Des minutes traînées comme des heures dans le calme de l'immeuble de bureau, rien que la respiration jumelle et le bruit de passage de la circulation maintenant et puis remplir l'air. Quelque part à l'intérieur de l'immeuble, une horloge s'éloignait de chaque seconde, à peine entendue comme Reaper attendait un peu plus longtemps, la poitrine se déplaçait à peine à chaque prise d'air alors qu'elle planait la peau sur une gargouille au-dessus de Scarlett, attendant tout signe d'être suivie.
Pourtant, personne n'est venu. C'était à la fois un soulagement et un peu inquiétant. Cela pourrait signifier un nombre incalculable de choses, le pire étant que Talky et les Cat Bandits avaient réussi à abattre ses coéquipiers et étaient maintenant autour du bâtiment, le meilleur étant que les autres les avaient envoyés main dans la main et l'attendaient maintenant. Cependant, le premier ne semblait pas tout à fait aussi probable – pas parce qu'elle croyait en ses coéquipiers, mais Reaper ne pouvait pas sentir de balises inhabituelles autour du bâtiment.
Alors quoi faire? Le retour sur le champ de bataille risquait de remettre tout en danger une fois de plus si le combat n'était pas déjà fait en leur faveur, mais emmener Scarlett à l'auditorium lui montrerait exactement où ils se trouvaient. Sans parler du fait que Reaper n'était pas tout à fait sûre que son patch travail fonctionnait aussi bien qu'elle l'espérait. Suivant cette logique, tout conduit à une conclusion, même s'il a rendu Reaper's poitrine torsion douloureusement à la pensée de quitter les autres encore plus longtemps, mais Reaper ne reviendrait pas au combat. Après tout, ils voulaient avant tout Scarlet Shifter des embrayages Umbra.
Espérons que vous sachiez ce que vous faites... Le justicier s'est brouillé tout en récupérant son téléphone, en frappant le seul contact préféré et en s'installant par Scarlet. L'appel a été répondu immédiatement, Reaper lançant droit dedans.
Appelez le Dr Stagelson et faites-le installer la salle normale pour moi. Non, pas vraiment pour moi, j'amène quelqu'un. Oui, calme-toi. Non, je n'ai pas – en fait ce serait sympa, oui. Merci, J'appellerai encore quand J'aurai fini.J'ai téléphoné et l'appareil a empoché le justicier à capuchon s'est tourné vers la source de sa conversation, soupirant que Scarlet Shifter était toujours hors de lui. On dirait que Reaper allait encore devoir la porter, ce qui n'était pas forcément mauvais; au moins Scarlett ne serait pas capable de voir où ils allaient. Au moins, c'est ce que Reaper s'est dit alors qu'elle a une fois de plus soigneusement hissé le métamorphe vers le haut et pratiquement sur son dos avec un faible grognement.
Edging à la fenêtre Reaper a donné un dernier balayage en dessous de la rue, et seulement quand elle a déterminé qu'il n'y avait personne à proximité a-t-elle choisi une ombre de l'autre côté de la rue – sur le toit – à l'ombre pas à. C'était plus lent de cette façon, moins d'une démarche lisse de l'ombre à l'ombre, mais plutôt un arrêt touristique d'achoppement pour les directions. Les toits n'étaient pas aussi accueillants que les ombres, bien que le temps tardif et le coucher du soleil ait aidé. Préservant son énergie avec de courtes étapes, Reaper a pris une bonne quantité de temps pour atteindre sa destination, mais bientôt elle était debout sur le toit en face d'une clinique plutôt grande et sournoise. Elle gémit presque en relief en voyant qu'une fenêtre spécifique près du dernier étage était ouverte, les lumières à l'intérieur s'assombrissaient pour jeter des ombres contre le mur et le plancher.
Une étape d'ombre plus rapide avait Reaper à l'intérieur, stupéfiant dans la chambre obscurcie au lit voisin de la chambre privée. Il parlait de la qualité du lit qu'il n'a pas autant crevé sous le poids de Scarlett. Avec quelques manœuvres l'autre rouquine était bientôt sur le lit, Reaper se penchant lourdement contre la rampe alors qu'elle prenait son souffle. Une personne n'était normalement pas autant d'ennuis, mais entre avoir à les porter et la pression habituelle de prendre une autre personne? Elle méritait au moins une petite pause.
Peu importe le temps qu'elle a dû se détendre a été interrompu par le bruit de l'ouverture de la porte, et par réflexe Reaper avait déjà une cheville dans l'ombre avant de reconnaître l'homme qui est entré. Un homme à l'air moyen, chauve avec un crayon mince cadre à peine regardé à Reaper avant de fermer calmement la porte derrière lui et d'allumer l'un des interrupteurs pour remplir la pièce d'une faible lumière. Tout ce qu'il a fait, il a marché très vite, son regard d'itinérance ramassant immédiatement la blessure, sans parler de qui était son patient.
Eh bien, vous êtes certainement pleine de surprises, Mlle...?. Il a couru pour regarder le justicier à l'attente, attendant le nom qu'elle a utilisé devant son nouveau patient, qu'il soit réel ou alias.
"Réapère"
Comme c'est morbide. Vous devriez choisir un nouveau pour quand vous visitez.
Ce n'est pas assez créatif pour ça, Dr Stagelson.
Ce n'est pas logique, les jeunes gens sont pleins d'imagination, le Dr Stagelson a vite perdu l'intérêt de la conversation pour fixer ses spectacles, se penchant et examinant la blessure profonde à l'épaule de Scarlett. Ses doigts étaient bientôt à la blessure, en train de gâcher avec Reaper's handiwork. Eh bien, je pourrais certainement aider – bien que si elle va retrouver la pleine utilisation de son bras est difficile à dire. Si vous ne voulez pas qu'elle soit un peu plus distrait la prochaine fois que vous parlez?Le docteur a regardé Reaper avec brio, soulevant immédiatement ses hackers.
Je n'ai pas besoin de – pour la torturer! Remplacez-la juste, peut-être la garder en dehors de ça pour la nuit – pour la sécurité de tout le monde.
Bien sûr, bien sûr. Simplement une suggestion, en considérant qui elle est.
Je suis au courant. Restez calme et arrangez-la, je trouverai quoi faire d'elle d'ici demain matin.
Ah oui? L'amenait-elle ici à l'étendue de votre plan, Reaper?... Quand le justicier n'a pas répondu au Dr. Stagelson s'est ridiculisé. Ne pas marcher sur les pieds de mon client le plus prestigieux, bien sûr. Allez-y, elle est entre de bonnes mains, et personne ne saura qu'elle est ici.
Merci, docteur Stagelson. Quand le médecin l'a simplement agitée et a commencé à appeler une infirmière Reaper a pris son signal pour revenir en arrière, trouvant le coin encore obscurci et disparaissant dans elle.

C'était presque rafraîchissant d'être seulement l'ombre marchant à nouveau par elle-même, aucun poids la ralentissant ou le remorqueur supplémentaire de ses pouvoirs de se déplacer avec un autre. Une fois de plus, c'était comme une promenade moyenne dans le parc, si le parc était sombre et attaché à ses chevilles à chaque pas. Cependant, la fatigue et la douleur dans ses os s'installaient aussi bien sans l'adrénaline pour le garder en arrière. Il n'a pas fallu beaucoup plus de temps pour se rendre au quartier général dans la vieille descente de l'avenue Raquette, bien qu'il était tentant de doubler le site de la cachette de Scarlett. Assez de temps avait passé cependant que Reaper penserait que c'était soit faire ou mourir, et c'est donc avec une sensation serrée dans sa poitrine que Reaper sortit de l'ombre en face de l'auditorium pour ouvrir les grandes portes.
"Oh Dieu merci," "Le justicier murmura à elle-même, s'assombrissant presque en voyant les trois hommes qui l'intéressaient le plus. Levi était au repos, tandis que Tourner en arrière et Tank étaient plus loin avec certains des autres. Tout le monde s'était bien débrouillé. Sentant une poussée d'énergie, Reaper s'entra à l'intérieur et ferma les grandes portes derrière elle, se dirigeant vers les autres et sautant sur la scène pour s'asseoir fortement sur le bord. Malheureusement avec les rénovations il n'y avait à peine aucune ombre pour monter à son endroit préféré, la plate-forme au-dessus de la scène.
"Scarletts étant pris en charge," Reaper murmura aux autres, leur donnant un pouce. On dirait qu'aucun d'entre vous n'a perdu un membre sans moi non plus, le justicier ajouté, se repliant sur la scène. Elle a tourné sa tête à capuche sur le côté, regardant à l'équipe de "Wall Walker Team" avec ses yeux noircis. Vraiment, elle parlait trop dans son soulagement – la compagnie la rendait douce après quelques jours seulement.
Je suppose que ça ne s'est pas bien passé de l'autre côté?
Name
Zoey KasimirQuote
--Alias
ReaperAge
23Gender
FemaleFamily
Father . Mother, passed. Distant family otherwise.Occupation
University student.Appearance
Standing at 6’1’’ Zoey is a rather tall woman, but thankfully isn’t so thin as to appear sickly due to her active lifestyle, leaving a fair amount of muscle packed onto her body. Her red hair is such a light shade that it almost appears to be orange, the strands falling straight down to her mid back, though more often than not she has bangs falling into her face. Said face has rather elegant, if harsh looking features made up of sharp, hard lines with high cheekbones and brows near constantly furrowed above her grey-blue eyes. Sadly this all adds up to Zoey having a natural ‘resting bitch face’, often appearing to be judging everything about you with a single glance.
Due to her upbringing nothing she wears makes her more approachable either, her casual wear often consisting of slacks and button up shirts or high brand sleeveless tops, and sunglasses she probably spent too much on. Zoey probably doesn’t even own a pair of jeans.
Well… except one pair. Reaper’s vigilante costume is made purely to be as non-conspicuous as possible, made up of simple loose jeans, gloves, and an oversized hoodie, all in black to match the theme of course. The only thing that really makes it stand out at all in a crowd is that if anyone glanced beneath the hood Reaper is always wearing a full head balaclava, the only openings being two eye holes – though even then her eyes are constantly blacked over anyway. No skin is on show, and due to the size of the hoodie it helps hide her gender as well.Method of Operation
Zoey is a vicious thing, and an equally dirty fighter. Since she’s often in mid to close combat she doesn’t hesitate to use cheap tricks to seal a victory, and often relies on surprise and brute strength to end a confrontation before it can truly begin. Due to the latter she isn’t highly known, though there are definitely enough whispers in the streets to gain attention. Thankfully no one seems to realize she’s a woman yet, between trying not to talk in costume and often slouching to further hide her features, which additionally puts less emphasis on her height.
Though, if it’s ever publicly found out that Reaper is a female she has so many cheesy lines ready to go.Personality
Zoey is rather bitter and sarcastic, despite trying to appear more elegant than she is. Even with her efforts to be aloof and untouchable she can be quick to fluster or anger if the right buttons are pressed, and will lash out. She’s pessimistic, and at times with her biting attitude can be a bit of a bully. Truth be told it’s rather accidental though, as Zoey is too preoccupied with her own problems to care about harassing others. She’s taken to finding distractions as well and can easily focus on something completely off topic, such as thinking ‘what would I say to this mugger if I did wear a spandex superhero costume?’ while completely jumping him.
Also, since she’s had everything provided for her Zoey is a bit loose with money. She knows every dollar counts, but what’s a bit here and there?Superpower
Zoey is for all intents and purposes a darkness elemental. The main part of being this elemental is that she can sense the same darkness in others; however no one is pure sunshine and rainbows so it acts more like a sixth sense of ‘beacons’ to people, excluding young children. In large cities it’s like being surrounded by a sea of these beacons all melding together into a gelatinous blob, only the particularly large ones such as murderers standing out in any capacity, and with concentration she can ‘separate’ those beacons approximately a block around her to pick out locations in the overall mass.
Were it only this Zoey might have her hands full with vigilante work, but thankfully that rather useless if constant part of her abilities isn’t what makes her a threat. Zoey’s specialization is the ability to solidify shadows to create things as needed, her ‘signature’ being claws made of darkness – stronger than her grip and farther than her reach. However she can also form them into other things, such as barriers that would be too weak to do more than slow a bullet but would solidly stop a body if she’s fast enough. Her father as another example could use a shadow as thin as a needle to perform minute details his hands were too large for. In terms of shadows Zoey can also perform a ‘shadowstep’ of short distances by stepping into or forming a large enough shadow to disappear into them to another. Obviously this power set is most useful at night when there’s less light sending her power source scurrying, but its’ not impossible to use them in the sunshine and light – just weaker. Even her own shadow can be used to an extent.
The last useful piece of her powers is that when concentrating, particularly in the heat of battle, Zoey feels no pain – which isn’t always a good thing as she’s as delicate as a normal human. Only her own logic at seeing her wounds would let her know when the time to retreat is, and leaves her paranoid of her back in particular.
Visually, as an elemental darkness tends to react around her. Sometimes her shadow tends to ‘wisp’ little tendrils of smoky black up and curl around her legs when she’s idle, or her eyes can be darkened to hide their color.Skills
Zoey learned sambo martial arts when she was younger, though never really put it to any real world use until recently. She does however keep quite fit, frequenting gyms or jogging through the streets. Aside from that due to hunting trips she’s quite patient when it comes to waiting for ‘prey’, and knows some trapping techniques as well as how to handle a rifle.
Zoey also has the fantastic ability to laugh at her own jokes and not feel self-conscious about it.Equipment
Mace – Yep, a bottle of ordinary mace. Zoey tends to forget about it since she’s so reliant upon her powers however.
First Aid Kit, including a mirror! – Because Zoey can’t feel pain until a scuffle is already over she always comes prepared in case she misses any deeper wounds, hiding a small first aid kit within the confines of her hoodie. It comes with a small make-up mirror stashed inside to check the extent of damage to her back when necessary. It’s better than wondering later on ‘why does my shoulder blade feel like dust?’Biography
As the first and only child to the Kasimir family Zoey was the pride of her parents’ life, and with their social status never had to want for anything. While both her parents came from upper class families their fortune truly came from her father, a talented surgeon who was rather highly sought after. He had a near hundred percent survivability on his performances, even the more dangerous ones, due to the least kept secret in his medical ward – Dr. Kasimir wasn’t a normal human.
It was within days after her birth that it became apparent Zoey took after her father, and in more than just his sharp features. He was of course overjoyed and Zoey started learning even before she could walk to use her powers, identical to his. Her mother was often playfully exasperated with her father, but for years they were a happy family unit. It was only when Zoey started school did she start to realize her life wasn’t perfect. She was six when the exasperation was no longer playful, and the affectionate whispers her parents shared with upturned lips turned to harsh accusations and clenched teeth. Though they held on as long as they could to their marriage, at least for the sake of their daughter, the escalating disgust was coming to its very inevitable conclusion.
Yet it never came to that, but Zoey feverently wished that it did.
It was around when the ‘divorce’ word was finally being vocalized that the route was violently derailed. An accident happened – Zoey’s mother had been out shopping when, out on the streets, she kneeled down to pick something up and lost her balance, falling in the path of an incoming vehicle. She didn’t even make it to her husband’s operating table. While Dr. Kasimir was briefly looked at due to their known impending divorce, it was obvious he wasn’t a part of it – the accident was even caught on surveillance camera.
Following her mother’s subsequent funeral Zoey withdrew into herself, much to her father’s concern. It’s what prompted him to dismiss a good portion of their staff and quit his job to fall back on their savings to spend more time at home with his little joy, his work no longer centerfold to his day. He taught her more about her powers over the years, immersed himself even in her school and taught her all about how important image was. When she was older they began having annual hunting trips where Zoey was taught how to track, to trap and most importantly just get to spend some time with her only parent. The hunting was scary at first, but as a darkness elemental as well her father had a distinctive beacon to her, which only became more pronounced after her mother’s death.
When it came time for her to start high school Dr. Kasimir finally returned to being a surgeon, though he signed Zoey up for sambo martial arts as well. His worry knew no bounds, he wanted his little girl to be able to take care of herself. He even got her to carry mace – something she let him know she found useless. They had powers, Dad. But he insisted, and she relented. Yet as his hours at work once more grew and Zoey grew more confident in her prowess is when the ideas started. Vigilantism. What better way to also use her abilities for good, like the man she looked up to? Her grades were decent, but definitely not enough to follow in his footsteps and be a surgeon or anything. It was a whimsical and surprisingly optimistic thought, and before long Zoey found herself sneaking out and beginning to foil purse snatchers and muggings in the underbelly of their city. Well, what few there were anyway – Zoey lived in a good neighbourhood in a good city. She found herself getting more and more into it despite a lack of activity, soon looking through back logs of crimes by sneaking into the local sleepy precinct via her shadowstep and going through cold cases.
It was going through these that she came across the box – Kasimir, A.. Her mother. Figuring at first someone filed it wrong it still sent an ache through Zoey, and it was morbid curiosity that had her slowly taking the box and opening it. It was there, scrawled in the pages of an old notebook that Zoey found out why this box was in cold cases. Turns out it was a misfile due to some loose notes scrawled at the top, yet one in particular stuck out to her.
‘On video victim appears to have been yanked forward’.
It was such a small thing. Obviously it went no where, there was no one around to yank her forward – it was even on video so the half-hearted scribble was discarded. On video. A video sitting in the box, dusty and unseen for years. Something Zoey never wanted to see in her life if she could help it. And one, stupid, mistaken note had her taking it out to see for herself.
As soon as the video started Zoey knew it was a bad idea, but like a train wreck couldn’t tear her eyes away. When her mother kneeled on the sidewalk to pick up her dropped wallet Zoey knew exactly what was coming and finally averted her gaze from watching her mother’s expression on the grainy video as she pitched forward. That’s how Zoey saw it.
Rewind. Watch. Rewind. Watch. Zoom in – the grain stayed but so did the darkening pixels around her mother’s wrist in the old surveillance video. As Zoey’s mother grabbed onto the wallet that had fallen just off the sidewalk something barely seen wrapped around her wrist, and from the motion of her body pulled her forward. It was such a tiny detail, it was no wonder no one picked up on it – most would probably even dismiss it as bad picture quality. It was impossible for anyone to have pulled her forward after all.
Anyone except someone who had the ability to solidify shadows.
Denial set in quickly, and as quick as Zoey could shove everything back together and back in place she was out of the precinct – and out of the city. The constant shadow stepping had her exhausted but she ended up in the grounds her father took her to every year. Hours after the sun went down he found her, and despite all the denial, the rationalization, as soon as Zoey saw him it came pouring out. A slew of vile words, accusations, he lied to her, but most of all one burning question.
“Why?! What was the point?! What – did you want to bang another woman? She was your wife! Was it money? She was going to divorce your crazy ass and take half of your precious fortune-“
“She was going to take you away from me.”
No denial. No softening. Just a simple fact that took the wind from Zoey’s sails and left her gaping at him. What do you even say to that? What can you say to that? There wasn’t a happy ending to this tale. He had asked her what he could do to fix this, to make her happy – and she told him nothing would make this okay. So Dr. Kasimir did the last thing he could, and gave his daughter justice. The next morning he had turned himself in, admitting to what and how he murdered his wife. There was only one thing he was adamant about – he was the only one in the family with these abilities.
Unable to stay in her family home with all the bittersweet and corrupted memories Zoey found herself applying for university across the country and subsequently moving on getting acceptance. As the new head of the Kasimir family it was easy after all. For a few years she kept her head down, didn’t show her powers and almost grew to resent them. More than that she grew to resent this damn, corrupted city with its rampant crime and she grew to resent the rush she got the first time she stepped in to help someone again.
It’s what Zoey always wanted, after all.
Nearing the end of her degree Zoey is finally back into vigilantism. She couldn’t stay away from it in this city. Here though there’s no precinct trawls needed, as Reaper finds crime whenever they go looking. Subtlety is needed, of course – who else in this world is a known darkness elemental? Confidentiality is key.
Which is why Zoey finds herself considering outright bolting from the city as her mouse hovered over the delete button of her email, looking at this message from the infamous Ditch. Why risk her identity? Why risk anything when it’d be so easy to pick up and leave?
Well, maybe it was time to redeem the darkened path.Theme Song
Money - Mystery SkullsRelationships
None currently.Extra
We’re not normal, that’s for sure.