RENEGADE - a Male!Superpowered!Reader Story.

Chapter 1: Initial Infection

The body of the man slid across the wet, slick concrete, and with a pained grunt he struck the wall of the alleyway. Battered and bleeding, he attempted to push himself up with his hand (whose nails were either cracked or not there anymore), but screamed in pain as a clawed foot forced him back down.

"P-Please..." The man whimpered. "Don't kill me."

Wrenching his head up, he met the gaze of a grotesque, inhuman figure. Its somewhat humanoid body was large and yet skinny, the bones of its torso poking out between the scraggly green feathers across its skin. A long neck, and atop it a beaked head (though it was difficult to find a distinction between the two), with small, beady, wide eyes that stared down into his. The top of its head seemed to sprout a Mohawk of long, green feathers - much longer than the ones on its body.

He quivered, and the beak of the beast seemed to almost open in a smile. Sharp, pointed teeth lined the inside of its mouth, and he could almost see what looked like a second set tucked behind in its throat. The clawed foot of the bird creature stuck into his side, before painfully jerking him onto his back.

He continued to grovel, pleading for his life futility against a cruel, unempathetic creature. A long, pounded spike of an arm, almost bone like in its consistency, hovered over his chest, and the man's eyes widened in fear and recognition. Before he could do anything, it plunged down into his torso, and he screamed as it slowly dragged around in a circular motion.

The bird beast pulled away the skin of the now dead man, and then poked its claw down into his chest cavity, tearing the heart from his body. It cooed at the wet, bloody thing for a moment, before placing it into its maw, and plucking it off of its claw with its sharp teeth.

With a wet splat, it crushed the organ between its jaws, and a small amount of blood shot out of either side. Grinning to itself once more, it began trudging slowly out of the alleyway, its form steaming.

If there was anyone there on the street outside the alley, they would've seen a strangely skinny, yet still human figure stride out of it, with seemingly dyed green hair and matching rags for clothes. Wheezing, Devcoraz wiped his mouth of the spittle and blood that dripped from it, and smiled. 

Before him stood a boy. About (Y/H) feet tall, with (H/C) hair and carrying a bag of groceries with him. Thankfully, he didn't seem to have noticed what had happened just prior down the alley, but at the same time it couldn't be ruled out that they wouldn't contact him. Devcoraz gave a subtle sniff. The boy was clean. That could work, he thought to himself. 

The boy couldn't just be done away with right here. They were out in the open now, and the chances of being spotted were just too high. But if he was willing to hedge his bets, there was another method that he could try.

"Hey there, kid." He called out in a scratchy, low voice, to which the boy - looking puzzled - turned around. Devcoraz's orange eyes bored deep into his (E/C) ones, and the boy seemed to shrink back a little.

"Got the time?"

The boy seemed to struggle with what to say, and Devcoraz chuckled to himself internally. No doubt he knew better than to talk to odd looking strangers, and yet he was about to do that anyway.

"It's... around eight o'clock." Devcoraz took a step forward, closer to him, and the boy tried to pull back.

"You sure?  You don't sound certain." Grasping onto his shoulder with his hand, he pulled him closer. "Here, you got a watch somewhere kid?" He felt a tugging sensation beneath his hand as the boy tried to pull himself away, but Devcoraz kept his grip firm, getting closer to his face. "Where you got it? I need the time kid."

"Hey, get off!" The boy sounded like he was gritting his teeth, and Devcoraz figured that this was just about as close as he'd be able to get before the kid would run off, so with all of his might, he puffed up his lungs, and coughed right into the kids face.

As expected, the boy shoved him away quickly, and Devcoraz staggered backwards (he figured that by playing himself off as some erratic drunk, he was less likely to call the police). "Ugh! That's disgusting!"

Devcoraz gave his best scowl, and muttered loud enough for the boy to hear: "Fine, guess I'll just get the time from someone else then. Damn kids..."

He staggered for a while down the streets, before quickly rounding around the corner, and peeking over it. The boy, as soon as Devcoraz had went out of view, had quickly made an escape, his bag of groceries dangling beside him.

For a moment, a deep, primordial voice whispered deep inside Devcoraz, asking him whether this was a good idea or not. But he dismissed it quickly. He liked the odds of his gamble.

After all, barely anyone survived getting infected anyway.