ooc: Sorry I'm late joining, guys, something came up. Where is everyone?
Ic:
A beginning. That's what's always needed, one way or another, for a story of any kind. Without a beginning, there can't be a middle, and without a middle, there can't be an end. Without an end, there can't be any tie-ups or exciting action scenes, or a grand death from the villain...without a beginning, middle or end, there is no story, period. However, there are no real beginnings in life, no true endings, no middles. The beginning is just a continuation of a story that came before it, the story of the parents and the story of their parents, and their parents and so forth. Therefore, there can't be a middle, and every end is just a temporary break in the story before it begins anew. There are no simple threads in the tapestry of life, no individuals; no matter how tiny the effect, people do affect other people, entering their lives briefly or for an extended period of time. All of these threads intertwine and branch off to twist into other lives, and they branch of and so on, so on, until the complex pattern becomes infinitely complicated.
Such is life.
However, for the purposes of this story, there must be a beginning, and although it won't be *the* beginning, it will be *a* beginning.
It's raining. Large droplets of cold, icy water fall from the sky and splash into the mud of the alley, running down binbags and drainpipes and dripping off of roofs. The sky is dark with rainclouds, and that in itself is weird, because not only is it not a particularly dark day, but the sky around the patch of rain is perfetcly clear. Suddenly, a fork of lightning splits the small patch of sky with its light, illuminating the alley briefly.
In the small flash of light, three figures can be seen, two facing one as the one backs off slowly from the advancing two. Another flash. The two men, their faces cloaked in shadows, are pulled into a sinister grin, malice glinting in their eyes. The survey the tall, striking woman before them with a hint of contempt and loathing, and the woman looks at them with terrified blue eyes.
A bolt of lightning suddenly strikes the ground between them, mud and rubbish being sprayed everywhere. The woman looks through the smoke hopefully, but her face turns dismayed when she sees two men walk straight through it, unscathed and sneering. Another lightning bolt, this time straight at the two men, but it seems to meet some kind of invisible force which absorbs the blast. The woman looks around desperately, obviously trying to find a way out, when one of the men speaks.
"Looks like we found ourselves a rookie, Surplus," the one on the right sneers.
"Yeah...looks like they'll make anyone a hero!" Surplus laughs. The first speaker joins in, and the alley echoes with their sinister laughter.
Another lightning bolt strikes out at them, but it is absorbed again. The light illuminated the alleyway, showing the empty rooftops and the deserted streets on either side, and the womans shoulders slump in defeat. She's dead. Why did she even think to become a hero? Could she really have made a difference? Probably not. Why did she think she could?
She looks up in resignation at the two approaching villains. One- Surplus, she heard him called- can apparently absorb electricity, and presumably do something with it, and the other one- Sabre- is superhumanly skilled with the blades strapped to his back, one of which he is drawing now. He looks at the edge, smiling nastily, and then looks at her.
"Which limb should I slice off first, I wonder?" He grins.
Surplus laughs. "How about her toes? Start at her toes and make your way up!" They both cackle, but the cackle is cut short when a new voice rebounds around the alley.
How about, says the voice, I feed you your precious blades?
Both Surplus and Sabre cast around for the source of the voice wildly, woma forgotten. This would be an excellent chance for her to run, but she is intrigued by the new voice. It doesn't seem to speak as much as rasp straight into her head; she can hear the words, but only in her head, as if they've just appeared there. It is a very disconcerting feeling.
Looking for me? says the voice sarcastically, I'm right here, in front of you...
Both Surplus and Sabres heads snap instantly to the front, as does the woman, and all three take an involuntary step backwards. Where before there was just shadow, now stands a man, about six foot tall, probably more.
He is wearing a completely black tight-fitting body suit, making him blend into the darkness around him, save for the almost stark contrasting light grey bat-shaped patches over the eyes connecting at the nose. He has two dark grey slashes running down from his pecs to his waist, and a dark silver belt with a skull belt buckle. He has a large, red, silver-spiked knee strap on his right leg and a red silver-spiked wriststrap is just visible on his right wrist.
Several chains are visible running down a short way- to his knees- before looping around the back and out of sight beneath his large, ragged crimson cloak.
"Who are you?" Sabre demands furiously. "How did you get here?"
I do not feel like revealing any information to scum like you,
"SCUM?!" roars Surplus, bristling, but the man runs straight through him. His voice isn't more powerful or louder than Surplus's, it just seems to cut straight through the sound, taking precedence over what was being said before.
But you may call me Death...for I bring yours to you.
Sabre laughs, now. "You fool! We are two against your one! That useless hero can do nothing to us...you come to your own death!"
Surplus snarls. "I AM NOT SCUM, YOU HERO TRASH!" With a guttural growl that quickly turns into a roar, Surplus unleashes a massive bolt of electricity that arks across the gap between them. The woman watches in horror as the masked man- the man who stepped in to save her- is hit square in the chest and sent flying across the alleyway. He smashes into the side of a wall, tumbling down to land in a heap on the floor. He lies there, unmoving, as smoke begins to slowly rise from his body.
The woman shakes her head and looks back at the two villains, now advancing again. She retreats quickly. She should have run, she should have gotten out of there, she should have escaped while she had the chance and now she's going to die at the hands of these two vilainous...
Was that it? sneers a chilling voice that seems to slice through all thought. All three in the alley freeze, and turn their attentions back to the heap at the side of the alley. Instead of a steaming corpse, the masked man is now standing, perfectly upright and seemingly fine, a gaping hole where his heart should be. The masked man laughs, a grave-cold, chilling sound. Try and do some real damage this time!
As they all watch, the woman astounded and the villains horrified, the man lifts a hand to his chest and a green glow envelops his chest. When he takes his hand away, the hole that was there is gone.
The next few moments pass in a blur. Sabre bellows in terror and rage, drawing his second blade and rushing at the man. The man Simply turns to the side ever so slighty, extending his arm almost lazily towards the charging Sabre, his long, taloned fingers pointing towards his chest. The womans eyes widen as suddenly, a large red blade is protruding from his back. Sabre looks down, shocked at the sudden blooming of pain in his chest. The pain is short lived, however, as the blade now sticking through his body shortens, the man stepping forwards and slicing his throat open with his sharp talons. As Sabre topples over sideways, Surplus unleashes a burst of energy at the man again, but this time the man simply brings his cloak up around himself with a wave of his hand, the cloak swirling around him.
The arc of energy travels straight through the cloak-
-into nothing. The energy slams through the wall behind where the man was, and soon the cloak isn't there either. Surplus casts around fearfully, when he catches movement out of the corner of his eye. Spinning around, he unleashes a blast of energy at the man, who's just appeared behind him. The man throws his arm up, cloak included, and the energy explodes, sending both of them backwards.
The Man flips in the air, landing on his feet as Surplus picks himself up from the heap he landed in. The Man snorts. Let me show you how it's done, he sneers.
Suddenly, the chains that were hanging at his belt uncoil of their own accord, striking outwards, becoming longer and longer as they reach towards Surplus. Surplus's eyes widen as he steps backwards, but the laughing skulls on the end of the chains streak towards him faster and faster, clamping onto his legs. Two more shoot out from under the cloak, wrapping around his arms.
"What are you?" Surplus asks, all rage gone, replaced with sheer terror.
The Mans mask twists with a smile from underneath. I'm your worst nightmare... With that, a fifth chain shoots out from under his cloak, the skeleton head at the ends jaw chattering with silent laughter as it heads straight for Surplus's heart.
The woman looks away suddenly, wincing at the squelching sound as the skull and chain shoot straight through the villains heart.
She looks back, hesitantly, and she sees the chain wrapping itself around the villains body from where it's protruding from the wound at the back. Surplus slumps, already dead, but a dull grey light soon surrounds him and the chains, spreading down the metal and back towards the mystery man. The man flashs completely black for a second, then all the the light vanishes and the chains dissapear back underneath his cloak and at his sides, letting Surplus drop lifelessly to the ground. The man turns around to look at the woman, still standing stock still, watching him.
Go home, he commands. The world of heroes and villains is not what it is in comic books.
The woman nods slowly, taking a step backwards, towards the street behind her. She certainly will go home, and have a large amount of coffee to help her cope. She might even restart smoking after tonight. "W-Who are you?" she manages to stammer out.
The man regards her for a second, then seems to make a decision. You may refer to me as Kreature. and with that, he flares his cloak and is gone. The woman shakes her head and flees from the alley.