Patrol

"The target has exhibited some interesting cognitive disruption type abilities and has left his home late in the night. We are monitoring him from a standard distance. It seems he is unaware of us currently, but there is no guarantee he isn't aware of us or has some detection type abilities that could locate us if we were to approach closer. My personal opinion is that he has value as a research subject." -Agent 1

"Continue monitoring, we need to be certain that he isn't going to cost more than he's worth to capture. He may still be hiding other abilities we aren't aware of as of yet."-Agent 2

It's easy to use the shape changing ability of my shadow whip to pull myself up tall buildings, but even with my practice it is still a bit frightening to swing around on the shadow whip like some jungle man. What if I freeze and miss the timing? Even though I'm stronger than a normal person, I'd probably still end up a puddle on the pavement. Well, this is the quickest way to learn.

"oh...my...goooooooooooodddddd..." Matt's words were quickly lost to the winds as his new mode of transportation was considerably faster and more exciting than he expected.

If there were any people who happened to look up from the ground right now, they would only see a dark blur and hear a strange sound like the howling of wind. Matt quickly finds a good rhythm for swinging by his whips and his heart that nearly leaped out of his chest is recovering to a more normal beat. After a minute of taking a straight path he tries to mix it up by taking a sudden turn down a side street and was nearly a foot from losing a foot to the corner of a building. A foot may seem like a decent leeway, but when you are moving around 45 miles per hour(A/N: 72 kmph for non-Americans) with your bare body it is very little room for comfort. Being a bit queasy at his close call, he again attempts a turn with better results and after ten minutes of swinging he has the basics down pretty well. Parkour skill acquired.

Appraisal

Parkour- The ability to maneuver your body for maximum efficiency in relation to mobility.

His moves improving as his confidence does, he begins to seriously do what he set out to do. He is now scanning the area as he swings to check for oddities that may lead him to completing his mission. Occasionally, he sees a brief streak of mana moving towards a certain direction but loses sight of it before he can figure out its destination. As he continues to track this trail, he hears something that will haunt him for the rest of his life. A bloodcurdling scream, something that would give an experienced horror director nightmares. A scream that pierced straight into his bones and froze all of the muscles in his body for what felt like minutes. Fortunately the massive adrenaline surge of his current whip swinging activity brings him back to reality a few seconds later before he can hit the ground and he manages to recover his rhythm before swinging on top of a nearby building.

"What was that? Was that even human? If I go there can I even do anything in the face of such a terrifying sound? I nearly died hearing it from this far away, what would getting closer do to me?"

Against his rational thoughts, Matt cautiously heads towards the source of the sound. It was just a few blocks away from his current location. Every step he took towards that location, the fear within him grew. As he got to the mouth of the alley he believes he heard the scream come from, his danger sense kicks in. It's a very weak reaction, maybe just slightly stronger than the spirit in the hospital. Matt can only stand there in shock with his mouth hanging open, in disbelief of the images reaching his eyes. What Matt sees next will never truly fade from his mind no matter how strong he becomes. The memory of this night and the 'what ifs' will stick with him for a lifetime. The guilt of being too late, not being strong enough, or just being too afraid to rush headfirst into this situation will never leave him. What he sees at this moment flips his entire worldview on its head. Gone was the normal young man with a cool secret that he was playing with. In its place remained a cold figure, questioning his morals and whether his next actions will make him able to retain his humanity, or even if he wants to remain a human after what he is currently witnessing.

Stats

System V.2 (Beta)

Matt Simmons

Level 2

HP 230/230 (regen 2.3/min)

MP 300/300 (regen 2.2/min.)

Strength 23

Agility 15

Endurance 23

Intelligence 22

Free Points 10