An unusual thing had happened in the Dark City, one of the outlying suburbs was actually prospering with the first few signs of growth and hope away from the foetid and worn down slums and ghettoes of the main city proper. People flocking there for the promise of a better future, to make a name for themselves instead of remaining nameless cogs in the grinder that the Dark City had become over the last century.

Pentex, being the shadowy hand behind Megacorporations running the city, that seemingly was at odds with each other in a carefully choreographed dance to make it appear that noone had true mastery over the city. A move designed to ensnare new players in the great game, never realizing the hand of the puppeteer pulling all the strings.

Even then the wheels of bureaucracy grinds with a glacial pace, and it was after five years that the Dark Council realized that a new player had entered the game and was the reason for the uncharacteristical growth in the suburb, only discovered because an automated application had been dispatched with a request to name the 'breakaway' suburb to Springfield, in an attempt to gain independence and identity.

Soon the Council realized that much had been done to obfuscate the doings in Springfield, and the true reason for their unexpected growth and blossoming independence. A foreign company had secretly established themselves and had been building a nuclear power plant, that was nearing completion. And once it was online, Springfield would not only be needing power from Dark City proper anymore, but actually would be able to export the surplus and line their own coffers. And what the Council discovered for plans of public improvements was a great worry to them. If Springfield suddenly showed a marked increase in better living, then the rest of the city might demand the same and turn on their masters?

No, something had to be done, and soon! As the plant was supposed to go online just a week from now. Investigations soon revealed that the new 'player' in the game was an upstart japanese company, which had poured all their resources into building the plant and to demonstrate their new nuclear tech far away from the homeland in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. But that gave the Dark Council a brilliant idea. A single surgical strike to humilate the company and nip the project in the bud before it became reality and could recieve further funding from Japan.

A night later..
Under the light of the full moon, Moonbane traversed the shadows as he infiltrated the company grounds. Avoiding mortal guards and sidestepping into the Umbra to dodge security systems as his spirit senses was constantly alert for kitsune magicks, as his briefing had heavilly implied the company had strong connections to the Yakuza. But also the reason for why he was doing this, as they valued honor over all and feared to loose face.

It did not take long for him to traverse the winding corridors, but it was quickly clear here wasn't any supernatural obstacles baring his way. 'Amateurs.' He thought as he entered the reactor hall proper. Now, he had to excert himself, drawing on his internal furnace of corruption. Horking out precisely aimed blasts of sizzling foulness from his maw that ate through the cameras and rendered them inoperable. It wouldn't do to leave any proof of his passing.

Grinning nastilly as he faced the main reactor, already his body was reacting in sympatethic resonance to the highened background radiation in the surroundings. His markings glowing with a sickly green light as he drank in the moment, basking in it. Then he opened his maw wide, letting out a true dragon's breath of sizzling green fire that simply ATE through the reinforced housing wall infront of him!

Moments later foul, irradiated water rushed over him, and the corrupt werewolf revelled in the experience. His glow growing stronger for each passing moment. Yet the true treat was right ahead. He could easilly see the exposed fuel rods sitting inside the breached core just before him. Already they were starting to react to the lack of containment.

Snarling, the horned wolfmonster reached inside and yanked out the rods. Seizing two in his taloned handpaws. In that very moment a vile green aura flared into life around the lupine monstrosity, whom quickly became lost in the moment of transferance as he drained the rads into himself. A quite exhilarating experience for such a tainted werewolf to recieve such a boost of power, he fed on it. Consuming the vile energy coursing into him, illuminating the hall with his own green glow, and completely uncaring of the technician he sensed on the edge of his conschiousness, well aware of just WHAT the sight of a werewolf did to a mortal mind!

The fox technician in question had been doing maintenance in the coolant sector during the live test, when the control room had screamed into his radio, and shouting all sorts of incoherent things about failures and cascading malfunctions that quickly descended into a raving panicked babble. He couldn't understand it, he was one of the lead techs and he had personally triple checked everything and knowing there was no corners cut during construction. But whatever his expectations as he turned the corner and peered into the reactor hall, nothing could have prepared him for the horror his eyes fell upon. His mind blanking out at the sheer unspeakable impossibility of the monstrosity standing in the hall. It just.....It just couldn't be real.. Sinking to the floor, the fox was babbling incoherently to himself, his feverish mutterings obnoxiously loudly played in the control room only further served to throw the situation into a true bedlam.

It was into that mess Pentex stepped, a sleek suited official entering the offices of the japanese company and facing the increasingly haggard looking president. What was said between the pair remains unsaid, but it was soon known that he had gotten an offer he couldn't refuse to avoid losing face and honor over this disaster. His whole investment here lost, the whole stock of expensive fuel rods rendered inert. The head technician commited to an asylum, and the whole main group of technicians afraid of their own shadows. So he had no other option but to accept Pentex's offer to buyout the whole plant for exactly what he had expended on it, but the rest of the Springfield project was lost. Sadness burning in his eyes as he took the last look at the suburb when he entered the plane back to Japan, so much promise squandered. It would once again be part of the Dark City, and he knew his elders would never approve such a move again.

And in the Night Below, a horned monstrosity laughed as he fed his stolen power into the deep wells beneath the earth to create a new thunderwyrm breeding ground as Gaia wept her sorrow on the Dark City above with a torrential rainstorm.


Drawn by  Inert-Ren