In a city burried by the ashes of the dead.Not dead by war,not dead by revolution,dead while alive.Full with people with no life,no dreams no escape from the city.The most democratic city of america or maybe in the world.The Palace.A world full of ghosts,alive ghosts not dead but dead inside.Full with fear and wrath.Wrath againts themselves.Government more currupt than anyone coukd ever imagine.So currupt that the word corrupt seems kind.

  But one persons not accepting it.The Knight Crawler.The man of the shadows.The man that holds the most hatred againts the government,againts the city but be does not kill,he is not a murderer.He is a hero in progress.A man not of the city but of the lab.Taken as a child by scientist.Made into a super solider.Having his DNA blended with other animals,such as the great tiger,leopard,lion,eagle but most importantly his main beast the great horned owl.A man with wings,hairy and scary.A delighting appearance,standing over most men.Standing at high heights.With muscle no man has had before.Intense strength that can not be matched bu any regular human.That is the man of shadow,the kngiht crawler.

  And as a young woman would work in the city,strangers would look at her.Speaking sexually of her.Tragicilly, not only men but police officers aswell.Talking about how they would do that and that with her.But as she turns her head away.They lift their hands up.They grip her shoulders,pushing her to the wall and making fun of her.Pure hunikity would see in her eyes any passenger.But none would dare to get near,otherwise their fate wouldve been similar aswell.And as a man walks by like the hundred that skipped the scene he puts his head up praying for the woman.As he sees in the dark city with the only light being the burned up corpses of the last days victims like the woman would be soon as it was late in the morning.But as anybody would expect,hes here.

  Landing almost silent,no sound being made by his wings,now sound being made as he flew behind the men.Only the sound of his feet touching the ground but slight too.One man identifies the sound,only would he always have regretted that choice.Seeing the masked winged man,looking at him directly in the eyes.He calls his friends but the masked winged man simply stares at them.The gang ks alerted.And they all go together to share the womans fate with the masked winged man together and kill them both by dawn.Little did they know they would never see it comig.They all lash in him as he stays calm.Calm but angry.He breaks one mans hand immediately,stepping on anothers foot breaking it.Soon to break anothers skull.The audience was thrilled.Too thrilled to speak or even make a sound.But one man insiisted on being brave and ran towards the masked winged man.Instead,he was sent to the opposite direction.Flinged over by a punch landing with his head and breaking his neck,thought to have died by that he was not.Actually,he had died before he even landed,he had died the second he was hit by the immense power blow he had taken head on.The audience was once again thrilled.They didnt know what to be thrileld about this time.The speed that the blow had or the stength it held.Not too hard to tell which was more suprising but instead too scared to think in order to pick one.

  Soon the other 7 men ran away,as far as they could in seconds.As he who striked seemed to be disgusted by himself,he didnt mean to murder.He only insisted on protection.As he took a few seconds to honour the dead man.Soon to be said he shifted towards the other 7 men,this time mad but controlled.Leaving them unconscious for the police to take care of them.Little did he know that those he had taken care of were police itself.Heading towards back to his hideout,as his night hat ended,his spirit had been tangled.Yes,he had saved one but once again,he loshimself .Murdering,breaking his strictest rule he could ever create.One who may had been his first ever.So important that it threw him down.His flesh burning,his mind tungled.His vision blury.Yet he saw once he was back in his hole.Finding his two greatest friends.The ones that picked him up.Ones that taught him emotion.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  For if it werent for them hed be a beast.A living being lacking emotion.Thats what he feared most.Not having emotion.Being cold yet Burning inside.Being in the dark,where no light exists.Only to be blinded by his emptiness.But he was relieved.Taking off his suit.Struggling once again.With such huge wings,how could one with such small-heart,have it easy?Strong wings to carry body.But weak heart to carry his soul.Traveling daily,at unimaginable speeds in the air.When instead everything felt slow.

  But his all loving friend Mary,spoke to him as soon as he was out of his room.She said to him in agony:"did they hurt you?When will they stop?!?".Silence broke out.As Mary and his bestfriend Mike were staring,Staring at his hidden face.As he thinks to himself:"It is not them who hurt me Mary,It is I, who hurt myself.It is i, who put the gun on my head.It is i who placed the knife above my wrist.It is i,who tied the rope around my neck.It is I, of all who would want to send me to hell.The second i cannot answer.I do not know when as in time.But i know it wont be after i die."But the distant silence ate him alive.He could have not said that,to his most loving person on earth.Nor to his best friend.So then,he tells them:"It is not me that fear should be with us if hurt.It is you, Mary.It is you, Mike.It is not you, nitro.It is not me.I am not tough,i am its definition.Nobody can see me niether hurt me.I, am simply what everyone wants to be,yet what everyone fears to see.Now go to bed,you need some rest."As they all went to their rooms,after a small talk,with small amounts of joy.Joy being their first glance at each other.The rest being agony and dispair.But none of them cared.Because they knew,theh loved each other.

  And He,Nitro was in his room.With a window in it.A window that represented the city.A great view,perhaps.His very own way,of being alerted.But he did not sleep,he rested.Since hes the being that never sleeps.He only calms himself.His eyes do not close.The citys not a place to close your eyes.Especially when youre watching over it.Watching from a strong heighted mountain.Where the entire city would be at sight.In a hidden hideout.Having the city in view.Having his whole world in view.Having his battlefield in view.As he waited.Waited.Waited and waited.Training at the same time.Waiting for the right moment.Waiting to ambush.Waiting to ambush, like a predator.Being a predator.Waiting for the opposing side to make a mistake.Waiting to snatch their queen from the chess board.In his dark room,with his dark useless bed.Watching.And watching.He wont ambush a pawn.He is waiting for the queen of the board,herself,her majesty.He is waiting for Him.The leader of the city.Not a president.One who held hope for the city.One who turned the city againts him,who did it all purposely.One who mocked his appearance.But nitro without even moving his eyes towards him.Listening each morning.Waiting for the right moment.Waiting,waiting to destroy the praising.The joy of the citizens that lasted minutes.Their distraction sent by the government,in order distract the city.To make the odds of the citizans evolving zero.To keep them in their jails,but with the jail key behind them.Making then look infront of them.Where both hope and lies would be displayed.But as He was waiting for the right moment.To destroy the American patriot,to destroy the "life-shifter".