Lethal Shadow

Chapter 1

After slitting the last criminal's throat, Lethal Shadow sat back, expressionless. He pressed a button on his gauntlet that concealed his knives and stared at the bloody mess before him.

He was currently knelt down on the floor of a bank, pieces of glass scattered everywhere, blood pooling on the tile.

This was going to be one hell of a clean up job, he could tell already.

The bank was dark, windows letting in very little light. Rain dusted the streets outside, pounding against the roof like a lullaby. A creepy lullaby in this setting, since he'd just killed twelve men.

Sighing, he stood up and stretched his limbs. His eyes scanned the area for a janitors closet. Sure, the police would find the bodies, but it was at least considerate to clean up the blood and gore first. This certainly wouldn't be the first time he'd done that.

Lethal Shadow adjusted his mask. It was kind of hot in the bank. He planned to leave the janitor a note to keep the air conditioner on at nights, since he seemed to pay visits there pretty damn often.

Admittedly though, when no one's there, the bank felt ominous. His boots tapped on the tile as he searched for the janitor's closet. Maybe once he finished cleaning up the mess he could go for a walk in the rain. Clear his mind a little.

Once he found a mop and a bucket, he began to clean up the mess. He'd gotten about halfway done when he heard shouts, and then loud sobs from down the street.

"Get back here, now." someone shouted, "or I'll kill your worthless ass, I will!"

Oh brother, here we go again. Lethal Shadow dropped the mop. Before the mop hit the ground, he'd already raced out the door and down the street, careful to be light on his feet.

He crept to the street where he'd heard the commotion, sticking to the shadows.

The sobbing noise he'd heard was a girl, thin, bruised, and about his age. Her long black hair fell in tangles down her shoulders, her clothes torn, her dark brown eyes full of tears. Lethal Shadow noticed that she didn't meet the angry man's eyes. She didn't even look at him as she sobbed.

She was crawling toward a door, saying between sobs, "I'll r-report you t-to the c-cops!"

"No you won't young lady," he shouted, the veins in his neck protruding as he did so.

As soon as he raised a fist to hit her, Lethal Shadow had already sprung from the darkness of the alleyways and stepped between him and the girl. He caught the fist midair.

The girl was huddled in a ball, sobbing. Her pathetic, brittle form shook with tremors.

Lethal Shadow's hand was wrapped around the angry man's wrist. He was close enough that he knew the man could see beneath his green hood. Could see his eyes.

And right now, he knew his eyes told the man to back off or die.

The girl said, "Lethal Shadow?" like she couldn't believe her own eyes.

"Who called you?" the man demanded, "did this worthless bitch call y—"

Lethal shadow bent his wrist backward in one quick movement. The man doubled over, trying to peel at Lethal's clutch, but failing miserably.

"You know," Lethal said, his breath coming out raspy and deep because of the mask, "hitting a girl is technically illegal."

He released the man's wrist. Then, he clicked the buttons on each of his wrists, and with a shlink! sound, his favorite blades came to life.

"No man, no! Spare my life, please. I'll do anything."

"You should've thought twice about that."

He began to corner the man. However, a strangled voice coughed, "no, please, don't kill him," which stopped him mid track.

He glanced back at the girl. She'd stopped sobbing by now, and had gathered all her hair to one side. She clutched it tightly, like she was going to rip her hair out if Lethal did kill this man.

So he said, "it's best if you don't watch."

"I promise you, I'll do anything!" Angry Man pleaded.

Lethal sighed. "Fine. Here's what I want from you."

For a moment, he paused. He intently searched the man's face as he thought. Then, when Angry Man was about to cop attitude with him, he pressed the blade to Angry Man's throat.

Then, he said, "if you ever, and I mean ever, beat this girl again, I will hunt you down and kill you with my bare hands. I don't want to see another bruise on her body. Don't want to hear you threaten her life again."

Angry Man nodded his head, his body shaking with fear. He said, "okay! I promise, I promise."

Then, satisfied, he stepped back. "Now get out of my sight, vermin."

Angry Man staggered away, leaving just Lethal and the girl.

He said, "what's your name?"

"I uh," her eyes were wide as she blanked on her own name.

He gave her a look that said, 'really?'

"S-Samantha. But everyone calls me Spark."

He nodded. Then, "okay Spark. Next time he does something like that, I want you to either call me, or shout as loud as you can. Or do both. That works too."

"I don't have a number to call you at..." she said.

He sighed. He had two phone numbers for this kind of situation. He'd prepared. However, that didn't stop him from feeling nervous about giving it to her.

"Here," he paused to search his pockets for a pen and paper. When he found a pen—a pink Hello Kitty pen his cousin had given him—he wrote his number for her.

Once he folded up the paper, and she took it, he said, "I trust that you'll do this for me."

She nodded. He put the Hello Kitty pen back in his pocket, along with the tiny notepad.

Then, with a final nod of respect to her, he disappeared into the night, only looking back once. And when he'd looked back, she was already headed back inside, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips.