Dusk Harbor 1999

It Begins.

The white light of the full moon gleamed off of the wet pavement of the shipyard. The foul tang of low tide danced on the breeze, it smelled like rot and sewage.

Jake stood with his back to the lamppost, watching over a few shipping containers that had been dropped off earlier in the day. One of them contained a massive shipment of heroin, due to be picked up by a member of the Kabuki and distributed throughout Dusk Harbor. Something he wasn't going to allow.

Soft mist danced down from the sky, something about it made him refreshed and alert, he loved the cool sensation of it against his skin. Wearing a thick grey hood and an eye mask made him overheat sometimes, so he welcomed any form of relief he could get.

His rival, Living Weapon, was prowling around in a small alley created by two containers that neighbored each other. Just the sight of him made his blood boil. He curled his hands into white-knuckled fists and gritted his teeth. His heart began racing, he could feel it thrumming in his chest.

Jake rolled across the ground and came up beside a red shipping container. His large, heavy white wings unfurled behind him, and with a single silent wing beat he was lifted up onto the top of container, and he landed without a sound.

He tucked his wings in and stalked to the edge of the container. The Living Weapon was just below him, unaware of his presence.

This time, he thought, I'll teach him a lesson he won't forget. He stood tall with the moon to his back and spread his wings out as far as they could go, grinning as he imagined how cool he must have looked with the light illuminating his terrifying form. Anyone with half a brain would have run for their lives.

He leapt off the container and flew shoulder first into his enemy, knocking him to the ground hard on his back. He used his wings as extra limbs to block him from getting up, as he punched him across the face repeatedly. Knuckles smashing his lips and pulping his nose. The Living Weapon had a black silicone mask around his eyes, which offered a little protection in that area.

"You shouldn't have come back!" Jake growled.

"You're too late Herald! My partner is already dealing with the shipment," his rival coughed, his teeth glistening with blood.

"That's what you think, Evanesce got here before any of us, she's probably handling everything herself right now," he said. Evanesce was his younger cousin, and simultaneously his partner.

"Either that or they're killing each other like we are," his opponent groaned before spitting blood at him.

As if to answer them, an explosion rocked the ground beneath them, and the shockwaves reverberated along the metal walls of the containers. A ball of orange flames propelled into the sky, making it look like the middle of the day for a few moments. Both of them froze as they were.

"That can't be good," they said in unison.

"Truce?"

He remembered what he was doing, and took a deep breath, and allowed his power to come alive, churning within his soul. channeled the energy into his hands, it radiated down his arms and into his fingertips. He wrapped his hands around The Living Weapon's throat, and he choked on yowls of pain. His power involved making a person feel every injury they'd ever had all at once. It was effective in rendering someone useless.

Living Weapon's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell limp. Not dead, just unconscious. They had a sort of 'no kill' agreement. They were allowed to brutally wound each other, but killing was off-limits. They were more useful to the city alive, and being a member of a rare breed, it felt wrong to murder another super-powered individual. Satisfied with his work he stood up, flapped his wings, and started to fly up to go investigate the source of the explosion.