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Alright! So we got a post Impact world, little super human drama. The circling of events takes place after our big hero has taken out the big bad in the world. I can feel my skin crawling as I post this. Sigh. I'm about nine chapters in, so we'll see where this chestnut ends up. I hope you enjoy the world and the people in it. If you see grammar or some sort of continuity error, let me know. I try to edit as I go, but ya know. You always miss stuff in post. Enjoy kiddos! For now here comes the prologue and the first chapter. Yup. ...Yup. *slams head on desk* Woo. Showtime. Shades in the Afterglow Prologue: A Hot Summer Night Society is a balance of people living in a collective agreement on what is the common greater good. The moral fabric of society crumbled one great day when the answer to the Fermi Paradox came roaring from the heavens one fateful evening in the fields of Siberia. While not intelligent life per se, it had a profound effect on humanity's concept of itself. Ideas and powers that seemed to be legendary or the stuff of dreams in the past, came roaring to terrible life after the Great Impact. It was subtle at first, the manipulation of elements or a minor change in appearance, but with it came powers to rival the concept of God and what it meant. The Great Impact represented humanity's decline into the Metamorphic Age, in which the population began to be overtaken with the struggles of change. Wars spread. Famine spread. People changed. Many of the old concepts of government dried up, putting warlords and tribalism in their place, causing a great rift in technology and societal advancement. Asia's answer came in the form of the Sino-Ruso alliance, with many of the larger “zaibatsus” or city states headquartered in Japan. The cities are sectioned into zones, or self contained quarters where many people make their lives, as their talent falls short of some of the upper echelons of society. On top are made up of what people call “architects,” and hopefuls, individuals whom possess great moral fortitude. With the elevation of status these white knights have in society, comes the greater attention to their talents, the ability they use to keep society from going topsy turvey. As such, in the more advanced centers of technology, hero worship of architects has come into vogue, as well as their fallen counterparts. The greatest and the worst of these characters could be considered, Captain Orion, the Architect of the Hunt, and Deus, considered the Anti-Architect of the Fallen, king of darkness to some or a teacher to others. The contrast between the two the former looking like a golden age comic book hero, decked out in a hardened soldier's of blue and white, with an eglantine crest on his chest, and the latter, a sharp being of pure dictatorial will in a sharp black suit, never bearing armor, represented the head of the opposing forces that would gather on the humid summer night. The gathering, was a seemingly fitting end to the current age of hero worship in the Alliance zaibatsus. Both the hero and the villain's times were eclipsing that evening, with whomever winning passing on the the age old torch to the next generation. Hot on the heels of the Anti-Architect's lessons, a young man named Helios Reign, a hot headed fiery-haired devil, and his crew reconnoitered at an old Yakuza speakeasy that had long been abandoned in the Kamino District in Yokohama. The bar still retained much of the original oaken splendor of its former Yakuza days, heavy red velvet maroon curtains, gilded glasses, and bricks of thick mortar. Having successfully kidnapped one of the top Architect apprentices, Kagutsuchi the Fire Bearer, the motley group of villains sized up what could be a potential ally. The young man at the center of this crowd, growled defiantly, the unruly mass of his spiky black hair pressing into the back of the stiff leather backboard he was bound against. Kagutsuchi's angry glare centered on the black clad ringleader of the affair, Helios Reign. Pushing a bit of his wild curls aside, Helios smiled, a bit too widely perhaps, behind the half skull mask attached to his face. He had shards of bone attached to his adaptive armor, giving the image of a ghoulish look to the young man. It was a token leftover from his former family when his ultra destructive talent, Unmake, manifested, taking their lives. “Quite a brilliant night isn't it?” Helios drew closer to the bound Kagutsuchi, observing him. “Here we all are, gathered here upon the precipice of history. Finally, a little drop in the bucket to help people wake up and flood them with the realization that the society built up by these architects of “justice” is nothing more than just a sham.” Helios circled around the bound black haired youth. “So many people falling into the cracks between the light of Architects like Orion, with no recourse.” He gestured to the air. “What? Waiting to be saved?” He shook his head dismissively. Helios leaned forward, his dusky eyes fixed upon Kagutsuchi. “Physician heal thyself. Those who can, will, save themselves. The rest,” He shrugged, “drown in the currents of history.” Helios stalked back across the room and perched upon one of the oak bar stools. “You are one who is being pulled down, like us, by the masses around you. A tide of helplessness surrounds those of us,” He gestured widely to the group, “Whom can get things done. We seek to end the reigns that confine, choke out, and pigeon hole such individuals. Take down the farce of a society that architects like our “great” Captain Orion have created.” Kagutsuchi's face became dark, silently listening to the man's words. “People are losing hope in this system, that's why we can strike. The architectural caste system is starving this world of any real meaning.” Helios Reign rose once more, crossing the room towards Kagutsuchi. The devilish young man sighed running his fingers through his hair once more. He glanced over at a patched up individual, who looked like a ghoul in parts. “Ashe, please unbind our potential ally.” The corpse-man quirked an eyebrow. “Are you sure now is the right time?” Helios nodded lightly, “We need to see allies as equals. The bindings were more to expedite his trip here than anything else. Things can be cut off in the warp if your not careful.” Ashe began to undue Kagutsuchi's bindings. The fiery young apprentice lowered himself to the polished floor with a muted grunt. Helios flicked his gaze over to a well dressed, shadowy figure standing behind the oak bar. “Release experimental groups one and two.” The shade's golden eyes narrowed for a split second. “Done.” “Good man,” Helios drew closer to the unbound youth, “So, Fire Bearer, you were denied your rightful place at this year's Architect selection, citing your gung ho “attitude.” Your festive nature has been toned down at every turn, held back, and beaten down by those old fools who support “just” society. You're a man of action, truly a warrior in the arena. You're capable of achieving more than this system has in store for you. I believe you are akin to us in your frustration. Unbind the shackles of such a mediocre fate, and reach towards ultimate freedom and self determination.” In the far distance an unearthly cry and a muffled rumble could be heard. Helios Reign paused thoughtfully. His eyes flicked to the shade once more. “Sunder, release the third group.” “It's done, Reign.” He nods in acknowledgment, continuing, “This is the tipping point. Throw the caste system into the waste bin of history where it belongs.” This time Kagutsuchi smiled. He squared his muscular shoulders and slid his left leg back. “I hear you talking a lot about history, the nature of things, systems and all that junk. Someone told me architects and the Fallen are two sides of the same coin. For all I know, that might be true on some things, but all I see is a person who can't get what he wants and makes excuses. There's no history to that. It's just weakness.” With that he aimed his hand at Helios Reign's mildly surprised face and issued forth an explosion from his hand. The resulting fireball knocked the jaw bone off of Helios' helmet and shook the bar. Knowing the volatile nature of the group's boss, Sunder sucked in a breath and readied himself to either diffuse the situation or warp some part of the explosive apprentice out of the group's vicinity, disabling him. The shadow kept a weary eye between the alert monitor behind him and the situation unfolding in front of him. Helios' amber eyes narrowed in rage, but he steadied himself. Kagutsuchi continued his statement. “I'd rather die with a smile on my face saving one person on the hunt like Captain Orion, than join you guys.” Helios picked up the helmets jaw bone lower half he'd lost and attached it back in place. He shrugged indifferently. “Well, above all,” He turned his back to the young apprentice, “I believe in freedom of choice. If you won't join us, no problem. I'll put you or parts of you to some other use in a Construct.” Helios Reign cracked his knuckles and prepared to strike, Kagutsuchi shifting himself into a fighting stance. The mood of the group changed as they prepared for an aggressive assault. Just then an out of place knock issued from the heavy front door. The group paused in momentary confusion. Sunder's eyes flew wide in panic. “Reign, the first group of Constructs are off the grid.” An ebullient voice rang out, “PACKAGE DELIVERY!” Helios' head jerked towards his shadowy associate. “SUNDER! Warp as many people out of here as can!” Helios Reign rushed forward, in a guarded stance, shifting a small blonde female member behind him, covering some of the others in the room too. A few of the members, including the blonde, were quickly warped out by Sunder. “Shit,” he growled. “That damn architect can't even be serious, when...” The door fractured and caved inward into the room. Ashe, the ghoulish looking man closest to the door, collapsed from the blow like a bag of wet cement. Kagutsuchi took the moment of confusion to blast himself out of the room, while taking a few shots at the surprised Fallen below him, making a hole in the roof above him. The concussive blast killed the hearing of most of the individuals inside the bar. With their ears ringing, the Fallen took up fighting stances and began to trade blows with the peace keeping forces that were now flooding the room. Sunder had warped as many of the members to a predetermined factory field, a fall back place in case things went south. The monitor crackled to life near Sunder. He could hear a familiar deep voice over the static. “Half the district is in flames. Sunder, send Reign to my position.” The coordinates flashed on the screen. At that moment, a navy blur knocked out two more of the members in front of him, one of Orion's hunting crew. Sunder made to turn around, but found his movements restricted by the sudden growth of silky steel threads around him. He surveyed the room, looking for any last minute maneuvers he could manage. He struggled, shifting his misty form. Gaining the least bit of freedom, he turned around, he heard a shout from Helios. “Sunder, release the other Constructs from the factory!” Sunder couldn't sense their presence, so he focused on the other location Deus sent seconds earlier. “They're away from the coordinates! I'm sending you ahead...” Another violent impact rocked the bar. A god like figure dressed head to toe in white and blue armor, rushed into the area with a hard smile on his face, his tattered navy cassock fluttering behind him. His salt and pepper hair stuck slick to his forehead,a blue tinge to his skin flushed with adrenaline and the thrill of the hunt. It was The Architect of the Hunt, Captain Orion. Helios shot the shade a wild look and screamed, “No, stop! What about y...” “It seems like the package delivery was successful. I'm taking you scum out... To the hunter goes the spoils!” Sunder sent out a warp portal to Helios' location leaving a blank spot and empty ropes in his wake as the architect's blow connected to the structure. In another move, the shadow remembered another way point for additional support. There was another jolt, momentarily breaking his concentration, but he caught the last package in mid warp, releasing it. The roof began to collapse inward from the kinetic force of the Captain's punch. The shade turned to face what appeared to be another gray-haired huntsman, decked out in an architect's navy cassock and mask. Upon momentary reflection, he remembered the jagged scar on the Architect's face was named Argent The Architect of Webs. Sunder stretched out his form and went on the offensive summoning a few warp gates to counter silken threads shooting from the architect's body. It was all the more pity he couldn't see that the object hurdling towards him from behind that the architect had grabbed with his threads. The rubble struck him in an unguarded moment upon the back of his inky skull with a thunderous force. In addition, Argent managed to constrict one of the main arteries in Sunder's neck, causing him to black out, but not before hearing: “That's the problem with you Fallen, always an opening.” ***** As suddenly as he went down, Sunder found himself laying flat upon the white tile, staring at the halogen lights. The wispiness of his abyssal form flickered. He righted himself, brushing the supposed dust and debris that was on his tailored vest and slacks. To his surprise, he had woken up alone. The shade found himself at the crossroads of a nondescript, clinical hallway. “HELIOS REIGN?” He called out in a hoarse voice. Arbitrarily he picked the right hall and preceded down it. “Ashe?” “Lilian? ...Vertigo? Mr. Materia?” An eerie and oppressive silence pervaded the corridor between Sunder's calls. He preceded carefully, his light footfalls breaking up the din of his calling. Sunder's yellow eyes flickered left and right. The overtly bland nature of the place was unsettling; however, nothing had yet presented itself to him to indicate that this was anything more than a regular building. “Reign,” He called out once more questioningly. “Where have I been sent to?” Sunder ran a misty hand over the surface of the wall. Perfect, not a single flaw. The mist of his form probed for any nicks or wear. There were none. He furrowed his brow and shook his head. He had to find the other members of his crew and regroup. In a coordinated effort, the night was meant to be a psychological blow to the Architects. Maybe this was some sort of “ace in the hole” the other side had that the Anti-Architect hadn't described to him. Sunder was familiar with types of binding and illusions the various Architect groups had at their disposal, but this seemed to tread the lines of unreality. “HEL,” He called out far louder this time. There was no answer. Sunder picked up his pace down the labyrinthine halls. The walls, the lines, the very lights remained the same, corridor after corridor. There seemed to be no sign of anyone else other than himself in alien structure. Within line of sight, he warped through the halls, skipping over the corridors in a blur. It was more of the same. Although Sunder kept his movements level and fluid, a mild thread of doubt began to bloom in his mind. There seemed to be no rationality to this place. “Hel,” he called out, “We need to rally and plan a counterattack! With respect sir, our allies need us!” Something like a groan echoed throughout the hallways. Sunder halted his movement mid warp, stilling his swirling form. Scanning the corridors for movement, he pulled down his mildly rumpled vest and slid into a combative stance. Unseen prickles in the back of his mind began to pick up the movement of another as of yet unknown being. Sunder calmed himself and drew in a breath. “Hel, I hope you fare better than myself and can get to everyone,” He readied a warp portal off of his left hand. He yelled out with cool enthusiasm, “I'm going to enjoy bisecting you cretin!” Black tendrils reached outward from the portal on his left hand. With an aggressive eagerness, Sunder whirled around to strike out at his unseen foe. His portal managed to capture one of the rigid arms of the creature in question. He sent it flying across the room with a loud metallic clatter. It was the arm of an institutional hospital bed. Apparently, the dampeners weren't quite having the proper effect and the head trauma from the bar's debris weren't helping matters. The two police officers that were sent to guard the unconscious Sunder threw back their chairs and readied their weapons. Sunder's form swelled as he readied more portals on the offensive. The first officer was warped up and sent crashing down again from the ceiling of the hospital ward, knocking him out. The second guard managed to fire his weapon, an electrically based weapon with paralytic properties. Due to the shade's lack of focus, the weapon hit true on whatever “meat” lay in in his right leg, causing him to grunt and shift himself through a portal out into the hallway of the hospital. The crew hadn't had time to send the Fallen villain to a proper facility due to the madness that was still unfolding in Yokohama after the collateral damage caused by the battle between Sunder's leader The Anti-Architect Deus and The Architect of the Hunt, Captain Orion. Sunder began to warp himself through the corridors using his line of sight as the panicking crowds swirled around his misty form. A fervent ranting issued forth from the unseen mouth of the angry blackness, his eyes narrowing as he spouted out taunts at an unseen foe. Sunder nearly reached the exit of the ward when the reason for his current predicament, Architect Argent, burst through the door with one of his wounded allies who had quelled the assault. Surveying the situation, the old architect ran a hand through his gray hair. He heaved a sigh, breaking away from the entourage and his injured comrade he ran towards the infuriated black mass. Argent's gray hair fluttered away from his face as readied more thread to pull a metal bench to clobber the misfit shadow with blinding force. “I see once is never enough for you people. Always an opening and no defense.” Once again, another sharp blow was issued to Sunder's skull, rendering him unconscious. Luckily, this time the villain managed to skip the labyrinth and land himself in the dark abyss of being comatose. His body, much the the bafflement of staff, that it had such mass in the first place, was recaptured with with the cuffs he bore and a further collar on his neck. This time, Sunder was sent to the proper facility to deal with higher tier criminals, much in the same direction his counterpart, Helios Reign would too. As Sunder lay recovering in the reinforced maximum security hospital ward, his fate was being debated upon and decided. He personally had no records, but the crimes he committed the Yokohama attacks, kidnapping, collateral damage from various raids were. The shade's “physical” recovery, was dubious due to the lack of available options for treatment. Every time medical staff would try to scan Sunder's body, it would shift in and out focus due to the lack of defined concentration on his part. To the frustration of medical staff, his coherency would slip in and out with each shift too, only allowing him to take in enough resources to stave off thirst or utter starvation. Unfortunately, with the lack of properly defined medical equipment, as with many less actively human in nature talent users, the waiting game had to be played. As soon as Sunder was medically able, he was transferred to his solitary cell, which essentially amounted to a fancier Faraday Cage reinforced block of halogen lit concrete, with the usual bells and whistles for containing more volatile effects of talents or those that couldn't be quite quelled by the genetic dampeners issued to inmates. No further escape attempts would be allowed. Unbeknownst to the Fallen shadow, during his convalescence, his comrades were being interrogated and tried for their parts in the wave of collateral damage that had occurred during the Yokohama Attacks as it were. The most serious offenders were sent to Dis, a high security prison for those found to be too volatile to be housed in other facilities within the zaibatsus. Others on a form of program S-9, under extreme operational prejudice, were matched and sent to be reformed, by newer initiatives to cut down on the growing population. The dust had settled from that humid night, but questions still remained as to the nature of their organization and resource gathering. It was about six months later when Sunder opened his eyes and regained a moderate amount of consistent coherency. Twenty four hours after he spoke his first lucid words, the first investigators came, to get what they could from the shadow. CH 1: Interview with the Eggheads in the Lab The seasons had began to turn outside the walls of Sunder's concrete vault. The initial clean up of the Yokohama Attacks was well under way, bull dozing many of the ruined structures or repurposing the leveled areas into parks commemorating the event. The final battle during that event between the Architect of the Hunt and the Anti-Architect had been the first and one of the most elaborate memorial parks. A beautiful garden had been erected, the blooms now subdued in the winter's coldness. A statue in the center of the facility depicted the most famous scene in the battle, in which Captain Orion and the then winged Deus, hurdling to the earth from on high, and the Captain delivering the final before the could level the district. The two went down in a gout of hellfire, wrecking the Captain's body, an active sacrifice for the good of the people to put down a tyrant. Governing and law officials poured over the data from the nights events. From the various psychological techniques used to lure in recruits, the methods for obtaining money to fund the endeavor, and many of the shell businesses used to house the group's intentions were brought to light. The most curious artifacts from that night were the homunculuses, called the Constructed. The Constructs, creatures with translucent shimmering skin and exposed cerebrums, were monstrous. A warehouse housing all manner of the creatures had been captured that night with stunning success. Although there was little damage to the stock in the warehouse, there was little to indicate the nature of the creatures aside from directly testing them. What came as a result from the testing shocked scientists. The majority of the creatures seemed to bear little in the way of intellect, but their physical attributes were myriad. Many bore regenerative properties and great strength, as evidenced by previous assaults on the Tokyo Zaibatsu the year previous. Others upon further testing might be able to produce fire, acid, or icy waves whilst being airborne. Still others looked like they might have some sort of psionic abilities, like long distance communication, cognitive disruption, or mind control. Creatures bearing markers of psionic abilities were destroyed due to potential volatility. The diagramming of genetic markers made further results more disturbing. Some of the Constructs bore entirely new DNA structures, which while exciting, was somewhat expected by the researchers. The disturbing fact came to light that some of the patterns began to match up to people within the governmental talent registration database. Combinations of DNA from various talent users were found in some Constructs, but the worst were exact matches. It came as a bit of a shock when some of the missing criminals in the underworld and some ordinary people were found to be Constructs too. The conclusion was clear to them; the bleeding edge of genetic research had been employed to manifest this army of things. The rub came when there was no data on how they gathered the massive amount of DNA nor the manner by which they managed to achieve such results. With almost the entire population bearing some genetic talent in modern times, natural variability was enough of a threat without the pure weaponization of talents through massively inflated artificial means. On the other hand, the amount of genetic research could further the overburdened medical field that struggled to bear the brunt of humanity's frenetic genetic drift. Bearing data retrieval in mind, the investigators set up a makeshift interrogation room outside of Sunder's cell. Allowing for the limited space in the small foyer between the armored hallways, a sturdy metal table, chairs, and recording station were set up to conduct the interview. Five people entered the room: a doctor clad in a white coat to ascertain the coherency of the villain's statements and verify data, a younger female Justicar for the Alliance, a dark haired man who served as the main coordinator and interviewer during the spate of investigations into the Yokohama Attacks, and two armed guards. The three officials discussed amongst themselves what they wished to divine from the inmate outside the heavy door. For his part, Sunder drew himself up to a seated position on the cot in his room. The shade blearily stared at the floor, trying to pull together the situation in which he found himself. There seemed to be a ringing in his head. Not good. He felt like someone had backed over him with a truck. Also, not good. His yellow eyes darted around the sterile room. There was metal sink, a small mirror over the sink, a concrete toilet and water fountain, that sat next to a table that was built into the wall. A stationary concrete stool sat in front of the desk. The light appeared to be coming from lights embedded in the floor. It was a change from the halogen lit hallways he had found himself bouncing throughout on so many nights, running. There was no window in the room, but there was a heavy door leading out to what he thought might be a small secure vestibule. To think of it, he couldn't pinpoint where he was currently staying. Going through the locations of training facilities and testing grounds in his memory, Sunder tried to remember one that had secured lock down rooms. It couldn't have been the Western Okinawa Facility or the lab in Vladivostok. Both of those featured open cages in the recovery and housing units for staff and active creatures. He ran a misty hand over the poured concrete wall. The shade reasoned that the walls had to be, at minimum, a couple of feet thick. That left out the European research center. “Of course,” he reasoned out loud, in a hoarse voice, “It has to be the psionics field testing unit in Shibuya.” The use of psionic creatures would definitely explain the thicker walls. It helped keep out mental interference from the general populace. He took stock of himself after this realization. His misty body was covered up in a gray, stained coverall, that come to think of it was scratchy as hell. Too many loose threads, invading the space his body occupied. No, wait, why would they have him there? Why would he be wearing this thing? Had the research lab been running trials again? They had been about to move into testing the third phase of long distance interference with the Constructed. Sunder had helped with testing before at Dues' behest, due to his body's uncannily misty nature. The eggheads in the lab also liked testing the effects of various talents in the warp too. They tested times, effectiveness, and the ease of deployment for the creatures. He shifted his body to the side. It hurt. Had something gone wrong he wondered? It seemed to him that the roll out would have been another month out, after Helios Reign and he scouted that factory in Yokohama to house the Constructs. To that end, where was Helios? It was Sunder's job to look after him and be available to help bring the Anti-Architect's plans to fruition. Reign was coming along more recently as a leader, but his skills still needed to be polished, his frustrations controlled. They'd just gotten more allies other than the ghoul, Ashe, and the small blonde shapeshifter Lillian. The new recruits had to be tested and put through their paces. Compatibility with the Constructed had to be sorted. Why was he in Shibuya? Had they been testing some of the new members? As Sunder's thoughts began to spiral, the solid chunk of the door outside indicated someone was entering the vestibule. He turned jerked his head towards the maroon door as it opened. Two highly forgettable guards clad in plain black uniforms stepped through the door. That seemed consistent with the typical staff at the Shibuya facility. “Stand up and place your hands through the slot please,” one of the guards issued the order in a deep voice. Sunder compiled without resistance. A secondary set of talent dampening cuffs were applied to his wrists, this time with chains. He briefly wondered why there were two sets of dampeners on his wrists, but some of the other facilities had used them to help him condense his form for testing. The shade shrugged the thought off as the trio stepped into the vestibule, where the investigators awaited him. The lights out here still shone from the floor. His head hurt. He wondered how long this would take. Before him Sunder noted the three figures in the room, two men and one woman. Clearly the man with the gray speckled beard, who was seated on the far right, was the head researcher. His yellow eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Was the man's name Umetsuo? It sounded right to him. The female looked familiar too. Sunder remembered her at a few of the creature trials in Europe. It seemed to him the auburn haired woman had gained a little weight, not that it was a bad thing. She was seated in the center and smiled up at him politely. The final man, he looked all business in his suit and dark blue trench coat. The dark hair on his head was clipped short. Was he from the lab? Was the man an infiltrator? He had that look about him Sunder reasoned. He was seated to the left most of all of them, close to a machine that sat against the back wall of the small room. One guard closed the maroon door behind them, as the shade entered the room. He took a post near the back door, while the other took up a position near the other door leading out of the room. Sunder furrowed his brow. This seemed awfully official for a training exercise debriefing. Maybe something had occurred. Had he hurt someone? Did one of the creatures breakout and effect him? His head did hurt. Then there was the matter of this scratchy vestment. Was there the far off possibility he had hurt one of his comrades, even Helios? No, he had to focus. There was no reason to jump to conclusions in light of the lack of information he reasoned. He bowed a little bit to the trio and cleared his throat, who returned the greeting in turn. “Good day, lady and gentlemen. I'm sorry for my lapse of manners, I should have greeted you promptly,” Sunder pulled out the seat in front of him and settled in it, looking to the doctor, “My name is Sunder. I am an associate of our mutual employer Deus. I work mainly in the Tokyo branch. Dr. Umetsuo, was it? My apologies, I regret I don't have the names of your other two colleagues. We've surely met elsewhere, maybe in Europe or somewhere else.” The female Justicar's face still bore the smile with which she had greeted the inmate. Her eyebrows raised imperceptibly in surprise at the cordial greeting. She glanced between “Dr. Umetsuo” and her trench coated colleague, Senji Koda, a talented empath would be made of use for the interview. Koda shrugged, flipping a switch on the machine next to him. “Well, Mr. Sunder is it? That an interesting name. Is that your last name or...?” She fished inside a bag at her feet, pulling out a pad of paper and a few pens. “No ma'am, that is my only name.” “A mononym,” Senji Koda piped up, shifting to a more comfortable position in his chair, watching the shade's body language. “Okay, Sunder. Well, my name is Naomi Fuji and the gentleman in the trench coat is Senji Koda. We'll just be having a bit of chat and debriefing on some of the events that have occurred lately. We want to make sure that the 'research' group stays up to date on the happenings within the various branches of the organization. Will that be okay with you? We'll just be having a bit of an informal discussion about these things, the state of the Constructed and such.” Naomi smiled at the shade. Sunder nodded his head in agreement, his shoulders relaxing. “Well, good,” she began. Koda cleared his throat. “First thing,” Senji Koda took one of the pens on the table and a piece of the paper, “We need to get a baseline of how much you remember, for comparison's sake.” “How old are you?” Naomi inquired. The shade sat for a second pondering the question. “I don't know.” “Where are you from originally?” “I don't know,” Sunder replied. Koda looked genuinely surprised, glancing over at the doctor, who shrugged his shoulders. “Do you have any family,” Naomi continued her questioning. The shade tilted his head, “In so much as, biological?” Naomi nodded. He shook his head, “Not that I do know, ma'am. I wish I did know.” “You are male, Sunder?” the doctor chimed in. Sunder replied with humor, “Yes sir, as male as any other male I suppose.” Koda seemingly satisfied with the shade's responses, scribbled: He's being truthful, pretty relaxed too. He might think is a debriefing or official response, maybe? Naomi furrowed her brow slightly. “Okay, thank you Sunder. Let me ask you this, so we can verify your long term memory,” she cleared her throat. “Yes ma'am?” “What is the first thing you can remember?” Sunder leaned back in his chair, lost in thought. He remembered his first night in the old neighborhood. “I remember walking down the street on a humid night in Yokohama. Say, twelve years ago?” “In Yokohama, huh?” He nodded, “Yes. The neighborhood has a nice mix of street life in it. I just remember wandering. There is a nice tea house on the upper most part of town, but I didn't frequent it at that point.” “Oh,” Naomi jotted a note down on the paper, “Were you by yourself?” The shade nodded, leaning back in his chair, “Yes, I had no companions then. I remember it being a humid night too. There was... a sound?” “What sound?” Koda asked. Sunder cleared his throat, looking directly at Naomi. “You'll pardon me madam, Ms. Fuji, for saying this...” “No, please, go ahead.” She jotted notes down on the shade's comportment. “It was the sounds of a woman being 'violated' in a most unwholesome way.” “Oh.” “Yes,” he cleared his throat, “ Not that I could appreciate it at the time, but it didn't seem right. The man-beast, creature, was a great stinking thing. Thoroughly classless. He had her legs splayed open and was inserting all manner of tentacle like objects into...” Koda cut Sunder's statement short, “We get the idea.” The shade coughed and continued hoarsely, “Quite. I took the liberty of relieving him of those objects and that lump of a thing he called an arm with my warp.” Sunder passed a note to Naomi. Old case. That would have been the Yokohama Worm Rapist. He was found at a local hospital after the woman identified him. Both accounts mentioned a 'man eating' shadow. “Did you try to speak to her? Or was anyone else there?” He shook his head. “Speech didn't really occur to me until later. I guess, I just was sort of an empty vessel then, but the actions of that thing didn't seem right...” “And after you interrupted it?” As if to confirm the note Koda had passed, Sunder finished with, “The creature ran screaming. I never saw the lady again. She'd shambled into the night, poor thing. I guess seeing me do that to him would be traumatic enough under normal circumstances...” Sunder coughed, looking at the doctor, “My apologies. Could I trouble you for a glass of water from that pitcher? It feels like I haven't had anything to drink in ages.” “Of course.” He filled a glass and passed it to the shade, marveling as the creature brought it up to what might be considered his mouth and watched the liquid disappear to somewhere, “My thinking with your previous statement, Mr. Sunder, were you aware of your form at that time?” Sunder shook his head, putting down the glass. “No sir, it came as a surprise to me when I passed by some shop front windows. I mean, I had thought it odd that my steps were so light.” “So you have no memories or knowledge as to your previous state, or if you had one?” said the doctor quirking his brow. “No sir. As far as I know, I have always been like this, I mean, I knew I was me.” the shade paused, “My apologies for asking this but, is this line of questioning necessary considering...” Justicar Naomi interrupted with a quick lie, “It 's part of the reason why we're all are here Sunder. There was an incident with one of the Psionic Constructs. We have to make sure everyone is who they say they are and make sure there haven't been any duplicates or false memories implanted in our associates from the general fallout. You understand, right? I'm sorry if this seems like we're beating around the bush.” “Oh, no, no. My apologies, Ms. Fuji. I'll endeavor to answer all of your questions. I just wanted to make I wasn't wasting our collective time.” The shade bowed slightly. Naomi Fuji nodded, “Think nothing of it. That's quite gracious of you.” Koda chimed in, “Speaking of questions, how long did you wander the streets like that? It's to establish a timeline, of course.” Sunder pondered the question. “I'd say six months there about? I remember it had started to snow by the time I'd found that warehouse. I'd parted with a fellow who'd shown me the ropes, so to speak.” “Showed you the ropes?” The shade nodded. “He was a nice fellow. He taught me diction, some basic signs, how to pick a lock. Truly, he was a gentleman.” “A gentleman? Well, what happened to your friend?” “I think he died of a heart attack, as one night I couldn't rouse him.” He shrugged. “You didn't try to get help?” Justicar Fuji asked. “At that point, I didn't know that kind of help existed.” “Moving on to the warehouse you mentioned,” Koda asked, scribbling a note to Fuji, “What happened there? You can take a moment to think of your answer if you need to, Mr. Sunder.” While the shade collected his thoughts, Koda passed the note to the auburn justicar. Reports came in around 12 years ago of a shadow eating criminals. The squad thought it might have been a new vigilante or an urban legend. The reports stopped in a relatively short period of time. Crime had actually dropped by a lot during that point. Koda ran his fingers through his short dark hair. Sunder looked up from his thoughts. “Please, tell us what happened,” said Koda. He took off his navy jacket and hung it on the back of the chair, taking a position to actively listen to the inmate's story.

The date is 2123 June 28th. It was said that long ago this time would be filled with sunshine and warmth. If you told that to anyone nowadays you get laughed at and probably robbed for everything you had on you. Today was not sunny. Neither was yesterday, or the day before that, or the day before that. The sun came out so rarely that some loons think that the sun itself is a god itself and sacrifices people to please it. It also isn't warm today. At least not outside but in the minds of many people today "When has it ever been?" Generations ago, nobody can remember or be able to tell exactly, but a weird series of horrible events happened right around each other. First there were massive earthquakes on every continent on the globe that killed many people, it also broke the polar icecaps to a point that they were much easier to melt. That resulted in a massive increase in water mass and flooded many areas of the world. To make matters worse is that not long after the world grew cold and was only grew colder and colder each day. It began to snow everywhere all day every day. We had officially entered a new ice age. But that was long ago. Now everyone knows no better. They know that the world is a lawless land. Especially in what was known as New York City. This is a lucky area. There were so many tall buildings that when the earthquakes and the floods came there was still something left. Now people live in the sky scrapes. There is no real society everyone does what it takes to survive. There are people who group up and try to make a community but it never ends well. Either they get attacked by a gang or they become a gang themselves. One boy who has grown in this city is Gabrial Lupus. A young 16 year old, 5"2, 105 pounds, has long jet black hair and milk chocolate skin with emerald green eyes. He has a love of old tech from before the floods. He is a good talker but is very shy and dependent. His parents died when he was three from the misfortune of not having enough blankets for everyone and the generator going out. He remembers that and it made him very scared and which made him get good with technology and scavenging. He wasn't ever potty trained and he doesn't mind it. He also isn't alone. For years someone has been taking care of him like she was his own mommy. He has even started calling her that.