A little after 5:00 AM the next day, an unmarked 1972 Chevy Biscayne pulled up to the scene of the murder, and Detective Sergeant Jim Stauerbach and Detective Hank Moroder exited the vehicle. Already, a few police cars and an Emerald City FD ambulance were on scene when they arrived. Stauerbach – a gray hippo – parted the crowds like the Red Sea and proceeded to ask questions of the first officer he came to.

"So, what's the story?" asked Stauerbach.

"A few witnesses said they heard a gunshot outside," said the officer, a black skunk. "This guy's body was found shortly thereafter."

Stauerbach nodded. Then, he lifted the corner of the sheet that was covering the raccoon's body. When he saw his face, he raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know this one?" asked the officer.

"Know him?" replied Stauerbach. "I've interrogated this guy at least twice. Gilbert Krysztof Adenauer, age 24, high school dropout. He's been picked up multiple times for shoplifting and petit larceny, even a couple of instances of illegal narcotics possession, but this is the first I've seen of him attemptin' armed robbery."

Stauerbach pulled out a Wite-Out pen and – picking Gil's revolver up with a gloved hand – marked the area of the cylinder around the barrel in case somebody opened the cylinder later on. He then put the gun in a brown paper bag and handed it to Moroder, a human with short, curly brown hair and a receding hairline.

"Hank, get this down to the lab when we're done," said Stauerbach. "See if it's been fired."

Moroder nodded. "Right."

Continuing his inspection of the body, Stauerbach took a pair of tweezers and removed the bullet from Gil's heart, and then put it in a small plastic bag.

"What's it look like, Sarge?" asked Moroder.

"Considering our suspect used a .44 Magnum to make their point…it looks like we got a real stone killer on our hands."

"Hey Shaddy!"

Shadow awoke to see Rouge laying next to him.

"Oh…hey Rouge."

"Did you sleep well, my dear?"

"I'm not going to lie, I had some trouble sleeping at first, but a little walk solved that problem."

"You do whatever you have to! I'm always here if you need me!"

"Of course. Let's just get breakfast."

Shadow and Rouge decamped to the kitchen/dining room, where Omega awaited them.

"So Omega, Shaddy tells me he went out for a little walk last night," said Rouge. "Tell me more!"

"I DID INDEED CATCH SHADOW SNEAKING AROUND LAST NIGHT," said Omega. "HIS WALK WAS RATHER LENGTHY, IF I DO SAY SO MYSELF."

"Oh? Why the long walk?"

"If you must ask," said Shadow. "I was still trembling a bit with anger, and I really needed something to cool me down before I could sleep properly. I'm not trying to dismiss your soft touch or anything; I'm just telling it like it is."

Rouge nodded. "I understand."

"Speaking of soft touch, if I could have another hug from you, that would be great."

Without question, Rouge got up and hugged Shadow again.

"Rouge…"

"Yes?"

"Please don't ever leave me."

"Shaddy, why would I ever leave you?"

"I don't know, I just…I genuinely worry about you sometimes, and I care about your health and well-being."

"Awww…that's sweet of you! If it makes you feel any better, I promise I won't ever leave you no matter what!"

"Yes, that makes me feel much better. Thank you."

Once again, Rouge left for work. Rather than going up to the spa to meditate, Shadow instead went to the science and electronics lab, where he grabbed the bullets he'd put in the cabinet the night before and brought them back to his room. He also took his Model 29 out from beneath his pillow, pulled out the spent cartridge and replaced it with a bullet that hadn't been fired yet.

After placing gun and ammo in their proper places, Shadow went to the spa and meditated again. It was easy for him to get to his happy place this time. What he found strange about this round of meditation was not that Mephiles and Black Doom had returned, but that they were completely absent. He wondered if last night's bout of blood lust had satisfied them. If it had, he didn't particularly care; he just wanted the madness to stop, and if he was going to have to stop it with the business end of a .44 Magnum, so be it.

After finishing his meditation, Shadow decided to visit the game room again. Once again, he went to the seventh-gen kiosk and fired up the Xbox 360 version of The Executioner: War Against the Mafia. However, he soon got bored with the game. It wasn't that he'd played through it a bunch of times already or that it paled in comparison to actually killing someone; he just didn't feel like playing it for extended periods of time right now. He ejected the game, put it back in its case, shut the TV off and went over to another kiosk, this one with fifth-gen consoles such as the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, all hooked up to a Philips-Magnavox TV. With a few presses on the touch screen, he got Top Gear Rally for N64, popped it in and played the Championship mode. After racing a few seasons, he shut the game and TV off and put the game in the return slot.

Shadow left the game room for another basement-level room, one he hadn't visited in so long: the firing range. Rouge had had this room constructed so he could practice with various types of weapons, and indeed, there was a locker room with a large selection, from thrown weapons to anti-tank weapons. He wasn't interested in anything too fancy right now, grabbing an MP5A5 submachine gun, extra magazines and a few boxes of Federal Personal Defense HST 147-grain bullets.

At the range proper, Shadow loaded all the mags and inputted a few commands on a nearby terminal, thereby bringing down a target, which depicted a scruffy gray beaver with a revolver holding a blonde fox hostage. After extending the stock, he pulled the charging handle back and up into a small recess, inserted a mag and slapped the charging handle downwards to cock the weapon. Setting it to semi-auto, he took aim and fired. Naturally, his first shot hit the criminal right between the eyes. After a few more shots on semi, he changed to three-round burst and fired again. While not quite as precise as before, he managed to avoid hitting the hostage. A couple of bursts later, he set the gun to full-auto and emptied the rest of the magazine on the target. Again, the gun wasn't quite as accurate as it was on semi, but Shadow was a good enough shot that he managed to avoid missing the target or hitting the hostage.

After expending all of the magazines, Shadow picked up the empty brass and deposited them into a nearby bucket. He also pressed a red button beneath the terminal, which brought the target over to him. He took it down from its mounting, took a Sharpie that was magnetically attached to the wall to his right and wrote the date, time, weapon and ammo used in the bottom-right corner of the target. After re-capping the Sharpie, he rolled up the target and put it into a special locker. Rouge had always been on his case about collecting shot-up targets, but she didn't really do much – if anything – about it because she recognized that it was therapeutic for him.

For lunch, Shadow didn't feel like having Swiss rolls. Instead, he called DGA.

"You've reached DGA, where quality and service are #1!" said an automated message. "For the deli, press 1. For…"

Without question, Shadow pressed 1.

"Please wait for the next available associate," said the message.

Shadow tapped his foot while listening to the stock on-hold music, not because he derived any genuine enjoyment from it, but because he wished that somebody would pick up.

"Deli, how can I help you?" said a male voice on the other end.

"Hi there, I'd like to order a small BBQ chicken pizza with extra cheese," replied Shadow.

"One small BBQ chicken pizza with extra cheese. Anything else?"

"Yes, I'd like a 12-piece order of chicken wings with sweet and sour sauce."

"12-piece chicken wing with sweet and sour sauce. Anything else?"

"That will be all, thank you."

"OK, can I have your name and phone number?"

"My name is Shadow. Number is 003-36-24-36."

"OK, it should be ready in about 15-20 minutes."

"Thank you. I'll see you soon."

"Yep, goodbye."

After hanging up, Shadow decided to go to the living room and fire up the Xbox One X, but this time, he opened up Hulu and watched an episode of Rick and Morty. Sonic had been cajoling him into watching this show for as long as he could remember, so he figured "what the hell". Within a few seconds, he came to understand why the Blue Blur had been so insistent on him watching it and actually got plenty of good laughs out of it.

Once the show was over, he shut off the console and TV, told Omega to watch over the place, and then hurried down to DGA, where he made his way to the deli.

"Can I help you?" asked one of the deli employees, a brown alligator.

"Hi there, I'm here to pick up the pizza and wings I ordered," replied Shadow.

"Your name?"

"Shadow."

The alligator went to retrieve Shadow's order, which was placed atop a pizza oven.

"OK, here you go," said the alligator.

"Thank you. Have a nice day."

"You too!"

After grabbing a 12-pack of Vanilla Pepsi and paying for his stuff, Shadow returned to Rouge's mansion, put the Pepsi in the fridge, grabbed one of the remaining cans of Wild Cherry Pepsi and ate lunch. After dumping the remains of his food in the garbage or the recycling, he walked to the rooftop observation deck and looked out upon the landscape. Sometimes, he valued those times when he could just do nothing and wonder about the mysteries of the world, from petty matters such as why jars were so hard to open sometimes or what there was before the universe existed. Eventually, Shadow heard "The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden, which was his ringtone. Recognizing Rouge's number, he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Shaddy, fire up your Trans Am and meet me at my workplace."

"Why?"

"We got a new employee today and I agreed to give this person a place to live at my mansion."

"Why?"

"Look, just do it, you blockhead!"

"As you wish, Rouge."

"OK! Buh-bye!"

"Goodbye."

Shadow went down to the mansion's garage, another addition Rouge had ordered after she'd bought the place. He found his car – a Starlight Black 1970 Pontiac Trans Am with a red Black Arms emblem on the hood – grabbed the keys from a nearby cabinet and fired it up. After letting the engine warm up a little, he popped in a tape marked "BEST OF NWOBHM VOLUME 1". Once the sound system began pumping out "Wheels of Steel" by Saxon, he shifted into first gear, waited for the automatic garage door to retract and drove on to G.U.N.'s Mobius Command base, located northeast of the mansion and a few ways south of Volcano Valley Zone. He parked in the visitor's parking lot, and he noticed Rouge standing in the lot with somebody. Upon closer inspection, he found this other person was a blonde, blue-eyed girl with her hair in a flipped bob style. She wore a red T-shirt, black overalls and brown boots and also had a couple of suitcases with her.

"So she's the new employee you were referring to?" said Shadow.

"Very perceptive!" said Rouge. "Shadow, this is Hope! Hope, this is Shadow!"

Hope smiled. "Nice to meet you!"

"The pleasure is likewise."

Shadow and Hope shook hands with each other.

"Shaddy, would you care to show us the way?" said Rouge.

"Your nickname's Shaddy?" said Hope. "That's pretty cute!"

"Excuse me, Miss Hope, but only Rouge is allowed to call me that. You'll have to wait your turn."

Hope frowned. "Well excuse the compliment, Shadow!"

"Come on, let's go."

Shadow led Rouge and Hope back to his Trans Am. Hope gasped upon seeing the car.

"Is that YOUR car, Shadow!?" said Hope. "Ohmigosh, that is TOO cool! Where did you get it?"

"These two people I know restored it as a gift for me."

Shadow unlocked the trunk so Hope could put her suitcases in. Then, he unlocked the passenger side door and let Rouge and Hope in first before he got in.

"Hope, I hope you don't mind heavy metal."

Shadow started the car, and when the tape resumed, it was playing "Blood Lust" by Samson.

"Thanks for coming to pick us up!" said Rouge. "I'm glad I can rely on you!"

"It was nothing, really," said Shadow.

"So, where do you two live?" asked Hope.

"We live not too far from here," replied Rouge. "You're gonna love it!"

"Ooh, I'm intrigued!"

Eventually, the trio came upon Rouge's mansion. Hope gasped when she saw it.

"Whoa Rouge, you weren't kidding!" said Hope. "Where did you get the money to afford this place?"

Rouge smirked. "Let's just say I have friends in very high places!"

"OK, works for me!"

Shadow backed the Trans Am up to its garage bay and waited for the door to open, after which he backed it in the rest of the way, ejected the tape and shut the car off. Upon getting out, Hope wasted no time in gushing over the other vehicles.

"WOW!" Hope ran over to a white 1973 Corvette with a thick pink racing stripe running down the center. "This is so AWESOME! I could spend all day down here!"

"I take it you like my car?" said Rouge.

"I love it! You two have great taste in cars!"

"We don't ordinarily drive," said Shadow, "but it's something different for us."

"I bet!" said Hope.

"If you will, why don't we go inside?"

Rouge and Hope followed Shadow inside.

"WELCOME HOME, SHADOW AND ROUGE," said Omega. "WOULD YOU CARE TO IDENTIFY YOUR VISITOR?"

Hope let out a loud, girlish gasp. "You two have your own ROBOT!? NO WAY! What's your name?"

"I AM DESIGNATED E-123 OMEGA, BUT YOU MAY REFER TO ME AS 'OMEGA' IF BREVITY IS WHAT YOU AIM FOR."

"Hi Omega, I'm Hope! Nice to meet you!"

Hope and Omega shook hands.

"So, what's for supper?" asked Hope.

"Well, Shaddy and I made some leftovers in the past couple of days, but we also have some frozen meals and various kinds of noodles too!" said Rouge.

"OK, good!"

Shadow, Rouge and Hope went to the kitchen/dining room. Shadow heated up some leftover chicken and rice, while Rouge and Hope took care of the rest of the sweet and sour pork.

"Tell me about yourself, Hope," said Shadow. "Where are you from?"

"I was born in Amethyst Town," replied Hope. "After my parents died, I moved around from place to place."

Shadow lowered his head a bit. "You have my condolences."

Hope waved it off. "Hey, don't worry about it too much! I mean, my parents' death is something that I do think about, but it's not something that I let get me down!"

"Well, I admire your emotional strength. Perhaps you and I could share a few pointers."

Hope frowned. "Shadow, is there something I should know about?"

"You're not alone. I too lost somebody at a young age."

"Who?"

"Her name was Maria; she was the first person I made friends with after being created."

"Hm…?"

"What?"

Hope scratched her cheek. "Maria…that name sounds so familiar, but I just can't place it…"

"If you must know, she was the granddaughter of Gerald Robotnik, my creator."

Hope dropped her fork. "GERALD ROBOTNIK!? That's my great-grandfather!"

"And you're telling me that – by extension – you're also related to the infamous Dr. Ivo Robotnik, also known as 'Dr. Eggman'!?"

"Yes, he's my uncle!"

Shadow dropped his fork, walked over to Hope and grabbed her by the arm.

"Listen, I don't care what you are," said Shadow. "If I find out you're acting as some sort of spy for that 'man', I'll have no problem putting a bullet through your pathetic little brain. Try me; I don't give a DAMN about prison."

"Shaddy!" Rouge ran over to Shadow, pulled out a spray bottle from her cleavage and sprayed him with water. "NO! Bad Shaddy! BAD!"

"Rouge, why are you doing that? You know that has no effect apart from making you look like an idiot."

"Look, I don't like Dr. Robotnik any more than you do! However, me and several other G.U.N. employees vetted Hope carefully and she passed all the tests we threw at her, so if you could stop treating her like one of her uncle's playthings, I won't have to throw you out on your ass!"

"Rouge's right," said Hope. "I've been working hard to make sure that people don't run in fear from my name, and I think it would be nice if you gave me more respect than that."

Shadow stared Hope down. Upon looking into her blue eyes, familiar words echoed through his head…

"…for all of the people on that planet…give them a chance to be happy!"

Shadow let go of Hope's arm.

"All right, you two win. I'll go along with this arrangement for now, but don't expect me to be 100% on-board with it, OK?"

"Shadow, I'm a good girl!" said Hope. "I promise I'm not a spy for my cruddy old uncle!"

"I believe you, but it's like you said: there's so much baggage that goes along with the Robotnik name."

"And that's why I want to work hard and prove myself!"

Shadow nodded and returned to his seat.

"Moving on, what's your favorite flavor of ice cream?" asked Shadow.

"I love cookie dough!" replied Hope.

"I'm more of a fan of Rocky Road myself."

"That's good, too!"

After supper, Shadow, Rouge and Hope went to the living room to watch the 6 o'clock news.

"Good evening, Mobius," said Reg. "In tonight's top news story, in response to continued unrest in Emerald City, Chief Amanda Raine held a press conference to assuage citizens who are concerned that the police may not be doing enough to prevent unnecessary shootings. News crews from all over the world were present as Chief Raine gave a speech on the matter."

The feed then switched over to a video of Raine, a brunette human of average height.

"We take our citizens' concerns very seriously and are currently conducting an investigation of the officer involved in the shooting," said Raine. "Let it be known that it is a very serious matter when any of our officers fire their weapons on duty and that it is something that we only encourage as a last resort."

The feed switched back to the newsroom.

"In other news," said Reg, "police are investigating the death of Gilbert Adenauer, who was shot dead sometime last night in the Kensington Heights neighborhood. Adenauer – who had prior convictions for petit larceny, shoplifting and drug possession – was found to be armed, though police have nothing to say about his motives. Some people in the neighborhood speculate that the killing may even be revenge for the death of Ferdinand Rozmiarek."

The feed switched from a video of police investigating the murder scene to that of an orange dog being interviewed.

"Well, when you look at it this way," said Kelsea Cruz, the person being interviewed, "it does seem like whoever killed that guy had a bone to pick, and honestly, we have to stop these killings, or lose the war."

"Wow," said Hope. "This is serious business, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's terrible," said Rouge.

Shadow crossed his arms. "I keep telling Rouge that I want nothing to do with this, but it's getting harder and harder to remain neutral the more I hear about this. All I know is that I accept anyone into my world – human, animal or whatnot – and anyone who doesn't like it can go jump off a bridge for all I care."

"DON'T YOU THINK THERE ARE BETTER THINGS YOU CAN WISH FOR PEOPLE?" asked Omega.

"Omega, shut the hell up."

"SHADOW, THAT WAS AN UNWISE THING TO SAY TO ME."

"All right, both of you need to get along!" said Rouge. "You're making a bad impression on Hope!"

"Yes, Rouge," said Shadow and Omega.

"Do they usually argue with each other?" asked Hope.

"Not lately," said Rouge. "Shadow's been really well-behaved after we took a trip to Soleanna, haven't you?"

"I'm not going to lie," said Shadow. "I felt better up until this recent unrest."

After the news, Shadow retrieved his journal and pen from Rouge's room and returned to his own. He was rifling through his bin of tapes when he heard knocking on his door.

"Come in."

Shadow put down the tapes, and Rouge entered the room.

"Yes?" said Shadow.

"I forgot to tell you," said Rouge. "I called today and got you an appointment! Her name is Wilhelmina – Mina for short – and your appointment is next Wednesday at 2:00 PM. Address and directions are on this paper, and if you need to reschedule, the office's number is on there, too."

Shadow took the paper and read it carefully before folding it up and placing it on his nightstand.

"Thank you," said Shadow.

"You're welcome!"

Rouge gave Shadow another hug, which he gladly returned.

"If you need me, you know where to find me!" said Rouge.

Shadow nodded. "Of course."

Rouge exited the room and closed the door, while Shadow got back to his tapes. Before he could pick one, he heard some more knocking.

"Come in."

Shadow put down the tapes again, but this time, it was Hope who entered.

"Oh hello, Hope. What brings you here?"

Hope smiled. "I just wanted to hang out with you for a bit! Nice room, by the way!"

Shadow nodded. "Thank you. While you're here, I wanted to apologize for accusing you of being a spy. That was wrong of me to make a snap judgment based on your family history."

"It's OK! Rouge told me quite a bit about you, and she seems to think very highly of you!"

"Yes, I'm quite well aware of this. Truth be told, I once thought she liked me romantically, but she told me otherwise."

"So tell me, is there anyone special in your life?"

Shadow crossed his arms. "Promise not to make fun of me if I tell you the truth?"

Hope flashed a peace sign. "I promise!"

Shadow loosened his stance. "No, I don't. Maria and Rouge have been the closest I've had to something like that."

"Hey, no worries! Everyone has their own pace! Besides, I heard romance isn't all it's cracked up to be, anyways!"

"If you want my opinion, I've done all right without it, but whenever Rouge hugs me or anything like that, I feel really good."

"And that's how you should feel!"

"Not to mention sex sounds really fun."

Hope started laughing.

"What?" said Shadow.

"Oh, nothing!" said Hope. "I just think it's so cool how you can be so frank like that!"

"If I offended you by mentioning 'sex', I'm sorry. I know that's not exactly the politest thing to talk about, and it's not usually something that crosses my mind."

Hope knelt down and put a hand on Shadow's shoulder. "Again, no worries! I don't offend that easily!"

"Hm. Anyways, would you care to listen to some music?"

"Sure! What kind?"

"Since you didn't mind listening to heavy metal on the way here, I figured I'd pop one of my favorite metal tapes in."

"Ooh, this should be fun!"

Shadow returned to the bin of tapes and pulled out "THE BEST OF SLAYER, VOLUME 1". Shortly after hitting "PLAY" on his combo player, the room was filled with the heavy and fast riffage of "Chemical Warfare". Soon, Shadow and Hope were headbanging to the music. He'd always enjoyed the more extreme forms of metal, but knowing that somebody else – especially a girl – was into it as well really got him fired up. While not as experienced with thrash metal as Shadow was, Hope understood its appeal and loved headbanging as well. When this side of the tape concluded with "Hell Awaits", Shadow turned the tape over and kicked the B-side off with "Die By the Sword". By the time the tape concluded with fan favorite "Raining Blood", both parties had smiles on their faces.

"OK, I knew you were into heavy metal," said Hope, "but I've never heard anything like that before!"

"Yes, thrash metal seems to get quite the reaction from most people," said Shadow.

"Say, do you play any instruments yourself?"

Shadow pointed to an ARP Odyssey Mk III in the corner. "See that synthesizer over there?"

"Yes?"

"I'm quite the keyboardist. Let me show you…"

Shadow walked over to the synthesizer, sat down on the bench before it and turned it on.

"Do excuse the wait," said Shadow. "She needs some time to warm up. I want to make sure she tunes properly."

In relatively short order, the Odyssey was warmed up. After setting a few sliders, Shadow played "Popcorn". Hope couldn't help but smile.

"Wow, you're good!" said Hope. "May I try that?"

"You may. Just be VERY careful with her."

And so, Hope approached the synthesizer gently, as if it was threatening to explode. When she sat down, she found herself bewildered by its numerous sliders.

"Um…this looks complicated," said Hope. "How exactly DO you work this?"

"Allow me to explain a few functions." Shadow pointed at random sliders. "These sliders control each oscillator, the oscillators being the circuits that produce the sounds. The toggle switches down here determine the exact type of sound. This slider and that toggle switch determine how the envelope works. These sliders to the right alter the envelope, or the duration of each portion of the sound. A is for Attack, how long the sound takes to get to maximum amplitude. D is for Decay, how long it takes for the sound to go down to a sustained amplitude. S is for Sustain, how long the sound will hold when you hold a key down. R is for Release, how long it takes for the sound to stop after you release a key. These sliders up here control the filters, which determine what frequencies will get through. Finally, these sliders alter the pitch of the sound, either octave by octave or fine tuning. Don't be afraid to experiment. Any questions?"

"I don't think so…"

For her first experiment, Hope turned up the slider for Oscillator 2 and set it to a Sawtooth wave. After pressing a couple of keys, she fiddled around with the envelope and frequency sliders a bit while continuing to press random keys. Once she had a sound that felt good to her, she played the first few bars of "Battle Hymn of the Republic".

"Not bad," said Shadow. "Did you ever learn piano?"

"I took a few lessons when I was younger," replied Hope, "but this is really the only tune that stuck."

"In any case, thanks for giving Karen the care and respect she deserves."

"Thank you for letting me try it! That was pretty fun!"

"You're welcome."

Just then, somebody knocked on the door.

"Come in," said Shadow.

Rouge entered Shadow's room wearing nothing but a towel.

"Hey Hope, I'm out of the shower if you want to take one," said Rouge.

"Oh, thank you, Rouge!"

"You're welcome!"

Hope got up from the bench and went to take a shower.

Hope slept in Rouge's room that night, leaving Shadow with his journal:

"Dear Journal: Last night, for the first time in a while, I killed somebody. I took my .44 Magnum and filled my usual hollow point rounds with plutonium cyanide, and while I was taking a walk in Emerald City, somebody tried to mug me, so I shot him right through the heart. I didn't even feel bad about it, and tonight, I'm going to do it again. The way I see it, if the police can't do their job, then somebody's got to.

That aside, I want to talk about somebody new I met today: her name is Hope, and Rouge says she's a new employee with G.U.N., although I think she's a bit young to be working there. What really strikes me about Hope is how much she resembles Maria and how much she's into heavy metal. She even enjoyed it when I played one of my Slayer tapes for her. I WANT HER. I found her so attractive that I even let her play with Karen, and it's not usually like me to let many people play with Karen."

After filling out his journal and putting it away with the pen, Shadow grabbed his Model 29 + speedloaders and headed for Emerald City, managing to avoid being seen by Omega this time. Having gone to the South Terrace, he decided to go to the West End this time, to the Crown Park neighborhood. It hadn't been that long since he got there that he heard a woman screaming "HELP! HELP!"

"Shut up, you lousy bitch!"

Shadow turned towards the source of the sound and found it coming from a poorly-lit alley. He could just barely perceive a human woman being held up by three humanoid thugs.

"What do you want!?" said the woman.

"We want the money, honey!" said the second thug.

"I gave you everything I have! What more do you want!?"

"How about some of that sweet ass?" said the third thug.

The three thugs laughed.

"HEY, STOP!" shouted Shadow.

The three thugs turned to face him.

"Hey, beat it, pal!" said the first thug.

"Yeah, this don't concern you!" said the second thug.

"Yeah, leave it to the police!" said the third thug.

Shadow elected to ignore them and slowly walked down the alley.

"Drop this dummy!" said the first thug.

The three thugs took their handguns and let a barrage of bullets loose at Shadow. Not all of the rounds hit, and those that did just deformed upon hitting him and dropped to the ground harmlessly. While the thugs scrambled to reload, Shadow raised his .44 and shot down two of the thugs, deciding to toy with the third one when he thought he saw a cross reflected in his muzzle flash.

"Let me ask you," said Shadow. "Do you believe in God?"

Too frightened to actually say anything, the third thug nodded. Shadow stuck the barrel of his gun down the guy's throat.

"Good."

Shadow pulled the trigger. Now that the lady's tormentors had been taken care of, he turned to her.

"Have you been injured?" asked Shadow.

"N-no…I-I-I d-don't th-think s-s-s-so…"

Shadow calmly grabbed one of her hands. "Let's get you and your belongings out of here before anybody sees us."

Fortunately, Shadow and the woman made it back to the apartment where she lived without being seen.

"H-how can I ever r-r-repay you?" asked the woman.

"That won't be necessary. However, if you wanted to hug me, I'll permit it."

Slowly, the woman got down on her knee and hugged Shadow, which he returned. It wasn't a very long hug, but it still meant something to him.

"Just hear this:" said Shadow. "You've never seen me before, and you'll never see me again. Do you understand?"

"Um…right…"

The woman nodded and entered her apartment, while Shadow vanished into the night, still in her ears but out of sight.

A/N: NO, Shadow's synthesizer is not going to ask to see the manager. Just thought I'd clear that up.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.