I sat in my makeshift room, thinking of what had just happened. The room was sparsely furnished, consisting of a simple twin bed, a dresser, a small table, and a closet. It was simple, very plain, but I liked it.

I had joined the Titans, of course I was on some kind of probationary status, so to me the only thing that had really changed was that I now carried around one of their communicators.

Robin had complimented me on my selflessness, but it really wasn't that. I was a SOLDIER, for me throwing myself into enemy fire was all in a day's work. Besides, they can't kill me.

I'm already dead, not literally of course, but figuratively. Everything I had known, fought for, and…loved; was all gone. I have nothing left to lose, so why worry about death.

I don't know why I said yes, maybe it was my reflex from the years as a SOLDIER always looking for a new mission, maybe I just wanted to fight again so that I could feel alive, or maybe, I don't know. Whatever the reason, I had joined and I was in. No turning back now.

I looked over at the clock; it was late enough that the Titans probably assumed I was asleep for the night. I walked over to my window that had been left open, so that I wouldn't set off any alarms by opening it in the middle of the night, and climbed out.

I walked silently through the city streets, keeping my head down so I wouldn't draw any attention to myself, or more accurately, my eyes.

I simply strolled along, lost in my thoughts of home, when they were interrupted by the sounds of a scuffle.

I stuck my head around a corner to see two men backing out of a small store, both with large burlap bags, and a 9 millimeter pistol. I reached behind my back for my sword, only to realize that I had left it back in the tower, so I wouldn't draw any attention. I rolled my eyes, and took on a new tactic. I cast darkness about myself, blending in with the shadows.

My mako eyes adjusted, piercing the darkness, I could see them, but they couldn't see me.

The two men turned from the storefront and ran towards a waiting vehicle, right at me.

I stepped into their path and as they reached me I dropped the magical cloak and clothes- lined them both.

The two thugs hit the ground, but not quite hard enough.

They both dropped their bags, but came back to their feet and leveled their guns at me.

Now reacting on instinct, I cast a micro sized version of Demi in front of me; the miniature black hole sucked their guns right out of their hands, and compacted them into oblivion.

The two men looked at their hands shocked, but I was already in motion.

I hit one of them with a two-handed palm strike to the chest with enough force that he flew through the front of their getaway car.

The other reached behind his back and produced a switchblade. Snickt, the blade flipped out.

I looked at him, then at the blade, and smirked.

He rushed me, blade help upright in his right hand, and the world went into slow motion.

I brought my hands up and struck the flat of the knife with my left, and his wrist with my right, rolling his wrist around, to bury the blade of his knife deep into his left thigh.

He howled in pain as I followed through with a roundhouse kick that put him through the front of their getaway car as well. Two up, two down.

I looked around, then picked up the two large bags of money and walked back towards the shop. I stopped at the front of the store to see a shopkeeper, a lady about his age, and a young girl, gathered together crying.

As gently as I could I walked over to them, and tapped the shopkeeper on the shoulder.

He looked up at me through tear-stained eyes, and I held out the bags, "I believe these belong to you."

His jaw fell open as he looked at me in wonder.

"You can tell the police that outside is a black Honda Civic that has a busted in windshield, that was the getaway car, and the two men are inside it. But one of them stuck himself in the leg with his knife for some reason, so he might need an ambulance."

I handed him the bags and turned to leave, but felt his hand grab my wrist. I stopped and turned to face him.

"Sir…you saved everything we have, if there's anything we can do for you, please let us know."

His entire family nodded in agreement.

I looked around the store, and saw a rack of sunglasses, and thought about my glowing eyes, something like that would help me fit right in here among all these people.

I stepped over to the sunglass rack and started to look through them. The storeowner stepped up next to me as I found a pair I liked, black framed wrap-arounds, with mirrored lenses.

I looked over to him, "How much are these?"

He just looked at me, "For you sir, they are free, please don't try to argue, it's the least I could possibly do."

I was about to object, but his words made me change my mind; he was just trying to pay me back for helping him.

I smiled gratefully and handed him the sunglasses, which he removed the tags from and handed back to me. I slipped the sunglasses on, hiding my eyes.

My mako enhanced vision instantly compensated for the darkness that the sunglasses created, allowing me to see as if I wasn't even wearing them.

The shopkeeper looked at me again, and said, "Is there anything else we can do for you?"

I thought for a moment then replied, "Actually yes, could you 'forget' what I looked like, sounded like, or anything like that? If they ask just say I stayed in the shadows so you never got a good look at me. Could you do that for me?"

The shopkeeper smiled at me, "Of course sir, as far as we will 'remember' you were just a shadow."

"Thank you." I turned to walk out the store, when I felt a small hand grab mine. I looked down to see the young girl standing there looking up at me bashfully,

"Mister, are you a superhero?"

I smiled at her, "No, I'm just a shadow, trying to make a difference." With that, I walked back out into the streets, vanishing into the gathering crowd.

'Shadow, I like it, all the rest of the Titans have their "hero names," Shadow…yeah.'

Still smiling, I began to walk in the direction of the tower.