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The Shadowyn Chronicles
Chapter 2
by Adam "Prydeheart" Blanchard
Tsoo be or not Tsoo be - Part 1
"To be," intoned the street side actor to the upheld skull. "Or not to be:
That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by
opposing end them? "
Standing in the shadows of an alleyway, watching the
street-corner production of Shakespeare's Hamlet, I find myself marveling at
this world's productions and history. I turn around and begin heading back
toward the Tram. I needed to finish off a mission that I have delayed for a
while.
I flip a switch on my armbands that trigger the flight jets I
recently developed. I can control my flight pattern through a neural-interface
network that I implanted within my own skin. I feel the silent throbbing of the
jets as they ignite, sending me skyward. Within five minutes, I find myself
resting on an empty Tram, and watching the scenery as Steel Canyon rushes by.
As we stop at the station, I step off and engage the jets once again and
head north towards Bell Point. It's a small little area in Independence Port
rife with Council agents and Tsoo sorcerers, with a small spattering of Family
members.
Fortunately, my contact convinced me that this would be in my best
interest, as she gave me the dossier of Death Moon.
She tells me that he has
a couple of bases that need to be taken out, and that he may have something
regarding my home dimension.
I hate negative magic in the worse way, but the
price may be worth it.
Turning off my jets, I make a perfect landing right
in the middle of a trio of Red Ink Men. Within seconds, two of them are headed
to Brickstown and I hold onto the third for some questioning, and those
questions might just take a while to get answered.
"Shadowyn this, Shadowyn that, Shadowyn NOTHING," yells a dark voice, two
days later. "I thought you gaijin were WARRIORS!"
His dark robes swirled
around his legs as he walked through the ranks of newly appointed Red Ink, Green
Ink and Yellow Ink Men. Many of them bore wounds and blackened eyes and not a
few had arms held in slings. It was an ugly addition to their numerous tattoos.
His feet defy sight as they kick some of the uninjured members onto the floor.
"And the rest of you dishonor your ancestors." Behind them, large packs of
Ancestor Spirits nod, as the area began to chill. The sense of failure permeated
the chill and infected the Ink Men deeply.
"You have already let him invade
and conquer three of our most sacred dojos," the master continued yelling. "Only
this one remains, and if he conquers this one, I expect all of you who are
defeated to commit seppuku in atonement, should you survive!"
A Green Ink
Man rushes into the chamber, his knees, hands and forehead hitting the floor all
at once. The master slowly walks back to the front of the ranks and to where the
prostrate slave lays.
"Speak."
"Master," the student groveled. "He has
come."
"Disperse," Death Moon commanded. "Do not fail me." Within a
heartbeat, the room is completely clear of any of the living Tsoo, except for
the one on the floor. The remaining spirits fade away, heading for their chosen
defensive area. "Take this artifact and hide it somewhere he cannot find it,
fool."
"Yes, master."
Gunfire sounds ring in the hallway as he hands over
the artifact to the Green Ink Man as he gets up. Muffled screams and deep thuds
resound off the walls. Death Moon pushes the student in front of him as the wall
explodes with bodies being forced through it. As the dust clears, a single shot
rings out and the student collapses and fades from sight.
"I think class is
dismissed, Death Moon," a voice calls out from the hall.
"Not yet, fool!" He
raises his hands, as black ichor flows from them towards the hall. A deep scream
follows and Death Moon starts to head into the hall as the butt of a rifle slams
into his temple. As consciousness starts to fade away, he notices the muzzle of
the rifle on his forehead. The last thing Death Moon sees is a bright flash of
an explosion.
I clean up the rest of the Tsoo after 'arresting' Death Moon. They
willingly surrender themselves to the authorities after they have seen their
Master defeated. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the Ancestor Spirits as
they evidently took off.
"I guess my membership for the Freedom Phalanx will
be turned down now," I joke wiping the muzzle of my rifle clean. One of the
officers behind me gives a short humorless snort. I turn and glare. He shuffles
off into the other direction, taking a few of the other officers with him.
As I turn back around, I notice a small glint of metal near the makeshift
'doorway'. I bend and pick it up as it suddenly comes to life.
"What do you
want, Death Moon?" snarls a voice on the other end. "I'm in the middle of
negotiating with some Red Caps."
"I'm sorry," I reply back, dripping sarcasm
as I speak into the receiver. "You might want to know that Death Moon has been
detained. Permanently."
"Who are you, fool?"
"You can call me a hunter,
as I am going to call you my prey."
"You sound like one of those buffoons
Statesman plays with," he growls back over the receiver. Evidently, I'm not the
only one who can drip sarcasm. I learn something new everyday. "Once I take care
of him, you can consider yourself next, Shadowyn."
Something sparks within
the receiver and I hastily throw it away from myself and away from any
civilians. It goes up in a silent puff of sparks, showering me in a cloud of
dust and tiny metallic parts. So much for trying to find out where it came from.
I gained a new enemy today, one whom I have no clue of whatsoever, even though
he knows who I am.
It also looks like my contact was wrong, though. Other
than bringing down Death Moon, nothing in here leads me any closer to getting
back home.
Tsoo be or not Tsoo be - Part 2
A crimson sun fell over the skyscrapers of Talos Island in a hushed tone.
The city itself was quietly still, as if expecting a storm of magnitude
proportions. The pregnant moon was starting her due course through the darkening
skies.
Candice Bell-Madison, also known as Sensei to her fellow friends, sat
by the Green Line Tram, watching the sun descend for yet another day. Ever since
she was old enough to pick up a katana, her father, being of Asian descent and
trained in the manners of the samurai, trained her in the ways of bushido. She
took to it like a fish took to water. When she turned eighteen, she designed her
very first outfit in the mannerisms of a 19th century samurai and began a career
as a super-hero.
Her father was very proud of her. He was made even more
proud when she applied to the Babes of War for membership.
The night wind
slowly tossed her unbound blonde hair across her jade green masked face and the
buckles of her leather armor slightly jingled as she reached up to clear the
hair from her eyes. A brief gleam of light flashed in the alleyway beside the
Tram and the banging of empty trashcans echoed it's way back to her ears. It
sounded like there was trouble there.
She got up and headed towards the
alley, expecting the Outcast and Warrior minions who have ever troubled her
career thus far. As she reached the alley, what she saw froze a scream in the
middle of her throat. Her dark blue eyes could not simply believe what she saw
and her body stood there, paralyzed.
She never found out whether or not she
got accepted in to the Super Group.
Mason was a simple club bouncer in
Steel Canyon before he was gifted with an artifact of immense power. That
artifact amplified his inner strength one hundred-fold, as well as his outer
strength and literally toughened his body. He tried to live as a simple man
after that, but when some Hellions, arson-bent on destroying everything in
sight, managed to burn down the club he worked at, he donned a simple straight
black costume and fought them to a stand-still. He began to defend all the area
of Talos Island under the name of Nightscar.
Many of his recollections
included some heroic, as well as non-heroic, times like when someone called the
city Baumton 'Boomtown' for the very first time. He laughed at that guy, saying
that the name would never stick. He answered the call when Statesman called for
heroes to help in Sister Psyche's time of need when Malaise fell back into his
villainous ways. He was there when the Arenas first opened up for fellow heroes,
allowing them to battle each other for the first time. He was there when Eochai
first attacked Paragon City and when the Winter Lord covered the land in ice.
He was headed to Brickstown the same evening Candice Bell-Madison fell, but
when morning arrived Mason was no longer there and no longer alive.
Jason General IV almost died during the initial onslaught of the Rikti
invasion. Not much was known about him after the incident, although he seemed to
be a much different person. It was reported that Sunstorm came to him and talked
to him for a couple of hours, before heading back to City Hall.
Many months
later, he registered as a hero under the name of Star Vengeance, but the next
morning, his body was found in front of his home in Atlas Park.
Dead.
It was only 10 o'clock in the morning and Rick Davies found himself
overwhelmed with reports of heroes dying. The files included with each report
included a dossier of the hero's life and achievements, as well as known
contacts they worked with. As each passing minute passed, more files were added
to the pile. As the files grew larger and larger, his headaches grew in the same
proportion, but he still tried to make some sense of the growing massacre.
Each hero had a different security level, different contacts and there was
very little to connect them to each other. Some had not even began their careers
as a hero, whereas other were just finishing theirs. Some were even at the
pinnacle of their career. Only one thing held them all together.
Slamming
his head upon the desk, Rick sighed and dialed his secretary and informed her to
contact Statesman. Hanging up the phone, he paused to rethink his request.
Statesman was probably off with his team right now saving some other part of
Paragon City. Besides, the files detailed one connection that might solve the
combined cases. He paged his secretary yet again.
"Jessica," he began.
"Forget about calling Statesman for a second. Do we still have the number for
Shadowyn?"
"Yes, sir," she said. "But we haven't called him in quite a few
months. We don't even know if he's available right now."
"For this, he best
damn well be. Get him."
Forty minutes later found Rick pacing in his office.
He understood that getting from place to place took some time, but his
impatience was getting the better of him. He sat down at his desk, surrounded by
the files that disturbed him ever so much and took a deep breath. Just as he was
about to pick up the phone to page his secretary, his door opened up as a tall,
darkly clad hero walked into his office, ducking so that his winged helm didn't
hit the doorframe. A strapped rifle hung by his side.
"Rick," Shadowyn
extended his right hand towards him and Rick stood to shake it. "It's been
forever since we've talked. What can I do for you?" Rick sat back down at his
desk, picked up his files and handed them over to Shadowyn.
"You tell me."
Shadowyn carefully went through the files, page after page. The look on his
face changed from one of curiosity to one of profound anger. His ebon and azure
armor trembled in the mounting rage. He seemed to focus on one of the photos
quite intently. Rick noticed for the first time that there was a faint blue aura
surrounding Shadowyn. He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and started to
say something to calm him down, but a frosty sensation, so cold that it
literally seemed to burn his hand to the bone, stopped him cold.
"What the?"
Rick exclaimed. Shadowyn looked at his friend and his eyes burned the same
frosty aura his body exuded. Without a single word, Shadowyn raced out of the
office and out of Atlas Park's City Hall. The paperwork hit the floor at the
same time that the frosty trail of Shadowyn started to disappear, forcing all
the paperwork to the wind.
Rick bent over to gather the files and the
photos, but hesitated when he came across the one photo Shadowyn had focused on.
In the photo, was one of the young heroes that were murdered most horribly. What
Rick had missed in the photo, that evidently Shadowyn had grasped, was the
writing on the wall behind him. It looked to be written in blood, but once he
realized the significance of the message, his own blood ran cold.
"Come
play, Shadowyn. Come play."
Tsoo be or not Tsoo be - Part 3
Rain began to fall as the darkly clad Shadowyn entered the zone of Siren's
Call. Briefly gazing at the dark clouds overhead, wishes of clearer skies
entered his mind, but even that vanished as the cold drops of rain fell onto his
face. Although it seemed but an illusion, even the buildings seemed darker with
the lack of sunlight.
The sound of battle echoed through the area as agents
of Arachnos and other villain factions pointedly warred against agents of
Longbow and other heroes. Siren's Call had been recently reopened up for heroes
to help clear out members of various factions, such as Arachnos and the
Warriors, but other villains began to enter it in earnest, villains that had no
ties to anyone but themselves.
It was originally closed off due to that
unfortunate accident (if it indeed was an accident), concerning a reckless young
hero named Sunburst. As the story goes, Thomas Danner, a.k.a. Sunburst, was in
the pursuit of a small-time burglar. The chase led to one section of Siren's
Call, and disaster. What happened next is between Sunburst, the burglar and the
gods themselves, other than the citizens that witness the most frightening sight
they were to ever behold in their lives.
The short remainder of their lives.
An explosion occurred that rocked Siren's Call down to its heels as it took
out part of that city's War Walls, Sunburst himself, and the burglar. The
fallout from that explosion caused the quarantine of the city. Since that time,
no one was allowed into the city due to unsafe radiation levels.
Once PEMO
(Paragon Emergency Management Office) reported that the levels of radiation were
within reason, Siren's Call Councilman John Chard granted a partial lifting of
the quarantine. Since that time, this area has known nothing but harsh conflict.
Even the heroes themselves have not been unable to avoid it.
Now, Shadowyn
entered this city for the very first time, but not without friends.
Entering
behind him were seven darkly clad figures. Each of them wore outfits made out of
hunter green and black, as per their Super group's color scheme. Each one of
them wore an insignia of angel wings, and bars promoting their ranks within that
group. With a touch of a button on Shadowyn's wrist computer, his costume
changed from the usual black and blue to the colors his friends were now
sporting.
"We're ready whenever you are, Shady," voiced the leader of the
group. His being was outlined in intense electrical sparks. Shadowyn nodded his
head mutely and lead the group toward a building in the middle of the city that
was rumored to be the central headquarters of a villain who had been recently
killing heroes.
The ruined building became a technical marvel once the group
stepped inside. No signs of the ravaging from the outside had reached the
interior of the building.
"Keep your eyes open," Shadowyn instructed the
others. The look on a couple of their faces told him that he was stating the
obvious. "Humor me. I'd really rather not lose the few friends I have left."
"Are you gonna tell us how to dress, as well?" This was from one of the
ladies known as Sweet Sensation. She nudged the horned demon next to her in
rebuke of his gravel-like snort. He, in turn, bopped the youngest member of the
group.
"You cut that out," he told him, his voice seemingly coming from
depths below the ground. "Been in this group for only a week and already you're
irritating the locals."
"Okay, Diesel," this coming from the leader. "No
poking fun at Tempest just because he's new. At least wait another week."
"Yes, Rand," Diesel's voice betrayed his disappointment. The rest chuckled
at the brief exchange, knowing full well that he no intention of listening to
the advice.
The corridor from the door looked empty, although sounds of
activity came from the wings. Everyone took their cues to get themselves ready
for battle. Glows surrounded everyone as Sweet Sensation provided some
additional protection for everyone in the form of bubbles. Megatramp, the other
young lady of the group, had her mace out and was tapping it into her hand, not
so gently.
Her boyfriend, Straker, was eagerly awaiting the command to
engage someone. Tesserac, yet another leader of the group, was emanating
sub-zero temperature in anticipation of battle. Shadowyn had his assault rifle
in hand and led the group down the eastern corridor.
"No one, and I mean no
one, is allowed to leave. Arrest them or incapacitate them is up to you, but no
one is to kill a single one of them. We need the boss of the group and we need
the information out of one of them. We also need the boss captured alive." His
head turned toward Diesel and Tempest Shocker and intentionally made sure he got
a nod of acceptance before turning back to the front and moving on.
"Spoilsport," came a voice behind him.
"Quiet!" hissed Tesserac.
Diesel elbowed Tempest Shocker again and not so quietly whispered to him,
"Yeah, you heard the boss. Quiet." Tempest's reply back to Diesel made both
Sweet Sensation's and Megatramp's ears and face flame in embarrassment. "Oops."
The first group they encountered was a bunch of Serpent Blue Ink men.
Both Megatramp and Diesel led the way into the bunch of men, displaying
unerring accuracy in their attacks. Megatramp maced one of the men back towards
Tesserac, who in turn froze him on the spot. Diesel's flying kicks sent a couple
more men off the floor, providing both Rand and Tempest flying targets for their
electrical blasts. Sweet Sensation dominated one of the men and mentally forced
him to attack his own teammate. Both of those men defeated each other, resulting
in both of their teleportation to the Zig. Straker and Shadowyn both unloaded
their attacks on the same targets, providing the means of quick arrests for more
than a couple of the men.
"Oh guys!" yelled Sweet Sensation. She was picking
herself off the floor where she suddenly found herself. "Ancestor Spirits
incoming!" Everyone quickly turned around to see a small army of Spirits headed
in their direction.
"I hate ambushes," yelled Tesserac as he glazed the
floor with a sheet of ice.
"Then you'll hate this one even more," yelled
Rand, his eyes blazing with electric fury. "We got another army behind us as
well."
"Take cover!" yelled Shadowyn as he unloaded his assault rifle into
one of the ambushes. A few of the Spirits recoiled and disappeared, but the rest
continued their rush of the group.
Even as his mind registered two of the
members of his group fly past him toward the ambushers, something hit him from
behind. He didn't remember turning on his flight jets, but found himself flying
nonetheless before finding out how hard the walls of the lab truly were.
The
impact rendered him unconscious.
Some time afterwards, although not knowing
exactly how much time had passed, Shadowyn came to his senses. His body ached
and his mind felt fuzzy, but the disappointing realization came when he found
himself alone in a jail cell. Fortunately, he found that his captors left his
cell open. Rushing blindly into the unknown, he ran directly out of the cell and
right into the back of his captor. His captor turned around, grabbed Shadowyn by
his uniform and slammed him onto the wall before he could defend himself.
"Careless, Adam," said his captor, using his real name instead of his heroic
nomenclature. "I expected better out of you."
Clearing his sight and head,
Shadowyn looked up into the face of his captor, and found his own face staring
back at him.
Tsoo be or not Tsoo be - Part 4
The darkness of the cell became deafening. Not one sound escaped the
binding black, nor one corner eluded its grasp. A roar of frustration escaped
his lips, but the sound stuck in his throat. He could not tell how many days or
nights have passed since his capture, but he assumed it was a good deal
many.
All he could do was wait until something changed.
And wait he
did.
"I assume we'll be civilized humans about this?" The voice, heard so
often from his own mouth, seemed eerie coming out of another. "After all, one
word from me and you can be executed right here and now, although that is not my
intent."
Shadowyn gave a small nod, although being held by the neck up
against a wall made it somewhat difficult.
"Good." The psuedo-Shadowyn slowly
lowered him down to the floor, and gently removed his hand. Two Malta Sapper
guns were instantly placed at Shadowyn's chest level. "As you can see, we cannot
afford any foolishness on your part. After all, you are a hero, and must act
like one."
"Fine," Shadowyn replied back, his tone level and even. "While you
are holding me here, you can at least tell me what this is all about. After all,
even the villain must act like the stereotype now and again." The other flinched
for just a second, and Shadowyn would have missed it completely if he hadn't
purposefully been looking for it.
"It's very simple," replied the
doppelganger. "I'll start at the very beginning so that you can get every bit of
what I am about to tell you.
"First of all, my name is also Adam Webb, just
like yours. Just like you, I'm not a native to this world. The Rikti assaulted
my home dimension, but, in a fit of anger, I launched a full out nuclear attack
against them. The result was fairly predictable. The Rikti were defeated at the
cost of my home. In the few remaining years my world had left, the key to
dimensional travel was discovered. To prevent a wide-scale rush for my people to
escape, the scientists were forced to allow me entry and I found my way
here.
"Unfortunately, the gate exploded once I entered Paragon City. I can
only guess what happened on that end, as I can no longer return to verify
it."
"And that would be?"
"The Rikti came back and finished what they
started. My world has been destroyed completely."
Adam paused, and hung his
head down as if to mourn the passing of a world. His body started trembling as
he whipped back to face Shadowyn.
"But that was my past. Now, I plan on
creating a new empire, one that would make figures like Tyrant and his crew even
tremble at the thought of it. With my connections within Arachnos, and even the
Nemesis organization, my plans are slowly coming to fruition."
"Can I add in
the standard 'We'll stop you...' commentary, or is that already expected?"
Shadowyn's sarcasm was not lost on Adam as he, yet again, twitched. "After all,
one must act the part of a hero, mustn't we?"
"And no questions about your
comrade in arms?" This time, it was Shadowyn who twitched.
"Yo, Jeeves?"
growled a voice behind them. " You rang?"
"Who...." Adam stuttered as he
glanced behind himself, just in time to find Diesel's armored fist upside his
face. Upon impact, the doppelganger bounced off the wall with a metallic clatter
and fell flat on the floor.
"I love doing that to them, every time," Diesel
growled. He looked at Shadowyn for a second and chuckled. "He needs better
minions. They forgot to lock the cell."
"I don't think they have a cell for
that two ton frame you call a body, Diesel," Tempest yelled from the rear of the
party. "Although, I'd expect better body hygienics from a homeless man in a bath
in the Sewers."
"Why, you little..."
"Enough, Diesel, Tempest..." bellowed
Rand. "First, clear a way out of here and then you can needle each other to your
hearts' content."
Tesserac was already bending over Adam as he slowly began
peeling back the face. A few sharp gasps behind him betrayed the disgust of a
couple of teammates.
"Relax," he told them. "It's one of those Nemesis
robots, and quite an upgraded one at that."
A few electrodes flared to life
as the construct suddenly grabbed Tesserac and flung him away from itself.
Diesel swung a leg swing kick as Tempest pumped electrical pulses into its body,
trying to overload it. It gave off a metallic laugh as it got up, and limped
over to Shadowyn's form.
"Enjoy your victory," it rasped in a harsh metallic
voice, no longer sounding like Shadowyn. Megatramp grabbed Diesel and Tempest
and threw them behind her, as sparks began flying from the construct in all
directions. Shadowyn quickly limped behind her as well as it exploded in a fiery
blaze.
The pieces bounced off her body, leaving only her uniform singed from
the fire. "You're picking up my dry-cleaning bill, Shady," she laughed.
"Care
to see what else this place has got?" inquired Sweet Sensation from within her
deflection bubble. "There had to be a reason for all this."
"What I'd like to
know," stated Diesel, "is why they assaulted us with Tsoo, and then had common
minions guarding us."
"Indeed," Shadowyn said. "And what I'd like to find out
is where this construct got his thoughts from."
"Why?" asked Straker, looking
puzzled. "Does it really matter?"
"This time, it does," Shadowyn answered.
Within moments, the group formed into teams and proceeded to search the complex.
Other than a few Dragon Red Ink Men, the complex seemed empty and the group
reformed after an hour of searching.
Tesserac was handling a large pile of
paperwork as Rand handed a bunch out to the others to go through. Within a few
minutes, everyone compared notes about what they saw and read.
"One of these
files was about the clone project the Crey Corporation has been using," Sweet
commented. "It seems that they did find someone from another dimension, and used
his body to clone from."
"That's funny," Tempest stated. "I found something
about the automatons the Nemesis has been using. Seems the plans for that
Nemesis robot had gotten out and was being used here."
"And I found a record
concerning me," Shadowyn added. "Well, not really me. I think that another one
of my dimensional counterparts has made it here and has been making progress
within the Arachnos organization, just like that construct said."
"Hey
Shady?" Diesel yelled. "When did you start calling yourself 'Lord Shadowyn'?
Kind of ostentatious, isn't it?" Rand came over and looked at the paperwork
Diesel was going through.
"Hey!" Diesel exclaimed. "I was looking through
that!"
"Shadowyn?"
"What's up, Rand?"
"Have you ever been to Mercy
Island?"
"Not yet, but I think there might be reasons for me to start going
there, right?"
Rand held up a photo for all to see. In the photo, Shadowyn's
face stood staring back at them, only there was a small difference between the
face and the one standing before them. The one in the photo had a scar over his
right eye and cheek, and a tattoo right beside it.
"Eerie."
"This was
taken not even three weeks ago," explained Rand. "I think you might want to
handle this one, and I don't think we can help you with it either."
"Guess
they didn't break the mold when they made you, Shady," joked Tempest, as he
handed over Shadowyn's assault rifle.
"No," said Shadowyn, grimly, cocking
the rifle. "But I'll make sure to correct that."
Tsoo be or not Tsoo be - Conclusion
Scarlet sunset found a masked figure strolling off of the ferry. Its black
and dark gray armor gleamed with scarlet highlights as it approached the door
into Mercy proper. It strolled with a purpose, which made even the Arachnos
agents who patrolled the area stand aside for the stranger.
Weird rumors
of people who were called the "Destined Ones" rolled through the streets. Bands
of Skulls, fighting the police force known as the Rippers, stood aside for these
folks. Humanoid Snakes slithered and slept over the street, and on the ground
like trash littering the earth. Weird Arachnos drones patrolled areas of this
city.
Again, they all cowered as this unknown figure walked towards the
base.
Darwin's Landing, the city before the base, was full of wrecked
buildings and unchecked fires. Its streets were filled with infected people and
unwashed gangs of Skulls and Hellions. Yet again, Snakes were present in the
alleys, waiting to ambush unobserving citizens as they tried to go home.
Remnants of battles come and gone littered the roads.
The figure in the
death mask kept walking.
At the base, it walked up the long stairway up
to the landing pad where Kalinda stood waiting for new "Destined Ones." Slowly,
it approached the stand where she stood and stopped. She looked down at it and
told it what it can do to gain Arachnos' trust and how it could gain more in
terms of prestige and infamy for doing missions for them. It nodded and began
its new career as a "Destined One."
A new star in the night sky fell into
oblivion.
In time, it found itself being drawn to more and more contacts
and eventually, brokers. Mission upon mission, it finished with deadly accuracy
and merciless precision. Eventually, it found contacts that would lead it into
interacting with other villains.
This is what it was looking
for.
Again, with unerring accuracy, and mechanical proficiency, it
unleashed its robots and terrorized the neighborhoods. As its skill improved,
the amount of robots it could use increased. With each additional robot, its
reputation increased as well. Eventually, its reputation lead into a
recommendation by a fellow villain for a chance to go against the heroes of
Paragon City in Bloody Bay. It found out that the mission leader was someone
called Lord Shadowyn.
For the first time, the face behind the mask
grinned, and nearby homeless children ran away, screaming in fear.
The
sun reached its zenith as it met the Destined One called Lord Shadowyn in the
Arachnos base located in Bloody Bay. As usual, Lord Shadowyn was up on the
ramparts looking out toward the Longbow base on the other side of the zone. What
wasn't usual was the lack of personnel surrounding him. It approached him and
made its presence known.
"Your lordship," it began, "a contact of mine
would like to meet you if possible."
"Would this contact have a name?" he
inquired, not bothering to look around.
"Not one he would have known,"
its sexless voice answered back.
"Where?"
"Not far from here. I
would take you there."
Together, they traveled across the city of Bloody
Bay. No one followed them, and no assistance was requested. As far as the eye
could see, Shivans dominated the area. Eventually, they landed by one of the
villas not far off of the Longbow base, but far enough away from the Shivans.
Lord Shadowyn's scarred eye focused on the skull-masked entity.
"Now,"
Lord Shadowyn exclaimed. "Now, I've got you, Shadowyn!" With a quick gesture,
Lord Shadowyn ripped off the other's mask only to find that it was not Shadowyn
underneath it.
"NO!" he yelled. "It can't be!"
"But it is," came a
voice behind him. Whirling around, Lord Shadowyn found the tip of a rifle
pointed at his forehead. Focusing beyond it, he found his own face looking back
at him. It was Shadowyn himself.
"Unnerving, isn't it?" Shadowyn grimly
asked. "I thought the same as you do now."
Lord Shadowyn held his arms
straight out to the sides, signaling that he had no weapon. The entity picked up
its mask and placed it back on his face, and then slowly turned around and
left.
"No mercy, Shadowyn," it said, referring to both of them, as it
left.
"So," Lord Shadowyn said, with a touch of scorn, "will the great
Shadowyn kill me unarmed and without any means to defend myself?"
"No,"
Shadowyn replied back, squeezing the trigger back fully. The shot rang out and
Lord Shadowyn fell to the ground, his blood pooling almost immediately at the
site. "I won't kill you at all. You will remember that I saved your life once,
and I can take it anytime I want to. You kill any more heroes, and I'll finish
what you started."
"Why?"
"To be, or not to be. That is the
question."
"Huh?" Lord Shadowyn asked, as his vision slowly blurred by
the loss of blood. Shadowyn turned and started to lift off towards the Longbow
base. Lord Shadowyn quickly grabbed the rifle he had hidden beneath his armor.
With the remaining effort, before his own blood blinded him, he squeezed off one
shot at Shadowyn's head. The shot went awry and glanced off the back plate armor
with a resounding ring. Shadowyn turned around, and raised his rifle
again.
"Not to be."
The shot was the last thing he heard.
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