Werewolf by Night (Marvel NEW)/Issue 2

The second issue of the Marvel NEW comic book series, Werewolf by Night. It succeeds Werewolf by Night Issue 1 and is preceded by Werewolf by Night Issue 3.

Synopsis
''Seven centuries ago in Latveria, the young warrior Jakob Russof was captured by a group of werewolves whilst trying to find the missing people and his sister... only to find out that dark forces had gripped a hold of them, including his mother, Maria. Captured in fear and terror, one could only wonder what would happen next...''

Continuity
This issue is the second part of the story arc, The Dark of Night. It is set in the same time as the preceding issue's ending, with the comic continuing the ending itself. However, like Issue 1, there is an interlude from the present day happening in the middle of the comic book.

Plot for The Dark of Night, Part 2
Continuing the previous ending, Jakob was still restrained and couldn't react to his mother's presence. He saw his mother garbed in clothes she despised in her past life, surrounded by both wolves and werewolves that were actually the missing persons he was tasked to find. After seeing what she had become, Jakob muttered his mother's name. Maria Russof responded by approaching him, touching his chin while calling her child's name.

She then told her son to not worry, as she had awaited his arrival for years. Jakob asked her what had she become. Maria explained that after years of darkness, finally she was enlightened and knew that the world was theirs for taking. Jakob called her mad, saying that she couldn't take the world with sixty werewolves. Kissing her son's cheek, she whispered to his ears that it's not the wolves they should worry about; it's the Lord.

Jakob angrily asked what's wrong with her and how could she resurface in such an outrageous manner. Maria smiled and told her that the Jakob she knew would speak softly to his beloved mother. Jakob spat at her, saying she's not the mother he once loved. She wiped the saliva off her face, keeping her disturbing smile to her son. She then told him that maybe he'd be more friendly if he talked to a more familiar figure.

Once again surprising Jakob, Maria presented him with her daughter and his sister, Lissa Russof. An innocent young lady she was, she remained silent when she stepped from the shadows to Maria's side. He called Lissa, asking Maria if she's alright and what happened to her eyes, which were purple. Maria told him that it's not easy enlightening her, but it would eventually pay off. Knowing what she did to Lissa, Jakob cursed her and called Maria a monster.

Exhaling in annoyance, she agressively choked her son, lifting both him and the stone he's restrained upon. Hurting him, she reminded Jakob that when this is over, he'd thank her for his entire life. Jakob prevented her from killing him by reminding her back that he had not known of anything.

Putting him back, she then explained of how she became enlightened and what her plans were for him.

-

Years ago in Castle Russof, Maria was seen in an aristocratic dress, sitting in her chamber looking at a mirror. As she looked to herself, a younger Jakob and Lissa approached her. They asked her if she's going to the inauguration of the new king. Hugging her children, Maria told them that she'd be happy to, but she had other businesses in mind. Lissa whines, saying that mother's gone to too many businesses and she needed to relax a bit.

She assured them that she's doing the best for her young children. Her statement was interrupted by the arrival of Gregor Russof, telling her that she'd do the best for her family by getting together. The children supported their father, encouraging their mother to come. Giving into her children, she then agreed to go to the inauguration at Castle Doom. Going out of Castle Russof, the family soon joined the march of the many inhabitants of Doomstadt, heading towards Castle Doom.

As they're seen walking to Castle Doom's entrance, the scene switched back to Castle Russof. In Maria's chamber, apparently she's still in there, seeing "herself" walking with her family to Doom's inauguration. Maria revealed to Jakob that she herself was a practitioner of dark magic, with the excuse of her being sick of the world itself. As she gave a monologue about her past, Maria Russof exited her chambers and made her way to the black woods that surround Latveria. By this occurrence, another revelation came in the form of Maria telling her son that the "mother" that attended to her family in Castle Doom was all but an illusion.

As she ventured through the forest deeper and deeper, she met a cloaked man which she seemingly recognized. Greeting him, the man responded by asking her if she's really prepared for this. She told him that for the sake of the world, she'd do anything. The man proceeded to stand up from the large tree trunk that he sat upon, opening his hood and revealing himself to be Mephisto. Mephisto said that he's proud of her and praised her belief of him.

In the next few panels, Maria continued her monologue as scenes of Mephisto and Maria performing a ritual were scene. She told Jakob that she sold her soul to Mephisto in exchange for her opportunity to raze the world with the beasts she favored the most: wolves. Still in the past, Jakob said that she's ridiculous and her favorite animals were mice. She responded by telling him that most things he knew of her late in his life were all lies.

After performing the ritual, Maria resurfaced in the appearance that Jakob's seeing right now. Mephisto, referring her to as a daughter, told her to go make him proud and turn people into wolves. Jakob couldn't believe that he simply said that, but his mother clarified that he said something close to that.

She continued to explain that in her time of abducting people, she turned them all to the werewolves they were right now and intended to use them against the new King Doom. However, she knew that she needed greater sacrifices than even the souls of some of Latveria's biggest families, which were sold to Mephisto himself. And with her soulless nature, came her idea of abducting Jakob himself. When she returned to Mephisto to tell him of her intention, the arch-demon agreed to make Jakob the strongest wolf of the pack, with the power to rival even King Doom, whose lineage are known to be proficient to magic and constantly resisted Mephisto's influence.

While she did attempt a few times to capture Jakob in his younger state, she couldn't help but contempt of her love for her son. With that, she decided to wait for his return when she knew that he's going to the East to participate in the Crusades as King Doom's tribute. In between the years of his departure and return, she kidnapped even more people until she found them to be sufficient for her army.

During his tenure as a mercenary for the Crusaders, Maria's mystical senses allowed her to observe every step and actions Jakob did. As she did so, she was proud to see that her son had became a fearsome warrior that's worth her entire pack of wolves. And when his days on the desert were nearly over, she decided to take action and abducted Lissa as a warm-up in his capture. - Back to the current situation, Maria told Jakob that for the rest, he knows. Jakob couldn't believe that she became corrupted, even though she swore her oath to God as she joined the holy family of Russof. Maria chuckled in response, deciding to tell him of what's to come after his "purification".

She revealed that after he had been turned into perhaps the strongest being in the world, she and him would lead the army to Doomstadt, marching down to Castle Doom and killing King Doom himself. And when Doomstadt's under their control, all Latverians shall be transformed into wolves and they'd expand to all of Europe and eventually, the entire world.

Jakob mocked her for her confidence, saying that he'd stop her. And if he failed, there would be others to stop her and Mephisto. Maria shut him up, asking him who's being confident now. After backing away from him, Maria decided that he's not going to waste more time and told her son that it's time for him to start a new life. In an instance, Maria signaled the wolves to hide while she's creating their new leader.

For the next few panels, Maria Russof performed a mystical ritual in order to transform her son into one of her wolves. And as Jakob felt extreme pain and struggled to free himself, the present day Jack Russell (which has been narrating the entire story) tells the readers that that day, he felt the greatest pain in his life. He continues by stating not even being stabbed by six claws made of the strongest metal on Earth hurt that much.

Nevertheless, after several panels showing Jakob slowly transforming into a beast by growing fur and having his muscles enlarged, with a blood-curling roar he finally transformed into a werewolf... a Werewolf by Night. However, as he said that name he told the reader (breaking the fourth wall) that how he got his name was a story for a different time.

-

Briefly switching back to Jack's apartment in New York, he's still seen sitting on his couch and interacts with the reader. He tells them that by now, he/she knows of how and why he's stuck in this crappy situation. He admits to the user that he coudn't control his inner beast that time, but assured them that for the next centuries he's fine with it, until now.

Nevertheless, he still couldn't remember how he slaughtered those men at the construction center. He added by saying that he felt the same kind of disremembrance the first time he transformed, describing it as both disturbing and painful as the reader knows. When he tried to continue his sentences, knocks on his door are heard.

Looking at his door, he continues to listen to the door's repeated knocks. Wondering if the cops have already put him as the prime suspect, he doubted himself whether or not he's going to open the door. It's late at night, but he doesn't think that they'll put the case on hold until next morning. But on the other hand, he also doesn't think that the cops couldn't muster enough evidence of his presence rather quickly or discover his lycanthrophy.

Thinking once again, he however turns down the idea that the cops believe in lycanthrophy even if they live in a world of heroes and villains. He then reveals that he does know a couple of "shady" people like himself, but they won't matter for the police. He continues to doubt if SHIELD got in the case and managed to find him. Still, he finally settled on with ignoring them before continuing his story. -

Back in the past, the newly transformed Jakob violently freed himself from his restraints, examining his new body while trying to grasp what happened. His mind now devolved into a more primal state, all Jakob could do to react to the transformation was howl. His howl was followed by the howls of other wolves, coming out of the shadows. Already knowing her son's great power, Maria approached him and hugged Jakob. To her surprise, he hugs back in obedience and kneels before her.

She told Jakob that she's right, and when he's Jakob Russof once again he'd thank her for the new life she bestowed upon him. Jakob could only respond by giving a slight growl which Maria took as a yes. Seeking to see if her enchantments made her son stronger than the other wolves, she ordered her entire pack to attack him.

Without doubts, all the sixty wolves under her command attacked Jakob. And as they're seen overwhelming Jakob by piling up on him, Maria observed them alongside Lissa, telling her that this ought to be fun. Indeed, she was right as Jakob's strength is far greater than them. After piling up for a while, Jakob violently lashed out and surprisingly slaughtered all of them, leaving only him, his mother, and his sister in the woods.

Clapping at the prospect, she voiced her proudness of him and told him that he had one last test of loyalty. Jakob responded with excitedness, seemingly blinded by her enchantment. Seeing this, Maria smiled and said that this shouldn't be hard. Immediately, she issued him the order of killing his sister.

Suddenly, all the adrenaline that flowed through Jakob's body stopped and his canine eyes widen. In a display of terror, he suddenly stumbled back and hesitated. As present day Jack Russell explained, for the first time after he had received his curse, he felt strange things in his mind. All the feral thoughts he had, all the blindness he suffered, suddenly disappeared with the mention of his sister.

As he rehearsed her orders in his mind, he suddenly realized of what had happened: he was turned into an accursed man-beast in his mission to recover the precious people of Latveria alongside his sister, and now he's ordered by his corrupted matriarch to kill the closest relative to him. His realization came in mind, all his confusion and sadness were channeled into anger as he slowly approached Maria.

Maria thought that he's going to obey her orders by approaching Lissa. However, she began to walk back a few steps as she noticed Jakob's steps heading towards her. And when Jakob was within her range, he surprised her by attacking her savagely, mauling her in anger out of his hatred of what she had become now. And while Jakob was tearing his evil mother apart, Lissa casually watched without feeling any fear or disgust, her eyes still purple.

When Jakob was done, all that remained of Maria Russof was a mangled corpse with limbs scattering around the area. And as he stopped doing so, he let out a howl that was heard across the forest. All manners of animals heard the howl, and certainly an unknown party that's currently trekking through the woods heard Jakob. The shadows covering their true identity, a man on a horse said that they're near it.

After howling, Jakob felt nothing and reverted to his confused state. However, he still retained the memories of what happened. Seeing the corpse of his mother, Jakob stayed silent and gave a small growl. And when he's done contemplating of her fate, he turned his attention towards Lissa Russof.

As he turned to her, he noticed that her eyes were becoming normal once again, meaning that Maria's spell upon her had been removed. He was initially happy with such happening, but began feeling terrified the moment it meant that Maria would see Jakob as all but a beast who had left the surrounding area painted red.

And as he thought of that, Lissa snapped out of her trance and saw "Jakob" in front of him. Taken surprised, she couldn't react immediately as she saw her mother's unrecognizable corpse, the splattered remains of the wolves. And when she began trying to piece it altogether, all she could express was by screaming out loud. At another side, the scream that followed the howl made the unknown party hasten their progress, with the thumping sounds of the feet of both horses and men being heard.

Jakob, trying to speak and tell her to calm down, found himself able to deliver all but growls and inarticulate sounds instead of words. Of course, that didn't help Lissa from screaming and eventually, running away. Following the panicked sister, Jakob navigated her way throughout the forest and finally cornered her. When cornered, his sister tried to beg mercy and prayed for God's help.

Jakob tried to help her, but with her unawareness of what had happened and the fact that he couldn't speak, everything went downhill pretty quickly. And things went down hard upon Jakob when everything suddenly fell silent and the former knight felt a pain on his chest.

Lissa stopped her cries and saw of what happened, as well as Jakob himself. Seeing his chest, apparently an arrow struck his chest and blood began pour from his chest. Seeing the arrow, Jakob's feeling of it was mixed, as he felt a brief sensation of pain but nothing afterwards. Still, he would feel even more pain as another arrow flew, now into his right eye.

Roaring out in pain, his feral instincts kicked in and took over all that's left of his humanity. He proceeded to turn and face who's responsible for this. And when he turned over, he felt not shock but rage, as he saw two crossbowmen aiming their crossbows at him with silver bolts flanking an armored man on a horse. The man ordered his footmen to surround the beast, capture it, and ensure the young lady's safe. He continued by saying that the beast shall brutalize no longer and he'd slay the abomination off this earth, revealing himself to be the Black Knight.