Shadow

The night sky hung heavy with darkness, pierced only by the glowing neon of billboards and the random flash of a car that slid across the empty streets. Above that world, high above, on the chilled roof of glass and steel, a figure slid noiselessly across the night. Nobody marked her presence. Nobody ever would.

She was a shadow, and shadows leave no mark.

She stood stock-still upon the edge of a building, her breath puffing out in icy mist into the night air. The city flowed on beneath her, unknowing of her existence above their heads. The world knew only one name whispered in terror by those who'd sensed her presence and never witnessed it. Shadow was a name of notoriety in the underworld of thieves, spies, and masters of deception.

But while others stole out of greed, Shadow had always had a reason. Whereas others sowed chaos, she brought balance. She merely took what had never rightfully belonged to any, in order to return it to whom it had been lost. Invisible avenger, dancing in the shadow of justice. People thought so much in black and white. Good and evil. Heroes and villains. Shadow knew better. The world wasn't like that. It was gray, full of shades that others never saw. And she knew all those shades, every hidden path and every dark corner where nobody ever dared to look. Shadow lived for danger and for the unknown. She existed in a world where no one could catch her, no one could stop her. She was ready: ready to make the shadows her home again. For there, where nobody dared to look, she belonged.