It's crazy how much time has passed for our hero. It had already been a year since Ryker Mooney was arrested following exposure of his plans and past doings. Since then, all of Mooney's properties were given to the Argo family as a forced apology. As for our hero Quentin Argo, otherwise known as The Shadow, he had been a stay at home scientist. The lab in his aunt and uncle's basement had been renovated to look more authentic. Various villains of the week had been fought with and taken down by young Argo. Mooney had held people captive in a special area at the holding facility transforming them into meta humans. Those who were fully corrupted by the transformation began to attack the city, but all had been foiled. With the public opinions on superheroes changing, there was a chance that the United Nations would be forced to see the error of their ways. But that's not the focus of this story. This is the story of darkness and a monster.
Police cars were racing down the streets of Montreal as a serious crime was happening a few blocks away.
In front of a metro station there was a man with a bomb strapped to his chest warning to self destruct if everyone didn't give him their money. The police arrived to the scene, stepped out of their cars and pointed their guns at the man. "Freeze, sir!" one of them yelled.
The man stepped backwards and tore his shirt off, revealing a better look at the bomb, "Hey, keep away from me and nobody gets hurt!"
"I wouldn't take that bet." said a voice that would be familiar to us if we could hear it.
A cloud of black and purple mist surrounded the man until it stopped behind him. It had glowing green eyes. It began taking a physical form.
It was a fifteen year old wearing a purple suit with logo on his chest. The logo had demonic green eyes and open mouth, he had black leather gloves with tiny spikes on the finger tips. He had black boots with 3 spikes pointed upwards on the toe area. He had a long cloak and hood with a bit of his jet-black hair sticking out, and a mask covering his brown eyes. It was of course, Quentin Argo aka The Shadow.
"Is it really worth blowing yourself up over not getting money?" he asked.
"You better stay the hell away from me, kid, you have no idea how powerful this thing is!" The man with the bomb told him.
"True, but I have taken some extreme lessons on how to defuse an explosive." The Shadow responded.
He turned back into his spirit form, grabbed him, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Hey, where'd they go?" one of the cops asked.
The Shadow and the man reappear above a bridge between Montreal and Laval.
"How did-" the man was about to ask but was cut off by The Shadow putting his hand on his mouth.
"Best not asked, pal." he told him, "And that thing of yours isn't blowing up anytime soon."
He looked down and saw that the bomb was defused.
"This is where I leave you." The Shadow said as he disappeared and reappeared closer to the road of the bridge. He then handcuffed him to a railing.
"Hey, you can't just leave me here!" he yelled as The Shadow flew away in his spirit form.
Once he made it back to the city, The Shadow landed on a building so nobody could see him.
"Time to power down." he said as a mist-like ghost came out of his body and turning him back into his regular clothing.
He wore a long sleeve grey shirt, a pair of dark-blue jeans, and black shoes.
The creature that came out of his body was Terios, a strange alien known as a midnight shadow.
"Your skills have really improved over the course of just one year, Quentin." Terios told him.
"I know." Quentin responded, "And while meta-humans haven't been popping up recently, I feel like the city is still in grave danger."
"I understand if your paranoid about it." Terios said, "I'd be too in your position."
"Aren't you in my position on a daily business?" Quentin asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Hilarious." Terios scoffed.
Suddenly, They heard vibrating and what sounded like Danny Elfman's score from Tim Burton's Batman movies. It was Quentin's ringtone. He checked it, and it was a call from his good friend, Lana Mooney.
He answered it, "Hello."
"Quentin, where are you right now?" Lana asked.
"I just stopped a suicide bombing at a metro station, and it's only three." he answered, "Why?"
"You were supposed to join me in taking pictures of landmarks, remember?" She answered.
Quentin's eyes were wide open as he had completely forgot about it, "Firetruck."
"What?" Terios asked .
"Spell and listen to the beginning and end of it." Quentin told him, "You'll get it."
"Just get over here." Lana demanded.
"Alright, alright." Quentin responded before hanging up, "You know what to do, Terios."
"Yup." Terios said. He entered Quentin's body again and turned him back into The Shadow. He then used his spirit form to fly away.
Somewhere in Old Montreal was Lana. She had bright blond hair with a blue highlight, green eyes, also had freckles. She wore a grey beanie, a blue striped sweater, a camouflage green jacket, black jeans, and white shoes. She was sitting on a bench near the next place that she was going to take pictures at, "Why does he always do this?" she thought out loud.
"Perhaps he's just planing a surprise appearance or he's busy saving the city from psychopaths." Quentin said behind her.
Lana was startled and jumped off of the bench, "You're late."
"Don't remind me." Quentin told her in a bored tone, "So what did you get so far?"
"Nothing much, but you made in time for us to take pictures at Notre-Dame Basilica." Lana answered.
"Great." Quentin responded but then heard his stomach growl, "But can we grab some lunch first? I kinda had to skip it to fight crime." He felt a bit embarrassed to ask.
Lana just groaned.
One hour later:
"Man that was good stuff." Quentin felt full after their meal.
"People weren't lying when they said that this area had great restaurants." Lana said, "I still can't believe that our waiter let me take so many pictures."
"That reminds me. Why did you want to do this?" Quentin asked.
"Because we live in a beautiful part of Canada, and my parents thought it would take my mind off of Uncle Ryker." Lana answered.
"DON'T YOU EVER MENTION THAT NAME AGAIN!" Quentin and Terios from his watch both said in a demonic voice. He quickly regretted it, "Sorry."
"I understand." Lana said, "I'm still mad about it too."
"Must have been hard on you're parents too." Quentin assumed.
"Yup." Lana responded then remembered, "They trusted him to take care of me when they couldn't. I'm just glad that they have been taking time out of their busy schedule to be with me recently."
Quentin just smiled.
"I wonder how I.C.E. has been though." Lana wondered.
"He went to see his family. Although he's trying to find special help. Even he thinks his abilities need better understanding" Quentin answered.
"Well I hope he finds it soon." Lana said then saw something in the not so far distance, "There it is!"
They ran as they were exited to enter the famous church.
Many hours later:
Lana was thrilled with what she managed to snap, "Wasn't that fun?" she asked excited.
"I don't know if I can handle anymore of this." a tired Quentin said, "And look how dark it is now."
It was daylight when they walked in, and night time when they came out, "It's fine, I told my parents that we'd be out late just in case something like this happened."
"Should we head to the metro or have another walk around?" Quentin asked.
"Weren't you tired a few seconds ago?" Lana asked back.
"Hey, your idea, your decisions." Quentin joked.
They began walking to the metro station where they would then meet with their guardians.
Lana looked around and noticed the Lewis building, "Look at that."
Quentin noticed something weird about the higher part of the building, "What are those things?"
It was a row of strange demon things made of stone and they lined up around the building.
"They're gargoyles." Lana answered, "Have you never seen one in your life?"
"Can't remember." Quentin said as he tried looking at them, though his vision was a bit thrown off by the street light, "Although there is something about those ones that are giving me goosebumps."
"Then let's get out of here." Lana told him as she grabbed his hand and started walking fast.
While they walked away, one of the gargoyle's eyes started glowing.
After an hour of public transportation:
The two were on their way to Quentin's house once they got out of the station, but stopped by a familiar place.
"This was it." Quentin said, "Ground zero."
They saw the forrest where Terios' meteor crash landed.
"Sure looks creepy at night." Lana said.
"I think everything in our lives has gone creepy." Quentin joked.
"Very funny." Lana said sarcastically.
"We better keep walking. Aunt Tara normally let me out this late." Quentin stated.
"Good thing you have me with you." Lana chuckled.
But suddenly, there was a loud scream and the sound of a roaring fire coming from inside.
Quentin and Lana were a bit jumpy when they heard it, "What the hell was that?"
"We should check it out." Lana suggested.
"We can't go in there at this hour!" Quentin stepped in front of Lana.
"Wait, are you telling me that you're scared?" Lana asked with a humorous smile.
"Of course not." Quentin denied, "I just feel a bit tired after what I've been through."
"Well I'll go in myself." Lana tried to convince Quentin to join her in the most subtle way.
"Fine, but were doing it my way." Quentin said as he let Terios out of his watch to change him into his costume.
He grabbed Lana and the flew through the trees in his spirit form.
He saw something and changed back.
"I can see fire." Quentin said.
"This is it." Lana said.
The two walked out of the bushes to something dark and disturbing. It almost looked like a ritual. There were two shirtless men covered in burns. Carved on their backs were a series of words in an ancient language. In front of the fire was a wall of wood with a carved face of what looked like the gargoyles from earlier. Above the picture were the words "HE'S COMING." in a red substance.
"What the hell!" they both yelled. They ran to the bodies to check them. Quentin then investigated the wall.
"What were these two doing?!" Lana wondered.
"Seems like a religious sacrifice." Quentin got a better look, "This was written with their blood."
One of the bodies started breathing. They both ran to it.
"What did you do?!" Lana asked.
"He's coming, HE'S COMING!" The man said.
"Who's coming?" Quentin asked.
The man started having a seizure.
"Help! SOMEBODY HELP!" Quentin yelled as loudly as possible.
