The Right to choose. (MrShadowblademaster)

"Where are you going?"

Shadowraith had been patrolling the city, and had zeroed in on a suspicious looking guy. He was unkempt and rough looking, with fairly expensive yet worn clothing. He headed into a back alley, probably with the intention of disposing of a large sack he was carrying. Zooming in with his Shadowoptic visor, he observed a liquid leaking from the bag. As the man headed towards a dumpster, the Shadowraith made his move.

Before the man could dispose of it, Shadowraith shot down on a shadow rail, landing on top of the dumpster and slamming it shut.
"What's in the bag?" He asked slowly.

"None of ya damn business freak!" retorted the man, who proceeded to try and pry the dumpster open with Shadowraith still on top.

At first Shadowreith was surprised at the man's lack of fear, but this was New York, and it was dark after all. Maybe he didn't see the power. Shadowraith made a show of consuming the dumpster in darkness, and the man scrambled back. Quickly he brushed himself off, threw the sack over his shoulder and sped off out of the alleyway.

"Maybe you didn't hear me." Shadowraith sternly suggested as he shot out a massive shadow claw out in front of the man which slammed into the opposite wall, barring his path. "I Asked you a question; what's in the bag?"

"I-I ain't got nothin to say to you buddy! I don't see no badge on ya, so get the hell outa my way. I have rights ya know, so you betta let me go, hero-boy."

"What makes you so sure i'm a hero?" Shadowraith asked as he enveloped his lower half in shadow and controlled a stream of darkness, flowing outwards so that it carried him over the claw he constructed. All the shadow then melted together of Shadowraith, creating a sinister, tatter hooded robe. Eels, dragons and snakes shot forth from the shadows, looming over the thug. The man stepped back in fear, dropping the sack.

"You gotta admit, I'm getting pretty good at this!" Thought Todd excitedly, as he sent a tendril out to receive the sack.
"I suppose" thought Monster begrudgingly.

"What do we ha-" Shadowraith stopped mid sentence, chocked with revulsion. He screamed in anger, shooting a tendril out, grabbing the thug's fat neck and hoisted him up.

"What...What did you fucking DO!?"

Darkness was covering the city, well maybe just the alleyways but over in Queens there was still plenty of light. A man could check his watch and a thousand of people would be going to sleep at that time. Well maybe except this guy; A boy at the age of 16 was wondering around watching the local muggings. Then there he saw a man with tendrils hoisting up a man. The boy sat back and decided to watch the magic.

Shadowraith tightened his grip around the scumbag's neck, then released him, letting him fall to the ground like the pathetic wretch he was. Shadowraith exploded in fury; as the man stumbled to his feet, Shadowraith pinned him to the back of the alley with long, sharp extensions of shadow that pierced straight through his shoulders.

The man screamed in agony and panic. "You don't know who yer messin' with you fuckin...fuckin devil! I got protection. There's some big people watchin my back!."

Shadowraith stormed up to the man, slugging him once, then again in the face.

"Are you insane? Didn't you hear me? I said I'm prote--" The man wasn't able to finish his sentence before screaming again in pain. Shadowraith had converted the shadows piercing the man's shoulders into a corkscrew shape, working the ridges through his impaled muscles. As the man continued to cry out, Shadowraith whispered loudly in his ear, momentarily stopping the 'drilling'.

What. Did. You. Do.... TELL ME!"

"Alright! Alright, just stop! Please." The man shook, sweat dripping from his brow as Shadowraith awaiting his answer. It didn't show, but Shadowraith was also terrified. His heart was pounding; he had never even imagined anything as horrible as the contents of that sack. Rage, sadness. fear: he didn't know what to feel. He was about reapply some more 'incentive' but suddenly the man did the last thing Todd would have expected-- he began to laugh.

"Ok...Ok hero" The man said through heavy, panting breaths. "You wanna know what I did? Well, listen up!"

As the man described in vivid detail the atrocities he committed against the girl whose remains were in the sack, Shadowraith melted away, leaving Todd Walkins a scared man in a dark alley, talking with a psychopath. No, not just psychotic; this man was evil. Just as the man was about to conclude his horrible story, Todd hurled, and the dark energyaround his face ceased to distort his voice and appearance. The man began laughing again at this display of weakness.

"Heh, people like you don't deserve that kinda power. So what happened to you huh? You got some drug? Some alien shit? Give it to me, I'll put it to good use." With that he laughed again; an eerie, horrible laugh that chilled Todd to the bone. Without thinking, he tied a shadow noose around the man's neck. A platform of shadow lifted him up 10 feet off the ground; all Todd had to do was dismiss the platform and it would be over. He felt so numb. Was this what it felt like to take a life?

"H-hey buddy what are you doing? Turn me in already! Ya can't just kill me! HEY!"

Todd trembled, all his emotions turning to rage. He again became the Shadowraith.

"What gives you the right? What gives you the right to kill, and I can't? The world would be better without you, you know. You are a cancer. You don't deserve to live."