Hunter In Darkness

 

The Native Americans referred to it as The Hunter in Darkness but it is affectionately called by Elsie-Dee as Puppy, he is a mythical creature that roamed the Canadian wilderness and is only rarely sighted by the unlucky few.

He first appeared when it was caught by a hunter's trap during a blizzard storm, his leg was snared by a bear trap and had been struggling to escape until Wolverine appeared. Logan had only recently escaped the Weapon X research compound and still feral incapable of higher cognitive reasoning chose to help the creature in his 1st act of compassion by prying open the trap.

The Hunter in Darkness at first thought that Wolverine was going to kill him offered his neck for a quick death but was surprised when it was instead freed. Due to Logan's compassion The Hunter in Darkness never forgot Logan's help and now shares a permanent bond with Wolverine. Logan not only helped it escape but also diverted the Canadian Hunter who was after the Hunter in Darkness giving it time to escape.

Years later the Hunter in Darkness was later trapped and brought to New York by the hunter tracker Harry Tabeshaw as a publicity stunt for a millionaire's advertisement, Ronald Parvenue. Wolverine in the City at the time was strongly drawn to the Hunter in Darkness plight of it being used as some kinda zoo oddity, bright lights, sounds and snotty kids pointing fingers or throwing popcorn at it and instead chose to investigate his emotional bond to the creature having forgotten its 1st meeting of it.

Wolverine becoming enraged at the treatment of the Hunter in Darkness and how human laws only apply to humans and have no compassion nor protect other creatures, chose to get close to the creature's cage and free it and lead it out of the city. As soon as Logan attempted to help free it, he was attacked by both Lady Deathstrike and Sabretooth who had been tracking him in the City. Logan was so distracted by the creature's plight he did not notice them until it was too late.

In the ensuing battle atop of the creature's cage the Hunter in Darkness was released, panicked it immediately ran away until it noticed the scent of his would be savior, searching his bestial memory it realized that the scent was of the same person that had helped it escaped the hunter's trap those many years ago. The Hunter in Darkness freshly resurfaced memory scent and witnessing Wolverine struggling to keep his two assailant from killing him and hearing Wolverine's heart pounding triggered an animal rage directed at Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike attacking them both and helping Wolverine fight them off changing the outcome of the fight back to Wolverine's favor. As Wolverine stated: "It Remembers."

Soon after the battle the Hunter in Darkness escaped and ran into the city sewers looking for a save place to hide there is where he 1st met Elsie-Dee and Albert inside the morlock tunnels becoming close friends and was given the name Puppy by Elsie-Dee. Elsie-Dee and Albert adopted it and took him with them for their globe traveling adventure deeming the sewers were not a suitable environment for it. Instead they traveled the world in search of Wolverine and managed to time travel back in time over 500 years thanks to Spiral. In the past is where The Hunter in Darkness chose to stay after discovering a pack of Hunter in Darkness, Elsie-Dee sadden felt that it was finally home in the Canadian forest of the past and had found it's own kind told it can leave and live with it's own kind.(Wolverine vol, 2 # 83, 84 & 86).

Staying in the past The Hunter in Darkness managed to live into the present with a combination of natural longevity and cyro hibernation, now the Hunter in Darkness was not only several centuries older but was bigger, smarter and leader of his Pack and managed to help his pack survive into the present rather then them going extinct. His pack had managed to awaken from hibernation and were hungry and chose to attack a small weather installation in an isolated area of Canada looking for food. The Hunter's in Darkness had managed to kill and eat some of the researchers until they ran into Wolverine managing to halt there attack. Unable to stop Wolverine and having suffering casualties they retreated and howled summoning their pack leader "Puppy."

Their Leader arriving organized the pack into systematic attacks on the installation and managed to break in and face Wolverine face to face but stopped once he saw the Wolverine's Claws and instead chose to sniff Wolverine, Wolverine was shocked at the display and realized by its scent that it was the same Hunter in Darkness he had saved a few months prior but was now far older and bigger. Wolverine had not yet time traveled and was not aware of how Hunter in Darkness could have aged and how so many Hunter in Darkness had survived since to his knowledge they were extinct minus Puppy.

The Hunter in Darkness howled and ordered his pack to retreat and not harm the humans, Wolverine allowed the pack to leave unharmed even punching a scientist for trying to shoot the pack leader as they withdrew back into the wilderness.
 

Abilities

 Hunter in Darkness is a feral mystical creature who possesses many animal attributes.

Senses:

Vision: The Hunter in Darkness sees through a combination of Night vision and Infrared vision allowing him to hunt at night but lacks conventional colored human vision.

Smell: His sense of smell is so acute that he can smell a person's scent and recognize it from years to decades later..

Hearing: The Hunter's sense of hearing is so acute to help him locate his prey in the Canadian wilderness.

Strength:

The Hunter in Darkness possesses what would be considered superhuman strength to a standard human. although, it rarely relies on its strength for hunting and combat relying more on its savagery.

Claws/Fangs:

The Hunter's Claws and teeth are sufficiently strong enough to rend most organic materials...

Durability:

The Hunter's muscle sinew, and skins is incredibly dense with the combination of his fur it allows it to survive and engage in prolong battle with the various creatures of the forest and survive claw strikes from both Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike with minimal injury.

Speed:

 The Hunter in Darkness is able to stand upright and run on its hind legs at speeds incapable of being reached by your average human as well as running on all fours for maximum speed capable of running alongside Albert and Elsie-Dee at superhuman levels.
 

Reflex:

The Hunter in Darkness has sufficient combat reaction and intelligence to help it parry and avoid dangerous claws strikes from its animal prey helping it reduce injury itself .