Chapter Three - Alley Rat
On the weekend back from school, Obscurity took to the streets of downtown for an examination. As he walked across the rooftops in the brisk Saturday afternoon sun, he thought about the recent sprees of crime happening around the city. 'Even without Nino around, there's still so much stuff to keep me busy,' he pondered to himself. 'It'd be nice if people could just chill out for a bit. I don't know, maybe make a New Years resolution or something to keep them out of-'
Klankle-
"-Trouble," Obscurity said, looking in the direction of the slight crash. He jumped from rooftop to rooftop, seeing no sign of struggle before stopping at a dark, slim area. He noticed an aged, scrawny man pointing a small knife at a young woman with a dark purse, backing her to the edge of the brick wall behind her. The wild look in the man's eyes concerned Obscurity, causing the young vigilante to drop down into the scene.
"And what do you think YOU'RE doing," he asked the man as he threw himself in front of the frightened woman. Both of them looked at him in confusion as he spread his body, ready to take the blow of the knife. "Get out of here," Obscurity turned his head to the frightened woman, "I've got this covered." The woman ran to the brightened street as he slightly relaxed his body.
"Hey, that wasn't cool, man," the man said, violently flailing the knife around. "That was my lunch. You know how much shit I could'a eat'n with that much cash?"
"Okay, look, sir," Obscurity motioned his hands in front of him defensively. "I get that, but there are plenty of other ways of getting food other than stealing from strangers."
"What the f-" Obscurity squinted as he shook his head. "No, why would it have anything to do with that? Sorry about not condoning theft, but there are other ways of getting things." He lowered the man's knife from of his face with his finger before sighing " I'm just trying to help, alright?"
"Well good!" The man slightly backed away from Obscurity as he looked from side to side. Into the dark end of the alley, then the light side of the streets. Then back at the black and white figure standing in front of him. "Say, where'd youcome from anyhow? I've seen ya on the news, but never in real life! What's all that about? What kind of secrets do you hide, mister?!"
'Holy shit, this guys crazy,' Obscurity thought to himself as the man rambled on about wild conspiracies from the county news. Finally, he put his white gloves out in front of his body and tried to pause the man's ranting. "Okay okay okay, that's nice and all. Look, I'll just leave you alone for now I guess. But before I do, do you have a name?"
"A name," the man asked before angerly, turning his knife back at Obscurity's face. "You mean you don't know my name?! You tryin' to tell me that you've never heard, felt the wrath of, or stepped foot into the domain of..." he trailed off for a moment, causing Obscurity to tilt his head before he shouted, "DAVE?!?!"
Obscurity chuckled a bit with his mouth covered before he looked back up at Dave. "That right?"
"Do I look like a Johnny to you?!"
"I don't know, is that your name?"
"NO!"
'Okay, this guys kind of cracking me up a bit,' Obscurity thought to himself as Dave stared intently at him. He shook his head and slightly scowled. 'No, shut up. Focus on the task at hand and we'll be able to get this crisis averted.'
"You think you can take me?! HUH?!" Dave violently waved his knife around in the air in front of him, missing Obscurity by a foot. He put the knife in a small cut of his pocket as a shieth. "That's what'll happen if you mess with the mighty DA-" He stopped mid-sentence with his fist in the air, arm bent at a 90 degree angle.
Obscurity watched wide-eyed at the figure of Dave as it slumped onto the ground, landing with a THUD! Kneeling down, he checked Dave's pulse. "Slow, but it seems like he's alive," he said as he took his finger from the shagged man's neck. "Must be in a drug crash. Poor guy." Putting his arms under the back, Obscurity lifted him up and stepped out of the alley. Looking around, he noticed the massive fountain in one of the many hubs of downtown and set the unconcious Dave down to rest. Kneeling back down, he took a sticky note and pen from one of the pouches on his belt and wrote down an address. "There," he said, slipping the paper on Dave's hand, "hopefully the old man can do the rest. I know he's been looking for someone to help him out for a while now."
Obscurity stepped away from Dave, leaving the address of Dan's cafe printed on a piece of paper for him to read later. He looked back for a moment, peeking intoone of his pouches. Grabbing a couple dollars, he walked up to the counter of the closest restaurant and ordering a schnitzel, telling the cashier, "It's for one of my friends out there." After a few minutes of waiting, he was able to hand a bag with the schnitzel off to Dave, slowly walking off through the street, the setting sun to his back. The young man couldn't help but smile as he watched, from a distant roof top, the confusion and excitement on Dave as he found the little surprises left for him.