Shadows on the Wall.
Chapter One: Dance in the Darkness.
Hello. My name is Reaper, and I am not a member of the Teen Titans. Never have been, and I doubt I ever will be. Most would say I'm not prime superhero material, but I just don't think I play well with others. What I do, I do by myself, without anyone to tell me otherwise. And what is it that I do, you ask? Two very simple things. If I had a sense of humor, I would call what I do "taking out the garbage", but I'm not that witty unfortunately. Jump City is a filthy, corrupt, crime addled place, no matter how peaceful or pleasant it may seem during the day. When the sun sets, that is when the real scum come crawling out from their hideouts and into the once bright streets. These criminals are nothing more than garbage, parasites that prey on the weak. Once I realized just how widespread the infestation had become, I decided that someone needed to step up and clean them out. Most people think I'm no better than them, and in all respects, those people are probably right. As the old adage goes, you have to fight fire with fire. That is where the Titans fail...and where I succeed. I am nothing more than a shadow on the wall, a walking nightmare for each and every piece of scum that stalks the streets. If the Teen Titans rule the day, then I rule the night.
The second thing I do is even simpler than the first. I survive. The sun rises, and the sun sets, and still I am here. When a weaker person would have crumbled and rotted away to nothingness in some godforsaken alleyway, I have only grown stronger. I'm either gifted, or a freak, depending on whose opinion you ask. My skin is pale, and my eye is odd, to say the least. I was born with the ability to manipulate dark energy into whatever form I want. It's a handy little skill when some punk is pointing a gun at your chest, while screaming his head off, not that I really care whether he lives or dies. My job is straightforward, to rid this city of all the shit, and to survive each sunrise and sunset.
It's another frigid night in Jump City, the kind that makes you wish you could be home in front of a fire, even if you don't have a fireplace. I pull my black overcoat tighter around my shoulder, as if that will somehow make me warmer. For the past ½ hour, I've been watching standing across the street from a small-time jewelry store, watching it and waiting. Someone had broken into the darkened building and unfortunately for that person, I happened to notice. This was not the best part of town, little more than a ghetto in need of some serious overhauling. Known as the Pit, few people dared to venture its trash lined streets when the moon shone in the sky. The sound of glass being smashed and a flash of movement tell me that my target has finished his job. He barreled down the street, his legs pumping furiously. I move from my hiding spot in pursuit, making sure I stay far enough behind so he doesn't notice me. About four blocks down the street, the criminal ducked down into an alley way, unwittingly sealing his own fate. As I close in, I can see his dark outline hunched over at the far end of the alley, the bag of evidence on the ground between his feet. The sound of my approaching feet on the pavement startle him, and he whips around to face me, gun in hand.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, punk?" The crook's voice is confident…perhaps even cocky. More than likely he believes that because he has the gun, he has all the power. But he has no idea what he's dealing with. I take another step forward without saying a word.
"Listen up, asshole; you'd better screw off before you get hurt." The man was getting angrier by the second and as a result, I hear the tell-tale sound of a gun being cocked. I take yet another step forward.
"You asked for it!" Two shots are fired, their noise echoing against the walls of the alleyway, and up into the star-less night sky. I do not flinch. A strange smile spreads itself across my lips as I take one more step forward. The man's arm drooped down to his side.
"W-What the hell are you?!" His face has gone as white as the purest snow. There is no emotion in his voice now, aside from fear. I am now within three feet of him.
"I am something that every man, women, and child must inevitably face." Is all that I tell him. His arm whips back up, but I prove to be faster. Faster than the blink of an eye, I form a blade out of black energy and remove the gun, and perhaps part of the crook's hand, from the rest of his body. Clutching his bleeding stump, the man stumbles until his back is up against the rear wall of the alley. I reach out, and wrap my hand around his neck, squeezing slightly. Everything was silent, save for the muffled gurgling coming from the criminal. Tightening my grip around his neck, I pull him towards me so he can see my face more clearly. For a few brief moments, I let him stare at me in wide-eyed fear before I smash him back up against the wall. I keep repeating this until his squirming body goes limp in my grasp. He slumps to the ground into a heap when I release him. I kneel down beside him, and place my finger on his neck to check his pulse. It's very faint, but I can feel it pumping. Lucky him...he'll live to see another day. I turn and walk out of the alley-way. It's just another night in Jump City.