Outside the city was a dark hole, lit up sporadically with the tiny pinpoints of light belonging to a myriad of small apartments. Smog clogged the night air like a cloak over some of the more industrial parts of the town, whilst above others the moon and stars shone vigilantly down over the houses. Cars continued to stream through the roads, a never ending flood that did not cease day or night. There were still thousands of homeless, criminal or just late-night inhabitants roaming the streets, most of them staying close to streetlamps and main roads, carefully avoiding the vast black shadows that consumed most of the crime-ridden mega city. The police had tried to crack down on the corruption in the more populated parts, but even with more money from the Government to help them on their way they were unable to stop the onslaught of drug trafficking, vandalism, murder and above all, theft.

Bright stared out at the black metropolis from his comfortable well-lit flat. He was not well off, but he had chosen this particular suite because it was practical being only a ten minute walk away from the police station, secure and warm with bright lights to battle the gloominess of the surroundings, and most importantly, the view. Bright loved to stare out over Gray City, over his play ground, over his world. Unlike most of his co-workers, Bright took a very serious view of being a police officer, and to him it was more than just a job. Admittedly, in the sense that he was paid for it, it was his job, but in another way it was his whole life, his passion. There was only one other thing in his life that had a bigger, more secure place in his heart, and she was the exact opposite of what he had spent his life trying to achieve. Bright had never understood why, if he had dedicated himself to ridding Gray City of crime, had he found himself completely infatuated with her of all people?

Bright sighed and turned away from the twelve foot pane of glass, wearily taking off his thick overcoat and throwing it onto the back of a worn green armchair. As he trudged over to the en suite kitchen, the lights flickered slightly, dimming the room and allowing the shadows to creep back into his house. Then in an instant the problem was resolved, and the lights flashed back to their normal brightness. Bright paused a moment, but putting it down to his miserly landlady for faulty connections, he discarded it and stuffed a clean white cup underneath his coffee machine, flicked the switch and sank onto one of his chairs gratefully. Much as he loved his work, in this city, it was never an easy job keeping crime under control.

The coffee machine hummed gently as its various machine parts whirred into life, speeding up and heating the liquids inside it. Bright listened to it proudly; he had built it himself and it was ten times as good as the coffee machines you could buy in the shops. It was one of his lesser inventions, but useful as he could always use a large mug of caffeine to get him through the day. The scalding liquid churned rhythmically around the steel container, and he closed his eyes as he listened to it, the gentle swill of his drink swiftly sending him off into a well-earned sleep.

Aimi stared meditatively out of her window, huddling closer inside of the warm cocoon she had made for herself with a red fleece blanket. The night outside was dark, and she shuddered inwardly as she thought of all of the people out there, most of them normal honest men and women, but a steady proportion of them ruthless criminals with a distinct lack of both respect for the law and morals. She had never actually met any of them, but she had occasionally seen dark shadows slinking away into shady alleys and disused building sites. Of course, she had had another experience of confrontation, one that no one else had even conceived and one that had changed her life forever.

Turning to lie on her back, Aimi rested her head on the arm of the sofa she was lying on and gazed up at the ceiling, hardly realising what she was doing. As her senses suddenly came back into play, she blushed furiously and turned on her side, her heart beating faster as she imagined the man in the room above hers. She felt a wave of embarrassment sweep over her, and she knew that her face was going red. She sat up to cool herself down, letting the blanket fall off her shoulders and come to rest in her lap. She was still in her uniform from the café, but she was about to go to bed so there would be no point changing. De-Mo would have also loved to spy on her as she undressed, which was probably more to the point.

Aimi got to her feet and crossed the apartment floor to the bathroom. She looked shyly back at her reflection from the mirror, bashfully studying her face. Her white skin was framed by her long plaited white hair, and penetrated by her brown eyes. She wondered mildly if Bright saw her differently from her pride-less conception, but then quickly repressed the thought, feeling the flood of scarlet tinge her cheeks once more. Closing her eyes, she cursed herself for her complete absence of self esteem, hating the way she did not have the confidence to trust in her charms. When she opened them again, she did not feel much better.

'You've got to tell him soon,' came a loud, piercing voice from behind her. Aimi whipped around from the mirror, and failed to hide her awkwardness from her companion De-Mo.

'Wh- what?' she stammered. 'I don't know what you mean, De-Mo,' The odd little boy with spiked black hair looked at her sardonically.

'You can't fool me Aimi, and you know it.' he said with a grin, showing teeth that seemed somewhat larger than normal size. 'Why don't you just tell him? 'Cause you know if you don't then I will,' Aimi gasped.

'No De-Mo, I'm sure you wouldn't do that… because you know that if you did that… then… well you just wouldn't do it!'

'Aww, come on Aimi, think what Shadow Lady would do! If you were her, you'd be up there right now, with no clo-'

'De-Mo!' Aimi shrieked, covering her ears defensively, and desperately trying to stop the mental images that flooded through her brain. 'I know I'm not as… straight forward as Shadow Lady, but…' she paused, about to tell her 'little brother' that she was doing it her own, quiet way and that that was good enough for her. However, as she thought about it more, she realised that maybe he had a point. Bright was infatuated with Shadow Lady anyway, so why couldn't she break her mould and act more like her? Maybe then Bright would begin to think of her in a new light…

She shook her head, and smiled bashfully at De-Mo. The small angular boy stepped aside to let his mistress pass, his huge strange eyes following her as she passed through the hall to fall onto her bed. He wondered if he should tell her.

'Your coffee's ready,' came a sharp voice from somewhere above Bright's slumped head. He opened one eye a crack, his usual vigilant wariness impeded by his sleep. Brilliant light filtered in through his one opened eyelid, and he saw before him three dark silhouettes, two very large shapes and one very small. It was this that snapped him back to the real world.

Sitting bolt upright, Bright squinted at the brightness, cautiously taking the proffered cup from the smallest man's outstretched hand. Steam rose off the top of the liquid, yet as soon as his fingers touched the white china they were chilled to the bone. In surprise he let go of the cup slightly, making it dip dangerously for a moment as he lost his grip. Then he clasped the icy mug again, and stared up at his visitors, too stunned to be angry yet.

'Who are you?' he asked, still sitting on the wooden chair they had woken him from. He quickly assessed each of the figures before him, calculating their possible motives and threat as he often had done in his police work. All three men, as they appeared to be, were dressed in the same black overcoat and Trilbies, which came down to the floor in stiff sable folds. The two large men, now that he looked at them, were not exactly the same as he had first assumed, but rather the opposite; one was large in every aspect, with a huge ribcage and stomach, legs like tree trunks and huge biceps to compliment his foot-thick neck and head. The other large man, on the other hand, was large only in height, and seemed to be like another version of the smaller man that had been stretched, with long gangling limbs and a thin scrawny neck, on top of which was perched an egg-like head.

The little man however was harder to decipher. He was about four feet in height, his chin only just clearing the top of Bright's kitchen table. He was in proportion to his size, unlike his two companions, but his head seemed slightly over large. His eyes were half hidden by his low slung hat, but from the little he could see they seemed enormous and glittered with a strange ethereal shine. The collar of his overcoat was turned up until it touched the brim of his Trilby, but Bright still shivered at the sight of the small revealed sliver of knife-like teeth, bared in a huge, maniacal grin. He put the coffee swiftly down on the table, where the steam of the boiling drink mixed with that of the mist that rose up from the sub-zero porcelain. A small crack appeared in its smooth glossy surface.

'That isn't important at the minute,' replied the small man, the slit of teeth becoming wider as he gazed solemnly at Bright. 'We're here because we're meant to be here, and that's all you need to know.'

'How did you get in here?' demanded Bright, anger now filtering through his amazement. It intensified as he realised that he also felt a numbing fear creeping through his body, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Strangely though, he also felt a quiet interest and almost respect for these weird, silent intruders. 'What do you want?'

'He already said,' started the large man on the leader's right, his voice just as big as his body.

'Yes, you don't need to know anything yet! We're here because we're meant to be!' finished the man on his boss's left. His voice too reflected his physique; it was thin, reedy and bird-like. Yet all the men's voices contained something that Bright could not quite put his finger on, something that compelled him to sit still and listen to what they had to say. He had never heard anything like it.

'Your name is Bright, correct?' inquired the small man.

Bright said nothing. 'Then I suppose I am right. Well, Bright, we're here to talk to you about a matter of great importance. A matter of business, I suppose you could say.'

'What business?' said Bright guardedly. 'I've never met any of you, and I have no idea what you're talking about.' The little man grinned even more now, giving the impression that if his teeth widened any more the entire top half of his head would simply fall off.

'You work in the police force in Gray City, do you not?' the man continued. Bright nodded. 'And you have solved many of your cases also, I assume.' Another nod. 'But you haven't managed to solve one, one of the most infamous of all your cases also.'

'I don't know what your leading up to.'

'Then we'll tell you!' screeched to tall man on the right, apparently unable to speak normally without screaming. 'We're here about Shadow Lady!'

Bright was on his feet in a flash, glaring the tall man in the eye, his anger flaring. 'What do you want with her? Do you know where she is? Are you working for or against her?'

'Sit down, please.' said the small man. His voice had an edge on it, that Bright somehow could not resist. He angrily sat back on the chair, glaring defiantly at the man.

'Well?' Bright demanded, 'What about Shadow Lady?' The two large men exchanged mysterious glances, but the little man's eyes never left Bright's face.

'We understand that you have been troubled by her in the recent past. The police of… Gray City have tried their best to arrest her on several occasions, but she has somehow always managed to evade capture. This is primarily because she simply manages to run away, but also because she has the safety of her secret identity to hide in.'

'Yeah, I already know all of that.' started Bright.

'We want to make a deal with you. Shadow Lady is wanted by your law enforcement here, but she is also, shall we say, desired in another place too. We have all the information you need to captured her, and are perfectly prepared to allow you to take all the glory of her arrest without catch, as we know is your ultimate dream.'

Bright blushed slightly, but the man did not stop. 'But, there is another side. After we tell you who Shadow Lady really is, and set up a passable opportunity for her to come to, you must not intern her in one of your normal cells. Rather, you must turn her over to us.'

Bright frowned, his initial fears confirmed. 'I cannot possibly allow you to take charge of Shadow Lady once captured if I know nothing about you,' he retorted curtly, ignoring the tiniest of advances the two large companions made. The small man shrugged.

'Maybe. But there is another factor too, which you have been too brash to consider up until now,' A gleam came into his eyes. 'You are not really in a position to make demands, but to answer them. If you do not…'

He turned the lapels of his trench coat down, revealing his lower jaw, and gave Bright his biggest smile.