Sirius Nightshade (BoomerangReturns): Sociopathic, shadow manipulation, magically enhanced knife, half-demon.
This round's condition involved switching powers.
The stories below are posted in the order that they were submitted and may not be the order in the title or of the character blurbs above. When giving feedback (and you should), please keep the authors of the respective stories anonymous even if you know which one it is.
Spoiler (Click to Show)
Just by the lake, hidden in the lush green bushes, was a male. He was crouched down, and looking up towards the very top of the center-most tower of desert rock. His short bright red hair was accompanied by his green eyes, similar in color to the lake he was only inches away from. The male had binoculars to his face, staring intently towards two figures who were laid out at the top.
“Yes,” He said in a hushed whisper, “Yes, I have visual on the men. It’s a bit difficult to see any definitive features, but I’m sure our target is up there somewhere.”
Upon closer inspection, a device similar to a Bluetooth was wrapped around his ear, the low sound of a booming voice coming from it. The male, his eyes still locked with the two figures at the mountaintop, nodded vigorously. “Yes sir. Yes. I’ll try and find a better vantage point, and get a good view for you.”
The male quickly pushed his binoculars into the green bag at his back, and held his finger to his ear a devilish smile on his face. “Yes sir. We’ll get him this time. There isn’t anywhere for him to run. Yes. Connor out.”
With that, the unknown male began to move through the brush, before placing his hands on any indents in the rock. He began to climb.
***
Eyelids separated to reveal pitch black hues.
Sirius awoke from what felt like an eternal slumber, as he looked up to the clear, blue sky the afternoon had brought. The bright sun shined down on him, heat resonating from his body due to the black clothes he was wearing. A strong wind blew against his face, the breeze becoming something to cherish. Sirius began to contemplate where he was, his head turning to the side. It was in that moment that he realized that he was on a flat surface, but not on the ground. A large rift separated one canyon he rested upon from another, while the drop had to be at least a thousand feet.
How did he even get here in the first place? Why was he here? Many questions ran through his mind that would go unanswered for the time being.
He craned his neck as he heard the sound of a miniscule twig being broken. He looked in front of him and saw a tall, aging male slowly getting to his feet. As he stood upright, Sirius took notice to the many scars on his face, tearing what probably was a handsome face into a monstrosity. The male seemed as confused as Sirius was, looking at his two hands and walking around aimlessly. It looked as though something was taken from him.
Sirius moved his body in an attempt sit up, but he soon realized that it was much more difficult to do so than ever before. He could barely move his own arm, let alone sit his entire body up. It was like there were anvils taped to his chest, to his bones. A giant weight on his whole person, and he had no idea why.
Eventually, he managed to sit himself up with all of his strength. He would have to get used to this invisible weight on him, somehow. Simultaneously, the aging male turned his head towards Sirius, this seemingly being the first time he had noticed him. He walked up to Sirius, his lips contorting into a friendly smile as he stood above him, his hand out. Another scarred piece of skin. “Would you like some help?”
For a split second, Sirius looked from his smiling face to his hand, tongue in cheek as he tried to analyze his expression. Such a scarred man, physically and probably mentally, and yet he still finds a way to be friendly. Even with them both on a perilous mountaintop with no clue as to how they ended up there, and yet this aging male isn’t hardened to the core.
Sirius couldn’t believe it.
He lifted his left hand and smacked the other male’s gesture away from him, “I can get up myself, vermin.” He snarled, venom oozing from his gruff voice as he forced himself to stand upright. It was much more of a struggle than he could have predicted, as his knees buckled numerous times before he eventually stood upright.
The male in front of him, still making the vain attempt at being friendly, cleared his throat, “Erm, my name is Rykosar. Or, you could call me Ryko, for short.”
Sirius didn’t even respond with his name, but with another question entirely, “Do you know how we got here,” He put up quotation marks, “’Ryko’?”
Ryko let out a sigh. This was certainly going to be a long day. “No,” He replied, craning his neck to look at the beautiful mountaintops and scenery once more, before turning back to the male in front of him, his face twisting into a slight frown, “Frankly, I don’t really remember much before I woke up either. I just remember waking and feeling less weight than I ever have before.”
Out of pure annoyance, Sirius sucked his teeth and his glance fell to the ground. This old fuck didn’t know anything either. What were they doing here? More importantly, what had happened to him? The fact that they were both on this secluded canyon must have been no coincidence.
Suddenly, it hit him.
‘Weightless’.
He shot his glance forward, towards the aging male. “You said you feel less weight than usual?”
Ryko nodded feverishly, “Yes, and there’s also this,” He replied solemnly, and suddenly the shadows underneath them transformed into physical matter, bursting towards the male and swirling around him, “For some reason I can turn this into physical matter…but I can’t control it at all.”
His eyes widened as Sirius watched the darkness go to this old, scarred fuck rather than himself. Not only had he lost a lot of his weight, which had now gone to Sirius, but he had gotten Sirius’ powers. “For some reason or another, our abilities have been swapped,” Sirius mused, his pitch black hues glowering with resentment, “And I don’t know why.”
****
In the background, closer to the edge of the mountain-top, was the top half of a figure. One hand was pressed against his ear, as the other hung idly about. He had not yet been noticed, his bright green orbs continuously looking between each male.
“-I’m telling you,” He continued, “The guy with the shadow manipulation does NOT fit the description I was given.”
He continued to look at the seductive tendrils of the dark matter, wrapped around the aging man. How could this be? The description in the contacts noted him to be young and frail. The only one that looked remotely like Sirius was the other male in this equation, but he was not acquitted with shadow manipulation. There was just no way.
“What am I to do then, sir?” He asked now looking down at the ground, “Take in the one that doesn’t even look like him? If anything, we should just apprehend the both of them.”
Connor let out a deep sigh and frowned, nodding, “Yes sir. I will see you shortly.”
As the Bluetooth in his ear went to static, the spy ran his pale fingers through his bright red hair, grasping tufts of it. While it would be the logical thing to just grab both men and question them, instead the bullheaded commander didn’t want to have to deal with such childish things. He just wanted the reward for capturing the shadow manipulator, he cared not for the appearance.
Connor lifted his head up to look at the sky, but was instead met with a sadistic smile from ear to ear, and pitch black eyes that looked as though they were small black holes, sucking his life force out chunk by proverbial chunk. The rest of his face was shadowed, his body blocking the boring sun. He couldn’t even hope to utter a word before the pale, bony hand of this malevolent being wrapped around the neck of the spy.
Sirius lifted Connor to his feet, his hand crushing his trachea, with the force no average human could ever hope to achieve. As Sirius Nightshade spoke, it was soft, and at the sound of a whisper. However, the venom in his tone was evident. “What are you doing…Watching us?,” He cocked his head to the side, almost amused at how Connor was flailing in his death grip, “Do you have some…wish to meet your beloved God?”
The life was slowly beginning to fade from Connor. His body was not taking nearly enough air, and he was slowly suffocating in the grasp of this sadistic human being. He noticed the figure of the aging male behind Sirius, his shadows swerving around as if he had no real control over them. The look in the man’s eyes was not of anger, resentment, or sadistic intentions. They were of pity, and sorrow.
Sirius decidedly relaxed his grip, allowing quick and gasping breathes to fill the spy’s lungs. He was relieved, however he also knew that the fact that he was allowed to breath, meant one thing.
He had to talk.
“Who are you working for?” Sirius asked, leaning forward so his face was only inches from Connors. His eyes were like windows into the devil, and his smile was cold and calculating, but Connor could tell he was struggling. His knees were shaking, as if he was taking on more weight than he could handle, “What is it that you intend to do?”
He knew that if he did not speak now, that Connor would be thrown off of the mountain to his death at a moment’s notice. He had to speak or be inevitably destroyed, mentally and physically. He opened his mouth to speak, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see the growing shape of a chopper. That was it. His reinforcements.
A smirk crossed his face, and he chuckled. “I intend to have you both apprehended.”
Sirius slowly came to the realization as to what he was talking about, as the sounds of the blades at the top of the helicopter filled the group’s eardrums. His face twisted into one of pure anger, his pitch black hues finally flickering with something other than lifelessness; fury. Connor kicked the knee of Sirius, forcing him to drop the spy as he turned immediately towards Ryko, who didn’t seem to be panicking at all, oddly enough. Sirius looked as though he knew he was cornered, and was prepared to fight off the squadron that had planted their feet on the canyon’s roof. However, something he didn’t expect happened.
They all ran towards Rykosar.
He didn’t even expect it, nor could he really do anything about it. The entire squadron tackled Rykosar to the ground, paying practically no mind to the other male in the equation. Seeing as Ryko had absolutely no idea how to use the shadows, he could do nothing to stop them, nor did it seem he wanted to. The kind morals in his heart wouldn’t allow him to kill or bodily harm any of the men arresting him. Handcuffs were strung across his wrists, and he was lifted on his feet. He was told that if he even made any sudden movements, he would be killed on the spot. All the while, Sirius only stood there, watching with a combination of surprise and amusement.
And then suddenly, he fell to his knees, laughing to himself in mass hysteria. He looked towards the squadron, as Connor snuck out from his view. “Yes! He’s been a very very bad boy!,” Sirius screamed in utter laughter, “Hurry! Get him in that jail cell before he does something evil!”
As Connor quickly got into the door of the chopper with the rest of the squadron, he was consistently praised for finding and taking down the shadow manipulator that had been envoking havoc onto the city. He would get awards, medals, any honor he could think of or want. He was a hero.
But as the hired spy looked down at the canyon that was slowly fading away from view, he still noticed Sirius. On his knees. His hands spread outward. His laughter could still, somehow be heard. It was the type of laughter of a child constantly being tickled; except Sirius didn’t want it to stop. As Connor continued to look between the aging man with a smile on his face, and the other male on the canyon, he already knew that they had the wrong guy.
He had gotten away.[/spoiler]
Spoiler (Click to Show)
The uneasy silence that followed his motion forced him to lift his head up, nearly flinching in a start at the two figures who appeared to be facing each other in body but had their heads turned directly at him just a few feet away. He could see a woman with cutting lime green eyes, as well as a man with a softer auburn color.
The woman spun on her heel, taking two steps forward to look straight down at Rykosar, eyes narrowed and one brow lifted in an aggressive display of curiosity. “We’ve never had a spy before.”
“We haven’t.” The man noted in agreement, still remaining back. “I suppose we should have assumed that we could and would attract this kind of attention.”
“Well, you are building a large machine out in the middle of almost nowhere.” Rykosar would chirp, attempting a smirk. “Guess there’s no harm in telling you the people that sent me think it’s a weapon. People are paranoid.”
“Paranoid is one of the many things you can describe people as, but it’s definitely not their best or worst quality.” The woman’s words chipped away at Rykosar’s ears like an icepick before she pulled herself back and moved to the young man. Her dark features dimmed into a warm neutrality as she was pulled into his gaze. “Everything will be fine, regardless.”
Looking back at Rykosar, the look was stone again. “Don’t let him move. I’ll get everything ready.”
The young man gave her a curt nod, offering her a smile before she turned away and made for a door along the left side of the warehouse. As she opened the door, light poured in from the outside, the color gave away that it was near dusk before she shut the door behind her.
Rykosar glanced back at the young man left with him and offered a smile, observing he seemed like the nicer and probably more merciful of the two. Though the man didn’t seem as keen on returning the gesture, brows furrowed before he turned away as if Rykosar’s gaze had some unknown power. Though, as the old gladiator was doing this, his eyes narrowed partially in focus. Rykosar could feel a cold shadow formed by his chair slithering up, it took up a blade-like sharpness before it started cutting the rope binds on his hands.
He’d attempt to strike up conversation as a distraction, to prevent the younger man from picking up the sound of slicing. “So, is it a weapon?”
“No.”
The man sounded honest enough, Rykosar gave a slow nod despite only being able to see the young man’s back. “I’m guessing it’d be stupid of me to ask what it really is then, mm?”
The pressure around his wrists faded and the chill of the warehouse alleviated some of the chafing as the rope was finally cut. He quickly flinched, the shadow blade forming a small hook to pick up the rope before it fell to the ground, trying to appear like he was still tied up as another tendril slithered towa