The Road Hogs are not like the Wei Triad. They don't wear expensive suits or drive around in luxury cars. They are not organized. They don't have armed sentries patrolling the grounds in the event of an attack. In fact, right now, most of them are either drunk or high on drugs.

So they are completely caught off guard when a tall, slim, pale man kicks the front door of the chop shop down and says, "Little pig, little pig, let me in."

The rain has already stopped, but the intruder's shoulder length hair is still dripping wet, and the black lines over his eyes and mouth have run a little, giving him a frown instead of his usual smile. His sword is strapped to his back. He has a revolver in one hand and a semiautomatic pistol in the other.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Porky, the leader of the street gang, asks, "Who the fuck are you?"

"Hey check out his clothes and makeup," one of the thugs sniggers. "This guy thinks he's the Crow or something."

Then, another points at the pale man and frantically shouts, "Look out! He's armed!"

The Road Hogs reach for their guns, but they are too slow and clumsy. Eric raises his arms forward and shoots two of the bikers dead before the others can even point their weapons at him. Then, he swiftly glides behind a stolen car for cover. Bullets can't kill him, but they can hurt him and slow him down enough to get captured.

The Road Hogs start shooting at the stolen car with revolvers and shotguns. Its side windows shatter. Its wheels explode. Eric just calmly sits on the floor with his back to the vehicle while waiting for an opening.

It isn't a long wait. Most of the bikers empty their guns in a matter of seconds, wasting ammunition in a frenzy without properly taking aim at anything.

"Shit, shit!" Porky cusses when his pistol clicks uselessly as he pulls the trigger. He calls out, "Hey! You still alive back there?!"

Eric chuckles, "Definitely not."

He spins then jumps on the car's roof. He starts shooting at the street gang with both guns. Porky screams as his friends die all around him. The ones still alive fearfully scatter in all directions. Eric leaps off the car and performs a somersault. He lands in the center of the crowd. Then, like a deadly ballerina performing a pirouette, he whirls with his arms extended to his sides and shoots down the remaining Road Hogs.

And when the last gunshot's echo fades, all that can be heard is Porky's pained whimper. Eric finds him slumped against a wall, bleeding from a bullet wound to the stomach. The Crow strides towards him, discarding the empty guns along the way and unsheathing the katana.

With trembling fingers, Porky manages to load a bullet into his pistol. But when he points the gun at the intruder, Eric promptly lops his hand off. The gang leader shrieks as blood erupts from the stump.

"Oh God!" he tearfully wails. "You're actually him, aren't you? You're the Crow!"

"Yes," Eric replies. "It's only fair that you know why I've come for you. Last year, you murdered a woman named Shelly."

"W-What?! I don't know anybody named Shelly. You got the wrong guy!"

"One year ago, there was a couple in a car. You attacked them-"

Porky remembers and frantically gasps, "Wait, wait, wait! Yes, we killed a woman in a car last year. But her name wasn't Shelly. It was Glory. Glory Perry!"

Eric furrows his brow in confusion.

"Glory Perry?" he thinks. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"Man, I'm not the guy you want," Porky pleads. "It was Mon Wei. That jealous prick paid us to kill his own sister because his parents loved her more. He hired that hotshot lawyer for us, too. He's the guy you want!"

"Mon Wei," Eric repeats as the veil of his own insanity begins to lift. "Son of a bitch. It all goes back to him. I should've killed him the first time around."

After a few seconds of silence, the gang leader hopefully asks, "S-So are you going to let me live?"

"I can't do that," the Crow answers almost apologetically. "Glory's blood is on your hands. You have to pay for that. But since you gave me valuable information, I promise to kill you painlessly."

"Painlessly?! You shot me in the gut and chopped my hand off!"

"Okay, okay. That was before you gave me information. How was I supposed to know-?"

"Do you have any idea how much pain I'm in right now?"

"Fine."

With one quick swish, Eric expertly severs the man's head from his body. And while he suffered near the end, at least Porky never felt that final fatal stroke, as the Crow promised.

Eric wipes his blade on the dead man's shirt before returning it to its sheath.

Skull Cowboy asks, "Do you know what you have to do now, kid?"

"Yes," the pale man gravely replies. "It's like you said. The entire Wei Triad needs to fall."

X

Weici parks the limousine in the underground parking garage of Wei Grand Tower 3. Then, she exits the vehicle and opens the door for her passengers. Weiyuan helps the boss's dog out of the car. The group moves slowly towards the elevator because Mon Wei is still limping a little from getting struck in the nuts.

Weici holds the button to keep the elevator open for her companions. Then, she joins them inside.

"Seventeenth floor, sir?" she asks.

"No," Mon groans. "Take me to the 20th floor. I want to see my mommy."

Weici and Weiyuan exchange knowing glances and both think, "He's going to cry to his mother about how a mean little girl punched him in the balls."

X

The elevator doors open on the 20th floor.

Weiyuan helps his superior out, but Mon angrily shakes free of him and growls, "I can walk on my own!"

"Sir, what about the waitress and her daughter?" the bald gangster asks. "They can tell the police about you-"

"I'm the son of one of the most powerful businessmen in the country! They'll never believe the word of a lowly waitress and her juvenile delinquent over mine. Daddy will take care of everything."

He turns and limps through the hallway. However, he finds the door to his mother's room ajar. His father is standing inside, somberly staring at the bed. His mother is completely covered in a blanket.

"NO, NO, NO, NO! MOMMY!" Mon screams and rushes into the room past Nemesio.

He kneels next to the bed, tightly clenches the bedsheets in his fingers and bawls into it.

"What're you crying for?" his father coldly and disgustedly mutters. "That's not your mother. She hasn't been your mother in years. Not since the dementia. She didn't even know who you were."

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" Mon wails.

"About fucking time if you ask me. Waste of fucking money."

Mon sobs even louder. Nemesio sighs, shakes his head, and exits the room. After about an hour when Mon's cries have quieted down a bit, Wei Zi Chen hobbles inside.

"I'm sorry about your mother," he gently tells his grandson. "But you will have to mourn for her later. I've communed with the spirits of our ancestors. They've given me a warning. The Crow comes for you tonight."

Mon wipes the snot off his face with his sleeve and snuffles, "He… He's coming here?"

"Yes. But don't worry. I've set a trap for him in your suite; the same mystical trap I used on his predecessor, Mary Shoe."

"Good. It's time for me to reclaim my pride. It's time for my revenge."

X

Eric scales the wall of Wei Grand Tower 3 and enters the 17th floor through an open window like he did the last time.

"It's a trap," his crow warns him. "Why didn't they heighten security after you broke in the last time?"

"Don't worry about it," Eric reassures the bird. "I'm already dead, remember? What're they going to do? Kill me again?"

He quietly walks into the darkened suite. However, when he reaches the center of a spacious room, bright lights suddenly open.

At the far end of the room is Wei Zi Chen. He is dressed in the ceremonial robe of a shaman, and in his right hand is a peach wood wand. Peach wood is a valuable tool in Chinese spiritual warfare. Cowering behind the old man is Mon Wei. On either side of him are Weici and Weiyuan with their pistols drawn and ready.

"Can't believe you didn't kill yourself, Mon," Eric tells the boss's dog. "Prouder men wouldn't have been able to live with what I did to you."

Mon just trembles fearfully at the painful and humiliating memory.

So it is his grandfather that replies, "You Crows are all alike; such foolish overconfidence in your powers over life and death. But I shall put you in your place!"

Wei Zi Chen waves his wand in the air while chanting in Chinese.

"I'm not here for you, old man," Eric says while taking a step forward. "Stay out of this or-"

His words are interrupted when he abruptly coughs out blood. The shaman's chants have become near deafening to him. And he becomes so weak that he falls to one knee.

He discovers that his forearms are covered in blood. The cuts that he inflicted on them many years ago have reopened. Then, he grunts and arches his back in agony when the stab wound from the Snake's Jian sword also reopens.

Eric realizes that all his injuries are coming back from the least serious to the most grievous. And he knows that the last one, the gunshot to the back of the head, the one that killed him the first time, will be the one that will kill him for good.

Seeing his nemesis so weak and helpless, Mon Wei's fear dissipates. He boldly steps out from behind his grandfather, straightens the creases on his suit, and pulls out his pistol.

When he begins to walk forward, Wei Zi Chen calls out to him, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

Mon growls, "To get my revenge."

"Can't you see him suffering? You're already getting your revenge."

"No! Daddy was right. The Crow emasculated me. I should be the one to make him pay!"

Mon Wei marches forward then stops before the dying dead man.

"Look at me," he hisses while looking down at his nemesis.

Eric looks up at him with glazed eyes.

Mon says, "My grandfather told me that you are a Crow, a person that is brought back from the dead by paranormal forces to put the wrong things right. But what's wrong is you. You do not deserve your power. You're no different from that useless Filipina maid or any of the dregs living in St. Francis Slums. You're garbage! And power belongs to the elite!"

He swings the pistol at Eric.

But Eric catches his wrist in one hand then punches him in the crotch. Mon squeals and stoops in pain. With a squeeze, the Crow crushes the bones in the other man's wrist. Mon screams as his grip on the gun loosens. Eric easily takes the gun from him.

Then, while still on one knee, the Crow shoots Wei Zi Chen twice in the stomach. The old man groans. A deep red blotch blemishes his robe. The wand falls from his hand and clatters on the floor. And the shaman falls on his face. Eric quickly stands up, spins Mon around by twisting his arm behind him, and uses the administrator's son as a human shield.

"Shoot him!" Weici yells at Weiyuan.

The bald man replies, "I don't have a clear shot! I might hit the White Paper Fan's son."

"Fine. I'll do it."

Unlike Mon, Weici is an excellent shot. She squeezes the trigger, and the bullet only barely misses Mon's ear to hit the hostage taker in the forehead. The impact causes Eric's head to snap back. When he faces forward again, there is a wide maniacal smile on his lips even as blood oozes down his pale face.

"I'm back, baby," the Crow says when he realizes that the spell has been broken and his powers have returned.

He promptly returns the favor and shoots the chauffeuse. Weici is violently thrown against the wall. She is dead even before her body crashes to the floor. Her eyes are left open in shock as blood trickles from an ugly hole on her head. Weiyuan panics and accidentally shoots the hostage in the shoulder.

Mon shrieks in pain then cusses, "Oh, you fucking idiot!"

The Crow shoots the bald gangster twice in the chest. Weiyuan falls hard on his back. The pistol slides across the floor from his hand.

Eric releases his hostage's arm, but not before pointing the gun down and shooting him in the foot. Mon screams and falls to his knees. Like a shark, Eric slowly circles his prey once before stopping before him.

"Is this what you were going to do?" he asks then strikes him across the face with the pistol.

Mon spews blood. Eric swings his arm back, hitting the administrator's assistant in the other side of the face. The Crow brutally and repeatedly pistol-whips the other man. The parts of the floor to the left and right of Mon Wei are spattered in red.

He begs, "S-Stop! I'm sorry! Please spare me!"

"I did that once already, remember?" Eric coldly replies.

He mercilessly continues to beat the administrator's son with the gun. He only stops when Captain Hook kicks the door in and hurriedly steps into the room with his service pistol drawn and ready.

He is surprised to see Eric, but he reacts quickly, and barks at the police officers behind him, "Stay outside! I got this."

"Is that the Crow?" a policewoman gasps as she peers inside.

"I said stay outside and guard the hallway!"

The officers reluctantly obey. Hook closes the broken door.

Then, he tells the Crow, "Eric, don't kill him. I got a warrant for his arrest on attempted murder and attempted rape."

"No!" Mon yells in panic, his face bruised, bloodied, and swollen again. "You can't put me in jail with all those savages! Do you have any idea what they'll do to someone like me?!"

"You got it coming," Hook growls at him. "I saw all the injuries on that poor maid's body, and they weren't caused by the fall. Couldn't prove anything then, but I know you had something to do with it."

Mon crawls on his knees and begs at the captain's feet, "I'm willing to make a deal. I'll give my father up. I'll give all of them up! I'll tell you everything you need to know about the Wei Triad!"

Unseen and unheard by the average people in the room, Skull Cowboy informs Eric, "You know, this kinda works for us. This whole thing was never about the fall of one man but the fall of an entire organization."

"I'm cool with that," Eric admits while putting the gun away. "I didn't want to kill Mon anyway. It's a lot more fun beating the shit out of him then leaving him all scared, humiliated, and traumatized. I don't like bullying, but this guy had it coming."

X

A few nights later, Sherri goes to a private room on the second floor of a hospital to visit Albrecht. The brave policeman has to stay in bed, but he is expected to make a full recovery. While Darryl, Annie, and Sandy chat, the teenage girl becomes aware of a soft tapping that she initially mistakes for rain.

She turns to the window and sees a crow rapping at the glass with its beak. When she looks through the window, she finds Eric on a sidewalk, standing under the light of a lamppost.

Sherri realizes that it is time to say goodbye again. She wants to rush downstairs and exit the hospital so that she can embrace him, but there are a couple of police officers stationed just outside the door, and they will no doubt forbid her from going out without an escort. Sherri is a witness, and the triad would want her silenced.

So instead, she just presses her right palm against the glass and sadly smiles at her friend. Eric smiles back and waves an arm at her. Then, he turns around and walks away. The bird hops off the windowsill and flies after him into the darkness.

EPILOGUE

"Hey, kid! I got good news!" Skull Cowboy excitedly informs the Crow. "I finally found a replacement for ya."

"Really?" Eric skeptically replies. "That's what you said the last time. And the time before that. And the time before-"

"No, no. I got the right one this time. He even has your name."

"His name is Eric?" the pale man asks; suddenly interested.

"Yup. It's a sign, I tell ya," the cowboy proudly declares.

"Well, what's he like? Is he a steelworker or a musician or something?"

Skull Cowboy clears his throat and answers a little embarrassedly, "Well, no. He's a drug addict."

Eric frowns and says, "You're replacing me with a drug addict?"

"Aw, get off your high horse, kid. You did drugs, too."

"Yeah, after I became the Crow. Dying is pretty traumatic. If this guy's a drug addict to begin with, what's becoming the Crow gonna do to 'im?"

"Don't worry. He's getting help. He's in rehab. Well, until he broke out, that is."

"Oh for crying out loud. So the only thing this guy has in common with me is my name."

"No, no. He's got a girlfriend named Shelly, too. What are the odds, huh?"

"Okay, that's good. Maybe she'll be able to pull him out of the darkness and-"

"Well, no. She's a drug addict, too."

Eric slowly shakes his head and sighs, "I have a bad feeling about this."

But Skull Cowboy just calmly reassures him, "Oh, relax. What could possibly go wrong?"

THE END