The ATL

((This thread is open to everyone, at any time. Just jump right in.))

People say light is good, and dark is bad. That the shadows are where the light of justice doesn’t shine, where evil hides. They might be right, but I’m going to see to it that it won’t stay that way.

In an alleyway a woman screams for help, but no one hears her pleas. Rough hands rip open her shirt and toss her to the ground. Then there is a gunshot, and her assailant falls dead beside her. She screams again. There is no shooter to be found, only an empty shell in the shadows.

I am the new justice, the justice that dwells in the shadows. When the sun sets, I rise. Maybe you’ve seen me. I’m the cute goth girl you talk to outside a concert, but you look away and I’m gone. The spooky story you bring home to your friends, but everyone just tells you that you were drunk. Maybe you’ve caught glimpses of a person running from the shadows and then gone again. Tell yourself it’s your eyes playing tricks on you. It was just fleeting shadows, maybe even blame a cat. If you’re lucky, that’s all I’ll be to you. Fleeting shadows.
We live in a world of heroes, villains, and collateral damage. But some of the heroes are super. Some of the villains are too. The innocents caught in the middle are never super. Somebody is always forgotten. Heroes call themselves heroes of the people, but there are lots of people. Super heroes are busy fighting super villains and protecting the shining cities, but when it comes to not-so-super villains the not-so-super heroes are grossly outnumbered. Even the brightest beacon of light casts shadows, and there too are innocent people that need a hero. That’s where you’ll find me. Actually, that’s where I’ll find you. I used to be the terror of the streets. Now I’m the mistress of the shadows. I am Metis, the shadow walker. I will protect the streets. One day, I’ll protect the whole world standing side by side with other heroes.


“……..but maybe I’ve got some work to do before I’m recognized as a guardian of justice.” Metis thought to herself as she watched a man with a severed windpipe gurgle and drop to the floor in front of her. She didn’t even remember killed him, but his gang clothes told her he probably deserved it. Still, it wasn’t a very hero-like thing to do. She cleaned the switchblade on the man’s jacket and put it back in her pocket. She was in a bad part of town, and she didn’t recognize where she was at. Sometimes she loses track of far she travels when she’s cruising through the shadows. Oh well, she’d figure out once she got to a major road. So she started walking down the sidewalk, in the direction of the sound of cars.

It’s a strange stroke of luck she didn’t get bothered on her way, because she obviously didn’t fit into the area. Her skin was pale white, and her jagged hair was cut off just past the ears. She wore a black turtleneck that ended at her wrists where fingerless gloves. Slender fingers ended in sharp nails. Black pants hugged tight against her, riding down her legs into heavy black boots that seemed like they should be loud, but she barely made any noise as she walked down the road.

Metis had gotten close enough to downtown that she new where she was, but she wasn’t going to get to a hotel before sunrise without any trouble. She was in front of a parking complex when three males approached her and got way too close way too quick. Two were big, one wasn’t quite so tall and a lot skinner than the other two. They all towered over Metis’s petite 5’2’’ frame though. “’ey little goth girl. This don’t look like your neighborhood. You come here to visit me?” The biggest one said. Obviously the leader, he had a muscle shirt and a white ball cap worn backwards. The others chimed in with some disgusting commentary. The other big guy circled around Metis. Metis looked up with a bored expression on her face. “Get out of my face. Trust me, you don’t want to mess with me.” She kept walking without giving them so much as a second look, but they weren’t eager to take her advice. The leader stepped in front of her and blocked her path, and the one that had circled behind her stepped up close enough to sandwich her between the two men. An unpleasant feeling in her backside made the group’s intention clear to Metis, and It was already past the final straw when the one behind her ran his hand from her shoulder down her arm. She was too angry for words, so she reached for her pistol. The leader of the group beat her to the punch though, pointing a glock squarely at her forehead. Metis gritted her teeth. The local streetlight was broken, and the closest shadow was more than a few strides away. Farther than she could get sandwiched between two men with a gun leveled at her head. Her anger was beyond words, but she was obviously in a poor position. “You, with the hands on me. Before the night is through I’m going to cut your dick off, and you pointing the gun at me, you won’t live to see another sunrise. The one with the gun just laughed and smacked her across the cheek with the pistol. The skin bruised quickly, and a little blood trickled out of her mouth. They laughed and made jokes about her threats, but Metis intended on keeping her promises. A hero has to be honest. She just had to figure out how to turn this situation around.

Mosh sat on a park bench near a bus stop on Peachtree Street. His highly specialized ears were searching for trouble, and he had just found it. A knife across a throat, blood spilling on the ground, gurgling. Mosh stood up and took off at Olympic sprinter speeds, jumping onto the roof of a nearby building and continuing along his way. His ears listened to the footstep leading away from the body, only to hear a new commotion befall someone. He was close now, close enough to see what was happening. Three men had a woman at their mercy. Oh, how I do love damsel’s in distress, recalling his various run-ins with Sakura. Mosh leaped down from the building he was on, making his way towards the ruffians and their prey.
"Well, well. What do we have here boys. A girl caught in the wrong neighborhood? Three fine gentleman helping her home? Or is this going to turn into one of those night's you're gonna regret?
The men turned to ascertain the source of the voice, only to see a young man approaching them, a bass guitar slung over his back, the bottom of his red trench coat brushing the ground with each step. He was tall six feet, six foot four, somewhere in there. Hard to be sure of at a distance, he walked with confidence but he wasn’t built like these three men, he wasn’t nearly as large. Smiles stretched across each of the men’s faces, including the newcomer. “The name’s Mosh, so you can tell the police who kicked your ass.”

Metis had snapped. The taste of her own blood, the feeling of his disgusting hands on her body, it was all too much; she was seeing red. She was literally shaking with anger, and her right eye was twitching.

Somebody else appeared on the scene and said something, but Metis didn’t hear it. she wasn’t aware of most things going on around her. The one pointing the gun turned to the newcomer to say something, but Metis couldn’t hear anything people were saying. All she recognized was that he was distracted. He didn’t get farther than “You-“before Metis knocked his arm up with her right one and put a 9 millimeter bullet through wrist with a quickly drawn handgun. At the same time an equally dexterous left hand was stabbing her switchblade into the groin of the man behind. Metis acted with a speed and skill that weren’t her own. The bullet through the man’s wrist had caused him to abruptly drop his firearm, and before it hit the ground Metis put three bullets into his torso. She spun around and put a bullet through each kneecap of the man behind her. The one who had put his filthy hands on her. This was the one she wanted, she just needed to get the other one out of the way. Before he had registered the pain of a bullet through his knee, Metis sent a kick flying into the side of his right knee, brought her leg back and planted the thick sole of her boot squarely in the man’s face. He fell backwards like timber. By now enough time had passed for everyone to register just what had happened. The leader lay on the ground bleeding, not able to say much. The third man was overcome with fear, and tried to run away. Metis didn’t try to stop him. Actually, Metis had no idea he was trying to get away or even that he existed. Her mind was overcome with anger that could only be sated by inflicting pain on the crumpled mass before her. She kneeled down to him, stabbing the switchblade into his thigh and slicing up towards him. A wicked smile spread across her face, and her lips parted to reveal her teeth. With her pure black eyes staring right into his, it was like looking into the face of a nightmarish predator. He lost control and began sobbing uncontrollably in between scream. This made Metis laugh as she withdrew the blade and plunged it into a different spot three different times. “I told you what I was going to do. She stabbed the blade into his groin again. “I should make you eat it you filth. How dare you even think of laying your hands on me!”

Mosh was astonished by the scene. With amazing speed he ran up to the fleeing man. clotheslining him with all of his might, which at this speed was quite a lot of force, sending the man toppling over himself. A quick boot to the head was all it took to knock the man out cold. The next second was a blur. A shot fired from Night' missing the blade, as he intended, but the resulting sonic boom knocking it out of the crazed woman's hand. He ran as fast as he could, closing the 30 foot gao between them in less than a second. Restraining her arms he held the woman in the most comforting way he could whilst not allowing her freedom. "It's alright now. You got them, they're not gonna hurt you now."

Metis brought up her knife, and plunged it down for the finishing stroke....only to find her hand empty before it made contact. In other blink she was accosted with her arms restrained behind her.

Metis struggled violently for a moment, but wasn't about to overpower anyone. after a few seconds she hung limp and let reason come surging back. It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened, especially once the events leading up to her freakout slowly came back.

She'd lost it twice in one night, bad night for her. Worse night for the fellas though. "All right all right, I'm calmed. You can let me go now" Metis's normal tone had returned to her voice. "Or is this how you normally pick up girls?" She said with a sarcastic smile. Being at a disadvantage never prevented her from having a smug attitude, especially when there wasn't a gun at her face. Even if he decided to take her to the police over what was really just a big misunderstanding, escaping wouldn't be problem.

Mosh smiled, despite the scene in front of him. "Well not usually. But I rarely find girls that can fuck up three grown men like that." He let go of her arms and attended to the man in front of him. "You did a number on him but he should live if the ambulances get here soon." Mosh turned his attention to the man who'd been shot. "Him too. Not for a lack of effort, I'm sure, but you seemed to have missed all of his vitals. Hold on one second." Mosh pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. With his best old man voice, Mosh called in the scene, making sure to leave out the part where his new acquaintance lost her mind and almost killed a man through crotch wounds. "Let's get outta here before they show up." Mosh offered the woman his hand to help her off the ground.

She took hold of his hand and raised herself up. She wobbled a bit finding her balance, and then was stable. "Men are overrated" She said dismissively. "They had it coming." She looked at the man bleeding on the ground. "You sure we shouldn't just put one through his head as a show of mercy?" A hero was merciful, after all. "And where did my knife go? I like that knife." After a few seconds of looking around, she picked the knife off the ground, retracing the blade and securing it back into her pocket.. Being able to see in the dark was helpful in pretty basic ways sometimes.

"Well, I guess I better get out of here before those cops you called show up." Metis's first intention was to fade into the closest shadow, and get way out of here. Then she realized how lost she was in this spaghetti plate of a city, and thought there may be a better option. Besides, he seemed to be friendly. Not that she could be sure of his intentions, but if worse comes to worse she does have super powers. That tends to give her an advantage over most people. "...Or are you enough of a gentleman to show a lady where to go? I don't actually live in the city, and it seems like every street here is called peachtree..." Metis thought for a moment, tapping lightly on her cheek, and then added. "And maybe you can tell me what just happened exactly. I can wager a guess, but I don't actually remember most of it."

Mosh smiled at her, "Unfortunately I don't live here either. More of a wanderer myself. But I know a way to help" Mosh slung his bass around his neck and grabbed a hold of the woman's hand. "If you would be so kind miss, please hit a string. Then I will try and explain what I saw."

Metis, looked at him quizically. He suddenly seemed a little crazy, and Metis was a little nervous. She decided just to go with it. "Um, All right then." She held out a slender finger and toughed a long nail to guitar's string. She brought her finger down with a quick motion to "Twang" the string.

The sound grew louder as Mosh concentrated on the single strum. He rose into the air, hauling his new friend with him. A quick series of slaps from Mosh's hand kept the tune going, allowing them to rise quickly to the top of the building Mosh had viewed the situation begin to unfold in the first place. He set the woman down gently and floated down beside her. "Now before we continue, my I have your name, Miss..."

Metis wasn't sure what to expect, but she certainly wasn't expecting to lift off the ground. Her jaw and her grip tightened as she rose up into the air depending on her grip on another person.

If Metis were to try to describe shadow walking, she'd compare it to flying. This isn't because Shadow walking is like flying though, it's just because there's nothing better to compare it too. There's a sense of not being attached to anything, but there's also no sense of gravity. This was not the case here. Metis was perfectly aware of the increasing distance between her and the ground.

The man set her down gently, and she wobbled a moment until she found her balance. She was thankful to be back on solid ground. "Er...There's a little more to you than meets the eye eh? My name is Metis, and what about you? Shouldn't a gentleman introduce himself?

Mosh smiled at the comment. "I figured you had caught it when I shouted at your attackers. More was lost from that little berserking you did than I thought. For now you may call me Mosh." Mosh extended his hand to meet Metis. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance madame. What all did you miss down there. I can describe it pretty well, it was quite frightening to be honest." Mosh placed obvious inflection on the last bit, noting he was joking with her. In all honesty nothing really seemed to affect him much anymore, not after Dreogan and his killings. It worried him a bit that he was so desensitized to the violence, but knew it was an inevitability in this line of work.

"Er...berserk huh? Metis scratched behind her ear. "Well, it's nice to meet you Mosh. Actually, the last thing I can remember is being hit." Metis tentatively touched her bruised cheek. "But you know, it's not like I usually go around shooting people up!" She said with her hands on her hips matter-o-factly. "I'm actually something of a hero."

"That's good to know." Mosh Rubbed his eyes for a second trying to recall the events. "Uhh, let's see. I heard a throat being slit from a bus stop aout half a mile away. I followed that noise, until I heard a commotion. I assume that was them grabbing you. So I high tailed it here, distracted them, you shot one three times, and went to town stabbing that one guy in the dick. I knocked the knife outta your hand and made you come to your senses." Mosh could hear sirens in the distance, though the sound hadn't quite reached Metis' ears. "Let's get outta here. before they can spot us."

Metis Scratched the back of her head. "The windpipe being divided you heard may have been another...accident on my part." She forced a sheepish smile. "Well." She said, looking off in a different direction "Thanks for stepping in. I owe you one."

"Let's get outta here. before they can spot us"

Metis giggled. "Oh, I'm not worried about getting spotted myself." As she said that, her black eyes seemed to expand and cover the white part of her eye until her eyes were completely black for a split second, and then she blinked and they were back to normal. "But you lead the way. I 'm not the one that hears from blocks away." Metis grinned. "It must be pretty nice having powers like that. Do you fancy yourself some kind of hero, or were you just in the wrong place at the right time?"