You're gonna go far, kid

3

Throughout the week, Tommy has a series of very close calls.

---

I was lying on the roof again, watching the beginnings of a robbery. I analysed the group, who seemed mainly focused on stealth and not manpower. All the better for me. I was so focused on the group that I almost missed the sound of wings coming from above me.

"Shit shit shit shit." I rolled off the roof and curled up into a ball as I fell, landing with a 'fwump' on the pillows in the dumpster below, immediately freezing as HARPY's shadow passes over my hiding spot and lands in the street with the robbers. I tapped my comm.

"FRAGMENT I just spotted HARPY take out one of my targets, like a bitch!" A sigh echoed from the other end of the line.

"Just let him take them SHADOW, you can find other people to fight."

"Well duh, I'm not stupid, I'll leave him to it but I'm still pissed. That was my fight and he just flies in on his stupid wings and steals it!" Ranboo laughed as I slightly smiled and began hauling myself out of the dumpster.

"Alright SHADOW I've pinged your next target, there's a mugging near the old book store."

"You got it big man!"

---

I could have sworn I saw movement on the roof, but as I swooped lower I couldn't see anything. Shrugging it off, I focused on stopping the robbery about to happen. When the robbers were detained I looked back over the roof, and into the alleyway below it. I was walking through the alleyway when I looked into a dumpster and saw it was filled with a mattress along with pillows and blankets. I shrugged. Probably just a store dumping out stuff they don't need.

I spent a few more minutes looking, but it soon became apparent that if anyone really was there they were long gone.

---

I was walking down the street in full vigilante gear, familiar faces and sometimes even complete strangers waving or smiling at me. I returned the greetings, glad to see the appreciation on their faces as they knew that I was there to help them if needed. I love making little appearances to the public like this. There were, of course, a percentage of the city who had slightly soured opinions on my antics, but they were mostly the ones who hadn't been personally saved or knew someone who had been helped and therefore believed that I'm just adding to the crime. They were the ones in the better parts of the city, the richer parts, the safer parts, the parts that police actually bothered patrolling.

I bumped into someone suddenly, jolting me out of my reflection.

"Oh I'm so sorry-" WRAITH stared back at me from where he had been pushed to the ground, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Anyway big man," I stumbled over my words, leaning down and grabbing his hand and hauling him to his feet, "Gotta go do... TAXES! Taxes right yeah, you know, they're pretty pressing these days, anyway have a wonderful day sorry for bumping into you!" I yelled the last bit over my shoulder as I hurried away and slipped through the crowd into an alleyway.

My comm crackled with Ranboo's laughter.

"Shut up FRAGMENT. He caught me off guard!" The giggling didn't stop.

"Did you-" Ranboo wheezed. "Did you say you had to do taxes??"

"Shut up." I grumbled, but had the grace to let a smile slip onto my face.

---

I looked around for the person, but they were lost in the crowd. Surely I had seen that person before, right? They were wearing an outfit that covered all defining features, so I couldn't be sure. People were giving me looks of distrust, and I frowned. Yet another reason to hate this city. At least at home I was recognised and people liked me. Now a kid had knocked me over and people were looking at me like I was the one to blame. Sure, the kid had seemed pretty spooked, but that was his fault for bumping into me in the first place.

I rolled my eyes, and kept moving through the crowd. Time to find a place that sells coffee.

---

THE BLADE was by far the scariest of SBI, I decided as I watched his axe do glittering and deadly circles in the night.  Or they would be deadly if THE BLADE wanted them to be, I knew, as instead he slammed the flat side of the axe's blade into the drug dealer's arm.  The crack of bone couldn't be heard from the rooftop Tommy was watching from, but the man's scream certainly could.

I winced and turned to leave, only to feel eyes on me. I spun back to see the drug dealers eyes fixed on my silhouette and THE BLADE slowly turning, following the other man's eye line. I flattened myself to the roof too late, as I heard THE BLADE grunt and his footsteps echo down the alleyway towards the building I was perched upon.

I rolled my way across the roof away from him, and quickly located another dumpster that I had filled with pillows before dropping into it and freezing as I had done many times before.

I saw the shadow of THE BLADE traversing the roof, clearly looking for me, before it finally moved away as he made his way back to the drug dealer. Probably to arrest him, I thought, and rolled out of the dumpster and made my escape.
---

I easily re-did the braid in my hair that had come out a bit in the fight. I knew I had only just missed SHADOW. It only frustrated me a little bit, at least I knew where the vigilante liked to hang out now.

Though, it might become a problem if he continues to be this good at disappearing when someone's chasing him. By the time I had gotten to the roof it was empty, and there was no sign of a fleeing figure on any other roofs. In the end I had to go back and make sure that the criminal was still secured, though I doubted he would get far with a shattered arm anyway.

SHADOW definitely knew what he was doing, but that was ok, because so did I.

---

The mugger let out a yell of pain as I threw him into the wall. I dusted my hands off, then looked up as the sound of wing beats once again interrupted my shift. I sighed, realising once again HARPY was going to swoop in and my best option was to leave the criminals to him.

I melted into the shadows- a fitting practice considering my vigilante name- and watched as the HARPY glided down from the rooftop only to find the criminal incapacitated on the floor.

I held my breath as the hero swept past him to cuff the mugger, only letting it out once the hero had exited the alleyway with said mugger in tow.

I scaled the wall and checked in with Ranboo.

"Guess who fucking swooped in and took over my hard-earned work yet again?!"

Ranboo sighed over the comm.

"HARPY?."

"HARPY. Good thing you can hear that bitch coming ages before he shows up though, he might have caught me otherwise."

---

I sighed as I came to the scene only just too late to catch SHADOW. He hadn't been gone long based on the yell that had probably come from the criminal he had left behind. The criminal was crumpled against the wall, seemingly concussed. I sighed again, and picked up the offender, cuffing him. SHADOW would show his face at some point.