Chapter Text
The young night was cold, but not quite dark; warm streetlights illuminated every passage there was to walk through, except for alleyways. The pavement was littered with various empty cans and discarded newspapers. Silver Shadow found the filth saddening, though he did not have to deal with it much. More often than not he traveled on the roofs of buildings, signs, and occasionally balconies if he could get away with it. Tonight was no exception; Silver Shadow was currently sitting atop a large sign with neon letters. He could not tell what it said from the angle he was at.
It had been quiet tonight. This was unusual; crime was nearly as common as oxygen in Crossroads. At least, he had heard it described that way before. Who said that again? He struggled to remember. Anyhow, he had not heard any sirens tonight, nor had he noticed anything amiss. It must be some kind of omen, he thought. Perhaps tonight there would be an exceptionally bad crime… some kind of robbery? No, that was too common, and too petty to be considered anything special. A physical altercation, in the form of a high-stakes duel! That was a bit silly. He would sooner bore himself to death with his thoughts than get anything productive done. What was that saying? ‘A man who thinks all the time, has nothing to think about except thoughts.’
A hooded Inphernal passed underneath the sign. They were holding a small box with a gold pattern engraved on it, which shone under light. Silver Shadow stood up and began to trail them.
The suspicious Inphernal sped up to a brisk pace, then glanced behind them. A few seconds later, they did it again. Silver Shadow wondered what they were hiding, since they were clearly anxious about something. Perhaps the box did not belong to them, and they were attempting to get it somewhere before they were caught. If that was true, then they were not very good at being a criminal. Traveling in plain sight with a stolen item was a very big mistake. They stopped next to a dark alley. With uncertainty, they checked the area around them for potential onlookers, and then disappeared into it. Idiots always forget to look both both ways.
Silver Shadow jumped to a building with a lower roof to follow them. Before peeking into the alley, however, he heard a few voices below him.
“Did’ja get it?” said an Inphernal with a high-pitched voice.
“...Yeah,” another responded, sounding unsure of themself. This was probably the one with the box.
“Well, get on with it! We don’t got all day,” urged Pipsqueak.
“It’s night.” stated Box Guy.
“I know!”
Silver Shadow peered into the passage below. There were more Inphernals than he had imagined, each wearing a black hoodie with a logo on the front. Box Guy was holding tightly onto the package, and their hands were shaking. Who he assumed to be Pipsqueak was towering over him with a sneer on their face. In somewhat of an arc around Pipsqueak were seven other Inphernals, all with their horns painted black.
“Take your time, why don’tja?” A lazy voice remarked. Silver Shadow identified it as coming from one of the seven Inphernals, who was leaning on a brick wall. This was quite obviously criminal behaviour, but he needed to be absolutely sure before he went in and beat them up.
Box Guy’s grip tightened. It looked like they wanted to punch Pipsqueak. Silver Shadow could not blame them; he also wanted to punch Pipsqueak. Their hold released, and they drew a hand up to open it, but not before another pause. Lazy Guy stood up from their position against the brick.
“This is stupid.” Box Guy lifted the lid. At first, Silver Shadow was unable to see the contents of the box, but he soon recognized it.
He dropped down a few feet behind the group, quiet as a feather’s landing. The distance between them was just enough to allow him good use of his gear, and gave him the advantage of being able to backpedal effectively. This thought was quickly lost as he came to the conclusion he did not want to cause any fatal injuries.
The first one fell easily. A simple chop to the neck and they were on the floor, blissfully unaware of anything that might occur thereafter. The attention turned to Silver Shadow.
“Who the Hell are you?” Pipsqueak roared.
“Your shadow.”
He went immediately for Pipsqueak. A few hands grabbed at him as he ran, but only one skimmed him. Pipsqueak threw a punch, and Silver Shadow ducked. He then stood back up by throwing a double kick to the stomach. With that, the leader was down. Eight more to go, he thought as he saw Box Guy book it in the opposite direction. Seven, then, and one runner.
Silver Shadow heard someone run up behind him, and narrowly sidestepped a chainsaw attack. That changed things. He grappled to a pipe above him and held onto it with one hand. Seeing the group now with their respective gears gave him an idea of who he wanted to deal with first. Chainsaw was top priority, followed by Blowdar— he swung out of the way of a dart. Gas spurred out of the pipe where the dart hit, causing his eyes to water. Okay, Blowdart first.
He dropped down again behind Blowdart. They whirled to face him, but they were too slow to stop a punch to the gut. He sealed the deal with a roundhouse to the head, then backpedaled to escape another attack from Chainsaw. He avoided a stab from Knife, and grabbed their arm to throw them over him. He managed to hit another guy with Knife on the way. Three down, four more to go. He dodged around Chainsaw to disable the last ranger, who simply had a gun. They must have been too hesitant to shoot. He kneed the trigger hand and let a bullet fly, then delivered a kick to the belly and jab at the neck. Four down.
Chainsaw charged at him once more. Silver Shadow grappled back up to the leaking pipe, and fell before he could suffocate himself. He knocked the heads of the other two together and watched them topple over. Idiots. Their heads sounded like bowling pins.
He ducked to avoid a sweeping attack from Chainsaw, then rolled under their legs to get out of that situation. Chainsaw grunted angrily and spun to face him. Silver Shadow hadn’t gotten off the ground quick enough to escape the next attack, so he had to opt for a different approach. A shuriken flew at Chainsaw and made contact with their right arm, which in turn caused them to drop their weapon. It dispersed into a cloud of blue energy. Finally, he downed them with another chop to the neck. Adrenaline was still pumping through his veins as he watched the guy fall, and he scrambled to take his phone out of a hidden compartment in his clothes. Time to do the boring part and call the police.
“Alleyway next to Wand’s Tea Shop. Come get me.” Silver Shadow hung up after leaving that message. He retrieved the shuriken from Chainsaw’s arm and wiped it with a cloth, before allowing it to despawn. To hopefully cull the beating of his heart, he took a few deep breaths. It was important to not get too excited when it came to combat; too much energy led to mistakes.
A gunshot rang out. He watched as a bullet came just inches away from his head, and felt his ears start to ring from the sound. A second shot was fired, and he suddenly came to his senses. He ducked behind a dumpster.
“Police! Drop your weapon and come out with your hands up!”
He was not holding a weapon.
“We know it’s you! Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.”
Silver Shadow did not want to fight the police; he was meant to aid them. In any case, he realized he had forgotten to include the fact the unconscious people were smugglers in his call, so he might as well tell them now.
“The unconscious are smugglers. There is a red box on the ground— pick it up and open it,” the vigilante yelled back with a coarsely deepened voice. That hurt his vocal cords.
Footsteps began to encroach on his spot. Did they even hear him? Of course they did, they were probably just ignoring him. Dammit! Just as the officer reached the dumpster, Silver Shadow shot his grapple to the nearest building. They snatched at him and caught his scarf, but he got free and landed safely on the roof of Wand’s Tea Shop. With no time to waste, he ran home.
Exhaust began to settle in as Silver Shadow opened the window to his room. It had been a very exciting night, and he needed to sleep so he had enough energy to work in the morning. The window got stuck on an invisible obstacle. He stared at it for a moment, before trying to open it again, to no avail. Silver Shadow wrestled with his window for around five minutes before giving up and trying to crawl through the narrow opening he had created. What a way to end his exhilarating journey.
With a slight error in foot placement, Silver Shadow tumbled into his room, generating a loud thump with his ungraceful entrance. He laid there a second, contemplating the choices that led up to this moment.
“Shuriken?” A soft voice sounded from the hallway. “Are you okay? Did you fall off your bed again?”
Cold sweat ran down his back. He was still in full vigilante gear, and if his sister saw him like this, he would be in for a lot of trouble.
“Hello?” Vine Staff called out to him once more. He offered no response.
“...If you’re not going to answer, I’m coming in.”
“No!” Shuriken yelled, sitting up at a record-breaking speed. This was not good— he would quite literally do anything to stop Vine Staff from walking into his room.
“Why? Are you hurt?” she said worriedly.
“No— I, uh…” he looked to his closet. “I’m naked!”
“Did you lose your pj’s again? We can’t keep buying new ones.”
Shuriken’s cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. He had used that excuse a lot before, and it had cost the three of them quite a bit of money to buy replacements. There was a stash piling up in his closet.
“...Yeah, sorry,” he falsely admitted.
“Shuriken!”
“I’m okay! Just… go back to bed. See you in the morning?” he winced. Another pair of footsteps approached his room.
“...What’s going on?” Slingshot asked groggily. Shuriken heard a yawn through the door.
“Shuriken lost his pj’s again,” Vine Staff said loudly. She sounded rather disappointed in Shuriken, which added a bit of weight to his shoulders. Slingshot responded with a noise of disapproval.
“Again? Really, Shuriken? I’m running out of money to give you.”
“I know, I know! I’ll pay for it myself this time, okay?” He was on the verge of pulling his horns off his head. At least he knew they would not come into his room. “Look, I’m really tired. Just let me go back to bed.”
A thin silence enveloped the three siblings. Shuriken felt his request was reasonable enough, even if it was not quite what he would be doing after they left. He stood up with more effort than usual.
“...Alright. Goodnight, Shuriken,” Slingshot sighed. Shuriken heard his brother walk back to his room.
“Goodnight, Shuriken. Try to find your pj’s in the morning, please?” said Vine Staff. Shuriken walked to his closet to grab his nightclothes.
“Sure, sis,” he responded plainly. With that, his sister stalked off to her room, and he was left to his own devices. That was needlessly difficult.
Shuriken began to remove his vigilante outfit. His mask was already set on his bed, where he would hopefully not sit on it. He gradually worked his way through the layers and managed to slip on his pajamas. Then Shuriken walked to the other side of his room, and cracked his door open to peer down the hallway. It did not look like either of his two siblings were somehow still there, so he creeped out. The bathroom was right across from his room.
Once he made it to the bathroom, he shut the door behind himself. Then, he began to wash the paint off his horns. Being a vigilante was often inconvenient for him, outside of police investigations. Sometimes, the horn paint would refuse to come off, and he would have to cover it up in the morning. Other times, it came off too easily, and he would get it on his pajamas. This was one of the reasons he had for using the “I lost my pajamas” excuse.
When he finished scrubbing the green off his horns, he walked back to his room. The door shut quietly behind him, and he made sure to lock it. It would be a tad awkward if one of his siblings appeared and saw him holding the Silver Shadow outfit. Speaking of which, he needed to find another opening to wash it tomorrow. He started putting the separate components of the outfit on hangers, and putting them in the back of his closet. A better hiding spot was in development. It would be ready soon, he hoped. When Shuriken got to the scarf, he came to a heart-stopping realization.
The end of his scarf was torn.