Light In The Shadows

The Bridge

“Help!”, a young woman desperately cried as she ran. Her feet started to ache as she ran further down the bridge with no one in sight. “Stay away from me!”, she yelled as she started to run out of breath. She gasped for air and struggled to see in the dark. The lights on the bridge were not functional as the bridge was currently being rebuilt.

Suddenly, the shadowy figures of three men came into view behind her. She turned and fell on her back and begged, “Please don’t hurt me!”. As she pushed herself back, she shouted, “Someone help me!”.

“Oh my, just shut up already!”, one of the men yelled. He bent down to look at her and lifted her chin up before remarking, “Such a beauty you are”.

“Don't touch me!”. She hits his face with her purse, which connected with a resounding thud.

“Ah! You’re going to regret that!”, he yelled. He slaps her face in retaliation. Blood started to drip from her nose. “Now will you behave?”, he asked with an angry tone.

Out of nowhere a strange male voice responded from behind, “I will behave!”. Noticing the stranger, one of the men told him, “Get lost!”. The other one added, “That's right loser!”.

“Lost? Loser? Clearly your mothers didn't raise you well enough”, the stranger chuckled.

“Oi! are you saying something about my mother?”, one of the men replied as he pulls out a knife.

The stranger cracked a grin. “Well, it looks like Daddy here is going to teach you a lesson”.

“That’s it!”, the man ran to the stranger with his knife drawn.

“Watch out, you’re going to hurt yourself with that”, the stranger advised with a smile on his face. The man tried to follow through with his knife, but the stranger caught his wrist with ease and twisted it, causing the man to drop his knife. With his free hand, the stranger caught the knife as it fell and quickly stabbed the attacker’s thigh.

“Ahhhhh!”, the man screamed, as pain resounded from the knife wound.

“I did tell you”, the stranger calmly said.

The other two snapped out of their shock. One yelled “Gary!”, as he attempted to tackle the stranger, but the stranger quickly jumped above him with his legs tucked. He quickly extended his legs which landed on man's shoulders, pushing him to the ground.

Bam! The man hit the ground and is knocked unconscious. Gary, who was currently sprawled on the ground clutching his thigh in pain, barely pulled himself up to see what was happening. He looked at the stranger in the light and was shocked at the sight of the stranger’s apparel. The stranger was a vigilante! he realised. The stranger sported a red blood suit, with a red mask covering his face. Attached to his back was a menacing metal bat dyed in red.

“Wait! I've seen you before, you're Ethics! The vigilante?!”

“Yes, you are indeed correct!”, Ethics replied before adding, “Now I'm going to put you to sleep with your friend right there”.

Gary’s eyes widened with panic, “Wait! Don't do tha-“bam! He received powerful hook below the ear, knocking him unconscious. The third man saw the scene unfold and was shaking.

“Oh, how rude of me to forget about you over there”, Ethics says in a calm manner.

Out of desperation, the third man grabbed the woman and put a knife to her throat. With a shaky voice, “Take another step and she dies!”.

Ethics sighs and casually walks over to him.

“Stop! or I’ll kill her!” the man shouted, barely managing to keep his voice at the sight of the vigilante’s composure.

“Please, I don’t want to die”, the woman begged.

Ethics calmly strolled over until he was an arm’s length away. “I have seen the eyes of a killer before,” he says as he leaned over to the man’s eyes before remarking, “and your eyes says otherwise”.

The third man had no idea how to respond and pushed the lady away before running away. “Bastard!”, he yelled.

Ethics caught the lady and asked, “Are you alright Ma’am?”

The lady’s body shook as she sobbed and barely managed to reply, “Yes, I’m fine thank you”.

“Call the cops, I’ll get the last one”.

The third man huffed as he fled from the vigilante. I think I’m safe now, he thought. However, unbeknownst to him, a red bat swung and hit his head, rendering him unconscious.

“911, what's your emergency?” a dispatcher asked.

The lady took a shaky breath and says, “I’ve been attacked by three men, and I need the police to come to the Dutch Bridge as soon as possible. They are unconscious at the moment, I mean, well, two of them are”.

However, Ethics came into view and added “Make that three”, as he dragged the unconscious body from behind.

“Oh, good you’re safe!”

The lady turned her focus back to the call and added “Scratch that, all three are unconscious”.

Over the phone, a calm voice replied, “Understood ma'am, help is on the way, please stay safe and restrain them if possible”.

“Will do”

The lady lowered the phone and looked at the vigilante with gratitude, “Thank you sir”.

“No need to thank me ma'am, I'm just fixing this unethical world” Ethics replies as he starts walking away.