Casting a shadow [closed to members of Shade]

Vulcan was the first to arrive to the venue, his hulking form was sure to attract attention but he had heard of this "Elena Marie" before when he had fought the boy Sean Collin who had said that a woman by the name of Elena Marie was his mother. Perhaps working with a woman who had given birth to a child so powerful wasn't the best idea. But any source of information that could lead him to his final goal was well worth the risk. Vulcan stood at the gaping entrance to the storage facility, his hulking form filling up most of the gateway.

"I have arrived" he stated as he made his way into the facility, the regal looking inside greatly overshadowed the plain looking outside. Vulcan walked over to the largest chair that he would have guess was for him, he was about to sit when he realized the fragile wood chair would have most likely been crushed under his immense weight. "Perhaps it would be best if I stood" he said looking across the table at the woman sitting at the head of the table slowly sipping her wine. Her thin stature was but a cloak to hide her true potential. He had to remind himself that if she had been the one who gave birth to Sean Collin, her powers could be limitless. It was a risky venture, but perhaps one that was worth indulging in.

Cain yawned standing up tossing on his purple shirt, leather jacket, and slick black jeans. He had received a message from a certain Elena Marie while he had been sleeping and decided that sense the sun had gone down it was time he go meet her. Attaching his Kilij of the Shadows to his belt he summoned a shadow monster and draining a glass of blood he had the monster shadow travel them to the location he had somehow nailed in his head. Only five seconds later they appeared in the building of whatever the place was that this meeting was taking place at. He had just recently, okay so not recently but he had left the Harbingers, and now seemed he was about to join another group? He shook his head and laughed slightly running a hand through his jet black hair looking at the contents of the building.

When he saw the red head he raised an eyebrow in slight confusion, this was not the same Elena Marie he had worked with before in Harbingers and recently in the original Shade group. “You’re Elena Marie? Hmm, look different than when we last met.” He said giving a half bow and then continuing into the room. Once there he took a seat near the head of the table and smirked looking to the flaming rock monster, with a flick of his hand a shadow chair big enough for the beast to sit down in appeared behind him. When he sat down in his seat the shadow monster that was behind him disappeared and went back to the apartment in the shadows. Sure he mainly resided in London now because of the Assault but he still enjoyed his home in New York and that is where his creatures of the night lived. “So, why’d you call us all here Miss Marie?” The King of Night asked with a raised eyebrow, a wolf walked up and he proceeded to pet it.

The booming, informative voice of the news reporter filled the space of the small damp room, the sun's golden tendrils only creeping through the closed blinds, partially lighting up the otherwise dark space. A pained squeal pierced the dusty confines of the New York apartment, however no sound could override the television which was purposefully set onto its maximum volume. "No matter how hard you scream no one's going to hear you" uttered a dainty yet patronising voice, a gloved hand pressing onto sweaty bare flesh causing more horrid scream's to rise from the man's throat.

Daji, the famed oriental killer from Asian folklore had traversed her way across the globe finding herself toying with the 'peasants' in New York. Her current source of entertainment was a heaving mass of fat and calories, a man who thought it appropriate to squeeze her behind while she was at a club. Any normal woman would have slapped the man or proceeded to assault his manhood for the lewd act however Daji was no normal woman and she proceeded to flirt with the heaving mass of sweat and hormones until they reached his apartment. What the man expected to be sexual favours quickly turned into a torturous game for the Asian woman, whose youthful complexion had contorted into malicious glee at the man's obvious pain and suffering.

Pressing her genetically altered gloves against the man's belly a distinct hissing noise was followed by the smell of burning flesh as the acidic substance within the clothing article began to slowly erode the man's skin. "Oh don't be like that, don't you want to know what your insides look like?" she said tutting, applying more pressure onto the man's belly as the glove broke past the fat layer on his stomach releasing a gag-worthy stench. By now the man was in a daze, the torture had gone on for at least an hour and there was not a significant area on his body where the petite woman hadn't destroyed, all of his skin was either melted or burnt and the pain was so intense he was now numb all over.

Before the woman could continue past the man's thin layer of muscle a voice flashed throughout her cranium, making her flinch. Staring into space Daji listened to the 'message' sent by this Elena woman, an invitation of sorts to a gathering. Daji snarled as the man continued to whimper underneath her, the tears feeling like hot oil as they caressed his burnt face. Slapping the tortured creature across its face the woman stood up and opened the blinds, light shooting through like water bursting out of a dam. "Who does this 'Elena' think she is..." Daji hissed as she cracked her knuckles slightly bothered by the fact that someone had seemingly tracked her down.

Turning to her plaything, Daji sadistically grinned as she marvelled at her beautiful work of turning him into a bloody mess, "I'm sorry Mr perve but it seems I have some better entertainment coming my way" a pained groan was all his body could muster, "Don't worry you'll probably be dead by nightfall anyway" she whispered sweetly patting his head. Turning on her heels she headed straight out the front door not bothering to look back.

***

The warehouse was both unassuming and bland, the large metal building dwarfing a nearby semi-trailer; its big shiny grey façade creating a bit of an eyesore for the surrounding areas. Taking in a deep breath and clenching her jaw the petite woman swung the door open, her eyebrow raising at what stood before her once entering. The interior was much more 'elegant' than the exterior and before her were several ornate looking chairs, a seated woman grinned at her as she sauntered inside. Flashing her eyes at a man already seated Daji wrinkled her nose, he appeared to be a gifted individual much like herself but the fact that he was male left a sour taste in her mouth.

Staring straight at the fiery headed woman, Daji stood with arms folded, "You think you can summon me here like some slave girl?" she hissed, her furrowed brow tampering with her otherwise perfect complexion.

Tek leaned back on his chair, out on his penthouse balcony. Turning on his wrist computer he started flipping through e-mails. Spike came running out and jumped on him. "Not now boy." Tek said picking up the robot canine and placing him on the ground. He stumbled across a particular message that stuck out to him. It was about some meeting he couldn't refuse. Looking over to a stoned Volt he walked into his house and got into his Tek gear.

"Jake, I got an invite to some meeting. Out of curiosity I hacked your email and saw you got the same one. I got some business to take care of this morning, I'll meet you there." Tek said as he turned and grabbed his hover board and took off. Reading over the email again as he flew through the skies of New York he got the address and programmed it into his Tektop. Looking down at a park of civilians he dropped out of the sky, hovering a little before he hit the ground to avoid damage.

Turning to the first man he saw, he set his canon to full blast with his mind, and blasted a hole through his midsection. "What the fuck!" a larger man yelled at Tek. Turning quickly Craig blasted a hole though loud mouth's skull. A police officer happened to be on duty and drew his gun to Tek. With a smile forming across his face Tek walked towards the police officer. Shooting a stun dart, Tek sent the cop falling to ground. Tek continued walking towards him. Picking the cop up by his shirt collar, he pulled a knife from his bag. "You see this people, this is what being a hero gets you." and he slit the officers throat tossing him to the ground.
A small child stepped forward from the crowd and began to yell at Tek. "Hey, what is your problem jerk! That was my uncle! What did he ever do to you!" the child screamed in hysterics.

Tek walked towards the child dropping the knife to the ground. The kid began to take steps back. Tek's smile turned to a very serious look. He squatted down in front of the kid and looked him in the eye. "Listen, in the real world, the hero doesn't always save the day. There are people like me. People you call monsters. Let me fill you in on a little something. The monster's aren't under our beds. They're in our souls. I promise with enough rage and pain, even the greatest of heros can be pushed past their limit and step into my realm. Your uncle was pathetic and weak, and so are you." The child's mother stepped forward and told her son to come to her.
Tek looked down at the child's mother in tears as his father watched too. "I'm gunna make you strong kid." he said as the little boy looked in his eyes.

Tek stood up and turned towards the boys parents. Walking up to his mother, he put his gauntlet to her face and melted it to liquid. The father didn't enjoy this and turned to attack Tek. Tek fired an explosive dart at the man's throat. Beep Beep Beep BOOM. The man's entire head exploded, displaying a show of raining blood and brain meat. The kid stared in shock. Tek smiled at the kid. "Learn to hate, learn to kill. That's how you survive in this world." and Tek hopped in his hover board and flew to the destination.

Showing up at the location he walked through the entrance. Into a room he walked into gathering with people he assumed got the same email. He saw a chair in the back and went and sat down. Once there and he assumed people looked at him he started to talk. "Hey, the name's Tek." he said pulling a already rolled joint out of his pocket and lighting it. "I assume this isn't a surprise birthday party for me, so what's this all about?" he asked calmly and quietly.

Volt barely heard Tek as he explained something about emails and meetings. His voice was like a dull murmur in the back of the speedster's head. He was so stoned, not even an explosion would phase him. "Yeah man... just... don't forget... to... uh.... refrigerator..." Jacob said, his mind spinning like a carousel. As Tek left, he turned his attention to Spike, his roommate's pet dog. "Hey dude... Wanna watch a movie or somethin'?" the burnout villain asked the mechanical dog. "Ruff ruff!" Spike barked as he hopped onto the couch to join Volt.

A few hours later, Volt woke up on the couch covered in ice cream, raspberry vodka, and Pringles. Spike laid next to him asleep, with three party hats on and a naked chick wrapped around him, also asleep. "Well. That was a fucking nuts idea." Volt said, shaking his head. "That goddamn dog man... Stole my chick again!" he laughed and walked up to his room. Laying on his bed, Jake opened his computer and checked his email to see what Tek was talking about earlier. "Hm. An invitation! Well, I know it's not Tek's birthday... So what could this be about?" he said quizzically. Looking over the email again, he realized that he was a half hour late already. "Fuck, gotta run!"

Volt arrived at the warehouse a minute and a half later, and he quickly entered. "Sorry I'm late guys, I was just-" he stopped and sniffed the air. "Do I smell...?" His eyes darted around the room and landed on Tek, who was smoking a joint and looking at a few bags of something on a table. "Of course it's you who's smoking!" Volt laughed and sped over to his friend. "Lemme hit that?" he asked before realizing he had forgotten to introduce himself. "By the way, the name's Volt. And you guys..." he said, looking at each of the other villains in the room. "You guys better like murderin' folk."

Vulcan was happy to finally have a chair that he could sit upon without crushing it. But this small amount of peace was disrupted by entrance after entrance of more and more guests, some calm and collected like the man who forged Vulcan's chair from shadows...others, not as such. When a very angry woman arrived she was incredibly rude to their host, on Pyrovilia such an insult to someone of such capabilities and power would have meant instantaneous death for the one who had acted harshly against the host, perhaps the angry woman was lucky that they were NOT on Pyrovilia. The next man to arrive was as cool and calm as the shadowman, Vulcan could only guess that this man's powers would be just as dangerous anyone else's, excluding their gracious host. The smoke that aroze from the small roll that the man had lit wafted over towards Vulcan, it gave him a calming sensation that reminded him of the brimstone from home. What Elena Marie did next impressed Vulcan, she shone like a star in the room, radiating with pure energy, even for someone as large and powerful as Vulcan, the feeling was making him ever so more cautious about who at this table he angered, any one of them could be hiding their true potentials. Then HE arrived, half an hour after everyone else, a human moving quicker than Vulcan's eyes could keep up with, he listened to the young boy's words and grinned. "Murdering people?" Vulcan chuckled with delight "I live for the slaughter, to watch my enemies burn away into nothingness, to watch their corpses turn to nothing but ash, that is the greatest pleasure above all else" thought's of the wars Vulcan had fought in flashed through his mind, Pyrovilia had been victorious in all of them....all except the last war, which was still happening, somewhere amongst the stars. "but we are not here to discuss our favourite methods of evisceration. We are here because the woman Elena Marie summoned us here for a purpose, what that purpose is none of us know yet, but if I had blood flowing through my veins as you do, it would be boiling at the opportunity that lies ahead of me"

Cain rose an eyebrow in confusion as he watched the people come in to the room all of them interesting to say the least but none as powerful as he. He smirked when the female came in and acted as if she owned the damn place which was interesting to say the least. Then of course Miss Marie had to go and announce just who she was by letting loose her power. The light was so blinding to Cain’s sensitive eyes that he had to throw up his hands and ducked just a bit letting out a low hiss. “Can you let out the sun?” He muttered throwing up a shadow wall in front of himself and blinked a lot trying to readjust his eyes to the darkness. When they finally came through and the light was let down he summoned a shadow monster to get him a glass of blood.

The next two to enter the room were not as interesting as the original two entrees but he figured they all had their own personal perks. The smoker piped his interest only slightly because he seemed to believe everything was all about him the moment he walked in. That one he would defiantly have to put in place if he stepped out of line. This was not the first ‘group’ The Lord of Shadows had been in and so he was known amongst most Heroes and Villains. He had left the infamous Harbingers by beating up NightKill and his little bitch Corra, and was fairly certain he would be this group’s enforcer as well. When the speedster entered a slight chuckle escaped the lips of the King of Darkness. “Kid, I’ve killed more people before you even knew about your powers.” He said as he made the shadows around them come to life as if dancing around them all.

When the lava monster thing spoke up he looked to make sure the shadow chair was still there and was surprised to see it still was. He nodded his head at what was said and turned to face Elena once again,“Yes Elena, why did you call us all here exactly?” He asked taking a sip of the glass of blood that the shadow monster had just brought to him, and that he dismissed upon it coming again. “Did you too break free of NightKill and his false words of wisdom?” the New York Vampire asked taking another sip of the glass.

Daji's abrupt and slightly theatrical entrance did create a bit of a stir. The two seated men, well it was more like one man and one monster, gave her quizzical looks as if she were some ignorant little pup amongst a pack of wolves. She stared intensely at the seated woman, her bright red hair framing a smug and overconfident face as she so elegantly sipped on her wine, a cocked eyebrow infuriating the petite woman even more. It was not much sooner that the next member had made his way through the front doors that this 'Elena' woman decided to give them a glimpse of her abilities.

A gigantic wave of light exploded from the woman's form, like a supernova the energy could be felt from miles away, the attending members getting a full blown taste of this strange power. Daji clenched her jaw as the light covered her, this amount of chi (Chinese for life-energy) was ridiculous, even for a woman who had lived for over a thousand years and has honed her abilities to what she believed was her peak she felt a startling shiver as the woman's magic flooded the room; whatever power this Elena held...Daji wanted part of it, even if it did mean she had to humble herself and work with men.

The little performance ended and Daji gritted her teeth and crossed her arms moderately impressed with the short display of power, "Fine...why have you called me then?". Tapping her shoe on the ground waiting for an answer Daji groaned as yet another man entered the room, he was late and he immediately started rambling on instantly darting towards the bags of weed on the table. Daji wrinkled her nose at this sloppy display of manliness, "Oh I do much more than 'murder folk'" she uttered sneering at him with an unimpressed look...

Tek stared at the bags of weed Elena prepared for him. "I like you." Tek said looking at Elena and leaning back in his chair. So it appeared everyone was here. Time for the meeting to commence. Craig took one last long rip off his joint and it was finished, ignoring Jake's pleed for ganj. "Dude there's more right there" he said pointing to the bags Tek leaned forward in his chair and began to speak a bit. "So What exactly is this all about? All I've heard people talk about is murdering. I highly doubt this is a stat comparing, so let's get to it." Tek said at the far end of the table. "Gathering a group like us, i assume means you're thinking big." he said looking towards Elena.
"How big are we talking here?"

So far he didn't know of anyone other than Shadow Lord and Volt. They all looked pretty powerful, but how many were as smart as him he wondered. Looking at Volt with the "time to get serious" face he leaned back in his chair, and waited for everyone else to begin their portion of talking. Opening his wrist computer he looked up some info on the Lord of Shadows. He was the only familiar face, he figured he'd see what he was working with.
"Woah." Tek thought as he looked through multiple websites on things this man has done. "All right." he said looking at Cain.

Volt cackled upon hearing the other villains response. "Glad we're all up to par on slaughterin' shit. No why are we here? I'm guessing not an evil villain slumber party- but we should totally do that, it would be fucking awesome." he chattered quickly. His hands darted to the weed on the table and rapidly rolled a fat blunt. Putting it to his lips, he whipped out his lighter and sparked it up. "Whatever it is, as long as there's more weed involved, I'm in." he said with a toothy grin.

The moment Tek gave him the look, Volt got serious. It was a rare occasion for the maniacal criminal, but if his best friend said it was time to get serious, then it was time to get serious. Leaning on the table and hitting his blunt, he listened to Elena's explanation and offer. He already figured she needed each of their unique talents, but for what was the question. Then she said it. The world. Did she mean it? Or what she speaking hypothetically? "Woah now, the whole fuckin' world? For us? I don't know if we can pull that off, even with your shiny thing. No offense to you guys. Oh and just for the record, if we do pull this off? I call Jamaica and the surrounding islands." Volt said with a completely straight face.

Vulcan didn't exactly care for taking over this world, his personal goals existed far beyond this planet, among the stars. While he had considered destroying this world if he found no way of escape, ruling it might be a smarter idea. With control of the planet he could use all of it's resources to make his way back to Pyrovilia, and with the assistance of Elena Marie and her power, perhaps he could even destroy his invaders. He slowly rose from his chair. "I accept your proposal, Elena Marie, guide my hand on a path of destruction that leaves fire and death in it's wake" Vulcan smiled a wide glowing grin. With people such as those around the table by his side, anything would be possible.

Cain listened to what he was told, he didn’t believe everything that was said but he listened, and he listened well. Did she truly believe she could take the world even with everyone here? He may not know much about any of them but he was certain they couldn’t do it. That much was proven on the night of the New York Assault, when hundreds of them failed to take control over a single state. Sure, that state, his state, lay devastated, destroyed, and broken but still it was not theirs. No matter what they seemed to do the ‘heroes’ got in the way. “How do you plan on doing this Elena? How can you hope to achieve taking over the world when we couldn’t even take New York?” He spoke most likely asking the question everyone here was thinking about.

“You say you have the means, and all of us here may be powerful but can you truly hope to take the world? If so, what’s in it for us? Why don’t you…enlighten us on your plan beautiful?” Cain may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but he saw failure easy enough, and this wasn’t looking to be much of a success story. He took another sip of the glass of blood looking around at those in the room with them five people, six counting him, could it be done? He had heard rumors that the old G.U.N was starting up, they were just whispers echoing out from the shadows but there was reason to believe them. “Give us one good damn reason why we should trust you can do what you say Crimson Witch.”