Chapter Text
Crossroads seemed to always be busy, no matter the time of day. Some inphernals enjoyed it, others not too much. Silver Shadow was the latter. He loves how full of life everything is. It makes his job as a vigilante much easier since he doesn’t need to be out in the broad daylight to stop crime. Speaking of which…
He perched on the ledge of a building that encases a small alleyway, watching the street below with the particular stillness of someone who had much experience in this line of work.
The mark? a thief moving stolen jewelry in a duffel bag. He heard about it on the news from a few hours ago. He was hoping to find the culprit in the act, though as the time went on he began doubting his locator device was working.
That was when he noticed the laughing. What?
It wasn’t down on the street. It was (and this was the part that took by surprise) directly above him.
He looked up.
Sitting on top of the taller building that encased the alleyway, feet dangling over the edge like a child, was a figure that had absolutely no business being there. Dark. Glowing. A mischievous green grin that seemed to stay static despite the cackling.
“Oh, don’t stop on our account,” the figure said cheerfully. “You were doing the brooding thing so well.”
Silver Shadow stared at him.
Then, very deliberately, he looked back down at the street.
“We’ve been watching you for a good twenty minutes now,” the figure continued, undeterred, “and we do say… you haven’t moved a single bit! Not even a smidge.” He peered at the masked inphernal with curiosity.
“Leave.”
“Hmm.” The figure tilted his head. “No, we don’t think we will. This spot has excellent sightlines of the city.”
“I’m using this spot.”
“We could share.” He said it brightly, like this was a perfectly reasonable solution to a completely normal problem. “We can be quiet if you wish.”
Silver Shadow turned and looked at him fully for the first time. The figure just beamed and waved.
“You seem like the opposite of quiet.”
“That is a fair point.” He didn’t seem troubled by it. He kicked his legs idly, heels tapping against the side of the building “what’s a little inphernal like you doing out so late? Being a creep and watching people from the shadows? We would never do such a thing…”
Silver Shadow just frowned under the mask, making no effort to continue the conversation. He had to keep a lookout… It appeared to be difficult with the strange figure currently tapping his heels against the wall obnoxiously.
“…I know who you are,” Silver Shadow muttered.
“You do? Hmhm~ we’re charmed to know we are still spoken of. Now who might you be hmm…” Darkheart paused, pressing a finger to his lips. “Silver Shadow? The vigilante?” He looked pleased with himself for remembering. “Such a lovely name, suits you quite well.
Shuriken groaned, looking at his locator. “My mark is going to make his appearance in the next four minutes. If you’re still here when that happens, you will compromise the operation.”
Darkheart glanced at the street, then back at Silver Shadow, the grin not shifting even slightly. “What if we helped?”
“I don’t need help.”
“We didn’t ask if you needed it.” He hopped down from the building, landing beside Silver Shadow without sound, without effort, without *any* of the normal physics of an object falling. “We asked if we could.”
Silver Shadow looked at him for a long moment. He could see him clearer now. Damn he was tall what the hell…
Below, the culprit turned the corner. Duffle bag in hand.
“Don’t touch anything,” Silver Shadow said, and grappled off of the roof.
He heard Darkheart make a small, delighted (?) sound behind him, akin to a hum.
The crook went down easily, a couple of shurikens to the back always does a good job. Shuriken retrieved the duffel bag and made sure the components inside were safe. And they were. Phew…
When Silver Shadow straightened up, Darkheart was sitting on a fire escape directly above, watching with the attention of someone with very good theater etiquette.
“Guess you didn’t need our help after all” Darkheart snickered.
“I told you that.”
“You did.” He rested his chin in his hand. “You’re quite good. We’ve watched countless of mortals do things like that. Most of them are… mm..” he wobbled his free hand. “*Middling.* You’re not middling.”
Silver Shadow looked up at him. It was difficult to tell if Darkheart was being sincere or just being a teasing nuisance. The answer was probably both, which was its own kind of exhausting.
“Why are you still here,” Silver Shadow asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Darkheart smiled grinned wider.
“The city is interesting right now,” he said. “Things are shifting. We like to be around when things shift.” A pause. “And you’re part of the interesting bit. Figured we’d see what you were like up close.”
“What?”
“Hmm… nothing~” he tilted his head again. “We think you’re going to be much more interesting than you want to be.” He pushed off the fire escape, floating upwards.“we’ll see you around, Silver Shadow.”
“… Okay?” Silver Shadow looked up at him with a puzzled expression. What was any of that supposed to mean??
He was already gone before he could ask. Or something close to gone? Silver Shadow had the irritating feeling that ‘gone’ and ‘watching from somewhere you couldn’t see’ looked about the same to Darkheart.
He sighed and picked up the duffel bag and thief. Guess he needs to take a trip to the police station.
Somewhere in the shadows lurked a teasing, green grin. Watching as Silver Shadow moved in the night.