Thrones: Rising (George the Bear, Shadowraith, Dark Fang, and Chelle)

Todd didn't waste time after receiving the note. Shadowy spikes shot out to ward off the other applicants, and Todd constructed a shadow serpent that ate him and slithered off into the sewers. No one was going to die until he had time to assess the situation. Before he disappeared completely, he carved a message into the discarded manhole cover, cutting quickly with multiple bladed appendages: Meet here at 8 AM. tomorrow, or none of us get in. He decided to be discreet in his travel to and from the extraction point, slithering through the sewers in an air tight shadow worm construct. He re-emerged a block from his home, dismissing the shadow and, despite his method of transportation, was the picture of cleanliness. The more Todd used his power, the more he began to realize that not only was he a metahuman, he could potentially be one of the most effective out there. His power seemed limited only by his own ingenuity. "I really must test the limits of this power" He thought as he entered his apartment.

"I can think of a few ways"

Ignoring Monster, Todd carefully opened the envelope with shadow protected hands, just to be safe. As he read the assignment, he let out a sigh. It might have been one of exasperation. It also might have been a sigh of relief; the ever gluttonous challenge seeker finding something he could really sink his teeth into. Analyzing his own behavior had become second nature to the psychologist, and he surmised that it was likely a mixture of both stress and excitement. Whatever the case, he had his work cut out for him. Target: Pete Torpano Location: New York City.

He wasn't sure what the time frame of the mission was, all he knew was that A.S.A.P was probably his best guess. As he began formulating his plan, he began to see a growing pattern: he lacked tools. Super genius heroes always had gadgets, but he had never given that much thought. He joked with his colleges that they were just excuses for those without real powers, but he now realized how wrong he was. More advanced signal surveillance, lock disarming devices, and a way to shield his eyes in combat were the first things that came to mind. If a stealthy abduction proved impossible, ( and let's face it, Todd was no James Bond) then more direct measures would have to be taken. He felt confident his shadows could sheild his body from bullets, but a complete defense would literally leave him in the dark, with no means of attack. He decided to quickly put these ideas into his computer and ran an encryption, again Todd was meticulous-- no unnecessary risks. Without time to invent any gadgets and serious qualms about stealing what he needed, he concluded his options were few. Then there was the cryptic goal of the assignment--take out the target. Did they really mean to kill them, or take them out of commission? He was pretty sure they meant one or the other, but either way had serious consequences. What if he killed a man for no reason? What if he didn't kill this man, and failed the test? He didn't like the idea of a bunch of murderers knowing his identity, especially after he found out who they were. He could become their next target!

"Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?"

A great opportunity. We have the same mind Todd I know you aren't this stupid.

In his distress Todd had accidently disabled the mental block that filtered out Monster's prattle. To his own surprise, he had actually become so desperate for answers that he actually wanted to hear Monster's view on this. He tentatively continued to listen.

Hear me out on this Todd. Why would they want this filth alive? We aren't talking about some petty thief or dealer. We aren't even talking about a murderer. What we are looking at here is a mass murdering, drug trafficking bank bleeding cancer on the ass of society. Even if you did put this filth away he'd buy his way out of the joint so fast he'll be eatin' sushi off a dead snitch before the next morning. Put aside your antiquated sense of morality for just one second and actually look at the world. Most metas aren't like you. They either help scum like this or put them away for a few weeks while their lieutenants hold down the fucking fort. The human race is a sick, dying child whose parents would rather pray to God than cut off the gangrenous limb. People have faith in a better world, but that's all it is. Blind, stupid faith, and what good is that to them when they are lying in pieces in a bag at the bottom of a river, just for seeing something they shouldn't have seen. We may not agree on everything but this, this isn't destruction for destruction's sake. This is justice, real justice. The kind of justice that our own American courts enforce against people of lesser evil, just because they can't buy their way out. You aren't just a superhuman now Todd. You are a smart superhuman. The world needs people like you who can see reason and make the logical, apathetic choices. People who can see past the dribble of that inane sense of truth that we are raised into. Are you going to not kill this guy because some cult leader 4,000 years ago said that you shalt not? Fuck him. The real gods are the people who see past the social programming bullshit and actually make a difference. You can either join a group that will point you in the direction of these walking, malignant tumors, or run around as some tights wearing idealist with faith in humanity. I'm just a backseat driver in this body but dammit Todd if you can't make the right choice here then you don't deserve this, or any body. WHAT"S IT GOING TO BE!?

Todd was stunned at the conviction of Monster's speech. Monster had never been so committed to an idea before. Sure, there was a considerable possibility that all this bravado was just to get him to kill someone, but was that alone proof that his words weren't true? Todd paced the room, looking at the letter. After hours of deliberation, he concluded that, by all accounts, Monster was right. Todd just wasn't the man for the job. He just couldn't see himself killing another human being. Frustrated with his own weakness, he threw the note in the trash. He looked up, and saw that it was already midnight. Further frustrated by his utter lack of productivity, he crawled into bed. Sleep didn't come easily, but he was afraid to take any pills. He owned them of course, as a therapist one comes across various medications; doubly true if one is also a chemist. However, ever since high school, he has been haunted by the fear that Monster would take over if he ever became too sedated to dream. Some way or another sleep finally overtook him, and he drifted off to a dark place.

His eyes shot open as if he was awakening, but the surroundings were far from familiar. He saw nothing but blackness. He tried calling out for help, but the voice was not his own. It sounded like a child. He looked around in confusion and fear and saw a little girl, standing in the distance. Everything he tried to say, she said instead.

"Are you lost?"

"Where are we?"

"I'm scared."

"How do we leave?"

He then saw himself appear behind the girl, smiling maniacally. He looked down at his hands, he was still there; who the hell was that over there?

His eyes shot to the girl as he heard her scream. She began sinking into the darkness, as if it were tar. It sucked her down, a look of abject terror on her face. He didn't know how he knew, but he could just feel that it was the other Todd doing this.

"Let her go you monster!"

The other Todd simply gestured to a night-table behind him, the very same one where he stashed his assignment. On it, a gun rested ominously. The message was clear. To save the girl, he would have to shoot the other Todd.

"I can't!" Todd yelled, sobbing. "Please just let her go!"

The other Todd just laughed, the girl was now waist deep in the vile liquid shadow, her face in anguish. Todd watched her sink, trembling. Her arms flailed to no effect, she was going to die if he did nothing.

"Dammit!" he cried as he turned for the gun, but the table now seemed so far away. He ran for it, but it just seemed to get farther and farther away from him. By the time he finally reached it, he grabbed the gun and spun around, only to see the other Todd standing a few feet from him, smiling and holding a doll that Todd knew belonged to the girl. Todd shoved past his doppelganger, seeing that only the girl's' head remained above the goo. Todd gulped, pointed the gun at his copy, and fired only to hear an empty click. Todd fired again and again, but the gun wasn't loaded. His doppelganger laughed as the girl was sucked down to her death, while Tod fell to his knees in despair. His sadness soon turned to rage; shaking with anger he attacked his copy, pinning him to the ground. Just as Todd was about to beat the clone's face in, it's mouth shot open freakishly wide in a toothless, black oval.

Todd woke screaming, his body covered in sweat. He panted as he regained his composure. After a few minutes, he looked wide eyed at his night-table. It was now clear what Todd had to do.

"No, not Todd." He thought. Todd is a scientist, a doctor. I'll do what I can as Todd Walkins, but until such a time that it is no longer required, there are some jobs that I will leave to someone else-- The Shadowraith.

The bear stood on his two hind legs and his arm/paws over each other. He looked at the faces of the three humans, which were illuminated by the dim orange light of the streetlights and bleak white shimmer of the crescent moon. They were young, for humans. It must've been rather strange for them to hang out with a full grown grizzly bear, but perhaps they were accustomed to strange; more than other people at least. Despite being not very much older, George did feel older. In bear years, he also was older. These young persons still had a long and fruitful life ahead of them, but George would be dead in four to five years. That is, if nothing went terribly wrong. He moved his head restlessly in the air, sniffing the air. There was storm in the air, even though there was hardly any wind. But the bear recognized the distinct smell of it.

Because he had no opposable thumbs, nor the ability to read he kindly asked Alexi psychically to read out the mission for him. But the envelope was gone. And so was the older looking human. The man had, in the blink of an eye, seemingly melted away in the darkness, taking with him the letter with mission description on it. "Where is that silverhaired human?" His psychic voice spoke. "Did he just take the letter?" The bear furiously looked around him to see if the man called Shadowraith was still around there somewhere. "Mother of God! He has stolen the mission!"

Todd woke up early, making early preparations. He went down to his lab, grabbing a canister of his experimental monster gas. The product was a failure in its therapeutic intentions, but might just come in handy for what was in store, after scoping out the area, he went back to the rendezvous area and awaited the arrival of his...comrades. He had no idea who any of them were, and frankly he was pretty concerned as to what their motivations or level of commitments were. As he waited, it began to become apparent that no one else was coming. Maybe he had scared them away, maybe they just lacked resolve. He was just about to go it alone when he saw a large, hulking figure appearing in the distance.

"Oh you must be kidding. This is the only one who sticks around? The bear? Shadowraith sighed. based on the description of the assignment, this would have been a challenge for four veteran assassins. Now it seemed up to Todd, and a magical talking bear. And he thought med school was hard.

Trace didn't move from next to the reflective glass window. His reflection was that of a wolf's head. "They trust you now, but they haven't seen what you really are, Faolan." The bipedal wolf growled at the human with an evil grin on his face.

"Do me a favour, Weylyn." Trace sneered. "Shut the hell up." He cast his attention to the bear which stood on its hind legs. As the pair of wolves known as Blitz and Krieg prowled around the room, Trace began to think if the bear could be in some way related to Romolus.

"He isn't." The wolf god replied. "But he could be useful in the future. Let's keep tabs on him, yes?" A glance from Trace at the reflection was all that was necessary to silence the wolf. Judging by Shadowraith's exasperated tone, the mission was difficult. "Perhaps for mortals. Not for the mighty Romolus!" No matter how loud the wolf god was, Trace was the only one who could hear him.

"I said SHUT UP!" Trace yelled into thin air. Looking at the bear and Shadowraith, Trace grimaced. "What? What are you looking at?" It was clear Romolus had put Trace in a bad mood.

The bear had ignored all the sneering remarks, the sudden return of the thief, the bipolar boy and the arrival of a senior member of the guild they were trying to join, without any further reply and let himself follow the party. The mission had to be carried out first, but at the moment the wise thing to do was just to shut up and not to make any enemies among his allies. Allies that George found rather unsetteling. He was in the company of scum of the earth, as he saw it, a thief, a lunatic and a homicidal demon. But they did serve the cause. The One God must have some role for them in His masterplan. In the end, it was the actions of a person that determined his fate. The pure of heart were rare these days anyhow.

As the troupe began to launch its assault, George following Chelle on two feet, the bear spoke to them for the first time. His low, preachy voice resonated in his allies heads: "Now we know our enemies, may I ask to know my allies? Who are you," he kept on walking as he turned his head to Trace, "And what is your strength?" He turned his head back to face the back of Chelle's head. "And what is the plan? Do we simply barge in there and exterminate all that stand in our way?"

Shadowraith walked briskly behind the group but ran to the front to speak, prompting them to slow down.

Barging in and announcing ourselves to the world... I'd rather not. If I may make a suggestion at to our next step" He looked to the Queen for any sign of disapproval and, sensing none, continued and pulled out a map of the grounds. "I have marked on this map the location of outside guards and security blind spots. If any of you have a power that would detect heart monitors or see inside the building, we should gather more intel. If this is all we have then, I suggest that the guards at the front entrance be taken out from a distance. After we enter, I will try to spread my monster gas through the vents. Those of us with high intelligence or physical resilience will prove immune, but the grunts in the building will be extremely confused and frightened. This will hopefully cause guards to turn on each other, but the main purpose will be to identify who isn't affected and take note that they're the metas. As for the actual kill, I suggest the bear, since it should be a lesser known member to avoid tracing the kill to us. I will likely be busy with spreading gas, but even if I finish I am well suited to taking on multiple opponents anyway. Of course, it's all up to you, Queen."

Large and in charge! Aren't we Todd?"

Todd allowed Monster to speak to him. He deserved a little praise, he was good at this. And it sure beat sitting in a lab all day.

"Before we do anything, guys, I need to put my game face on." He looked at the bear and smiled as he heard the question. "Watch and find out." Slowly and deliberately, Trace removed the sleeveless shirt he wore and undid the leather straps on his forearms to the loosest they could go. Hanging from his arms that suddenly seemed scrawny, he grimaced. The shift was, in a word, agony.

"And now...behold the...power..." Trace growled through gritted teeth as he doubled over in pain. He hit the ground and writhed around, his teeth locked together in the hope he would not scream and reveal their position. His hands opened and closed, his nails became sharper and longer, claws more than nails. His mass nearly doubled in a matter of seconds, and brown fur sprouted all over his body. His legs morphed into a completely new shape and size, the bones breaking and reforming over a dozen times. Romolus' heart and other organs were also larger in order to accommodate for his large size, and as such, Trace also experienced cardiac arrest and lung, liver and kidney failure simultaneously. After a number of moments that felt like hours to Trace, he stood up, his bulging forearms fitting the bands snugly, and his legs barely encased by the jeans he wore. "Of...Romoluuuuuus!" He finished, the last vowel turning into an inhuman howl.

"What was that?" A guard wondered out loud, his hand moving towards his pistol, stopping as it touched the butt. "Probably just a dog." He said, releasing the death grip he had on his gun.

The Dark Fang, Lord of Wolves grinned at the bear's idea. "See, while that lacks subtlety, it is a good old-fashioned favourite. Unfortunately, this situation requires a little more finesse." He spoke in a much deeper, gravelly voice. "I can take out the guards at the door without being seen, if that is required." He remarked, ready to give an order to Blitz and Krieg. "I am not a tactician, just to make a note. Merely a blunt object to facilitate smashing things." He grinned with his animalistic maw. "Mostly bones."

George witnessed the transformation of Trace/Romulus, and sighed inside his mind. This crowd felt wrong somehow, with their diabolic forms and overall shadiness. The coal black eyes of the bear flowed from the giant wolf to the dark angel, who explained the plan, ordering George and Romulus to take out the from guards. The bear dropped to all four of his legs and dribbled off. He crossed the road, sneaking from shadow to shadow (as far as a bear is capable of sneaking) until he was at the mansion walls, hiding on the left side of the gate, partially shrouded in the shade.

Without a sound, not even a deafening roar or the crack of a twig, he launched himself at the left guard. As he was smoking a sigaret, he did not expect such a terror, nor did he expect the surprise, nor the impalement on the claws of the bear. George mauled the guard's face with his right claw, pinning him against the wall, after which he launched the misfortunate man with a mighty lefty into the air, driving him a couple of meters ahead of him.
The other guard stood by, stunned by the bear and the dangling guts of his buddy that floated through the sky like some sort of gory kite. Little did he know, that a giant wolf would soon, very soon, be dining on his face.

The sensation of moving through shadows was extremely invigorating. He felt an amazing rush of power in this dimension of darkness. It was maddening blissful, but as soon as it began, they emerged near the back. Todd was sweating and smiling. He shook and giggled slightly.

Todd, anyone home? .... Todd? Well, I suppose you won't mind if I take the reigns for a bit.

An immense, malevolent energy crackled around the Shadowraith as the body came under new management. Monster turned to Chelle and smiled happily at her. "Thanks for that I...on second thought, maybe next time. Oh but before I go-" Monster went to peck her on the cheek. "Say hi to Pops for me, won't you sis?"

Shadows convulsed around Shadowraith as control was returned to the overwhelmed Todd. In a state of utter megalomania, Shadowraith ran out in front of the guards. Before they could react, he shot of dark spikes, impaling their chests. As the men cried out in pain, he connected the shadows that pierced them, lifting them up a few feet, then throwing them into the ground. He laid into the half dead thugs with all manner of constructed blades, clubs, hammers and maces until the body's were completely unrecognizable.

Shadowraith wobbled for a moment, then shook his head. He beheld the gory remains in utter disgust, turning back to Chelle in horror.

Was that really necessary? What did you even do to them?

Possessed by the will of dark energy, Todd had expressed the brutal destruction of a dark energy being with no recollection of his acts. He felt weak, but was completely back in control now, if a bit confused. He wondered how he got here, and how Chelle had done all this without him noticing. Was this the power of the being he was allying himself with? Had he made a terrible mistake? Nevertheless, he composed himself. Right now, he needed her help. He needed someone who could help him channel his power, or take it from him if necessary. The last thing he wanted would be to lose control of it. He needed people like him, people like Chelle, if he wanted this to work. It would have been nice if he could have found a bit more upstanding a group, but these people were realists, at least he hoped they were. In any case, he had to tread carefully.

"I'm sorry my Queen, I shouldn't have questioned you. What are your orders?"

The still living guard was too stunned by the bear to move, and it cut down his peripheral vision through a process Trace called 'tunnelling'. The end result was that the Dark Fang was able to walk up behind the guard without being noticed. He didn't notice the dark brown furry arm snake over his shoulder until it snapped upwards and Romolus' powerful biceps squeezed on his windpipe. "Go ahead. Struggle. I can squeeze so hard your eyeballs pop out of your skull. How's that sound?"

The guard tried to thrash around, digging an elbow into Dark Fang's stomach. "All you're doing is expending your air more rapidly." He sighed, and leaned in with his mouth, chomping down on the jugular artery with amazing strength. Blood hissed everywhere as Romolus dropped the man. Pointing at him, he slowly began muttering. "Hmm...jugular...femoral...ah...carotid." He grinned sinisterly and slashed the man's collar bone with his claws. They ripped through flesh, and ground through bone until he severed the carotid artery. The man slumped down, a large pool of blood around his corpse.

Romolus turned his green eyes towards the bear. "We should hide the bodies." He remarked, lifting his kill with both arms and moving him into a dark shadow. "Blitz, Krieg, clean up the blood." He ordered. The wolves ran to the pool of blood and began lapping it up with their tongues.

The bear tossed his victim into the bushes and left it to the hounds to clean up the spilled blood. One of the arms of the dead human stuck out from the shrubbery, so George had to tuck it in better, which was rather difficult due to his clumsy bear hands. Bears don't have opposable thumbs. Thank God for that, because if they did, they could carry guns. And that would be especially scary, psychic bears with machine guns. Or flamethrowers. Anyway, George turned his head slowly to his colossal canine compagnion and pointed at him with his claw. "You. You disturb me." His telepathic voice said. The wolf was quite disturbing indeed, his razor-sharp claws dripping with crimson ooze, his snow white teeth glazed with saliva shimmering softly in the minimal light.

A couple of gunshots resonated through the premises and the other guards stirred. It reminded the bear of the sudden buzzing of crickets, which he had heard so often in the fields and forest he used to roam. This heightened awareness among the guards allowed a new strategy to be applied. "A gunshot! We must hurry, Romulus. Kill every human you come across. Try to use excessive force when possible. Hopefully it will break their moral."