Meeting The Night Hunter. (Closed: The Black Arrow and John Rivers [Rex])

The bright stars lighten up the dark and cold night skies in the city of Chicago. Black Arrow stood tall in his home town in his standard outfit. His special black armor that reached all across his body, mask that covered his eyes, and hoodie. He had his quiver neatly tucked behind his cape were it was decently hidden, but still easily grabbable for him. With his bow also hidden behind his cape, swung over his shoulder, The Night Hunter stood at the top of a building in the center of the city, staring down onto the dark and empty streets of Chicago. With his arms crossed across his chest, Black Arrow just waited. It wouldn't be long before something happened in this crazy city...

Through the silent night, a yelp for help screamed out, from all the down in a ally right beside the building Black Arrow stood upon. The scream rang loud in the quite Chicago air, it could be heard from even several blocks away. Using his mask's enhanced vision, he could see what was going on perfectly. A group of thug's were mugging a man with his wife and kid. One...Two...Four thugs. All equiped with knifes. They had just cut the father up pretty bad, he had a large gash on his stomach and was lossing quite alot of blood. Steven's mind analyzed all of this in less then a second. Without wasting any time, Black Arrow jumped off the building and began plummeting to what would be the average persons death.

As he came closer and closer to the ground, he waited for just the right time to spread out his cape. His cape was unlike any other. It was specially made so he could jump from high places and glide around and land with no harm done to him. When Black Arrow was close enough to the ground that he could jump down and not be hurt, he threw down a smoke bomb between all of the thugs then dropped down out of the sky, landing in the center of the cloud of smoke that started to spread throughout the ally.

The second he landed, The Night Hunter flipped into thermal vision so he could see, and then started to move. Three of the thugs were behind him and the other one was directly in front of him, facing the bloody father. Sprinting forward through the smoke, Black Arrow kicked the back of the thugs left leg then as the he leaned back from the blow, Black Arrow swung his elbow down into his face, knocking him unconscious almost instantly. Letting the thug fall straight to the ground, Arrow jumped forward and grabbed the man who was lossing blood every second. Laying him down on the floor, Black Arrow quickly pulled out a medi-gell shell from his utility-belt, and popped it in the center of his hand then applied it to the gash on his chest. He moved the man's hand onto the wound so he would keep pressure on it. In a matter of seconds the medi-gel would seal up his wound, and he would start to recover in no time, but for now Arrow had to deal with the other punks.

Looking over his shoulder, Black Arrow saw the other thugs come sprinting out of the smoke the second the realized what was going on. The Night Hunter spun around and rose to meet them, getting ready to easily reverse whatever unexperience attack they would throw at him. One of the thugs stopped running, and froze up, while the other two kept running. "Ahhh shit! Guys we gotta get out of here, it's The Black Arrow!" He yelled from the back of the group, but the other two didn't care about there friends warnings and came at Steven full force. The one in front swung his knife horizontally towards Black Arrow's throat. Stepping into the attack using his right hand to grab a hold of his wrist mid-swing, Steven lifted the thugs arm up leaving his entire left side open for a attack. Swinging his left hand into the right side of his rib-cage, breaking several of his ribs on impact, that thug wasn't gonna be going anywhere. Still gripping onto his wrist with his right hand, Black Arrow threw him to the ground then he jumped forward at the other guy behind him. He seemed to notice that he was fighting a battle he cant win from how easily Black Arrow took out his friends, so he tried to retreat, but he was too late for him. No-one can get away from The Night Hunter!. Steven jumped forward off the ground and did a super punch downwards into his face causing him to fly to the right smashing into the brick wall.

The last guy had already retreated back into the smoke and thought he was gonna be able to get away from Black Arrow. Only he didn't know about his thermal vision. Steven could clearly see him as he covered away. Taking his bow off of his shoulder, and pulling a frozen arrow out of his quiver, Black Arrow aliened his shot perfectly in a single second. Releasing the arrow, he watched it soar through the smoke and hit the last thug right in the back of his left leg. Freezing all the way around his foot and up to his knee, he collapsed to the floor unable to move.

Turning away from thugs, back to the family, he flipped out of thermal vision and saw that the man was already back on his feet. The medi-gel worked as well as ever, getting rid of all most his injuries. Black Arrow put his bow back into place, and approached them. "Are you all alright?" The man stepped forward and extended his arm to Steven. "Thanks to you. You saved my life. Please, tell me. Whats your name young hero?" Shaking the mans hand, he replied. "I am Black Arrow, The Night Hunter." He nodded his head and hugged his wife and son. "Then thank you Black Arrow, you gave me my life back today." Black Arrow shook his head back, showing his respect to the man.

John walked through the streets of Chicago his hands in his pockets as he looked around and took a deep breath having wondered the streets for weeks searching for some kind of problem to hopefully find some hero doing some work sadly it still had nothing going on. John leaned against a brick and sighed thinking of the nice Hotel room he had and kinda wishing he had stayed in tonight but he had to be vigilant in his cause to find the Black Knight or at least someone who knew something about him.

John stopped as he heard a scream and without hesitation he ran towards it his sneakers thudding the ground as he round a corner and into a alley way and stopped staring at the family in front of him and the man holding a bow. John grabbed his staff from hos side pocket and extended it to it's full length sending small shocks from the prod tips. " Hey back away from that family or else." John took a threatening step forward holding the staff in front of him his eyes locked on the man with the bow. The man was a Obvious weapon with the large bow, quiver of arrows, uniform and the way he stood showed years of skill and training to master his own self.

John had never been as excited as he was at this moment for here was his chance to help actual people from harm even with little training he had to do something to protect against this guy plus he had a secret weapon. John shouted and ran towards the guy thrusting madly with the Pole with obvious Novice skills just trying to hit the man with enough shock to drop him. John felt strong at the moment and alive as he tried to protect the family.

The Night Hunter was prepared to turn around and deal with the last thug who hasn’t been fully dealt with yet, when some teenager turned the corner. He pulled out a small pipe as if he expected he would be able to hit The Black Arrow with it. He gave the teen a strange look though when his ‘pipe’ expanded into it’s true size, revealing that it was actually more then just a piece of metal. It turned into a long staff that sent small sparks off from the tip. It was pretty impressive. Even though it wasn’t the most advanced gadget around, the fact that some random teen had it was diffidently impressive. It was clear to Black Arrow why this guy was here, and what he was planning. He misinterpret the situation, but it was understandable. John was trying to help this family out after hearing their cry for help, Arrow respected that. Even though he pulled a weapon on The Night Hunter, he knew that this guy was only trying to do good with it.

Before Black Arrow had time to explain what was really going on, John made his attack. Arrow couldn’t blame him though, in this city if you don’t attack first most of the time it wouldn’t end good for you. Everything this guy did was justifiable, and only let Arrow know that he wasn’t trying to cause trouble, only stop it. Black Arrow didn’t want to hurt a fellow hero, but he wasn’t going to just get hit with an electric staff. John swung his staff horizontally to his left for Black Arrow’s head. It wasn’t the best technique, but if it’s how he got the job done Arrow wasn’t going to bash him for it, but this attack was easily to reverse. With his experience dodging this attack wasn’t going to be a problem. John applied excessive force, allowing himself to be easily thrown off balance. While Arrow was loose. Fluid, like water. With one simple move he would dodge and redirect John’s attack while making a attack of his own.

Waiting for just the right moment using his outstanding reaction time, in one quick fluid motion, Black Arrow ducked down about a foot, took a step forward and threw his right arm up into the air above him, gripping a hold of John’s wrist mid swing, before John had time to pull it back for another attack. Black Arrow slid his hand up John’s wrist, so he would be gripping him by the hand. Using a good amount of his super human strength, Arrow squeezed John’s knuckles causing his hand to curl up. This was one of Arrow’s basic techniques for disarming a thug, because when the hand is squeezed this was, you lose all the gripping strength in your hand causing you to drop what ever you were wielding. ”Calm down, I’m not your enemy or the reason for their screams. I took care of the situation before you arrived.” Releasing his grip of John’s hand, Arrow took a step back and crossed his arms across his chest. "Tell me. What’s your name young hero." Even though he hadn’t actually done anything, Arrow knew that with a gadget like the one he swung with he would have easily taken out those thugs. Calling him a hero only showed that he knew why John was here and that he had earned a bit of Arrow’s respect for showing up at all.

John was clearly outclassed and he knew it and even though he was he still attacked until the man grabbed his wrist and forced him to drop his staff, His other hand went down to one of the concussive bombs but stopped as the man spoke and looked at the family who nodded there agreement. John blushed as he looked away trying to gain some self respect back. "Hello sorry about that i thought...well anyway my name is John Rivers and I'm not a hero well at least not yet, Right now I'm a citizen who came to help others. John leaned down picking up the staff and Shrunk it back to a small pole and slid it up his sleeve.

John looked at the man in front of him deciding this was a good guy and then he took a good look at his weapons noticing the tech built into it and smirked looking at the man. "Nice weapons and High tech must have taken a great mind to come up with that very inventive." John stepped forward examining the bow then flicked his eyes up to the armor giving a knowing smile. "Well I'm glad the family is safe but I have to get back to my personal quest have to find some freaking Hero in this city who knows Black Arrow or Black Knight so Thank you for saving the family I wasn't quick enough." With that John turned around and started walking out of the alley.

The Black Arrow watched John’s movements. When one of his hands were caught, he reached down. More then likely for another one of his gadget or something else he could use to attempt to get out of Arrow’s grasp. Had he not released him when he did, John might of made a foolish move, and only provoked The Black Arrow even more. Even though he knew this kid was only trying to defend people, Arrow wasn’t going to let him use any of his gadgets on him. He of all people knew just how effective a gadget could be if used in the right hands. Luckily Black Arrow didn't have to resort to any more force. John stopped what ever he was planning when Black Arrow explained the situation to him. John then spoke as he picked his gadget up off the ground, and then began admiring Arrow’s bow and other various tech items. It was nice to see someone who appreciated good tech work when he saw it. He went on to talk about a goal of his, to meet the two Phantoms. He knew Black Arrow’s name, but did not know him by his appearance. Arrow didn’t really expected anything else though, he was a very mysterious hero and very few people actually ever saw what he looked like. ”Don’t worry about it John. Your mind was in the right place, that’s what counts. Even just a citizen can be a hero if he has the courage to stand up for what is right.” The Black Arrow stepped forward again and placed his hand on John’s shoulder. This guy had gained some of Arrow’s respect so he saw no reason just let him walk away. He used gadgets just like Black Arrow and Black Knight did. They where a different style, and not quite as advanced but he showed he was still very intelligent. Plus the fact that he was searching for The Phantoms showed that he was looking for improvement and maybe even guidance from them.

”No need to search any further. I am the one you seek known as The Black Arrow. Now why is it that you were searching for me, what do you hope to gain from meeting me and The Black Knight?”

John felt the touch on his shoulder and turned his head letting out a long sigh as his first leg of the journey had ended, The man leaned against a wall feeling more tired than before and chuckled. "What reasons can i give that you haven't heard a thousand times? Want to do what is right, Help those who can't, be a force for good sadly none of these things are me. I am searching for a challenge in life and meaning in the world. I can't undo what I had done when so many died because of what i built but maybe just maybe I can do enough to allow me to go where they did so they can have there justice and kick my ass."

John stared at the ground while talking having only spoken of his past once to Master Lo and it still pained him. he sat down crossing his legs staring at the wall. "I built something that never should have been created and when i heard what it was being used for I tried to stop it sadly I wasn't good enough and circumstances forced me into the machine, Sadly it was unstable after I had removed the Uranium core and disengaged most of the higher circuitry and the machine blew up and killed so many people. I want to atone for what I did or his will destroy me and Black Knight and even you may help me onto the path of Atonement. I do not ask something for nothing but I don't know what you and Black Knight would want, I have money but I doubt Heroes are interested in that maybe you need someone to fight alongside you and that i can do if trained. But I need guidance or I will be lost forever.

John looked up at Black Arrow and stood up crossing his arms and laid his head back. "That is my reason sadly it may be a weak one but it is the truth and I found Honesty clears the path and opens more doors than lies and deceit besides I never was a good liar. So can you help me or do you believe this not too be good enough?" John looked at the other man his face set as if nothing in this world would change his goals he would find Black Knight alone if he had too and if Black Knight wouldn't help well he would keep going until he met someone who would.