The Original Chronicles of the Nightshade

Blood is Thicker Than Water

The skies billowed with gray clouds, looming over the bustling city of Tsunami Bay. Anyone in their right mind would start stocking on canned goods and preparing for the inevitable floods that filled the streets with sleet and ice water. Basic survival instincts kicked in. Gather food. Have warm blankets and shelter. Finish final exams. It was wonder people stayed here this time of year, but to any citizen--this was home. Here they would stay.

It was no different for the Nightshade. Her bare feet slapped across the ground as she ran toward the crumbling buildings, sliding into the remnants a super battle. The ones that tore through the newly repaired streets. Where the hero threw the villain across the city and caused millions of dollars and damage, and the story was spun by the news to tell the opposite. Stories were always told by the winners.

This building was a warehouse with a gaping hole in its side, a mouth of concrete fortress. With a grimace, she took the time to search her surroundings, before her eyes stopped, staring at the puddle that was forming at the base of the warehouse. She looked at her vibrant purple eyes, reflecting the pool of dirty water. They stood on the face of inky black scales shaped like overlapping diamonds that fit gently against each other, the same scales that covered her skin from the tops of her fee to the back of her palms.

She looked away, intentionally splashing the surface to destroy the reflection, before leaping up and through the hole. She landed with a grunt scanning across the vast room. There were some loose bottles, piles of burnt paper, only ashes left of their form, and a piece of some dismantled technology.

She didn't realize half the floor was gone until her vision started to blur and she felt the shift of her body tumbled down into the rubble and shattered brick that shifted with her weight as she reached out a hand to steady her body.

Careful. Stay on your feet. She chanted to herself. Keep moving.

She scanned her surroundings again, gazing over the mess of concrete as she used a dirty sleeve to wipe her dry lips. There was nothing but dust and rubble and metal parts the same buildings, a mural of destruction and violence.

There was something to be said about the war zones set apart from the rest of the city dedicated to letting those who had powers beyond being human destroy and smash. It was a place of solitude when there wasn't a hero giving an equally powerful villain the beating of a lifetime. That's how it was suppose to work, right? The hero always wins.

The Nightshade sneered at the thought, clambering over a pile of overturned couches and destroyed chairs as her ears picked up the echoing sirens and she jumped at every flying creature that swooped by. Instinctively, her scales rippled shut and she pulled her hood over her face.

The words of the recent newspapers that scattered the grounds in a litter of her grainy images taken from her first moments of unwanted fame. The words branded into her mind's eye.

Since the recent graphic events that occurred in Oka District, the manhunt for the Nightshade has increased over the course of the last week. The creature's recent spike in violence has left a wake of bodies in its path. Heroes and police alike are in a heated race contain the creature, after the offer of over a million dollars of funding has been promised to the one to catch the Nightshade from Payne Tower, the pinnacle of society here in Tsunami Bay.

She looked up toward the center of the city and glared at the building that loomed over the city. A watchtower. A guardian. An omen of warning to those who would oppose them. The Payne Tower was home the Victor the Great, the one man that Nightshade had ever intentionally hurt. The rest of them had been blamed on her. Since she had been running as far and as fast as she could. Every corner was someone who hated her, and someone who'd much rather see her behind bars or in a body bag than running around the streets. Nightshade didn't want to died.