spitting image of many an old legend.

Vera was now proudly standing as the only werewolf in the city. Her city, her territory. She lifted her hands up, admiring the ivory claws sticking out from her cuticles, then clenched her fists tight. She felt so powerful! Now that the pain of the transformation was gone all that weas left was the RUSH of her newfound power, her superhuman sight and hearing. She was incredible, confident, able, a force to be reckoned with! She glanced up at the moon that gave her the freedom to assume this incredible form. She wanted to howl in triumph and gratitude, but resisted the urge, as she didn't want to attract unwanted attention to where she hid her belongings.

She turned and walked back towards the open AC unit and the duffel bag she'd left unzipped. She reached into it and pulled out a second set of clothing. It was a strange ensemble that she would have never had the courage to wear in her other form. First, there was the swimsuit, a black on- piece she'd found online through great difficulty. It was rare to find anything that could fit her impossible frame. She pulled it on, snapping the straps over her shoulders and adjusting her now enhanced bust into the chest. Second, was a pair of black leather chaps like a cowboy, or a gay man, would have worn. Finally, her outfit was finished by pulling on a black biker jacket which she zipped up all the way to the neck.

She took her stack of day clothes and tucked them into the duffel bag, rezipped it, then returned the entire bag to the empty cavity in the unit before closing it back again.

Now, standing proud and looking out over her community from the rooftop of the old Metro, The Wolf was ready for business. She had places she needed to be, but with her keen ears she could hear things people didn't want her to hear. There were eight phases of the moon, and only during one of them was she unable to change her form like she had just now. No one seemed to have caught on to that pattern, strangely enough. As soon as it became clear that the 'werewolf' was showing up during more than just full moons all the thugs in her community just seemed to assume that every night was a bad night to be outside.

She liked it that way, and right now she couldn't hear anything going on that needed her attention, but that could always change. She stepped away from the edge of the building, then with a running start she leaped from the Metro building and landed on the JP Morgan building, and then kept sprinting like an Olympian.

With her superhuman speed she quickly crossed the rooftop of JP Morgan and leapt again, landing on the much shorter office building on the other side of it. She kept this up for several minutes, leaping from building to building like it was an effortless act. Her ears were on high alert, listening to the sounds of city life as she moved from rooftop to rooftop. She heard nothing that sounded like a crime in progress, and she was happy about that. Her community was a safe place to live, at least at night. She couldn't do anything during the day except for those rare times where the moon was still visible.

Vera leapt past her apartment building and kept going until she was another three blocks down. She found her destination, which was a three-story building. She stopped in the middle of the building's roof and knelt down. Going completely silent she listened and waited. Nothing she was hearing indicated that she'd been seen arriving, which was good. With her dark fur and black outfit, she was difficult to spot. The only trouble she ever noticed was shining lights, since her eyes would glow in the night like many animal eyes would.

She stood again and approached the northern side of the building and looked down at the two-story building next to it. What she was looking at was another small apartment complex, and this one had a convenient fire escape hanging off the side of it that gave her easy access to a window. The curtains were drawn on the window, but the lights inside were on and she could hear that there was a tv inside playing a rerun of some shitty sitcom. She stepped up onto the ledge of the building she was on, then hopped off and landed onto the ledge of the apartment building, then carefully climbed down onto the fire escape and down towards the window in question.

When she got there, she knelt down and lifted her clawed hand to the glass and gently rapped her knuckles on it twice.

A few moments later the curtains were pulled open, and a teenaged boy in his pajamas was looking at her with a big goofy smile on his face, He reached down to the bottom of the window frame and slid it open.

“H-Hi!" He stammered, his excitement obvious to both her eyes and ears. She could read his body language as easily as she could hear the beating of his heart. Her keen senses left little to the imagination.

“Shh." She shushed him with a finger over her lips, which left him clapping his hands over his mouth.

“Good evening!" She told him cheerfully and with a big toothy smile.

This young man was someone she made a promise two a few weeks ago. She had been making her nightly rounds, sprinting across rooftops, when she'd heard a distant cry for help. That cry had come from none other than this boy who had the unfortunate luck of leaving school late because he was being given a tutoring lesson for his failing grades in math. While walking home a pair of young men in their twenties tried to shake him down, but he'd sprinted away from them, and the pair were giving chase.

She of course reached the three of them quickly as she could, dropping down behind the two assailants after a running leap from the nearest rooftop. With her immense strength she easily lifted them both off their feet by the backs of their jackets and smacked their heads together. Dazed and confused by what had just happened she dispatched them both against a nearby wall, injuring them enough to stop them cold in their tracks but not so badly that would not recover.

The boy she'd saved was winded, frightened, and then suddenly enthusiastic that he just got to meet The Wolf in person. It had been a cold night then, too, and his teeth were chattering as he struggled to thank her for saving him. He'd asked for an autograph, and she asked him why he'd been out so late, and through his chattering teeth she got the gist, and then told him if he could prove to her that he'd gotten his math up to a passing grade on his next report card, then she'd give him that autograph.

She asked him where he lived, and he gave her his address, and then she told him that on the day he got his next report card, that he was to turn his tv on in the evening with a specific sitcom playing and she'd find him. With her hearing and his address, she knew she'd find him, and she had.

“I got a C!" He told her in a hushed tone. And scrambled to find his report card.

“That's very good!" She replied, and watched as he returned to the window, the boy now beginning to shiver from the cold. A C wasn't good, but it wasn't a failing grade, so a deal was a deal.

She leaned forward, maneuvering herself so that more of her body blocked the window. When he showed her his report card she poked her head in through the open window, hoping her body might shield his bedroom from the cold night air. Vera looked at his report card, smiled at the grades, then nodded.

“Ok, you held up your end of the deal. Got a pen and paper?" She asked him cheerfully.

He quickly grabbed a notebook and a pen and offered them to her with trembling hands. She took both items and flipped the notebook open, turning past pages of classwork until she found a blank page. He watched her with excitement as she started writing him a cheesy, yet encouraging, note to try his best at school, get good grades, and not to walk home alone from school anymore! Then she signed it with her name, The Wolf.

“There you go. Now, I have a busy night tonight, so I want you to shut this window tight and lock it, and go to bed when your parents tell you to, ok?" She told him warmly, but also firmly, and handed the notebook and pen back to him.

“Yes! I totally will, thank you so much!" He said while looking up at her then down at her very real autograph. She smiled.

“Goodnight." She told him, which snapped him back to reality with him now realizing that she was actually going to leave.

“Thank you for helping me again! Really!" He told her.

“You're welcome! Now, go turn off that sitcom before your parents think they're raising a crazy person." She told him, pulling herself back away from the window. Before the boy could do much more than approach the window, she hopped backwards off the fire escape and sharply dropped to the alley below her. Once her feet hit the concrete she dashed towards the street before jumping high, catching a wall with her foot before shoving off to catch the opposite wall with the other. In just a few leaping steps she'd ascended back to the roof top and off she went with the noise of the excited boy fading behind her as he no doubt tried to follow her movement until she was well out of sight.

Once she was several buildings away, she stopped and dropped down into a squat to listen. After several moments of letting her ears twitch in the night air she was confident there was nothing going on that needed her attention. She stood back up and shot off again like a rocket until she was covering buildings in one or two steps a piece. Once she reached her full speed she could zip across large distances as quick, if not quicker, than any patrol car on the streets. There were no traffic laws on rooftops and the sky as she sailed through the air to land on another building.

Her destination was in view, and she wanted to get there quick, as she was on a timer. So long as there was moonlight she was safe to patrol the city and move about in her transformed state, but once the moonlight faded she too would fade and return back to her human form.

The building she needed to reach was the tallest in her area. What she considered to be her territory had about 20,000 people living and working in it, and she felt she did a good job at terrorizing the thugs and numbskulls. Vera was very proud of her work. She reached the rooftop of the building next to her target, but she couldn't have reached the next roof over even if she tried.

Standing tall in front of her was the headquarters for Mach 3 Industries and about a dozen other companies. It was a large, modern, glass building with nine stories, and the three-story building she was standing on now was dwarflike by comparison. She was powerful, but she wasn't capable of jumping six stories in a single bound like a comic book character.

But the person she was meeting tonight had given her an easy way to get inside. She unzipped the top of her jacket and reached a hand inside until she found the small key fob she kept tucked into the inside pocket. With the key fob in hand she walked over to the edge of the building, looked down to check if the coast was clear, and seeing that it was she dropped herself down to ground level, landing flatfooted like she'd only hopped out of bed. Being in another alleyway she quickly moved to the back of the building where there was a loading dock for office supplies and packages. Next to it was a maintenance door with an electronic lock.

She thumbed the key fob and the door unlocked, and she carefully went inside. At this late hour the building was closed, and the only staff that would be in the building were all employed by Mach 3 Industries, and they all knew who she was. Well, they knew her as The Wolf, but they didn't know she was a pale, petite woman named Vera Walters. She found that the loading dock was empty of people, and so she quickly dashed to the elevator and pushed the call button.

Once she was inside the elevator she pushed her finger down on the button for the 9th floor, watching it turn it a bright yellow, but she left her finger there for five seconds until the button changed from yellow to a brighter red. Keeping her finger held on the now red button for the 9th she also pushed the button for the 1st floor and held it down until it turned bright red, too. That was a secret code to make the elevator go down to the basement level no one but Mach 3 Industries knew about.

It was a short trip down, and as she waited, she tucked the key fob back into her jacket pocket before zipping herself back up again. The doors opened, revealing a long hallway of white glossy floors and walls. The pristine, immaculate design of the secret floor's interior was like walking through some fancy set for some sci-fi movie. She exited the elevator, the security cameras all panning and tracking her every movement as she walked down the hallway. She passed by several doors, all made of solid steel which slid open sideways instead of swinging out or in like a normal door wood. Everything here was modern and high-tech.

When she got to the other end of the hallway she pushed the button next to the door in front of her. She heard the doorbell ring from the other side of the door, which was impressive since every door and wall in the building was soundproofed. Her hearing was just that good. Just above the button was a name plague for the Director of Mach 3's R&D division, which this entire floor was dedicated to. A Mr. Dane. The public face of the company was on the 9th floor, but the meat and potatoes that made them their money was buried underground where no one would believe it existed.

Despite its 10's of thousands of people living in the city there was absolutely no reason to pay much attention to whatever was happening in her terf, which was probably why Mach 3 put their headquarters here. They didn't want too many eyes looking in their direction. The only thing that made this part of the city special was Vera, and the media loved to write news reports about fresh sightings of The Wolf whenever she got spotted making her nightly rounds. For most she was one part legend, one part heroic figure. To others she was a tourist attraction, but more along the lines of those fraudulent 'dolphin tours' where you get promised to see real dolphins, but they never show up.

The Wolf never showed up for the 'Wolf Watch' tours, but the scammers operating them would point to the night sky and insist they'd seen her zip across a building, drawing the gazes of their gawking suckers towards wherever they'd just pointed. Queue the dazzling display of dozens of camera flashes going off like machine gun fire to capture nothing but a dull city skyline. She knew this was going on because she could hear them do it as she leapt across a completely different building where no one on the tour was looking. She was almost tempted to vandalize their businesses out of spite, but she stayed her hand through sheer willpower.

Meanwhile, she heard a person moving on the other side of the door and knew the Director was at the doorway before he had the chance to push the button on his side. The door swished open, and the genius that produced all the Mach 3's best work was standing in front of her.

“Evening." He told her.

“Evening to you, too." She replied with a smile.

He stepped himself to the side and made a sweeping gesture for her to enter his domain. She did, bending down so her head could clear the doorframe safely, and soon as she was clear of the door he pushed the button again and the door swished shut behind her.

“I take it you finished your little errand you insisted was more important than what you do for me?" He asked.

“Yes, I finished it. Don't pout, I'm here now aren't i?" She told him.

The Director, and genius behind Mach 3's success was a bit of a manlet. She estimated him to be 5'5" or possibly 6". Not a tall man by any measure and he was built like a pencil with clothing that was ill fitted to his frame. The only thing he wore that seemed to fit him was his lab coat, which he always wore whenever she saw him. In addition to his short stature, he was surprisingly young for someone so important and so intelligent. He couldn't have been any older than his early 20's, and yet here he was giving instruction to men and women double or triple his age with many more years of experience under their collective belts.

“Yes, yes you are. Come along." He told her.

She followed along behind him as he led her through the large open room that was his grand office. He led her through a side door to his personal laboratory where he played with various toys of his own invention. The room was filled with a wide array of mechanical devices, the purpose of which was often a mystery to her.

He directed her to her usual place, which was a table and chair. She took a seat.

Somehow, more than a year ago, he had figured out who The Wolf was, and privately contacted her for a job. First, the job was to recover stolen property that had been taken from one of Mach 3's shipping trucks. After that, the little genius had apparently snooped through her finances and discovered she was broke. So, now she had a new part-time job that paid all her bills, so she didn't have to work a real job.

She just lied to everyone saying she worked remotely as a copy editor for a publishing company, but the reality was she just sat at home watching Netflix and wrote romance novels she'd probably never have the courage to publish. She already had like eight finished books, but she couldn't bring herself to publish even a single one.

The Director retrieved a large thing platter from another of his cluttered tables and brought it over to her. The platter was covered in an assortment of metallic rods about twelve inches long and an inch in diameter.

“Just these?" She asked. He nodded and left to grab something else from another table. It was his handheld camera.

She waited until he returned, and now that he had his camera in hand, he began to film her. The camera wasn't only capable of capturing film, but he apparently could use it to collect data. Data like how much force was being applied to these metal bars before they started the bend or break.

He told her to begin, instructing her to start with a particular bar. She picked up the bar he'd requested, holding it by either end with both hands, she clenched her fists and started trying to bend them. After about two seconds the metal began to give, and then a few seconds later she had the bar bent to a 90-degree angle. She sat it down, and then he told her to pick up the next one, directing her to a specific bar over the others.

This went on for several minutes as she moved through each metallic bar. Some of them bent to 90-degree angles. Others snapped, but not always at the same amount of pressure or in quite the same way. Each bar looked like they were made of metal, but it was obvious that most were different kinds of mystery composite that Mach 3 was working on.

The last bar she picked up surprised her. She was applying about as much force as she had the others, but this one wasn't giving in. After several long seconds of applying normal pressure, she tightened her grip and forced herself to go that extra mile. Her muscles began to bulge larger, stretching and straining the leather of her jacket until at last the metal bar began to bend. From start to finish she spent close to thirty seconds trying to bend this single bar when the others only took between 5 and 10.

“Excellent. I felt that the last one would give you trouble. It'll be a good composite material for future vehicle frames. We're trying to improve the designs of several things the US Military doesn't want anyone to know about." He told her, then put the camera down so he could pick the tray back up and carry it over to where it had been prior.

“You pay me an awful lot to just come here and bend stuff. Don't you have a machine that can do this?" She asked, not that she was complaining about the salary.

“I have several machines, but they all require a team of staff to operate them and using machines to 'bend stuff' carries with it the natural risk of injury. Using your superhuman strength is both cheaper and safer." He told her, setting the tray down and turning back to face her.

“Are you complaining?" He asked.

“No. I like money." She replied.

He chuckled, then turned and began to walk to another part of the room.

“Besides, ever since you started patrolling the streets the city has gotten safer. You are a kind of insurance policy against crime. Having you on speed dial is also worth the money I pay you to bend metal." He added.

He did have her number, which most men couldn't boast about!

“And, besides, the next time you're here I'll be having you stress test some infantry equipment. Your job will be to break as much of it as you can through applications of brute force. You might enjoy it." He told her with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

“Oh, neat." She replied.

The Director then approached a tall locker that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and he thumbed in a seven-digit number code before the lock disengaged. Though the locker's mechanisms were muffled silent she still heard the deadlock slide within the door after he punched in the code. He opened the door, revealing what looked like a series of shelving units and hangers. There was a large assortment of weapons and equipment stored in the locker, making her eyes widen at the sight of so much military grade firepower being held in one spot.

He pulled out a large black object that was shaped like the rubber handle of a hammer, but without a head to it. He shut the door back, her keen hearing picking up the deadbolt automatically locking itself. He brought the handle to her and offered it for her to take. She did. It wasn't as heavy as it looked, but that was because nothing ever felt heavy when she was transformed. If she'd been holding this as a human, she might have considered it hefty.

“You can take this with you. We were designing alternative forms of melee weapons for infantry use, and this was one of the designs I created. There is a button at the top near your thumb." He told her.

She looked, found the button he was referring to, and then adjusted her grip on the handle so her thumb could reach it. She pressed it, and then a polished steel bolt shot out from the top of the handle. The handle itself had been nearly eight inches long, but with the bolt now extended the length of the weapon was twice of what it had started as. The tip of the bolt was blunt and smooth, and she didn't know what this was supposed to be used as. It certainly wasn't a hammer or a knife, and it wasn't long enough to be useful as a baton.

“It's not charged, but I modified the bottom so it can be plugged into a standard wall socket with any extension cord you can find. Once fully charged it's good for three uses. It works like a cattle prod, but it's more powerful than most tasers on the market. Be mindful of who you use it on, as it could prove lethal. During testing we found that it was more effective than Police issue tasers in dropping a suspect, but too powerful to be considered for domestic use. Consider it a gift."

“I don't think I'd have much use for something like this. I usually just punch people." She replied.

“Be that as it may, take it anyway. You may find use for it one day and then you'll come to thank me for my generosity." He told her.

She pressed the button again, and the steel bolt did what she thought it would do, which was pop back into the handle.

“How to I make it zap and not zap." She asked.

“You don't. It's a prototype model. When its charged it will become electrified as soon as you press the button to extend it. It will use up a third of its battery when it touches anything that can pass a current, then after two seconds it will be ready to discharge again, etcetera." He explained.

“Guess it's a good thing I didn't touch it." She remarked, pushing the button again to make it extend, then pushed it again to retract.

“Again, it's not charged. The button to extend the bolt has its own small battery. There's a little compartment at the bottom of the handle you can open to install and single AA battery. Be mindful to have them on hand, since the mechanism to extend and retract the bolt is not energy efficient and will devour your AAs." He explained.

“Ok, well, thank you for the gift! I don't know if I will use it, but I will keep it in mind for the future. Better than have it and not need it than the reverse." She told him, changing her mood to be polite since he was gifting this to her for free on top of all the other benefits she was being given.

“You are welcome." He replied, then gestured towards the doorway back to his office.

She hopped up from her chair and followed him as he made to leave his laboratory.

“Also, the new outfit you asked me to manufacture for you will be ready in two weeks. There was a supply issue with the polymer I needed which caused a delay." He told her flatly as he began to walk towards his desk. She followed along quickly behind him, easily keeping pace with his much shorter gait.

“Oh, that's good news! I was wondering why it was taking so long!" She was excited now.

A full month ago she'd asked him if he could make an outfit for her that wasn't store bought. What she was wearing now was just normal clothing she'd found in stores across the city or online. It was real leather and fabric, but all of it was things that ripped and tore whenever she'd have to confront thugs and the like. She'd burned through pants, jeans, jackets, bras. She wasn't walking around in underwear and chaps because she wanted to. There used to be a matching skirt, but she'd tossed it last week after someone tried to knife her in a three way brawl. It had gotten torn so badly it wasn't wearable anymore.

“Yes, and I will let you know when it's ready so you can come by for a fitting. Even though we took your measurements I am not certain the polymer and synthetic fabrics will fit your frame without adjustment." He explained as he took a seat behind his desk and offered her a seat on the low couch across from him. Vera sat down in the middle, her knees rising up high from how long her legs were compared to the short height of the designer couch she was sitting on. Had she still been in her human form then this would have been a pleasant seat for her, but in her transformed state she felt childish sitting as she did, being forced to spread her knees and act as if she was sitting crossed legged with her feet still on the floor.

“Sure, I can come in for that if it means I get my new outfit! You think it will be tough enough to survive what I put clothing through?" She asked him.

“We've run samples of the materials through several tests. They will be flame retardant, resistant to most bladed weaponry, and offer limited protection to bullets. The jacket you requested will stop small arms fire, but nothing higher in caliber than that. The skirt and leggings are not bulletproof but when struck with a knife they will not tear. Direct stabs will penetrate if the strike is delivered with enough force. The outfit will not be indestructible, but it will last significantly longer than what you are wearing now. I will also be having spares made after we get you fitted so that they will all be adjusted to match the originals. It should be enough to hold you over for quite some time." He told her.

“Oh, that's wonderful! Thank you so much! You know, I almost wish you got robbed more often so that I could do more to help you for all you've done for me!" She told him cheerfully, but the look on his face was dissatisfied.

“I would rather not be robbed, thank you, but I understand your excitement. It is appreciated." He replied, and she settled herself down.

She noticed his heart rate was speeding up, though it was subtle. When she was in this form, she could easily pick up the subtle changes in a person's breathing or heartbeat, and after a while she'd learned how to use that information to her advantage. She could figure out a person's emotional state with the power of her keen eyes and ears. The Director here was like a placid lake, quiet and silent, but he couldn't control his heartbeat, though his breathing was always calm.

Despite how well he hid his inner thoughts she still picked up on the reason for his increased heart rate. She was so confident in this powerful body of hers that she rarely felt the shyness and modesty that was natural to her as a human, so she adjusted herself in her seat so she could close her legs and tuck them up under herself like she would have had she been sitting on her couch at home. Sitting there with her legs spread to him had had an effect on him, which she'd not intended.

“Thank you." He replied, even though they'd not spoken at all about why she'd done what she just did.

She smiled, offering not to say anything.

“Is there anything else you needed from me tonight or can I go?" She asked since she'd bent all his test subjects and he'd given her the little gift.

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands together.

“No, I don't believe there is anything else I need. You're free to go. Thank you for your work tonight, Wolf." He told her, and she nodded with a big smile before swinging her legs back out from under her to put them on the floor.

She stood up, handle in hand. Vera wondered where to stick it while she traveled, since she didn't want to have to hold it the entire time she was running and leaping.

“Ok! And you're welcome. You know where to find me if you need me for anything!" She replied, reaching up with her hands to unzip her jacket down below her breasts. She immediately noticed the uptick in his heart rate as she pulled the top of her swimsuit out and away from her chest so she could stuff the handle down between her breasts before letting it snap back into place. She zipped herself back up and smiled at him.

There was no harm in being the occasional tease, especially since she lacked the courage to even show off an ankle when she wasn't The Wolf.

“Have a good night! I'll be making some rounds before I head home in case anything comes up." She told him before turning and making her way towards the door.

“Of course. Goodnight, Wolf." He replied.

Once she was out of his office with the door sliding shut behind her, she made her exit from the basement floor. The loading dock on the ground floor was still empty of people, though she could hear the distant noise of at least one person milling about. Probably one of the security guards. She ignored them, since this building was one of the single safest and secure places in the entire city, and Vera emerged back out through the maintenance door and into the cold night air.

She leapt her way back onto the rooftop next to her before kneeling down and listened, picking up nothing that deserved her attention, and then stood back up. She still had hours more of the night, but she didn't think she'd need to patrol the entire time. Most nights were quiet save for the occasional driver making poor traffic decisions, but she left them to the traffic cops. Her bread and butter was crime: the muggings, the rapes, the assaults, the burglaries.

Dashing off at a sprint she began to make her running leaps once more, keeping her eyes and ears open wide for anything and everything as she sprinted across the tops of the city. As she ran her way across the rooftops making a sweep of her community, she responded to one car alarm going off, but didn't intervene when she discovered it was someone who only hit the wrong button on their key fob after they'd parked their car. Vera spent another hour and a half sprinting across large swaths of the city until she felt that her patrol was done. Tomorrow she could start earlier and end later to make up for tonight's lack of effort spent.

Where she'd stopped was on top of an Amazon warehouse. She could hear the dozens upon dozens of workers milling upon in the building beneath her, and she smiled knowing that she was about to give them both a fright, and something to talk about for days and weeks. Vera felt that she was a comfortable enough distance away home to do this, so she drew in a deep breath before throwing her head back and howling long and loud, spooking everyone working in the warehouse below her. The noise of her howl echoed far and wide, reaching every corner of her territory. If there was anyone lurking about with ill intent, they would hear her signal and think better of it.

After the howl faded, she zeroed herself in on the direction of the Metro HQ and started making her way back with great speed, and even greater leaps. When she arrived, she found it in the same condition as she'd left it, and opened the side of the AC unit so she could remove her duffel bag. She took out her human outfit, placing it on top of the unit, then stripped herself bare of what she was wearing now. Doing it now while she still had fur to keep her warm, she neatly folded the items and placed them back into the duffel bag before zipping it back up and stuffing it back into the AC unit before sealing it shut just like how she'd found it.

Now that she was naked, she knelt down into a squat and shut her eyes. Reverting back to her human form was as easy as it was to leave it. Every painful change she had to endure with every transformation began to quickly reverse. Her fur seemed to contract and fade as if it'd never been there to begin with, her skeleton shrinking along with her muscles, twisting and shrinking her body down while her head noisily shrunk, muzzle shortening back to what it had been while her teeth painfully pulled back and became dull once again. The reversal was just as quick, just as painful, but instead of becoming something powerful and confident she became something frail and timid. The sudden, painful lack of self-esteem was what lingered the longest whenever she changed back, lasting far longer than the echoes of pain her body had endured.

When she forced opened her eyes back open the world around her was so dark compared to what it had been before. Her golden eyes were gone, and now she could only see the world as a human could, dark and filled with uncertain shadows. She was freezing cold, shivering from head to toe. She snapped out of her funk, quickly hopped up and grabbed her clothing off the top of the unit to put everything back on as quickly as she could. When she was done, she tucked the handle of the new weapon she'd been given into her jacket so she could take it home and charge it.

Wait. She didn't own an extension cord! She'd have to buy one of those this weekend.

She could still take it home with her, and she did.

Going back the way she came she eventually made it back to her apartment and entered through the front entrance. It was close to 2am now, and everyone was probably asleep now or at least close to it. When she was in her human form, she didn't have the keen hearing like she did as The Wolf, which left her frustrated that she couldn't snoop on her neighbors or hear if there was anything criminal happening around her. She slipped her way back up to the fourth floor through the stairwell and unlocked her apartment door. Once she was back inside, she felt safe and comfortable again. The heater had been left running so the inside of her home was warm and inviting, and with all her windows shut, and curtains closed, she didn't feel like she needed to hide anything.

Vera stripped herself down to nothing but her skin, then went into the bathroom to turn on the shower. As she waited for the water to heat up, she went into the kitchen and set a pot of water on stovetop and turned it on to quietly boil with a box of macaroni sitting off to the side. When she got back to the bathroom the hot water was pumping out so much steam that the secret message she'd written with her finger on her mirror. She took her shower, made it a quick one, then hurriedly hopped out, dried off, and walked naked back into the kitchen to find that the pot was almost boiling over. She turned it down and started making macaroni.

Due to her living a double life, she always went to bed very late and was essentially living a nightshift schedule. The only times she ever had a night off was during a new moon when there was no moonlight allowing her transformation. Since she'd called it early tonight, she felt she would reward herself a little, so she sat her finished bowl of macaroni and cheese down on her desk, pushing the power button on her laptop to wake it up from its slumber.

As she waited for the cheese sauce to finish setting on her macaroni, she took out a clean towel and folded it, tossing the result down into the seat of her office chair before sitting down naked in front of her computer. She opened up a tab on her browser, clicked on the link to her favorite resource for fanfiction, and spent the night reading erotica until there was no more macaroni, and her towel was no longer dry.