Psychological Evaluation

Sicarius wore a jacket on top of his patient's gown as he stood atop the rooftop of the hospital, gazing at the City of Angels beneath his feet. A feat that was not as simple as it sounded, as a nurse was tasked to monitor him at every moment. Only when Sicarius had baited the nurse into the rooftop was he able to get rid of the problem thoroughly with a well placed jab to the neck.

Sicarius had spent over a week in the hospital. Various procedures had been conducted to test his wellbeing throughout that period. Physically he was as healthy as he could be, however, his demeanor of staring into people's faces and lack of vocal responses alerted the medical professionals.

Agatha knew that was how Sicarius normally was, but she opted to let Sicarius stay in the hospital so the boy could rest. She went back to work and would regularly visit trying to look joyful, but her eyes had a certain melancholy. It was noticeable that only she would ever visit, Hanzel hadn't shown his face since Sicarius gained consciousness.

The founder, however, visited him one time when he regained consciousness, that was when he pried Venus away from him in the name of training her powers. That was favorable to him, the stronger Venus was the more useful she would be. She was unscathed and even had her awakening in advance, it did not escape the founder's knowledge that this was due to Sicarius. Before they departed he handed Sicarius a vial of colorless liquid.

"If this experience has weakened your resolve, you can drink a drop of this." the old man said back then as he eyed Sicarius. "You're too young to bear the trauma of death."

Sicarius held the vial with his two fingers as he studied it—a vial of forgetfulness.

Sicarius didn't consider the vial a reward, instead it was more of a poison. Why would he want to forget? A warrior does not forget the defeats he experiences, he uses it to reinforce the desire to reach the top. The vial was completely useless, however, Sicarius was one that made do with what he was given.

He pocketed the vial and turned his attention to the gloomy dark clouds that loomed over the city. Below him, uniformed officers were seen throughout the streets patrolling at every corner.

Officers were meant to make the citizens feel safe, and yet when you see this many it meant nothing but trouble.

The Cult of Sin. Sicarius had read all about them in his time within the library of the founder. It seemed as if they had set whatever plan they had in motion.

An attack happened at the police barracks itself, specifically an attack on the armory. Sicarius didn't know what happened after he was pancaked but he knew that the shadow had enough time to do everything he wanted with those weapons.

In this world, everyone was powered. With the police gunless who will keep the mundane streets safe? There may be hundreds of powered that are law abiding but against one crazed powered that had no regard for human lives they were nothing but sheep.

That was the difference between sheep and wolf, the lack of hesitation to kill.

Sicarius was a wolf, he had always been. Yet in this world he was nothing so far but a wolf's cub. A mere status 2 being had pummeled him to near death. If he was to battle once again, he needed to be prepared.

He was a child, a child that could fight, but still a child nonetheless. If he fought with his fist he could beat an adult man, yet if there were weapons or powers involved the difficulty significantly rises.

Sicarius had the mastery of every weapon known to every living being, in fact anything that he could get his hands on was a weapon. He fought a status 2 with mere floor tiles and stair balusters. With a proper weapon he would be more than enough of a threat to anyone beneath status 3.

As soon as he was discharged from the hospital he had to head straight to the old man and demand a weapon. To be discharged, all he had to do was one last psychological evaluation, and hopefully this time, his demeanor wouldn't be deemed as symptoms of mentally unstable behavior.

He jumped down the ledge and onto the hospital floor with his patient's gown fluttering in the wind. He walked over the nurse's unconsciousness body and locked the door as he returned to the lower floors.

*****

The muffled sound of screams could be heard within a dim room, lit only by the rows of human incubators lined along the wall.

The silhouette of a man pressed a button and sighed. He lit a cigarette, the tiny flame from his black lighter gave enough light to barely see the man's face. Beneath a short black beard, were thick lips and a nose that was long and prominent, his black hair was tied neatly in a bun.

As the bearded man smoked his cigarette, an incubator opens behind him. Long skinny arms reached along the edge of the incubator and pulled. A young man that looked around the age of his mid twenties appeared, his lips slowly forming into a grin.

"This always feels so good to me." The young man said, "The feeling of being reborn."

"Do you think it's easy for me to keep reviving you?" The bearded man puffed, "I'll run out of bodies before we could even begin our plans."

"Haven't we already begun?" The young man said as he got out of the incubator and stretched, "And I didn't die for nothing, the police are useless now."

"Useless? You think the police can't do anything without their weapons?" The bearded man turned to look at the young man, "That would be the case if you didn't brutalize the commander's son."

The young man gazed back at the bearded man and laughed, "How could I not?! Do you know how ridiculous the existence of that child is? He fought me! With a status 2 body, he fought me with random pieces of shit!"

The young man twirled his fingers and watched as they slowly crunched together to form a blade, "I wanted to reign him in, but the shit stabbed me so I had to shatter his will to live along with his face!"

"And now the commander is enraged," The bearded man said, "I've never seen him with such drive before now."

"Don't worry! I promise you when we take him along with the others it'll be worth it." The young man said as he attempted to pat the bearded man on the back, with his hand still a deadly blade.

The bearded man simply stood up, causing the young man's bladed hand to hit nothing but air.

"Where are you going!?" The young man asked,

"If what you say is true then I need to know if that child is truly dead inside." The bearded man said as paced towards a coat rack by the door, "We can't have him in our base if he still wants to fight, do we?"

The young man paused, then he grinned, "See for yourself. After what I did to that kid I bet he'd be afraid of every shadow he sees."

"Shut up and get used to your new powers." The bearded man said as he wore a doctor's coat and threw his cigarette on the ground. "Once I'm done with the evaluation, there will be no more time to practice."

The bearded man paced out the door with heavy steps and shut the door with a loud bang.