Infinia Moderna

He panted heavily as he ran down the
alley constantly looking over his shoulder. After a while he stopped
and listened hearing the sounds of the dogs and sirens fade away
until he was in complete silence. He had done it...he had committed
his first crime and was now a part of the gang. "Robbie will be
so pleased...I finally did it.", he muttered to himself.
Suddenly the alley began to seem incredibly even unnaturally dark as
if the shadows themselves were coming alive. Shaking his head the
burglar cleared his head. "Keep it together it's only your
imagination., he said spoke aloud to reassure himself but he couldn't
quite shake the feeling he was being watched. Suddenly out of the
corner of his eye on of the shadows moved...or did it? He wasn't sure
but he knew he needed to get out. He started walking fast and then
began running as the shadows seemed to close in on him until he felt
like something was right behind him. Turning around suddenly he
yelled out but nothing was there. Suddenly the lights went out and he
felt something slide over his face suffocating him. He tried to
scream but couldn't as he was slammed against the wall repeatedly as
the dark substance poured down his throat. Suddenly a bright light
shone down the alleyway piercing the darkness which retreated with a
shriek. Coughing the robber looked up and saw his friend walk down
the alleyway with a flashlight trained on the shrieking amorphous
shadow which seemed physically harmed by the light. When his friend
tossed him a flashlight he smiled and got up and trained his on the
shadow who's shrieks increased exponentially. "Looks like we got
it cornered Robbie...what do you think it is." His fried
shrugged not really knowing or caring. Then something happened that
turned his face bleach white. The flashlights in unison flashed twice
and then went out. Their batteries drained the energy absorbed by the
damage done to the shadow. "RUN ROBBIE" was all he could
say before his words were cut off as the shadow cut him down in cold
emotionless form. Robbie backed up slowly trying furiously to get his
flashlight to work with no avail as the shadow took on a human form.
Its skin and clothing were completely midnight black with a slight
tinge of purple all except for the pupils of the eyes which were a
crimson red. "Whhh...who a-are you?", he managed to stumble
out. The creature smiled and responded with a voice that was smooth
and empty. "I am your doom...." All that could be heard
after that was a muffled scream of fear mixed with a shout of pain.





The next morning at the scene of the
crime Detective Johnson bent over the bodies examining them. He then
stood and addressed his partner. "Looks like the work of
Shadowsin." The partner blanched knowing what that name meant
and quickly moved off to a different location to put the name from
his mind. Johnson moved farther down the alley until he came to a
mirrored surface and stared at his own reflection. What stared back
was an average looking man with an average looking face, the only
thing odd...were the crimson red pupils. "Shadowsin...Indeed..."

The dinner party was going swimmingly. Eve Lexington descended the main stairway like an angel. A grand entrance was always necessary for this sort of thing. Although she wished this sort of thing wasn't necessary at all. She hated these parties and all they stood for. Her entire life had been put in a box and wrapped with a fine satin bow.

Her life, the parcel, the package, was boring. Not to mention meaningless. She longed for purpose. It was her ambition, but unfortunately not her family's. All she was to them was marriage fodder.

"Who will make the best match for our little Evie?" Her mother started saying this before she was old enough to walk. That's what everything revolved around, especially tonight's madness. Her debutant ball.

Not one to rock the boat with her family, after all they were all she knew, she went along with all THEIR hopes and THEIR dreams. It killed her inside, but she was young and naive. She'd convinced herself that as long as she followed the plan everything would turn out all right...Even if getting to that place would bring the most horrible trials of her life. Unfortunately the horrible trials she had in mind were nothing compared to what was really in store.

"Eve, your beauty astounds me." William cooed. They'd stolen a moment to themselves amidst the festivities. Her mother would be furious, but it was worth it. William wasn't the prime suitor they had in mind for her. He was rich, but definitely not as rich as Henry Wellington, whose father owned a very impressive chain of international hotels.

Eve knew she could never be with William, her parents would never allow it, but her feelings for him told her that if they shared just one kiss, one earth shatteringly wonderful kiss, just to get it out of her system, she'd be able to submit to any fate her parents saw fit.

The stars were out, the balcony was perfect for the kiss she'd been after. William even leaned in first. Things were playing out exactly as they had in her head. Eyes closed, Eve Eagerly pressed her lips against his with boundless enthusiasm. She started to feel the things she'd hoped she would. Her heart was pounding, her head was in the clouds.

Though this delightful moment was short lived. They were interrupted. No, not by Eve's mother... Not by some nosy party guests... They were interrupted by William's shrieks of pain.

Her eyes flew open to see what was the matter. She was horrified by what she saw. William's lips were burning off, and it was starting to spread to the rest of his face. "Help! We need help!" She screamed, hoping one of the butlers had some water on hand, and hoping the water would stop whatever this was. His face was growing more grotesque by the minute.

Finally someone pried open the balcony door. They quickly assessed the situation and went to get more help. "You!" William yelled in his agony. "You WITCH!" Eve was taken aback. "I've kissed dozens of girls before and THIS never happened!" His melting face hindered his speech, but she understood.

Eve was heart broken by the accusations. How could he think this was her fault? Surely it was some kind of allergic reaction or something. Though she never knew allergic reactions to mimic what looked to be chemical burns. The horror of the situation was competing with her broken heart. "I...I..." was all she could say between convulsive sobs.

After what seemed like hours but in reality had only been a few minutes. A stretcher came to take William to the hospital. Eve remained on the balcony, in near hysterics. Her tears were so numerous, she couldn't wipe them all away. They started falling directly onto the balcony's railing. Thankfully her mother put tending to the guests as a higher priority than tending to her daughter's hysteria.

When Eve calmed down a bit she noticed the railing felt less sturdy than it had been a few minutes ago. Upon further examination she saw tear shaped erosion. "No..." She dismissed the gravity of the situation. She refused to correlate her crying with the damage to the balcony. Then she sneezed...and the gravity of the situation quite literally forced itself upon her.

As she plummeted from the second story of the mansion her life flashed before her eyes. It was a short fall, but that was ok because her life had been fairly short up to this point as well. She saw every stupid thing her parents made her do in hopes of making her more "marry-able" as they called it. They'd even made her wait an additional year for this stupid coming out ball, for the sake of preparation. She was 17, she should have been 16 for this! Then she saw all of their had work gone up in smoke, she could no longer deny something was wrong with her. Balconies don't just fall apart because someone sneezes on them... No one would marry a girl who's bodily fluids seemed to destroy things... Especially their faces.

Why hadn't this stupid trick manifested itself before now? Why today of all days? She resolved to find those answers later, because she was about to land in a bush.

"OOOF!" Miraculously the bush hadn't been cut back yet. She wanted to praise the lazy gardeners for a job NOT well done. It had been just the thing to break her fall.

Eve got up, and dusted herself off. She looked at her mansion. Furrowing her brow, she made a decision. She thought it would be a much harder decision but it wasn't. The bare bones of the matter was, no one would ever love her here. She marveled at how clear her head could be when it wasn't fogged up with denial.

Her choice was to run away, although she really didn't think of it as running away. It was more like finally running towards something. Her true destiny, not the stupid things others wanted her to do, but what she was meant to do.

In full ball attire, and sporting terribly mussed hair, Eve ran into the night. She was scared out of her mind, and had not the slightest idea where she was going, but she was the happiest she'd been in a long, long time.

As the streets of New Greenborough filled with every day men and women,
on their way to work, going home, getting food, living their own lives
as they saw fit, not one of them ever thought they were going to face
trouble.

They never do.

After all, why would something
hurt them? What would ever have a need to come and attack them? They
never harmed anyone, just went about their lives like normal people,
doing what they needed to do just to get by every day. However, as
people never seem to realize, sometimes there isn't a reason why others
need to harm. They simply do.

The ground began to rumble and shake, people looking every which way determined to find out exactly what was happening.

Their answer came in the form of an explosion.

A
blast rocked a nearby street, sending people flying through the air.
Then the screams started. No casualty count yet, nobody was paying
attention to the wounded. When people panic, their animal nature takes
over. No longer are they rational creatures who think of others, they
are merely concerned with their own survival. A person could throw it's
own child to the wolves just to survive if push came to shove.

He
would know, after all, he'd seen it happen. Not once, not twice, he'd
seen panic take over a kind hearted person's mind so often he'd lost
count. People live in their own protected worlds, shelled up lives, and
when something abnormal comes along and turns what they know upside
down, they do things they would never do otherwise.

Falling from
the heavens above, he crashed into the empty street below, making a
crater and a cloud of dust. As he rose, the area cleared, and he stood
tall, his brown locks flowing in the breeze behind him, calculating, his
green eyes shifting back and fourth, a frown smeared across his face,
his beard hiding the rest of his jaw, analyzing, like a cold and direct
machine. He was a surprising example to see in modern times, an
unshaven, unkempt man in warrior's plating, blade at his back, and
sandals strapped around his ankles, much like those seen in old pictures
and drawings of ancient times.

"Anyone still standing, get out
of here! Grab whoever you can help and get moving!" He shouted over the
panic, silence falling over the crowd of panicked people as he stood
straight up. He knew for a fact most wouldn't listen to him, too
concerned with their own safety to think of others, but he hoped that at
least some would respond.

In fact, some did.

As the area
began to be cleared, he began to look over the nearby buildings.
Terrorists had become a major problem throughout the city, it wasn't
surprising that eventually bombings had begun.

------------

A
dark and dismal room, illuminated by only the light of computer
monitors and filled with the hum of processors and the sounds of rapid
typing and clicks.

A loud whine from an alarm filled the room as a
red light began to blast through the room, revealing dust and cobwebs
in every corner of the room, and stacks of books against the occasional
wall. A monitor blinked to life, and keycodes and various information
blasted across it.

A silhouette appeared in the darkness, frail, tired, broken.

"Well well well...What have we here...?" The figure slid in his chair to the monitor and began to read the message.

-------------

He continued to scan the area, until he decided on one building and charged inside.

The building was empty, as to be expected with the chaos unfolding outside.

"Hm...."
He began to look around, and dove into the floor, crashing through to
the basement level, where a bomb was set up, timer set for less than one
minute.

Quickly grabbing the bomb and charging back through the
hole in the floor and back outside, he launched himself into the air
with a mighty leap, and before gravity returned him to the ground, he
threw the machination of death with a mighty launch, sending it out of
the atmosphere, and into space.

As he returned to the surface, a
crowd had gathered once more, the danger passed, for the time being.
People looking for loved ones, some just waiting patiently for his
return, some angry, some admiring.

"Oh thank god! They could have killed us!"

"What the hell took you so long?!"

"Who caused this?"

So
many questions being asked of him, and he responded to none of them,
merely checking the area once more to make sure it was safe, then
launching himself into the sky once more.

"PERSEUS! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" The frantic crowd began to ask.

He did not look back.

Nobody
knew when the man known as Perseus had come to New Greenborough, or
where he had been before that. All they knew, was that he was always
there when someone needed his help, almost as if he knew when trouble
was beginning. He saved countless lives every day, protecting the
people, and many were grateful for his exploits.

However, many were also afraid.

Perseus
had the power to stop a tank, but he never said more than he needed to,
he was direct, cold, and unresponsive to general kindness or curiosity.
The idea of someone that people knew nothing about protecting them
without so much as a smile was unusual, scary, threatening, for some
reason. Tabloids had tried to publish information on Perseus ever since
he started appearing, but once he completed his current objective, he
would simply vanish.

Nobody was sure of the extent of Perseus'
powers, as he seemed to do whatever the situation called for. He seemed
to be everywhere and nowhere at once, there were even conflicting
stories of his location at given points. He was their protector, he was
their champion. He was a threat.

------------

The blaring light went out, and the siren came to a close as the monitor finally ended it's message with a single word.

COMPLETED

The frail figure chuckled and coughed.

"Well,
that's taken care of, let's look at some of the others..." He said as
he swiveled in his chair and began to move towards other monitors, a
faint glow from the computers illuminating parts of the room, revealing
gears, metal scraps, and other various materials. Sketches were
scattered about the room, with machinery designs and human sketches,
some looking eerily similar to Perseus.

The figure wheeled his
way over to a monitor which had a four way split, each viewing a
different image, apparently security cameras. The images would rotate to
a different set every thirty seconds or so, almost on a cycle it would
seem.

Against the faint glow of the monitor, the figure's face
could be seen, ever so slightly. His light stubble ragged on his face,
his hair shaggy and unkempt. His face was riddled with scars and
indentations, clearly the result of massive trauma, and his eyes seemed
cautious, twitchy...Hollow.

An image passed across the footage, a
mugging taking place in a back alley. The watcher looked quickly at the
camera location in the bottom corner and pressed a button on a nearby
keyboard. A figure appeared on screen, pounding the thief into
submission, within an inch of his life, then vanished into the skies.

The man pressed another nearby button, and a dial tone was heard over the entirety of the room.

"9-11, what is your emergency?"

"Anonymous tip. There was a mugging in a back alley on east 54th. Perseus left you a present."

"Excuse me, who is this?"

"Goodbye."

The phone call ended, and with a quick smile he returned to watching the cameras.

"Hermes." He said while staring at the screen.

"YES, SIR?" An automated voice asked.

"Set Olympus Watch System to automatic reaction."

"AFFIRMATIVE, SIR. OLYMPUS WATCH SYSTEM WILL NOW RESPOND TO ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR AND RESPOND ACCORDINGLY."

At
this, the a gloss of wiring appeared over the security footage,
scanning each image as it appeared on the screen. The watcher rolled
away from the screen and made his way to a nearby workbench.

"Now then, let's get back to work...." He said with a chuckle as he grabbed a wrench and ratchet and reached across the table.

Inspector Max Johnson was a reclusive
man, he usually kept to himself any only worked with a partner
because they precinct forced him to. Even then he rarely talked to
them and found himself with a new partner nearly ever week. This had
been going on for so long that he no longer noticed when he received
a new partner nor even called them by name, if he even knew their
names at all. He returned to his small apartment located in a
secluded run down part of town. It wasn't like he couldn't afford
comfort but more like he needed the seclusion...it called to him. As
he entered his rundown apartment he grabbed an insta-cup noodle
filled it with water and popped it into the microwave. As the low hum
of the device filled the room he removed his jacket and hat and sat
on the only piece of furniture in the room, a beat up old chair.
There were no lights in his apartment, Max had always been able to
see well in the dark, in fact he preferred it. He had always felt
that he did not deserve to live in the light, that was reserved for
people who did good things in their lives, he...he was destined to
walk the path of darkness until it claimed him mind body and soul.





The hum of the microwave oven slowly
lulled him into deeper thoughts as the darkness seemed to close in
around him. "The darkness...this is my path..." You are
mine.... "I am one with the darkness" There is no essscape
"I shall serve the darkness" You have no choissse "Until
I fall" Then you are mine!





The darkness became palpable as it
poured over Max's skin staining it black. Black as your soul It
poured into every pore going deep into his skin until it became his
very being. Black as Jussstissse It poured down his throat and into
his nose suffocating him until he fell to the floor convulsing. Black
as the world Max suddenly stopped convulsing and stood. The voice had
stopped but one last thing was left to be said. As he walked out of
his apartment noodles left unattended, he said in a low whisper that
was devoid of emotion, "Black...as Shadowsin"

Somehow Eve found herself in the city, in the wee hours of the morning. She'd seen some pretty disgusting things so far. People who hadn't showered in weeks came up asking her for money. Not only that, people who weren't shopping, were pushing around shopping carts! This was pure insanity! She had no idea life could be this dirty.

Wandering around aimlessly was getting Eve worked into a quiet panic. Derelicts she could take, but not knowing where she was going was a formidable opponent. Now she realized why impulse was the enemy.

"Hey baby need a ride?" a man in a car yelled over to her. Eve motioned to herself to make sure he was addressing her. "Yeah you sweetie, I don't see any other pretty little girls around here." She nearly jumped with joy, a ride was the first step to...well...something!

If she'd have been less sheltered maybe she would have recognized that the tone of his voice was not JUST friendly. She walked up to the driver side window. Her wavy auburn hair was almost completely out of it's fancy updo. She was naive enough to have that on the forefront of her mind. "I must look awful." she thought. "So uh, how much?" the man questioned. Eve was puzzled for a moment, then she figured that he was asking how much she had on her person to pay him for a ride. "$20 I suppose, if you think that's fair." The man appeared shocked, then almost saddened.

Eve stepped back as he opened the door. It wasn't until he stepped onto the curb that she saw the shiny pair of handcuffs in his hands. "You're under arrest for prostitution." he said while cuffing her. He then proceeded spouting off her Miranda rights. When he was done he added "How could you have that little respect for yourself?" he shook his head "$20..."

Eve was shocked. "No, no you misunderstand!" The cop put his hand up to halt her explanation. "I've heard every excuse in the book, save it." He lowered her into the back of the car. Before she knew, it they were at the station. She was waiting to get processed, trying her absolute hardest not to cry. If she started crying they'd know, and no one must ever know.

The frail figure continued to turn bolts and
tighten screws at his workbench, ignoring the hums and whines of
computers all around him.

"Hermes." He called under a hushed tone.

"YES, SIR?"

"Initiate Hephaestus Protocol."

"AFFIRMATIVE.
HEPHAESTUS PROTOCOL INTIATED, ANALYZING PROTOTYPE MODEL AND BLUEPRINTS
NOW." The automated voice droned over a speaker system. Slowly, an eery
green light passed over the mass of screws and machinery that had been
assembled on the workbench.

"PROTOTYPE ANALYZED." The voiced boomed.

"Well?" The man asked, impatiently tapping at the arm rests in his chair.

"SYSTEM
EFFICIENCY AT 50%. REMODELING AND UPGRADING RECOMMENDED BEFORE CYCLING
INTO OFFICIAL TESTING. HEPHAESTUS PROTOCOL ENDED. RETURNING TO PRIMARY
DUTIES." The voice chirped as the green flow ended, and once more the
computers began to whine.

The man began to grit his teeth through the darkness.

"Damn..." He hissed, and slowly, he reached across the table and returned to his work, staring at the blueprint before him.

----------

Perseus
continued to leap from building to building, soaring across the skyline
like an eagle. Most were unable to observe Perseus up close for
extended periods of time, however, one who saw him work would be
accurate in saying that Perseus did not fly, he jumped. It was clear to
anyone who looked at Perseus that his muscles were well toned and
visible, including his leg muscles. However, this went beyond simple
exercising. Perseus' body was inhuman. His muscles, while well defined
and rather large, would not be able to supply the power needed to leap
across multiple skyscrapers in a single jump, and not only did Perseus
do this with ease, he leaped from ground level to the top of the skyline
in a single bound, a feat which alone could be mistaken for flight. His
body was surprisingly aerodynamic, allowing him to maintain altitude
for fairly lengthy periods of time.

Perseus continued to travel
the skyline, eyes completely focused on the area in front of him, until
he stopped and listened for the rather familiar sound:

A gunshot.

Perseus
came to a halt and began to search the skyline for where the sound had
come from, determined to find a gunshot that had long since happened.

---------

The figure continued to tinker with mechanical parts that did not work together in anyway, blocking out the world around him.

"Come now..." The siren began to blare once more.

"Oh
what now?" He asked himself, mildly irritated that his work had been
interrupted. Wheeling over to one of the monitors which showed Perseus
searching the rooftops, namely for the mysterious gunshot.

The figure sighed.

"Hermes."

"YES, SIR?"

"Deactivate the Olympus Watch System, switch to mental control."

"AFFIRMATIVE."
The system began to hum as the lights died down once more, and all of
the computers returned to basic functioning systems. Meanwhile, the
figure had proceeded to shut his eyes and focus intently on Perseus,
where he was, what he was doing...Becoming Perseus himself.

--------

Perseus
opened his eyes, and began to search the area with much more efficiency
than before. Finally, scanning the rooftops, he found a single bullet
that had embedded itself in a wall over a dozen yards away. Leaping to
the bullet, he observed it and looked to the nearby areas, hoping to
catch a glimpse of something worthwhile.

--------

The
frail figure's eyes were still locked shut, ignorant to his surroundings
while the computers continued to run in the background. This was not
his first attempt at a mental link, in fact, it was one of the most
common things he had ever done.

After all, he'd invented the technology.

Karl
Bludmond was a practiced scientist with a fortune formed in engineering
to back his skill. He had been responsible for security systems around
the world, and won the Nuclear Fission award for attaining unreachable
goals, namely the ability to generate mental links and mental commands
with inanimate machinery. He'd helped usher in a new age of
technological prosperity and scientific breakthroughs. However, that was
not enough.

Human nature is to want what it does not have, and
soon Bludmond realized that his own technology could be used to harm
others in a variety of dangerous ways. Worse yet, consumers realized
this before he did, having hastily rushed through testing to show the
world that the technology he made would be able to benefit mankind, but
not for another several years to come.

Speaking out for the
proper use of mental linking technology, Bludmond became an icon to
modern society as a man who was ill prepared and a hopeless visionary,
some of these assumptions not being entirely inaccurate.

Now here
he sat, preparing to lay everything he had left on the line, for the
opportunity to use his technology to do good in the world, at least in
his home.

He could sense it all, every dark
secret, every pang of guilt on each soul, he could feel it. The guilt
and pain, the cheating and stealing, the remorseful and the
remorseless. He could sense the sins of others and how it affected
them. He could sense acts of violence and he could sense injustice as
easy as a human draws breath. Yes he could sense all of this but what
bothered him most was his utter lack of emotion. While possessed by
the Shadowsin Max Johnson felt nothing no joy, no happiness, no
anger, only the secrets of others that poured into his head like a
thousands whispers. He only needed to concentrate to pick out his
targets and deliver justice. Never did he act out of anger or
personal preference, never did he listen as he ended the life of a
criminal, who begged and pleaded with their last breath. The
Shadowsin would not let him, it guided every move every thought. One
would think such an existence would be a horror, living without
emotion controlled by a spirit not your own, forced to murder in the
name of blind justice, but even if he could voice a protest Max
Johnson wouldn't. He had asked for this power, he had seen too many
criminals go unpunished, too many murderers set free only to kill
again and again. His own wife and daughter a victim of one such a
murdered.





-Flashback-




Max Johnson wasn't always the
Shadowsin. He was once a loving caring father and husband and an
honest hard working detective. He loved his city and he loved the
people in it. He was on his way to work like any other day but this
day would turn out to be far from normal. Not even two minutes after
opening the door to the precinct he was called into his bosses
office. He could tell his boss was in a sour mood, even more so than
normal, because he was walking back and forth behind his desk
animatedly with a look that said, "To hell with my high blood
pressure". When he entered the office he expertly dodged a
makeshift shoe based projectile as it sailed harmlessly by his head.




"What's eating you boss?", he
asked as he sat down in the chair in front of his boss's desk not
acknowledging in anyway his bosses volatile explosions of emotion.
The chief slammed his hands on his desk and stared him right in the
face and as calmly as possible, which was strange even for him, "THEY
ARE LETTING THE SLAYER GO FREE!"





Johnson tried hard to hide the shock
and anger that immediately began to seethe and froth beneath the
surface roiling together making a cocktail of a very volatile kind.
The Slayer was a Serial Killer who's rap-sheet included everything
from Grand Theft Auto to rape and murder, the latter two being his
crime of preference and the cause for his latest arrest. He had
broken into the all girls boarding school and killed every single
girl after committing unspeakable acts of horror against them. Now he
was being set free because some politician decided his pockets needed
to be filled with more blood money. He had become a Detective to help
people but time and again he had to watch murderers walk free because
of the power of the politicians. "I will get him again
chief....I will stop him."





The chief calmed down a bit and sat in
his desk putting his head in his hands. "No you wont
Johnson...he has been made untouchable...no matter what he does....we
can't arrest him anymore..." Max rarely lost his cool and when
he did it usually only lasted for a second before he snapped back
into his normal controlled self, but this time he lost it like never
before. Slamming his hands on the desk he stood angrily, eyes blazing
with fury. "HOW....CAN....THEY....GET....AWAY WITH THIS....",
he managed to get out in between deep heaves of breath as his temper
quickly escalated. They had gone to far...now this murderer could
kill and rape at his own leisure and HIS department would have to
clean it up and cover it up to downplay it to the general public.





The Chief sighed not protesting, in
anyway, to the egregious and uncouth display of anger from his
subordinate. After all who could blame him. He had locked this killer
up time and again only to have him pardoned or released and it fell
on him to explain why to these families who undoubtedly placed a
gratuitous amount of blame upon him. All of this just made what he
was about to say even harder. "I have been told that you are to
be fired...but I refuse to allow it...the best I can do is suspension
without pay for two months. I'm sorry but effective immediately you
are no longer allowed on the premises."





Max left the precinct in a stupor, not
only was a criminal going free and had become immune to persecution
for his crimes, but he himself had been punished for even attempting
to do his job. He was not naive enough to think that the world was
perfect, it wasn't, in fact it was far from it, but he had joined the
force to do good and now he was persecuted for it and there was
nothing he could do. Resigned to his punishment he returned home to
tell his wife and baby girl the bad news. He knew that they would
support him through anything and were proud of him for fighting the
good fight and besides, he had saved enough money so the two month
suspension would be nothing to worry about but it still did not make
it any easier to take.





As he pulled up to his house he failed
to notice the suspicious black van parked across the street in front
of the long abandoned house, something he would later look back upon
with much regret for if he had he knew he could change the events
that were about to happen, but he didn't and he can't and for now
oblivious to the repercussions Max opened his front door and then
everything went black.




He awoke with a start, the back of his
head an explosion of pain. As he fought to control his dizziness he
tried to move only to find his movement restricted by ropes. As his
mind began to clear he noticed he was tied to a chair in his living
room and laying on the floor in front of him was his wife and what he
saw nest sent him into a rage never seen before. The man called The
Slayer was on top of his wife violating her as she screamed in
protest. He screamed through the gag and tried to break free but his
ropes were too tight. He was forced to watch and this man...this man
who he couldn't even touch, the irony was not lost on him of course,
both physically and by process of the law ravaged and raped his wife.
He was forced to watch as he finished with her with a shudder and
slit her throat, her screams of protest turned into strangled gurgles
as the blood poured forth from the jagged hole in her neck. Max
screamed and screamed and struggled as his wife lay dying staring at
him with eyes that screamed for him to help. To add insult to injury
The Slayer began to ravage her again as she coked on her own blood
and lack of oxygen. She died with that look of fear frozen on her
face, a look that would haunt Max for the rest of his days.





The Slayer looked up and saw that Max
was awake and smiled. "Good wife you had there eh Maxy...she
gave a good lay you were a lucky man" he said with a smile and
an emphasis on the word were, "Too bad you had to go and get her
killed. Yes Maxy this is all your fault...you messed with the wrong
people and now your family pays the price." To emphasize his
point the Slayer grabbed the corpse of his wife and forced her mouth
to move like a puppet using a mock high pitched voice. "Why Maxy
why did you kill me...if only you had left well enough alone I would
still be alive but now...now we I am dead and soon our little girl
will be too and it is all your fault...why Maxy why." Max
redoubled his efforts to break free causing blood to drip from the
ropes binding his hands as he screamed through the gag in his mouth.





The Slayer laughed at Max's futile
effort and excused himself in mock manners and left the room. He
returned with Max's seven year old daughter Lily dragging behind him
screaming and kicking. It dawned on Max now what it meant by your
daughter is next and he nearly slit his own wrists trying to remove
his binds. "Daddy...help me..." Lily cried as the man
forced her down ripping off her dress as he forced himself upon her.
"Daddy....help me...it hurts daddy.....why aren't you helping me
daddy?...DADDY PLEASE PLEASE HELP IT HURTS SO MUCH WHY IS THIS
HAPPENING DADDDDYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!"





All Max could do was watch helplessly
as his daughter was raped screaming for help that he couldn't give.
Tears streamed freely down his face as his soul broke again and
again. When he has finished with her The Slayer stood up and laughed
watching Lily crawl slowly over to Max and hug his leg crying and
screaming leaving a blood trail behind her. She even managed to get
to her feet using her father as leverage and was still crying looking
him in the eyes asking the same questions when The Slayer casually
slit her throat right in front of Max causing her lifeblood to spill
out onto his lap. Max screamed again and this time the ropes started
to weaken.





"You...I will leave alive...so you
can live every day knowing that you caused this...this is your fault
Max...their blood is on your hands." He started to laugh and
failed to notice that Max had freed himself from his weakened bonds
in an explosion of blood and rope. Max screamed with unbridled rage
and launched himself at The Slayer who by now had noticed his
assailant and moved to defend himself. He grabbed Max and threw him
into the nearby coffee table and began to beat him senseless. Max was
left in a pool of his own blood barely alive.





His next memory was him waking up in
the hospital, the chief at his bedside. Everything came flying back
to him and he screamed in a rage nearly breaking the restraints the
doctors had put on him anticipating his reaction. "Max....I am
sorry....but there is nothing we can do....a fire burned down your
house leaving no evidence behind...I need not tell you what this
means or who did it or why but i am sorry...there is nothing we can
do." The chief left him there screaming and raging until the
doctors administered the sedative putting him back to sleep. This
would be the routine for the next several days until Max was released
from the hospital. He immediately launched himself into a plan to get
his revenge. The law be damned...he would kill the man who harmed his
family so...even if it killed him.





It was relatively easy to find his
target because he never changed locations of his hideout. Max easily
picked the lock and let himself inside where The Slayer was sleeping
peacefully in his bedroom. How dare this man sleep so soundly...how
dare he have peace of mind after what he had committed. It mattered
little because Max would soon make things right. He woke the man with
a start placing a cloth with a special chemical mixed into it on his
face causing him to feint. Max then loaded him into his car and drove
to a warehouse on the pier where they would have complete privacy. He
did not want to be interrupted for this. He would savor every moment.





He dragged the man out of the car and
into the warehouse tying him to a rack binding his hands and feet in
such a way as to form an X with his entire body. The slayer lay naked
strapped to this rack when he awoke with a start. "Where am I"
he said startled and slightly scared as he observed his surroundings.
Max approached out of the shadows with a silver cart in tow. On the
cart were a series of sharp and point evil looking instruments.
"Who...Who is that?" Max moved even closer so he was face
to face with his enemy. "You?! Where am I? What is going on?"





Max looked up with eyes devoid of
emotion staring into his victim's eyes. "What's the
matter...Jimmy...you scared?" The Slayer, who's birth name was
Jim Telza, struggled with his bonds angrily. "You know this is
illegal Max...I am untouchable...you will never get away with this."
Max just smiled coldly and said, voice barely rising above a whisper,
"It matters not Jimmy-boy, it will be worth it when I deliver
your victims their justice. You will not leave here alive Jimmy...you
will not leave here whole...before you breath your last breath I will
break you apart piece by piece like you did to so many of your
victims...Like you did to Sarah...and Lily...my precious Lily. I will
shatter you into a million pieces and even then you will not die
Jimmy-boy...no...you will die when I say. Your life is in my hands."
He then gagged Jimmy cutting off his protests.




Picking up a wickedly sharp long flat
bladed instrument Max mad a slight incision on Jimmy's left forearm.
With a pair of tweezers he started to pull back the skin as he slid
the instrument under it removing the skin on the forearm leaving only
bloody muscle and sinew behind. Jimmy screamed as Max casually tossed
the large slice of skin on the floor behind him. Max then proceeded
to flay Jimmy alive, slowly piece by piece. Grabbing a silver spoon
like object with jagged edges from the table and slipped it behind
one of Jimmy's eyes pulling the eye out of the socket and severing
the nerve. The empty socket concaved upon itself as blood trickled
from the severed nerve. He left the other eye in place and picked up
another sharp instrument. This he used to remove each of his organs
starting with castrating him. "Your pride and joy Jimmy...your
greatest weapon...now lies on a table behind me...completely useless.
It will no longer be useful to you." His victim only replied
with a whimper and a groan tears flowing from his eye socket and one
good eye, staining the gag cloth. He then removed his kidneys, his
liver his lungs and as he started to choke from lack of air he
quickly sliced out his heart and held it in front of Jimmy as he
died. The heart kept beating as if it hadn't been removed at all and
Jimmy died seeing the blackness of his heart and its last beats.
"Justice has been done...revenge is mine...."





Max collapsed on a chair nearby, his
work complete. He failed to notice as the shadows slowly moved in
around him. By the time he did notice it was to late. The shadows
closed in around him pulling him down into their depths drowning him
within them. A cold voice was all Max could hear. Max Johnssson...you
took matters into your own handsss and disssguised revenge as
justiccce. This crime has been judged and you have been found
guilty...now you will sspend the resst of your life adminisstering
true justicce. Emotionlesss and cold. This is your punisshment
Max...and when you finally lay down to your final rest your ssoul
sshall be mine...for all eternity...you will never join your daughter
or wife..you will be my minion...my pawn./color] The darkness poured
into every orifice in his body..filling him and drowning him.
Staining his very soul. Despite the suffocating darkness he heard
himself speak, felt the words escape his lips. "The
darkness...this is my path..." [color=#000000]You are mine....
"I am one with the darkness" There is no essscape "I
shall serve the darkness" You have no choissse "Until I
fall" Then you are mine! Black as your soul! Black as
Jussstissse! Black as the world! Max then felt himself rising and he
was on his feet. He stumbled out of the warehouse and face the night
and howled cold and emotionless. "Black...as Shadow Sin"




-two months later-





Shadowsin completed his rounds this
night without finding any wrongdoers. "Strange" he thought
to himself as he slinked back to his apartment. The police haven't
been doing anything, he knew that, so someone else must be cleaning
up while he wasn't around. No matter...he would find them eventually
and punish them for their sins. He sat down in his chair and exhaled.
The darkness immediately left his body and poured from his mouth
disappearing into the shadows. Max sighed and shuddered as his
emotions came flooding back. He hated this part, every night when he
returned from his rounds he was forced to relive every painful memory
as if it was happening once again right in front of him. He had
almost grown used it it but it still affected him deeply. He passed
out soon after.




Max woke the next morning and drove
into the precinct. "Hey Max... you have a new assignment. We
picked up some broad on prostitution charges. Chief wants you to
question her...find out where she is from...so far she isn't giving
anyone any answers." Max sighed, probably some foolish girl that
Benny had tricked into getting into his car, one of these days he
would come across him in the act and he would end it...but for
now...he had work to do.





As he entered the interrogation cell he
was surprised to see what was sitting at the table in front of him.
If he didn't know any better he would have thought he was in the
presence of an Angel. He calmly sat in the other chair and stared at
her with his crimson eyes. "So...what is your name?"

Eve shuddered as the detective entered the room. He had red eyes...Never in her life had she seen anyone with red eyes. She started to sweat. There were bigger things to worry about. Hearing him ask for her name made her heart pound. She couldn't give her real name. There were an obscene number of reasons not to. Be that as it may, she didn't want to lie either.

"My..uh..." she gulped. "My name's Eve." she said as her ice blue eyes met his crimson eyes. Her first name was all he was going to get. "and before you ask anything else, I can promise you I'm not a prostitute!" She looked upon the accusation with great indignity. It remained very important to her that fact be known, despite the millions of other problems she'd created for herself.

Max could tell he made this girl
nervous, he could also tell she was being honest. "Oh Benny
Benny Benny....this is getting to be a problem...this is the sixth
girl this week and this time...you really messed up" He thought
to himself. There was something about this girl but it was not his
right to pry. "You are free to go...next time...don't get into a
strangers car....Eve..." He handed her a business card and a
small bundle of large bills. "My name is Max...call me if you
get yourself into trouble again."





Johnson left the interrogation cell and
walked over to Benny's desk and put his hand on it knocking coffee
over into the crooked cops lap. "Now now Benny don't be
mad...fair is fair...you wasted my time with your silly little fetish
for bringing in young innocent girls on trumped up charges....you are
lucky you didn't...lose...this one Benny. It isn't to late...turn
your act around before you go to far." With that Max left the
precinct to go out on patrol.




Benny scowled as he cleaned himself
off. "I will show that jerk Max who he is messing with...how
dare he set her free and deny me my bonus...Well well Benny old
boy...we can't just let this one slip away again to sell her
goods...I think it is time we handle her permanently. He then left to
go about his business until he could find the right moment.

Eve left the precinct feeling a little better. At least that one detective believed her. His red eyes were a little disconcerting, but he'd been so kind. Though the money he gave her made her hand heavy with guilt. It wasn't her policy to accept charity, but then again she never really needed it before. With a quick sigh she shoved the cash and card in her shoe. Maybe one say she'd be able to pay him back.

Looking out into the bustling streets left her feeling daunted. Perhaps a cab would be the best option, she thought to herself. It was difficult pushing her was through the stream of people. Everyone so focused on where they had to go and what they had to do. The concrete ate their footsteps eagerly one by one. The flat grey beast that spanned almost every inch of the city would never go hungry.

"Taxi!" she shouted from the curb to no avail. Unfortunately this was a notoriously bad place to try and hail a cab. The yellow cars whizzed by, already filled to capacity with passengers. Almost ready to give up, Eve spotted a free cab. Butterflies filled her stomach. There would be tough competition for this unoccupied treasure. Her palms grew sweaty as she readied her arm. "Tax....!" before the word finished, a disgruntled citizen pushed her out of his way.

The unexpected shove caused Eve to fall into the base of a streetlight. Instinctively her hands flew out to catch herself. She continued to hold onto the post in an attempt to regain her balance. Once stable on her own two feet she noticed a bubbling hissing sound. Before she could even process what happened, the street light landed on a car with a loud CRASH! It hit the front of the car, completely destroying the engine. It's bulb was smashed to smithereens as well, but that seemed to be the extent of the damage. No one was hurt in the accident, but unfortunately that didn't stop the mass chaos that would ensue...

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" a man's voice yelled. The street was hectic before, but that paled in comparison to what it was now. The human stampede had begun, and there was no stopping it. "MY BABY, WHERE'S MY BABY!?" A black woman shrilled. Her voice was easily heard over all the others. Fortunately for her, she simply forgot to realize she was already holding the baby in question. Upon remembering she joined the nameless faces in their great escape from nothing.

Eve hardly even remembered fighting the panicked crowds. Somehow she was able to run against the flow of the river of bodies. The hiding place she finally settled on was pathetic. An alley with rows of trash cans, of all different shapes and sizes. She went as far back as the alley would permit and sat behind some green garbage cans. The wall in front of her made it impossible to exit the alley without going out the same way she came in. It was a regrettable choice, but everything happened so quickly there hadn't been any time to think strategically, nor did she think there would be a need to. At this point her clothes were mostly gone. The sweat from running saw to that. A few scraps still remained, barely enough to cover the vital areas. She drew her legs up close and wrapped her arms around them. Tears fell from her face, landing on her shoes. Making holes where they splashed. Those were the only things that survived. Eve was suddenly, and abnormally grateful that her feet usually didn't sweat very much. She took one off, letting the card and money fall to the ground. "Maybe I'll call you." she whispered softly, picking the card up and squinting at the number.

A voice slithered into the alley like a venomous snake. "Come on out honey, I saw everything." Eve recognized that voice. It was the man who brought her in. "It's all right, I'm sure it wasn't your fault." Benny said deceptively. It was true, he had seen the whole thing. It was also true he didn't think it was her fault. The deception was in the way his voice implied he meant her no harm.

Benny followed Eve from the moment he set foot outside the precinct. At first he'd just been on his way home, cursing Max for undermining and humiliating him, and Eve for being innocent. Never did he dream such an ideal situation would arise. It was hard to follow her in all the madness, but Benny was a powerful man. Looking for the weak points of the herd, then plowing through the children and the elderly proved it...or so he thought. In reality he was just a twisted kid in a man's body playing cops and robbers. When the game didn't go the way he wanted, he'd just break the pieces so nobody could win.

His thoughts were dark but he found himself smiling. While in pursuit he pictured what he would say to the chief "It was so tragic chief," he'd even muster up some fake tears. "I saw her trying to turn tricks again. I knew it was dangerous, I just wanted to help." He'd sob convincingly. "I walked up to her, the cuffs weren't even out yet. She must have recognized me because she ran. I followed her until she was cornered. I thought for sure she'd come quietly..." This would be the climax of his performance. "I just never thought she'd pull a gun! I had to defend myself! I'll have to live with that girl's death for the rest of my life!" He'd break into hysterics. Then after a few moments of reassurance from the chief, he'd calm down and add "If only Max hadn't let her go..." Benny chuckled as he rounded the corner of the alley.

Eve shivered from fear and lack of clothing. She learned the first time that that tone couldn't be trusted. "I'm losing patience sweetie...If you come with me now, I'll smooth everything over for you. I Promise." Still not convinced, she held her silence, afraid to even breathe. This persisted for what seemed like an eternity. Finally Benny had had enough. "Ok you little whore, I tried to be nice, but cheap trash like you doesn't deserve my courtesy!" He started kicking the trash cans over 1 by 1. He'd find her by process of elimination. About three trash cans away now, Benny's smile got bigger "You know I never got revenge on that slut who charged me with those assault charges... This will do nicely."

Stricken with terror Eve knew she had to do SOMETHING. She was sure he had a gun, anything she tried would be risky. Yeah...as risky as waiting here like some kind of scared animal... she thought. There was one chance, she had to run for it. Hopefully he'd be too surprised to react in time and she could slip by him.

Eve counted down silently 3...2...1... NOW! For a split second she thought she won. The street was in her view, it felt like she was almost there. Then reality snagged her by the hair. Sharp pain assaulted her scalp as Benny yanked her back. Worming his fingers through her locks until they were almost embedded. He pulled her face up so that it was only inches from his. "You see this?" The gloved hand that wasn't holding her reached into his jacket, and came out with a gun. "It's unregistered. It's what I'll wrap your little dead fingers around after I shoot you... It's going to be self defense, I feel threatened." He smirked and started laughing. His breath reeked of alcohol. Eve was so scared she nearly fainted, things were going black. Though somewhere in the back of her mind a voice rang out, NO! It screamed. You will not be that frail thing your parents want to marry off, this is not YOU!

The world came back into focus. Taking a deep breath to prepare, Eve spit in Benny's face. His laughter was replaced by vocalizations of agony. He threw Eve into a wall and used the newly freed hand to grab his melting face. The other hand kept it's hold on the gun. Blinded, in pain, but still persistent, Benny began firing wildly. Meanwhile strange shapes and colors floated around in Eve's field of vision. She was on the ground, unable to move. Very few thoughts went through her hazy mind, and she was getting sleepy. The voice that told her NO! before was still saying it, like a broken record, but even that was starting to fade. She didn't even remember why it wasn't ok to sleep here, but for some reason she kept resisting it. NO! No! No. no. no...

Max drove around the city listlessly listening to the news anchors on the radio. As usual they all avoided the true stories the ones the people deserve to hear. Sadly media had gone from reporting the truth to reporting whats safe. It was much safer to report about the Mayor's dog finding love than it was to report the true story. In reality the mayor was a corrupt individual that was in the pocket of many crime lords but as usual the media, afraid of backlash, blatently ignored the true facts turning thier back on their pride and their duty as journalists. He turned off the radio is disgust, he couldn't listen to the blithering idiots any longer. He parked his car in a vacant spot and stalked his way into a nearby alley angrily. He knew it was only a matter of time before the mayor and shadowsin crossed paths but he also hated himself. In a way he was just as bad as those journalists he hated. He could do nothing himself but instead was forced to hide behind a monicker and submit himself to his own failings.

Max started to punch the wall angrily until his fists started bleeding profusely, but he didn't care. He wound up for the final punch which would have likely smashed his fist to smithereens but instead of the crunch he expected his hand plunged into the wall except the wall was no longer there. In its place was a cold black puddle of darkness. Max tried in vain to pull out his fist as the pull was to great. Panicking he tried to use his other hand to pull himself out but several tendrils surged forth and wrapped themselves around his arm and torso slowly pulling him in. Max tried to scream out for help but the tendrils covered his mouth and nose suffocating him.

The helpless Max johnson was pulled into the shadows slowly suffocating drowning in his own darkness as it slowly consumed him. This was his punishment. This was his payment for acting out of vengeance, this was his fault. He had taken justice into his own hands and he now payed the price. As he fell into the shadows the scenes played before him again. The pain his wife felt as she was beaten and raped. The fear his daughter felt as the same happened to her. The betrayal she felt that her father just sat there instead of helping as this man hurt her. Then his body was wracked with the agony of the pain he inflicted in anger and vengeance. This was his punishment...this was his payment...each time he became the shadowsin he was shown the error of his ways...the price of true justice.

Then as he reached the depths of his darkness...the very heart of it all...he felt the greatest pain of all. All emotions all feeling was ripped from him leaving him feeling cold an empty, a pain unlike any other. He knew what emotion was but he knew he could no longer feel it and he did not care for now he was an unfeeling shadow feeding upon the sins of the wicked punishing them in a perverse sort of justice. He felt no satisfaction from this no sense of pride in what he did. He was a slave to the darkness within him a slave to his own foolishness. He had wanted the ability to carry out justice and he had received it. Just as justice he to was devoid of both emotion and sight. Everywhere he looked all he saw was darkness and the scenes of his crimes over and over. Unless he looked into a reflective surface...then he was shown what he had become, the darkness in man's heart incarnate the shadow of justice herself. He was shadowsin.

Max awoke to the now familiar blindsense of shadowsin. He could feel people around him, could feel their pulse hear their breath but most of all he could sense their sin. It was with this that he sought out his victims. He stood and felt the wall next to him. Just by touch he could sense there were several points nearby where the barrier between the shadow realm and the real world was thin. He reach one of these points and faded into the darkness. When he opened his eyes he could see a perverse shadowed version of the real world. For some reason that eluded him he could see perfectly in the shadow realm. The realm of shadow was a realm of mixed shades of black and grey and as far as he knew he was the only inhabitant. He stalked along the twisted alleys and streets that was the city, each step taking him the distance of 12 normal steps. Suddenly he felt a disturbance and was instantly drawn to the area in which the crime was being committed. An image appeared before him in black and grey. It seemed Benny had once again found another victim, but this was not just any victim, it was Eve, the girl from the precinct. Shadowsin sense Benny's intentions without ever hearing a sound and in an instant was judged worthy. He quickly moved to the nearest cross realm breach which was relatively close to the crime and he melded into it appearing to rise from the shadows like a dark liquid before taking the rough form of a human in a trench coat with crimson red eyes and a dark solid black body. He heard Benny's cries and immediatly turned in the direction it came from.

Benny was a killer and the blood of his victims painted his very soul the crimson color of red. This is what shadowsin saw when he looked in the direction of Benny, the general outline of a human roughly the size of benny tinged red. He could also see the outline of a female on the ground tinged in a light blue. He wrapped himself around Benny and stared right into the spot where he knew his eyes would be. In a voice that was raspy and deep, "The blood of many innocents has stained your soul Benjamin Hivejack. You have been found guilty...your punishment..to relive the pain of the victims you have tortured for the rest of your days. How do you plea?"

Benny, completely disoriented from the pain stared incredulously at the creature which held him captive and spoke to him. "What are you?" Shadowsin calmly repeated his question. "What your you talking about?" Benny groaned as the grip around him was tightened and pain erupted across his body. "NOT GUILTY! THOSE PEOPLE DESERVED IT THEY RUINED MY FUN! I DESERVE TO BE THE BEST BUT THESE FOOLS KEPT GETTING IN MY WAY! IT ISN NOT MY FAULT. THEY HAD TO BE REMOVED. It is not my fault!”

Benny screamed as the shadows engulfed
him and he fell. He fell for what seemed like forever until he
slammed into the ground with a painful thud. Getting up Benny looked
at his surroundings and saw nothing but darkness. "WHERE AM I!?" he screamed at nothing. Suddenly a spotlight shone down upon him and he looked down at his clothing. He was dressed as a street cop like he did the days before he was a detective. He heard a scream off in the distance. "Finally my chance" he thought to himself as he ran towards the sound. He found himself running along familiar streets and rounded a familiar corner when a familiar sense of dread came over him.

Another officer had already gotten to the scene and had the robber against the wall. He turned and saw Benny and slid the perps gun over to him. "Hey Benny...keep a hold of this for evidence. Benny frowned and put on his gloves and obediently picked up the gun when a thought came over him. He smiled as he pointed the gun first at his fellow officer. Pulling the trigger he shot both the officer and the woman he had saved. Walking over he checked to see if the officer was dead. Seeing he wasn't he him a few more times.

The assailant looked up incredulously. "Thanks man..." he said as he started to run away but then stopped. "W-What are you doing?"
Benny looked up with a crazy smile on his face and said. "You aint going nowhere...you killed a woman and a cop in cold blood and then you turned your gun on me as I rounded the corner...I had to kill you...it was self defense...noone will ever question it..they will see the gun in your hand and they will write you off as a cop killer. I will be a hero.

The robber wet himself as he saw Benny drop the gun that was formerly the robbers and pulled out his own. "WAIT YOU CAN-" he started to scream but was cut off as an entire magazine was emptied into his chest. Benny laughed as he exited the alley. He would be a hero...he would finally live out his childhood dream. He froze as he heard a noise behind him. Turning around he saw to his horror the decaying bodies of his victims rise from their slumber and start shuffling after him. In unsion they spoke, "You...killed...us..."

Benny screamed as he ran from the alley. His world became a series of twists and turns until he came upon a four way intersection. Stopping to rest he could still hear the moans and shuffles far behind him. After a moments consideration he took the left path but doubled back soon after screaming once again as the moaning and cries of death multiplied. He soon realized he was trapped from all sides. His bowels emptied into his pants as his many victims closed in around him. Suddenly the crowed parted and a 6 year old girl whose only eyeball hung from a thin strand skipped up to stand right in front of Benny. "You raped and beat me as i cried out to you to help me...why did you do it Mr...why?...do you want to feel the pain I felt?" The little girl then poked Benny who screamed as the pain she felt and the fear and anguish washed over him. His screams became inhuman as victim after victim piled upon him and he was filled with all of their pain.

Far above the scene a colossal shadowsin held his hands out above the pile of bodies a thousand strings attached to his fingers as he moved them manipulating everything. "How does it feel to be a victim of your own game Benny...Live forever with the pain of those you harmed...live forever in your shadowsin.....

As Perseus continued his scan of the city, it soon became clear that the shot which had been fired would not be easily traced. The projectile itself had traveled through many different walls and barriers in order to make its final destination, one which, had Perseus not continued patrolling at the very moment it was fired, would have possibly penetrated his chassis.

This was not the first instance in which a sniper had attempted to take the mighty Perseus out of the world of crime fighting, and it most certainly would not be the last. However, something felt different about this assassin's attempt, something sinister...

----------

Karl swiftly opened his eyes, and the blaring sound of alarms became clear throughout the room. Aggravated, he swiveled in his chair and began to wheel across the room to another console.

"Hermes!" He shouted.

"YES, SIR?"

The chair screeched to a halt as he began to rapidly type at the keyboard in front of him, scrolling through images on a blinding monitor before him.

"Situation report!"

"A PANIC HAS ERUPTED OUTSIDE OF POLICE HEADQUARTERS INVOLVING A DOWNED STREETLAMP AND A POTENTIAL ATTACK ON THE CITY. TELEMUS SYSTEMS HAVE IDENTIFIED MISSING PERSON 539821, NAME: EVE LEXINGTON."

Karl stopped typing at mention of the name.

"Lexington? Of the North Rhodes Lexingtons?" He asked himself, then resumed typing as an image of a girl being attacked in a back alley appeared on his screen.

"What could that foolish girl be thinking? Here in this city on her own..." Karl's voice dissipated into the alarms when he looked at the monitor once more, making note of an ominous shadow rising on the far right of the screen.

"Hermes."

"YES, SIR?"

"Magnify this at point .062."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

The image began to close in on the darkness. Two red dots could be vaguely seen through the black.

"Send out emergency tactical code 0672."

"AFFIRMATIVE. UNITS 32 AND 54 ARE EN ROUTE TO SPECIFIED DESTINATION."

Karl nodded and continued to type rapid commands.

"Activate Hephaestus protocols, and prepare NYX system prototypes for the Olympian Forge."

"AFFIRMATIVE, HEPHAESTUS PROTOCOL INITIATED, NYX PLATFORMS CURRENTLY BEING OPTIMIZED. ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL COMPLETION: 120 MINUTES."

Karl nodded and finished typing at the monitor and pressed another button at the console.

"NGPD, state your emergency please."

"Anonymous tip. A young woman is being attacked in a back alley on 45th and Questor. Shadowsin is on the scene. If you hurry, you might get to it before Perseus does."

"Who is this?!"

Karl cut the connection, leaned back in his chair, and sighed.

"Provide tactical updates as they arrive, Hermes."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

This was not his first encounter with this enigmatic shadow, which had become known as Shadowsin. This...creature...had evaded every attempt to date that Perseus had made to capture or incapacitate it, and was rarely seen on security footage, almost melding with the shadows themselves.

Believed responsible for almost 20 homicides within the last month, this was one menace which Karl felt needed to be dealt with.

----------

Perseus made his way swiftly from rooftop to rooftop across the city skyline, eyes darting across each street below, searching for targets as he moved towards the one he knew lay ahead. Landing one rooftop away from the police headquarters, Perseus took a tactical scan of the area before deciding on a course of action.

Lumbering over to the edge, he took a mighty leap, soaring into the clouds, and landed on the street below, without making so much as a rumble. Silently edging towards the alley, a mass of darkness could be easily seen.

With no hesitation, Perseus stepped out from the shadows, hands at his sides, eyes locked on the mass.

"HALT! PLACE YOUR HANDS SLOWLY ABOVE YOUR HEAD AND MAKE NO SUDDEN MOVES!"

Shadowsin looked up at the thing that adressed him. "Perssseusssss....You meddle in things you dont understand....thissss one has been judged and found guilty...his ssssentence has been carried out..."Saving" him will only prolong his suffering...but if you insisssst..." Shadowsin slowly raised its shadowy hands above its head. As it did its red eyes glinted with poorly hidden mischief. His chest opened up and the broken pitiful form of Benny hurtled out straight into Perseus. Benny fell to the ground and curcled in a fetal position, muttering to himself completely unaware of his surroundings. "Its...its not my fault...they...they got in my way...." Shadowsin used this time to retreat back into the shadows to assess the situation. It studied its foe with great intensity. As usual...he seems to be shielded...I can only sense faint echoes of sins from him...the sins of others he has witnessed...What is he.... "Fear really becomes you demon..." "Quiet fool! I AM NOT AFRAID! "I beg to differ...I'm taking control....before you get us both killed..." "Before I get YOU killed...I am immortal "Without me your link to this world and your steady stream of food shall be severed..that wasn't a request....IM TAKING CONTROL!" With a burst of willpower Max Johnson took control of himself and walked forward, a living shadow. He spoke with a voice barely above a whisper but somehow less demonic than before. "Perseus....step away before you get hurt....take the girl...she is injured...leave Benny to his fate...the system has failed time and again to stop him...I refuse to let this continue."

Hearing this unusual request, Karl cocked an eyebrow as he watched the events in the back alley unfold, deciding to shut his eyes and once more link himself into Perseus directly.

"One who does what the system cannot? Interesting..."

----------

Perseus opened his eyes, a new intensity within, and now speaking in a calm direct tone.

"His fate is not yours to decide. He is a criminal, and will be judged by the criminal justice system."

Perseus relaxed his stance slightly, showing a willingness to cooperate.

"This is your one chance. Stand down now, and I will not be forced to use deadly force."

On the skyline above, other units stood at the ready. Should Shadowsin make a deadly move towards Perseus, Benny, or the injured woman, they would be ready to strike and retrieve their targets without notice. If Perseus was to maintain the facade of being one man, distractions would be needed to ensure that only one Perseus would be seen at any given time, while the main objective was still completed.

"Perseus....you would save a criminal...and let a girl die? HOW IS THAT JUSTICE! You cold...soulless.....void...." Shadowsins eyes flared as his emotions escalated. "You will win this round...." Shadowsin quickly moved over to the girl swallowing her in shadow and then faded himself. His last words rang out in the silence, the calm of Max had faded and was replaced by cold voice of the monster within. "After all...justisssse has been served....."

Shadowsin appeared in front of the Mercy Arms hospital cloaked in a heavy overcoat hat and gloves so that only those looking truly close could tell something was off. In it's arms was the broken form of the girl it had saved. It walked quickly into the emergency room and laid her down on the nurses desk. "Help her...Her name is Eve Lexington of the Lexington family...get her medical attention NOW!" nurses desk The nurse turned around to call a doctor but when she turned back Shadowsin had gone. The girl would yet live but it would have to keep an eye on her...she was connected somehow to Perseus and it wanted to know why...

Perseus took a large step forward, hoping to catch the mysterious creature before he vanished.

"HALT!"

Upon the realization that he had been too late, Perseus took a step to his side, scanned the area for any evidence, and looked down at the pitiful mess that was Benny.

----------

Opening his eyes, Karl launched himself forward, typing vigorously at the nearby keyboard.

"Damnit!" He wheezed out. In his desperate attempt to save both he may have damned one, the innocent one at that. He was normally meticulous and on point with every decision, but something had been gnawing at him about this particular case.

A cop, even a corrupt cop, is protected by the force until his crimes are revealed. If this man, this officer, was killed before this was revealed, then no matter what, Shadowsin would be labelled a cop killer and killed on site. But something about this...man...had intrigued him. His devotion to justice, almost blindly so, the very definition of a vigilantism.

Perhaps there was something else to this tale...

"I have you this time, damnit!"

Karl continued typing and pulled up a strange program, pressed a button, and played back a recording. It was Shadowsin's calm and appeasing words to Perseus during their encounter. This was the first time that Karl had ever managed to get an audio recording of Shadowsin's voice, and whoever he was, he had been in the city long enough to know it's criminal underside, they had DEFINATELY spoken in it before.

Setting the computer to work, it began to trace through every recorded word spoken by any person in the city. Whoever Shadowsin was, Karl would find him.

Once this task was completed, he set to work on his next issue. The missing Eve Lexington.

"Hermes!" He shouted.

"YES, SIR?" The voice asked yet again as the room began to glow an eerie blue.

"I want every camera searching for an Eve Lexington, I want her location NOW!" He shouted as he began to type at another monitor and watch the security reels.

"UNDERSTOOD, SIR."

Finally stopping his typing, having given the computers all of Eve's traits and linked her identification and profiles to their search, Karl leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes.

----------

As Perseus opened his eyes, looking at Benny's shriveled state, he shook his head and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him up and leaping into the sky.

"Officer Benjamin Hivejack, You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Eve Lexington, you will now be taken to the New Greenborough police for processing and questioning, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..." Perseus proceeded through the Miranda rights in an almost robotic fashion.

A large crash was heard outside of the police station, with several officers running outside to see what it was.

Perseus stood tall, Benny under his arm, shaken, sweating, and clearly broken of mind.

An officer looked at Perseus, confused and shocked.

"P-Perseus?"

Perseus looked down at the officer with a stern look as he dropped Benny to the ground.

"This man is the prime suspect in my investigation of several open and closed murder cases, and most recently attempted the murder of a woman who left this precinct not even an hour ago. I am surrendering his custody to you, I suggest you take him."

As he turned back and prepared to leap away, he looked at the shaken officer once more.

"Keep him in solitary confinement if possible, this man is the only potential victim of Shadowsin who is still alive." At this, he shot off into the sky, closing his eyes once more.

----------

As Karl re-opened his eyes, a blue light began to flash.

"SIR, MISS LEXINGTON HAS BEEN LOCATED."

Karl quickly wheeled himself over to the nearby monitor.

"Excellent!"

"SHE WAS BEING CARRIED BY A HEAVILY GARBED GENTLEMAN INTO MERCY ARMS MEDICAL CENTER."

Karl began to type rapidly and stopped the monitor at a screen viewing the hospital through a camera from within. He saw the young woman being carried in by a man in a trenchcoat and hat.

"Hermes, zoom in at point .065 on this monitor and .037 on this one."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

Doing as ordered, Karl could see exactly what he was looking for. A dark aura was barely visible off of this "man", and the eyes were red as blood.

"Shadowsin...."

"SIR? MISS LEXINGTON IS BEING TAKEN INTO EMERGENCY CARE."

Karl nodded as he sat back in frustration.

"Make sure when her treatment is dealt with that an anonymous donation provides her with the highest quality room."

"AFFIRMATIVE, SIR."

The light faded, and Karl shut his eyes, and began to think.

The mysterious Shadowsin, labelled a killer by the police, yet going out of his way to protect a young woman, and not just any young woman...

"Eve Lexington....Why are you here...." He wondered to himself as he waited. He knew her treatment would take time, and somehow he would have to make sure she was protected.

"Hermes, station a unit in the proximity of Mercy Arms until such a time as I say to end the patrol."

"AFFIRMATIVE, SIR. UNIT 52 IS ENROUTE."

He couldn't appear before her, not as he was, but he would make sure she was safe. It was the least he could do.

Shadowsin crawled back to Max's apartment and immediately relinquished control. Max began to pack up his belongings, he had done this often since he came the monster and learned that it was easier to be prepared to move on the spot. In a matter of minutes he had cleared out his appartment and had begun to move to a place he had outside of town. He needed to lay low for a while and figure out what to do about Perseus. He had contacts within the hospital so he could make sure Miss Lexington would be taken care of. Dammit monster...you really did it this time...you really messed up...now we have to worry about Perseus...he is going to constantly hound us until he catches us...movement is going to be difficult. Shadowsin remained silent brooding over its own thoughts on what exactly Perseus could truly be....

The next several days proceeded very slowly for Karl, as his search turned up very little until the vocal records were found. Shadowsin had once again vanished into thin air, leaving a mess in his wake.

Through his knowledge of the police department's security systems, he had managed to hack into their files, viewing all of Shadowsin's open cases, being investigated by the homicide dept., usually a Detective Max Johnson at the helm of the investigation.

The files themselves didn't reveal much he didn't already know, Shadowsin had a very distinct style when dealing with his prey, and he realized that there was little he would be able to do until the files finished coming in.

Eve Lexington's condition had begun to improve at a decent rate, and once she was in a stable condition, an anonymous donation came in to transfer the young woman to one of the finest rooms in the finest wing the hospital had. Nobody questioned this too far in this Hospital staff, as with a name as prestigious as the North Rhodes Lexingtons, many simply assumed her family was putting the money forward.

Officer Hivejack had been taken into the Police Department's custody on Perseus' suggestion, and more of his files had been re-opened. Any commendations Hivejack had incurred over the years were more than balanced out by the investigations into his performance and lack of open cases due to murders of suspects. When Perseus had brought him in, he was one more citation away from being placed on administrative leave and having a hearing to determine his status with the force.

He was now in the New Greenborough city prison, awaiting charges to be brought forward.

One thing that Karl found rather interesting about Hivejack's file is that several complaints had been brought forward, but not by a large variety of officers, one in particular. Maxwell Johnson, the detective who investigated Shadowsin's crimes.

Curious as to why Johnson was the only one making recorded complaints, Karl began to investigate even further, discovering that according to Johnson's testimony, many of the officers either found Hivejack intimidating or a nuisance that they would tolerate, while others claimed he was enjoyable.

"This is getting me nowhere." Karl sighed as he sat back in his seat, thinking once more, planning his next move.

He thought of days gone by, about his days as a minor celebrity in the technological world.

The days of Blud-tech, and Bludmond Software. The companies he had founded as a young idealistic man.

The companies he left behind.

He was no longer a member of the board of directors of any of his own companies, any shares he had were passed onto his next of kin when he 'died'. However, in order to continue providing the materials he needed in order to function and protect this city, he was a prominent shareholder in a variety of different companies, under different names in each. He was careful, and he always made sure that he could not be tracked to the truth.

As Karl opened his eyes, a blue light began to blink.

"SIR."

Karl turned his chair to face the source of the light, a camera which followed his movements in the room, with a small blinking light attached to it.

"Yes, Hermes?"

"THE VOCAL RECORDINGS HAVE BEEN TRACED."

Karl leaned forward and waited.

"Well?"

"THERE ARE NO PERFECT MATCHES."

Karl sighed as he leaned back in his chair. This did not surprise him at all, Shadowsin was careful, a calculated killer. He wouldn't use his true voice in the presence of a predator. But something had slipped during their last encounter, he could sense it. Something had happened, Shadowsin was trying to reason with him for a time, and he needed to know why.

"I see. Show me the matches."

A series of different names appeared on a nearby large monitor, with percentages and small profiles underneath each. Then a final name appeared, one which greatly interested Karl Bludmond.

"Maxwell Johnson...."

"SYSTEMS HAVE DETERMINED A 20 PERCENT SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE RECORDINGS AND THE VOICE AND MANNERISMS OF DETECTIVE JOHNSON."

Karl sighed.

"This is the largest percentage we have?"

"AFFIRMATIVE."

Karl nodded, hummed to himself briefly, and turned to another monitor.

"Hermes, I want the dossiers and profiles of every person on this list in ten minutes. I want their whereabouts for the last several days, specifically the times and known locations of Shadowsin's attacks."

"AFFIRMATIVE, SIR."

Karl sat straight up in his chair, wheeling himself over to the nearby workbench, working on another set of parts he had strewn about. The word NYX was emblazoned into some of the parts he was tinkering with.

As the minutes passed, Karl began to grow anxious and impatient, he was not used to waiting for Hermes to finish an analysis. He had designed Hermes to be swift and efficient, so most results had appeared in minutes.

Eventually, the light resurfaced.

"SIR. THE DOSSIERS ARE COMPLETE."

As the images of folders appeared on the large monitor, Karl began to sift through them. Much to his surprise, most of the matches were ruled out due to video surveillance catching them during the times of Shadowsin's attacks. However, Max Johnson was never found on surveillance footage during the attacks.

Karl's companies had designed security systems for almost every company in the city, be they video or otherwise. Once he had taken up his new calling, he either found backdoors into his own systems, or he hacked into those he did not originally own. With a city as large as New Greenborough, there were cameras on every city block, at every store, simply there were eyes watching them everywhere. If Max Johnson had been anywhere during the times of the attacks, or spoken to anyone during those times, it would have been seen.

Karl swiveled to another keyboard and began to search for information on Johnson. Looking through the dossier Hermes had gathered, he could tell the man was a true paragon of the law. He had more collars and commendations than any other officer on the force up until about a year previous, where news articles and police reports revealed his family had been killed. Johnson had filed a large variety of reports and statements implicating one James "Jimmy" Vegara, a criminal whom he had been hunting for quite some time. When the police department turned a blind eye to Johnson's claims, several days later Vegara was found dead, and after this, Shadowsin had begun to appear.

The evidence was beginning to pile up, and it saddened Karl to see a good man possibly turn to such vile means of extracting justice.

Finally looking through the dossier, Karl saw that in the year since then, Johnson had shifted his home several times, moving to a series of different apartments. This most recent one he was living in was near a bank, and Karl had access to the ATM camera nearby.

Looking through the footage, he saw that Johnson had recently left the apartment, with what seemed to be a few bags, locked the door, and had yet to return since then, several days ago.

Karl sighed.

"I've found you...." He looked away and moved towards his calling station.

"Though I'm not sure I'm glad of it..."

He pressed a button on the console and a ringing began to resound across the room.

"New Greenborough Police?"

"Ah yes, hello, um, I'm trying to get in contact with Detective Johnson? He had some questions for me the other day and I was hoping to speak with him."

The officer on the other end sounded like he was rustling through some paperwork.

"I'm sorry, Detective Johnson is out sick, may I ask what case this was? I can direct you to another detective..."

Karl immediately hung up the phone and looked through the dossier again.

Dialing in another number, Karl pressed a button and began to wait.

When Max finally picked up the phone, Karl cleared his throat.

"Hello Detective Johnson." He said with a lighthearted tone in his voice.

"You're a hard man to find, Mr. Johnson. Though, with your habits and...extracurricular activities, I suppose that is entirely understandable."

He didn't want to scare Johnson off, he didn't want his only lead to vanish into the wind. But he had tried to persuade him to take Eve rather than Benny, so something in him still cared. He wasn't the cold blooded murderer that everyone assumed Shadowsin was, and he needed to know the truth.

Max was just pulling into the long driveway as his phone rang, an unknown number, he answered it anyway. "Hello.." As he heard the voice on the other end his eyes narrowed and he could feel Shadowsin stir within him. "My profession calls for me to be able to be hard to find....but you seem to already know that. As for these extra curricular activities you speak of...I cannot begin to fathom what you mean...You have 30 seconds to convince me to stay on the line...29...28...27..."

Karl chuckled.

"Patience Detective, all in good time. I'm calling on behalf of one of my associates, and all I want to do is talk."

He didn't want to divulge too much information at once, but he needed to make Johnson curious. Interested enough to stay on the line.

"We thought you might be interested to know that Detective Hivejack has been taken into custody and is pending trial. It seems that Mr. Hivejack wasn't as good a representative of what the New Greenborough police force can be as was originally thought."

Karl leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms out on the armrests. Knowing things was what Karl did, and he did it very well. As long as he could convince Johnson that he had the larger base of information, he hoped he could convince him to stay on the line.

However, he was prepared for the possibility of him trying to run.

Pressing another button on the console, Karl looked up.

"Hermes."

"YES, SIR?"

"Send one of the units out about 25 miles west of the city. Keep it hidden, and prepare the NYX prototype for analysis."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

Pressing the button again, the room once more went silent and Karl leaned back in his chair.

Max parked his car and got out keeping his voice calm as not to give away anything. "Benny? Really now...what did he do this time....nothing he cant work his way out of I'm sure." Max tried keeping his responses short not giving away any more information than he needed to. He started walking around his house making sure his contingency plan was still effective and ready to be used. He would hate to do it but if this person seemed to know who he was an his connection to Benny he may know about his other secret...he always knew the day would come where he would have to hide. He had several different identities set up and he could use any of them. The paper trail could not be lead back to him in any way he had made sure of it. The preparations were all set all he needed to do was wait and see the moves that were made by this mysterious person.

Karl smiled, he'd managed to peak Max's curiosity.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Detective. From what I've heard so far, he's being brought on murder and attempted murder charges. It sounds like he's made an enemy of a rather prestigious family, the Lexington's of North Rhodes, are you familiar with them? According to the reports he attempted to kill their heiress in a back alley of the city!"

He put on his best attempt at a shocked voice, then pressed a button as a blue light lit up behind him.

Karl turned back and looked at the camera.

"Yes, Hermes?"

The light began to blink in time with the words being spoken.

"SIR, UNIT 56 IS IN POSITION."

"Excellent, how quickly can it be in that compound?"

"SECONDS, SIR."

"Good work. And the other matter?"

"THE NYX PROTOTYPE IS BEING ANALYZED AS WE SPEAK. CURRENT EFFICIENCY OF THE PROTOTYPE IS LISTED AT 30%"

Karl grinned.

"Keep me posted Hermes."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

He quickly turned back and pressed the button again, continuing to listen to Max's reply. He was hoping he didn't have to use any of these contingencies, but he needed to make sure that the illusive detective did not escape, no matter what the cost.

Shadowsin began to get riled inside of max. "He is hiding something..I don't like this..." max Shadowsin began the transformation but somehow kept Max's voice normal a trick Max did not know could happen. what else are you hiding.... The monster ignored him as it quietly and effortlessly took control of his legs and free arm started moving him around the house grabbing the very things he would need. He had money in unregistered nameless accounts which he could access anonymously. "Well...it was only a matter of time before Benny bit off more than he could chew. Is the young lady alright?"

Karl smiled. He still cared, no matter what he had become.

"She's quite alright, she's currently being treated at Mercy Arm's Hospital, my associates are keeping watch over her in case something happens. But that is not the only interesting thing about this case. You see, reports have come in saying that Perseus brought Mr. Hivejack into custody, and claimed that Mr. Hivejack had been attacked by Shadowsin! Can you believe that?"

Karl pressed the button on his chair once more and turned back.

"Hermes, keep Unit 56 at the ready."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

He pressed the button once more and continued.

"You see, I hear that you are sort of the specialist on the Shadowsin cases, so I assumed you would have been notified immediately."

He was making his last, gentle push, before he started feeding information to his new curiosity. This conversation had gone on long enough, and he needed to make sure he didn't lose this chance.

He gave a soft sigh.

"I'm terribly sorry about this Detective, you must think me some kind of lunatic to be calling you out of nowhere, then telling you all this without giving so much as a name. I'm sure you have all kinds of questions for me."

He hoped the opportunity for answers would keep him interested. Whether it would or not was yet to be seen.

"That is good...I wonder what Miss Lexington was doing in the Alley..I also wonder why you my mysterious friend knows so much about all of this...There was also someone else I was in charge of investigating...but it seems even you have your limits on what you can know..."

-flashback-

"Max the chief wants to see you in his office." Max got up from his desk and moved to the chief's office immediately. He was greeted by not only thie Chief but a man dressed in an expensive black suit and shades which hid his eyes. "Max...this is Agent Smith...what we are about to tell you is top secret...no paper trail only word of mouth. Agent Smith will debrief you."

The agent said nothing but took a strange device out of his pocket and pressed a button. Max heard a beep as his phone shut off in his pocket. The chiefs computer and even his electric radio turned off. The only things that seemed to work were the lights. Max tried to turn on his cell but it was dead. "This better be reversible...."

"It is Detective Johnson. This device has turned off all electronics in the area...you will forget you ever saw it..." The Agent had a rich baritone voice that had no emotion to it. "Now that no one can see or hear us...Detective Johnson I have orders for you...you are to investigate the being called Perseus. Find out who he is and what he wants...We will contact you." The agent pressed his gadget again and all the electronics were set back to normal.

The agent once again began speaking, "We have called you here today Detective Johnson to give you a special commendation. The mayor himself would have been here but he is busy as you know." The agent shook Max's hand and left.

-present-

"You know much more than an anonymous person should...I believe our time with this call is coming to an end...Anything you wish to say?"