Peter leapt out of the train before it ever hissed to a stop. Security on the train had been quick to contact The Watch after they had found the remains of Peter's skirmish, there would be members ready to apprehend him at the station. He didn't doubt his odds of winning in a confrontation, but he feared the damage it would cause. So, he jumped off the metal behemoth before it came to a stop.
For a few seconds he fell, swooping towards the air with a feline grace. He hit gravel as he landed, leaving an imprint of his body on the ground a hundred feet below the train. He'd seen a small gap and had been quick to take it. There was a bridge before the station, and from the back of the train with a good guess he could jump before the bridge ended and after the brakes had been activated. The latter was optional.
That was a good thing, because he was forced to jump before the machine slowed.
Now standing he found himself right outside of a shanty town that had sprung up at the base of the bridge's supports like weeds at the crux of a wall and a road. A few of its denizens saw him; they chose to ignore him. That was fair. People who didn't fit the mold, people like him, brought more trouble than they were worth. Especially the ones that displayed any level of proficiency with their power.
With a quick brush he wiped the dust from his clothes and turned toward the slums, there would hopefully be someone who could give him a ride back into town. Peter's ragged clothes helped him as he entered the cramped squat of buildings. No one questioned his presence; he was just another squalid addict in their eyes. He didn't like the idea of being seen like that, he'd fought hard to avoid it. Then again, he had chosen to leave The Watch and instead become a bounty hunter. It wasn't a choice he regretted, he just wished he could have held onto the people he'd known before his life had been ripped apart.
A giggle came from a better maintained building; there was a crude metal sign, likely made with someone's power, that read 'Girls'. The sight sickened him and brought him back to the present. There was a desire to barge into the building, kill its patrons and free the girls forced to work such a despicable job. Clenching his fists until his nails bit into his skin he moved on. If the words of a drunkard on the street were to be trusted his destination was close. He wanted stronger information but was sure none was to be found in a desperate clumping of dwellings at the foot of an old piece of the government infrastructure. He'd have to go to town to get what he was looking for.
His destination was likely the nicest building in the settlement. Nicest wasn't a compliment, in fact comparing it to the other buildings was an insult. Still the walls looked solid and were made of concrete. A painted sign, reading 'Inn', jutted out of the side of the building and hung in the street. It swayed the tiniest bit, like a corpse on a rope. Peter shoved open the entrance door and sauntered inside, he didn't know what to expect in the building but didn't think it would hurt to display some amount of confidence.
There were four tables in the room, none of them were occupied. Two old lights dangled from the ceiling on slipknots, one of them flickered constantly. A bar was across from the entrance and a man that looked to be sixty, but may have been thirty, tended it. He glanced at Peter with squinted eyes, mumbling a greeting. "What is it you need?"
"How do you get to town from here?" He didn't plan on engaging in any game with a decrepit man, no matter their age.
"I… well you just walk up the road following the tracks… if you want more than that it won't be free."
Peter took a step up to the bar, keeping every emotion and thought hidden behind a stone wall. "You will tell me."
The bartender laughed. He kept laughing, taking too long to make a response. "Do you think you scare me, Ha! No, no, no, no… I've seen a lot in my life don't think you can scare-"
Peter had his blade against their throat before they could even notice it was there. This man was drunk, and he didn't plan on hurting them. "Think carefully, what do you have to tell me?"
When they noticed there was a blade, fear flooded into his eyes. "Uh, let me - let me think… I uh, up the road there's a monster, I think it's about a hundred yards from the station, I don't really know."
Peter dropped a five-dollar bill on the table. The man lunged for it like a starving animal. Peter found it funny that people placed any value in those slips of paper, they had no real value. But he guessed the belief in the absolute importance of money was something that had been driven deep into the minds of every person.
His thoughts were distant and cold, filling his head with pointless philosophy as he began to walk down the road.
The shanty town was close to the city, hidden in the expanse of wilderness that surrounded the urban island. It made sense why there would be a tenebrae beast. After the rise of powers everyone freely bled one of two energies: lumes, and tenebrae. Neither affected peoples' day to day lives - at least not normal peoples' lives - but the latter affected the world around them. As it seeps out into the world it searches for a new host, and once enough has gathered into one object or creature it creates a tenebrae beast. They weren't a problem, not until they encountered someone. Then they became violent.
Peter wasn't scared by the prospect of one. If it was allowed to exist at the edge of a major settlement it couldn't be that dangerous.
He saw it before it saw him. From its sheath he drew his blade.
The thing scuttled on four pairs of legs, each one a crude imitation of a different animal's limb. The torso those limbs were connected to looked like a rotting piece of meat, and the head that splintered out of it was like a clay sculpture that had been crudely shaped by a toddler's hands. Out of every crack and joint a sickly black fog trickled, coating the ground around it and then creeping back into the creature through unseen pores.
It made no attempt to leave the depression it stalked. If Peter's path didn't bring him through the dip in the ground, he would have ignored the thing. No that wasn't true, he would have killed it no matter the situation he found it in. It wouldn't take long anyway.
Focusing on the edge of his blade Peter used the other kind of energy. Lumes, unlike tenebrae, had a purpose that could be seized. It grew inside of him, he let some of it leak out and coat the edge of his blade. There was no way it could cut through the concrete that formed his target without a little help. Peter dug the tip of his foot into the ground and shot himself forward. The sharp of his blade severed the thing's head from its body. The dark mist rushed out like blood from a wound, and then it stopped flowing. Dark wisps settled on the earth and faded into the air. He hadn't needed his powers to deal with the creature.
Stowing the blade, he moved forward. The settlement was just ahead. It was time to find another job, another purpose to keep his existence going.
+ + +
Levi poured a cup of boiling water into a class for his new apprentice. The water splashed onto a bag of tea leaves and released a host of cinnamon aromas into the room. Nora was collapsed on his couch; the reporters had drained all of her energy. Seeing her flopped on the couch made him think of his first time returning from a mission. That was a bittersweet memory. Choking down the memory he handed Nora her tea.
He took a seat on the plush chair across from the couch. He was careful to sit with good posture, he had someone he needed to be. "How did it go?" His voice was strangely soft, its normal edge dulled.
She gave him an irritable glance. "Fine."
He pushed for details, thinking back to a test his own mentor had given him. "Tell me five things that you noticed."
She paused, words stuck on the tip of her tongue. Peter found no need to push any further. He took a long sip of his tea in the silence, trying to enjoy the soft taste. He preferred tea to coffee; the droop he felt after a cup of coffee was a liability in his mind. Though in complete honesty, there was hardly a difference the drink caused in him.
Nora answered after a long period spent stewing in fading thoughts. "One of the reporters had a gun on his belt, there were five reporters from one news group, the crowd didn't seem to like me… and people were taking pictures of my tattoos."
"That was only four." He remarked plainly.
Her hands cupped the mug of tea, but she hadn't taken a single sip. "Three of the reporters were male the rest were female."
He didn't pay much attention to her answers. "Good, tell me how you could tell the crowd didn't like you? Three ways."
"I, I said it seemed like they didn't like me."
"I know, but you have to be exact with your answers. 'Likes' 'abouts' and 'seems' don't help anyone. Think about how you knew the crowd didn't like you."
She hesitated to answer, another length of silence ensued. Levi didn't mind the silence, but he could tell it was pressing on Nora, invisible hands choking her. She forced out her answer. "The reporters' questions were aimed to embarrass me, people in the crowd weren't cheering, and I heard insults over the reporters' questions."
Levi smiled, pleased to see his plan working. "Why do you think I asked you that?"
"To make sure I could be exact."
He could tell her answers were aimed to please him. He knew that young members of The Watch had to be careful with their words. A well-placed compliment could earn a stable future, while a wrong answer could trap someone in the lowest ranks. Nora knew how to play the game well, not pushing too hard or giving too little.
"That is part of it." He said. She stiffened, instinctually expecting an oncoming reproach. "The main reason I asked was to make you think about what actually happened, forcing you to make clear sense of your work. It's important for heroes to be aware of their surroundings."
Heroes. He didn't like the word.
"I think I understand…" She hid in a shell of timidity. There was again a silence. Levi took a long sip of his drink; he remarked upon the fact that it was growing cold. Nora stewed in a rigid pose, afraid of whatever castigation Levi was forming.
"Nora, do you know why I picked you over Chargewave?"
She didn't answer, afraid of saying the wrong thing again.
"It's because I think you have potential. Potential to do some great things... That's not it though, if that was it, I could have picked anyone from your class, but I picked you because you weren't chasing fame or power, you were just doing the best you could. I heard you planned on nothing more than doing your best to help people no matter where you ended up; and that, for you, saving just one person would be enough."
Levi paused to sip his drink, letting the bitter taste rest on his tongue for a long moment. Nora fidgeted, her feet bouncing up and down, and up and down. Finally, she spoke. "I, I don't understand…"
"What I'm trying to say is that I see your potential to help people. You could really, I mean really, make a difference."
His words didn't seem to be of any comfort. He wanted her to say something, but the words weren't coming.
"I think it'll make more sense if I tell you a story."