Stitches

Prequel

Something moves in Black's peripheral vision causing him to duck, just before a punch from his opponent reaches where he'd just been standing.

Black already had a split lip and torn suit and it'd only been about 15 minutes since the fight began.

Rose, his opponent, wasn't in much better shape. They'd had a pretty equal fight so far.

Where Black was tall and flexible, Rose was small and agile - always managing to slip through Black's fingers at the last second.

To the common passer by, their fight would likely appear to be two super dedicated nerds having some fun. Rose's crime sprees had all but stopped now; the media had forgotten about 'the Hero of the city' and 'his arch enemy'; and the city was the more cliché 'safe and sound' that it had once been. Yet Black and Rose still found themselves in these petty little fights, seemingly, every other night.

As suddenly as Rose had appeared, Black saw the shadow turn a corner in the far distance. Leaving Black flat on his ass in an alley way.

10:02pm

He read, blinding himself in the light of his mobile.

Black was just about to put his phone back in his pocket when he got a text from his roommate.

Milo 10:03
Hey, went out with friends after uni, got in a bar fight. Need you to stitch me up. Be home in 5.

Oh shit. He didn't have time for this.

Done

He replied, sprinting the four blocks to his apartment. Failing to notice Rose's back facing him from atop a building a few streets away, he removed his mask as he neared home.