“Wake.”

 

Evans eyes snap open at that single word, spoken within the confines of his mind, but by an unfamiliar source. He sits up, the thin white sheet sliding off of him. He looks around, seeing drab white walls, tiled floors. He looks down and finds that he is lying on an uncomfortable bed, wearing a light blue hospital gown with several tubes running the length of his arms, as well as a single tube down his throat. Evan yanks the tubes out of his arms, not noticing the puncture wounds closing up almost immediately, leaving only small dots of blood in their place. He grips the tube that travels down his throat and slowly pulls it loose, fighting back the urge to vomit.

 

“On your feet.”

 

That voice again. So strange, so foreign, yet, so persuasive. Evan climbs off of the bed, his bare feet cold against the tiled floor. His senses seem sharper, colors brighter than before, the air more crisp. He smells something that seems to burn the inside of his nose. Formaldehyde. Evan walks to the center of the room, looking for an explanation as to why he is there, but finds none.

 

“Open the window.”

 

Evan, without knowing why, obeys the voice. He walks over to the nearest window and opens it as wide as it will go, letting in the cool night air, feeling every bit of the breeze through the paper-thin hospital gown. He leans out the window and looks down, seeing that he is near the top floor of the hospital, very high up. The cars below look like toys.

 

“Jump.”

 

Without a thought, Evan climbs onto the window sill and casts himself out the opening. He plummets towards the ground below him, not a thought in his mind. He watches as the ground speeds towards him, closer and closer. Finally, he begins to feel something…warm. It spreads from his toes and fingers inward. The feeling of warmth spreads over him entirely, covering his body in it. He raises his hands to his face, noting that everything had taken on a white sheen. His hands looked to be covered in the darkest oil. He flexes his fingers, feeling the warmth in them. He looks to the ever-closer ground and, on pure instinct, kicks his feet out behind him. The soles of his feet catch on the wall of the hospital, immediately stopping his momentum, holding him in place against the wall of the hospital.

 

“What the hell is going on…?”

 

A loud cry of pain breaks his thought process. He looks out towards the city and spots a woman being advanced upon by a group of three men. She staggers backwards as the first man slashes at her with a blade, knocking her to the ground. Evan feels something inside of him shift, and launches himself off the wall towards the group of men. His dive lands him in the middle of the street, rolling with his landing, back to his feet almost immediately. This catches the three men’s attention. They turn towards him and, as soon as they spot him, the lead man begins to laugh.

 

“And just what the fuck are you sposed to be?”

 

Evan clenches his fist, the oily substance rippling with his movement. He narrows his eyes as he answers the man, his voice transformed into what one would assume is the voice of Death Himself.

 

“I’m your worst Nightmare.”

 

“Pfft, yeah right. Come on boys; let’s show this punk what nightmares are made of!”

 

The first man brandishes his knife and begins to approach Evan, only to have the blade snatched out of his hand, courtesy of a black tendril of the oily substance covering Evans body lashing out. The tentacle brings the blade back to Evans hand. He looks down at the blade, watching as the tentacle melts back against his body. He drops the knife, allowing the voice in his head to dictate his actions. He lashes out with another tentacle, grabbing the first man by the throat, squeezing him tight, the tentacle emanating from his right hand. He lashes out with his left hand, grabbing the man directly to his left, this time around his waist. He whips his left arm into the air, the tentacle in response hurls the man straight up, releasing him as he reaches the arc of the throw, dropping him dozens of feet to the ground, back first. He doesn’t get up. He tightens his grip on the lead man, while the other watches on, terrified of the things he is seeing. Evan tightens his grip on the lead man, his face turning blue now. Finally, Evan feels the bone snap underneath the tentacle and releases the man. The third and final man turns and starts to run away, until Evan lashes out with both arms, grabbing the man around his ankles, tripping him up, slamming his face against the asphalt. Evan reels him in, dragging him slowly along the ground. The man claws and scrapes at the ground, trying to get away, but to no avail. Evan raises him off the ground; bringing him eye to eye, though the man is hanging upside down.

 

“Please...have mercy!”

 

Evan speaks to him again, his voice still wrapped with malice.

 

“Sorry, all out of mercy.”

 

Evan jerks his arms in opposite directions, the tentacles responding by yanking on the mans legs, splitting him down the middle, his intestines hit the ground before he does. Evan releases his grip on the man, dropping him amongst his organs. Evan turns his attention to the woman whom the men were attacking, withdrawing the tentacles back into himself. He finds her still in the same position she was when he first intervened, a look mixed of horror and gratitude on her face. Evan walks over to her and stares down at her. He glances over her body and finds no injuries, other than a bruised elbow from her fall.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

She takes a moment to answer him, still in a state of shock. She slowly gets to her feet, using the wall behind her for support.

 

“I’m-I’m fine. Who are you?”

 

Evan turns his back to her, looking at the three mangled bodies left in his wake. He stares up at the night sky, which is as black as the oily substance covering him. As he hears sirens approaching, the work of some insomniac neighbor no doubt, he answers her.

 

“Who I am is of no concern to you.”

 

As Evan begins to walk off, the woman steps forwards.

 

“Wait a minute, what do I tell the police?”

 

“Tell them whatever you want.”

 

“They’re going to ask me who did it, should I tell them about you?”

 

“I don’t care. If you tell them about me, I doubt they’ll believe you.”

 

“At least tell me your name.”

 

“You’re pushing your luck….but, if it is a name you want, then you can call me…”

 

Evan wracks his brain for a suitable cover name, one that won’t be able to be traced back to him. The voice in his head offers a suggestion, and Evan takes it.

 

“Nightshade.”

 

With that final word, Evan dashes away, using the same oily tentacles he used to dispatch the three men to climb up the side of a building, vanishing from sight just as several police cars show up.

 

------September 21st, 2008, 12:16 AM, Hospital Waiting Room---

 

Amy, Jay, and Evans Grandparents, Edward and Jessica, are in the waiting room, all but Amy are asleep. Edward and Jessica on the only couch in the room, Jay across the room from Amy, very uncomfortably lying with his head cocked to the side, snoring. Amy sits, wide awake, staring out the window at the skyline of Sanctus Ira. Deep in thought, she doesn’t notice the Doctor step into the room. He clears his throat softly, making her jump. She turns towards him, a hopeful look on her face.

 

“Any changes?”

 

The Doctor nervously shifts from one foot to the other, clearly not liking what news he brings.

 

“You could say that, yeah. We did a routine checkup on Mr. Campbell and…he’s not in his bed.”

 

“Would you mind repeating yourself, I thought I heard something crazy.”

 

“Evan Campbell is no longer in his bed. A nurse discovered his empty bed and an open window. She looked out the window and didn’t see anything. As best as we can speculate, he woke up, got confused, took all the instruments off of him, and snuck out. We’re in the process of contacting the police, telling them to look out for him, just incase he doesn’t know who he is. If they see him, they’ll take him down to the station and notify us or his family. If you’ll come with me, you can collect his things from his room.”

 

As the Doctor leads Amy to Evans room, she begins to question him.

 

“Okay, I wanna know how the hell you lose a patient in the ICU! How can someone who was in a goddamned coma just get up and leave without any of your machines knowing about it?”

 

“Frankly, the nurses just weren’t paying attention. It’s late, and they had just been switched to the night shift. I assure you, they will be reprimanded.”

 

“Reprimanded? I don’t give a shit if they’re reprimanded, my boyfriend is out there wandering the streets, probably with no memory of who or where he is!”

 

“Somebody mention me?”

 

Evan takes this moment to step out of his rooms’ bathroom, back in his own clothes, toweling off his wet hair. He looks at the doctor, then at Amy, a smile on his face, setting the towel down around his shoulders. Amy immediately launches forwards, wrapping Evan in a bone crushing hug.

 

“Take it easy girl; you’ll wreck the only body I’ve got.”

 

Amy releases Evan, taking a step back, finally noticing how different he looks.

 

“Evan...What happened to your hair?”

 

“Why, what’s wrong with it?”

Evan reaches up and touches his hair, finding that it has grown much longer, now an inch passes his shoulders. He grabs a strand of it and pulls it in front of his face, noticing that it has also turned from its original medium brown to a jet black color. Evan steps back into the bathroom. He wipes stream off of the mirror, getting a good look at himself. In addition to his hair, his muscles have become more defined, he appears to have lost what little baby fat his body still carried, making his jaw more defined, his face sharper. He even looked to be taller by several inches.

 

“Well…that’s interesting.”

 

Evan leaves the bathroom, stepping past the doctor, heading towards the still open window that he had climbed back through not ten minutes ago. He snaps the window shut, hearing the voice in his head, though only a slight whisper now. He takes a deep breath, looking at the dark skyline.

 

“So, Doc, what’s your prognosis? Am I gonna live?”

 

The doctor appears flabbergasted by the bluntness of Evans question. After several seconds, he finds his voice.

 

“All our tests show your vital signs to be phenomenal. Not a negative spot anywhere. By the look of you, you’re perfectly healthy. I want to run a few more tests just to make sure though.”

 

“Nope, no more tests. I’m sure I’ve had enough of those already. I gotta get out of this place, never liked hospitals. Plus, I’ve got work to do. Thanks for the help Doc. Come on Amy, lets go wake everybody up and get back home.”

 

Evan leads Amy out of the room, pushing past the doctor yet again, who has been yet again stunned into silence. Evan marches into the waiting room and, deciding for the direct approach, claps his hands together as hard as he could. The loud sound snaps everyone out of their various stages of sleep, groggy at first, but, once they see Evan up and walking around, they wake right up. All at once, they begin to question him, what happened, how he feels, what did the doctor say. Evan holds up his hands in an attempt to stop them, but to no avail. Finally, he gets tired of it.

 

“ENOUGH! In order of your questions: 1. I don’t know what happened. 2. I feel excellent. Best I’ve ever felt. 3. Doc said he wanted to run a few more tests, but I vetoed that real quick like. I’m read to get out of here.”

 

Evan leads his group to the elevators and pushes the down button. They wait for its arrival in silence. Finally, a soft ding and the doors in front of them slide open. They all pile onto the elevator and the doors slide shut. Evan pushes the Level 1 button and the elevator begins its descent downward. Moments later, the doors slide open and the group piles out. They head towards the sliding doors, Evan leading them outside. As they head towards the vehicle they came in, Edwards SUV, Evan stops, allowing everyone to move past him.

 

“You guys go ahead; I think I’ll walk home. I could use some fresh air, give me time to clear my head, see if I can piece together what happened.”

 

“If you think you need it, we won’t stop you. Be careful.”

 

They head off to the car as Evan watches them. Amy looks back, giving him a small smile and a wave. Evan sighs, before walking towards the front gates. As he rounds the corner, leaving the view of his family, he feels a wave of warmth wash over his body yet again. He looks down at his body and sees that it is covered with the oily black substance. The voice in his head tells him that it is called Dragonskin. Evan decides to test just what the suit can do. He lashes out with his right arm, a tentacle spewing forth, digging into the middle of the hospital wall. He jerks his arm backwards, the tentacle growing taut, propelling him up towards the wall. He lashes out with his left arm, a tentacle launching forwards, gripping the top of the building. He pulls back, launching himself to the top of the building, landing on the roof as the tentacles retract into his hands.

 

“This is gonna be fun.”

 

Evan looks across the building and makes a quick decision. He immediately runs towards the opposite edge of the building and leaps off, the suit propelling him up and out towards the roof of an adjacent building. He lands safely on the roof near the center of the building and keeps his momentum going, leaping off that building as well, towards a higher roof. He lashes out with his arms, gripping the edge of the taller building, slingshotting himself up and over the edge, catching himself just as he nearly flies off the edge. His ears suddenly prickle, detecting the faintest hint of familiar voices. He looks towards the ground. Normally, he wouldn’t be able to se a thing, but, thanks to the Dragonskin, his eyesight is magnified. Instead of looking like ants, he is able to see two teenagers walking down the street as if he were right next to them. The suit delves into his memory, bringing Randy and Dwayne to the foreground. It reads all of Evans past encounters with them and reacts, taking full control of Evans body as well as amplifying his rage. Nightshade leaps off the building, heading straight for Randy and Dwayne, picking up speed with every foot he drops.

 

Nightshade lashes out with several tentacles, maneuvering himself towards the teenagers, using the buildings to rebound him to the proper direction. Just as Dwayne looks up, Nightshade slashes out with his tentacles, cutting into his torso, a small dribble of blood escaping from the wound. Dwayne looks at his stomach in surprise, before Nightshade slams into his gut, the speed and velocity of his impact ripping him in two, his torso going flying, his legs spraying blood as they fall to the ground. Nightshade rolls with the attack, landing on his feet just as the torso lands face up in front of him, Dwayne’s face frozen permanently in shock. Nightshade turns and faces Randy, who has blood splattered all over him from the attack, a horrified look on his face. Nightshade lashes out with his left arm; a tentacle grabs Randy by the throat. He hoists Randy into the air and slams him against the brick wall of a nearby building, breaking a large crater in the side of the building, shattering Randy's arm in the process.

 

Nightshade pulls Randy towards him, keeping him suspended in the air until he reaches him. He drops Randy to the asphalt street below him, watches as Randy cowers before him. Nightshade takes a step forwards, before slowly lowering the Dragonskin covering his face, revealing himself to Randy. He shows Randy Evans face as it used to be, short brown hair, and rounder face, though, not soft and smiling as it usually was. His face now is twisted into an expression filled with rage and malice. Nightshade takes another step forwards. He reaches down and grabs Randy by the collar of his shirt. He lifts Randy up off of the ground and straight into the air, holding him up with just his left hand now. In Evans voice, Nightshade speaks to Randy.

 

“For years, you’ve tormented me with no reason behind your actions. I’ve put up with it for too long. Tonight, you will torment no one ever again.”

 

From Nightshades grasp, Andy manages to whimper out a question

 

“You-You’re gonna kill me, aren’t you?”

 

Nightshade begins to chuckle, softly at first, until it increases to full blown laughter. His manic burst of laughter bounces off the buildings around them, echoing up and down the street. His laughter is cut off when he speaks to Randy.

 

“Of course I am. But first, we have a little fun…”

 

As Randy stares into the face of his former target, it begins to change. Jagged scars form at the edges of Evans mouth. His face pails to a nearly white color, while his lips and new scars are stained red. Black splotches surround his eyes as his hair grows longer, stringier, and tints green. Nightshade pulls Randy closer to him, holding him by the throat with his hands now, instead of the tentacles.

 

“You wanna know how I got these scars?”

 

Nightshade produces a knife from nowhere and forces Randy’s mouth open with his other hand, switching back to holding him with several tentacles. He sticks the blade in Randy’s mouth and begins to tell his story.

 

“Bout a year ago, some cheerleaders were roughin a friend of mine up pretty good. They decide to get cute and toss her over a rail and down a hill. See, the rail was there for a reason. That hill was covered in broken glass, bits and pieces. Been there for years, no idea why. She gets cut up bad. Lucky her, I fixed her, cept for a few scars only she and I have seen. She gets real depressed, near suicidal even. I wanna show her that scars don’t matter, so, I get a razor blade, and I do this to myself. …She can’t stand the sight of me. She kills herself. Now I see the funny side in life. Now…I’m always smiling.”

 

Throughout Nightshades story, Andy doesn’t move, the only change in him is an ever-increasing feeling of terror and dread. When Nightshade finishes telling his story, he smiles a toothy grin, the scars on his face grotesquely bunching together. Nightshade removes the blade from Randy’s mouth, and a small shudder of relief passes through him…until Nightshade jams a tentacle through his throat. He gurgles, trying to breathe, but finds that he can’t draw in any air. With blood gurgling out of the wound, Nightshade drops Randy to the street, his face shifting back to the black mask with white eye coverings. From behind him comes the sound of a gun being cocked, and a voice shouting.

 

“Don’t you move!”

 

Ignoring the warning, Nightshade turns to face the voice. He sees a portly man with thinning gray hair, holding a shotgun aimed at Nightshades head. He takes several steps towards the man, challenging his command. The man squeezes off a round, barely clipping Nightshade in the shoulder. Nightshade looks down at his shoulder, the buckshot having cut down to Evans skin, blood flowing freely from it. Nightshade closes his eyes and lurches over, falling to his knees. He brings his hands to his face, his body rippling and growing. His fingers grow longer and pointed, his muscle mass increases to five times its original size. He slams his fists down against the street, creating two large craters, revealing the changes that have occurred in his face. The white eye coverings have grown jagged, and a mouth filled with row after row of sharpened teeth has sprouted. From this mouth exhumes a loud growl as he gets back to his feet. The mutated Nightshade lurches towards the man, not used to his new form. He takes another round of bucket in the chest, but this time he doesn’t even flinch. He snatches the shotgun out of the mans' hands and bends the barrel at a 90 degree angle, before tossing it to the ground.

 

The man turns to run away, but Nightshade slashes at his back with his newly formed claws, opening up several gashes and knocking the man to the ground. He pounces on him and begins ripping and tearing at any part he could reach, blood and flesh flying every which way. Finally, his bloodlust temporarily sated, Nightshade climbs off of what used to be a human body, and is now a lump of putrid flesh. He lets out a mighty roar, setting off several car alarms in the process. He looks around, before springing into the air, kicking off then street, gouging the asphalt as he does. He launches himself at a building, slamming into the wall, digging his claws into the brick. He climbs to the buildings roof and charges at the opposite edge, using his much more powerful legs to launch himself up and over, landing on a roof four buildings away and six stories up.

 

His enhanced senses allow him to pick up the sound of a vehicle going past the building. He looks down and spots it, his mind clouded by the animalistic mutation. He jumps off the roof, aiming for the SUV. He crashes down in front of it, snatching it off the street by its front bumper as it nearly rams into him. The elderly couple and two teenagers, one male and the other female, inside the vehicle scream in fear, before Nightshade hurls the vehicle at a building. The four people in the SUV scream constantly, but the sounds are promptly cut off when the vehicle smashes roof-first against the wall of the building. The wall caves in, holding the SUV in place for several seconds, until its weight lodges itself free. It falls to the ground, the height and increasing velocity adding to the damage as it impacts the cold hard concrete beneath it, sending bit of metal, tires, and blood flying. Nightshade lets out another bloodcurdling roar, before leaping off into the night, intent on wreaking more havoc.