Shadow Reckoning

The rain poured down like nature's own funeral.

In the heart of Guardian City's underworld, a warehouse stood in eerie silence. Inside, men in crimson jackets loaded crates of weapons, laughing and swapping crude jokes.

Shade watched from the rafters, his black tactical suit blending into the shadows. The mask he wore had no emblem, no sign of his former identity—just smooth, featureless darkness.

He wasn't here to make arrests.

He was here to send a message.

With a flick of his wrist, he hurled a smoke grenade. It clattered onto the concrete and erupted into thick, choking mist. Panic spread through the room.

Shade dropped down, landing like a phantom among them.

The first man barely had time to react before Shade's fist caved in his nose. The second went for his gun but took a boot to the gut, sending him crashing into a crate. A third swung a crowbar—Shade caught it mid-air, twisting the thug's arm until bones snapped.

Gunfire erupted, bullets cutting through the smoke. Shade moved like liquid death, weaving through the chaos. He grabbed one of the shooters and used him as a human shield, absorbing the bullets before tossing him aside.

More men rushed in. Shade pulled out his baton, electrified edges crackling, and whipped it across a thug's face. Teeth flew. Another came at him with a knife—Shade sidestepped, grabbed his wrist, and drove the blade into the man's own throat.

Within minutes, only one man remained. The gang's lieutenant.

He tried to crawl away, but Shade stepped on his back, pressing him into the cold concrete.

"W-what do you want?" the thug stammered.

Shade crouched beside him, voice barely above a whisper. "Who ordered the hit on my family?"

The man's eyes widened. "I—I don't know—"

Shade pressed a knife to his throat. "Wrong answer."

Tears streamed down the thug's face. "It was… it was Sable. The right-hand of the boss. He's the one who greenlit it."

Shade memorized the name.

Then he drove the knife into the man's shoulder, pinning him to the ground like an insect.

"Tell your friends," he said as the thug screamed. "Shade is coming."