Shadow-Man

15

Warren and Steven had taken Gill and I to Steven's house where the planning had began. Jess had managed to get the blueprints for building the  pape factory back when it was still being built. I had no clue how or when she had done this, but Steven seemed very proud of her for it. The five of us looked over the blueprints, and talked things over, making plans as to what was going happen. We decided that I would convince my mom to have an early dinner, so that Gill and I had plenty of time to sneak out of my window, and meet up with Warren and Steven. I would be dropped off near the paper factory, while the other's stayed at Steven's house, and watched everything through a screen in the lab. I would be sitting up in the rafters of the building, watching everything happen.

Gill and I sat through dinner with my mom, pretending that everything was normal. Mom didn't seem to suspect a thing as she made small talk with the both of us, asking about school, and stuff like that. There wasn't really much to talk about, but we tried anyway. I eventually just ended up making up a few stories, and stepping on Gill's foot when he looked at me confused. The second dinner was over, Gill and I ran to my room, closing the door behind us, and hopping right out of the window.

Warren and Steven were waiting for us in Steven's car just down the street a bit. Gill and I got in without waisting anytime at all, and Warren immediately started driving. I had been wearing my Shadow-Man suit underneath my regular clothes, so all I had to do was take off my regular clothes, and put on the mask. I hopped quickly out of the car, and ran to the paper factory without saying a word to anyone.

I quickly located a pipe that went all the way up the building, and began to climb it, thanking god that Warren made me exercise and get stronger. I made it to the top, and didn't waist anytime finding the skylight in the centure of the roof. I opened the window and climbed in, closing the window again silently. I found me a nice spot to settle down on a wooden beam, and wait for the meeting to start.

"How's it going?" I heard Warren's voice ask in my ear.

"It's just a lot of waiting right now." I said, pressing the device in my ear so that I could talk into it.

"I would pay good money to wait for a gang to spy on dressed as a real life superhero. Even if I starved because I was waiting too long." Gill told me, and I chuckled in response.

"It's starting to get late, so they'll probably be there soon." Steven told me. Steven seemed to have perfect timing, because right then, a bunch of men walked into the paper factory.

"Guess you were right." I muttered to Steven, watching the men closely. I spotted Morton, and watched as he turned to the side, and I saw that one of the sleeves of his shirt was tied closed in a knot. My face fell in shock as I looked at how pale and sick Morton looked.

"Guys," I said softly with my finger in my ear. "The one in the blue t-shirt with the missing arm is Morton. He had two arms last night."

"See if you can get closer." Steven said, ignoring my comment about Morton. I  rolled my eyes, and crawled along the wooden beams until I was directly above the group of men. I then hooked my feet in between two beams, and dangled upside down from my feet, peering down at the men.

They were talking about a new shipment of weapons, and how it was going to be smaller than the last one due to a lack of money. Same with the drugs they were planning on shipping in. They talked about how they were going to have to charge more for the drugs they were selling, and the people they were prostituting. I was disgusted. Appalled. Completely and utterly pissed that this one group of people was breaking so many laws. I was also concerned though, because I was worried about the prostitutes. I wondered if they could say no, and walk away from prostitution, or if they were trapped like Morton and his brother. Very quickly, and suddenly, one of the guys got angry, and started yelling.