Feb 16

Shadows Over Los Angeles #001

Shadows Over LA 001, Shadows, SOLA Add Comment (1)

Thursday, 9:27 PM
Watts, South Central LA

I was beginning to grow uncomfortable. I had been lying on the roof for over an hour, watching that street corner. I knew the bastard would show eventually. I just didn’t know when.

It’s bad enough these scum were still in my streets, still in my city. But selling drugs near a high school? That’s unforgiveable.

Then I saw him. He parked his car across the street and stepped out. He walked to his corner, and leaned against the fence, acting nonchalant. As nonchalant as a white guy in a $500 leather jacket can look in South Central in the middle of the night.

Within minutes, there were two teenagers talking to him. They couldn’t have been any older than me. Disgusting. They handed him some money, he handed them a bag of what looked to be pills. A quick look through my binoculars confirmed it.

I’d seen enough, it was time to strike.

In moments I was on my feet. I leapt to the nearby tree, touching down on a branch, only to springboard back into the air. I could feel my tendons break as I jumped as far as I could, but I felt them healing instantaneously, whole before I even hit the ground in front of the dealer.

“Shadow!” The dealer and his clients both shouted, as they scrambled. I let the kids go. They weren’t my target.

I sprinted after the dealer, as he tried to get into his car. It was a nice car, which made the next part a little bit harder.

I let the fool reach his car. He even got it started, before I landed on the hood and put both fists through the windshield, grabbing him by the collar and pulling his head through the shattered remnants of the glass.

“Dude! What do you want!?! I’ll stop dealing! Anything!” He sobbed.

“You’re damn right you will. Your sorry ass won’t even live in my city by the end of the week. Understand?” I say softly, as the glass being forced from the healing wounds on my hands fell to the ground, tinkling as they did so.

“Yes Shadow sir.” He looked like he was about to burst into real tears.

“Now you’re going to tell me who your supplier is.” I said.

“No way man. You can’t do any worse to me than he will when he finds out I told you!” The fool, honestly thinks there’s something scarier in this city than me?

“You’d be surprised at what I’m capable of.” I said, tossing him back into the driver’s seat.

Stupid move. He slammed on the gas and the car took off, I tumbled over the roof, hit the trunk and landed on the road hard. Cuts, bruises, maybe even a broken bone or two. I groaned. It wasn’t a good night. I heard the screeching of tyres, as the dealer turned his car around and began speeding towards me. Just what I needed, another stupid dealer who wants to make a name for himself.

My injuries had healed by the time he reached me. My reflexes were quick enough for me to jump as he tried to mow me down. I dove through the windshield, grabbing him around the face and blinding him long enough to drive the car straight into a pole, sending the two of us flying through what was left of the windshield, before landing in someone’s front yard.

Luckily for both of us, I broke the idiot’s fall. I felt bones cracking back into place. Always an unpleasant feeling. Of course, my friend didn’t have that luxury, and the bones he had broken remained that way.

I reached over and grabbed him by the collar again.

“You were saying?” I asked.

“Holy shit dude, you’re crazy!” He managed to speak pretty loudly for a guy who just flew twenty feet.

“And if you don’t want to do it again without the soft landing, you’ll tell me what I want to know.” I said matter-of-factly.

“Fine. He goes by the name of Finlay…” The dealer began to squeal.

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Friday, 1:35 AM
Manhattan Beach

The security guard crumpled like a cheap suit. A bad metaphor, but it fit.

I ran straight up the fence and dropped to the other side, before running clear across the yard in about ten seconds. Not bad considering I’d spent much of the last two hours hanging onto the back of a truck.

I did a quick lap of the house, finding no obvious way in. All the doors and windows were shut, the curtains all closed. The occupants were asleep.

I was considering busting a window, when I heard the phone ring. The light in the room I was standing outside of turned on, and I could hear a man with a faint Boston accent swearing as he picked up the phone.

“Johnny? Slow down. What? The Shadow? You told him where I live? You fuckin’ moron! Your ass is lucky my wife and kids are at her mother’s tonight. I’ll have your ass for this. I don’t care if you’re almost dead already.” The voice hung up.

I smiled. At least I wouldn’t be scarring any innocents tonight. I took a few steps back, before running headlong into the massive window of Finlay’s bedroom. A quick tuck and roll, and I regained my footing, standing ready.

Finlay already had the gun in his hand pointed at me.

“Sorry Shadow. Guess you were just a little too late.” Finlay said, before opening fire. I took two shots to the chest, before collapsing to the ground.

The darkness had almost taken me. I was bleeding pretty heavily, and my vision was blurred, but I could still hear his taunts.

“This is the mighty Shadow? You’re what has my dealers so worked up about working the suburbs? You’re nothing but a stupid kid. What are they so afraid of?” Finlay asked.

I smiled, before springing to my feet. The look on his face was priceless.

“Exactly what you’re afraid of now.” I said. I felt a lump in my throat, as the taste of metal entered my mouth.

“How… Why…?” Finlay spluttered.

I spat out the bullets. “You thought you were above the stories? You didn’t listen to your dealers, and your thugs, did you?”

“You’re a fuckin’ cape, aren’t you?”

“No. I’m worse. I’m the Shadow.”

The muzzle of his gun flashed four more times, as he emptied the magazine into my torso.

I stayed down a little longer this time, as the bullets forced themselves straight out of their entry wounds. I allowed myself to heal a little more, before drawing my own guns, unloading two shots from each into the man’s legs, dropping him down to the ground with me.

I took my time standing up. The wounds weren’t done healing yet. I walked over to Finlay, kicking the gun away from his reach, before standing over him.

“Where do you get the pills?” I asked, pointing the gun at his head.

“Fuck you!” He spat in my face.

“Wrong answer.” I shot him in the thigh.

“It doesn’t matter. You’ll never get to him. His security makes Alcatraz look like my mansion.” Finlay laughed.

“I got in here. I’ll get in there.” I said simply. “Now tell me where to find him.”

“Or what? You’ll shoot me again? Aren’t you above our tricks? You won’t kill me.”

“No, but do you know why it took your dealer so long to call you? I left him four hours ago. It took him that long to crawl back to his car and find his phone. He is a broken man. He crawled twenty feet in four hours. You will not have that luxury.”

I saw the true fear dawn in Finlay’s eyes, as he realized I was serious.

“Outside of Glendora… The place is guarded by dozens of guys, they’re on some kind of crazy new steroid. Makes them strong, like you capes. You’ve got no chance.”

“Give me the address.” I said.

He complied and I knocked him out cold with the butt of my pistol. I opened up his closet and found a pair of pants and a t-shirt. I changed into them, and stuffed my costume into a gym bag I found at the bottom of the closet. A quick search of the nightstand and I found his wallet and cellphone.

I was out of the complex and two blocks over within minutes, calling a cab to come pick me up. It was going to be a long night, and I was going to need some backup.

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