Victor "Dirge" Hyde

Name: Victor "Dirge" Hyde
Gender:Male
Tier: Street Level
Alignment: Hero
Team: Hounds Of Justice


Background:
The ear piercing trill of a phone cut through the silence of the black Buick that sat parked at the back of an old diner. The phone cried out one more time before a calloused hand snatched it up and spoke into it in a coarse, dry voice.

"I'm here Crawford; what happened?"

"He attacked again Victor. Third time this week."

Vick rubbed the side of his face and groaned in annoyance as he sat up in his seat "Turns out I was right huh?"

"Don't rub it in Vic."

"This is only going to get worst as the fifteenth gets here. Neither the police nor Vigilance have an inkling of what they're dealing with." he searched for his keys, found them and started his car.

"And we do?" replied Crawford on the other side of the phone "Besides you know who, there isn't anyone else able to track him down."

"That's not quite true my friend. I have found him before."

"Well do it again, Dirge, before he murders more people. I'll talk to you later, the mayor is calling me." a click snapped in Victor's ear ad he tossed the device in the passenger seat.

With a sigh and a soft groan, Victor glanced at the cars clock cursing under his breath when the lime green image of 10:30 flashed in his hazel eyes. He picked his phone up and dialed a number as he drove out from the back of the diner and into the sparsely populated street. The purring of the phone mingled with the blaring horns of the cars that were nearly struck by the speeding Buick manned by Victor as he veered between unsuspecting drivers.

"Your late Victor." snapped a voice as soon as the phone stopped ringing "If you aren't here soon we'll have to leave." the eerily soft voice cut through the cacophony on the road and slid into Vick's ears.

Victor darted through a red light prompting the colorful barks of startled pedestrians "Give me a few minutes." his hand jerked the steering wheel forcing his tires to squeal as they grinding across the dirt cloaked street "I got caught up in an.......engagement."

"Don't lie to me Vic, you were sleeping, I can hear it in your voice. You have ten minutes."

Victor's car slid across the street and slowly stopped in front of a closed gym "Actually Reggie, save those minutes for another time. I'm here." Victor shut the car off, put his phone in his pocket and exited the car slamming the door behind him as he walked towards the large building with a sign that read "Samson Fitness" he walked up to the door of the gym opened it and was greeted by a small group of men dressed in suits.

"Glad to see you made it Dirge" chirped an ash maned man whose stripped suit made his already imposing body seem even more so.

A tall man in a brown trench coat and black hair covering his tanned face stepped forward and addressed the group in an unnaturally calm voice "We don't have that much time to spare. So lets cut the idle chatter." he turned to Victor and handed him a manilla folder "Twelve murders all across Reach City all killed the same way."

Victor flipped through the documents as he spoke "Why haven't you caught him yet? Whomever is doing this doesn't seem to worried about being caught."

"Well" began the man in the stripped suit "Reginald and his officers can only do so much.....legally; and whenever I send my forces out they never return. These guys are good."

"Well, I can tell you one thing Max." he turned his eyes towards the burly man "Don't expect to see your missing operatives again."

"Why?" retorted Max, this isn't the first time my operatives have been captured."

"I'm not doubting their skill Mr. Legio. No one doubts the skill of the Legio Corporation." Victor spoke with caution trying his best to reduce Max's anger "But, the type of creature were dealing with doesn't keep prisoners."

"What is it?" asked Reginald.

"Well Chief. From what I can see from the corpses, we are dealing with a Vetala. A very vicious undead creature that devours specific parts of its victims, usually parts that it needs to keep a human appearance."

"What about the last picture? That victim was kept intact." asked Reginald dryly

"Blood." replied Victor "I'll get on this right away gentlemen, the more living flesh it eats, the stronger it gets. Which means the sooner I get on this the better. I'll call you later Chief."

Personality:
The moon poured its milky light onto the old Gothic mansion that stood amongst the equally ancient buildings in Little Lovecraft. An eery silence infected the air only to be dispersed by the rough sounds of a Buick coming to a slow stop in front of the mansions ornate front gate. Victor stepped out of the car, slammed the door and approached the gates which opened of their own will.

Victor walked up the cobbled path that lead to the large door that allowed entry to the mansion. Before he could touch the handle the door swung open revealing the almond shaped face of a young raven haired lady.

"You're finally home uncle Vic! How was your day?" she closed the door as Victor entered the ornately decorated house and followed him as he walked "Fight anything interesting?"

"Not yet Darla." answered Victor his messy black hair covering the weariness in his eyes "Where's your dad."

"The kitchen."

"Thanks." Victor changed his direction and entered into a brightly lit room occupied by a slender man dressed in blued pajamas "Enjoying your vacation Lance?" he walked past the stubble face man and took a beer from the fridge.

"Yes I am. Back from a case or heading out to one?" retorted Lance between sips from a beer bottle.

"Both. Looks like there's a Vetala causing havoc."

"Why can't the police or Max's guys deal with it?"

"Because; The police are the police and Max's men are only detectives without the 'morals and discretion' of the police." he sipped his beer an continued "both are out of their depth."

"Crawford or someone else from the Hounds must be able to handle this one; you need a vacation bro. Or at least have one of the trainees go with you." Lance bit a piece of a sandwich he had in front of him and sipped his beer.

The sounds of a dog barking outside mingled with Victors footsteps as he walked over to a portrait of a man that hung on the other side of the kitchen. The man in the portrait stood in a cowboy hat holding a revolver in one hand and a large knife in the other "He never took a vacation and rare were the times that he needed help."

"He was also immortal Vincent. You need to lighten up; not all of us need to be like old Van 'Vice Law' Hyde. When are you going to stop trying to be like 'Vice Law' and start focusing on making the name 'Dirge' legendary?"

Vincent emptied his bottle and dropped it in the garbage "I'm not trying to be like him. But the Hyde family didn't become the greatest family of Reavers in the world by slacking off, and I'm not dragging one of my nieces, nephews or little cousins around with me on missions. Especially not ones I'm secretly doing for the cops." he washed his hands and gulped down a shot of a high energy drink "See you in the daylight Lance. I've got a bastard to gut."

Death Hunter: Detective, Standard 2 (2)
The collective hum of swarming flies enveloped Victor as he knelt down over a bloody corpse that gazed at him with a perpetual grin. The waning moons light blanketed the cadaver melting over the scars that coated the bulging muscles of the deceased man that was left within the old storage warehouse.

Victor released a wisp of air from his stubble rimmed lips and took out his phone, dialed a number and stood up "Hey Chief. I'm at the crime scene now. Unfortunately I was right, we're dealing with a Vetala; a male. Its current form is probably at least six feet, of Latin or African descent." Victor eyed a marking on the victims chest and moved the torn shirt to see the mark in its entirety "Shit!"

"What is it Dirge?" asked the Chief in response to Victor.

"He's in the body of a cop Reginald."

"How do you know?"

Victor touched the mans chest with his fingers "The victim has the same tattoo you and and a few of your officers have on the left side of his chest. It's a shield between the teeth of a blue skull." he paused and continued "They must have come here in order to meet without blowing their covers. But why kill him? Victor took out a camera from his pocket, took a picture of the deceased face "I'm sending you a picture of the victim now with the camera."

"Didn't I tell you it would come in hand." the police chief paused and sighed "Dammit! The guy in front of you is officer Glenn Branch, a dirty cop we've been watching for awhile. The only guys who knew were a handful of undercover cops though." he cursed under his breath and turned his attention back to Victor "This is going to be a hard one to catch Dirge. The only way to question an undercover officer is to end his case." the sound of objects crashing to the floor clamored through the ear piece of the phone "This isn't good."

Victor walked over to the corpse and lifted its blood shattered shirt from its scarred abdomen "Hmmm."

"What was that 'hmm' for, what happened?"

"Seems as if our victim was also affiliated with a street gang." he brought the one of the man's hands closer to his face and inspected a ring that was around its middle finger "From the looks of it he was a part of the Scalpel Gang."

Reginald let out a snarl that crawled out of the phone and pinched Victors eardrum "Of course! Every victim so far has some kind of gang affiliation."

 "He's only going after criminals, easy targets that no one will care about. He probably guessed you'd try to sweep this death under the rug until the investigation was over." Victor took a cigarette out of his top pocket and slid it into his mouth "Here's the plan Reggie; find all the guys working undercover in the Scalpel Gang that fit the description I gave you. When you find him give him some reason to get back over here." he lit a match and ignited the end of his cigarette "I need at least thirty minutes to an hour to get things ready here."

Death Hunter II: Tactician, Standard 2 (4)
From behind a large crate Victor checked his watch for the tenth time. He sat in the dusty darkness with only the sound of rodents and roaches scurrying along the floor to keep him entertained. Then the cry of Victors phone shattered the silence "It's about time Chief, where is the bastard?" his voice trembled with agitation.

"Calm down Dirge; he should be their soon. His name is Jeff Martins, been on the force twelve years, four of them spent undercover."

Victors head twitched as he heard the sound of a car door slamming "He's here. If I don't call you in an hour send back up." he dropped the phone in one of his pockets and approached the tall brown-skinned man that had entered the building "Are you Martins?" greeted Victor feigning apprehension.

The man stopped in front of a stream of light denying it access to his face, allowing only some of his features to be discernible "Yes, and you must be the infamous Dirge." his gruff voice crawled around the room as he spoke "The Chief told me that you have information for me."

Victor watched the tall man, searching for anything peculiar while also preparing for any violent movements "I have info showing that someone in the Scalpel Gang is selling vampire blood on the streets. Normally I wouldn't mind people offing blood suckers but they're using the blood to make some sort of new drug."

Shadows slithered along officer Martins neck as he tensed his muscles "I haven't heard of any vampire blood dealings. Where did you hear this from?"

"A leech I caught eating someone who was pushing the new drug." droned Victor "Strange thing is he was only going after one specific organ." from his jacket pocket he conjured a bag filled a bloody scalp with brown curly hair "What sick vampire only eats scalps." he watched the officer rub his hands through his curly chocolate colored hair and lick his lips "I tried to get more info out of it but sometimes I go........overboard, when I interrogate."

"No one is perfect. You mind if I take that bag for forensics?" Martins voice trembled as he sputtered out his request "This might crack the case for me."

"Sure buddy, catch!" Vincent threw the bag behind him towards the window. He blinked and the officer was gone replaced by a audible thud that came from behind him.

"Good work Dirge. You caught me." Martins voice melted into a mangled, screeching version of what it originally was "But what are you going to do now Reaver?" a chuckle vomited itself from his throat as his voice got even more bestial.

Four-Thousand Seals of Death {Tools of Death}: Creation+Ranged, Superior 4+1 (9)
Victor's eyes voided themselves of emotion and replaced it with purpose. Raw coldblooded purpose. Every bone in his body tensed as ethereal energy coursed through them "Archangel Azrael guide me as I send this soul to the Quietus."

Martins leaped into the air screeching as he soared through the dust. He landed and vanished in a stream of smoke "Don't speak that name in my presence Reaver!" his voice cascaded throughout the building landing on Victor like a chain. A few seconds passed and then Martins leaped from the shadows in a feral rage.

Victor swung his hand and as it neared Martins savage face a bolt of energy slid down his arm into his hand and turned into a green long-sword. Martins writhed in the air barely dodging the attack only to be greeted by a emerald handgun that clicked seconds before Martins darted into the air to dodge the bullet that erupted from the weapon.

"So that's the curse of the Reaver." snarled Martins, his eyes watching the gun dissipate into green smoke "Before I devour you, tell me, is it true?" he licked his lips slightly twitching his head in the process "Are the bones of Reavers carved with the four thousand seals of Death?" he chuckled "Must have been painful." Martins opened his mouth unleashing a stream of red liquid that gushed towards Victor.

Without hesitation Victor waved his hand creating a large ornate shield that absorbed the attack and vanished. The ground hissed as drops of liquid ate their way through the ground sending a rancid odor into the air.

Victor waved his hand again and large green chains erupted from his arm and flew towards Martins who had by then vanished.

"So versatile you Reavers are." from the roof he fell falling towards Victor only to be stopped be a fist made from purple smoke that struck him, launching him into a large crate.

"You have no idea."


Four-Thousand Seals of Death {Legion of Death}, Necromancer+Ranged 4+1 (14)
Victor turned to look at the mangled body of Martins jerk and twitch violently transforming from the body of the attractive officer into a creature with boney, leathery wings, leathery skin, jagged fangs and Martins face grinning a savage grin. The fist that floated over Victor turned into purple smoke that then turned into the figure of a tall winged being with a bow and arrow ready to strike.

"Die beast." the arrow sliced through the air and hit a large box that stood behind where Martins had stood 'The bastards fast."

"How does it feel like to have such a morbid being as a master Dirge?" the sound of his retched voice crept into Vincent's mind "It must make you long for DEATH!" Martins' clawed arms shot out of Vincents shadow and grazed him as he dodged and created a chain that wrapped itself around the grisly arm.

"You're not strong enough Dirge!" Martins Voice echoed on the walls of Victors mind

"That's quite correct." Victor replied as two burly arms made of purple mist grabbed the chains and pulled it forcing Martins into the air only to be greeted by Victor with green gun "Into the maws of Azrael I send you. Into his dreaded judgment." he pulled the trigger sending a bullet into Martins chest through his heart and out his back. The Vetala known as Martins started to shiver and vomit violently after he fell to the floor screaming curses and threats.

Victor watched Martins die silently and nodded after the room had gone silent besides his own breathing. He took out his phone and dialed a number. Hey Reggie, I got the fucker. Sends your boys in to make it official and ensure no one steals his body."

"Your not staying?" asked Reginald concerned.

"Sorry Reggie. I'm going on vacation."