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Don't forget that there are also Challenge sets whose secondary set effects only activate while on a Task Force challenge (or whatever the condition may be)!

Funny thing.  I occasionally listen to a silly little podcast about aliens, cryptics, true crime, and general spooky nonsense.  While I'm a pretty serious skeptic overall, your post brought to mind an episode I listened to a few months ago that went over The Monroe Institute in detail over the course of three episodes.

Short version is that it's an actual institution out here in the real world based on the work of one guy, Robert Monroe, who found through intense study, practice, and experimentation, was able to astrally project himself.  He eventually dedicated his entire life to the study and scientific process of it, working to determine if he could work out a standardized method so that others could do the same thing.

It was a fun thing to listen to, even if I remain ever the skeptic.  Nonetheless, I can't help but see some parallels here!

Hmmm ... I wonder ...

I could make a Widow and a Soldier ... and then instead of staying in the Rogue Isles, I could ... at Level 1-2 ... use the TUNNEL Network to "run away from Arachnos" to Praetoria and then street sweep my way to Level 50 without ever returning to the Rogue Isles.

Well, maybe come back to the Rogue Isles JUST ONCE to register a Redside Supergroup @ Level 10 before returning to Praetoria and resume street sweeping in SG Mode: ON so as to be able to build up a Villain Base (for inventory storage and decorative fun times).

Would certainly make for the weirdest possible backstory history for a couple of VEATs ...

Good heavens that's one way to go as 'hard mode' as possible on leveling!  I suppose with the anniversary double / triple xp coming up next week, that'd be the best time possible to try this if you really wanted to.

Further commentary on the subject of Night Widow

I also asked a few folks on Discord to comment, and found that people generally had the same perspective I do: that Night Widow is 'neat', but feels out of place and incomplete.  Why not make a Claw Stalker?  Why not make a Fortunata?  Etcetera etcetera.  It feels a bit reductive, but that's essentially the responses I received there.  The fact that I almost had to beg to get anyone at all to respond is a bit frustrating, but I get the distinct impression that a significant majority of the playerbase has literally never even tried Night Widow, or for the few that did, immediately specced back out to Fortunata and never looked back.

I did go and build out a theoretical Night Widow in Mids, and sure, it's solid... until you try a SMo, and then you're  still gonna get one-shot.  Ah well.  Still, as long as you avoid SMo I don't think there's any content a Night Widow can't do otherwise.  To be fair, that's true of the vast majority of things you can try in the game (which is, in my opinion, a good thing).

Build Up vs. Follow Up

While I'm aware of the differences you stated between Build Up and Follow Up, I'm glad you stated them more succinctly here!  I'm largely of the opinion that because Night Widow cannot reliably crit save for start of combat and once per Placate cooldown (assuming nothing goes wrong), I personally consider Follow Up to be the better pick.  But I maintain that in terms of average DPS, they're probably pretty close!

Smoke Grenade

I use this regularly on my current Fire/Devices Blaster and it's a better power than people give it credit for.  Having said that, I'm not really convinced it's worth a power pick for a Night Widow unless you really like to solo and you have team size cranked up.

Ranged (Night) Widow

I looked at this briefly in Mids, and quickly determined that it broke my fundamental rule / argument.  Yes, with enough set bonuses and recharge you could make a Dart Widow... and immediately become nonfunctional again any time you get malefactored down too far, lose incarnate, and/or lose set bonuses.  Pathetic character.  A pure ranged Fortunata will have none of those problems.

Is it neat?  Sure.  Just like Crabbermind, which is also utterly nonfunctional in a lot of scenarios.

Furthermore, you have to dip into psionics to make this character, and that means you're going to be inflicting redraw constantly.  People have different tolerances to that, but I personally have next to none.  Unless and until such time as Soldiers and Widows get the same treatment that the weapon Assault sets got that removes the redraw problem, I can't deal with it.

Mind Link

I had no idea they weren't the same power between the two Widows!  That's a marker against Fortunata, but at the same time, Fortunata has the ability to play completely from range if they so choose and therefore can be much safer.

Conclusions

TLDR: Night Widow cannot be made viable in all PvE content, while Fortunata can.  Prove I'm wrong.

Night Widow, to me, should absolutely not have to deal with redraw when using their built-in psionics.  It should also have better defenses to handle the melee playstyle it really wants you to play.  The average damage I can handle as a cost to the excellent team buff numbers it's capable of pushing.  Personally, I'd prefer to see Build Up dropped and swapped for Envenomed Blades; it's extremely thematically appropriate (but I also know that kind of change is highly unlikely here).

[Fortunata]

The other day I was tooling around in Mids just randomly seeking inspiration and thought to myself: "You know what, I don't know if I've ever seen a Night Widow player running around.  I don't remember them, so let's take a look in Mids and see what they have."

That is when I discovered that Night Widow kind of... doesn't have a reason to exist.  Everything a Night Widow can do, a Fortunata can do better.  Moreover, Night Widow feels unfinished; they get far fewer powers unlocked than Fortunata, Crab, or Bane do, and those powers are adding little to their kit.

So what's the difference then, eh?  Well, let's take a look.

Fortunata

Full array of psychic blast options.  If you like Psychic Blast, you'll like Fortunata, as there's really nothing missing here.
Full base suite of claw-like attacks with added toxic damage, -recharge, -speed, and a smattering of -regeneration.  This is common to all Widows.
Fortunata Teamwork (their armor) offers a stealth, Mind Link (PBAoE +def (all) & +res (psionic)), a single target confuse, a unique version of Vengeance, and Aura of Confusion (mag 3 PBAoE Confuse on 240s cooldown).
Mask Presence, the stealth, is... odd.  If you go pure psychic blast route, it's really just a standard imperfect stealth.  If you go hybrid and mix in some melee attacks, those melee attacks can crit from stealth.

Night Widow

Mental Blast, which is staying thematically in-character I guess?
Build Up, which is mutually exclusive to the base kit's Follow Up (both are good, this will largely come down to personal preference).
Smoke Grenade, which is again largely thematic.  Not a bad power, but not build defining in any measure.
Slash, which is an excellent single target claw attack and your preferred opener from Mask Presence.
Eviscerate, which is essentially the same as Claw's version with the usual Widow add-ons.
Psychic Scream, which is lifted from Psychic Blast as per usual.
For Widow Teamwork, their 'armor' set, they get:
Mask Presence (stealth)
Mental Training (+spd, +recharge)
Mind Link (see Fortunata)
Placate (necessary for stealthcrit playstyle if you're not a Stalker)
Tactical Training: Vengeance (see Fortunata, but it's just easier to access Vengeance really)
Elude, as seen on TV- I mean as taken directly from Super Reflexes with all of its upsides and downsides.

So Night Widow is essentially just base kit Widow except it gets Placate, Slash, and Build Up.  The rest of it I could take or leave.
By comparison, Fortunata can hybridize and have the same damage potential with the addition of full melee and ranged attack chains, should they wish to do so.

Fortunata is, in my opinion, the only real viable route for Widows, but even then I don't especially recommend them outside of very specific circumstances.  Widows, you see, are squishy.  Like both of the Villainous Epic Archetypes (VEATs), they thrive with heavy investment and incarnate scaling.  With both active, Widows can pull off some truly silly nonsense.  On the other hand, put 'em on a Secret Master of <strike force> (SMo) and what you have is a pretend Stalker with none of their defenses and a pale shade of their damage.

What, don't believe me?  I've been literally one-shot by an AV on Barracuda's SMo strike force from an AoE targeting the tank.  I didn't have aggro, and I certainly wasn't getting punched in the face... but that single attack was all it took to remove me from the fight and fail the SMo.  Widows simply do not have the mitigation necessary to stand toe to toe in melee.

Why roll a Widow?  Let's take a look.

Pros

Stylish as hell.
Premium psychic/natural assassins thematically.
Excellent team support through innate Leadership abilities, which can stack with pool Leadership.
Mind Link.  There's a reason almost everyone who takes Widow seriously does their best to make this permanent, which can be a bit of a challenge since it doesn't accept Recharge Enhancements (for some reason?).

Cons

Redraw.  If you want to switch between psychic blast attacks and claw attacks, you're going to have to redraw every single time.
Squishy.  Poor personal defenses overall.
Average damage.  1.0 damage scale to both ranged and melee.
Average max HP at 2409.5.  This is about 400 HP higher than Stalker, but without an armor set.  It is tied with Scrappers (as well as other EATs).
Weapon customization.  You'd think that, using claws, they would get claws customization options.  Like Soldier, they do not.  You only get basic Arachnos Claws options, of which there are few.
Uniform customization.  Few to no enhancements have been made to the uniform since its inception, with the most egregious offenders being the lack of newer hairstyles added since Widows were released.

So what do others think?  Am I way off base here?  I've seen more Regeneration characters than I have Night Widows, and considering that Regeneration is the worst armor set in PvE (but is excellent in PvP!), that seems rather strange.

Well, I can't speak too much of the mechanical scaling of such.  @brw316 is the most knowledgeable person I know for understanding the basis of how power scaling and balance works in City of Heroes, so I'll have to defer to them for any depth.

Instead, I'll give an example.  There's another rogue server that made it so that all story contacts, enemy groups, and zones were scaled to your level.  This is great in some ways because it means you can't really outlevel contacts anymore, but on the other hand... Hellions, for example, straight up do not have the firepower or scaling to contend with high level characters.

The lesson learned is that while there's kind of ways to get around it, it requires quite a lot of custom work to support it and keep balance intact.  Given that I'm a former Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 player, I'm all for flattening and lowering maximum level caps because I've never enjoyed the treadmill / vertical progression methodology so prevalent in older MMORPG's (and most new ones, let's be real).

Either way, it's an intellectual exercise at most.  Rebirth is fundamentally a 'what would the original developers have done' server, and there's absolutely no way they ever would have changed the level cap.  Their method of adding progression was adding the incarnate system, which they had plans for infinite expansion of as necessary.

Ya know, as someone who has always gone the 'hero' route through Power, I would never have known this behavior.  I always betray Praetor Sinclair (because seriously, what a tool) to side with Belladonna (who, let's be honest, isn't much better), then deal with the ambush of a couple nobody sergeants I've never heard of.  In the meantime, my team remains alive and I move on with my life, sometimes coming back 'round to Loyalist through another arc and sometimes just staying Resistance.

That or a Shadow.  Heavens know my wife sees those on occasion.  Ends up saging the whole apartment after getting spooked.  Every once in a while she'll ask me 'Dekar, did you walk by here a minute ago?' to which I'll tell her 'No, I was in the computer room.'.  Then she'll shiver, I'll ask her if it was a Shadow again, and so the incense gets whipped out haha.

I have to admit I miss dreaming.  It was fun asserting lucidity in nightmares!  'You're in my realm now, <redacted>!' /cackle

c) Bane Spider Training Secondary
The secondary has a rather good mixture of defense and resistance skills that allows for convenient slotting and also the Leadership skills that make this Archetype a good addition to any team. Since none of those skills need recasting you can concentrate purely on dealing damage and positioning.

Surveillance causes redraw if you are wielding a rifle.  Web Cocoon will also cause redraw unless you're wielding the Arachnos Mace.  Oh, Build Up in your primary will -also- cause redraw if not wielding the Arachnos Mace.  Don't you love redraw?  I don't.

*everything else*

It sounds like you're able to have fun with Bane Spider otherwise, and for that I wish I could say the same!  I like the concept of Bane Spider, but the terrible kit design and extensive redraw issues absolutely kill the sub-AT for me.  That it also has fairly poor DPA on all of its attacks and even worse on the ranged mace attacks certainly isn't helping my perspective.  You will genuinely have better DPA dropping the mace and using the rifle, except at that point you're not really a Bane Spider, are you?  Bah.

As for limited costume choices... eh?  You have your stock Arachnos uniform, and then anything else you could ever want to make.  It's not like Crab where you have a prosthetic spider limb backpack glued to your spine, so I don't really understand this drawback.  Do you mean the general lack of customization available to Arachnos Mace?  Because yeah... VEATs kind of got the short stick with weapon customization.  Widows can't even use Claws customizations even though they're using knock-off claws!

Ah, the classic Fire/Fire!  It's better than people think or give it credit to be, and I'm glad you found it fun enough to keep it, Thile.  Personal opinions (and they -are- opinions) aside, it's a very solid combo with its nearly always available self heal and very respectable defenses.  Its biggest weakness, in my opinion, is the psi and energy mitigation... but that's what the self heal is for, eh?  And if you burn 'em down before it becomes a problem then there's no hole, right?

What, you're curious about my opinions?  They really aren't important here, it's just subjective preference.  I've never liked the animations on Fiery Melee very much, so even though it's a good set that offers respectable damage, it doesn't 'feel' fun to me.  Moreover, I like to mechanically exploit sets, and there's nothing to exploit in any offensive fire set; their secondary effect is 'moar damage' and about the closest you can get to synergizing with that is -res, which largely doesn't exist natively (Sonic and Hellfire are pretty much it, and Sonic is... not great).

Thanks for sharing your experience, Thile!

I suggest you watch the movie. you know the actor for deadpool? he plays the main character. As far as I know that make Ryan Reynolds the only actor to bridge the Marvel & DC universe gap and personify a main character in each. this is an interesting concept because usually once you act for one studio or one corporate body, they tend to put restrictions on you acting in parts for their competition. So the fact Marvel/Disney could pick up a DC actor really is quite the anomaly. Someone in DC's legal team must have forgotten to dot the i's or cross the t's.

in other related situations, to properly come up with an energy control set, one must watch the green lantern movie with ryan reynolds. the comics may help as well. but the movie can give some general ideas. so that's what I'll do today, rewatch the movie and log some of the control type attacks used(naturally we'll need to use them as nothing more than a generalized inspiration for creating CoH specific energy control whilst thinking about polygons.

Also theres 3 Cartoon movies. I'll give them a watch first as I've already seen the live action one before.

I don't watch television or movies, so no, no idea who that is and don't know anything about Deadpool either (other than as a character in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3!).  Still, if that's helped to give you inspiration then go for it!  I'll always have cautious interest in new original sets, since I've more or less thoroughly explored everything done in the Live run of the game.

My interest in Technology related stuff is one reason I'm quietly hoping we see Praetorian Clockwork as an Epic Archetype someday.  Granted, I also want (Resistance) Heavy Hands attacks and guns available for player character use, because it's surprisingly difficult to play a Heavy Weapons Guy.

Anyway, bringing it back to Energy Control: I suppose you'd want to start with a 'basic' Control set framework and start working from there.  Presumably it has a pet, but what would that pet be?  It'd probably have a ST Immob, TAoE Immob, ST Hold, TAoE Hold, etc.  Variance exists, of course, when theme and synergy exist to drive a different method of group to group control.

That would be cool.  Not because I care about lanterns (I don't know much about 'em beyond what I played of DCUO), but because that's the sort of effects I can justify with a Technology origin, and I always really like hypertech stuff in my vidja gaems.

[Displacer - Hero Stalker]

Street Justice is and has always been the best of the combo 'token' system powersets, and it gets particularly nutty with Stalkers thanks to the absolutely ridiculous burst damage of a Build Up -> Assassin Strike -> (level 3) Crushing Uppercut combo.  Even better if your Chance to Hide proc in AS goes off and your Crushing Uppercut gets to auto-crit too!  The fact that this is fine but Energy Melee isn't allowed the same concession has always struck me as strange and inconsistent, but here we are.

There isn't much I can say otherwise.  Super Reflexes is among the best armor sets out there if you want something that's hands off and does one thing really well: DODGE! (/piccolo)  Otherwise, it offers next to nothing for you offensively and its only real click is its T9, Elude.  Safe, boring, effective.

Displacer - Hero Stalker
Build plan made with Mids' Reborn v3.7.5 rev. 21
──────────────────────────────

• Primary powerset: Street Justice
  
• Secondary powerset: Super Reflexes
  
• Pool powerset (#1): Teleportation
  
• Pool powerset (#2): Fighting
  
• Pool powerset (#3): Concealment
  
• Pool powerset (#4): Experimentation
  
• Epic powerset: Martial Prowess
  

──────────────────────────────

Powers taken:

Level 1: Heavy Blow

• A: Touch of Death: Accuracy/Damage
  
• 3: Touch of Death: Damage/Endurance
  
• 5: Touch of Death: Damage/Recharge
  
• 11: Touch of Death: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  
• 17: Touch of Death: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 46: Touch of Death: Chance of Damage(Negative)
  

Level 1: Hide

• A: Kismet: Accuracy +6%
  

Level 2: Initial Strike

• A: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Damage
  
• 3: Mako's Bite: Damage/Endurance
  
• 5: Mako's Bite: Damage/Recharge
  
• 15: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 17: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 39: Mako's Bite: Chance of Damage(Lethal)
  

Level 4: Focused Fighting

• A: Reactive Defenses: Defense
  
• 9: Reactive Defenses: Defense/Endurance
  
• 23: Reactive Defenses: Endurance/RechargeTime
  
• 23: Reactive Defenses: Defense/RechargeTime
  
• 34: Reactive Defenses: Defense/Endurance/RechargeTime
  
• 37: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage
  

Level 6: Assassin's Strike

• A: Superior Stalker's Guile: Accuracy/Damage
  
• 7: Superior Stalker's Guile: Damage/Recharge
  
• 7: Superior Stalker's Guile: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  
• 11: Superior Stalker's Guile: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 13: Superior Stalker's Guile: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 13: Superior Stalker's Guile: Recharge/Chance to Hide
  

Level 8: Focused Senses

• A: Red Fortune: Defense/Endurance
  
• 9: Red Fortune: Defense/Recharge
  
• 29: Red Fortune: Endurance/Recharge
  
• 29: Red Fortune: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 37: Red Fortune: Defense
  
• 37: Red Fortune: Endurance
  

Level 10: Agile

• A: Invention: Defense Buff
  
• 21: Invention: Resist Damage
  

Level 12: Build Up

• A: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build Up
  

Level 14: Teleport

• A: Superior Winter's Gift: Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
  
• 15: Superior Winter's Gift: Slow Resistance (25%)
  

Level 16: Practiced Brawler

• A: Golgi Exposure
  

Level 18: Spinning Strike

• A: Annihilation: Accuracy/Damage
  
• 19: Annihilation: Damage/RechargeTime
  
• 19: Annihilation: Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
  
• 40: Annihilation: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  
• 42: Annihilation: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
  
• 43: Annihilation: Chance for Res Debuff
  

Level 20: Dodge

• A: Invention: Defense Buff
  
• 21: Invention: Resist Damage
  

Level 22: Boxing

• (Empty)
  

Level 24: Tough

• A: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance
  
• 25: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance
  
• 25: Unbreakable Guard: Endurance/RechargeTime
  
• 40: Unbreakable Guard: RechargeTime/Resistance
  
• 46: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime
  
• 46: Unbreakable Guard: +Max HP
  

Level 26: Shin Breaker

• A: Superior Assassin's Mark: Accuracy/Damage
  
• 27: Superior Assassin's Mark: Damage/RechargeTime
  
• 27: Superior Assassin's Mark: Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
  
• 40: Superior Assassin's Mark: Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
  
• 42: Superior Assassin's Mark: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
  
• 42: Superior Assassin's Mark: RechargeTime/Rchg Build Up
  

Level 28: Quickness

• A: Invention: Healing
  

Level 30: Weave

• A: Red Fortune: Endurance
  
• 31: Red Fortune: Defense/Endurance
  
• 31: Red Fortune: Defense/Recharge
  
• 31: Red Fortune: Endurance/Recharge
  
• 39: Red Fortune: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 43: Red Fortune: Defense
  

Level 32: Crushing Uppercut

• A: Touch of Death: Accuracy/Damage
  
• 33: Touch of Death: Damage/Endurance
  
• 33: Touch of Death: Damage/Recharge
  
• 33: Touch of Death: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  
• 34: Touch of Death: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 34: Touch of Death: Chance of Damage(Negative)
  

Level 35: Evasion

• A: Red Fortune: Defense
  
• 36: Red Fortune: Defense/Endurance
  
• 36: Red Fortune: Defense/Recharge
  
• 36: Red Fortune: Endurance/Recharge
  
• 39: Red Fortune: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 43: Red Fortune: Endurance
  

Level 38: Elude

• A: Membrane Exposure
  

Level 41: Recall

• A: Invention: Endurance Reduction
  

Level 44: Blink Blitz

• A: Nucleolus Exposure
  
• 45: Cytoskeleton Exposure
  
• 45: Membrane Exposure
  
• 45: Membrane Exposure
  

Level 47: Warrior's Mark

• A: Analyze Weakness: Accuracy/Defense Debuff
  
• 48: Analyze Weakness: Accuracy/Recharge
  
• 48: Analyze Weakness: Defense Debuff/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 48: Analyze Weakness: Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 49: War Cry

• A: Superior Witchcraft: Accuracy/ Universal Debuff
  
• 50: Superior Witchcraft: Universal Debuff/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 50: Superior Witchcraft: Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  
• 50: Superior Witchcraft: Chance for Res Debuff
  

──────────────────────────────

Inherents:

Level 1: Brawl

• (Empty)
  

Level 1: Sprint

• A: Celerity: +Stealth
  

Level 2: Rest

• (Empty)
  

Level 2: Swift

• A: Invention: Run Speed
  

Level 2: Hurdle

• A: Invention: Jumping
  

Level 2: Health

• A: Regenerative Tissue: +Regeneration
  
• 8: Miracle: +Recovery
  
• 16: Numina's Convalesence: +Regeneration/+Recovery
  

Level 2: Stamina

• A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End
  
• 12: Performance Shifter: EndMod
  
• 22: Performance Shifter: EndMod/Accuracy
  

Level 1: Combo Level 1


Level 1: Combo Level 2


Level 1: Combo Level 3


Level 44: Team Teleport


Level 1: Assassination



──────────────────────────────
Incarnates:

Musculature Core Paragon
Mighty Radial Final Judgement
Paralytic Radial Flawless Interface
Clockwork Core Superior Ally
Rebirth Radial Epiphany
Assault Core Embodiment

The Dead End Butcher was inspired primarily by Jason Voorhees, of Friday the 13th.  While an obvious inspiration, a totally silent character isn't much fun to roleplay with in a social game, so I've learned through some casual roleplay interactions that while he tends towards simple, monosyllabic responses or quiet grunts, there is a sharper mind than you'd expect behind that mask.

His motivations remain inscrutable.  Yes, I personally know what's going on there, but I'm not inclined to share (save through roleplay if it happens)!

Ironically, he fits in well with my redside personal supergroup, Housekeeping Services Agency (HSA), whose theme is that of maids and butlers of a monstrous stripe.  Yes, he does have a 'butler' outfit in keeping with his theme!  Alas, attachment size limitations mean I can share only so much.

The Dead End Butcher

-Build Link-

Content warning: the following story is bloody and dark, and those squeamish with horror should consider other stories.  The content herein would be considered on par with a slasher horror movie.

The murky sun dips low over the horizon, casting dim rays over a gloomy, urban sprawl.  A man wrinkles his nose above a recently lit rusty barrel, collected burnables catching fire and releasing acrid smoke along with life sustaining warmth.

He sighs, huddling closer while holding leathery, rag wrapped hands towards the flame.  "Another long night..." he mumbles to himself.

Glancing to one side, he notes a disturbance some distance away; shouting and the sounds of fighting echoing strangely throughout the alleyways.  Shaking his head, he merely eases himself into a more comfortable position while making himself as small and unworthy a target as he can.  Energy blasts ricochet off the dilapidated buildings nearby as orders are crisply delivered, and before long the fight is over.  "Spiders at it again.  Hmph."

Faint warmth begins to fill the area around him as the fire burns through its fuel.  A pop sounds out as the fire consumes something particularly combustible, causing the man to jump back instinctively and protect his hands.  He carefully eases closer again when it fails to repeat the noise, trying to stay warm against the coming Autumn evening.

Minutes later, the footfalls of heavy boots tromp on past the alleyway... save for one pair entering behind the man.  "You shouldn't be out here, scum.  It's past curfew." the Arachnos Soldier announces as he approaches the man at the barrel fire.  The soldier doesn't bother waiting for a reply of course; he just wants an excuse to bully and push others around.  True to form, rough hands shove the vagrant before he can sputter a single word, pushing him into and toward the flame.  Stumbling, he crashes into the barrel clumsily, spraying burning trash over the ground as he falls to rag wrapped hands.

Laughing, the soldier turns and saunters out of the alley, leaving the vagrant to struggle with the flames as best he can.  Unbeknownst to both, a watching pair of eyes follows the scene carefully, tracking the soldier as he departs.

Later that night...

Two men gather at a local bar, drinking their wages away after a hard day's work.  "Hellions, can you believe 'em?  Again?  You'd think they would take the hint and get out of Port Oakes, but no..."  The man laughs, largely finished with a pint.
"What, you think they learn?  We keep putting them in body bags but they keep coming back!  Bet it's all that oil by the crashed tanker."  Shaking his head in reply, he shrugs and drains his pint.
"Eh, we had our fun knocking heads together.  's a great gig, the life of a soldier!"  The first man finishes up and leans back.  "Ugh... speaking of the life of a soldier, we should probably get back to barracks before tomorrow..."
"You go on ahead, I won't be long.  Just gotta use the pisser..."  His companion carefully works his way to the back, intent on his goal.

Shrugging, the first man gets to his feet after leaving some change on the table and winds his way to the front doors, stepping out into the darkness of another ocean-cold night.  "Shoulda brought a coat..." he mutters, slipping his hands into his pockets.  Moving quickly, he starts walking his way back to the closest Arachnos base, a solid ten minute walk away.  Nothing challenging for a military trained man with the fitness that accompanies such training, of course.  Sure, supers could be running around, but they don't usually bother civilians going about their business, and he wasn't wearing anything that would give away his employment.  Anybody dumb enough to try him would find themselves disappeared before long when word got back to base.

Moving from the flickering pools of street light back into the darkness, he finds himself uneasy.  "Is it colder...?" he wonders silently, before shrugging. "Just the dark..." he assures himself.

Shadows gather silently nearby, a miasma of malicious intent coalescing into solid, towering form, unseen by his chosen victim.  The furthest street lamp sputters and dies with a pop, causing the soldier to startle momentarily.  "Shit!... friggin' lights need to be replaced..." he mutters to himself.  The next nearest light flickers one last time, then it too fades, only to leave one last pool of light ahead of him.  He moves more quickly towards it, spooked and grateful for at least that little bit of respite.

The presence intensifies, muted and hidden from its prey, yet nevertheless gathering strength as it begins to stalk into the shadows ahead of the street light, moving between two buildings and waiting just as the soldier screws up his courage enough to leave his oasis of safety.

A large, rough hand darts from the darkness and grabs the soldier, pulling him into the shadows suddenly and violently before pinning him against a wall around the corner, the soldier struggling against the sudden assault.  "Hel-!" he manages to gasp before a large cleaver is shoved into his guts, forcefully thrust hard enough that the blade is buried partially into the brick and mortar wall.  The rest of his words are cut off as he gurgles and bleeds profusely.

Wild eyes fight to focus as they struggle to take in their attacker: a towering brute of a figure wrapped in bandages, a mask over its face, and a corroded cleaver still held in one hand watches him impassively, a dull red glow lighting up where its eyes should be.  It holds up its free hand, showing the bandages wrapped around it, then slowly points to a nearby trash bin, never breaking its gaze from the soldier.

Life dripping away, the terrified soldier grasps the cleaver piercing him to the wall, trying to escape.  Callous and uncaring, the brute hefts his free cleaver and begins to dismember the soldier limb by limb.  All the while the soldier remains in agony, yet horribly alive through the entire process, as though being sustained to endure the agony.  Each limb finds its way to the trash bin, trails of blood and viscera marking their sailing arc through the air as they're tossed one by one into it.

The soldier can no longer scream, even if he wanted to.  His lifeblood has long since drowned his lungs, even with naught left but his head and torso.  The hulking figure tilts its head slightly, as though listening to something, yet the soldier hears nothing at all.  It slowly brings the dripping, pitted blade up, holding it parallel to its arm for a moment before pulling back and swinging towards the soldier's neck, roughly hewing it like an axe to a log.

The remaining pieces are thrown to the bin as well as the killer pulls his cleaver from the brick, letting his victim's torso fall bloodily to the pooled viscera beneath, then lifting it and slowly walking to the bin to deposit this last grisly trophy.  The red glow fades from its eyes as it returns and walks around the corner, fading back into the shadows before disappearing completely.

The next morning...

Groaning and limping, the vagrant shuffles on his route, collecting trash and anything else he can find of value, rummaging through bins and the like.  A macabre scent begins to fill the air as he nears the buildings, and he wrinkles his nose as he pauses.  Is it worth it to even check?  After last night he hardly needs a beating, but if he misses something valuable he might not last the night anyway.  He sighs quietly, then starts to make his way nearer, huddling into himself as though to make himself a lesser target.

The scene of carnage that greets him is a new one.  While he has seen a lot in the Isles over the years, most murders are either very quiet or very loud.  This... this is something else.  The wall bears the scars of multiple hacking slashes, and a deep gouge caps the scene.  Crows caw as they flee the scene of carrion feast, flapping to the roofs to watch and wait for him to leave.

Moving slowly and quietly, the vagabond takes in the sight with eyes wide before realizing the blood leaves a trail, leading nearby...