It was a dark and stormy night. A lone man, huddling as deep within his poncho as possible, ran through the alleyway as fast as he could. The angry clouds erupted buckets of rain and several bolts of lightning accompanied with the loud bellowing of thunder. The man peered ahead, trying to see through the torrent, but in vain as he ran.
Nearby, something lurked, undaunted by the rain and the loud thunder, waiting for prey. It waited, slowly creeping along the walls of the city alleys, searching for something, waiting greedily to pounce. Then, it heard them: the quick footsteps pounding down the cement, causing recurrent splashes as the boots landed in puddles. If it weren't for the thunder, the evil laughter could have been heard; yet, the thing allowed no sign to be clearly detected, as the unsuspecting prey moved nearer and nearer.
The man kept trying to pierce the downpour with his eyesight, but to no avail. He pondered how badly this day had gone. He woke late this morning, and rushed out of bed so quickly, that he tripped and fell, bumping his head on the wall. He tried to ignore the pain, dressing quickly and forgetting breakfast and speaking to his family; yet, by the time he had gotten to work, the boss was waiting for him... He was fired.
The man was so downtrodden that he went to a bar; he had given up drinking when he met his wife ten years ago, but losing his job meant that they wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage on their house, and they would have to move. They had four children to feed, one of them a baby; money was tight. The seven-year-old's birthday was coming up, and he couldn't afford a present for her. All this depressed him so much that he decided that it wouldn't hurt to take a couple of drinks... By the time he left the bar, he was drunk.
He decided it wouldn't be a good idea to go home in his current state, so he drove out onto the highway, going nowhere in particular. Thanks to his drunken state, it didn't take long to crash, bringing two other cars in the collision with him. He stumbled out, and ran away; he reached an alley in the slums, and sat down by the wall, soon going to sleep. When he awoke, he found that he ahd been robbed blind in his sleep. His wallet, which contained a couple of credit cards, 50 dollars, pictures of his family, and a Country Club membership, was gone. His wedding ring had been taken right off his finger, the pen that had set in his shirt pocket, and his $120 gold watch had been stolen too. He found an orange poncho in the trash, which had a large hole in the side, and was about to discard it back when he felt it start to rain.
Now, without a job, dignity, car, or money, he felt all he had left was his family; he was hurrying as fast as he could to get home. He just wished he didn't have to bring home such bad news; so many things had happened to him this day, that he felt nothing could be worse... That is, until he saw it. His eyes widened in fear, and he dropped to his seat hard on the cement ground, as the... thing... bellowed evilly. He attempted to shout, but his lips wouldn't utter a sound.
Meanwhile, our three superheroines searched about the city, trying to find some clue as to where the Shadow was. Lucilla was searching in a condemned apartment; Tanja was eyeing every nook and cranny, knowing that the Shadow lived in the dark; and Desiderio flew high above the city trying to see any sign of the recent foe. Suddenly, a great scream resounded loudly above the thunder, and all three heroines flew down to the entrance of a dark alleyway, seeing a man runnign out obviously running from something. His skin was white as snow, and the orange poncho he was wearing was in tatters. He slipped on the wet cement and fell on his face; the ladies winced upon seeing that, and quickly ran to him.
As they helped him up, they could see blood on his face, and there appeard to be some tears in his shirt and pants outlined with red. All the man seemed to be able to do was stutter incoherently.
"What do you suppose happened?" Lucilla questioned her comrades.
"What do you think?" replied Tanja, looking into the alley's darkness, "The Shadow got him."
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