Deadreef
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| Deadreef | |
| Player: Backneedle/Zero | |
| Origin: | Mutation |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Stalker |
| Threat Level: | 50 |
| Server: | Confidential |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | ' |
| Known Aliases: | ' |
| Species: | Shark Man |
| Age: | ? |
| Height: | Same as Captain Mako |
| Weight: | Same as Captain Mako |
| Eye Color: | Red |
| Hair Color: | either Black or None |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | ' |
| Occupation: | ' |
| Place of Birth: | ' |
| Base of Operations: | ' |
| Marital Status: | ' |
| Known Relatives: | ' |
| Known Powers | |
| ' | |
| Known Abilities | |
| ' | |
| Equipment | |
| ' | |
| ' | |
Dead Reef: The Shadow Beneath
“Are you sure this guy’s around here?” “Quiet, Rat! You want the Corolax to hear you?”
That shut him up. Nobody jokes about Corolax. They’ve haunted these waters since before men learned to crawl out of them — old things with patience and hunger. You respect them… or you vanish beneath the tide.
So Rat followed Rainer under the dock of Sharkhead Isle, keeping his questions to himself. Their job was simple: find someone. Stay alive while doing it.
They crept through barnacle-crusted beams until they reached a cave where the hill met the pier. The entrance was crusted with sea salt and draped in rotten seaweed, the air thick with brine and decay. Rat leaned closer, squinting at the rock face. Long, gouging scars cut across the stone like the marks of a beast dragged from nightmares.
“This looks like a Corolax nest,” Rat muttered. “The perfect place to live if you don’t want company,” Rainer replied, raising his voice toward the dark. “Oi! We know you’re in there! Come out—we just want to—”
He didn’t finish.
Something moved. A shadow detached itself from the blackness, faster than thought, and slammed a fist into Rainer’s gut. The impact made a sound like a cannon thudding underwater. Rainer folded instantly, gasping and choking. The shockwave alone knocked Rat to the ground, the air thick with salt and dust.
When he lifted his head, he froze. The figure that stepped into the light was unmistakable — the broad chest, the serrated fins jutting from his arms, the cold eyes that gleamed like predator’s steel.
Captain Mako.
No—almost Mako.
Rat’s blood went cold. “P-please, Mr. Mako—we didn’t mean no harm! We’re just lookin’ for Deadreef!”
The figure tilted his head, voice low and sharp as broken coral. “What do you want with Deadreef?”
“We—uh—we need him to kill someone,” Rat stammered.
A pause. “What do you have to offer?”
“N-nothing! We were just told to tell him who to—”
“Then you’re wasting my time.” He turned back toward the cave, shadows sliding off his shoulders like water.
Rainer, still clutching his stomach, grabbed the man’s leg. “Wait… Deadreef.”
That made the shark-man stop. He looked down, eyes narrowing.
“We know you want to surpass Mako,” Rainer wheezed. “We can give you that chance.”
Deadreef’s gills flared slightly. “I don’t want to beat my mentor,” he said, voice calm but heavy. “I want to eclipse him — to carve a legend sharper than his teeth.”
“Fine,” Rainer rasped. “We’ve got a target that’ll do it.”
That earned the faintest flicker of interest.
“He’s the man who bested Mako, once. Took him apart in single combat. Mako only won after rallying his crew. He thinks the man’s dead — body tossed overboard. But he’s back, working in the dark, hunting Mako and the rest of us.”
Deadreef’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know he’s not just some pretender?”
Rainer’s tone hardened. “Because I was there. I helped Mako put him down. He was captain of the Black Powder. A tyrant who’d slit your throat for breathing wrong. We threw him to the depths, but lately… men from that crew have been vanishing. Each one got a note first — a scrap of paper with the old sigil drawn in blood.”
He swallowed. “We got ours, too.”
Deadreef studied them, the scent of fear thick in the air. Pathetic men clinging to survival. But their offer stirred something dangerous inside him — ambition. The thought of slaying the man his mentor couldn’t? That was a hunt worthy of him.
“Why not ask Barracuda?” Deadreef asked. “She’s Mako’s favorite.”
“Barracuda only fights for herself,” Rainer said bitterly. “You, though… you want to prove you’re better than Mako. What better way than killing the ghost that haunts him?”
The tide hissed against the rocks. Deadreef stared past them, toward the black water. For a moment, the shark-man seemed utterly still. Then his grin cut across his face like a wound.
“What’s his name?” said Dead Reef with the straightest face he can muster. . . .