(Collaborative post between myself and Marra Mistborn)

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And so it came to pass that on the night when Nightmare would have struck again, the 5th third night in the cycle of slaughter that had been brought to Lost Haven, that the gates of a hell were opened within the city and the city was plunged into the depths of chaos. And so it came to pass that upon that night nothing was heard of the being who had claimed the name Nightmare. The night after the demons had been driven back to hell with the work of the assembled heroes and villains of Lost Haven there had been some who had feared that the Nightmare in the darkness would return. The thousand eyes of a metal angel were ever vigilant, the city's cops were still on high alert even as new waves of crime washed over the city, Icon was spotted patrolling the skies, and STRIKE's task forces still combed the streets.

But nothing happened and in time the sun rose again and a new dawn broke. The city breathed a sigh of relief and slowly took a step towards putting Nightmare, along with the horrors of hell behind it. Even so the next night, the second after the invasion, the thousand eyes of a metal angel never wavered, and STRIKE still combed the streets, but the cops had become busy with other things, and Icon was not seen. Still there was no sign of Nightmare and as the sun rose on the third day Nightmare was rapidly losing the status as a terror in the city. Some at STRIKE began to talk about scaling back, and the public's attention had slipped away. Still though there were some who remained convinced it was only a matter of time. 

Sun set on the third day and the darkness swept over the city once more. The thousand eyes still watched, and STRIKE still patrolled, but the city had moved on. Perhaps they thought Nightmare slain, perhaps they thought that hell had dragged the murderer down with it, or that even a monster like Nightmare had been scared into fleeing, perhaps they thought these things, but really they didn't think about Nightmare much at all. But it was on this third night that things were about to change once more. 

For those who knew of the pattern, Nightmare’s fifth strike was always against the forces of law enforcement, just as his first always targeted a family. While there had already been variance this time that element would ultimately prove repeated. Little Ulster, a den of scum and inequity that had been the first subject Mercy’s rapid urban renewal programs did feature a police station. Like most of the area it seemed almost disturbingly pristine, a product of the force that had rebuilt it from the ground up in a wave of changes. 

The clock had just struck midnight, and faint ringing echoed through the streets as a bell tolled in an old church that had been spared the wave of remaking. And it was as this bell tolled that the peace that had prevailed for the last three days was shattered. From the darkness of an alleyway came a black cloud that pulsed and seethed. The dark cloud swept across the street in an instant, the shrieks of protesting metal and the crunch of impacts accompanied this cloud as several parked cars were bowled over in an instant, and another simply vanished into the darkness. 

But it quickly resurfaced as it erupted from within the cloud as if it had been thrown to smash against and through one of the walls of the station. Shouts of surprise and curses yelled in shock filled the air, wafting out through the hole as the darkness closed in and the hole seemingly vanished within the cloud. The sound of gunshots joined the chorus of ripping metal and tormented screams, but the only response the weapons of men received from whatever lurked in the darkness was a growing laughter. Within moments the darkness had vanished from the street, having fully entered the station and the sounds from within grew to a new level. The ripping of flesh, screams of pure agony and terror, the frantic gunshots and the terrible laughter and chewing sounds that sent a chill down the spine of anyone who heard them.

It took only a few minutes for the sounds from within the station to fade, but those minutes had been time enough. Even as the darkness billowed forth through the hole that had been made in the side of the station weapons were deployed against it. Lasers rent the darkness, cutting swaths of brilliant luminescence through it. The dark cloud parted as the laser weapons that had been given to STRIKE lanced out again. But there didn’t seem to be anything within the portion of the cloud that had parted. Six vague shadowy masses erupted from the main cloud, streaking towards the men as the cloud moved closer.

But light shone forth again, the team of men keeping their heads as precision fire sliced through the dark masses. The portions that had been severed simply faded, the dark vanishing as if it had never been, and it seemed that there was nothing within the tendrils of shadow, no flesh to burn, no body to damage, it was a surprise to the men. 

And even as the severed portions of the cloud faded away it billowed outwards again and the laughter came from within, and with that laughter came a voice that sounded strangled and heavy as if it was spoken through a thick layer of snot and mucus, a voice that seemed to burn and hang in the air with malevolence. “YOU ARE ALL FOOLS.” The voice bellowed as the darkness expanded in a solid wall. The lasers cut swaths through the darkness but whatever lurked within never seemed to be in the part that the beams cut through and then the tide of darkness had washed over them.

For a brief moment beams of light speared outwards from within the darkness, but then there was nothing save the screams, and then an eerie silence that spoke of death. At least for a few seconds there was silence and only the darkness remained upon the street. Then the light came. The street was plunged into broad daylight as a dome of light formed over it and the darkness shrank recoiling and becoming denser and smaller as the light’s intensity grew. On the ground half written in the bones and blood of agents was a message that had been interrupted. 

[b]Hello Lost Haven
5 of 20
The Protectors Die
So Easily
Recr[/b]

There was little time for the dark to adjust as from beyond the light descended a shining figure. Metal glowed in the false sunlight as plasma wings blazed with a light all their own and in that moment what descended would seem almost to be a true angel. The brilliant reflection of light from polished and engineered metal nearly masked the raising of a spear, but even that radiance could not hide what came next.

The tip of the spear spat forth a bolt of its own, a brilliant shaft of light that plunged into the heart of the darkness. And as the bolt did so the darkness shuddered, the bolt of light not emerging like the others had previously. But between the coiling darkness and the blinding brilliance of the bolt of light there was still nothing that could be seen within the darkness. Tendrils of dark flicked out again, though now they were thinner and there seemed to almost be an impression of many jointed arms within the tendrils. They seized another vehicle and even as the energy ray continued to fire downwards hurled a car upwards with great force. Though the spear was swung and the laser sliced through the car before it could reach the metallic angel the damage had been done.

The stream of light had been cut off for a moment and the dark cloud moved with shocking speed. It engulfed more vehicles, and these too were quickly thrown upwards, and while none of them struck the metallic angel they did keep the spear’s laser from firing into the darkness for valuable moments. The dark reached the wall of one of the buildings and rapidly ascended, boiling upwards and spreading out once more even with the pseudo sunlight shining on it.

In the wake of the darkness were great gouges and claw marks that seemed to have been left by hands with too many fingers and claws to count. And as the darkness drew level with the shining metallic figure five tendrils of darkness lashed out again. But before they could reach her, two orbs emerged from the back of the metallic angel’s suit and fired similar beams of energy that sliced through the tendrils from the sides as again the spear was levelled and the energy beam shot forth. 

The destructive beam cut through the wall like it was butter but the darkness had already moved and from within it came a new assault as chunks of concrete and cinderblock were hurled at the orbs that had provided the metal angel with her supporting fire. One of the orbs was struck and with a sickening crunch the sphere dropped to the ground, the other however had survived but it alone wasn’t able to generate the wall of light and the shadow lashed out to smash it as easily as the other had been destroyed.

But as the dark tendrils against shot towards the metal angel it jinked, slipping between them with a speed and reaction time far in excess of what should have been possible for a human, even one in a power suit, though there was no one to see that. From the forearms of the suit two more plasma blades emerged, and in a single swift motion the spear, still emitting that beam of hard light was hurled forwards into the heart of the darkness while the metal angel spun, each of the other blades slicing through the exact spots where the dark tendrils would have struck. 

No more tendrils came forth from the cloud of roiling darkness and a moment later the dark cloud suddenly descended and from below came a great thud as if some giant beast had struck the earth. The metal angel descended upon wings of plasma and waited outside the darkness. 

For several long moments there was a standoff as the metal angel and the motionless cloud of darkness both sat there until finally the heavy congested voice that could not possibly have come from a human throat, which sounded as if it was spoken through a layer of slime sounded from within. “BRAVO HUMAN.” The voice bellowed out as the darkness surged upwards again and from within the dark there were signs of the spear as two clumps of darkness extended with the metal between them. Its tip was slick with some sort of black ichor that dripped to the ground before the darkness twisted and the spear snapped in half. 

“BUT FUTILE. FOR I AM YOUR NIGHTMA---” The darkness had begun to unfurl again and surge forwards in a boiling mass when the metal angel’s back had unfolded as a pair of cannons emerged and a bright light appeared in both barrels. Then with a blast that eclipsed the false sunlight of the barrier they discharged and the darkness was blown apart before it. But in the blinding glare of the discharge, even though the metal angel’s sensors were able to filter it out effortlessy there seemed to be nothing there.

A nothing that was soon given lie to as massive appendages struck the metal angel and sparks flew as the suit was lifted up and metal screamed under pressure. “INTERESTING” The voice sounded again. “YOU ARE AR-” Again the voice was interrupted, this time as the suit seemed to break apart and detonated violently in an explosion.

As the dust from the explosion settled the darkness had reformed and that same horrible laugh was booming forth from within it as a smaller, sleeker version of the metal angel, still looking large enough to hold a person inside, if only barely continued to fire bolts of light into the darkness. 

It was then that her cavalry arrived.