Fallen Angel (The Crow)

Chapter 2: The Pawn Shop

The two continued to walk in silence until they reached Gideon's Pawn Shop. As they approached the door, they heard a voice from inside.

"Hey! Piss off! We're closed!" The voice said.

The man just banged on the gate as the voice kept going on about how they needed to leave. The man then broke the lock and pushed the gate open and the two approached the door. Ashlyn knocked on the glass door before smashing it with a kick. The man entered first, with the crow flying in after him. Ashlyn entered last as the man spoke.

"Suddenly I heard a tapping, as if someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door." He said, reciting the quote from The Raven.

"What are you talking about?" Gideon asked as the man brushed some broken glass off his shoulder.

"You head us rapping, right?" The man asked.

"You two are trespassing, and you owe me a fuckin new door!" Gideon yelled.

Ashlyn and the man looked back toward the shattered door and Ashlyn simply shrugged before turning their attention back to Gideon.

"I'm looking for something in an engagement ring." The man calmly says as if nothing happened. "Gold."

"You two are looking for a coroner, shit-for-brains." Gideon says before shooting the man. Ashlyn flinched, but the man simply stumbled back a bit, looking down at where he was shot before looking back at Gideon. "Oh. shit." Gideon swore, "Oh, shit on me!"

The man threw Gideon over the counter and then he jumped on top before doing a flip and hanging upside down from the ceiling. Ashlyn doing the same, but with less ease.

"Mr. Gideon." She says, startling him as he sees the two suddenly next to him. "You're not paying attention."

The man then smacked him, sending him back into the wall. He and Ashlyn then landed, the latter pinning his hand down with one of Tin Tin's knives and covering his mouth.

"I repeat, a gold engagement ring, yes?" The man asked, and Gideon nodded. "It was pawned here a year ago by a customer of yours named Tin Tin. He confided in us before he ran out of breath." More muffled sounds came from Gideon as the man began to search through the shop, trashing it in the process. "You can let him talk, Angel." He adds, and Ashlyn removes her hand from his mouth, still keeping the other on the knife. "Warmer?" He then asked after knocking a box over.

"What are you doing?" Gideon asked.

"Don't you know this game?" The man replied.

"What game are you talking about?" Gideon asked.

"Just tell him what he wants to know." Ashlyn replied. "Or I'll have my fun with you."

"Okay, fine! The rings! I'll tell you about the rings!" Gideon says, "They're in that metal box! It's under the shelf there!"

The man stopped trashing the shop and looked where Gideon said.

"You find what you were looking for?" Ashlyn asked after a short pause, and some barrels and boxes were knocked over in response as the man reentered the room with the ring box and a shotgun. "I'll take that as a yes." She said, removing her knife and cleaning the blade before putting it away.

"You have one chance to live." The man says, aiming the shotgun at Gideon.

"Take anything you want." He says, terrified.

"Thank you." The man responds.

"Take anything!" Gideon repeats while Ashlyn takes another knife and a pair of black handguns after loading them. Meanwhile, the man empied a thing of gasoline on the counter before throwing it aside

"Now you're going to tell us where to find the rest of Tin Tin's little party pals." He said.

"The Pit. They all hang out at the Pit." Gideon says, "All of T-Bird's little potato-heads hang out there. Funboy, he lives there upstairs, alright?"

The man then started smashing more glass. "A whole jolly club, with jolly pirate nicknames."

Gideon swore again, startled by the outburst.

"Hold still!" The man ordered, pointing the shotgun back at Gideon. "Each one of these is a life," He added, throwing rings at him, "a life you helped destroy."

"I'm begging you." Gideon says, "Don't kill me."

"We're not gonna kill you." The man says, "Your job will be to tell the rest of them that death is coming for them... tonight." He then loads the shotgun with the extra rings. "Tell them Eric Draven send his regards." He adds before turning away and taking a guitar with him.

"Now, Hon, Let's see if you're worthy to walk with Angels." Ashlyn says to Gideon before turning to exit with the man, whose name she now assumed was Eric. Why did it sound familiar to her?

"You walk outta here, they're gonna erase your sorry asses." Gideon says as they leave, "You two are nothing but street grease, you motherfuckers!"

Eric stopped and looked over his shoulder at Gideon, Ashlyn doing the same.

"Is that gasoline I smell?" Eric asked.

Gideon, realizing what Eric was about to to, yelled for him to stop while Ashlyn sent a smirk before taking off away from the shop. The crow, which had been quietly watching the scene unfold, flew out as Eric also exited before turning and firing the shotgun, causing an explosion in the shop. Ashlyn also got down and rolled away from the shop as it blew up, and was unharmed.

"Okay, that was fun." She says, standing up as Eric walked over to her. "And I take it that Eric is your name."

"Yes." He replies.

Before the two could get any farther, a police car stopped in front of them, the driver getting out and pointing his gun at them.

"Police!" The officer said, "Don't move!" However, Eric and Ashlyn just continued walking towards him. "I said, 'Don't move!'"

"I thought the police always said 'freeze.'" Ashlyn says.

"Well, I am the police and I say don't move, you two. You move, you're dead."

"And I say I'm dead and I move." Eric says, moving the guitar behind him and putting his hands up before walking closer.

"Not one more step. I'm serious." The officer says.

"Then shoot if you will, Officer Albrecht." Eric says, giving a mock bow to him.

"What are you, nuts?" Albrecht asked, "Walking into a gun? You two high?"

"You don't remember me?" Eric asks.

"What are you talking about?"

"How about Shelly? Do you remember Shelly Webster?"

"Shelly Webster is dead, my friend. I want you two to move over to the curb there, nice and easy. Come on, Move it!"

Eric and Ashlyn complied, the latter mentally cursing herself for getting caught so easily.

"Okay, we're gonna wait here for backup." Albrecht says, "This is getting to friggin weird for me."

"Oh it gets better." Ashlyn says, keeping her confident facade.

"You know someone named T-Bird?" Eric asked, "He had a friend who shouldn't have played with knives. Like the coat?"

"You're the ones that murdered Tin Tin." Albrecht realizes.

"He was already dead." Eric says, "He died a year ago. The moment he touched her. They're all dead. They just don't know it yet."

For a second, Albrecht was distracted by looters going into the destroyed pawn shop, and Eric took this chance to get away, pulling Ashlyn with him.