1 Prologue

           City of Mist, August the third, 2394

          As far as I was told, this was supposed to be a three-man cell, and it was supposed to be a rescue mission. Then again, it's hard to get any answers to my questions about our missions these days. By the way, my name is Shadow. My mother had a bad sense of humor, naming-sense. She thought, because my wolf fur was gray and could blend into the shadows, that it'd be a good idea to name me after it; and yes, I am a shifter.

       Max, my partner in crime, is a Contractor. A contractor is someone who makes a deal with a deity.Then there's John; arrogant, but a very talented assassin. He's our second in command when Alexandria's not around. John has powers unlike mine or Max's, and one knows where he came from or what his power is. We're an elite unit, specially made and selected out of many other well-trained assassins, but then again, our group is known to be reckless and unpredictable. Sometimes I think that it's thanks to our leader, who is supposed to be meeting us right now. But of course, she's nowhere to be seen. John, Max,our leader and I have been teamed up since the beginning which was not fun whats so ever.              

        We three, myself included, make up the new 'Black Dagger' unit. No one knows what happened to the old one, but we do know one thing: it used to be called the 'Chaos Team'. Its members consisted of ten of the most powerful assassins that have ever existed. Some say there were thirteen of them, but no one has ever verified that rumor.

       The Academy is where it all began. I was told that it was a day and night school for kids with special abilities. I thought I was keeping my abilities on the down low, but apparently I was wrong. When they came for me, I was learning at a mundane private school. It wasn't easy keeping my anger in check, and I always had to keep my abilities on a short leash. They said they could help with my "case", and told me there were others like me at The Academy. So, I agreed to go with them.

       As we left the mundane school, I thought it was weird that they put me in the middle of a group of six. I slowed my walking pace, my inner wolf pacing and growling in anticipation. She normally isn't this active, so I knew something was up. I came to a stop, and turned around to see a needle in the hands of one of the people in my the group. I backed away from him only to bump into one of the other men. He wasted no time grabbing me, and refused to let go. The guy with the needle struck fast, and stabbed it into my neck, knocking me out before I could react.

      After a while, I woke up in a dark room with a major headache, barely able to see anything with my human vision. I decided that it was better to be prepared than not; my wolf eyes would give me a better advantage than my human eyes, and when I looked around the room, I saw I wasn't alone. What freaked me out the most was that normally, I could sense when someone is nearby.  But today my senses are not on my side this time.