+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Prelude 0.3 - Violent Youths and False Predators
Shadow Stalker was no one's s prey. She was not!
The cannibal freak and his bitch would learn that. She would not forget that night and she would not fucking forgive.
It had all started as a good hunting night. Shadow Stalker's third raid of small-time set up by the Empire that week. She planned it 'em hard and fast then burn their stash. Along with whatever else of theirs she could find that she wanted to burn while she was there. Just because she could.
She'd known E88 goons were doing something on this neighborhood, having followed a dealer back there on another night.
From her vantage point, Shadow Stalker could see everything going on down below. She'd been waiting there for nearly an hour already. If something didn't happen soon she knew she'd miss her opportunity.
A car pulled up to the curb and parked. Its headlights went off but the engine still ran. A few moments later a man left the apartment building across the way. White, muscular, with a slight limp and despite the snow, all he wore on his upper body was a white wife-beater that did nothing to hide his various tattoos.
The E88 thug took a quick jog across the street and got into the passenger side of the car. After a short exchange, the thug exited the car and sauntered back up to the apartment he'd left not a moment ago. The car drove off. A drug deal, obviously.
She jumped down from the roof shifting into her shadow state as she did coming to the ground so softly that the fresh powdery layer of snow on the sidewalk had barely shifted at her landing. The apartment's front door was locked and behind metal bars. Decent enough security if all someone wanted was to feel a little better at night. No match for her shadow state. She shifted and simply stepped through the door drifting a bit off the ground as she did. In the lobby, she returned to her solid form and kept forward.
Quiet as cat, she followed, always a floor of distance at least, always still on ear-shot. The guys steps were loud in his cheap combats boots and luckily there was no one, empire or not, to intercept her on her way to the gang's place. She patiently watched the guy being greeted and welcomed in from the upper half of the stairs of the apartment floor, taking her time to move into the hall. In her shadow state, she stepped into the apartment through one of the inner walls, landing - crossbow draw- into an empty room.
Lucky day
stepping through another wall she found herself in a dark room. She was in one of the bedrooms were atop a mattress strewn lazily on the floor was a large man that looked like the poster face of burly-biker-gangs after a dozen of bears, which, judging by the smell on the room, he might have just had.
"The fuck was that?" Shadow Stalker heard one of the thugs yells.
"Carl?" Another voice called out. She heard footsteps as the thug came closer to her. He tried to open the bedroom door opposite her finding it locked before he started to bang hard on it. Shadow Stalker hadn't necessarily counted on them being too drunk or high to tell where the sound had come from but it worked either way.
"Carl, what the hell?" He yelled again.
In her shadow state, Shadow Stalker stepped through the door. Standing across from her, still hammering on the opposite bedroom, and facing the exact wrong direction was the very same thug she followed inside. She smiled behind her mask as she kicked him in what she figured was his bad leg taking out his knee. As he crumpled she hit him in the back of the head with the butt of her crossbow bashing his face into the door leaving a slight red smear as it bounced back. Next, she put an arm around his neck wrenching him sideways until he faced the opening of the hallway. She shot an arrow through his leg.
One of the other thugs finally reacted and stepped out where Shadow Stalker could see him. "Fuck!" Was all he could get out as before another arrow flew through the room straight at his pelvis. With a deafening scream, the guy dropped to the ground. Another thug stupidly poked his head out, gun up this time, but he froze in fear and shock at the sight of his screaming and thrashing at the ground. Shadow Stalker hit his shoulder and he whirled back around the corner. She heard him slump against the wall. From the living room were the sounds of clattering guns being readied. Shadow Stalker smiled.
The door burst open multiple guns traced on her location. Her reflexes were flawless. Bullets pass through her ethereal form harmlessly punching them into the wall behind her instead. She aimed and shot. the first for the thug standing in the middle of the living room in dumbfounded confusion still not knowing where to look and the second for the thug who tried to run to the other room as If that would help.
At last but not least, the youngest and smallest of them had managed to hide behind the kitchen counter. Walking to where he was crouched she could not avoid feeling a tinge o disgust. he wasn't shooting, he wasn't pointing a blade, he wasn't trying to fight at all. The moron - who didn't even look to be out of high school yet - just crouch there, like a scared child.
She stepped forward slowly to bring the man in full view as she lined up her shot, savoring her moment of victory. Then, he moved, faster than any of the others had, lunging below where her shot was aimed.
Then she felt it. The guy had grabbed her in a decent grappling maneuver. Before she could counterattack, before she could shift, her muscles started to spasm.
Taser Gun.
Shifting on instinct was the worse move her body could have pulled.
Shadow Stalker screamed as the pain found her again, intensified by the inherent vulnerability of her shadow state. She became solid but he didn't let up. He held the Taser against her back for long seconds. She felt it starting to burn her skin. When he finally let up Shadow Stalker drew in a desperate breath before getting hit on the throat.
Some of the less injured among them jump in on the attack. Kicks, punches, a broken bottle. It All came too fast. She could not think, could not move with all that electricity through her system.
###
Life with Adam was... different, to say the least.
The man himself was not the most active. He Draws, Tinkers and robs Merchants most of the days - no endeavor which concerned her, so they did not spend as much time together as one would suspect ( One, being the nice, but nosy, an old lady from the apartment below, which seen exceedingly interested in their lives), but... It was not an unpleasant lifestyle. She had time to do basically whatever she wanted, so she started to work on taking her GED and researching how to make money as a Rogue.
She got a bit of cabin fever from time to time, but when it happened she would just dedicate some time into investigating who the hell was trying to kidnap her and what could she do about it. She was a detective by nature, and this made her feel like she had an enemy to fight, a victory to obtain... that and the mystery of case 53's, but that was a side-project she really did not have much motivation on dedicating herself. She just would love to find it out before Adam did.
Turns out her roommate had been hiding something under his clothes. And not anything fun ( Not that Lisa would even care If he did. She had zero attraction for the guy... Or for anyone really). Over the man's arms torso and legs, hundreds of small crystals came out of his skin. The same crystal that his entire body changed into when he ... feeds.
One of the hardest parts about sharing a space with the guy was knowing that, If he did not get his monthly happy-cape-meal, he could go crazy and try to stab Lung through the head. Luckily as he had hijacked part of her power, his instincts would ignore her completely as If she was not there. Still, it was not something she exactly like to think about while sharing a meal with him.
She mostly ignored the most problematic sides of Adam and internally repeated to herself it was this or some creep with windowless vans and shady goons.
Sometimes though... Sometimes it got harder to ignore.
The day with Shadow Stalker was one of those.
They were spending the evening as "normal", she working on the specifics of how to open a Private Investigations agency ( more of a plan C than anything, but it was nice to know) and he working on the schematics of new weird device he would not talk to her about - When out of nowhere he kicks his door open.
" What the-"Lisa, who was on her laptop not very far from said door almost yelled. " What the hell you did that for?"
He turned to her, and his eyes were hollow and maniac. " Trigger." Was all he said
"What?!"
"A Trigger. Potent. Probably, second trigger. Not 7 miles from here. Less. Recent. Seconds ago." his voice was dry as If he had not drunk anything on a month and he spoke the same way he did on the day they met.
Is he starved? No he was fine this morning. Is that something people triggering do to him?
"I will be going. Want to come?" He asked.
She said nothing. after a few seconds, he lost patience and stormed out of the apartment. And for hell, she really wanted to know why she went after him.
###
Adam did not know If anyone else ever heard a sound as sweet a the song of passengers descending on their hosts.
Connecting with a passenger that just woken up made him incredibly happy, for some reason. It felt like morphine straight to heart. The things that made him want to tear himself apart barely bother him right after assimilates a new power. It was a bliss he both feared and craved.
Can one really blame him for answering the siren song?
Probably, yes...but he is weak. He is so weak
Soo, he charged into Empire territory.
Luckily there was no resistance until he found the damn door.
It took one blast of his kinetic radiation manipulating the passenger to o shatter the door. The wood barrier ruptured inwards, shrapnel flying with abandon as a single fist obliterated the entire thing with pathetic ease.
Rushing forward he found a couple of man surrounding the source of the Trigger. A woman, in the process of being tied down with electric cables. Others spread through the small space seemingly treating various fresh battle injuries.
One of them had enough combat sense to shoot at him. No bother, his body was almost all morphed into biological crystal matter at the sent of the Trigger. The bullet that found his chest barely tickled.
At this point, his transformation had progressed to much. A tentacle-like appendage took place of his left arm.
When life gives you lemons...
Swinging the appendage like a 5-foot whip, he slapped the gun out of the large man's hand, before kicking his legs from under him.
As he did a teenage Empire member tried to stab his neck with a broken bottle. Smart. Aiming for one of the few visible parts that were still soft, fleshy and human. His movements fast too... but predictable. The angles and vectors of his movements are easy to calculate.
Spinning his body out of the way he accumulated the momentum for a backward spinning kicking straight at his attacker's solar plexus.
At this point none of those present were either capable or willing to interrupt his meal, living him to - " Adam !"
A yes, Adam. My name is Adam. I chose that name. I told people to call me that. Rarely even hear it though, since never talk much with anyone. Adam...A good name. Because- Wait who is calling me?
A the door of the apartment a girl with a black balaclava stood, shaking. Even without a face and in his crazed state he recognized.
"Oh Hey Lisa, thought you were not coming." He tried to say, but it came out more like. " Orgheyyisah Rouhou ERRootomminh." with how mutated his throat had become.
Adam liked her company. It complicated his life in many aspects but he would not lie to himself it helped ease a bit of his loneliness.
Lisa was smart ( to much for her own good sometimes), a good conversationalist, and did not demand anything of him aside from being around so she did not get kidnaped by Coil ( he had found out who the particular villain was around the 2 weeks from meeting the runway girl, but never told her ).
Lisa was nice and it was nice having her around ... but why was she here again? He does not quite remember the minutes before coming into this apartment and was slowly losing his ability to think straight.
He had assimilated a passenger around 3 weeks from that night so he was not too hungry, but Trigger's, like hunger, managed to do that with him. No matter, I will be better tomorrow. Just need to get-
" Look - Adam- look at her." The masked girl said approaching slowly. " She has been beaten to the pulp. If you fe-feed on her she might die!"
Die. Die, die, die, die.
He doubted that. Passengers wanted to keep hosts alive he deduced. That's why only give him half the power. His passenger wanted the others to live.
Some died. On his first days. The nebulous days. The ones with the cold metal rooms and the other monsters. Some died. Because he was not careful enough. because they fought back... He was careful now no? Would the girl tied up fight back?
It was hard to use his first adopted passenger in this state but he pushed himself. The math was added on. She would survive. Lisa was just scared
TT To shocking seen act of hunt TT
TT Intimidated. terrified. No longer- %$#$ #TT
TT Will leave- $# - Fear and repulsion TT
TT Probably leave town TT
TT Will - $ $#$#T % TT
Hard to think. hard to use thinker powers. To think straight only one solution...
The, now almost entirely monstrous young man turns his back to his blond friend to approach the tied-down woman.
The black hockey mask has broken. Almost able to see the full face of his victim. He put a new deformed crystalline had over her face, an elongated finger grazing her temple.
Merciful. the closest to the brain the less my roots have to dig to get to the connection. I am being merciful.
With an orgasmic roar, he felt himself connecting to his 11th passenger. Completely oblivious to how much terror he brought to all humans present.
Humans...
###
Shadow Stalker woke up in a shitty apartment, more alive than she expected and certainly in less pain than she should be.
She was drugged, she deduced by the needles on the coffee table, and not at all tied up.
What is going on...
" Hey yah." A female voice called from her left, and, although she could not move much, she managed to at least turn her head a bit.
It was her. the girl from the apartment. The one that was on a balaclava mask. She was still masked, but this time on a domino mask. She looked like an average teen. Blond and green-eyed and with a skin tone that would please the Nazis that beat Sophia up.
"Sorry about the creepy vibes, but you needed basic first aid and we could not exactly send you too a hospital without raising some eyebrows. Which, considering you are a vigilante, you probably would not want." The girl babbled. She talked too much. " As soon as you are Ok enough to walk we will teleport you to a mostly abandoned location close to the center of the bay. and with a new mask !" The girl offered, with fake cheer.
Sophia felt angry. She felt disgusted.
Who were this people? Who were they to get into her fight and drag her unconscious around? What the fuck was that monster and what did he do to her?
The blond sighed, looking defeated. " Argh, look we found you all tied up by some Empire guys and my... Teammate kicked their asses. He also thinks you may have Second Trigger. Which is something that changes your power and makes you stronger. You... " The blond rubbed her temples as If to alleviate a headache. "... will be able to move and talk by tomorrow and probably will have to buy some medicine for pain, ok?"
No. Sophia -Shadow Stalker -As far from ok. This people saw her face. They saw her when she was most beaten and weak. And the bizarre crystal guy did SOMETHING to her she could not remember what!
She was pissed. and she wanted to hurt something.
almost without meaning she shifted into her shadow state. It felt... different. She felt she no longer had to stay on a humanoid shape. As she lifted herself from the shitty sofa she felt herself taking a upon an taller, much less cohesive cloud cloud form. And not only that, but as she wished herself to stand even taller, she started to float. She could fucking fly !
Her election was interrupted though, by some homeless-looking idiot coming from the door corner at one end of the room. He was short, probably 5,6 feet, and looked to be Latino or Italian something. In his hands, he held a small tinker-tech-looking device.
The same guy? the crystal fucker was at least 5.9 and looked like a real predator while this one looked like a junkie.
" Hi... uhh... I am sorry for everything, but can you change back to normal so we could talk?"
Sorry? So it was him!
without thinking much Sophia lunged at him. Her body was suspended 3 feet in the air looking more like an angry storm cloud than a person.
The fucker only crouched like a coward throwing the tiny device in the air in fear.
Wait! What is that-
Sophia has no time to finish the thought as the tinker-tech box touches her cloudy body and she feels a sudden shift in... everything.
She found herself in the middle of an abandoned mall, with no sign of the fucker and his bitch anywhere...
"Fuck!" She yelled, turning corporeal again.
That day Shadow Stalker made two decisions:
1 She would take a break from vigilante work
2 She would use her time to track and put arrow through that Monsters head!
She would not forget. And she sure as hell would not forgive.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA