Unfortunate Encounters

Alice dashed down the lamp lit street, frantic with nervousness and dread. "Dear lord, my mom is going to kill me." she thought, pushing herself to run even faster. Her mom had just called her, telling her that she was on her way home... this meant that she was going to be back any minute now. If she found out that her daughter was out at dark in the city.... She mentally shook her head, not even wanting to think about the possiblities. She cursed her stupidity which caused this situation in the first place. How could she have forgotten to chain up her bike in the first place!? She wanted to bang her head against the nearest wall, but there was no time.

A few moments later, she found her runner's high dissipating into nothingness. She was fast, but her stamina... Alice found herself panting for breath, her lungs and legs burning. Recognizing that her body needed a break, she sat down at the nearest curb and opened her drawstring bag, fishing out a bottle of water. Taking a long swig, she sighed, just sitting there, not finding the energy to do much else besides breath and drink. Suddenly, she heard a scream sound in a nearby alleyway. Alice froze mid sip, eyes widening in horror. She slowly but the bottle of water down, putting the cap back on. She stood up, putting the bottle in her bag.

Her mind was at war, to investigate and risk her life, or just go on her way and possibly condemn someone to death... neither option was particulary welcome. Taking a deep breath, she made her decision and took a step. A step towards the scream, she could never live with herself if she knew that she had abandoned someone to die, especially with her powers. She paused right in front of the darkness, feeling a twinge of residual fear from her youth go through her... but she no longer had a reason to fear the dark, it was now her friend, one of her greatest allies... if only her Id would recognize that. Shaking her head, she started down the maze of alleys.

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Elsewhere
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Nofuretsu scrambled down the street, studying the strange world around him. So much had changed since he had been defeated. The land was now swallowed by hard rock and metal, the greenery within the city was well planned, the fumes of those self moving chariots choked the air... yes... a lot has changed. He noticed a man in the alley, tying something around his arm to cut off the circulation. Nofuretsu felt his curiousity rise... but he couldn't stop, he was already far enough away from his... host that he was getting weak. Feeling a twinge of anger at the girl who he now had to call "master", he pushed on, feeling the forced bond between them being stretched.

Finally though, he could feel her stop. He let out a slight thank you that his current form couldn't get tired as he finally spotted Alice. Nodding slightly, the rat kept it's distance, curious about the slight notes of nervousness, fear, and indecision he was picking up. Despite not being able to communicate with the girl, he could still pick up what she was feeling when her mental guard was down... such as currently. Suddenly, she started moving towards the dark alley, entering it. "What is she doing?" he thought, silently following her. He wasn't going to make his prescence known yet, there was no reason to. Besides, knowing her, she would probably just ignore him, something she had started quite recently.

Mentally, he smiled mirthlessly. Sure he was just about powerless now... but once he was free... the whole world would know him again.

It had been a boring day; there had not been a single person worth killing, putting the man in a truly bad mood. Ever since he had become a super villain it had almost seemed like people were lining up for their own deaths, which kept the man in good spirits on most days but today had been different. So he did what he always did on days like this; he was beating a random person to death. That is if he decided not to torture her first. She had walked out of a martial arts institute, which the villain assumed meant she knew how to fight and would at least put up a fight but he had been wrong.

She screamed something that sent a tingle down his spine, maybe if he was lucky if the man was lucky some random halfwit hero would come to her rescue. That would probably make him feel a lot better. “Yeah, keep screaming. That’s what I want to hear,” again he struck her. Bruises were already starting to form on her face and blood was still running down from the cuts Mister Reaper had given her. “If you don’t keep screaming I’ll make sure it’ll be a slow and painful death,” he then placed a finger on his chin in thought, “although to be fair it’ll be slow and painful even if you do keep screaming.”

‘Hey, someone is coming this way,’ Edgar, the imaginary fez wearing crow, said to the man killing the woman. ‘Maybe it’s the hero you’re waiting for,’ using his wing like an arm he adjusted the way his fez sat upon his head.

“Good, this should be fun,” not wanting to waste any more time on the woman he released her, suddenly in a good mood. “You can go. I have someone else to play with,” a grin spread across his face in sheer joy, although it was hidden beneath his mask, which was a simple bandanna and nothing more. Turning to look at the person walking down the dark alley Mister Reaper said, “Well, well, well, what have we here?” he could only see an outline of the person walking towards him and he waited for how she would fight him.

Alice slowly got closer and closer to the sounds of beating, the urge to run growing stronger as she took each step closer. She took a deep breath, fastening the black bandanna around her mouth. If this was a true killer... she didn't want her identity to be known at all. Taking another breath, she adjusted the goggles on her head nervously before creeping closer, rubbing the cuff on her arm all the way. She then jolted, feeling something scramble up her leg. She nearly screamed before realizing it was the spirit of the cuff. The rat quickly dissolved into black energy, flowing back into the jewel.

"Careful..."

She stared at the cuff, "Stupid little..." she let out a quiet huff, walking forward again. In her anger, she forgot to conceal herself in the shadows, making her visible to the human eye. She soon realized her possibly fatal mistake.

Alice studied the man as she got closer, he was wearing a bandanna as well, and it seems he was... letting the woman go? Curious, she walked a bit closer. That's when it happened, she froze, his words registering in her mind. "Someone else to play... wait..." He then turned towards her, refuting her horrifying suspicion. "Wait... how?... fuck." She swore mentally, reallizing that she hadn't even bothered to hide. "Crap, crapcrapcrapcrapcrap." she looked around nervously, wondering if she could maybe just walk off... or atleast run far enough where she could hide again without revealing her powers... her trump card.

"Um... hi..." she stuttered out, her voice a bit higher then it normally was. She did not like the situation, closing her eyes, she took another look... yep... he looked strong.

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Nofuretsu growled at the girl's stupidity. Now she was going to get herself killed, leaving him without an able host... which meant he wasn't going to be able to get free for a while. He quickly searched her head, finding her plan... it wasn't a bad one. It just depended on how fast she could run and how well the other man could see in the dark.

"Try to stall, make him become more relaxed and when he's unprepared run... or when he starts coming at you."

He could feel her hesitation at following his words, she didn't trust him. He didn't blame her.

"Trust me... this man is strong, I can feel it."

She nodded slowly, eyes fixed on Mister Reaper, the flight or fight instinct starting to kick in. Her instincts may be dull... but she had seen the damage done to his previous victim.

Nofuretsu growled again, wishing he had his true form back... he could have defeated this man easily.

The still shadowed figure seemed to be backing away from him, a smart hero indeed, and appeared to be smaller than he had originally thought. Taking broad steps, Mister Reaper closed the distance between the two of them, talking the whole time, “Hello there.” Leaning forward towards the new person, although for only a moment, on the scene, he continued his rant the whole time, “I can’t quite tell who you are. Are you a hero? That would be the preferable thing honestly, means I won’t have to look for someone to kill.” Reaching and standing tall over her, he looked down on the small person and only now did he see that she was in a fact a girl.

“You’ve been getting a lot of female company lately,” Edgar stated from a nearby window sill. Then with a terrifying twist of the neck, something Mister Reaper had gotten used to seeing, he continued, “Watch her, she looks like a runner, Casanova.”

Looking over his shoulder, Mister Reaper spoken in a low voice to the invisible bird, he was not sure if the girl would be able to hear him or not, “I know. I’m ready for it.” He readied himself for the girls eventual run, she did not look too fast; he could catch her. “Two quick questions; what’s your name and how have you been today?” Gary asked the girl with genuine interest.

Alice felt herself starting to shake as the man got closer and closer... she didn't like the vibe the man gave off, it felt... She wasn't sure how to describe it, it was simply off, maybe even wrong. Either way though, she felt herself tensing as he came even closer, her body preparing to run. But something told her that if she ran right now... well... it might not be too good of an outcome. She shook her head when he asked if she was a hero, it wasn't exactly a lie. She wasn't really a hero... she didn't even have a name or costume.

She felt her blood run cold when she caught his muttering... he knew.

"You'll have to get as far as possible and hide."

She nodded unconciously, Nofuretsu was right... she was going to have to hide quick. She then realized that he had asked her a question. "The name's A---" She nearly answered with her real name automatically before realizing that would be... well... bad. "Uhhhh... Nightshade and good." With that, she started to run, taking as many twists and turns as possible. When she felt she was far enough away, she cloaked herself in the shadows, making her virtually invisible. Taking deep breaths, she quieted as much as possible, hoping she wouldn't be found. As she stood there, she idely wondered about the name she had randomly chosen, she had picked it off the top of her head. Well... as long as you didn't think of the poisonous plant... it wasn't too bad.

Nofuretsu sighed mentally, wondering how she could even think of this at such a dangerous moment... strange child.

The girl answered his question, her name was Nightshade, an odd name but then again this was California, the place odd names originate. Watching her movements, Mister Reaper knew she was scared which was not a good thing if he wanted to have a good fight. It did not even look like she would be able to move let alone run away. While she stammered and spoke the villain took it as a chance to examine the girl; she wore a bandanna, meaning she was definitely a hero, but ordinary clothes, so she was not a typical hero or she was too young to be serious yet, and she seemed to be rather young. Her being so young was not a deal breaker but Mister Reaper did not like to kill children but this girl would not be the first.

Then she ran but the sinister villain did not do as he had prepared to and let her run, it would be more fun to have a little game of ‘Hide and Go Seek’. A grin broke out across his face once more as she tried to evade him, this would be a good and fun game they would play. “Follow her, Edger,” he said to the bird still perched in the same place.

“Alright, alright, I’ll give it a little look,” Edgar said as he began to fly down the alleys and followed the small girl, holding his fez in place with his left wing and defying the laws of physics at the same time. “I never get any respect,” the crow mumbled as he flew, “not so much as a ‘please’.” The crow saw the girl disappear somewhere in one of the shadows but the crow could not tell which one, “She’s somewhere down here."

Mister Reaper walked to the opening of the alley she had run down. “Some help you are,” the man said to the crow pointing down the back route. “Where’d you go off to, Nightshade? I only want to have a tea party with you; I’ll even be Mrs. Nesbit. It’ll be like any other day in kindergarten, you’re in kindergarten right?” The man was trying to get the girl to reveal herself, so he continued to speak as he walked down the street.

Alice froze when she heard his voice sound through the silence. She closed her eyes, letting her powers see for her... he wasn't too close yet. But she didn't lower her guard, continuing to make as little noise as possible. She watched the man go down the street... maybe he'd go right past her and then, she could make another break for it. She did not want to fight this man... well... she didn't really want to fight anyone, but this guy especially. Despite her powers, she had a feeling that this guy could easily dispose of her, and death wasn't on her schedule.

As he got closer, she wrapped herself with another layer of shadow as reassurance, she knew that it wouldn't help but it certainly made her feel better. Alice knew that she was just about invisible unless someone shined a light on her... but still, she was frightened, very very frightened.

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Nofuretsu remained silent, simply watching the man. He seemed insane to say the least... but insanity sometimes produced the best and brightest killers. That's what this man was, a killer, he could feel it. He continued to observe, looking for weaknesses, defects, anything that would give them an edge.

Mister Reaper continued to walk down the street, calling out to the small girl the whole time. So far the hunt was not going so well, making the man more and more unhappy with every passing second, he was determined to find her and make her suffer to some extent. “Hello? Nightshade, come out and play,” the villain called out to the empty street hoping the girl would hear it. Looking under trash cans and in the smallest crevices, Mister Reaper could not for the life of himself find her anywhere he looked, just finding instead rats and other rodents of the like.

A light somewhere behind the man turned on randomly but he paid it no attention, having bigger and better things to look for and then kill. “Hey, something’s happening over there,” Edgar said from the air where he pointed to somewhere behind the both of them and kept hold of his fez so it would not fall, making himself float in midair since neither wing even attempted to flap. Mister Reaper turned to look back down the alley and saw what he had been looking for the whole time coming out of what looked to be a ball of darkness that had dissolved seemingly because of the lamp from above.

“So that’s where you’ve been hiding,” Mister Reaper said with a unseen but growing smile as he continued, “smart girl.”

“You should throw me at her,” the dumpster that sat next to the villain said in a low booming voice.

“That sounds like a great idea,” he agreed with the object as he lifted it into the air and threw it at the small girl. He then looked to Edgar and said, “At least the dumpster comes up with decent ideas.” The crow simply shrugged in reply.

Alice sighed in relief as the man walked past her. "Ok... I'll be a- o... fuck." She froze as the streetlamp nearby started to flicker on, dissipating the shadowy cloak that she had created. "Please don't notice me, please don't notice me, pl---" He noticed her, turning around as if beckoned by some invisible being. She backed away slightly, eyes wide. He seemed to smile at her beneath the bandanna, causing her to shiver. Her mind raced, trying to come up with some plan.

"Run."

She didn't need any more prompting, turning tail and starting to run. Before she could get far though, she heard a loud noise. Turning around, she saw a dumpster flying towards her. "Ah!" She quickly raised her hands, with it, a wall of shadows rose up, shielding her from the dumpster. She then started to run again, hoping to be able to hide again.

The dumpster flew in a nice little arch straight for the girl that was now running, not even trying to fight in the least something the greatly disappointed Mister Reaper to no end, although it seemed as though she heard the clamor of the object being lifted and thrown. She turned for, possibly readying herself to fight, and created a quick wall made out of some sort of dark material and began to run again. The girl was obviously not going to be an appropriate match for the villain if this was all she ever did and for a moment Mister Reaper thought of letting her get away so he would not even have to deal with her, although it did strike him that that would mean he would have to find someone else to kill. Which would be even more work.

Taking a step back Mister Reaper prepared for one of his favorite moves, he jumped putting all of his strength in lifting himself from the earth and towards the little girl. He landed a little past where the dumpster had landed which was not too far from where the girl was, she did not seem to be that fast, and was beginning to get ready to close the distance when he heard a voice, a weak voice. “Am I going to make it, boss?” The voice came from behind him but from whom he did not know and upon turning he saw that it was the crumpled remains of the dumpster. The poor thing was drowning in his own blood, which smelled suspiciously like ketchup, and was more battered than could ever be fix, at least in Mister Reaper’s mind anyway.

The villain looked at the pathetic looking thing and knelt, speaking softly in an attempt to put him at rest in a gentle way, “I don’t think you’re going to pull through but I’ll make it a quick death.” Swiftly he pulled his and into the air and brought it down as quickly and as hard as he could, breaking the dumpster’s face in and bringing upon him a nice quick death. “That’s too bad,” the man said as he stood up and looked for the small girl again, “I kind of liked that guy.” Quickly he spotted her, not too far from where she had been when he had landed so again he jumped for her, readying himself to land on the little lady.

Reaper's voice briefly registered as she continued to push herself to sprint as fast as she possibly could. Her step faltered though, when she heard a big bang behind her. Thinking it was something else possible flying towards her, she threw up another wall of shadow, high enough to block Reaper mid jump. She didn't know that of course, so busy she was in just trying to escape.

"Crap crap crap crap crap..." she thought as she ran, trying her best not to panic, knowing that if she did so... well... nothing good would happen. She glanced around, wondering if she should hide again or not. But something told her that the man was probably not far behind, and that hiding with out any escape would be a bad idea. With that, she simply stepped into the shadows of the alley wall, concealing herself within. If he noticed her, she could defend hereself/ run... hopefully anyways.

"You need help... power... I can help you know..."

"I do not need anything from your abilities." she thought, remembering some of the images that flashed through her mind. None of them were nice and pretty, and it was horrifying that he had gotten the same flash of images. She mentally cursed, and as she did so, a black rat appeared on her shoulder. It seemed to study her carefully for a moment before turning away, keeping watch.

The girl was running again but it would make no difference how fast she ran in the end she would be dead regardless of how quick her little legs took her away from him. She stumbled for a moment, making Mister Reaper chuckle a little bit to himself, but then quickly threw up another wall to block him and unfortunately the villain had no way of changing direction in midflight, which was really just falling with a purpose. Mister Reaper smacked clean into the wall and a low thud could be heard all the way through the alley but the man would not be deterred. He gathered himself up slowly, rubbing the side of his face that hit the wall, and again looked for the girl. She had managed to hide again. This little gamee of cat and mouse was getting old fast.

He landed on the ground with little effort, having learned how to land from a generous drop long ago, and began to walk at a steady pace down the alley. “Are you hiding again?” he yelled to the darkness that surrounded him and Edgar. “I’m really starting to get tired of this little game we’re playing. It’s time you came out and just let me end it nice and quick. I promise it’ll be quick. You can trust me, I don’t get off on torturing little kids but you’ve been a pretty good challenge so far so I’m pretty happy,” he spoke as he walked a little bit farther. “Did you see where she went, Edgar?” he asked the imaginary bird that had readjusted himself and was now sitting innocently on a window ledge overlooking this half of the alley. The bird simply pointed, making no screaming noise for a change. The villain looked back to where he had passed only a short time ago.

Quietly, he approached to where his bird had indicated and looked upon it as a sinister grin broke out across his face but the bandanna would not allow anyone to see it as well. The man took the thing away from his face, not wanting it to block his obvious joy from anyone around him. Then as quickly as he could he punched a section of the wall before him that was hidden in shadow. He knew he had not hit the girl directly which was fine because now she would have nowhere to run or hide. The girl was dead but no one had told her yet. How could the man have gotten so lucky as to find and kill a hero all in the same day? He did not know but he did not want to question it.

“You know, it’s been a good bit of fun tracking you down. I thought you wouldn’t put up this good of a fight but here I am having one of the happiest days of my life and you’re to blame,” as he spoke his smile only got wider and wider. “I hope you had a good and happy short life because it ends tonight,” and with that said he raised his arm, preparing his body for the kill he was about to make, he was going to enjoy bashing this girls head in.

"Yes I am, and if you're so tired... then GO AWAY AND LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" she wished she could say that out loud, but doing so would be a death sentance. She shuddered as he continued to speak... something was definently not right about him, of course, the killing people had clued her in... but still... Ok, she was getting off track now. Alice mentally smacked herself, "Survival, survival." She nearly sighed in relief when Reaper walked bast her, she was going to live! That's when everything went wrong. He seemed to ask someone if they'd seen her. Alice froze, but when there was no answer, she sighed in relief. And then he started moving towards her. Alice's breath hitched in fear as he got closer and closer. When he took his bandanna off, she knew that she was officially screwed.

Alice started to inch away as quietly as possible, and then, BAM! He punched the section of wall that was pretty much right next to her. She involuntarily yelped. In her surprise and fear, the mist hiding her dissapated, revealing her location. As he raised his arms, ready to kill her. She almost instinctively pushed her hands out towards Reaper, sending a thick, solid wave of shadow towards him. It flew towards him at an extremely fast speed, but it didn't hold enough force to fatally injure him. Even unconciously, she didn't want to hurt anyone.

Her shadow she had been hiding in had dissipated so she was out in the open, nothing to hide behind now, and the villain in front of her was more than prepared to end it all in one quick motion but the little girl had to mess that up too. Instinctively, Mister Reaper could tell it was by the raw look it had to it and potential it showed, she threw her hands at him and following her hands was a wave of shadows meant to protect the wielder. The girl had raw strength that was certain but she still had not found a way to make it into a more precise weapon for her to use. This girl would be very powerful one day of that Mister Reaper had no doubt.

Mister Reaper could not dodge the shadows despite how fast he was and how quick his reflexes were he had no hope and with little time to spare he was thrown against the wall behind him with impressive force but not enough to do any lasting damage. The girl still did not want to hurt the man even though he was trying to kill her. If she did not learn to kill when necessary she would die sooner than later but that day was soon around the corner as is. “What, are you not going to kill me or something?” the man said with a cackle behind his voice. “You’re going to have to learn to kill eventually,” and with that he lunged for her prepared to kill her if he could. The man wanted nothing more than to pin her to the wall and just beat her for all he was worth, making her look even worse than the woman he had been beating before the girl had showed up.

Alice watched as Reaper was slammed against the wall. "Please let him be unconcious, please let him..." she froze when he spoke. "Crap." she thought, backing away as he laughed. "No..." she said, voice trembling. She wasn't going to kill, she didn't want to kill. She had enough guilt as is, considering the deaths she had inadverdently caused... she was not going to have her hands stained just about literally with blood. "No one has to kill if they truly don't want to." she said, voice slightly stronger. That's when he lunged at her.

She quickly thew up a large block of shadow between her and Reaper. If he impacted the shield, she'd then remake the shield in to a wave that would once again slam him against the wall. This time, she'd hopefully knock him out. For a moment, she wondered where that rat had gone. She quickly glanced at her wrist... the gem was glowing slightly, meaning it had went back into the cuff. Unbeknownst to her though, that slight distraction caused the block to soften to a block of goop. It meant that once impacted, it would splatter outwards. Useless for protection and it may end up distracting both of them for a moment.