by Jan Stryvant
“How’d you figure it out?”
“I’m not stupid.”
“Obviously. Why get involved?”
“I was bored and curious.” Shadow yawned and sat up on the bed, “Now why the twenty questions?”
“Because it doesn’t feel right.”
“Heh, you noticed that too?”
Shadow heard a sharp intake of breath.
“What bothers you?”
“The dead guards." Shadow admitted. "I didn’t see any signs of violence, and they got the kid out quiet and clean. So why are they saying there were dead guards?”
Shadow listened to the silence on the other end of the line.
“So there really were dead guards?” Shadow said after a while.
“Yes, I saw them. Obviously killed by a super.”
“Huh. Security looked kind of heavy, heavy enough that a straight up super attack probably wouldn’t have worked, right?”
“That’s what has everyone puzzled. Two dead guards, a missing kid.”
“Yeah, but you know how they did it, so what’s the issue?” Shadow said and yawned again.
“Then why kill the guards?”
“I can think of two reasons.”
“And?” Tomas asked after it became clear he wasn’t getting an answer without asking.
“First is to make a point that they’re serious, they are willing to kill.”
“Second?”
“Misdirection. Hell the kidnappers may not even be supers. They may just have hired someone to do that as a hit. It’s pretty easy to kill two guards and run after all.”
“Sounds like you know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, do you need my help or you got this one?”
“I don’t even know who you are.”
“Yeah, I like it that way. Bye.” And Shadow hung up and went back to bed.
Tomas raised another beer to his teammates. “That went well, didn’t it?”
“And a Senator’s kid!” Thadieus said grinning, “Helllllo federal funding!”
“Yes, we were wise to accept fate’s hand, were we not?” Chen said.
“We most definitely were. Good call Chen.” Tomas said.
“So, any idea who our anonymous source was?” Centurion asked.
“I have a suspicion, but nothing I can pin it down to.”
“You try calling him again?”
“After the news broke, but I guess he’d flushed the phone by then. The FBI traced it to the company that sells phones to 7-11.”
“So probably a bad guy then.”
“Probably,” Tomas agreed.
“So why help us?” Thadieus asked.
“Some bad guys had bad things happen to them as kids,” Centurion said, “abuse, beatings, rape, you name it.”
“So they get involved?”
“Sometimes. I’ve seen it before. They won’t risk themselves, but they might help, especially if what happened is like something they went through themselves as a child.”
“Well I’m sure glad this one helped us this time. And not just because of what it means to us. That kid would have been hurt for sure.”
“No doubts on that. Well, tomorrow we meet with the mayor and with any luck the feds will finally let us schedule some time in their danger room and we can get some real practice in.”
They all nodded at that, practice was something they knew they still needed, to improve their teamwork.
# # # # #
It was late and Shadow was heading back to his place, alone for a change. A nice undisturbed sleep was what he was looking for.
“Hey, got a minute?” came a voice from behind.
Shadow stopped and turned, whoever they were, they were good. People usually didn’t get that close without him hearing them. Of course he quickly noticed this person wasn’t actually touching the ground, his feet were just an inch above it. Obviously a good technique for moving silently.
They were wearing baggy clothes with a hoodie, the hood being pulled up and forward to hide their features from casual view. He recognized who it was; the hood they were wearing didn’t disguise them from the front. It was dark enough though that few people would see who it was from even that angle.
Shadow shrugged, and turned back the way he was heading, “I guess.”
“I wanted to thank you for your help,” Tomas said falling in beside him, and actually walking now.
“What help?” Shadow yawned, a nervous habit he still sometimes fell back on when surprised. Have to watch that he realized.
“Right. Here’s my private number, just in case.”
Shadow glanced at the card, read the number and handed it back. “It’s probably better if you left now.”
Tomas nodded and crossed the street and ducked down an alley out of sight. He had felt a brief moment of guilt from the cat when he had thanked him. Guilt about what he wasn’t quite sure, but it had taken him three weeks to get him alone and pass him his number and it might not ever lead to anything, but as his advanced psychology professor had taught him years ago, once is all it takes to start a change. Twice is a trend. If Shadow ever used that number, Tomas would have something to work with, it may not be much, but it would be something. People forgot that it wasn’t always about catching them; sometimes it was just about making changes.
Tomas looked down at the city as he flew above it back to his home, “And I believe in making changes,” he said to the streets below.
Fiona
Shadow was sitting at his table in the bar; yeah it had been tough the first year, a lot of newbies challenged each other to try and get ahead, make a name. While Shadow issued no challenges, it didn't make him immune to being called out. He hadn't liked killing those people, well actually he had, they were all scumbags anyway. But having no choice in the matter left his conscious and morals clean.
But his hard won victory that had won him this table at Bell's had at last pushed him out of that league for good. Laughing Boy was still pissed about it, but Shadow had sent his Dane Geld and Circe took up with him the next day; she hated Laughing Boy after all.
Running with Circe had also helped his reputation; they all feared her, especially the men. And he'd pulled off a couple of amazing heists that he kept quiet by cutting only the big players in on the action. They liked his style, and they liked his discretion. He acted like he had nothing to prove, gave respect where it was due but kissed nobody's ass. So he had respect now, if only a little and he was considered too tough a nut to mess with when there were so many easier pickings around.
Shadow Cat smiled at one of the girls who had just come in and was checking him out, another plus was the he was up to his furry ears in sex now. All the girls got so turned on by the deadly big kitty all covered in that sexy black fur. Life was good.
He was still smiling at her as she pulled out the biggest hand cannon he'd ever seen and the front widows blew in as four more people crashed the party.
"No one move! You're all under arrest!" she called out pointing the gun right at his head from across the room.
Shadow swore to himself. He did have some coke on him; he'd been planning a nice little party for later tonight. The last thing in the world he needed was to get popped for something this stupid. He shifted into his defense form and suddenly realized these weren't police, they were a super team, and that's when all hell broke loose as the others realized that too.
There were two of them to either side of the door, all armed heavily, real supers used their powers, these were obviously minor league, and trying for a big score. The problem was, Saturday night at Bell's wasn't the best time for that, because there were a lot of bad guys here, and some of them were anything but minor league. And not a single one of them appreciated this kind of shit on a party night.
Shadow dodged as the first shot went off, going down low as the girl let loose with a volley in response to whomever had shot at her. Villains would hesitate to kill a cop, but anyone without a badge was fair
game. He ducked behind the bar; for once appreciating the mirrored ceiling as he watched Jonny2fer slit the throat of the one closest to him and Red Reanna blasted the next one over back through the window from which they had come.
The one with the hand cannon had dumped it by now and was fighting off some of the regular riff-raff that hung out in the front of the bar. One of Laughing Boy's men was taking on the remaining two who were already starting to retreat, a look of horror on both their faces as they saw their comrade bleed out.
"Damn" Shadow swore, he had no love for idiots like this, but he didn't want to see them killed either. It was bad luck that Jonny2fer had been up front; normally he sat in the back. This group normally would have gotten the shit beat out of them, and probably survived, maybe even gotten some jail time for trespass. But Jonny was a psychopath and now that blood was spilled no one would be worrying about murder charges anymore and Shadow could see Jonny was heading for that girl who would soon be on her own.
He just couldn't let this one play. It may not be his fight, be he was here, and he had to do something.
"Shoot at me will you Bitch!" He roared and leaped out from behind the bar, vaulting up high and using the ceiling to change his vector, he used his panther half to full benefit. No one ever expected someone to bounce off a ceiling, and twisting around as he did so he landed behind her, blocking Jonny2fer's path and rabbit punched her.
Which surprisingly didn't work. She was good, and she had some sort of shield going. She turned to face him, and the others backed off. It wasn't good form to mess with someone else's fight and she had shot at him first. Even Jonny2fer smirked and went back to his drink.
Shadow could see the fear in her eyes, he guessed she saw the corpse behind him and now noticed that none of her friends were with her anymore. He smiled and shifted to his martial form and began to fight in earnest. He had to give her credit, she didn't balk, she didn't cry, and she didn't surrender. He took his time with her, he didn't want to kill her, but he had to make it look good for the others.
"Go on, kill her Shadow!" One of the patrons laughed, "Show the dumb twat that she can't just come busting in here!"
"I'd rather play," Shadow growled with a smile, "this one could be fun!"
He felt cruel for saying it, and the effect on her was immediate, she went into a rage and fought all the harder.
But it wasn't hard enough, or good enough in the end. He slowly pushed her back deeper into the bar, into his territory, and away from the door where her escaped was blocked anyway. He toyed with her like a cat will toy with a mouse, then when she wasn't expecting it cold cocked her with a bottle from the bar.
"Go on! Kill her!" came the shouts. Blood was in the air, and they wanted more.
Shadow looked down at her; she was a little beaten up, but still pretty good looking. A lot younger than he'd first thought too, he got an idea and smiled. Picking her up he tossed her over his shoulder. "Kill her? What fun is that? I think I'll rape her, show her how cats really get down and dirty!" he laughed.
"Go Shadow!" and "Woo hoo!" rang out through the room. He grabbed a bottle of vodka off the bar and headed towards one of the private rooms in the back, the cheers of the others ringing in his ears.
He laid her out on the floor and searched her, she had a few things concealed and he made sure to relieve her of those. She also had her driver's license on her. He sighed and checked it out: "Seventeen," he sighed, "what a dumb kid."
Straddling her body, he used his knees to pin her arms to the floor and gently patted her face. When her eyes opened and widened he stuck a rag in her mouth, but not till after she'd screamed. He knew he had an audience after all.
"Okay, Fiona, here's the score. Everyone out there" he pointed towards the door, "thinks I'm in here raping you. When I pull this rag out of your mouth I expect a real nice act, some more screams, curses, and loudly screamed 'I'll kill you', and 'no don't', then a lot of gasping. Start crying when I give the cue."
Her eyes got even wider and he laughed, "Everything is not what it appears and I'd rather not have you get your throat slit."
Shadow pulled the gag back out and she screamed again, he clapped his hands loud like he'd smacked her, making her start and growled loudly. He was surprised she was able to keep the act up and he used the bottle of vodka to clean his claws.
"Sorry, but this has to be done," he whispered and he shredded her clothes as she screamed some more, giving her a couple of good gashed in the process. She shrieked when he ripped her pants off but gave her lines when she saw that all he did was rip them to shreds.
He roared out loud then and gave her a smack on the ass, shredding her panties and leaving four bleeding lines across it. When she started to cry he suspected it was only half faked, she'd been through a lot.
The applause from outside however was loud enough to be heard and she looked up at him and cried some more.
"I need your panties," he whispered.
She nodded shakily and gave them to him. He rubbed them on her ass getting blood on them then picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
"Now the easy part," he purred, "let’s go."
He waved the torn and bloody panties like a victory flag as he walked out of the back room, smiling at the laughs and jeers the patrons gave.
"Sorry boys, I'm taking this one home to add to my collection, she's a tight little bitch! But hey, virgins are, or were at least, right?" he laughed and without breaking step went out the door into the alley and the night, the sounds of more cheers and catcalls fading behind them.
He walked back to his apartment, giving her a smack on the ass the two times she tried to say anything, there were still a few people about and the shocked looks would definitely add to the rumors and his reputation. When he finally got to his place he got her inside without being seen and took her to his bedroom.
"Okay," he said dumping her on the bed. "Shower's in there" he pointed. "Clean up and I'll dress your wounds."
"What are you going to do with me?" she asked, grabbing a pillow to cover her naked crotch and scooting away from him on the bed.
"Hey watch it, you're getting blood on the sheets!" he growled. "As for what I'm going to do with you, what do you think? I already passed on death and rape! Go get cleaned up, I need to make a few calls, you're safe now."
She nodded and ran to the bathroom.
He sighed and grabbed one of his throwaway cell phones. This call couldn't be traced back to him; it would cause too many questions. He dialed the number from memory and waited.
"Hello?"
"Tomas, it's me."
"Define 'me'."
"Tall, dark, and sexy. Very sexy." He growled slightly.
"Oh yeah, you. What do you want?"
"I have something of yours."
"I wasn't aware I had lost anything."
"You did. You might want to call some friends in high places and see to the half I couldn't save."
"That sounds bad," came sighed from the speaker.
"Yeah. This item needs to be kept under wraps for a few days."
"Why?"
"Tell you later. Where can I deliver?"
"Why me?"
"Cause I trust you, you're one of them."
"But can I trust you?"
"Time to start. Give me a place."
"Same place we first talked."
"Two hours. Show up alone, I can't be tied to this."
"I won't cover crimes for you."
"Trust me." Shadow sighed and hung up the phone. He'd toss it someplace on the way there.
He went and got the first aid kit. He'd cut a few girls by accident in the heat of passion, so he was pretty adept at treating his own claw marks by now, and with his claws nicely cleaned before he'd cut her, she shouldn't even scar.
"You done in there yet?" he growled at the door.
"Yes,"
"Then come on out."
"I'm naked."
"So what, get out here."
"I'm a virgin," he heard her admit shakily.
"Oh." He grinned and shook his head. "Well unless you get out here now, I'm going to assume you want me to come in there and fix that too!" he purred.
She came out like a shot, wrapped in a towel.
"Ah better." He laughed. Now let's treat those bruises and cuts.
"Why are you doing this?" She asked.
"Cause I don't want you to get infected or get blood on my car seat."
"I mean saving me. You're a bad guy, you're evil. You're the one they call the Shadow Cat. You've killed people, done all sorts of nasty things."
Shadow shook his head, "The only people I ever killed had it coming or came after me first. As for the rest," she gasped as he cleaned one of the deeper cuts, "don't believe everything you hear. Why the hell did you kids and come down there, and why'd you point that freaking cannon at my head?"
"Jeffery said if we took some of you down we'd be famous."
"Yeah? How come Jeffery didn't come in the front door? Why'd he let you do it?"
"He said no one would expect a girl, and my shield would protect me."
Shadow growled, "And where is this Jeffery now?"
"Dead," she whispered and started to sob.
"Asshole," he growled and started to bandage the four parallel gashes on her ass. Personally he thought they looked kind of sexy, maybe he'd mark one of his girlfriends like that.
"So why did you save me?" she blurted out between sobs.
"I saved you, Fiona, because someone had to, and no one else would have. Yeah I run with a bad crowd, big deal. I'm not bad myself really."
He found a set of baggy pants one of his girls had left there and tossed it to her with an oversized shirt. "Here, get dressed."
"How'd you know my name?" she looked surprised.
"You had your ID on you. First rule, never carry ID. You don't want these people knowing who you are, or where you live. Unless you hate your family that is."
She oh'd and picked up the clothes still holding the towel.
"You going go leave?"
"Nope, I'm going to watch." He grinned, "You're not bad looking and I think I deserve a small reward for saving your life, don't you?"